Chapter 315: Her Hope
"Just as I thought." Chen Junnan nodded. "What question did that old scoundrel ask?"
Yun Yao replied, "He said, 'I am Earth Serpent. I've joined the game. If you let me live, each of you will receive forty-eight Dao.'"
"What...?" Chen Junnan felt a bit puzzled. "This... is this old bastard brain-damaged? I'm sitting right here in charge, and he just shows all his cards?"
"Doesn't he know your position?" Yun Yao asked.
"How could he not?" Chen Junnan reached up and rubbed his chin. "I contacted Earth Serpent through the phone of the person on my left. He definitely knows where I am."
"Then isn't that too strange?" Yun Yao said, sounding confused. "He knows where you are, yet he still sends out this message..."
Chen Junnan also felt something was off about this. That old lecher Earth Serpent seemed to be at his wit's end. In his view, although this message could only spread from "3" to "-1," every extra person he could lure was worth it.
Of course, there was a second possibility...
That the person who sent this message wasn't Earth Serpent at all.
If that was the case, things became even more terrifying.
That meant one of the people sitting between "-1" and "3" had lied.
This liar had already seen through everything. Not only had they anticipated that Earth Serpent had joined the game, but they had also devised a scheme.
They wanted to mislead everyone into thinking Earth Serpent's coordinate was "3."
"But..." Chen Junnan turned his head toward the wall on his right. "Just these few people... and someone's lying?"
Although he couldn't see, counting from his right side, they were Yun Yao, the nervous girl, and the quiet guy.
One of these three people was lying.
Chen Junnan didn't hang up the phone, but he began to suspect Yun Yao.
Something seemed off.
If he thought about it carefully, could she have been lying from the very beginning?
The first question he received was about Einstein, but the first question Yun Yao received was "Are you female?"
Could she have been lying from the start?
A thought suddenly flashed through Chen Junnan's mind.
Before coming to Earth Serpent's game, Yun Yao had clearly said, "You should know what Earth Serpent is like. How could a grown man like you get him to open his heart?"
Doesn't that mean Yun Yao knew Earth Serpent?
She had either participated in Earth Serpent's game before or collected strategies about it from other teammates at Heaven's Gate.
There was a high probability she had lied.
What was her purpose?
"Yun Yao..." Chen Junnan's voice turned cold. This time, he didn't call her "Superstar" but used her full name.
"What is it?" Yun Yao asked.
"Are you... lying to me?"
"What...?" Yun Yao hesitated.
"I'm not one to beat around the bush. Let's get this straight here and now." Chen Junnan held the phone and sat down in the chair, leaning back and crossing his legs. "Ever since I joined this game, I've been thinking about how to keep you alive... but you're lying to me?"
"I..." Yun Yao's voice gradually changed. "Did you find me out?"
Chen Junnan nodded after hearing that. "Why? Are you trying to kill me?"
"I..." Yun Yao let out a relieved laugh and said, "I don't want to kill you, but like I said, I can't trust you. So I decided to challenge Earth Serpent myself."
"Huh?" Chen Junnan was stunned. "No, I don't quite get it. You, you lied to me because..."
"I think you're a bit dumb..." Yun Yao said. "But you seem really close to Qi Xia. If possible... the two of you should destroy this place together. Qi Xia... is really important."
"What the hell?" Chen Junnan felt like he couldn't follow. "Superstar, what are you talking about? Don't you want to escape?"
"Me?" Yun Yao laughed bitterly. "Chen Junnan, at some point... my goal in living stopped being 'getting out' and became 'gambling every Zodiac to death.'"
Hearing Chen Junnan's silence, Yun Yao continued, "Your words woke me up. As one of the leaders of Heaven's Gate, I've never proposed a life-or-death gamble to an Earth Grade Zodiac. So the other members certainly won't either."
"No, I think I get it now, Young Master." Chen Junnan said, somewhat relieved. "Superstar, you want to play the hero?"
"Me? Playing the hero?"
"If I'm not wrong... you've had enough of living, haven't you?" Chen Junnan gave a dry laugh. "You want to leave in a way that looks dignified."
Yun Yao was slightly taken aback, then smiled. "You don't seem dumb."
"What exactly happened? Weren't you and Xiao Chu doing pretty well together?" Chen Junnan's expression shifted from a grin to a cold stare. "Was that kid not good to you? You seem completely hopeless now."
Hearing this, Yun Yao's whole body trembled slightly. Her eyes stung, but she managed to hold back her tears.
That day, when she returned to Heaven's Gate, she saw only corpses everywhere.
The "Cat" had slaughtered everyone in Heaven's Gate. This time, the number of people who gained "Echo" had dwindled even further. Heaven's Gate was now a shadow of its former self.
The dream she had chased for two years, the goal that kept her alive—"gambling every Zodiac to death"—was now more distant than ever.
"Chen Junnan, I really do want to die here." Yun Yao said, tears in her eyes. "I'm very selfish. This time, either Earth Serpent dies, or I die. I absolutely won't allow any other outcome."
"So this is the real reason you came with me to Earth Serpent's game..." Chen Junnan finally understood everything.
Yun Yao had made her decision from the very beginning. She wanted to die here.
"That's right." Yun Yao nodded. "Chen Junnan, thank you for giving me the courage to take one step forward."
"No, not even letting me die for you?" Chen Junnan asked incredulously. "I could gamble Earth Serpent to death for you, isn't that okay?"
"You..." Yun Yao hesitated. "Chen Junnan, didn't I make myself clear? I don't want to live anymore."
"How about this, let me lay it all out." Chen Junnan cleared his throat. "I don't know what Xiao Chu did to you, but from now on, stick with me and Lao Qiao. The two of us—oh, and Lao Qi too—the three of us won't treat you badly."
"What...?"
"I really don't know what happened to you over the years, even changing your preferences, but a long time ago, we really liked having you around..." Chen Junnan smiled. "There's no need to follow the wrong people anymore. I heard you even took in a young girlfriend this time, right? What happens to her if you die?"
The lonely figure of Tiantian suddenly appeared in Yun Yao's mind.
"Superstar, you and Tiantian are the two girls that break my heart the most in all of Zhongyan Land. Come on, bring her along."