Chapter 12: Collaboration

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Jinling?

Chen Jian looked at Xu Lie, still pinned helplessly to the ground, a flicker of suspicion passing through his eyes.

From Chuansha, where they were now, to the Jinling of his memories was nearly nine hundred kilometers in a straight line. Without a highly mobile vehicle, was that really somewhere one could simply decide to go?

Even at the pace of a forced march, without resting a single day, it would take at least twenty days.

That was far too long. Too many variables could arise along the way.

Chen Jian could not help wondering whether Xu Lie had some ulterior motive. The refugees had just taught him a painful lesson, and now Xu Lie had so openly revealed the information about the “bounty.” It was simply too absurd.

So instead of answering Xu Lie, he asked him three basic questions—the most important ones, in fact.

First, where could they obtain food and water?

Second, where could they replenish their ammunition?

Third, how could they kill the Mother for good?

Xu Lie answered each question with an air of complete candor.

“You won’t find any food in the entire city of Chuansha that can be eaten directly. Most of the water sources here have also been contaminated by the Mother.”

“But there’s plenty of food in the forests outside the city, and the water there is safe.”

“As for ammunition replenishment... you should probably ask the Mechanical God Cult about that. We almost never fight with firearms or artillery.”

“Are you kidding?”

Chen Jian asked incredulously, “You don’t use guns or heavy weapons? Are you planning to kill a twenty-meter-tall monster with that fruit knife you’re carrying?”

At his words, Xu Lie gave a derisive laugh.

“You know it’s a fruit knife? That blade is merely a tool—for starting fires, cutting meat, and peeling fruit.”

“Don’t be fooled by the fact that Blood Saints are physically far superior to ordinary people. We rely on intelligence to fight.”

“We spend a great deal of time tracking our prey, searching for weaknesses, and laying traps. By the time we truly decide to make our move, even a single bullet would be unnecessary...”

“Then how were you planning to kill the monster in Chuansha?”

Chen Jian cut him off, his tone leaving no room for argument.

“Tell me.”

Xu Lie glanced around before speaking.

“If you want me to talk, that’s simple enough. I’m not asking you to release me, but you could at least move these stones first, couldn’t you?”

“The iron spikes on top are rubbing against my wounds. It hurts.”

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Chen Jian nodded and gave Lei Jie a look. The latter immediately began removing the stones.

Everyone noticed that the wounds on Xu Lie’s left leg and lower abdomen had stopped bleeding completely. They even seemed to be beginning to close.

There was no visible sign of actual healing yet, but such a rate of recovery was astonishing in itself.

Good heavens. Had he attained sainthood through the flesh?

Chen Jian warily placed his finger on the trigger. Xu Lie, meanwhile, let out a blissful groan before answering:

“Actually, you should understand better than I do that this monster’s strengths and weaknesses are both exceptionally pronounced.”

“It has powerful regenerative abilities, remarkable agility, an enormous body, and control over a horde of servant monsters.”

“Something like that is very difficult to defeat head-on.”

“But it has one extremely致命 weakness: its overly complicated circulatory system has left it with terrible blood-clotting ability.”

“More accurately, this thing simply doesn’t possess clotting ability commensurate with its size.”

“So long as you cut a wound in it that continues to bleed, it won’t take long before it dies of blood loss.”

“As for how to prevent its muscles from contracting and stopping the bleeding... that is our secret.”

When Xu Lie finished, Chen Jian was utterly dumbfounded.

He had imagined that the confrontation between humans and monsters—or at least between the Blood Saints and monsters—would be a clash of man against beast, sword against fire, armor against flesh.

But now it seemed that reality was completely different.

Bleeding it out. Preventing its muscles from contracting...

Could these so-called Blood Saints actually be planning to inject the Mother with a massive dose of muscle relaxant?

What was this supposed to be? A battlefield physician using drugs to kill the enemy?

It really was just as Xu Lie had said. That organization relied on intelligence to fight...

“I think I have a general idea of what you intend to do.”

Chen Jian drew a deep breath.

“Then let’s go kill that monster. Once we return to Jinling, we can discuss how to divide the bounty.”

“We can cooperate. You provide the information we need, and I guarantee your safety.”

“Besides, you’ve stalled long enough.”

Chen Jian’s gaze shifted away from the corner of his smart eyepiece before he continued:

“Tell your friends to put down their weapons. There’s no point in wasting their effort.”

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“They’re already at the edge of the security perimeter. If they take one more step forward, I’ll immediately order my men to treat them as enemies and eliminate them.”

The moment Chen Jian finished speaking, Xu Lie’s expression changed dramatically.

He stared into Chen Jian’s eyes and asked in disbelief:

“How can you possibly see them?”

“That isn’t important.”

Chen Jian held up the walkie-talkie he had confiscated from Xu Lie and casually pressed several buttons. Broken bursts of static immediately crackled from the speaker.

“An antique. A civilian-grade handheld radio—and an analog one at that. It’s practically a child’s toy.”

“You probably don’t understand how it works. Otherwise, you would never have left it powered on continuously, exposing the positions of all your companions.”

“You thought you were monitoring us?”

“You were wrong. From the moment you turned on the radio, we already had all your information.”

“You should be grateful that you didn’t lie to me when I questioned you. And you should also be grateful that the code phrase you gave wasn’t ‘attack,’ but ‘wait.’”

“Otherwise... you wouldn’t have killed only yourself. You would have killed them as well.”

When his words faded, Xu Lie—lying helplessly on the ground—felt ice spread through every inch of his body.

He had always believed that he had disguised himself well enough and behaved naturally enough.

But if the other side had known from the very beginning that he was acting, then what meaning was there in all his painstaking performance?

Cold sweat seeped across Xu Lie’s back as he recalled Chen Jian’s words.

A child’s toy...

This was clearly an extraordinarily precious walkie-talkie. Not only did the Blood Saints, to which he belonged, lack the ability to decipher its operating principles—even the technology-obsessed Mechanical God Cult could not do so.

Yet in the eyes of the man before him, it was merely a toy.

More frightening still, Xu Lie could tell that the other man was not exaggerating in the slightest.

He even knew the code phrases used by Xu Lie’s squad. That meant every conversation between Xu Lie and the other members had been under their surveillance...

Xu Lie looked at Chen Jian’s calm face. In that moment, all desire to resist left him.

He abandoned his feigned ease and spoke with solemnity:

“Then let’s cooperate.”

“I admit defeat.”

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