Chapter 1229: Stabilizing the Twins

Di Gou was stunned on the spot. The many "Di Ji" around him quickly retreated a few steps upon seeing this, maintaining a safe distance from him.

"I really laughed..."Di Gou said angrily, "Don't tell me I'm the only one who thinks this tactic is so low-level?"

Di Shu glanced at the other "Sheng Xiao" with a smile. Of course, the tactic was low-level, but all was fair in war.

At first glance, the "Sheng Xiao" seemed to be gathered at the door, surrounding the people inside the house. But now, they suspected that Di Gou was a spy, and they themselves might be the ones getting flanked.

In the upcoming fight, they would have to watch their backs, unable to go all out.

With just one sentence, Di Shu had torn a gap in the encirclement.

Yet, he wasn't satisfied, as Di Gou had left far too many loopholes.

"Leader... Now you're calling the tactic 'low-level'..." Di Shu said, feigning difficulty, "But when you led us into your room, you didn't say that..."

"What do you mean, my room..." Di Gou instinctively wanted to retort, but then suddenly remembered it was indeed his room. "So what if it is my room?"

"Forget it..." Di Shu sighed, "You can join in when you think it's appropriate. I'll create an advantage for you first."

With that, he launched a kick at the towering "Di Zhu," but it was easily blocked by "Di Zhu."

Before Di Gou could make another move, the "Sheng Xiao" in front of him devolved into a melee. It was more like four "Di Ji" ganging up to attack Di Shu.

Di Shu could only frantically defend from all sides, managing a few counterattacks here and there, and soon his face was marked with injuries.

Just as Chu Tianqiu had anticipated from the beginning, Di Shu wasn't skilled in hand-to-hand combat. Under the same enhanced physical conditions, he was probably only average or below among the "Di Ji."

Fortunately, none of the "Sheng Xiao" were carrying weapons, so with just their fists and feet, they could only wound Di Shu—it wasn't likely they'd kill him quickly.

Chu Tianqiu glanced at the "Ren Ji" behind the group of "Di Ji." They were all on guard against Di Gou.

It seemed the original plan for these "Ren Ji" was to have their teachers hold off Di Shu while they rushed into the house to capture people. But now, because of Di Gou's unclear allegiance, the "Ren Ji" had to keep an eye on him, wary of him attacking their teachers.

Di Gou felt uncomfortable under their watchful eyes.

The awkward part was that he couldn't scold them, or he'd look even more like the enemy.

After thinking it over, he realized his only option was to join in surrounding Di Shu; otherwise, the label of traitor would stick to him for good.

Chu Tianqiu narrowed his eyes, keeping a close watch on Di Gou's every move, then slowly smiled.

Di Gou took a deep breath and stepped forward, about to find an angle to attack that annoying big rat, when Chu Tianqiu suddenly spoke up.

"Hey, 'Sheng Xiao,' look over here!"

Chu Tianqiu shouted, causing all the "Sheng Xiao" attacking Di Shu to pause and look at him. They saw the man standing there motionless, simply calling out before falling silent.

Why suddenly draw attention if he was just standing there?

This huge flaw and sense of incongruity left the "Sheng Xiao" puzzled.

Some of the smarter "Sheng Xiao" quickly realized what was happening—this man was probably trying to distract them to allow someone to attack from behind.

Thinking of that, they hurriedly turned around and saw that Di Gou was already very close.

"What are you doing?!" the "Sheng Xiao" asked warily.

"Ah?" Di Gou hadn't expected to be caught off guard like this. He quickly put on an awkward smile and explained, "No, wait... I really laughed. I'm here to help, okay."

"Help?"

The "Sheng Xiao" were still doubtful, as the timing of that distraction had been suspiciously precise.

"If you're here to help, why didn't you join in from the start?" a very skinny "Di Hu" asked. "Now you're suddenly coming over—what's your game?"

"I-I didn't react at first..." Di Gou said, "Come on, if you really don't believe me, forget it. I guess good intentions go unrewarded. I'm not arguing with you."

Di Gou finished speaking and tried to slip away, but the other "Sheng Xiao" clearly weren't letting him off the hook. A massive trust crisis had already erupted.

After all, Di Gou was a stranger to them. It was easy for people to instantly distrust a stranger, but hard to build trust quickly.

Di Shu watched this unfold and shook his head with a laugh, then reached up to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth.

He turned back to glance at Chu Tianqiu and couldn't help but think—how many brain cells did it take for someone like Di Gou to go up against these people?

"Leader... Thanks for the help. If you die, I'll burn more paper money for you than anyone else."

Chu Tianqiu shook his head, reached out to steady Di Shu's arm, and said with a smile, "Still being stubborn? Didn't anyone hit you in the mouth just now?"

Di Shu shrugged. "You don't know me. Even if I'm beaten down, I'd compliment them with 'impressively fierce' before I die."

Chu Tianqiu listened and turned back to check on Qian Wu and the others.

Never mind how Qiao Jia Jin and Zhang Shan were faring with the "Shuangsheng Hua" connection—for Qian Wu alone, things looked bad.

Whether it was from overexertion in "resonance" or the noisy "Sheng Xiao" disrupting his focus, his face was pale, his eyes bloodshot, and his eye sockets deeply sunken. Yet, he remained intently gripping the arms of the two people, not even wiping the sweat from his face.

It seemed there were only two possible outcomes: either the "Shuangsheng Hua" was about to succeed, or it was on the brink of failure.

After Di Gou and the "Sheng Xiao" at the door had weakly explained themselves for a while, they finally relented, telling Di Gou to stand far off to the side. He wasn't needed for help or to cause trouble—if he came any closer, they'd treat him as a traitor.

Di Gou agreed, and once the group reorganized, they came back to the door. Chu Tianqiu looked at Di Shu's condition and figured that if he kept fighting one against four, he'd be beaten to death. So, he gripped the eyeball in his hand and signaled for Di Shu to fall back and rest.

Di Shu had no choice but to slowly retreat to the side. The earlier flurry of attacks from those people had left him unsure where he'd been hit, but his ribs hurt badly.

Chu Tianqiu stepped forward, facing the four "Di Ji," and took a deep breath.

He knew he wasn't great at fighting either, so in this situation, he just had to buy as much time as possible.

But as he raised the eyeball to his mouth, Qian Wu's weak voice came from nearby.

"No need for that."Qian Wu said feebly, "Shuangsheng has stabilized..."