Chapter 1302: Unilateral Cooperation
The Dog of Heaven took a few steps, then leaned against a wall and began to breathe deeply.
He turned his head with difficulty and asked, "Hasn't that person named Yan Zhichun arrived yet?"
"Who told you to stop?" The Dog of Earth turned back and asked. "We've already sent someone to call for Yan Zhichun. Don't play pitiful—keep leading the way."
"Let me rest for a bit. My back hurts too much, and we have to wait until Yan Zhichun comes..." The Dog of Heaven said again. "Don't you trust me yet?"
"Are you backing out?" The Dog of Earth asked. "We had a good deal just now. You should know that we could kill you right now, right?"
"I've already agreed to cooperate..." The Dog of Heaven said through gritted teeth. "Why treat me like an enemy still?"
"That's hard to say." The Dog of Earth shook his head. "A man who would gouge out all his own eyes at a critical moment to survive... could very well betray us to save his own skin."
"I said I won't run away..." The Dog of Heaven shifted his back to minimize the friction of his wounds against his clothes. "I just want to live. Gouging out my eyes was a last resort. To me, it doesn't matter who rules here... I just want to live."
Lin Qin frowned, looked at the Dog of Heaven, then looked at the door in the distance, and asked, "So this is the plan you came up with on the spot? Taking us to open that door..."
"Yes, don't worry..." The Dog of Heaven's expression flickered as he sighed. "It'll be over soon."
She felt that the Dog of Heaven's decision was very strange. Just now, the Dog of Earth had only led everyone into his room to get all the intelligence he had gathered so far using "Spiritual Hearing," but the Dog of Heaven had been unusually cooperative.
Not only did he answer every question, telling them the current direction of the battle and compiling a partial list of the dead, but he also proposed a suggestion that even the Dog of Earth couldn't fully understand.
This suggestion made Lin Qin immediately sense that something was terribly wrong. She felt the Dog of Heaven was far too strange... No one would make such a suggestion at a time like this.
After all, the Dog of Earth only wanted information. From the Dog of Heaven's perspective, once he had revealed all his intelligence, he would be safe. There was absolutely no need for him to propose a plan that would trap himself in a snare.
If the Dog of Heaven wasn't insane... then he was setting a lethal trap for everyone.
What was even more bizarre was that the Dog of Earth actually believed the Dog of Heaven's words and chose to enter that door with him.
"So..." Xiao Xiao came up beside Lin Qin and whispered, "What do you think about this?"
"I really don't know..." Lin Qin whispered back. "Is there any other way now? Even if these two dogs want to kill all the 'participants,' all we can do is stay close to them and stop them at the critical moment."
"But didn't you participate in that dog's game?" Xiao Xiao continued. "Based on your understanding of him, would he suddenly switch sides at a time like this?"
"Precisely because I think he wouldn't, I've been patient until now... But the Dog of Heaven's suggestion..." Lin Qin paused, "No... I should say both dogs are acting weird... That Dog of Earth seems to have been waiting for this opportunity. He wouldn't let us kill the Dog of Longhorn, wouldn't let us free the 'Ants,' delayed us for so long, and finally wants to take us to find the 'Dog of Heaven,' and the 'Dog of Heaven' just happens to be waiting here with an even more important mission... No matter how I look at it, it's too suspicious."
Xiao Xiao saw the Dog of Heaven's figure pause not far away and quickly whispered to Lin Qin, "Wait... In theory, now that this 'Heavenly Level' has gouged out his own eyes, he still has 'Spiritual Hearing,' right... He'll hear what we're saying."
"So what if he does?" Lin Qin said. "I don't trust him. At this point, I don't need to hide it."
The Dog of Heaven glanced at Lin Qin, a hint of grievance flashing across his fat face, but he could only pretend not to have heard anything.
"Little boy!" Lin Qin directly pulled Zheng Yingxiong in front of her. "I want to ask you something."
Zheng Yingxiong nodded after hearing that, but his expression was unnatural.
Lin Qin pointed at the Dog of Heaven. "Tell big sister, is he lying?"
Zheng Yingxiong was no ordinary child. Faced with such a question, he naturally began to stay silent. He had encountered similar situations many times before. Whether he answered "yes" or "no," the result wouldn't be good.
"Don't be afraid." Lin Qin continued. "He's at most a 'Ground Level' with an 'Echo' now. His life is in our hands. He wouldn't dare do anything reckless."
Zheng Yingxiong remained silent for a while longer, then looked up at the Dog of Heaven. A few seconds later, he turned his head to look at the Dog of Earth.
He had noticed it from earlier. The current situation was so bizarre it made his scalp tingle.
"Big sister..." Zheng Yingxiong stared at the backs of the two men and said, "Both of them... are lying."
This brief sentence almost made Lin Qin and Xiao Xiao's faces change color. The atmosphere on the scene grew even more complicated.
The Dog of Earth turned back, gave Zheng Yingxiong a meaningful look, and then said, "Kid, your statement is too one-sided. You don't know what specific lies we each told, so don't jump to conclusions."
"Yes..." Zheng Yingxiong agreed with the Dog of Earth. "I really don't know what lies you two told, but the smell of a lie is definitely on both of you."
Hearing Zheng Yingxiong's words, the Dog of Heaven also looked at the Dog of Earth, his expression suddenly tense. "You're lying to me too...? Does that mean you don't actually plan to let me live?"
"You..." The Dog of Earth said with some hesitation, "Are you the pot calling the kettle black? I'd like to hear what lie you told. I've even agreed to such an unreasonable request, and you still have things to hide?"
Zheng Yingxiong's words seemed to have plunged the two into a crisis of trust.
"I... I do have something I'm hiding." The Dog of Heaven scratched his cheek. "But it's nothing major..."
"Alright, then let's be open and honest." The Dog of Earth nodded. "Before we enter the door, let's confess all our lies. That way, we won't distrust each other at the last moment."
The Dog of Heaven thought for a moment, then spoke. "If I have to say it, actually this plan wasn't my own idea, and it's not exactly a 'plan that benefits the overall situation'... It was told to me by someone."
"Who?"
"It's Aries, or rather, Qi Xia..." The Dog of Heaven slowly lowered his head. "He told me from far away the next tactic: to lead Yan Zhichun, Lin Qin, Jiang Ruoxue, and Zheng Yingxiong to that door..."
"Qi Xia...?" The Dog of Earth narrowed his eyes after hearing this, feeling that things were still unclear. "You're saying that Qi Xia, from far away, just now told you that it's time to initiate the 'Heavenly Level Moment'?"
"Yes." The Dog of Heaven nodded, and Zheng Yingxiong noticed that the "smell of lies" on him had mostly disappeared.