So Chu Tianqiu really did sacrifice the chariot to protect the general?

But this time, what was sacrificed was the real chariot, and what was protected was the real general.

No wonder the Chu Tianqiu before them could think of such a thorough plan… so the real one had appeared?

But Qi Xia still felt somewhat confused.

If Chu Tianqiu confidently sent people to find Xu Liunian, that could only mean one thing.

No one would be able to find Xu Liunian—this person had already been killed by him.

But why would he make this decision?

Could it be that because he proposed cooperation with Xu Liunian, it triggered Chu Tianqiu’s murderous intent?

No matter how he thought about it, the current situation reeked of something strange.

Yun Yao slowly walked forward and said, “Tianqiu… what kind of joke are you making? You’re saying ‘Xu Liunian’?”

“That’s right, it’s her,” Chu Tianqiu nodded.

“How could she possibly be someone who ‘just joined Heaven’s Mouth’?” Yun Yao said with a shocked expression. “Little Nian is our teammate!”

At this moment, Tong Yi beside them also showed a puzzled expression. She also remembered this person called Xu Liunian.

Supposedly, she was a “Participant” who came from the same room as Chu Tianqiu and Yun Yao, but had disappeared for a long time.

“Yun Yao, how long has it been since we’ve seen Xu Liunian?” Chu Tianqiu added some废旧 wood to the bonfire. “Think carefully—even if we were once teammates, how can you guarantee she’s not with ‘Extreme Path’ now?”

“This… how is this possible…” Yun Yao said with wide eyes.

Chu Tianqiu stopped paying attention to Yun Yao and instead spoke to the onlooking crowd: “Everyone, Xu Liunian was indeed our teammate two years ago. Some of you even fought alongside her, but I suspect her identity has changed now. She’s returned to ‘Heaven’s Mouth’ and impersonated me.”

Everyone showed shocked expressions after hearing this.

“These past few days, I’ve been locked up in the school’s storage room by her. Because the trigger for my ‘Echo’ is very special, I didn’t dare defy her and could only let her have her way,” Chu Tianqiu continued. “This also led to us losing many teammates these past few days. Although I didn’t do it, I still apologize to everyone.”

After hearing this, Yun Yao asked, “Then how did you escape?”

“I…” Chu Tianqiu smiled at Yun Yao. “I don’t know what happened to her today, but after bringing me food, she forgot to lock the door, allowing me to escape by luck.”

“So that’s how it is…” Zhang Shan muttered to himself. “So it was all done by that person called Xu Liunian…?”

Qi Xia slowly furrowed his brows.

Although Chu Tianqiu handled this matter well, he still felt something was strange.

It was like at the start of a chess game—Qi Xia had only moved a single pawn, yet the opponent immediately chose to sacrifice the chariot to protect the general.

Wasn’t this reaction a bit too extreme?

“Comrades,” Chu Tianqiu stood up and walked step by step toward the door. “The first thing I did after escaping wasn’t to come see you all, but to lock the school’s main gate, then bring antibiotics to save someone. Now the school gate is guarded, and logically Xu Liunian absolutely cannot escape. Tonight is our best chance to catch her. Be aware—this person’s ‘Echo’ is ‘Transformation.’ She might change into someone familiar to herself. From what we can see, she’s very familiar with me and Yun Yao, so her transformation success rate is high. Therefore, Yun Yao and I will move together to give her no opportunity to exploit. If you see a lone ‘Chu Tianqiu’ or ‘Yun Yao,’ you can directly apprehend them.”

Everyone nodded in agreement after hearing this.

“In that case, everyone work hard tonight—don’t rest yet,” Chu Tianqiu said to everyone. “Catching Xu Liunian is the top priority.”

He divided everyone into groups, having them search various parts of the entire school for Xu Liunian, but he alone didn’t assign Qi Xia any task.

“What about me?” Qi Xia asked.

“You and Qiao Jiajin stay here to protect the wounded,” Chu said. “We’ll notify you after we find Xu Liunian.”

Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajin looked at each other but didn’t object.

Everyone soon left the classroom, scattering in all directions with flashlights.

Qi Xia slowly sat down, constantly replaying this entire matter in his mind.

“This is really too strange…” Qi Xia muttered.

How does one predict the moves when playing chess with a madman?

“Liar Boy… are you alright?” Qiao Jiajin asked from the side.

“I’m fine.” Qi Xia shook his head. “I just have many things I can’t figure out.”

Time passed second by second, and Qi Xia’s heart grew more and more restless.

He kept feeling like he had overlooked something very important.

But what exactly was it?

“Here it is again… this feeling of things exceeding expectations…” Qi Xia slowly furrowed his brows.

The next second, bell sounds suddenly rang out from the distance.

The bell sounds startled the three people in the room.

Qi Xia looked out the window. Although he didn’t know the exact time, it was definitely around midnight.

It was impossible for anyone to be participating in games right now, so these “bell sounds”…

“The ‘Extreme Path’ people are attacking!!” someone shouted outside. “Everyone prepare for battle!!”

In an instant, the entire “Heaven’s Mouth” fell into chaos.

Qi Xia could only hear a large number of footsteps and clamoring voices, followed by more bell sounds.

“‘Extreme Path’ is attacking?” Qi Xia looked completely confused.

Was this reasonable?

Lin Qin had said that “Extreme Path” wasn’t a planned or premeditated organization—yet they were attacking?

Qi Xia looked out the window and indeed saw people breaking in through the main gate. From a distance, there appeared to be about twenty-some people. They held torches and wore black clothing—clearly an organization.

Li Xiangling felt extremely uneasy. She clutched her arm and got up, then looked at the situation outside the window.

“They’re killing people…”

Although visibility wasn’t good in the dark night, she could clearly see violent incidents occurring in the distance. A young “Heaven’s Mouth” member had just walked to the gate when he was suddenly pierced through by several wooden stakes.

Li Xiangling covered her mouth, then rolled out of bed to search for weapons she could use for self-defense.

The bell sounds in the distance continued ringing incessantly, mixed with shouts and sounds of combat, plus some explosions and gunfire, making everyone’s hearts chaotic and irritated.

“Damn…” Qiao Jiajin glanced out the window. “Liar Boy, what the hell is going on?”

“I don’t know.”

Qi Xia shook his head and walked to the bonfire, quickly extinguishing the flames.

Chu Tianqiu had personally lit this bonfire just now—it was highly likely he was using the firelight as a marker to point out their target to the enemy.

After all, at this moment in the school, only this room was lit up. This looked far too suspicious no matter how one looked at it.

“We can’t stay in this room.” Qi Xia said cautiously. “Fist, take Li Xiangling. We’re moving immediately.”

“Alright!”

Qiao Jiajin didn’t ask for reasons. He directly reached out to help Li Xiangling up, draping her arm over his neck, then opened the door and carefully peeked outside: “No one.”

Just as the group was about to leave, they suddenly heard the roar of a car engine.

They looked back in confusion and saw through the window a dilapidated sedan burst through the school gate and drive out, then disappear into the distant road without looking back.

“Someone drove off?” Qiao Jiajin asked.

“Don’t worry about it, let’s go first.”

The three people took advantage of the night to reach the corridor. At this moment, there were large numbers of enemies at the main entrance of the teaching building and in the courtyard—escape was simply impossible.

“Liar Boy, which way?”

“In any case, get away from the battlefield first.”