Chapter 859: Inferring the Cause from the Effect

“What? Dangerous?” She looked at me curiously, “Are you going to confess to me?”

“Me!” I sighed helplessly and added, “Haven’t you always wanted to know what I’m working on? Now I’ll tell you.”

“Oh…?” She pulled up a chair and sat down, then looked at me expectantly. “Go on.”

Right now, I really need a trustworthy teammate, and Jiang Ruoxue is a great choice.

Even though I don’t know what the “Echo” called “Cause and Effect” actually does, at least I’ll have someone to strategize with.

Jiang Ruoxue’s way of thinking is completely opposite to mine—maybe she can come up with some brilliant plan.

So I briefly told her what had happened to me. I explained that I’d been chosen as a teammate by a “Zodiac,” and that their ultimate goal was to overthrow the “Apex” here.

Then I took out the note and showed her the three challenges Bai Yang had left for me.

“Any ideas?” I asked.

Jiang Ruoxue studied the note, examining the three lines, her expression no different from mine.

These three tasks weren’t something I—or even the two of us—could accomplish alone.

“Do we really have to do these three things?” she muttered softly. “Is this why I’m here?”

“For me, it’s a must. But not for you,” I shook my head. “If you have any thoughts, you can share them. If not, that’s fine too. Or if you think I’m too dangerous and want to leave, I won’t stop you.”

“Who taught you to talk like this?” Jiang Ruoxue snapped irritably. “Even if I had ideas, you’d kill them with that attitude.”

“I…” Hearing this, I lowered my head. “Sorry. I’ve never been good at communicating with people, so I tend to lay out all the worst-case scenarios upfront.”

“Change that when you talk to me from now on.” Jiang Ruoxue waved her hand dismissively, still looking at the note. “As for your problem… I might have an idea.”

“What idea?” My eyebrows shot up instantly. “Tell me!”

“Beg me.”

“Huh…?”

Jiang Ruoxue smirked at me. “See? This is how good friends talk. You can use your usual approach with anyone else, but not with me.”

“Fine… fine.” I awkwardly smoothed my hair. “Then hurry up and tell me.”

“Aren’t you going to beg me?” Jiang Ruoxue looked up at the ceiling, feigning indifference. “If begging’s too much, you could just call me ‘Daddy.’”

“You—” Too annoyed to hold back, I smacked her arm. To my surprise, she just laughed.

“Haha! That’s more like it!” Jiang Ruoxue said. “If you use too many tactics or negotiation tricks with me, you might lose me as a friend. Around me, say what you want, do what you want. That’s not disrespect—it’s showing me you’re close to me.”

Only then did I understand what Jiang Ruoxue meant. Yes, I’ve always been wary of everyone, even those I’m ready to trust completely.

I thought I’d learned so much, but I didn’t even realize the simplest social skills had to be taught to me by Jiang Ruoxue.

“Zhichun.” Jiang Ruoxue pointed at the note in front of her, her expression turning serious. “You always say I can’t grasp logical relationships. Now, try using my way of thinking.”

“Your way of thinking…?” I lowered my head, thinking. “You mean ‘working backward from the effect’?”

“Exactly.” Jiang Ruoxue nodded. “If you’ve been stuck on the ‘cause’ for so long, why not start with the ‘effect’ instead?”

“I… don’t really get it.”

I shook my head. Jiang Ruoxue’s way of thinking was too abstract for me—I couldn’t apply it smoothly in such a short time.

“Think of it like this…” After a few seconds, she spoke slowly. “Suppose that years from now, in the ‘Land of Endings,’ there’s a team that goes around sabotaging others from collecting ‘Tao.’ They do insane things to drive people to despair, and each of them is a master of ‘Echoes.’ Why would that be?”

“Huh…?”

So this is “working backward from the effect”?

But Jiang Ruoxue’s suggestion did give me a fresh perspective. Yes… if such a team existed in the “Land of Endings,” what would be the reason?

What would their motive be?

“Not quite.” I frowned. “There’s one more condition needed…”

“What?”

“Since what we’re doing is dangerous, these people need a way to avoid being targeted by other factions.” After a moment of thought, I added, “So they should operate as ‘lone wolves’—maybe they don’t even know each other. That’s the only way to be truly safe. Even if one of them is caught and tortured to death, they wouldn’t know where their teammates are.”

“That makes sense—much more thorough.” Jiang Ruoxue nodded, then looked up and asked, “Then think… what’s the purpose of this team?”

Following her logic, I quickly pieced it together. Right… since this team couldn’t work together, what they needed wasn’t teamwork…

But something much more abstract. What they needed was…

Faith.

A deeply rooted “faith” that didn’t require collaboration—something strong enough for lone wolves to act on.

Like how ancient emperors, despite being mere mortals, called themselves “Sons of Heaven.”

Anyone who met the “Son of Heaven” would shout “Long live the Emperor!” and fight to the death for him when the time came.

Even if they’d never actually seen the “Son of Heaven.”

That’s the power of faith.

If I could craft a lie for them to believe, they’d naturally carry out missions everywhere.

But what lie should I create…?

“Wait…” I raised a hand to my forehead, feeling like my thoughts were too narrow. “I don’t even need a lie… I just need to tell them the ‘truth’…”

“Huh?” Jiang Ruoxue turned to me. “Did you figure it out? The ‘cause’ behind this?”

“Thanks to you…” I nodded. “I’ve got it. This is the path best suited for me. I don’t need to form a team—I just need to tell the strongest people I meet the ‘truth’ about this place… that once 3,600 ‘Tao’ are collected, everything will reset. That alone will drive them to despair! And they’ll actively interfere with others collecting ‘Tao.’ Then, at some point, if I gather all these people with the same goal… they’ll be the strongest ‘team’ of all.”