Chapter 800: All Are Dao Extremists
The three women turned around, looking at Zheng Yingxiong with confusion.
Zheng Yingxiong took a step forward and showed them the note in his hand.
“‘Karma’...?” Yun Yao furrowed her brow slightly. “Little brother, what is this note?”
Yun Yao felt there were too many suspicious points about this note.
Zheng Yingxiong didn’t speak. He simply pointed to the alley behind him, and the three of them immediately understood his meaning.
The contents of this note had most likely been passed along by the Human Ape just now.
“Don’t become a ‘Zodiac’... what does that mean?” Yun Yao asked. “We’re ‘Participants’... how could we become ‘Zodiacs’?”
At that moment, Zheng Yingxiong and Attorney Zhang turned their heads in slight confusion, momentarily at a loss for words.
“Sister... don’t you know?” Zheng Yingxiong said. “Every single ‘Zodiac’ here was once...”
“Wait, that’s enough. Let’s not talk about this.” Yun Yao seemed to recall something and immediately interrupted Zheng Yingxiong, shifting the topic. “Is that ‘Human Ape’ very important to you?”
Seeing that she didn’t want to discuss the matter, Zheng Yingxiong could only nod. “Yes, he’s very important to me.”
“Is it possible he’s misleading you?”
Zheng Yingxiong shook his head. “I don’t believe he would harm me. He’s had countless opportunities better than this to hurt me before, but every time, he protected me. So what’s written on this note must be his true feelings. I want to follow his instructions.”
Yun Yao kept her eyes fixed on the note in his hand, remaining silent, her expression dark.
Zhang Chenze looked at the note, then asked, “What does ‘go find Karma’ mean? Is ‘Karma’ an ‘Echo’?”
Zheng Yingxiong nodded in response. “Yes, I’ve seen that woman. She seems to be with Gu... with the Human Ape.”
“What is all this nonsense lately...” Yun Yao’s expression darkened, her tone tinged with displeasure. “The first time we lost the iron rod, it pointed to a ‘Zodiac.’ Now, is the second time going to point to ‘Karma’...”
“What’s wrong...?” Zhang Chenze turned her head to ask. “Do you know this ‘Karma’ as well?”
“Know her? That’s an understatement.” Yun Yao scratched her head. “She’s a ‘Dao Extremist.’ She once spent years undercover inside ‘Heaven’s Gate,’ gained my trust, and sabotaged our attempts to clear the games countless times. Even worse... the six hundred-plus ‘Daos’ that ‘Heaven’s Gate’ had collected were once burned to ashes in a single fire. I suspect she did that too.”
“Is that so?” Zhang Chenze blinked.
“Yes, which is why I have my doubts. ‘Dao Extremists’ are supposed to be my number one enemies here. They’re numerous but their methods are unfathomable, and I absolutely despise them.” After speaking, Yun Yao turned to Zheng Yingxiong again. “Little brother Hero, are you really going to act on what’s written on that note?”
Zheng Yingxiong felt somewhat puzzled at this point.
This group called the “Dao Extremists” operated in a style strikingly similar to Gu Yu after he had traveled through various cities and returned.
After Gu Yu came back to “Jade City,” he, too, had devoted himself to preventing anyone from collecting enough “Jades.”
Zheng Yingxiong felt there seemed to be a gap in information among them.
“Sisters... is everyone here relentlessly pursuing the collection of fifty-seven thousand six hundred ‘Daos’?” Zheng Yingxiong asked.
“Fifty... fifty thousand?” Zhang Chenze laughed and shook her head. “How could it be such an absurd number... We’re collecting three thousand six hundred.”
“Three thousand six hundred...” Zheng Yingxiong nodded. “Then do you know what happens once they’re all collected?”
Zheng Yingxiong voiced the doubt deep in his heart. It seemed these people had no idea there was a sword hanging over their heads, which struck him as extremely strange.
Zhang Chenze looked slightly curious and said, “Isn’t it that once you collect three thousand six hundred ‘Daos,’ you can get out?”
It was only then that Zheng Yingxiong finally realized where the dissonance lay. The three people before him understood even less about this place than he did, despite being sealed away for over a decade.
What kind of bizarre situation was this?
“If getting out were really possible, wouldn’t someone have done it by now?” Zheng Yingxiong said. “As long as you gather enough...”
He was about to let the words slip out, but suddenly froze.
Wait.
Yun Yao had just said the organization called the “Dao Extremists” was large and powerful. So why hadn’t they revealed the truth?
“Dao City” and “Jade City” were two cities with very distinct differences. They could have easily taken to the streets and shared their insights about this place without fear of punishment from any “family rules.”
So why not tell everyone here that once three thousand six hundred “Daos” were collected, a massive reshuffling would occur?
From his interactions over the past few days, Zheng Yingxiong had gathered that “Heaven’s Gate” seemed like an organization that had existed for a very long time. The same went for the “Dao Extremists.”
How could both of these long-standing organizations be completely unaware of this truth? No matter how he thought about it, it seemed absurd.
Were their memories all very recent...? Or was someone deliberately concealing this truth?
“What happens once they’re all collected?” Zhang Chenze asked, puzzled.
“Well...” Zheng Yingxiong was momentarily at a loss for words. Having spent years living in dangerous environments, he was extremely cautious about everything he did.
“Don’t ask.” Yun Yao interrupted their conversation. “Whatever the consequences of collecting three thousand six hundred ‘Daos’ might be, we shouldn’t regard the ‘Dao Extremists’ as allies.”
Tiantian, who had been listening for a while, interjected at this point. “But Yan Zhichun and Lin Qin, the ones we’re going to look for, are both ‘Dao Extremists’ too.”
“I don’t know much about Yan Zhichun, but Lin Qin is a bit different from the usual ‘Dao Extremists,’” Yun Yao said. “She’s known you all for some time now. She’s never sabotaged any of your plans, has she?”
“That’s true,” Tiantian nodded.
“Besides, our ultimate goal in finding these two people is for ‘Wen Qiaoyun,’” Yun Yao added. “It was never about the ‘Dao Extremists.’”
Zheng Yingxiong listened and then lowered his head to think. If the situation before him was drastically different from what he had known, then there might be another possibility.
Could Gu Yu have lied back then?
After all, since Gu Yu returned to “Jade City,” no one had ever actually gathered fifty-seven thousand six hundred “Jades,” nor had anyone truly witnessed the so-called “catastrophe.”
Everything Zheng Yingxiong knew about the “catastrophe” came from Gu Yu himself. The path Gu Yu insisted on walking may have originated from “Karma,” and “Karma” was a “Dao Extremist.” Seen from that perspective...
“I want to join the ‘Dao Extremists,’” Zheng Yingxiong suddenly raised his head and said to the group.