After hearing Saturday’s words, Yun Nineteen finally understood why Saturday had been so conflicted all along.
What troubled her wasn’t the awkwardness of being caught between two factions—it was the terror of knowing that both factions she was familiar with could face total annihilation.
But now, Yun Nineteen was even more unsettled.
If Qian Wu had always known Saturday’s identity, didn’t that mean he approved of what she was doing?
That he accepted having an “Extremist” in his own ranks?
“I… I don’t quite understand,” Yun Nineteen said. “If Fifth Brother knew… and he allowed it… then doesn’t that mean…?”
“Tsk, Nineteen,” Saturday interjected. “Believe it or not, Fifth Brother’s thinking is far more profound than yours.”
“But… our faction is still…”
“Herding behavior,” Saturday said. “Tsk, Nineteen. As soon as one person starts lying, the rest become sheep following the lie.”
“Lying… sheep?”
Jiang Ruoxue nodded as well. “Little brother, our leader is the ‘sheep,’ and everyone else follows the lies he spins. When necessary, we lie too. That’s how your Fifth Brother operates. This is what we call ‘herding behavior.'”
“But that’s not right, is it…?” Yun Nineteen hesitated, glancing at Saturday. “Everyone who joins the ‘Cats’ is a bad person who doesn’t want to leave. No matter what the big shots in this place are planning, we ‘Cats’ should remain neutral…”
“Tsk…” Saturday sighed and said, “Nineteen, that’s exactly why I said Fifth Brother’s thinking is deeper than yours.”
“What do you mean…?”
“Tsk, you know as well as I do that the reason all the ‘Cats’ don’t want to leave is because we’ve committed grave sins,” Saturday continued. “Fifth Brother initially agreed to cooperate with the factions to ensure that the ‘Cats’ wouldn’t just lurk in the shadows. He wants all of us to step out—to stand openly in the sunlight.”
Yun Nineteen froze for a moment, disbelieving. “You’re joking, Sixth Sister… In the real world, even you have blood on your hands. How the hell do you expect us to stand openly in the sunlight…?”
“Fifth Brother has a way,” Saturday said solemnly. “Nineteen… tsk… he said he’d find a way to cleanse each of us of our sins, to let every ‘Cat’ step out of the shadows and return to a perfect, sinless real world.”
“That’s insane…” Yun Nineteen’s mind reeled. “That’s absolutely insane… It’s even crazier than the ‘Heavenly Dragon’s’ lies…”
“Tsk, but I believe in Fifth Brother. That’s the true purpose of the ‘Cats,'” Saturday said. “Do you really want to stay ‘neutral’ here for the rest of your life?”
Yun Nineteen knew that eternal “neutral reincarnation” here was far from the best option. If there was a way to return to reality with their sins absolved, who would choose to stay?
But how could something so impossible ever be achieved?
“So neither ‘Long Live Extremism’ nor ‘Remain Neutral’ is our true mission codename,” Jiang Ruoxue chimed in. “‘Herding Behavior’ is.”
Yun Nineteen fell silent for a few seconds, then turned back to Saturday. “Sixth Sister… can we really… return to a ‘sinless’ world?”
“Three outcomes,” Saturday said, holding up three fingers. “We take this chance to pull off something big—either we all escape, or we all vanish. As for the third option… it’s maintaining the status quo. I don’t even need to ask Fifth Brother to know which one he’d choose.”
After a moment of thought, Yun Nineteen finally nodded. “Alright… I understand…”
Chen Jun’nan, who had been silent for a while, suddenly cut in. “Hey, hey! Buddy! Since you know what the ‘Extremists’ are planning, why not spill it now so we can all get on the same page?”
“Fine…” Yun Nineteen nodded. “But I heard the plan has two phases. I only know the first. So, I’ll—”
“Wait.” Saturday and Jiang Ruoxue stopped him simultaneously.
“Huh…?”
“Not now,” Jiang Ruoxue said. “If some of your ‘Cats’ are in the know, then wait until right before the mission starts tomorrow. The night is long, and who knows what could go wrong? If we run into the ‘Heavenly Serpent,’ we’re screwed.”
Saturday nodded. “I agree.”
“Alright…” Yun Nineteen nodded as well.
“What are you ‘Cats’ planning?” Jiang Ruoxue now turned to Saturday.
“Tsk, we…” Saturday said, “are going to kill the ‘Divine Beasts.'”
She then gave Chen Jun’nan a meaningful look and added, “The ‘Cats’ were founded with the sole purpose of slaying the ‘Divine Beasts.’ That hasn’t changed. Tsk, I don’t know which damn genius came up with that goal, but it was a stroke of brilliance.”
“Ahem…” Chen Jun’nan cleared his throat and quickly changed the subject. “Sis Mo, didn’t Qian Duoduo and the guys already try that once before…? That ‘Black Tortoise’ thing is unkillable.”
“That was a test run,” Saturday said. “Fifth Brother already knew the Black Tortoise carried ‘Indestructibility.’ The last failure wasn’t just to gauge its strength—it was also to make the ‘Divine Beasts’ drop their guard.”
“My god… A plot within a plot?” Chen Jun’nan was stunned.
“Fifth Brother said that when the time was right, someone would come to the ‘Cats’ and reveal the method to break the Black Tortoise’s ‘Indestructibility.'”
“No fucking way…” Chen Jun’nan seemed to realize something. “Sis Mo… don’t tell me… don’t tell me that’s why I’m here… Damn it, did Old Qi use me as a pawn again?”
“You’re here for that…?” Saturday was confused. “Weren’t you sent by Qi Xia’s faction to discuss the plan?”
“I don’t know shit about any plan!” Chen Jun’nan felt wronged. “You know what that bastard Old Qi told me? He said, ‘Go see if it’s a dead cat or a live cat, then have Saturday contact me.'”
“…That’s it?” Saturday asked.
“That’s it!” Chen Jun’nan said indignantly. “I thought that was my only job today, but that sly bastard had it all figured out… He just couldn’t say it openly at ‘Paradise’…”
Saturday was silent for a moment before asking, “So… you know the Black Tortoise’s weakness…?”
“Fuck…” Chen Jun’nan swore. “Not just the Black Tortoise’s! We ran into some pale-ass snake, and that guy blabbed everything! We know all the ‘Divine Beasts’ weaknesses now!”
He leaned forward, pointing at his own eyes.
“‘Eyes’—that’s the weakness!”
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