Chapter 1302: One-Sided Cooperation

Tian Gou took a few steps and leaned against the nearby wall, starting to breathe deeply.

He turned back with difficulty and asked, "Has that person named Yan Zhi Chun not arrived yet?"

Di Gou turned around and asked, "Who told you to stop? We've already sent someone to fetch Yan Zhi Chun. Don't play the victim—keep leading the way."

"Let me rest for a moment," Tian Gou said. "My back is in excruciating pain, and we have to wait for Yan Zhi Chun... Don't you trust me by now?"

"Is this you backing out?" Di Gou asked. "You were all talk earlier, and you should know we could kill you right now."

"I've already agreed to cooperate..." Tian Gou gritted his teeth and said, "Why treat me like an enemy..."

"That's hard to say," Di Gou shook his head. "Someone who gouged out all his own eyes just to survive... could easily betray us for the same reason."

"I told you I won't run..." Tian Gou shifted his back to keep the wounds from rubbing against his clothes. "I just want to stay alive. Gouging out my eyes was a last resort— it doesn't matter to me who's in charge here... I just want to live."

Lin Jian furrowed her brow and glanced at Tian Gou, then toward the distant door, before asking, "So this is the plan you came up with on the spot? Leading us to open that door..."

"Yeah, don't worry..." Tian Gou sighed evasively. "It'll be over soon."

She found Tian Gou's decision strangely off. Earlier, Di Gou had led the group into his room, aiming to extract all the information he'd gathered with Ling Wen so far, and Tian Gou had been unusually cooperative.

Not only did he answer every question, sharing details about the current battlefield situation and listing some of the casualties, but he also proposed a suggestion that even Di Gou couldn't fully understand.

After hearing it, Lin Jian felt a sense of impending disaster. Tian Gou seemed too odd... No one would make such a suggestion at a time like this.

After all, Di Gou only wanted information. From Tian Gou's perspective, once he spilled everything, he should be safe. There was no need for him to suggest a plan that would trap himself.

Unless Tian Gou was insane... or setting a deadly trap for everyone.

What was even stranger was that Di Gou believed Tian Gou and chose to enter that door with him.

"So..." Xiao Xiao came over to Lin Jian and whispered, "What do you think of this?"

"I really don't know..." Lin Jian whispered back. "What other options do we have now? Even if these two are trying to kill all the Can Yu Zhe, the best we can do is stick with them and stop it at the critical moment."

"But haven't you played in that dog's game before?" Xiao Xiao pressed on. "Based on what you know about him, would he suddenly switch sides like this?"

"It's precisely because I don't think he would that I've been patient until now... But that suggestion from Tian Gou..." Lin Jian paused. "No... Actually, both of them are acting weird. Di Gou seems to have been waiting for this opportunity. He wouldn't let us go after Tian Niu or free the Lou Yi, and he dragged things out for so long, only to lead us to Tian Gou, who was waiting here with an even more important task. No matter how you look at it, that's suspicious."

Xiao Xiao glanced at Tian Gou standing nearby and quickly whispered to Lin Jian, "Wait... Theoretically, this Tian Ji still has Ling Wen even after gouging out his eyes... He might hear what we're saying."

"It doesn't matter if he hears," Lin Jian said. "I don't trust him anyway, and at this point, there's no need to hide it."

Tian Gou glanced at Lin Jian, a flicker of grievance crossing his plump face, but he pretended not to have heard anything.

"Little brother!" Lin Jian pulled Zheng Ying Xiong over to her. "I need to ask you something."

Zheng Ying Xiong nodded, though his expression was uneasy.

Lin Jian pointed at Tian Gou. "Tell me, sister—is he lying?"

Zheng Ying Xiong was no ordinary child, and faced with such a question, he fell silent. He'd encountered similar situations many times before, and no matter if he answered "yes" or "no," the outcome wouldn't be great.

"Don't be afraid," Lin Jian said. "He's just a Di Ji with Hui Xiang right now. His life is in our hands—he won't dare act out."

Zheng Ying Xiong remained silent for a moment, then looked up at Tian Gou. After a few seconds, he turned his gaze to Di Gou.

He'd noticed it from the start—the situation was eerily strange.

"Sister..." Zheng Ying Xiong stared at the two figures and said, "They're both lying."

That brief statement made Lin Jian and Xiao Xiao's faces change almost instantly, thickening the atmosphere on site.

Di Gou turned around and gave Zheng Ying Xiong a meaningful look, then said, "Kid, your statement is too vague. If you don't know what lies we've each told, don't jump to conclusions."

"You're right..." Zheng Ying Xiong agreed with Di Gou. "I don't know exactly what lies you've told, but you both have the scent of lies on you."

Tian Gou heard Zheng Ying Xiong's words and looked at Di Gou, his expression turning instantly tense. "You're lying to me too...? So you're not planning to let me live in the end?"

"You..." Di Gou said with a hint of hesitation, "Aren't you the one playing the victim first? I'd like to hear—what lie did you tell? I agreed to this seemingly unreasonable demand of yours, but you still have things you're hiding?"

Zheng Ying Xiong's words seemed to plunge the two into a crisis of trust.

"I... I do have something I'm hiding," Tian Gou scratched his cheek. "But it's nothing major..."

"Alright, let's be open about it," Di Gou nodded. "Before we go through the door, let's both confess our lies, so we don't distrust each other at the final stage."

Tian Gou thought for a moment and said, "If we're being honest, this strategy wasn't my own idea, and it's not some 'plan that benefits the big picture'... Someone told me about it."

"Who?"

"It was Bai Yang, or rather, Qi Xia..." Tian Gou slowly lowered his head. "He told me from far away what the next tactic should be, and instructed me to lead Yan Zhi Chun, Lin Jian, Jiang Ruo Xue, and Zheng Ying Xiong to that door..."

"Qi Xia...?" Di Gou narrowed his eyes, feeling the situation was still unclear. "Are you saying Qi Xia just told you from afar that it's time to activate the Tian Ji Moment?"

"Yes." Tian Gou nodded, and Zheng Ying Xiong noticed that the scent of lies on him had mostly faded.