# 860
Chapter 860
Zuo Qing hung the Straight Blade at his waist and stood motionless before the door of the low adobe house. After a long silence, he finally raised his hand and knocked.
*Knock knock knock!*
A moment later, an elderly figure with a full head of silver hair opened the door.
"Oh?" The old man seemed surprised to see Zuo Qing. "Xiao Zuo... no, Commander Zuo. Weren't we supposed to hold an online meeting? We waited for you on video for quite a while. Why did you suddenly come here in person?"
Zuo Qing said nothing, merely lowering his gaze in silence to stare at the old man.
In the barren and empty countryside, only the distant echoes of roosters crowing resounded.
The old man and Zuo Qing locked eyes for a moment before the former无奈地笑了笑 (shook his head with a bitter smile), turned, and walked inside. "Come in and sit down."
Zuo Qing's right hand rested on the hilt of his Straight Blade as he followed the old man into the adobe house.
The interior of the low adobe house was better appointed than its exterior suggested. Simple, functional furniture was neatly arranged throughout. The poured gray cement floor was spotless, and among all that met the eye inside, the only modern electronic devices were a digital television and a special computer with an encrypted key.
That computer was for the exclusive use of the Night Watch, and it was a model from over a decade ago.
Zuo Qing sat down on a bench beside the square table. The old man unhurriedly walked into the kitchen, brewed a cup of tea with a bright red thermos, then sat down across from Zuo Qing and passed the teacup to him.
"I don't have any good tea here, as you know. Just have a simple cup." The old man looked at the silent Zuo Qing and added with a smile, "Of course, if you don't want to drink it, you don't have to."
Zuo Qing glanced at the steaming glass cup but chose not to reach for it. Instead, he spoke slowly:
"Chen Lao, what have you been busy with lately?"
Chen Lao took a sip of his own tea and smiled. "What I've been busy with? Don't you already have the answer in your heart? Otherwise, you wouldn't have used a video conference as an excuse to monitor all the high-ranking officials...
The one you truly wanted to monitor was only me, right?
You were worried I might flee before you arrived?"
"Does that count as a confession?"
"There's nothing wrong with confessing. When I began planning all this, I already foresaw this day coming." Chen Lao paused. "Though in my imagination, the person sitting before me now should have been Ye Fan..."
"Disappointed?"
"No, quite the opposite. I'm delighted." Chen Lao smiled. "I believe you're more outstanding than Ye Fan.
Ye Fan may be deep-thinking and clever, but his heart is too soft... He clearly realized there was corruption and rigidification among the Night Watch's high command, yet he hesitated to take action because of the merits and face of those senior predecessors, resulting in his lack of absolute control over the Night Watch's high command.
But you're different.
The moment you took office, you leveraged Zhou Ping's intimidation and your own methods to successively remove all those outdated, corrupt senior officials and replace them with new talent you'd personally promoted. Even this teacher of yours was transferred to second-tier management, losing his voice in high-level meetings.
You're ruthless enough, bold enough, and your cunning and foresight are丝毫不输 (丝毫不输 - on par with) Ye Fan's. Although you both were soldiers I trained back in the day, I always believed you're more suited to lead the Night Watch than Ye Fan."
"I learned everything from my teacher." Zuo Qing replied coldly and indifferently.
Chen Lao smiled as he cradled his teacup. As if having thought of something, he asked, "By the way, Moyu? Is he dead?"
"Dead. He threw himself onto my blade himself."
Chen Lao sighed with regret. "Although my grandson wasn't as clever as you or Ye Fan, his talent was quite decent. If properly cultivated, he could have become a good successor..."
"But you still pushed him into the abyss yourself." Zuo Qing's eyes turned ice-cold. "When I kept Chen Moyu by my side, it wasn't just because he was your grandson—I genuinely saw something special in him. I had high hopes for him too...
So why did you have to destroy him yourself?
I've deciphered the overall scheme you laid out, but you... I still don't understand you.
You were once a highly decorated Night Watch officer with two personal 'Star Sea' medals and six personal 'Star' medals. In that era, you were the hero in everyone's heart—I, Ye Fan, Shao Pingge... we were all trained by you.
If it hadn't been for that monster Wang Qing who appeared later, you would have been the fourth Night Watch Commander-in-Chief.
I don't understand—why would someone like you do something like this? Do you want to witness Great Xia's destruction? Is this what you want?!"
Zuo Qing's anger grew with each word. His eyes were fixed intently on the calm old man before him, and his voice began to tremble.
Chen Lao calmly took a sip of his tea and smiled faintly.
"You're wrong, Zuo Qing. I'm not doing this to destroy Great Xia... I'm doing this to save it."
"Save?" Zuo Qing's eyes narrowed slightly. "Chen Lao, if you're about to tell me some nonsense about how society is too unfair and corrupt, how the order should be rewritten, or how humanity doesn't deserve to exist on this planet, I really will lose control and cut you down."
"No, it's not spiritual salvation of that sort—it's real salvation..." Chen Lao extended his hand and pointed at the void behind Zuo Qing. "It's to save the countless millions behind us."
Zuo Qing's brow furrowed tightly. "Sabotaging the Night Watch's new blood together with evil gods, weakening the Night Watch's strength, delaying the formation of strategic war fronts, prematurely forcing Great Xia's deities to intervene, designing the assassination of the 【Mask】 squad... You call this salvation?!
Do you have any idea that if Great Xia loses this total divine war, the entire nation and the countless people living within it will be buried because of it?"
"You wouldn't understand, Zuo Qing." Chen Lao spoke unhurriedly. "Only when Great Xia's gods are completely wiped out and the Night Watch is destroyed will 'they' let Great Xia go. Only then will the people behind us survive..."
"Nonsense!"
Zuo Qing abruptly stood up from his seat. "Great Xia has gods, has Zhou Ping, has the Human Apex, has the Night Watch... Why do you think we'll lose to those foreign gods?! You've been a hero for so many years—how could you bow your head and lose your nerve at a time like this?"
"No..."
"What do you mean, no?!"
"I'm not talking about foreign gods when I say 'they.'"
Zuo Qing froze. "What are you saying?"
Chen Lao set down his teacup and slowly closed his eyes. "There are many things you can't see, that the Night Watch can't see, but I've already seen them... In any case, I've already done all those things.
I don't care if you want to kill me, interrogate me, or torture me—feel free...
If you think any of those methods could be useful on me."