Chapter 786: Chaotic City

"You're overpraising me, leader," Di Shu said with a smile to the three of them. "Everyone knows I'm a fence-sitter; there's no need to remind me specially."

"You're actually proud of it?" Chen Jun Nan frowned and said. "Were you a fence-sitter even when you and I were teammates before?"

"Of course, of course," Di Shu nodded. "Do you all have any other questions?"

Seeing how straightforward Di Shu was, Chen Jun Nan shook his head helplessly.

"I have one last question," Chen Jun Nan said.

"I'm all ears."

"You know Lao Qi is planning something big... What if he doesn't stop there?" Chen Jun Nan said. "Will you still be able to secure your position as 'Tian Shu' safely?"

"Good question," Di Shu laughed. "The brilliance of this strategy is that I appear to be on this ship the whole time—in other words, I've always been with these rebels. If they succeed one day and reach the top, I'll join them forcefully as a 'teammate.' If they fail, I'll foresee it in advance and immediately report to 'Tian Long' and 'Qing Long' to make amends with my merits."

"You're really straightforward," Chen Jun Nan said. "Aren't you afraid I'll go tell Lao Qi right now?"

"Not at all," Di Shu said. "If he really is Yang Ge, he'll know my thinking is completely fine. He'll understand."

"That makes sense."

Chen Jun Nan seemed to anticipate Qi Xia's thoughts; he certainly wouldn't reject someone like Di Shu.

He paused for a moment, then continued, "We're here to help Lao Qi verify if a teammate is reliable, and in the end, our goals are the same. Let's consider ourselves on the same ship for now."

"Thank you all for your trust."

"Turn off that annoying music," Chen Jun Nan said. "Can you listen to something with more taste in the future? Is foreign heavy metal rock that great?"

"Leader, it's not that I don't want to," Di Shu walked over to the radio and quietly pressed the stop button, then ejected the cassette. "In this place, I only found this cassette."

"A cassette...?" Chen Jun Nan was slightly stunned. "There are cassettes here?"

He took the cassette from Di Shu's hand. The cover was completely faded and white, and even the singer's name was illegible.

"Yeah, I'm curious about it too," Di Shu nodded. "Haven't you all noticed... This place not only has MP3 players, but also radios, cassettes, and even vinyl records and playback devices I've never seen before."

"What are you trying to say...?" Qin Ding Dong asked. "This is basically a city, right? It's not surprising if you find gold bars here."

"You're right, finding gold bars isn't surprising. But what I mean is..." Di Shu narrowed his eyes and said with a bitter smile, "What era is this city from... that it can have so many music players from different eras all at once?"

Di Shu's words made Chen Jun Nan furrow his brow slightly.

This seemed to be a problem no one had noticed before.

Although everyone came from different eras, what era was this city from exactly?

The signs and storefronts on the streets were mostly dilapidated, making it impossible to tell the era, so they could only roughly infer the city's time period from these relatively intact small items. But thinking carefully, this place had convenience stores and go clubs, rundown rural inns and tall office buildings in the distance. Beyond that, it even had prisons, schools, and farms all at the same time.

According to common sense, would all these things appear so densely in the same city?

"So what are you getting at?" Chen Jun Nan asked.

"Not much, I just mean this place is a mess," Di Shu replied.

"But this place has been a mess for a while, right? It's not just starting now."

Even as he said that, Chen Jun Nan still felt a bit strange. Everyone here came from different time periods, which already sounded bizarre. If the city itself was a mix of various time periods... then what was the builder's purpose?

Was there really such a city in the world?

"You're right," Di Shu nodded. "This place is messed up not just in the city, but from the inside out—rotten from the hearts of the people to the sky, from thoughts to actions. Maybe everything started with this chaotic city."

"I agree," Chen Jun Nan nodded in response. "This question is hard to investigate now; it might have been easier to see the clues before the city fell into ruin."

"That's true. Everyone wants to escape from here, so no one pays attention to how this place is constructed," Di Shu laughed. "Dear leaders, today's chat was very enjoyable, and my 'music session' is coming to an end. Please put in a good word for me with Qi Xia."

Di Shu went to the door, opened it, stepped back behind it, and said to the three, "I won't see you out."

Chen Jun Nan, Qiao Jia Jin, and Qin Ding Dong exchanged glances, realizing there was no need to stay longer. They slowly walked out of the house, and Di Shu escorted them all the way to the gate.

Now they could confirm Di Shu's stance. People who became "Di Ji Sheng Xiao" were never saints or good people. Organizing such a group to complete his plan, everyone was sweating for Qi Xia.

They had just said goodbye and walked a few steps when they suddenly felt something odd in the sky above.

Chen Jun Nan looked up and saw a large mass of black, droplet-shaped objects spreading through the air, like a swarm of locusts.

These black particles hovered in the air for a few seconds, then seemed to find their targets and flew off in countless directions.

"Damn!" Qiao Jia Jin shouted. "Danger! Get back inside!"

Chen Jun Nan and Qin Ding Dong instantly realized something was wrong and turned to run toward the building behind them.

Di Shu stood coldly at the door and blocked their way.

Chen Jun Nan was stunned at the sight of Di Shu and yelled, "Di Shu, don't just stand there and watch us die! That black rain is coming down!"

"I'm sorry, everyone," Di Shu said. "You'll have to wait out this 'storm' outside."

"Why?!" Chen Jun Nan shouted.

Di Shu narrowed his eyes slightly and replied, "This is the last time I'll answer your questions. Once this storm really starts, I'll hide in the room and listen to music—I won't hear a single word."

Qin Ding Dong and Qiao Jia Jin didn't understand what Di Shu meant, but Chen Jun Nan seemed to get it.

Even a "Di Ji" had to avoid this—was this a "Tian Ji Moment"?

"The reason I don't want you to come in and hide..." Di Shu shook his head helplessly, "Is that no matter where you hide, those black raindrops will find you, and my playground will be destroyed as a result. I'm glad you didn't join my game; otherwise, I'd have to start repairing walls tomorrow."