Chapter 686: Cooperation

Must we blow up the airship? Does that mean there might be backups or something else on board?

After checking the middle-aged Joshua's soul state and confirming he wasn't lying, Li Ang couldn't help frowning slightly, realizing he must have seen something in the future.

Most likely, he had overlooked something, or the airship had some flaw, causing war to still erupt in the future; the middle-aged Joshua, unwilling to let it happen, had risked being caught again by infiltrating the boarding tower to intercept his own past self and demanded the entire airship be utterly destroyed.

So… is he half an ally now?

…

"Don't trust him! He's up to no good!"

As Li Ang pondered whether to heed the advice, the burn-scarred man beside him, Tager, squinted and said:

"If we really blow up the airship, this bastard will just run out the moment he opens the door—what then?"

Never mind anything else, below there are five or six or seven patrol squads combined—just regular soldiers number two or three thousand. Even if I burn myself to ash, I might not break through."

"Tager's right."

On the other side, the portly Oliver sighed, his face grim as he added:

"When we came, I checked—the area beneath the tower has been cleared clean, not even a pile of stones to hide behind. They don't even need to get close; two rounds of covering fire will pin us right back inside the tower."

And worse, just five hundred meters beyond the patrol zone lies a mechanical unit's encampment. The military's power armor is too thick—outer shell, inner shell, heat insulation layer—three layers totaling over ten centimeters. Even small-caliber shells can't pierce it. We'll just be waiting to die."

Indeed, this problem was even more deadly.

Hearing their words, Li Ang's frown deepened further.

The original rebels might have agreed to ambush the boarding tower—or even destroy the airship—because they could always flee via the middle-aged Joshua's 【Gate of the Far Side】. But now he's been driven out of the rebels; he won't lift a finger to help, not one percent chance.

So even if the middle-aged Joshua speaks the truth, once we blow up the airship and draw the attention of that mechanical unit, all the rebels except Li Ang himself will likely die here…

"Wanna cooperate once?"

After weighing the outcomes repeatedly in his mind, Li Ang took a deep breath, chose to believe the middle-aged Joshua, and extended an olive branch with sincere expression:

"We'll handle blowing up the airship. You handle evacuating everyone on board—and us—safely. How about it?"

Though the middle-aged Joshua and he were not aligned, and though he'd been cozying up to the Aquarius Director, given how deeply his obsession to save the kingdom had birthed an anomaly like the 【Gate of the Far Side】, he likely wouldn't lie about this.

On one side were the rebels who had entrusted their lives to him and followed him into danger; on the other, a brutal war that could stretch over a decade with countless deaths. If both could be avoided, cooperating with him once wasn't unthinkable.

Seeing Li Ang "give in," the middle-aged Joshua, a hundred meters away, slowly smirked, chuckled contentedly, then abruptly wiped the smile from his face.

"Not good enough!"

??!

Amid the rebels' startled glances, the middle-aged Joshua—who had risked coming to warn them—leaned against the tower's steel frame, arms crossed, sneering:

"Back in the valley, didn't you despise my decisions? Didn't you reject my method of piling up lives? Good. Now it's your turn to choose.

Forget cooperation—I won't open the door for you. Either sacrifice them to get the job done, or slink away like a dog with your tail between your legs, and watch this airship return to Krok."

Choose now! I want to see how much better you are than me!"

"…"

…

"Damn it!"

"Nathan, don't push it too far!"

"I'll kill you!"

After hearing the middle-aged Joshua's taunt, the rebels' tempers ignited. The most reckless, burn-scarred Tager, erupted in flames and prepared to charge forward.

But at that moment, Li Ang's Holy Spirit pendant flickered. Tager, who had already rushed seven or eight meters, froze instantly, forcibly pinned in place. "You can't fool me."

Pulling Tager back, Li Ang frowned:

"Preventing word from getting back is one of your top priorities. You wouldn't risk a complete break with us just over this trivial reason, just to let the airship return to Krok, would you?"

"Correct. I truly don't want this to happen."

After openly admitting Li Ang's assessment, the middle-aged Joshua locked eyes with him and spat with malice:

"But I also don't want you alive!"

As Li Ang's frown tightened further, the middle-aged Joshua hissed:

"Before I came, I saw… I know what you intend to do! You and the kingdom cannot coexist! If you truly leave this tower, I'll still lose everything in the future. And cooperating with you might delay war temporarily—but it will still destroy my kingdom!"

"…"

"They don't understand, but you should know whether I'm lying or telling the truth, right?"

Indeed, every word was true—he had truly prepared to let the airship depart.

Looking at the middle-aged Joshua, whose temples had turned stark white from revealing even a sliver of the future to gain his trust, Li Ang fell silent, then asked:

"Besides seeing farther into the future, you must have also seen what happened today. In the 'today' you witnessed, how did I choose?"

Joshua fell silent for a moment, then turned his head slightly, evasively replying:

"You already know."

Indeed… I already know what to choose.

Looking at Joshua, standing safely at a distance, and the slightly ajar maintenance door behind him, Li Ang sighed, then spoke calmly:

"Open the door for the others. I'll stay behind to blow up the airship."

"Leader?!"

Hearing Li Ang's words, the rebels trembled violently, eyes filled with emotion as they gritted their teeth to protest:

"What if… I stay instead?"

"No! Don't agree to this!"

"Maybe there's another way…"

"There's no other way. This is the best option now."

Waving them silent, Li Ang explained wearily:

"When he showed up, we already lost any chance of a safe retreat. Below, there are so many patrol squads—just one flare would draw them all here. So whether we blow up the airship or not, the outcome is the same."

Rather than accomplish nothing and get hunted down by those patrols, isn't it better to trade conditions: let you escape safely, and let me handle this?"

"But you—"

"No buts. Go now."

After urging them once more, Li Ang soothed gently:

"Have you forgotten? I have immortality. With his half-baked foresight, he might not truly kill me. Go, now—don't worry!"

(End of Chapter)