I swallowed and looked at this young man.

He seemed to frequently help people handle similar problems, but this time the situation clearly exceeded his control.

Why did Baiyang insist on having him nearby when communicating such important matters with me?

But no matter how rich this young man’s experience was, he was now thoroughly frightened.

Yes, if it weren’t for the expression he showed, I would have forgotten that every sentence Baiyang spoke was so shocking. Unfortunately, I had long since grown accustomed to it.

“So what?” Baiyang asked. “Are you going to break the contract?”

“No, it’s not breaking the contract,” the young man shook his head. “I still won’t leak a single word of your conversation, but I can’t participate in what comes next. Otherwise, not just me, but even ‘Cat’ will face mortal danger.”

After saying this, he breathed a sigh of relief, as if about to withdraw the strange field surrounding us, but Baiyang reached out and grabbed him at this moment.

“Wait a moment,” Baiyang said. “Are you certain you want to destroy ‘Cat’s’ reputation like this?”

“It’s no longer a question of ‘reputation,'” the young man said. “The reason we ‘Cat’ have survived until now is by remaining neutral. If we’re serving ‘rebels,’ then our nature changes. I can’t gamble with ‘Cat’s’ future.”

“‘Cat’s’ future is me,” Baiyang said in a deep voice.

“What…?” The young man was slightly stunned. “You?”

“You can listen now,” Baiyang said. “After you go back, tell Qian Wu that this ‘Zodiac’ knows ‘Cat’s’ ultimate mission, and he will tell you the reason.”

After hearing this, the young man clearly fell silent, seeming not to believe Baiyang’s words.

Yes, not only him—even I didn’t quite believe it.

“You now bear ‘Cat’s’ mission,” Baiyang said. “This task must be completed, or it will seriously damage ‘Cat’s’ reputation. I’m pressed for time—you choose.”

The young man slowly narrowed his eyes. After pondering for a few seconds, he said, “Fine, I’ll stay here until the end, but I must add a layer of insurance.”

With that, he pulled out a short knife from his waist. Seeing that things were amiss, I immediately summoned my “Conviction.” I thought this person meant Baiyang harm, but within a single second, the young man flipped the blade in his hand to point at himself, then flew it toward his own ear.

*Smack!*

Baiyang grabbed his hand just as the blade tip was about to pierce into his ear canal.

The young man’s strength was considerable—he clearly wasn’t joking.

What was he doing?

I didn’t quite understand. In order not to hear our conversation, this young man actually chose to pierce his own ears deaf?

I even felt this organization’s “Conviction” was stronger than “Extreme Path.”

“There’s no need,” Baiyang said to the young man. “Doing this is only torturing yourself.”

“I’m sorry… I have no way to trust anyone,” the young man said. “I only know I can’t let Fifth Brother down. If ‘Cat’ is destroyed in my hands, I’ll never be able to atone for the rest of my life, so just let me use this ‘method that satisfies both sides.'”

After hearing this, Baiyang furrowed his brows slightly, but ultimately released his hand.

The young man softly said “thank you,” then decisively stabbed the knife into his own ear canal.

His face showed a trace of pain, then he swayed for quite a while as if losing his balance before finally managing to stand steady. Then, with a pale face, he nodded to indicate his readiness.

Baiyang sighed helplessly and said, “I didn’t expect everyone to do so well.”

“Hm?” I looked at him.

“It’s nothing, Yan Zhichun, this is also good,” Baiyang said. “What I’m about to say next, soon in the entire ‘End Land,’ only you will know. You will be my strongest ‘needle.'”

“I’m a ‘needle’…?”

This was the first time I’d heard this description. Since meeting Baiyang, my positioning of myself had become vague and uncertain. Sometimes I thought I was a chess piece, sometimes I thought I was a subordinate, and I also considered myself a dog or a tool.

But Baiyang thought I was “one of his own,” and now said I was a powerful “needle.”

“That’s right,” Baiyang said. “I need all the ‘needles’ to pierce toward the vital points of Qinglong and Heavenly Dragon.”

“What do you want me to do…?”

Baiyang looked at me. After a long silence, he said, “After destroying the giant bells and display screens, you lead everyone to hide and escape the pursuit with all your might. After that, proceed to these eight locations. Remember, you must arrive before dark.”

Baiyang took out a pre-drawn map and handed it to me. It showed the road conditions of the nearby area, with markings of “Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao” in some locations.

“This is…?”

“These are the locations of eight ‘Zodiacs,'” Baiyang said. “You bring everyone to scatter near these eight people. When they finish work, go through the teleportation gates beside them and enter the ‘Train’ together.”

“What?!”

No wonder… no wonder Baiyang said the first task was very simple…

Yes, compared to the second task, the first task was indeed too simple…

“The ‘Train’ isn’t that… isn’t that where the ‘Zodiacs’ gather?! Can ordinary people enter?!”

I shouted out, losing my composure. This was probably the first time in my memory I’d been so flustered.

“That’s right, the ‘Train’ is full of ‘Zodiacs,’ but no one has stipulated that ‘Participants’ can’t enter the ‘Train,’ because we originally came out from the ‘Train’ to begin with,” Baiyang said. “Entering the ‘Train’ is only the first step. There’s a second step.”

“Wait a moment… I haven’t understood your ‘first step’ yet…” I said to Baiyang. “Why enter the ‘Train’ from these eight locations?”

“Because these eight ‘Zodiacs’ most likely won’t attack you,” Baiyang said. “Like you, they are also ‘our own people.'”

“I still don’t quite understand… if they’re ‘our own people’… wouldn’t one be enough?” I raised the question in my heart. “If all my people scatter to eight locations, not only will we have no way to support each other, but we might also be defeated one by one. So why make my people so scattered…? If we enter the ‘Train’ from places so far apart, we also won’t have a way to immediately regroup on the ‘Train,’ right?”

“I’m ashamed to say,” Baiyang shook his head, “because I have no way to determine which one among these eight people is not ‘one of our own.'”

“What…?”

“Yan Zhichun, let me tell you the truth,” Baiyang raised his cold eyes to look at me. “Among the eight of our own people, one person is fake. In other words, seven ‘Gates of Life,’ one ‘Gate of Death.’ Making your team scatter—the ultimate purpose is to preserve the survival of large numbers of personnel. If you only wait at one ‘gate,’ and you bet wrong… then it will be total annihilation.”