Chapter 681: Heart-to-heart
Translator: Radiant Translations Editor: Radiant Translations
“There are a lot of reasons for collecting the blood. I can’t guarantee that everyone will be able to walk out from here, so that’s a failsafe for my bet. In any case, I have no paths of retreat. I also want to give everyone a chance to sharpen our coordination, as well as give everyone a chance to understand one another. The results seem pretty good so far. If not, today’s fight might not have gone that smoothly.” said Gong Yi in a languid manner, finally relaxing the tension in his heart.
“This Evil Demon Blood is just small change. I’ve said before that I won’t treat my own compatriots unfairly. If we can get out from here, there will definitely be a portion within that 10 billion for you.” He smiled as he spread his arms. “Truly speaking, I much prefer the exhilaration of gambling. The structure of the Federation is truly horrible! The 10 Great Families lock all of the resources firmly in their grasp. I want to use this opportunity to jump out of the cage, from just being a mere chess piece, and the empire is a pretty good choice for me.”
Not just Sister Hong, even Reynolds and w.a.n.g Zhong were dumbfounded by everything Gong Yi was saying. This guy truly was a madman!
“Don’t look at me like that. People need goals in life, right? This is my goal. I don’t seek immortality, but I want to have an exciting life. If we get out from here, let’s become business partners, alright? Reynolds, I see that you’re very free, and there will be no obstruction in you plundering the rich to give to the poor. While doing so, you can achieve something greater, as there are no prospects in doing your work by yourself. Sister Hong, your entertainment business will be greatly successful in the empire, though you need to have supporters. The business of a.s.sa.s.sination isn’t as worthwhile.”
Even Reynolds and Sister Hong were getting slightly emotional from his words. Gong Yi sized up w.a.n.g Zhong and little Xin before saying, “You two are also welcome to join.”
Little Xin immediately nodded her head while replying, “I’m alright as long as I’m not going to be discarded. I already have no one else to rely on anymore.”
“You little la.s.s. This sister will protect you from now on, alright? If anyone tries to find trouble with you, this old lady will break his 3rd leg!” Sister Hong snapped while radiating a murderous aura, causing a subconscious s.h.i.+ver to pa.s.s through everyone’s back. Clearly, Sister Hong had definitely done it many times in the past. In fact, she might even be extremely experienced.
With a faint smile, w.a.n.g Zhong replied, “It’s possible that I need to return back to the Federation.”
“Why? I don’t understand it, brat. You being sent here means that you’ve been abandoned. Don’t hold any hopes for those people.” said Sister Hong, “With your talent, you’ll definitely surpa.s.s them in the future. You should advise him, Gong Yi!”
With a laugh, Gong Yi took over. “He’s different from us. Although w.a.n.g Zhong doesn’t have any background, his actions have made the Zhao and Gui Families lose the greatest amount of face in the past few decades. The Zhao Family’s Zhao Zimo lost his life because of this guy here. Furthermore, he’s meticulous, has principles, and is resolute in his decisions. As long as he survives, he will definitely be a powerful weapon. He isn’t going to walk down the same path as us.”
w.a.n.g Zhong didn’t know whether to cry or to laugh as he said, “I have some reasons that require me to return.”
Although they did not have any worries about leaving the Federation, that was where w.a.n.g Zhong’s roots were. Scarlet, Barran, Laura and the others were all in the Federation. How could he possibly leave them behind and stay in the empire? Evidently, the Zhao and Gui Families were deeply involved in this matter. Nevertheless, he wasn’t afraid of getting his hands dirty, and he knew that as long as his enemies weren’t able to send Heavenly Soul Stages to eliminate him directly, there wasn’t really anything to be scared of. Being terrified wasn’t how w.a.n.g Zhong did things!
Everyone remained tactful and didn’t question him further.
“There’s no use arguing about this. Don’t forget to buy the best shampoo for this old lady as soon as you can get your hands on some.” Sister Hong combed her greasy hair with her hands, a look of displeasure on her face. “I already can’t stand this smell!”
After consuming some food and water during this break, Reynolds and Sister Hong had managed to recover about 70 to 80% of their strength. Although they still weren’t back to optimal condition, it was no problem for them to continue traveling. Gong Yi proceeded to lead the group and continue their journey.
