Chapter 503: I Am the Scapegoat
"Huh?!" Di Tu was stunned, then an expression of utter disbelief spread across his face. "What the hell?! How is every single guess wrong?! Isn't this your plan?"
"Not at all." Everyone shook their heads in unison.
"But your plan did sound really cool... It was totally Old Qi's style..." Chen Junnan nodded. "That's exactly how it should have been plotted. Winning like that would've made you concede defeat willingly..."
"W-Wait a minute..." Di Tu felt like his entire worldview was collapsing. "If you weren't using that plan... then what plan were you using?"
"Let me put it this way... Brother Rabbit Bastard." Chen Junnan stepped forward and patted Di Tu's chest, which was covered in bloodstained rabbit fur, with a very flippant gesture. "Whoa... doesn't that hurt?"
Di Tu's face was full of anger, but he just stared at Chen Junnan in silence.
Chen Junnan wiped the blood from his hands onto the wall, then turned back and said, "Brother Rabbit Bastard, you think we went to a room that was never mentioned and left carvings there? But is that realistic? Count our movement actions. Could we have made it that far?"
"You..." Di Tu felt like he was starting to understand, but the scenario he was imagining was utterly absurd.
Chen Junnan looked at the other man's thoughtful expression and couldn't help but laugh.
"Brother Rabbit Bastard, which room did you actually run into Song Qi in? Think back to the route you took. Which room did you come out of?" Chen Junnan asked with a grin. "Did we really never mention that room?"
Di Tu carefully recalled the route he took to Room "Thirteen," and his eyes slowly widened.
This realization struck him as extremely odd. He discovered that if he traced his route backward, the room he came out of wasn't Room "Six" at all. His judgment had been wrong from the very start!
"I was in... Room 'Seven'? I've been fighting this guy Song Qi in Room 'Seven' the whole time?!"
"You just figured that out now?" Chen Junnan frowned, still smiling. "I only told one lie in this entire game—that my sense of direction is amazing. I grew up in an alley that runs dead north-south. Even if I spun around this arena a hundred times on the spot, I wouldn't get lost."
"Wh—" Di Tu felt like he had been tricked by this man from the very beginning. "You knew I was leading you in circles from the start?"
"Yeah, Brother Rabbit Bastard. The quieter we talked, the harder you worked to lead us astray." Chen Junnan reached up and picked at his ear, his face wearing an especially punchable expression. "That's when I noticed something... Not only were you deliberately taking us on a detour, but you also had excellent hearing. So every word we said reached your ears. But I wasn't sure how many people had caught on to that, so when we reached the end and turned back, I used that black metal hairpin to write 'Everyone Silent' on the walls we passed. From then on, everyone except me had to be careful with what they said."
"You... wait a minute..." Di Tu quickly spotted the problem. "The room where I beat up that kid was clearly Room 'Five'! How could I have moved to Room 'Seven'?"
After he said it, Di Tu realized the problem. At the time, he had been overwhelmed by a surge of murderous intent. When he came to his senses, he was already standing inside a room. He thought he had reached Room "Six," but he never expected to have shifted one more square and ended up in Room "Seven"?!
"If you were in Room 'Six'..." Chen Junnan said with a smile, "how could Song Qi have come to your room? He had already started moving too."
Di Tu's expression sank to the depths. He had thought through countless countermeasures, but he never imagined he would lose because of something so simple.
"Are you the 'Mind-Reader' of this generation?" Di Tu asked aloud. "Your mastery of your ability is astounding. I admit I'm no match for you. I concede defeat willingly."
"What the hell?" Chen Junnan's brow instantly furrowed. "Who the fuck is 'Mind-Reader'... I go by the same name wherever I go. My Echo is fucking 'Wall-Penetration'!"
Cui Shisi slowly shook his head upon hearing this. "Captain... 'Wall-Penetration' is mine..."
"Oh, right, my bad." Chen Junnan turned back with an embarrassed laugh. "I'm so used to showing off, I forgot the actual owner was right here. Let me start over."
He turned back, his expression turning serious, and said to Di Tu, "Listen up. I am the 'Scapegoat.'"
The moment he said it, everyone around him was stunned.
"Captain... you're the 'Scapegoat' that's been hanging on the big screen outside...?" Cui Shisi asked quietly.
"That's right, yours truly." Chen Junnan nodded with a hint of pride.
"You're the 'Scapegoat'... yet you could control my actions...?" Di Tu felt like the man in front of him was still lying. "Do you think I've never seen a 'Scapegoat' before?! Where would you get such a powerful ability?!"
"I never controlled your actions at all." Chen Junnan laughed. "It's just that when I activated my ability, no matter who you wanted to kill, you would travel a thousand miles to come kill me instead. That's all. My head got blown off several times—don't you think I understand that basic principle?"
"You..." Di Tu gritted his teeth, and a trickle of blood slowly seeped from his mouth.
"Brother Rabbit Bastard, your mouth is already blown to pieces. Stop gritting your teeth." Chen Junnan said. "You have no one to blame but yourself. Blame your own bloodlust, and blame this arena for restricting movement. It took the perfect combination of time, place, and people for my ability to work at all. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been any use."
Di Tu opened his mouth as if to say something more, but after a moment, he was completely resigned.
In this world, the stories that spread only talk about success and failure. No one cares about why someone succeeded or why they failed. The result speaks for itself.
"I want to ask a question." Di Tu said, somewhat dejectedly.
"Go ahead."
"In every single game... do you try to find the right opportunity to activate your useless 'Echo'?"
Just then, a great bell tolled from afar. The sound was so loud that everyone in the room was caught off guard, except for Chen Junnan, whose expression remained unchanged.
In his memory, there weren't many 'Echoes' that could produce such a loud bell sound. It seemed Old Qiao was giving it his all too.
"A useless 'Echo'? That's a bit presumptuous, don't you think?" Chen Junnan shook his head, then stretched lazily. "Brother Rabbit Bastard, you tell me—in this godforsaken place, is there really such a thing as a 'useless Echo'?"
That single sentence left Di Tu dumbfounded on the spot.
Was there such a thing as a "useless Echo" in this land?
The 'Explosion' he had seen before was stronger than the previous owner's. Now the 'Scapegoat' he had encountered was also stronger than the previous owner's.
The same ability, in the hands of different users, could unleash infinite possibilities. These two men had proven that point to him.
Di Tu sighed and said, "You said that if you won, you wanted me to promise you one thing. What is it?"
Chen Junnan's brow lifted happily at this. Just as he was about to speak, Di Tu raised a hand to stop him. "If you're going to say 'rebellion,' then I suggest you all leave now."