“I didn’t see it,” Yan Zhichun replied with a hint of displeasure.
“How…?” The old man froze for a moment before murmuring, “Those images flooded my mind uncontrollably. We should be the same… we’re all human, after all.”
“I just think you shouldn’t dwell on these questions now. As long as we survive, there’ll be plenty of time for research.”
Yan Zhichun turned her gaze toward the distant Black Sheep, who had already blocked the Titan Beetle’s attack for the fourth time. Though he was “blocking,” the result was always the same—each time, he was sent flying, barely managing to stay alive.
“No… I can’t calm my mind. Those images were too real,” the old man muttered, clutching his disheveled hair, completely indifferent to Black Sheep’s fate. “I can still feel the sensation of every shovel strike… But in the end… what happened in the end…?”
Yan Zhichun’s mind was in turmoil. She had a vague feeling that this old man shared some strange connection with the White Sheep.
But on second thought, every member of the “Extremists” was, in some way, linked to the White Sheep.
What troubled her was the old man’s mention of “ancestral memories.” The sudden flashes of images in his mind were eerily similar to her own moments of dissociation. Could his connection to the White Sheep run deeper than others’?
Yan Zhichun shook her head. She knew the priority wasn’t the White Sheep—it was survival. So while the old man rambled, she shifted her stance, scanning the nearest “Extremists.”
She crouched, ready to move, when the old man suddenly seized her arm again.
“Little girl… you don’t believe me?!” His lips trembled, his voice cracking. “I saw those images clearly… How can you not believe me?!”
Yan Zhichun’s expression darkened. “I believe you. But we can’t discuss this in depth right now. We need to table it for now.”
“Table it…?” The old man growled. “No… Once we leave, where will we find these ‘ants’ again? What if those images disappear?”
Just then, the voice of Zhou Mo echoed in Yan Zhichun’s ear.
“Tsk… I really can’t figure you out, you bitch. This is a life-or-death moment, and you’re having the audacity to argue with someone?”
“Which eye of yours saw me arguing?” Yan Zhichun sighed. “Isn’t he the one screaming unilaterally?”
“Just shut him up already,” Zhou Mo snapped. “Tsk, this is beyond ridiculous. The whole square is silent except for Black Sheep—and you two making a ruckus.”
“I’m trying,” Yan Zhichun said, then paused. “Zhou Mo… do you recognize the man beside me?”
“Tsk, I don’t know that freak,” Zhou Mo replied. “Such an eccentric was probably recruited by that bitch Jiang Ruoxue.”
“Ruoxue…” Yan Zhichun’s heart clenched. “She and Old Sun were the first to enter… Are they okay?”
“Lucky bastards,” Zhou Mo answered. “The Titan Beetle didn’t expect us to come straight here. We didn’t see her, and she wasn’t prepared to attack immediately. That bitch is still alive.”
“I need info on this old man. His ‘Echo’ is very strong. Connect me to Ruoxue.” Yan Zhichun suddenly paused. “Wait… you just said… you didn’t see the Titan Beetle when you entered?”
“Isn’t that obvious?” Zhou Mo whispered. “If so many ‘Extremists’ had ‘Echoed,’ and we’d seen the Titan Beetle right away, would she have killed this many?”
Yan Zhichun blinked. The information felt crucial, but she couldn’t piece together why.
If no one had seen the Titan Beetle upon entering, it meant she had activated “Concealment” from the start. But if she hadn’t attacked immediately, it also meant she hadn’t expected them to come. So why would she hide beforehand?
These contradictory clues seemed like the key to unraveling the Titan Beetle’s weakness.
“Tsk, I got an answer,” Zhou Mo said after a pause. “That old man was indeed recruited by Jiang Ruoxue. She said, ‘I saw an old man shoveling dirt on the street and thought it was funny, so I dragged him into the Extremists.'”
“Uh…” Yan Zhichun felt this absurd explanation was indeed typical of Jiang Ruoxue. “What about his ‘Echo’?”
“Jiang Ruoxue’s exact words were…” Zhou Mo sighed. “‘Heh, I forgot.'”
“Got it,” Yan Zhichun nodded. “Very reasonable.”
She stopped talking to Zhou Mo and refocused on the old man before her. She felt as though she’d triggered some strange “causality” again. The old man’s hands gripped her tightly, his emotions volatile. If she didn’t handle this, the Titan Beetle would surely notice the commotion.
“Old man, how about a deal?” Yan Zhichun proposed. “Tell me your ‘Echo,’ and I’ll share a secret I’ve uncovered about the ‘Faceless Ones.'”
“What…? Really?” The old man faltered. “You’ve seen people without faces too?”
“Yes,” Yan Zhichun played along. “The Titan Beetle is too dangerous. If we don’t deal with her, we’ll lose our chance to investigate the ‘Faceless Ones.'”
“The Titan Beetle? You mean that invisible one? What’s so dangerous about her…” The old man released her, trembling. “I’m the ‘Tracker’…”
“Huh?”
Yan Zhichun’s eyes widened. She’d accidentally stumbled upon the key to countering the Titan Beetle.
“How else would I find those faceless people?” The old man shivered. “If I want an answer… I can always trace it. At first, I just wanted to know where we came from, but all paths led underground.”
Yan Zhichun refocused, looking at him intently. “Can you help us pinpoint the Titan Beetle’s location?”
“You just want to win, right…?” The old man muttered. “You underestimate ‘Tracker.'”
“What…?”
“Little girl, what you need to find isn’t the ‘Titan Beetle’s location’—it’s something else,” the old man said seriously. “Do you really need to see her to win?”
“I don’t understand.” Yan Zhichun realized she still knew too little about this man. Besides tracking people, what else could “Tracker” locate?
The old man reached out, plucking a strand of hair from her head and holding it between his fingers.
“Little girl, what you need to find now… is the ‘path to victory.'”
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