# 1395
Chapter 1396: They're Acting for Us
"What are they doing?"
Hundreds of miles away across the sea, Yue Huai's pale green eyes gazed at the group gathered together playing炸金花 (a card game similar to "betting on a flower") on the island, utterly bewildered.
He had originally thought that the scene on the island just now was merely Li Kengqiang training the Night Watch, but when the image shifted, those people had crawled out of the tanks and sat right back down to play poker?
What kind of operation was this?
"Do you think they've discovered us?" A massive shadow rose from the seabed, speaking with suspicion.
"Are you saying they're putting on an act to confuse us?"
"...Impossible. Our concealment isn't that easy to see through, and we're over a hundred miles away from that island right now. How could they possibly have discovered us?"
"Quiet."
Yue Huai stood on the sea surface, his eyes slightly narrowed as he contemplated. "We shouldn't panic... Continue observing. We have plenty of time."
...
Island.
"Do we open?"
"Open!"
"I have a pair."
"Hey, I'm a flush... What about Qiye?"
Lin Qiye silently flipped over his three cards. "Three of a kind."
Li Kengqiang: (｀?Д?′)ゞ
"How do you always manage to get three of a kind?" Li Kengqiang asked, utterly baffled.
As Lin Qiye collected the money from the ground, he smiled innocently. Beside him, Baili Pangpang and the others silently rolled their eyes.
"Forget it, it's getting late anyway. You all should rest early." Li Kengqiang glanced at the dimming sky and stood up. "Tomorrow morning we'll be doing potential training. Be prepared."
Recalling the scene of being brutally beaten by Tang Yusheng today, Lin Qiye and the others winced, but still obediently replied:
"Yes."
Though Tang Yusheng would indeed beat them half to death, as long as they soaked in Li Kengqiang's medicinal solution afterward, the physical injuries would heal quickly, and they could even advance their spiritual realm. It was torment for them, but also a rare opportunity.
Li Kengqiang turned and walked a few steps, then suddenly froze, tilting his head slightly as if listening to something.
"Gun-ge?" Seeing Li Kengqiang acting strangely, Baili Pangpang couldn't help but speak up.
After listening for a moment, Li Kengqiang nodded and turned to Lin Qiye and the others. "Tomorrow's potential training is cancelled."
"Cancelled? Why?"
"The reason needs to remain classified." Li Kengqiang's expression was somewhat solemn. "However, tomorrow's 'Heart Pass' training will proceed as scheduled."
As he finished speaking, Li Kengqiang vanished on the spot, leaving Lin Qiye and the others staring at each other in bewilderment.
"I feel like... something's off?" Baili Pangpang scratched his head. "If the potential training is also cancelled, then what are we doing on this island, just pure vacation?"
Lin Qiye gazed in the direction Li Kengqiang had disappeared, pondering for a moment:
"Let's just follow Gun-ge's instructions. Perhaps he has other plans."
"Nothing else we can do."
...
For the next three days, Lin Qiye and the others truly experienced what it meant to be on a desert island vacation.
Although the island had nothing, Li Kengqiang always managed to find all sorts of activities—beach volleyball, hand-made mahjong, mountain hiking, bungee jumping without safety gear, grass skirt dance competitions... Li Kengqiang proved with practical action that when humans get bored enough, they'll do absolutely anything.
Lin Qiye and the others were deeply puzzled, but they had to admit, they had an incredibly fun time over these past few days.
But Yue Huai and the others, stationed over a hundred miles away, were not having nearly as pleasant an experience.
Heaven knew what kind of things they had been watching these past few days.
"Can this really be the place guarding Great Xia's national fortune?" A dark shadow couldn't help but remark. "This is clearly a human vacation resort!"
"For three days straight, they've just played all over the island, without a single training session?"
"There's no one else on the island either... Could we have really found the wrong place?"
Not just these underwater shadows, but even Yue Huai, who held the map, found himself wavering for a moment.
"Could it really not be here? No, that can't be right... With Li Kengqiang here, how could it not be the place..." Yue Huai contemplated with deep suspicion, his eyes flickering with light. "Watching and waiting like this isn't a solution. We need to take the initiative."
Hearing these words, the black massive shadows lurking beneath the water finally grew interested.
"Gonna make a move?"
"No need to send everyone. What matters most right now is to test whether that island is actually guarded by others, and whether Great Xia's national fortune is truly beneath it." Yue Huai spoke calmly.
"Tonight, wait until Li Kengqiang separates from those young people, then send three people to approach the island from different directions. Remember, don't make any noise, use the most covert methods to infiltrate the island. Go as deep as you can; if discovered, rush with all your strength toward the island's core. Do not engage in prolonged combat."
After arranging tonight's reconnaissance plan, Yue Huai gazed at the young people dancing in grass skirts on the beach, his eyes narrowing slightly:
"Tonight, we'll uncover the true face of this island..."
...
Night deepened.
After having dinner together, Lin Qiye and the others retired to their rooms.
After three consecutive days of unrestrained fun, Lin Qiye felt a rare joy from life beyond life-and-death combat. Since joining the Night Watch... no, since he could remember, he had never played so freely.
On this island isolated from the world, Lin Qiye briefly forgot about the mist, the foreign gods, Cthulhu, war... Here, around him were only his closest brothers, along with the mountains, sky, and sea.
In a sense, this was perhaps the first team building outing for the [Nightfall] Squad.
Lin Qiye lay on the bed, his consciousness first sinking into the Asylum of the Gods in his mind, researching and verifying his past with Gilgamesh. He then asked Li Yifei for the Go game records from their matches over these past few days.
Yelland's playing style was as unconventional as ever—always making just one move each turn, but this one move... was truly one move. The pieces scattered between his palms alone could occupy a small half of the board.
However, what was strange was that the black pieces Yelland had placed in his matches with Li Yifei over these past few days were gradually increasing. Though only one or two more each time, it was evident that the board was being slowly taken over by black pieces.
During these past few days, Lin Qiye had also drawn out the positions of these pieces in reality and shown them to Li Kengqiang and other [Nightfall] members, but none of them could identify any valuable information.
After finishing his work at the asylum and returning to reality, it was already late at night.
Lin Qiye swept the surroundings with his spiritual perception, confirmed that everyone else had fallen asleep, then quietly slipped out of the underground air-raid shelter.
He had other matters to attend to.