Chapter 2845: The Cruelest Thing Is Waiting for Death

This was entirely a casual guess on Zhang Lin's part; he hadn't given it any real thought, nor had he harbored any suspicion in that direction from the start—it was nothing more than an offhand remark.

But he had no idea that, on the other end of the line, Wang Canghai's heart skipped a beat; some situations were things he didn't want to see, and certain things absolutely could not happen!

From the very beginning, Wang Canghai had been telling himself this over and over in his heart, because once those situations truly occurred, even dying eight hundred times over would not be enough to truly quell that fury.

Zhang Lin had, quite unintentionally, come infinitely close to the truth—and that was the reason for Wang Canghai's inexplicable tension at this moment.

However, Wang Canghai reacted extremely quickly. He knew that Zhang Lin's grasp of detail was so sharp that even catching a shift in his tone over the phone would make Zhang Lin realize the truth of certain matters—even when it was just a casual guess.

So the next moment, Wang Canghai made a great effort to calm his inner tension, and said in a very composed, airy manner: "Zhang Lin, I have to admire your imagination. Let's just take what you said as true. I know that being able to fight me to this point is already something to be proud of! And I do admit that I am indeed old now, stubbornly relying on experience to solve problems, which has led me to be defeated by your hands again and again."

Immediately after, Wang Canghai launched into a long-winded speech, which made Zhang Lin's brow furrow deeply.

At first there had been no suspicion whatsoever; since it was just an offhand remark, he had wanted to steer away from the previous topic, but Wang Canghai's reply clearly placed far too much weight on it.

Yet Zhang Lin still showed no change in expression, and directly cut Wang Canghai off, saying: "Aren't you worried about the Second Archaeology Team? I've given you the method—go check it out yourself, no need to call me again. And besides, every chance I've given you, you've already wasted."

"And my resolve is far more steadfast than you imagine. Originally I wanted you to back off in the face of difficulty, find some place to retire in peace; later on, I might not have come after you again. But after that, I decided that just killing you would be enough!"

"But now I think that before killing you, I need to expose every single one of those secrets from the past, and then see what becomes of you when I don't lift a finger. Just wait and see."

After saying all this, Zhang Lin unhesitatingly hung up the phone.

Facing imminent death is not the cruelest thing—it's waiting for death!

Not knowing which day the executioner's blade will truly fall.

And on the other end of the line, Wang Canghai viciously ground his molars. For him, certain things were right there before his eyes; Zhang Lin's blade was already at his throat—but even so, what could be done about it?

Some tension cannot be calmed simply by choosing to turn a blind eye; these matters keep seeping into his mind, impossible to suppress.

Zhang Lin was now making absolutely no effort to conceal his hostility toward him. Earlier, the other party would still put on a front, even using that kind of approach to temporarily calm him down.

At the very least, Zhang Lin could plan out everything that came after, even the subtle shifts in detail. But now, through Zhang Lin's words, Wang Canghai understood perfectly: this was a move to kick someone when they're down—and to destroy them psychologically.

From another angle, Zhang Lin was, in this manner, bluntly telling him: you wanted to play, and while I was giving you a chance you didn't cherish it. Just one worthless life of yours certainly won't be enough to quench my fury, so you need to prepare to pay an even more painful price.

From a realistic standpoint, this was an outcome Wang Canghai did not want to accept in any way, but given the current situation, it was still the same old saying.

Wang Canghai truly had no better way to deal with Zhang Lin; he could only watch the livestream like this, hoping he could still seek out some slim chance amid the cracks.

At the very least, using such a chance to successfully bury those original secrets would be good enough.

Wang Canghai thought to himself that he could die; he had even already picked out his own burial site—not the previous underwater laboratory, but an absolutely superb piece of feng shui land.

And what he called "death" was entering the burial site as a living person, then staying inside for several hundred years. Even if Zhang Lin was in a state of eternal life, as long as several hundred years later all the turmoil had settled, and as long as Zhang Lin believed he was already dead, then afterward he might be able to walk out again.

Because no one would hold another person in their heart for several hundred years—not even an enemy. Wang Canghai now had time he could afford to waste.

After all, he still had plenty of jet coal; after three hundred years of accumulation, what he had left, Wang Canghai believed, was certainly far more than Zhang Lin's.

It was possible that, in a pure war of attrition, he could still gain the upper hand over Zhang Lin.

With this thought, Wang Canghai continued to focus his attention on the Second Archaeology Team's livestream.

And at this moment, the members of the Second Archaeology Team had finally calmed down. After the argument that had lasted over ten minutes earlier, in truth every one of them had a clear idea in their heart.

Wang Kaixuan was no exception. If Zhang Lin were to send Xue Long a message at this point, asking him to relay to the members of the Second Archaeology Team that the situation had to be calmed down now, and that they could not continue to act while clinging to this kind of chaotic mindset—doing so would only make what they were going through increasingly perilous—

no matter how dangerous the outside truly was, if internal disorder broke out, even the kind of danger that would normally be nothing to them could seize the opportunity created by their internal squabbling and cause the entire team to collapse.

But in the end, Zhang Lin still did not do so. This was also based on his having watched the Second Archaeology Team come all this way, and his considerable understanding of every one of them.

He believed that no matter how the situation changed, these people should not commit the most foolish of mistakes—in other words, no matter how much they argued, they still knew that when facing reality,

many situations called for compromise, and Shen Qiong would also argue her case forcefully. Of course, the reason Zhang Lin didn't do this was, on one hand, out of trust.

On the other hand, if he told Xue Long what to do, he would certainly carry out his order one hundred percent. And when Yang Lu saw the message, she would also be very certain that it was he who had issued the corresponding order, and she would certainly know what choice to make.

But Wang Kaixuan and Hu Bayi were not necessarily the same; even though they had harbored doubts about this matter before, that was not enough to support them, in such an extreme situation, choosing to believe it right away.

They would still cling to a doubting mindset.

That was the primary reason Zhang Lin did not do so.

But in the end, facts proved that the result was a good one: the situation had calmed down, although Wang Kaixuan was still pulling a long face.

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