Yun Yao didn’t expect Chu Tianqiu to immediately voice the very words she had intended to say, leaving her momentarily speechless as she stared at him.
“How wonderful… actually managing to gamble against and kill an ‘Earth-level’…” Chu Tianqiu said meaningfully, eyeing Chen Junan. “If only everyone in ‘Terminal Land’ were like this, wouldn’t that be ideal?”
Yun Yao felt Chu Tianqiu had changed quite a bit—he seemed even crazier than when they first met.
“Chu Tianqiu… are you really willing to step down as leader?” Yun Yao asked.
“Is this ‘leader’ position so important?” Chu Tianqiu chuckled. “Every time, I take risks to gather all of you, provide food and shelter, and assign tasks… Do you think it’s easy for me?”
“You—”
Chu Tianqiu’s expression darkened as he swept his gaze across the group. “How amusing… bringing me the head of a ‘Earth Snake,’ gathering a crowd here to overthrow me?”
“Though it may sound unfair to you, that’s the reality,” Yun Yao said decisively. “We gathered here not to settle down permanently, much less to establish some hierarchy. We followed you to escape. If you can’t lead us out, why waste our time keeping us here?”
“Then you’re free to form your own faction,” Chu Tianqiu said with a smile. “Anyone here who wants to follow you can go with you.”
“That would take too long,” Yun Yao shook her head. “The fastest way isn’t replacing all the members—it’s replacing the leader.”
“So you’ve always been this selfish?” Chu Tianqiu’s tone gradually calmed. “Because forming your own group would be slow, you’d rather just seize ‘Paradise’ outright?”
After speaking, Chu Tianqiu glanced at Aunt Tong. “Aunt Tong, you’re a veteran too. Do you agree with this?”
“Xiao Chu…” Aunt Tong had only learned of Yun Yao’s plan minutes ago—how could she have prepared a response? She could only force a bitter smile. “Yun Yao doesn’t seem like someone who acts recklessly. Why don’t the two of you talk it over?”
Hearing this, Yun Yao understood Aunt Tong’s stance and pressed on: “Even setting aside the matter of the Earth-level ‘Zodiac’… the last time you hired ‘Cats’ to massacre ‘Paradise,’ did you even consider us your allies?”
“Oh?” Chu Tianqiu raised an eyebrow. “Massacring Paradise, you say?”
“Did I remember wrong?” Yun Yao asked.
“No.” Chu Tianqiu shook his head. “I did do that.”
The moment he admitted it, several members of ‘Paradise’ in the room stiffened.
“But what if I told you I did it to find a way out?” Chu Tianqiu scanned the room with a manic gleam in his eyes. “Would you believe me?”
“You—” Yun Yao took a deep breath and nodded. “Fine. You say you were searching for an escape. Then what exactly did you discover by slaughtering our teammates that you hadn’t known before?”
The room fell into an eerie silence, broken only by the crisp *click-clack* of Dr. Zhao’s stapler.
Chu Tianqiu glanced at Dr. Zhao, then flashed a terrifying grin.
“Yun Yao… I really did find a way.”
He pulled a piece of red, fleshy matter from his pocket, pinched it between two fingers, tossed it into his mouth, chewed a few times, swallowed, and then grinned at everyone with blood-stained teeth.
Seeing this, Yun Yao instinctively took half a step back.
“Dr. Zhao, there’s no need to save him,” Chu Tianqiu said with a laugh. “The body you’re stitching up isn’t Chen Junan at all.”
“What?” Dr. Zhao froze. Even Chen Junan stiffened.
Chen Junan weakly turned his head, wondering if he was hallucinating.
“I’m not… Chen Junan?” He let out a weak chuckle. “Do I look like Wu Yanzu on my deathbed or something…?”
“He’s a fake,” Chu Tianqiu said. “The real Chen Junan went with Jin Yuanxun to retrieve something for me. He’ll be here soon.”
“Wha—” Finally grasping Chu Tianqiu’s meaning, Chen Junan tried to sit up but felt as if his entire body were nailed down—every movement sent sharp pain shooting through him. “Damn it… Dr. Zhao, are you some kind of Rong Momo reincarnate…?”
“D-Don’t move recklessly!” Dr. Zhao said worriedly. “At least wait until the bleeding stops—”
“Like hell I’m waiting—” Gasping for breath, Chen Junan forced himself upright, reopening multiple wounds as fresh blood gushed out. “Xiao Chu… what the hell are you spouting… Open your damn… dead eyes… and look… Who the hell am I…?”
He tried to stand but couldn’t move an inch. For the first time, he had suffered such severe injuries without successfully dying, leaving his mind consumed by thoughts of suicide.
“I see clearly—you’re an impostor.” Chu Tianqiu stood before him, grinning. “Who are you, really? Disguising yourself to infiltrate ‘Paradise’… What’s your goal?”
“Kid… you’ve got some nerve…” Chen Junan slowly raised a hand, gripping Chu Tianqiu’s collar. “I’ve ‘Echoed’… Are you sure you want to mess with me like this…?”
“What do you mean by that?” Chu Tianqiu chuckled, pushing his hand away. “I’m just messing with a fake.”
Yun Yao looked between Chu Tianqiu and Chen Junan, her thoughts growing increasingly muddled.
“Chu Tianqiu, stop trying to confuse everyone,” she said angrily. “I’ve been with Chen Junan since leaving ‘Paradise.’ I carried him here after he was injured—never left his side. How can you claim he’s an impostor?”
“Then isn’t it possible…” Chu Tianqiu bared his bloodied teeth again, staring at her, “…that from the moment you first saw him today, he was already a fake?”
“Ridiculous!” Yun Yao snapped. “Even if he were an impostor, even if he were someone in disguise… how could he replicate Chen Junan’s ‘Echo’? Chu Tianqiu, are you just lying without even thinking now?”
“‘Echo’?” Chu Tianqiu paused. “Who witnessed it?”
“I did.” Yun Yao then pointed at Xu Qian and Yan Zhichun behind her. “All three of us saw it.”
As soon as she spoke, Yun Yao felt a pang of doubt. Truthfully, she hadn’t *seen* Chen Junan activate his ‘Echo.’
But if he were fake, why would he gamble against an Earth-level?
Before she could figure it out, the classroom door swung open, and two figures walked in.
One was Jin Yuanxun.
The other was Chen Junan.
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