Chapter 1238: Clinging

Seeing Tian She casually pull up a chair and sit in front of her, lost in thought, Xiao Ran felt even angrier.

“You’re just sitting by yourself?” Xiao Ran asked.

“Hmm…?” Tian She didn’t understand what Xiao Ran meant. “Am I stopping you from sitting?”

“Attitude!” Xiao Ran said. “It’s mainly about your attitude! First, I’m a guest, coming to your room as a visitor; second, I represent Qing Long, here to convey instructions to you. By all rights, you should have offered me the chair first.”

Tian She stared into Xiao Ran’s eyes for a long time, finding the situation hard to figure out.

Because this woman truly believed what she was saying; she wasn’t bluffing or showing any signs of nervousness from lying.

Tian She had read the minds of countless people, but this one was exceptionally unusual. Although she had lied earlier, she was now inexplicably acting and speaking consistently, leaving him unable to grasp her fully.

“I don’t… I mean, I don’t have the habit of being deferential,” Tian She replied ambiguously. “You sit yourself.”

Xiao Ran irritably dragged over a chair and sat down, then crossed her legs and folded her arms across her chest.

“Go on, give me your report,” Xiao Ran said.

“Report…?”

“Yes, report on what you ‘Tian Ji’ are up to and how you’ve managed to upset Qing Long,” Xiao Ran said with a furrowed brow. “We’re all on the same side now, and to deal with those ‘Zao Fan Zhe’ outside, we have to stand united.”

“Oh, just now… wait a minute… ‘Zao Fan Zhe’?”

Tian She paused and quickly scanned Xiao Ran’s line of sight for what he needed.

Soon, he realized the situation was even stranger than he imagined.

What ‘Zao Fan Zhe’… in this woman’s memory, it was just a group of ‘Yuan Zhu Min’ who had recently gained their freedom.

Because Zhu Que was dead, a large number of ‘Yuan Zhu Min’ had gained rationality, and then some figure who seemed like an old con artist had incited them, sending them haphazardly onto the ‘train’.

That was the ‘rebellion’…

Although the situation was absurd enough, these people wouldn’t even need to alarm Qing Long; a few ‘Di Ji’ could handle it easily, right?

This ragtag bunch of stragglers—kill off ten or twenty at random, and the rest would scatter in fear.

Because they lacked the strong beliefs to drive them forward and had no clear goal to fight to the death for.

The only real issue was that, aside from replicating Xuan Wu, they needed to create a new Zhu Que.

“So, you saw some ‘Zao Fan Zhe’…” Tian She adjusted his glasses and looked at Xiao Ran with a hint of doubt, “and came to inform Qing Long about it… so Qing Long assigned you to me?”

“You’re quite the guesser,” Xiao Ran laughed. “Now you see why Qing Long values me so much?”

Truth be told, Tian She had no idea.

Given Qing Long’s temperament, he should have torn this woman apart on the spot.

But why was she still alive? Surviving with this attitude from Qing Long was almost unthinkable.

Wait a minute… something didn’t add up.

Tian She thought for a moment and realized Qing Long must have already heard about the ‘rebellion’ on the train. Even if he hadn’t, Tian Gou would have reported it by now.

So, Qing Long sending this woman to him wasn’t because of her tip-off, but for some other reason.

“Your ‘Xian Fa’…” He paused after speaking, “I mean… what is your ‘Hui Xiang’?”

Since Tian She couldn’t read anything about ‘Hui Xiang’ from Xiao Ran’s eyes, he asked directly.

If this woman was scatterbrained, insignificant, and full of self-importance, yet Qing Long still sent her here, it must mean her ‘Hui Xiang’ made up for all those flaws.

“‘Hui Xiang’…?” Xiao Ran’s eyes darted around briefly before she snapped back. “Why are you asking about that? Right now, you’re supposed to follow my orders, but here you are interrogating me. Do you believe I’ll go straight to Qing Long and report you?”

Tian She fell silent again after hearing this.

Because he discovered that this woman wasn’t lying.

She really intended to go to Qing Long and embellish things to make him look bad, and in her mind, she even pictured Qing Long questioning him.

Without some absolute leverage… why would she be so confident?

“In any case, just do what you’re supposed to,” Xiao Ran said, lowering her head and contemptuously picking at her nails. After spending so many days with Di She, she was covered in grime, even with dirt under her nails.

“But what exactly am I supposed to do…?” Tian She asked in confusion, as he hadn’t read any instructions from Xiao Ran’s memory.

“Oh, right.” Xiao Ran looked up and said, “Now, I’m giving you your first order: Tell the other active ‘Tian Ji’ to take the ‘Di Ji’ and go suppress those Zao Fan Zhe. Once you’re done, come back here—I’ll wait for you.”

As Xiao Ran spoke, Tian She kept watching her eyes and confirmed she wasn’t lying—this order truly came from Qing Long.

With that, the matter couldn’t be delayed; he had to notify the other ‘Tian Ji’ immediately.

Tian She felt his ‘mind reading’ wasn’t yet perfected—if the other person wasn’t thinking about something, he couldn’t catch it.

Fortunately, it wasn’t too late, and he hadn’t delayed Qing Long’s order.

“Next time, for things like this, please say it earlier,” Tian She muttered softly, then turned and left the room.

Seeing how effective her order was, Xiao Ran sat in Tian She’s room with a smile on her face.

This situation was even more wonderful than she had imagined.

Although Tian She’s room was a bit smelly and filthy, at least he seemed cleaner than that repulsive Di She.

Now, she had gone from being just a participant to someone who could command the ‘Tian Ji’—the feeling was incredibly exhilarating.

Reflecting on her experiences in this filthy place, it had been full of ups and downs, full of hardships.

She had thought she could latch onto a brain doctor and, once out, reconnect to make up for some financial and social losses, but that doctor turned out to be useless and couldn’t even stand up for her. Later, she targeted Qi Xia; although he seemed hard to approach, the others treated him like a leader, so if she could attach herself to him, she could boss the rest around. But that didn’t work out either.

Then, whether it was ‘Tian Tang Kou’, the ‘Sheng Xiao’, or the ‘Yuan Zhu Min’, her good times only lasted a day or two. Every time she felt she was about to succeed, some troublemaker would interfere with her happy life.

But now, everything was turning around.

She had attached herself to the biggest figure here, Qing Long.