As they ventured further into the cave, they discovered that the cave had an increasingly complicated structure. The brightly lit cave entrance was completely different from the darkness that they had entered as they headed deeper in.
Gong Yi led everyone as they traversed through this complicated cave network. The path they took through the caves caused Sister Hong and Reynolds to turn dizzy. There were times where they were travelling on an incline, while at other times, it felt as though they were descending further into the mountain. There were even moments where they arrived at the edge of the cliffs, allowing them to see the black, rocky mountain range that they had arrived at earlier. However, they were now in the middle of the mountain range, in one of the hundreds of caves entrances.
The road was too complicated, causing them to start suspecting the fortunate escapee that Gong Yi had mentioned. How was it possible for him to have memorized the exact path to take within this place?
“I have a special ability in this aspect. I can say with confidence that if I claim to be second best, no one else would dare to claim that they are the best.” Gong Yi a.s.sured them with a confident tone. Nevertheless, he was surprised that w.a.n.g Zhong and the others didn’t pester him, despite him having to pause at intersections for some time in order to determine the correct path.
At this point, everyone could only choose to trust him, and not probe too deeply into his private thoughts.
Everyone could sense that at the start, Gong Yi was moving at a rather slow speed. He would spend quite a bit of time at each intersection, observing and a.n.a.lysing the surroundings in order to navigate through the mountain cave network. However, their movement speed slowly grew faster; Gong Yi no longer hesitated when choosing which fork to head down.
w.a.n.g Zhong tried to use his Heart’s Eye to sense how Gong Yi made his decisions, as well as to mimic Gong Yi’s methods of observation. Although he seemed to have sensed some things, his guesses were more wrong than correct when it came to testing his hypothesis, causing him to sigh in admiration. Gong Yi truly possessed an astonis.h.i.+ng talent in his observational and a.n.a.lytical capabilities. With how vast the world was, there were countless extraordinary people out there. Due to how bossy and arrogant the Federation was, there were, in fact, many experts who had remained hidden among the public, as they didn’t want to get restricted.
The journey within the cave structure was arduous, causing everyone to feel as though they had already traveled all the way to the peak of this cave-ridden mountain range. As they continued on their journey, the path turned into a steep descent as they got closer to sea level.
After walking for a while, all of the occasional glimpses of light seeping into the cave had disappeared, causing their surroundings to turn jet black. The air started to thin out, becoming hot and humid, while the walls became thicker, as though they were now underground.
They did not encounter any frightening Dimensional life form along the way. In fact, they didn’t even notice any small insects like ants.
From the scars present on the cave walls, it looked like they were in a long-abandoned Fire Ant nest. This was the infamous legion of evil demons that had appeared some time ago; a race of dimensional life forms so terrifying that just mentioning them would make Federation soldiers s.h.i.+ver in fear. Although each individual wasn’t particularly strong, they had a frightening discipline and lacked a fear of death. For those who didn’t have the courage to face these beasts in combat, even if they were to stand on the sidelines, they would definitely pee in their pants upon seeing a sea of Evil Demon Combat Ants rus.h.i.+ng towards them.
For some unknown reason, this gigantic Fire Ant nest had been abandoned. Evidence of their activity was present all around the cave, with paths carved out by them as they moved about. In fact, w.a.n.g Zhong was even able to find some withered ant eggs in one of the caves. Despite appearing just like silkworm coc.o.o.ns, they were already dried and withered, devoid of any life. Nevertheless, he was still able to sense a faint aura of pure darkness within those eggs.
“These are good stuff.” Simba instigated w.a.n.g Zhong to collect the eggs. “Although the Evil Demon War Ants within them have died, the darkness energies used to nurture them have yet to completely dissipate. This is the original essence of darkness in its purest form. Ordinary people might die instantly upon contact, though it wouldn’t be an issue for you. The darkness essence you can harvest from them is good for the promotion of your cultivation and stabilizing your Dharma Idol. Perhaps we might be able to gain more darkness essence as we head deeper into the caves. If they still possess life, it’ll be good to let them hatch, as this will be an easy profit for you.”
w.a.n.g Zhong was enticed by Simba’s words. He proceeded to clear quite a bit of s.p.a.ce in his backpack to make room for those War Ant eggs.