Chapter 901: Heroes Arise in the Current Climate

Ruoxue and I sat quietly in the room, gazing at the campfire in front of us, waiting for the sun to sink below the horizon.

We were just like before, seemingly unchanged in any way.

"Zhichun..." Jiang Ruoxue slowly lifted her head to look at me.

"What's wrong?"

"Do you still remember that girl I told you about before, the one so beautiful it could shatter heaven and earth?" she asked.

"I remember." I nodded.

"She’s at Tianguokou now." Jiang Ruoxue picked up an iron stick and poked at the campfire. "I want to join Tianguokou."

I paused for a moment after hearing that, then started to feel tense.

I didn’t understand what she meant.

Was it about "quitting"?

I quickly lowered my head and picked up a stick from the ground, mimicking her by poking at the fire, trying my best to suppress my emotions.

The air was extremely quiet, with only the crackling of the campfire breaking the silence.

Ruoxue... was she going to quit?

"What do you think?" Jiang Ruoxue asked again.

My hand froze in mid-air for half a second, then I forced a smile and said, "Ruoxue... you said yourself that your original intention wasn’t to build Jidao, but to help me. Now that Jidao is on the right track, and Yang Ge is steadily moving forward with his plans, everything seems to be improving... so if you want to 'quit' now, that’s fine. Besides, Tianguokou is really not bad—it has a huge amount of 'goodness,' and you’ve said you like that girl a lot, so..."

"What nonsense are you talking about...?"

Jiang Ruoxue blinked, looking at me with a puzzled expression.

"Huh...?"

"How has everything improved? And how is this about 'quitting'? Why are you going on about some huge 'goodness'... Have you eaten someone’s booger or something...?"

"Wh-what?" I was a bit confused too. "Why would I eat someone’s booger?! Weren’t you just saying you want to join Tianguokou...? Isn’t this about bringing up 'quitting' with me?"

"You're crazy." Jiang Ruoxue rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Does joining Tianguokou conflict with me being a Jidao member? Is there some law that says I have to quit Jidao if I join Tianguokou? Can’t I just go and have some fun? You social-phobic kid, always overthinking everything."

"When did I—! I...!"

"What about you? Are you going to kick me out?"

"Why would I kick you out!"

Oh heavens, I was really about to be driven crazy by Jiang Ruoxue—she was definitely doing this on purpose!

"I don’t care, you’ve eaten booger." Jiang Ruoxue said with a mischievous grin. "Back in my hometown, there’s a saying that eating booger makes you stupid."

"I really want to hit you..." I said, utterly speechless.

"My bad, my bad."

Jiang Ruoxue let out a "hehe" laugh, then her expression gradually turned serious.

"Seriously, Zhichun, that girl is the same kind of person as me and Tong Ayi."

Seeing how serious she was, I couldn’t joke around anymore: "The same kind... meaning...?"

"Her Huixiang." Jiang Ruoxue stared at the campfire and said, "Based on what I’ve heard, in Zhongyan Zhidi, the Huixiang that can change a person’s fate or circumstances are rare, and that girl is one of them."

"She is?"

"Qiangyun." Jiang Ruoxue said, "It’s an ability I only heard about once, and I knew right away how powerful it is. Whether it’s mine or Tong Ayi’s, our abilities have obvious 'drawbacks'—after all, the 'cause' doesn’t always lead to the desired 'effect,' and karma doesn’t always grant blessings. But Qiangyun is different; it makes its owner unstoppable."

I knew Jiang Ruoxue was right. It wasn’t just her and Tong Ayi’s Huixiang that had drawbacks—mine did too.

To control someone, I had to mirror their actions, which kept me out of danger but wasn’t absolutely safe.

Besides, for me to control them, they had to hear my voice.

What if they were deaf?

"So, your goal in joining Tianguokou is to recruit her?" I asked again.

"Yes." Jiang Ruoxue nodded. "I want that girl to join Jidao. But the situation isn’t optimistic because Jidao’s principles are completely opposite to Tianguokou’s. We do everything possible to protect Shengxiao, but Tianguokou will go to any lengths to gamble on killing Shengxiao. I have to say, Chu Tianqiu is smarter than Nie Bei—he’s constantly sending people to collect strategies for 'Renji' games. Once he feels the timing is right, he writes detailed life-gambling methods for the participants in his organization, then sends out a small team to kill the Shengxiao. After that, Chu Tianqiu has people retrieve the Shengxiao mask to prevent anyone else from becoming a Shengxiao."

"Collecting 'strategies'... I see." I said. "But what about 'Diji' games? Even with strategies, they’d cause massive 'casualties,' let alone gambling on them."

"He’s probably already thought of that." Jiang Ruoxue said. "From what I know, Tianguokou hasn’t made a move against any 'Diji Shengxiao' so far. Their targets are only 'Renji.'"

They haven’t made a move against any 'Diji Shengxiao'...?

Then how did the sheep die here?

My thoughts nearly spiraled out of control again... Could it be that the sheep wasn’t killed by Tianguokou, but by someone else...?

Or was it just as I’d guessed... that there was never a sheep person in the first place?

But I had to admit... from a big-picture perspective... that man named Chu Tianqiu was doing a pretty good job.

His approach might seem full of flaws and pointless to someone unfamiliar with this place, but anyone who understands Zhongyan Zhidi would see how logical it is.

Suppose the ideal scenario: all five cities adopted Chu Tianqiu’s method, only targeting 'Renji Shengxiao,' steadily and unitedly killing all 'Renji' and retrieving the masks...

Theoretically, no new 'Renji Shengxiao' would ever appear again, and other participants would be too afraid of being targeted to put on a mask.

Without 'Renji,' it would disrupt the personnel flow to the 'interview rooms' and 'Diji.'

The number of Shengxiao would truly start to decrease.

Then, the leaders could organize their elite forces to turn their sights on 'Diji,' killing one and reducing their numbers by one.

Chu Tianqiu wasn’t just bullying the weak by targeting 'Renji'; he was cutting off the enemy’s supply from the bottom up—otherwise, he wouldn’t bother retrieving the masks.

It’s just that his power alone is too insignificant.

He must be hoping that people in other cities with the same ideas would make the same decisions, but he doesn’t know that this is the only healthy city left.

His method is perfect, but he’s using it at the wrong time and in the wrong place.

"What a shame..." I sighed and said, "They say the times make the hero, but this hero has been defeated by the times."