Upon seeing this, Qi Xia stared at Old Lu and Auntie Tong with an expressionless face, saying nothing.
The entire “Extreme Path” team was surrounded from front and back, momentarily stuck in place. Never mind escaping—even staying alive was now a problem.
“Xiao Chan, you can’t die here. I’ll protect you and leave first…” Old Lu came to his senses and said to Auntie Tong. “You know the rendezvous point. You still need to lead the people behind you there.”
“Hey!!” Auntie Tong was clearly a bit angry. “What exactly are you doing?! What does this have to do with you?”
“How the hell does it have nothing to do with me?!” Old Lu roared. His fat cheeks caused his balding head to shake.
“Just find an opportunity to leave by yourself!!” Auntie Tong said. “I’m accumulating great ‘good karma.’ What awaits me can’t possibly be ‘death.'”
“Stop with the damn ‘good karma’!!” Old Lu interrupted. “The knife is already at your face. If what awaits you isn’t ‘death,’ what else could it be?!”
After hearing this, Qi Xia touched his chin…
Was it “karma” that guided them to appear before him?
But this “Extreme Path” squad that looked to be seven or eight people was surrounded by thirty or forty people. Even if “karma” led them here, what help could it provide?
Qi Xia looked at the situation. Old Lu and Auntie Tong had clearly noticed the group, but the two very tacitly didn’t say anything, just pretending not to recognize Qi Xia and the others.
“Old Qi… what do you say?” Chen Junnan asked quietly. “The five of us plus their eight makes barely thirteen guardians… Sounds like maybe…”
“Is this a matter of how many people?” Qiao Jiajin scratched his head from the side. “Usually those with this kind of title aren’t actually that impressive. They need to gather together to become famous.”
Lawyer Zhang shook his head from the side and said, “I suggest not getting involved. After all, they haven’t shown any intention of asking for help. We each have our own mission objectives. We can’t mix them together.”
After hearing this, Qi Xia touched his chin. He also agreed with Lawyer Zhang’s statement. But just as he raised his head to speak, he discovered that Qiao Jiajin had already disappeared from before his eyes.
“Hahahaha!” Chen Junnan laughed awkwardly. “Old Qi, don’t worry, don’t worry. This young master is here. The plan won’t go wrong.”
“You…” Qi Xia shook his head helplessly. If we’re really talking about “going wrong,” Chen Junnan’s ability to cause problems was much stronger than Qiao Jiajin’s. “Forget it, you go too. Finish it quickly.”
“Got it, haha, just watch.”
Old Lu was still arguing endlessly with Auntie Tong when a “Participant” had already come before them with a knife. This “Participant” looked very young, probably a student under twenty years old.
“Hey!!” The young person shouted loudly, startling Old Lu and Auntie Tong. “Why did you destroy the giant clocks and display screens?!”
“I…” Old Lu was stunned. After all, he didn’t know what the significance of doing this was, so he could only look toward Auntie Tong.
Auntie Tong stared at the young person before her, paused for a moment, then opened her mouth to say, “Child… this may be hard for you to understand, but we’re accumulating ‘good karma’… You need to know that everything we’ve done is for everyone in the ‘Land of End’…”
“Nonsense!!” The young person looked like their mind had already been clouded by anger.
They wouldn’t consider how unreasonable the escape rules of this bizarre place were, wouldn’t consider how ruthless the “Zodiacs” were when killing people, and wouldn’t think about what unconscionable things “Heavenly Dragon” and “Qinglong” had done to numb everyone’s thinking.
They only knew that the giant clocks and display screens had been destroyed, they couldn’t know about their “Echoes,” and they had no way to escape.
So the ones who most needed to be hated for not being able to escape weren’t “Heavenly Dragon” and “Qinglong,” but these “rebels” before them.
“It’s true…” Auntie Tong said. “Child, as long as you all feel with your hearts, you’ll know the earth isn’t wailing. Everything is developing in a good direction…”
“Crazy, you’re all simply crazy…” The young person gritted their teeth, gripped the knife in a reverse hold, and was about to stab at Auntie Tong.
Just at this moment, a strong and powerful hand gripped his wrist.
The young person was stunned, but felt that person wrap their other hand around his shoulder.
“Pretty boy, wait, listen to me first.”
The young person turned his head to look. Qiao Jiajin’s innocent smile came into view. Although the smile looked completely non-threatening, Qiao Jiajin seemed to have just fought with someone—his face, around his mouth, even his neck and body were all covered in bloodstains.
“You… what are you doing…” the young person asked.
“Nothing, nothing.” Qiao Jiajin shook his head. “Just want to chat with everyone. Hey! That person over there, put down the knife too. If we’re going to fight, let’s fight, but don’t use knives. What if someone dies?”
After hearing this, everyone turned their heads to look at this flower-armed man, only to discover that besides his flower arm, his body and face were now covered in blood, looking quite terrifying.
Although everyone was clamoring to kill people, when they really saw this kind of fierce and menacing character, they could only fall silent for a moment.
“You… which side are you on?” the young person asked.
“I’m from Bowrington Street.” Qiao Jiajin answered. “Can’t everyone just talk things through?”
“Bo—Bowrington Street…?”
“Yes, yes.” Qiao Jiajin skillfully and naturally removed the knife from the young person’s hand. “We’re all ‘Participants,’ right? What’s the point of fighting and killing here? If you have this energy, why not use it to fight the ‘Zodiacs’?”
“You… wait…” A middle-aged man in the crowd spoke up. “It was clearly these people who destroyed the giant clocks and display screens. We have no way to know about our ‘Echoes’ now. How can you still speak for them? Are you all in this together?”
“I…” Qiao Jiajin played with the knife in his hand, then raised his head to look at everyone. “I’m not with any group. I just hope everyone won’t kill each other here. Isn’t it good to preserve your lives?”
Seeing everyone silent, Qiao Jiajin added, “If you really want to fight, I can accompany you. You can all come at once, or you can come one by one.”
After hearing this, Qi Xia turned his head to look at Qiao Jiajin. Although normally speaking, he might fight when facing so many people, right now Qiao Jiajin was seriously injured. Chen Junnan and he couldn’t help much either. If a real fight broke out, the situation would be a bit troublesome.
“Don’t listen to him… they’re in this together!!” the middle-aged man said again. “He’s obviously here to help! Don’t be afraid! Just beat them all to death!”
Now Qiao Jiajin was indeed somewhat stumped. The people before him seemed truly angry. Ordinary persuasion was useless now.
So what needed to be done next?
Did he really need to fight and knock these people down?
“Little Qiao.” Chen Junnan’s voice came from behind, causing the crowd’s movements to pause once more.
“Little Qiao…?” Qiao Jiajin turned his head back to ask quietly. “Me…?”
“Why is it so hard for you to handle a task? Haven’t you explained things properly to the fellow townspeople yet?” Chen Junnan decisively walked over with his hands clasped behind his back. The crowd didn’t know what role he played, and they all took a step back.
“Fellow… I… I really haven’t explained it properly.” Qiao Jiajin shook his head. “They won’t listen to me.”
“Hey, it’s not a big deal. I’ll explain it myself.” Chen Junnan said. “Fellow townspeople, we’re actually from the ‘Land of End Administrative Office.’ This demolition plan—we did act without telling you all first, which is indeed our fault. But our ultimate purpose is to follow the instructions from above and replace everyone’s giant clocks and display screens with better ones.”
After these words, everyone furrowed their brows.