Chapter 1227: The Stubborn One

A group of people followed Qian Wu into the room, while Di Gou stood at the door with a reluctant expression on his face.

Chu Tianqiu thought for a moment and then found a chair inside the room to sit down.

After all, he and Zhang Shan both needed to head to the "Che Tou." The best approach right now was to wait for Qian Wu's "Shuang Sheng Hua" to succeed, then go with Zhang Shan and Qiao Jijin. That way, he could reach the "Che Tou" for sure and meet up with Qi Xia afterward.

Thinking of Qi Xia, Chu Tianqiu suddenly froze. Now that Qiao Jijin was acting on his own, would Qi Xia be in danger?

Qian Wu had the two of them sit cross-legged on the ground and relax, then began explaining the precautions.

He said that "Shuang Sheng Hua" was essentially copying a body, but a body enhanced by "Tian Xing Jian" had already transcended human limits, making the copying process time-consuming and difficult.

Before the copying was fully successful, the two of them needed to stay as still as possible. They both nodded in agreement after hearing this.

Qin Dingdong told the group he had other matters to handle and left the house without waiting for anyone to try to stop him, blending into the crowd of "Can Yu Zhe" wandering outside and disappearing from sight.

Di Shu took the opportunity to approach the door and stand face-to-face with Di Gou.

The moment Di Gou saw that shifty face, he felt annoyed and didn't want to engage, but Di Shu clearly took an interest in him. No matter how Di Gou tried to avoid his gaze, Di Shu kept staring into his eyes.

"Hey, wallflower dog," Di Shu called out.

"Who the hell are you calling a wallflower dog?" Di Gou shot back.

"Don't say I didn't warn you—as soon as I call you 'wallflower dog,' it makes you feel like one of us," Di Shu said with a laugh. "Dog leader, things have come to this point, so why not just join us? They've already slapped the 'rebel' label on you, so why not get excited about the identity?"

"I'm not joining, so stop spouting nonsense," Di Gou replied, glancing warily toward the door. "Everything I'm doing now is under duress. If anyone finds out, I'll claim I knew nothing about it."

"What a coincidence, leader," Di Shu said, laughing even more. "I'm under duress too! Who in their right mind would volunteer to 'rebel' here?"

"You..." Di Gou looked at Di Shu suspiciously. "You don't look like you're under duress at all. You're already recruiting teammates... Do you think I'm an idiot?"

"Being under duress is subjective," Di Shu said with a smile. "As long as I say I was forced, no one can prove otherwise. Am I right?"

"Get lost," Di Gou waved him off. "There's no way I'm joining. Everyone on this 'Lieu Che' knows that anyone who teams up with you ends up in trouble."

"I get it, I get it," Di Shu nodded. "After all, my reputation precedes me, and people know what kind of person I am. But they're misunderstanding me—I'm actually very sincere."

"What 'reputation precedes you'? It's more like you're notorious," Di Gou snorted. "We're all just two-faced on the surface because we're afraid to die, but you're going all in... Actually rebelling against Qing Long and Tian Long? You'd need more lives than you have, and you call that 'sincere'?"

Di Shu stroked the whiskers on either side of his mouth and replied, "Leader, I won't say whether I'm sincere or not, but you just led us inside, and plenty of 'Sheng Xiao' saw it. How are you going to prove you were forced?"

"I..." Di Gou paused. "I don't care. Being forced is subjective— if I say I was forced, then I was."

"You're quite the clever dog," Di Shu said. "You've picked up on things so quickly."

"What does it matter to you how fast I learn?" Di Gou glared at Di Shu. "Even with this big operation you've got going, it still looks like a disorganized mess. You're even recruiting rebels on the spot—who needs me to tell you the success rate is low?"

"That's not right," Di Shu said. "Dog leader, didn't you just say a lot of our actions look like they were planned from the start?"

"So what?"

"The one leading this 'rebellion' isn't me—it's Bai Yang. Who else would dare pull off something this massive on the 'Lieu Che'?"

"Bai Yang..." Di Gou paused, smirking. "So what about Bai Yang? I think Bai Yang's just overrated. If I had enough time, I could do all this too. Bai Yang doesn't hold a candle to me."

"Leader... Is this how you usually spin your dreams into stories?" Di Shu asked with wide, innocent eyes. "Where do people generally start laughing when they hear it?"

"Believe it or not, that's up to you," Di Gou grumbled. "Am I the only one who thinks Bai Yang is asking for trouble? He's brainwashed all of you into not wanting to live peacefully on the 'Lieu Che' anymore. It's ridiculous."

Di Shu looked at Di Gou with an especially sympathetic expression, knowing that you can never wake someone who's pretending to sleep.

But sometimes, you have to admit that people like Di Gou aren't uncommon in the world.

They always want to stand out as different, starting their sentences with "Am I the only one..." They dislike acknowledging others' strengths and avoid facing their own weaknesses.

Over time, they fail to learn better qualities and can't reflect on their own issues, falling into a vicious cycle of rigid thinking.

"Admitting that someone else is better than you... It's incredibly hard in many situations, isn't it?"

The question left Di Gou speechless.

Di Shu shook his head and continued, "Even if the games Bai Yang designs earn more in a day than you do in a month, or if he racks up more kills than your monthly performance, and even if he's helped countless 'Di Ji' design games, earning their loyalty, and now leads all the 'Can Yu Zhe'... Does that still mean he's inferior to you in every way? Does that logic make sense?"

"I'll admit, Bai Yang does have a few redeeming qualities," Di Gou shrugged. "But he never designed anything for me, so how would I know his level? Do I have to worship someone I don't even know?"

"Forget it." Di Shu realized for the first time just how vast the differences between people could be, so he just shook his head. "Dog leader, even if you begged to join the 'rebellion' now, we wouldn't accept you as one of us."

"Whatever, like I care about rebelling anyway," Di Gou said with a smirk. "I never wanted in to begin with."

Di Shu turned around and saw that Qian Wu's "Shuang Sheng Hua" had already started. Qiao Jijin's body was slowly expanding like a balloon.