Li Gui had let the truth slip in his agitation, but at this point, he no longer cared.
It was clear he knew a great deal about what was happening down here. His presence was, in itself, at the behest of certain individuals.
However, he had no idea who this Wu Xin was. No one had mentioned a second operative to him beforehand!
Wu Xin, held by the collar, stared blankly at him.
Then, he began to laugh.
“Haha... Hahaha!” Tears streamed down Wu Xin’s face as he laughed. “So that’s how it is. So you were part of this operation too.”
“I thought my life was the only one that was worthless. I didn't expect a big shot like you to be a discarded pawn as well!”
Li Gui’s expression turned hideously grim. “What exactly were you sent here to do? What kind of ritual is this earthquake!?”
Wu Xin shook his head. “Don’t you know why I’m here? Our tasks were likely much the same.”
“Only, haven't you noticed something wrong? Why hasn't an aberration tide broken out in this mine yet!?”
“Because of her!” Wu Xin pointed venomously at “Bai Feifei.”
“Because she found that cavern, that place filled with corpses, and stopped your men from finishing the job. It’s been so long—haven't you realized something was off?!”
As he suddenly pointed at her, everyone turned their gaze toward “Bai Feifei” once again.
“Oh? It seems I did a pretty good job then,” Xu Mo said flatly. He even found a relatively flat rock and sat down on it.
Then, like a spectator watching a show, he grinned. “Go on, keep talking. We’re all going to die anyway, so there’s no reason to hold back. Don’t take your secrets to the grave.”
Wu Xin turned back to Li Gui, gritting his teeth. “You’re from the Li family, aren't you? I bet your mission was to trigger an aberration riot and then retrieve the Containment Object for Dawn City.”
Li Gui’s eyes were filled with murderous intent, but he didn't deny it.
In his obsession with the fact that the strongest Containment Object had been snatched by Aries Hong Jiu, he had completely forgotten about the aberration riot.
“How did you know?”
“I guessed based on my own mission,” Wu Xin said.
“My mission was a sort of insurance policy. I was to lead Wan Qianhong and the others astray as much as possible. If things went south, I was to use the final resort and ensure everyone died here!”
Li Gui’s eyes shook. He muttered, “No... that’s impossible.”
“The Family Head clearly told me before...”
“Which Family Head?” Xu Mo interjected from the side.
“The Huang and Li families, of course!” Wu Xin spat.
“Oh? Do tell,” Xu Mo said, naturally playing the hype man.
Seeing that the situation had already spiraled out of control, Wu Xin stopped acting. He looked at the shocked members of the East District and said with a bitter smile:
“Since it’s come to this, I might as well die knowing the truth.”
“Who do you think this coal mine belongs to? On the surface, it’s an asset of Dawn City, but in reality? The Li family is behind the mining operations, while the Huang family secretly provides the funding and the people.”
“They forced people from this area of the Outer City to work as miners.”
“No wages, just working until they die. They tortured them physically and mentally to make them more prone to aberration.”
“Then, using the power of the thing beneath us, they wanted to see if they could research an aberration potion and find a way to control the process.”
“As for whether there was a deeper purpose, I don’t know.”
Wan Qianhong clenched her teeth. The source she had been investigating, the evidence she had been searching for—the answer was now being laid bare right in front of her.
“The Huang family... and the Li family? Two families of the Inner City are working together to commit such atrocities?!”
Wu Xin shook his head helplessly. “Atrocities? Heh...”
“Such enviable innocence. There is no such thing as divine justice. Besides, I doubt those two families are even at the top of this conspiracy...”
“Oh?” Xu Mo was genuinely curious now. He hurried to prompt him further. “What do you mean? There’s someone even higher?”
Hearing her voice chime in again and again, everyone began to feel bewildered, looking at her with confusion.
Seriously, girl, is your mental state a bit too good?
It looks like everyone is about to meet their end, yet you’re acting like you’re playing a game. Is now really the time to be curious?
Even Wu Xin, who had previously suffered a mental breakdown, stared at “Bai Feifei” with a look of utter confusion.
“Is there even any point in asking these things now?”
“Hey, as the saying goes, ‘if a man hears the Way in the morning, he may die content in the evening,’” Xu Mo said with a casual wave of his hand.
When he played Old Ones' Awakening before, he hadn't bothered to untangle the complex storylines or the cause and effect of events.
Now that Wu Xin and Li Gui were turning on each other and spilling everything, it was, in Xu Mo’s eyes, equivalent to having the game’s plot revealed directly to him without having to solve any puzzles!
Honestly, it was quite a pleasant surprise.
As for hearing the Way and dying? He could just rewind the save in a moment. Why all the drama?
The thing beneath this coal mine was definitely worth using one of his precious rewind opportunities!
“‘Hear the Way,’ well said! But now is not the time for that!”
Suddenly, a roar echoed through the space. Aries Hong Jiu charged forward, his body wreathed in flames as he lunged at Wu Xin.
“What is this thing beneath us!?”
“Tell me how to end this ‘ritual’ now, or I’ll take your head in the next second!”
Wu Xin’s body was scorched by the flames, but he managed to choke out, “Dying in the next second or dying in a minute makes no difference to me.”
“Besides, it’s already too late. Haven't you noticed? The walls around us have already begun to contract.”
“I don’t know what’s down there. No one does. If you had tried to dig through the floor at the very beginning, maybe you would have had a chance...”
Aries Hong Jiu didn't have time to listen to any more. As soon as Wu Xin finished, his flaming fist slammed heavily into the ground.
Thud—
An exceptionally strange sound rang out. The ground no longer felt like hard rock; instead, it was resilient, like jelly, causing Aries’s body to bounce back forcefully.
The entire space continued to vibrate and contract. The walls that Aries had smashed earlier had already knit themselves back together with remarkable elasticity.
Li Gui’s body instantly turned into sand and stone as he tried to use his Escape Art to flee, but he failed to merge into the surrounding walls and was bounced back, his face pale.
How was this possible?!
Wasn't it said that once one reached the level of an Edgerunner, it was nearly impossible to be crushed to death by physical means?!
The originally massive space had now shrunk to less than half its size. Seeing that even the two Edgerunners were helpless, everyone’s faces were filled with despair.
It seemed they were all about to be squeezed to death within this flexible, rubbery space.
Bai Feifei couldn't help but ask in her mind, “Evil God?”
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