Chapter 1254: One Chance

After Zhou Mo finished speaking, he looked at the person, as if waiting for "Lou Yi" to respond.

It wasn't long before he started receiving a reply. The voice sounded quite young, and indeed, it had been a while since he had conversed with anyone. The voice transmitted into Zhou Mo's mind was even jumbled in grammar.

Still, Zhou Mo generally grasped the other person's meaning.

She listened for a moment, then quickly raised her eyebrows and nodded.

"What did he say?" Yan Zhi Chun asked from the side.

"Tsk, you lucky bastard," Zhou Mo turned back and said, "This guy's actually the 'Lou Yi boss.'"

"Uh..." Yan Zhi Chun paused, "So he can control the 'Lou Yi'?"

"More or less." Zhou Mo nodded. "His general point is that as long as all the 'Lou Yi' can sense that Tian Niu has an eyeball on her, they'll start moving."

Yan Zhi Chun nodded after hearing this, but instantly felt something was off.

Tian Niu was carrying "Yin Ni," and given her current dilemma, there was no way she could cancel it. So how could the 'Lou Yi' sense her eyeball?

But beyond that, there was a more important issue to clarify.

"How will he notify all the 'Lou Yi' since they can't speak?" Yan Zhi Chun asked again.

"Tsk, I don't know. Let me ask."

It wasn't long before Zhou Mo replied, "I asked, and he said he can show you."

The Lou Yi slowly squatted down, placed both hands on the ground, and then began tapping lightly.

The rhythm of his taps was strange—some light, some heavy, with intervals in between.

"Light-heavy-heavy-heavy."

"Light-light-light."

"Heavy."

"Heavy-light."

"Morse code...?" Yan Zhi Chun frowned and said, "J-strike, S-kill, T-Tian, N-Niu?"

"You know that?" Zhou Mo asked. "Tsk, I told you outsiders would get lost."

"I just happened to read about it in a book."

"Oh..." Zhou Mo paused, then added, "You wouldn't understand our 'Mao' whistles, right?"

"You..."

Yan Zhi Chun had no time to bicker with Zhou Mo; she just felt she had underestimated the "Lou Yi" once again.

How realistic and tragic was this situation?

They couldn't speak like normal people, so they had truly learned to communicate through touch, just like insects. After all, they had countless days to move around here. If they couldn't find a way to communicate, the isolation and fear alone would be enough to destroy their sanity.

But the "Lou Yi" couldn't hear anything, so how would this Morse code be conveyed to all the thousands of companions in the area?

Yan Zhi Chun was thinking about this when she saw the Lou Yi repeatedly tapping out these four rhythms. Soon, the nearest Lou Yi began to imitate, knocking out the exact same rhythm.

Then, even farther ones followed. They kept repeating the rhythm, passing it to the person closest to them.

At this point, Yan Zhi Chun realized the "Lou Yi" had a specific positioning—they seemed to be spaced at fixed distances, close enough to feel the vibrations from the ground without touching each other.

In just a minute, almost every "Lou Yi" in the area started repeating these four rhythms. Each one's sound wasn't loud, but at a certain moment, they suddenly synchronized perfectly.

"Light-heavy-heavy-heavy."

"Light-light-light."

"Heavy."

"Heavy-light."

This exhilarating sound was like the pulse of the entire earth, making everyone's hearts beat tensely in unison.

"'Lou Yi'..." Yan Zhi Chun murmured as she watched this rare scene, "Everyone here wants to live..."

Since the plan was now out in the open, the next step was to fully execute it. After all, the information from the Lou Yi was sufficient, and they wouldn't know anything more about what needed to be asked.

"How can we make Tian Niu expose an eyeball...?"

"Tsk, what are you saying?" Zhou Mo asked.

Yan Zhi Chun shook her head. "Never mind, Zhou Mo, tell this 'Lou Yi' to have them stand by. I'll create an opportunity soon."

"Got it." Zhou Mo nodded and leaned forward to mutter a few words.

The Lou Yi listened and then changed his tapping rhythm again, as if passing on a second message to all the "Lou Yi."

Yan Zhi Chun moved to the side, squatted behind another "Lou Yi" to hide, and then lowered her head to look at the ground.

Right now, she needed to focus completely and figure out the "Lou Yi's" operating principles and their next attack direction.

Hei Yang was already injured. Although he had hit Tian Niu, if this continued, it was unclear who would die first. She didn't know Tian Niu well and had no idea if this person would choose mutual destruction or play it safe in a desperate situation.

As Yan Zhi Chun was thinking, she noticed a few blood spots in her line of sight.

She reached out, touched the blood spots on the ground, and felt her train of thought opening up again.

The "Lou Yi's" goal was to collect eyeballs, but why wasn't any of them acting now?

There were dozens of "Ji Dao" people gathered here, each with eyeballs. Why weren't the "Lou Yi" attacking the "Ji Dao"?

Moreover, based on her long-term memories preserved in "Zhong Yan Zhi Di," she had never heard of any incidents where "Lou Yi" harmed people. In fact, most "Lou Yi" intentionally avoided light sources and crowds.

That meant, while the "Lou Yi" wanted "eyeballs," there was a fundamental rule: they wouldn't take eyeballs from living people.

This rule had to exist. Otherwise, every time the "Lou Yi" moved at night, they would target all eyeballs, and over time, the participants would fight back, leading to massive "Lou Yi" deaths. That wouldn't align with Qing Long's intentions.

Qing Long only wanted to turn this place into a conveyor belt of despair, where everything that could break people happened systematically.

So, the "Lou Yi" were set to only take "unwanted" eyeballs.

"No... not entirely." Yan Zhi Chun looked up at the many "Ji Dao" corpses in the central square and felt the rule needed refining. After all, eyeballs from corpses could also be considered ownerless.

A more accurate way to put it was that "Lou Yi" wouldn't take eyeballs that were part of a human's body.

Whether it was the "Dao" or the "Tian Ji" eyeballs transplanted onto people, they were essentially external objects, and the "Lou Yi's" target was to find these external things.

"In other words..." Yan Zhi Chun stared at the ground, her mind racing, "If Tian Niu doesn't show herself, we need to throw someone else's eyeball onto her, and this eyeball can't be affected by 'Yin Ni.'"

Although Yan Zhi Chun had listed out the conditions, the operation was extremely difficult, and for the moment, she couldn't find any leads.

In the distance, after their previous clash, Hei Yang and Tian Niu had both become more cautious. Hei Yang stopped taunting and just stared warily at his surroundings, while Tian Niu had hidden herself again with "Yin Ni."

Yan Zhi Chun had a feeling that if they didn't find a solution before their next encounter, Hei Yang would definitely lose. Even if he counterattacked, he wouldn't be able to get back up.

"The opportunity is only once—we need to prepare on two fronts..." Yan Zhi Chun looked up at the remaining teammates in the distance. "It's time to make use of the 'Ji Dao' cooperation..."

After saying that, she paused, suddenly thinking of something.

This place wasn't just full of "Ji Dao"; there were also a few external allies, besides Li Jing Guan and Su Shan, there were Bai Jiu and Luo Shi Yi.

"Zhou Mo!" Yan Zhi Chun said, "I'm giving you a few names. If they're still alive, go touch them for me."