Chapter 534 - The Truth of the Relay Mission

Tang Ci heard Lu Jiuchuan’s question and looked calm. “Do you think everyone will believe you or believe me?”

Lu Jiuchuan smiled slightly. “Your plan is really clever. You even saved Ye Qi to make everyone believe in you, sacrificing your hunter companions. As long as you gain everyone’s trust, you can borrow the hands of your teammates to kill us. Then you will enter the next world with everyone and solve the other teammates.”

He paused before saying softly, “Unfortunately, you have missed something when doing all the calculations.”

Tang Ci asked calmly, “What do you mean?”

Lu Jiuchuan explained casually, “I told Qu Wanyue about going to the Crescent Moon Spring because she has a ‘moon’ in her name and it is easier to remember. The hunter read Qu Wanyue’s memory through the mind reading and thought this was my secret code. Yet in fact, I agreed on a different place with Xiao Tang.”

Tang Ci nodded. “That’s right. The place I privately agreed upon with Brother Jiu wasn’t the Crescent Moon Spring. He said he would take me to the beach for a vacation.”

Lu Jiuchuan raised an eyebrow. “Nonsense. I told Xiao Tang to go to the grassland to ride horses.”

The team members, “……”

It was a private agreement so everyone naturally didn’t know the secret code between Brother Jiu and Tang Ci.

Should they believe Lu Jiuchuan or Tang Ci?

No one could guarantee that they would be able to make an accurate judgment. No matter whether it was Brother Jiu or Tang Ci, both of them looked exactly the same as the teammates they knew on the surface. The consequences of killing either of them by mistake would be unbearable.

Ye Qi’s heart was confused and he always felt that something was wrong.

Since entering the secret room, he had seen Professor Xiao, Group Leader Yu and Liu Qiao. He called Shao Qingge and went with Sister Ying to find Tang Ci, Senior Gui, Uncle Mo and then the Long Qu couple…

They hadn’t gone looking for Lu Jiuchuan at all.

It was because Sister Ying said the current world was the world of December 24th. Lu Jiuchuan had died three years ago and they could only go to the cemetery to visit the grave if they wanted to find Lu Jiuchuan in this world. It was impossible to find the real person. If Lu Jiuchuan appeared, it would definitely be a hunter in disguise.

Yet now, looking at Lu Jiuchuan who had sharp eyes and a playful smile, Ye Qi always felt that this Brother Jiu was very real, so real that he didn’t look like a hunter at all.

However, Lu Jiuchuan’s appearance in the world of December 24th was indeed unreasonable. This was the biggest contradiction.

On the other hand, Tang Ci behaved as usual from beginning to end. He also saved Ye Qi at a critical moment. If he was a hunter, what was the need for him to save Ye Qi?

The more Ye Qi thought about it, the more complicated he felt. He looked at Long Sen and Qu Wanyue, both of whom had complicated expressions. They obviously couldn’t make up their minds. Then he glanced at Senior Gui who was frowning thoughtfully. Sister Ying was still an ice sculpture at present and couldn’t express her position. Ye Qi had to bite the bullet. “Mr Tang is right. Brother Jiu should’ve died three years ago. How can he appear in this world?”

Lu Jiuchuan looked at Ye Qi. “According to this logic, I can never appear in the subsequent worlds because I died three years ago and time can’t flow backwards.” He paused and chuckled. “Xiao Ye, are you sure that the world you are in is the first world?”

His rhetorical question stunned Ye Qi. The floating box indicated that the first link of the relay mission was ‘the world of December 24th’ and asked them to live until January 3rd. They took it for granted that the relay task proceeded according to time.

Yet Lu Jiuchuan’s words were also correct. Using the time to judge that Lu Jiuchuan wasn’t himself was simply untenable. It was because they didn’t know if December 24th was the first world or not.

Lu Jiuchuan saw that Ye Qi’s expression was shaken and he continued. “The initial world that I was in is the first world. Three years ago, on July 1st, I was on a deserted island and asked to survive for three days. Once I completed that task, I came to this world and triggered your mission.”

Ye Qi was suspicious. “In other words, you completed the prerequisite task in the world that took place three years ago?”

Lu Jiuchuan nodded. “Yes. I could only meet you in the subsequent world if I survived the task in the world of three years ago. According to the logic of time, the world I was in was the first one and the world you are in today is the second one.”

This was like a relay mission in an online game. It required the prerequisite mission to be completed in order to unlock the relay mission.

Assuming that Lu Jiuchuan’s words were true and he completed the prerequisite task, the task of survival on the deserted island must be quite dangerous. If he couldn’t complete this mission, his other teammates would’ve been eliminated collectively.

Ye Qi observed Lu Jiuchuan carefully and saw that this man was wearing a camouflage uniform commonly used for survival in the wilderness. His tall figure looked more capable in this outfit. However, there were a lot of mottled bloodstains on the dark green clothes that merged with the pattern of the camouflage clothes. It was easy to ignore if someone didn’t observe carefully.

Just now, the appearance of Brother Jiu surprised everyone and they didn’t pay attention to the blood on his clothes. After taking a closer look, he found that he had suffered a lot of injuries. The exposed arms had scratch wounds and some of the wounds were still bleeding. They looked like new wounds.

The wounds on his body and the bloodstains on his clothes were in line with the prerequisite task of ‘survive on a deserted island’. It could be imagined how many dangers he encountered in the wilderness.

Was this person so skilled that he even took into account the details of his clothes or… was Tang Ci fake?

The teammates were clueless.

Tang Ci looked at Lu Jiuchuan calmly. “The reason you made up is too ridiculous. How can the keeper let you challenge the wilderness survival mission alone? Your own success or failure will determine the fate of the entire team? You are thinking too highly of yourself.”

