Volume Two, The Devil’s Game Chapter Thirty: The Interrogation

Stepping through the arched doorway, Lu Yi realized that almost everyone else had already arrived.

Jade Toad suddenly tugged at Lu Yi’s sleeve. “Good person, good person.”

Lu Yi turned to look at Jade Toad, who was pointing quietly at Ge Wendong’s group. “They’re bad people.”

“You’re actually still alive?” Shen Yixue suddenly exclaimed, pointing at Wang Xun and the others in astonishment.

Peng Kai hurriedly pointed at Shen Yixue and said to Ge Wendong, “Captain Ge, it’s this Shen Yixue. Back then, we saw her being chased by a Guardian, and it was almost the final berserk phase. Out of righteousness, we set up a ladder for her so she could get past our barricade.

But who’d have thought she was a viper at heart? We helped her in good faith, but she used her innate ability to confuse us and let us fall straight into the Guardian’s hands.”

Shen Yixue was instantly enraged, and a heated argument broke out between her and Wang Xun’s group.

Liang Feisong, Tan Weiwei, and the others, not knowing the truth, simply watched the scene with puzzlement.

“All right, enough,” Ge Wendong quickly waved his hand. “We’ve all come from different places and it’s rare to have a chance to gather together. This isn’t the time for squabbling.”

He continued, “Conflicts are inevitable, but since neither side has any evidence, I can’t know the truth either. Besides, we’re all human. In our current situation, our common goal is survival, right?”

Ge Wendong placed himself between the two sides, separating Peng Kai and Shen Yixue. At that moment, Lu Yi noticed that the newcomer with the speed ability, Wang Xun, was sticking close to Ge Wendong, clearly showing loyalty to him.

Ge Wendong suddenly fixed both parties with a stern gaze. “But this sort of thing absolutely cannot happen again, understood?”

“Why should we listen?” Peng Kai shouted, but fell silent at a glare from Ge Wendong. “Captain Ge, I understand,” he muttered.

Ge Wendong nodded and looked at Shen Yixue, who snorted and turned back to Lu Yi’s side.

“Wang Xun and his two companions are all scoundrels. When I escaped before, the Guardians already had them surrounded. From the look of things now, the Gale Squad must have rescued them,” Shen Yixue said angrily in the team channel.

“That seems likely,” Lu Yi replied in the team channel, nodding slightly.

Ge Wendong clapped his hands. “All right, let’s set aside our grievances for now. Our primary goal is survival—or, to be more precise, to survive and get as much benefit as possible.”

Seeing Liang Feisong and the others nod, Ge Wendong smiled at Lu Yi. “So, for everyone’s survival, Lu Yi, don’t you think it’s time you came clean about a few things?”

As Ge Wendong finished, the Gale Squad immediately turned to Lu Yi in coordination, and soon everyone’s attention was on him.

“Good person, good person, have the bad people set their sights on your food?” Jade Toad asked curiously.

Lu Yi, exasperated, reached out and patted Jade Toad’s head. “I have no idea. What do they expect me to say?”

“Captain Ge, if you want me to say something, why not just say it directly?” Lu Yi said with a frown.

“Lu Yi, we’re all human here, facing the same troubles. If you reveal your secret, everyone will remember your kindness, and our Gale Squad will owe you a favor,” Ge Wendong said, still wearing his warm smile.

Lu Yi spread his hands. “Captain Ge, I can’t make sense of your words. Who here doesn’t have a secret or two? Why must mine be related to the mission? Are you suggesting everyone’s secrets are mission-related?”

“So you have no intention of telling us anything?” Ge Wendong’s face darkened.

“Lu Yi, stop wasting time. We all saw it—you hugged the first Guardian. Tell us what you know,” Yang Tonghua couldn’t hold back any longer and jumped in.

“What!” Not only were Liang Feisong and Tan Weiwei stunned, Shen Yixue was also staring at Lu Yi in shock—only Jade Toad seemed unmoved.

“Lu Yi, you’re incredible. Is there anything you can’t do?” Shen Yixue said in the team channel, awe in her voice.

“That tough Guardian hugged me too, then stuffed me in a cage. What’s so great about being hugged?” Jade Toad, seeing everyone’s surprise, pouted.

Lu Yi covered his face, looking deeply aggrieved. “Ah, you mean that…”

Without waiting for the others to recover, he launched into a plaintive tone. “You might not know, but some of these houses hide things related to the Guardians’ past.”

“Once, I found a diary. The City told me if I collected all the diaries and brought them to the Guardian, I’d get a reward.

So I painstakingly gathered them all and traveled across most of the map to find the Guardian. I handed her the diary. She cried, she hugged me, and I thought I was about to get my reward.”

Everyone perked up their ears to listen.

Lu Yi suddenly adopted a woeful expression and continued, “But the next moment, the Guardian knocked me out. When I woke up, she told me she was going to kill me—to grant me a different form of immortality.”

“Think about it! I was alive and well—why would I want to die? I was furious. So I asked the City if I could get a different reward. Guess what the City said?”

“Hurry up and tell us!” Yang Tonghua urged.

“The City said the reward was up to the natives—it was none of his business. So I asked if I could refuse. The City told me if I escaped, that would count. So I ran for it, but the damn City had set a trap.”

Lu Yi’s tone grew agitated. “After I refused the Guardian with my actions, she got furious and chased me for a full thirty minutes. Thirty minutes! She used up all the items I had on me.”

Shen Yixue blinked and looked at Lu Yi with sympathy; Liang Feisong wore the same expression.

“You’re lying! If the City said it was a reward, there’s no way you’d be killed,” Yang Tonghua retorted sharply.

Lu Yi raised his hand. “City of Mist, I request public verification for my next statement. If I lie, let all my equipment be destroyed immediately.”

City verification—no one expected Lu Yi to make such a move.

“After I gave the diary to the Guardian, the reward she offered was my death,” Lu Yi said, lowering his hand slowly.

“This statement is true.” A light screen appeared before everyone’s eyes.

Lu Yi continued, “So it’s not that I was withholding information. Think about it: you go to all that trouble to gather the diaries, then—within the time the Guardian is present—you have to find her in this huge area, and even if you do, you don’t know if she’ll take what you have or chop you down first.

What good would it do anyone if I shared this kind of time-consuming, thankless information?” Lu Yi’s reasonable and heartfelt words won nods from all the neutral onlookers who had not known the truth.