Chapter 2482: The Ultimate Power of Character! This Is Zhang Lin!

If the matter could have been made perfectly clear to him before the mission was carried out, then Xue Long would not have gone in with that hesitant mindset, nor would he have sent his brothers into the tomb with so little confidence.

Precisely because Wang Canghai never tells the truth, always talking around the subject, his deliberate concealment caused the losses to grow greater and greater in the end.

If those concealments had brought Wang Canghai some value or gain in return, Xue Long might have swallowed it, but unfortunately no such thing happened—Wang Canghai gained nothing at all.

All he got in exchange was the sacrifice of those men, while Wang Canghai himself suffered no loss whatsoever; Xue Long felt this was unfair.

A foolish commander who leads his team to ruin must pay the price—then again, even with such thoughts, one knows full well he doesn't have that ability.

Perhaps in the end, when Zhang Lin accepted his surrender and gave him a task, the phone call Xue Long made to Wang Canghai was his final act of stubborn defiance.

He wanted to use that method to vent his anger, and his goal was indeed achieved—not only did Xue Long pour out his fury, but Wang Canghai on the other end of the line was nearly driven to smoke from all seven orifices; it was only that Wang Canghai's self-control was comparatively strong.

If it were Zhang Lin mocking Wang Canghai, then he would need a very, very long time to recover, because during that period he would have to guess whether Zhang Lin had some follow-up move.

Or wonder whether Zhang Lin meant to use such a method to trick him, and then who knows what other purpose might be behind it—this was the "startled-at-the-shadow-of-a-bow" mentality Wang Canghai had developed after being defeated by Zhang Lin again and again.

Even though he knew this mindset was entirely wrong, on an instinctive level he simply could not suppress it, and could only let things run their course.

No matter how much Wang Canghai himself hated it, this had perhaps already become a subconscious instinct, a conditioned reflex—unless one day Zhang Lin truly died and was no more.

In that situation, it would not affect the work that still needed to be done afterward; and whether he wanted to obtain the Muchen Zhu or wanted to complete the ascension ritual as a matter of course, in truth Wang Canghai did not want to use the knowledge Zhang Lin spoke of to accomplish his own ends.

He believed that given time, whether it was the instrument itself or the messy secrets and truths of the Evil Luo Sea City, he could investigate them all clearly.

Since he had built something as complex as Cloud Top Tiangong and had also struck that kind of deal with the Wan Nu King, naturally a mere Evil Luo Sea City would not stump him either.

The present Wang Canghai had not yet realized what connection the Demon Kingdom itself had with Cloud Top Tiangong, but in the final analysis, all of this was still within Zhang Lin's trap—Wang Canghai simply remained stubbornly blind to it.

Looking back at Xue Long at this moment, upon hearing Zhang Lin say this, his mind could not help but replay the things that had happened before, and he immediately nodded heavily.

He said: "Mr. Zhang, I'm not afraid. Even if I was a little afraid at first, my mindset has already been adjusted now. Just tell me whatever orders you have—even if it costs me my life, there's no problem at all."

This is the power of a person's character. Perhaps Xue Long would never think this way facing anyone else, but Zhang Lin, through this subtle, quietly persuasive charisma of character, had moved him, making him willing to follow the other man wholeheartedly.

If Wang Canghai knew of Xue Long's words at this moment, he would probably be so angry he'd spit blood again, because he had spent so long without ever making Xue Long follow him so devotedly. Although Xue Long had said things like "cost me my life" before, Wang Canghai had never believed him.

And in the end reality proved exactly that—Xue Long betrayed him, and Wang Canghai hadn't seen even the slightest sign of it. Even if he had caught some faint premonition, he would have believed the other man wouldn't act that way. From this point, perhaps he should even thank Xue Long—at least when going to the Wang family, Wang Canghai had a premonition in advance that Mr. Wang would betray him.

But in the end he was still one step too late. By the time he reached the Wang household, it was already completely empty—nothing to be seen. In the end he could only use his own methods to mobilize the only two Wang family members he could still use.

But now those people no longer existed either. Wang Cen and Su Nan had simultaneously gone over to the archaeological team's side—of course Wang Canghai knew that the essence of it was not the archaeological team, but Zhang Lin.

If Zhang Lin did not exist, everything would be under his control—where would all this messy chaos come from? Every time he thought of this, Wang Canghai would sigh again and again, while also being unable to suppress his fury. And Zhang Lin, upon hearing Xue Long say these words, smiled faintly.

"I believe what you say. Since that's the case, then just wait for my next order. Actually, when I made this call to you, I hadn't thought of having you do anything specific! To put it plainly, I just wanted to see whether you were truly afraid. If, because of the fear Wang Canghai once brought you, you now don't even dare to choose to stand against him, then I would truly be very disappointed in you."

Hearing Zhang Lin say this, Xue Long took a deep breath and thought that this time he had bet right!

He had indeed answered in the way that satisfied Zhang Lin the most.

At the same time, Xue Long was also certain that this kind of test from Zhang Lin would never come out of nowhere—every time one completed a test Zhang Lin had set up, the one being tested would absolutely receive a reward.

Sure enough, the next moment Zhang Lin said: "Xue Long, I can't promise anything else, but this time the Second Archaeological Squad's entire structure will remain intact, and after you come out alive, not only will you have no need to worry about Wang Canghai or the Corpse Beetle Pill situation—who knows, I might even be able to get you a proper position in the Second Archaeological Squad. If you refuse…"

Zhang Lin had originally wanted to continue, meaning to tell Xue Long that whatever he wanted, Zhang Lin would deliberately fulfill it, as long as the other man didn't make outrageous demands—but the prerequisite was completing this mission well. Yet just as he reached this point, Xue Long was already nodding like a pestle pounding garlic.

He hurriedly said: "Thank you so much, Mr. Zhang. If I could officially join the Second Archaeological Squad or the First Archaeological Squad, that would truly be an honor for me."

Hearing this, Zhang Lin was also taken aback for a moment—he had never expected that this was truly Xue Long's thinking. Actually, by his own estimate, Xue Long shouldn't have been that interested in the archaeological team.

Even though in the past he had carried out missions for Wang Canghai, and the Wang family people had also been constantly moving from tomb to tomb.

But in the final analysis, there were hardly a few people under heaven who truly liked the life of tomb exploration—yet unexpectedly Xue Long turned out to be an exception.

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