Lu Jiuchuan chuckled and his eyes turned cold when he looked back at Tang Ci. “You have spoken a lot of nonsense and lies. Only this sentence makes sense. If I fail alone, my other teammates will be eliminated. This is really unfair to everyone.”

Tang Ci heard this and was slightly stunned.

Could it be that there were others who did the prerequisite task with Lu Jiuchuan?

His back stiffened as if he sensed something.

It was almost a conditioned reflex as Tang Ci suddenly turned to the right and ducked. His movements were as fast as lightning. Everyone just felt a dark shadow moving in front of them and Tang Ci appeared in the distance. However, the person behind him moved faster than him. There was the sound of a gunshot and the bullet that shot through the air from a distance accurately shot Tang Ci’s back!

The bullet could actually hit a fast moving person. This showed how accurate the other person’s marksmanship was.

Tang Ci dodged fast enough so the bullet only hit below his shoulder blade and failed to shoot through his heart. It was just that the sharp pain coming from his back and the large amount of blood spurting out made his face turn pale.

Ye Qi’s eyes lit up. “It is Group Leader Yu!”

It was such fast, fierce and accurate marksmanship. Who could it be other than Yu Hanjiang?

Lu Jiuchuan smiled evilly. “I have been talking with you so long. Do you really think I wanted to distinguish the real and false from your mouth? I was just waiting for Hanjiang to reach the sniper point… counterfeit goods, you can’t even compare to a finger of my Xiao Tang!”

Tang Ci endured the severe pain and gritted his teeth. “Aren’t you going to act yet?”

Gui Yuanzhang, who was still frowning thoughtfully, suddenly threw out the brush in his hand. A strong wind struck. Qu Wanyue and Long Sen were caught off guard and were instantly blown dozens of meters away by the wind.

Behind them was a tall building. All their internal organs would be shattered if they crashed into it.

Ye Qi’s heart was in his throat. He saw that the two of them were about to collide with a tall building when a white silk fell from the sky. Long Sen hurriedly reached out to grab the white silk while hugging Qu Wanyue with his other hand. The two of them jumped up with the help of the silk and reached the top of the building without any danger.

They saw a familiar figure.

The man who set up the sniper rifle at a high point was wearing a police uniform. His face was very serious while his eyes were calm and sharp. He was hidden in the darkness like a hunter staring at his prey.

Qu Wanyue said in a trembling voice, “G-Group Leader Yu?”

Yu Hanjiang hummed slightly and whispered, “Back away.”

Long Sen and Qu Wanyue were still in shock but Yu Hanjiang’s aura was too strong. The two of them instinctively heard his words and took a few steps back.

Yu Hanjiang narrowed his eyes and opened the scope.

On the opposite roof, ‘Tang Ci’ and ‘Gui Yuanzhang’ suddenly took action. Ye Qi finally realized what was wrong. The last time when he went to the police force to find Yu Hanjiang, he had mentioned Lu Jiuchuan and Yu Hanjiang’s expression became a bit subtle. Yu Hanjiang didn’t say that he knew Ye Qi but he also didn’t say that he didn’t know Ye Qi. He just assumed a ‘businesslike’ attitude.

Perhaps Group Leader Yu at the time wasn’t sure whether Ye Qi was real or false so he didn’t directly recognize the other person?

In addition, the timing of Tang Ci’s rescue of Ye Qi in the bathroom was too clever. Qi Ran was seriously injured while Chu Huaying and the Long Qu couple were already rushing over. Even if Tang Ci didn’t save Ye Qi, Chu Huaying’s speed meant she could rush into the fire to save Ye Qi.

Tang Ci’s rescue of Ye Qi was just a favor to make Ye Qi believe he was real.

Moreover, the metal cover that Tang Ci used to save Ye Qi was something that Ye Qi had never seen before.

The metal cover was very similar to Tang Ci’s mechanical armor which could isolate all attacks from the outside world and was resistant to high temperatures and the cold. It was equivalent to an invincible cover. Yet looking closely, there was a difference. Tang Ci’s mechanical armor was very similar to a humanoid mecha in the future world while the cover that rescued Ye Qi was in the shape of an egg.

At that time, Ye Qi thought that Tang Ci’s mecha could be transformed and didn’t think much of it. Now it seemed that the difference in these details was enough to prove that the card wasn’t Tang Ci’s at all but a hunter’s card!

This hunter should’ve used Tang Ci’s drone card to fill in the gap.

The timing of Old Gui’s appearance was also strange. He and Tang Ci came to them at the same time and the explanation was also similar.

One said that there were hunters in the company who deliberately deceived Chu Huaying and Ye Qi, who came looking for Tang Ci. Another said that his housekeeper was a hunter who poisoned his meal and deceived the teammates who came looking for him. Both of them said they dealt with the hunters around them privately before coming to the restaurant to join their teammates.

However, if this was true…

Why didn’t the hunters simply trick Chu Huaying and Ye Qi into a trap instead of tricking them to leave?

The hunters in the company could use the excuse of ‘I will take you to find Mr Tang’ to trick the two of them into the encirclement. The hunters in Old Gui’s house could also take them to Old Gui to trick them into a trap. Instead, they used the excuse of ‘Mr Tang is on a business trip’ and ‘Old Gui is on a lecture tour’ as excuses to deceive Chu Huaying and Ye Qi who came to the door?

Wasn’t this the same as watching the prey coming to the door only to drive the prey away?

How could the hunters be so stupid?

Therefore, what ‘Tang Ci’ and ‘Gui Yuanzhang’ said was a lie.

This world did have six team members.

The real teammates were the last to appear—Lu Jiuchuan and Yu Hanjiang!

Partially proofread: Paranoid Kitten