Chapter 1576: "Scheming Ling"

"Scheming Ling"

Now that everyone no longer had nuclear weapons, no longer had top-tier thermal weapons for bombardment, this was undoubtedly an excellent opportunity for the majority of non-nuclear countries in the world... especially those countries least affected by the nuclear strikes.

War would not stop because of the end of nuclear war. On the contrary, the truly tragic and chaotic war had just begun.

And the combat power Yang Xiao burst out with on the ocean not long ago was no less than a humanoid nuclear weapon in this era... Chen Ling believed that observant people high up had long seen this point.

It was also reasonable that they would recruit the Nine Monarchs, hoping they could rush to the battlefield and serve as unconventional weapons to crush the battlefield.

"Then what are your thoughts?" Chen Ling asked.

"I... refused." Yang Xiao lowered his head. "I know it's wrong to do this. I know my evasion is the act of a coward... but... I don't want to kill people."

After Yang Xiao finished speaking, he remained silent for a moment, then murmured and added:

"Besides... aren't we supposed to save humanity?"

"Is that considered saving?"

Chen Ling looked at him with a complex expression and didn't respond.

This question fell into the ears of the other Nine Monarchs, and they also fell silent... This was a heavy, realistic, and quite sensitive topic.

Does defending one's home and country count as justice? Does saving humanity count as justice? When the most capable group of people in this era stood at the crossroads of Morality, ethics, and responsibility, at this moment, the measuring stick to judge right and wrong had already lost its utility. Everyone's choice could only rely on their original heart.

"Yang Xiao is the first, but he won't be the last." Chen Ling's gaze slowly swept over them. "If nothing unexpected happens, you guys will also successively receive such invitations... or rather, orders, next."

"I don't know what each of you is thinking. I won't interfere with your choices, nor do I care..."

"After all, the battlefield that decides the life and death of humanity's destiny is not at this moment..."

"But in the future hundreds of years from now."

The tent once again plunged into quietness, so quiet that only the whimpering sound of the wind outside remained.

Ring, ring, ring——

Right at this moment, another phone ringing sound rang out.

This time... it was from Lu Xun.

Lu Xun sighed and still answered the phone, but after the other side only said a few sentences, he froze.

He gave a few 'mm's, and after hanging up the phone, he turned his head to look at Chen Ling:

"I need to go back first."

"Okay."

Chen Ling didn't ask what Lu Xun was going back to do. He was indeed the one who gathered and united the Nine Monarchs, but the Nine Monarchs were not his subordinates. What's more, Chen Ling trusted Lu Xun. As the leader of the Nine Monarchs, he should be able to handle his own affairs well.

Seeing Lu Xun was about to leave, Wu Tongyuan was the first to stand up:

"Old Lu, I'll go with you?"

Lu Xun gave him a helpless look. "You can't follow me for this matter... You follow Director Chen first. I'll contact you after I finish my work."

Wu Tongyuan's body, which had already stood up, stiffened in place for a moment... Ever since he was fished back from abroad by Lu Xun, he had always been inseparable from Lu Xun. Now that he couldn't follow for a while, it made him somewhat at a loss.

"Oh... okay, you busy yourself first." Wu Tongyuan scratched his messy head.

Lu Xun seemed to be in a rush. Regardless of the rain outside, after simply bidding farewell to Chen Ling and the others, he hurriedly walked out of Shennongjia along the small path, and then waved his hand to summon a starlight, directly disappearing from the spot...

The entire process was as natural as hailing a taxi.

Chen Ling turned to look at everyone:

"It's already late at night..."

"How about we make do and stay here for one night first?"

This exploration camp in Shennongjia wasn't small. Apart from the main tent that was just blown away by Chen Ling and the Lord of Hanging Jade, there were still a few tents originally left for the staff to stay overnight. After all, not everyone had Lu Xun's ability to "hail a starlight" and leave. Walking out of the deep mountains in such a late night was still quite troublesome.

After everyone looked at each other, they nodded without much hesitation:

"That's fine too."

"Then let's settle down here first."

Saving the destiny of humanity wasn't something to be rushed tonight.

"It just so happens I brought some instant noodles and stuff when I came. I just saw a cassette stove over there, let's boil some noodles to eat."

Everyone's opinions were surprisingly unified, and surprisingly fast, as if there was an invisible giant hand in the dark pushing each of them to stay...

And so, everyone automatically dispersed.

Su Zhiwei and Yang Xiao went into the camp to rummage for sleeping bags, Wen Ruoshui went to use the cassette stove to boil water, and Qi Muyun returned near the tent that was just blown away to look for his backpack... After all, his instant noodles were in the bag.

As for Ji Xuan, he was still unconscious in the center of the tent, motionless like a corpse.

Wu Tongyuan stood blankly on the spot. He originally wanted to also go help do something, but the others' decisions were simply too fast. Each person said a sentence and decided their respective tasks, then went out to get busy...

Very quickly, only an unconscious Ji Xuan, him, and...

A smiling Chen Ling were left in the tent.

...

That's right.

Chen Ling did it on purpose.

From the moment Lu Xun left, he began to use Thought Storm to imperceptibly influence the thoughts of these people, making them uniformly decide to stay overnight. Even the idea of their respective task divisions was pushed by Chen Ling... Even the phone call Lu Xun just received was Chen Ling's handiwork.

He first used the ability of the Lord of the Aurora to let Lu Xun receive the call, and then disguised himself as the director of Bureau 749, telling Lu Xun that an emergency had occurred, and the level of secrecy was extremely high, only letting Lu Xun return alone.

Chen Ling was very clear that he and Wu Tongyuan were not familiar with each other. The intersection between the two was previously limited to one or two sentences of conversation during the exploration process. If Lu Xun was here, Wu Tongyuan would definitely follow by Lu Xun's side, and Chen Ling would have no opportunity to probe for Wu Tongyuan's weaknesses...

Chen Ling couldn't possibly just ask Wu Tongyuan right in front of Lu Xun and the others, what is your weakness? What should I do to kill you?

If the person Chen Ling asked was Yang Xiao, then Yang Xiao would probably answer directly, after all, Yang Xiao trusted him enough. But Wu Tongyuan's heart was extremely sensitive and introverted. If he asked like this, perhaps it would instead make him put his guard up against him.

Watching the others all have things to do, leaving only himself standing here blankly, Wu Tongyuan scratched his head somewhat at a loss...

Especially when he turned his head and saw a pair of ruby-like eyes squinting and smiling at him, an inexplicably bad premonition arose in his heart... It was like a young maiden suddenly being stared at by someone, feeling uncomfortable all over.

"Uh... um... Director Chen, it's quite cool today." Wu Tongyuan awkwardly began to find a topic of conversation.

"Yeah, it's very cool."

Chen Ling stood at the entrance of the tent, a pair of vermilion earrings swaying slightly with the wind. He didn't look at Wu Tongyuan again, but looked at the wind and rain among the mountains, speaking leisurely:

"I saw the methods you used to deal with those people in the mountains... Your 'mathematics', is very powerful, huh?"