“Giant clock demolition…?”

These four bizarre words left all the “Participants” instantly speechless.

These four words sounded extremely unfamiliar, but thinking carefully about them, they were inexplicably reasonable in some ways.

“Wait…” The middle-aged man stared at Chen Junnan for a long time, finally feeling that something wasn’t quite right. “What exactly do you do… You’re demolishing giant clocks?”

“Didn’t I just say?” Chen Junnan raised an eyebrow. “I’m from the ‘Land of End Administrative Office.'”

“You…” The middle-aged man cleared his throat without batting an eye. “You’re one of the ‘Zodiacs’ people?”

“No, the ‘Zodiacs’ are my people.” Chen Junnan said. “This young master takes orders directly from that Heavenly Dragon kid. This matter is too confidential, so not many people know about it.”

“Wait… wait a moment…”

Many “Participants” were indeed frightened upon hearing Chen Junnan’s statement. After all, many people here knew that “Zodiacs” could monitor participants, and many taboo words couldn’t be directly mentioned. Even the “Zodiacs” were somewhat cautious when mentioning these words.

For example, “Heavenly Dragon.”

But the man before them not only directly mentioned Heavenly Dragon’s name, he even called him “that kid.”

Upon hearing this, everyone could only silently retreat to prevent being implicated when the “Zodiacs” punished him.

But after waiting dozens of seconds, the man before them still stood there perfectly fine, his face constantly wearing that confident and arrogant smile. This time, everyone finally discovered that things weren’t looking good.

This person was either extremely bold or truly had some connection with Heavenly Dragon.

“How should I put it? Little Qiao and I came down here mainly to do practical things for the townspeople.” Chen Junnan interjected. “We conducted surveys in many places, and after discovering that the giant clocks and display screens were starting to deteriorate, we directly arranged for people to begin the demolition plan.”

“Qi Xia…” Zhang Chenze said quietly from the side. “Won’t they mess things up?”

Qi Xia turned his head and carefully scanned each person’s expression, then said, “No, this matter will succeed.”

“But the reason Chen Junnan gave…”

“The ‘reason’ isn’t important.” Qi Xia said. “But ‘whether or not there is a reason’ is very important.”

“Huh…?”

After hearing Chen Junnan’s words, many “Participants” still felt their minds were somewhat confused. The young person leading them finally couldn’t help but ask, “Um… You discovered that the giant clocks and display screens were deteriorating…? Didn’t you notice that this entire city has turned into ruins?”

“Hm?” Chen Junnan was stunned.

“If you really want to send people to rebuild, shouldn’t you build us some houses to live in…?”

“Uh…” Chen Junnan discovered that this young person seemed not too easy to deceive and quickly spoke up. “One house can only benefit one person, but how many people will benefit from a giant clock? Just take this Go club next to us for example…”

Chen Junnan pointed to an abandoned Go club building beside the crowd. “If we renovate and repair it, how many people can live there?”

“This…”

“But as long as we can rebuild the display screens and giant clocks, countless people will benefit. This is far more advantageous than building houses.” Chen Junnan said. “But I’ve already learned of your demands. However, this matter isn’t under our ‘Land of End Administrative Office’s’ jurisdiction—it falls under ‘Urban Planning.’ This young master will help reflect your concerns to them.”

After hearing Chen Junnan’s words, everyone was still half-believing and half-doubting. The middle-aged man walked forward, pulled the young man’s arm, and the two tacitly walked to the side to discuss the current situation.

The middle-aged man felt that regardless of what background these two people before them actually had, they were intentionally or unintentionally protecting these “rebels.” If they chose not to believe them, there was a very small probability they would bring trouble upon themselves.

Whether the other party turned hostile and directly attacked, or whether they truly had some background, they could all end up in a passive position because of this.

So the best method at this time was to pretend to believe the two people’s story and directly withdraw from here. After all, there were still many “rebels”—even if they didn’t kill these eight people, everyone could still earn merit and vent their anger on behalf of all “Participants.”

After hearing this, the young person felt the middle-aged man’s words made sense. Even if this group of hostile people gave the most bizarre reasons, the best choice at this time was to believe it was better to be safe than sorry—better to avoid trouble than seek it.

So they no longer chose to tangle with Chen Junnan, Qiao Jiajin, and the others. After quietly discussing a few sentences among themselves, they all silently withdrew one after another.

Seeing them leave, both Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiajin breathed a sigh of relief.

“It still has to be you, Handsome Nan.” Qiao Jiajin said. “A few sentences and you sent them packing.”

After hearing this, Chen Junnan shook his head with a heavy expression. “This time I was purely talking nonsense. I don’t know what’s wrong with these people—it’s like they’ve lost their wits.”

“Huh?” Qiao Jiajin was a bit puzzled. “This works too?”

“This situation is more dangerous than any previous one.” Qi Xia’s voice sounded behind the two.

“What?”

“But as long as we give them a reason, they have no choice but to make a decision.” Qi Xia continued. “Either choose not to believe it and everyone tears off the facade, or go along with the act and everyone finds a way to save face. For them right now, the best choice is to leave directly without looking back.”

“Is that how it is…?” After hearing this, Qiao Jiajin was stunned. “But how did you know they would definitely leave?”

“Because they had no choice.” Qi Xia said. “These people are a ‘rabble.’ Do you know what the essential difference is between a ‘rabble’ and ‘crack troops’?”

“The difference lies in… combat power?” Qiao Jiajin asked back.

“No.” Qi Xia shook his head. “The difference lies in their ‘thinking.'”

“Thinking…?”

“When a ‘rabble’ wants to achieve a goal, their first thought is ‘without bloodshed.'” Qi Xia said. “They gather together with a surge of baseless fervor and block people who are fewer in number than themselves. Although their shouting is loud, no one is ever the first to attack. Because they want to complete the mission without expending any effort or receiving any wounds. After all, these people feel there’s no need to risk their lives for this kind of thing. This is the difference between them and ‘crack troops.'”

“This young master seems to understand.” Chen Junnan nodded while moving his injured limbs. “It’s like how the barefoot aren’t afraid of those who wear shoes. They were afraid we’d really fight them to the death, and as a result, this young master lucked out.”

Qi Xia nodded and walked to Auntie Tong and Old Lu’s side.

“Young Qi… thank you all…” Old Lu said.

“After this wave of pursuers disperses, due to the existence of an ‘information gap,’ your identities will be cleared.” Qi Xia said. “Pretend to be ordinary ‘Participants’ and continue forward.”

Old Lu was about to nod when Auntie Tong refused.

“Old Lu, I’ll say this first—let’s part ways here.”