Chapter 757: Two Shields

"You..."

Chen Jun Nan swallowed hard, seemingly not expecting Qi Xia to answer so decisively. He then asked, "So, what's your purpose?"

"I don't know," Qi Xia replied. "I can't remember."

"Stop bullshitting me!!" Chen Jun Nan shouted. "Qi, you're just spouting off without a care now, aren't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You said we're 'no longer useful,'" Chen Jun Nan said in a low voice. "But you don't even know why you gathered us together in the first place, so how can you say we're 'no longer useful'?"

"I don't need to know the 'purpose' to realize you've become 'no longer useful'," Qi Xia answered.

"What...?"

"One is a 'ti zui,' and the other is a 'po wan fa,'" Qi Xia said, his eyes fixed on the campfire, his voice devoid of any emotion. "If everyone in this room was brought together by me for some specific goal, then the reason you two are here is crystal clear."

Chen Jun Nan seemed to grasp something, but still asked in disbelief, "What reason?"

"Two emotional, loyal people who both hate evil to the core—it's only natural that I'd place you by my side, and you'd come to see me as trustworthy and easily form a team with me," Qi Xia explained. "Chen Jun Nan, Qiao Jia Jin—whether you believe it or not, you two were brought in as my 'shields' to take the hits for me."

At that moment, both Chen Jun Nan and Qiao Jia Jin widened their eyes in shock.

This feeling was worse than being directly insulted.

"Chen Jun Nan, maybe I once saw you help someone with 'ti zui,' or witnessed your impulsive nature, knowing you're easier to control than others, which is why you got this chance to be here with me," Qi Xia continued. "As long as I build a good relationship with you, you'd willingly die for me. Your control over 'hui xiang' is so casual—maybe you didn't want to do it, but you couldn't stop your subconscious urge to help others with 'ti zui'."

Hearing this, Chen Jun Nan's widened eyes flickered slightly, and his brows furrowed.

Qi Xia then turned to Qiao Jia Jin. "And you're the same, Qiao Jia Jin. I might have noticed at some point that you wanted to team up with someone smart, and with your easily triggered 'po wan fa,' I decisively pulled you into the room. As long as you're in the same room as me, you're likely to suggest 'cooperation,' and once I agree, you'd rely on your fighting skills and 'po wan fa' to become my unbeatable shield."

After hearing Qi Xia out, Qiao Jia Jin glanced at Chen Jun Nan, and both of them felt a mix of complicated emotions.

Things were starting to feel a bit strange.

"So, do you two get it now?" Qi Xia said. "From the beginning, I placed you both in this room to take fatal blows for me. So, you don't need to talk about 'helping me' anymore—you're already 'no longer useful' to me."

After listening to Qi Xia's explanation, Chen Jun Nan's anger gradually turned to confusion. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but nothing came out. After thinking for a while, he slowly sat down on the ground.

Qiao Jia Jin followed suit and sat down, then kept staring at Qi Xia.

"What's wrong?" Qi Xia asked. "Why are you two making that face?"

"It's not..." Chen Jun Nan scratched his head. "I'm just a bit confused, man."

"What's confusing you?"

Chen Jun Nan organized his thoughts and said, "Old Qi, if that's how you're putting it, I gotta set you straight."

"Go ahead."

"Alright, even if what you're saying is true," Chen Jun Nan gestured with his hands, "even if your whole reason for dragging us into this room was just to use us as shields, well, I can accept that. But us brothers blocking for you—that's because of our bond, right? Why wouldn't we block for anyone else? And thinking back on the time we've known each other, you haven't screwed us over once."

"Yes," Qi Xia nodded. "There's no point in screwing you two over."

Qiao Jia Jin chimed in, "What does that have to do with 'point'? You little schemer, by your logic, wasn't my reason for being friends with you just to 'use' your brain? But you should know that was just my initial motive—it doesn't mean I didn't come to see you as a brother later on."

Qi Xia shook his head helplessly. "You're shifting the argument; it's not the same thing."

"The hell it's not the same!" Chen Jun Nan frowned. "There's no issue here, and you just had to say we're 'no longer useful' to gross us out. What are you even after? Do you want me to punch you?"

"No, I'm telling the truth," Qi Xia said. "You don't need to be my 'shields' anymore. We can go our separate ways."

"What, are you saying you're not going to die starting today?" Chen Jun Nan asked.

"No, but bringing you into this room was something I owe you," Qi Xia replied. "I've also helped you sort out a lot of troubles, so that evens it out. From now on, we don't need to have any ties. You can go wherever you want."

"Old Qi." Chen Jun Nan sighed deeply. "You know that doesn't hold up, right? If you say our purpose was to be 'shields,' then what about the other six people in the room? Are they your 'guns'? If we're categorizing everyone based on their 'hui xiang,' how do you explain the rest?"

"I don't know," Qi Xia shook his head. "I can only vaguely remember making a deal with Qing Long, changing the room's layout, and even designing the initial 'interview game' myself. But I really can't recall why I did it. Maybe I'll remember in a bit, or maybe in the next second."

"I still don't buy it," Chen Jun Nan said. "Unless you give me a better reason."

"It's got nothing to do with being 'reasonable' anymore," Qi Xia said. "I have a feeling that if you keep getting involved with me, neither of you will end up well."

"What do you mean...?"

"I'm always blindly confident," Qi Xia said gravely. "I think I can handle any danger that comes my way. If I didn't foresee an extremely dangerous situation, I wouldn't have placed 'shields' around me—and not just one, but two."

Hearing this, Chen Jun Nan and Qiao Jia Jin felt a sense of relief.

"Oh, so that's the plot here—I thought it was something serious," Chen Jun Nan said with a helpless laugh.

Qiao Jia Jin blinked. "What do you mean by 'this plot'?"

"Old Qiao, this guy's just playing the hero act."

(These past couple of days, I've been out for activities, so the updates are a bit late. Sorry, everyone.)