Chapter 8 The Devil's Conspiracy

At eight o'clock in the evening, inside the library of Devil's Castle...

"I always feel like there's a conspiracy behind this setup..." Long Aomin said to Greed Wolf as he retreated.

"Alright, I told you not to look back," Greed Wolf replied. "See... it's closed again."

At that moment, the three members of Blades were standing in a passage made of emerald-green walls. There wasn't much to say about the path they had taken to get there, just some monsters blocking the way. But the side they intended to go to was blocked by a huge "stone face."

The face was orange-red overall, with a pair of bright green eyes, a large nose, and a mouth full of protruding fangs... It looked like the face of a devil or a demon.

Five minutes ago, the three had arrived in front of this "face door." They examined it for a while but found no clues as to how to open it. Just as they were about to turn back, they heard a "grumbling..." sound of rolling bricks.

The three of them turned around abruptly and caught a glimpse of the face's mouth closing...

Then, after several attempts, they finally discovered the pattern of this door - when someone approached it to a certain distance and turned their back to it, it would "open its mouth" and become passable.

So, Greed Wolf came up with the idea of "the three of us walking backwards into the door."

However, doing so was undoubtedly more dangerous... If there were any traps behind the door, they would most likely fall victim to them by going in backwards.

"I don't think it's a good idea either..." Seven Kill said. "I'm not afraid of monsters and traps... I'm just afraid that Feng Bujue is standing behind the door waiting for us."

"That's impossible," Greed Wolf replied, shaking his head.

"Are you so sure?" Long Aomin asked suspiciously.

"I've seen through it long ago, that guy is just stalling for time with us," Greed Wolf replied. "He doesn't intend to eliminate us quickly; he's waiting for something..."

"Oh? What do you mean by that?" Seven Kill also turned his head and asked.

"Well..." Greed Wolf thought for a few seconds, organized his thoughts, and said, "Remember the exchange he had with us through the mouth of the monster before?"

"Ah, of course, I remember," Seven Kill replied with a pained expression.

"Think about it carefully..." Greed Wolf's expression was very serious. "That was by no means a whim, but a very clever psychological manipulation..." He paused for a few seconds, giving his two teammates some time to think, and then continued, "First of all, Feng Bujue used this method to let us know that 'we are always under his surveillance'; and then he extended it to - 'he can sneak attack us at any time'..."

Long and Seven Kill both nodded, indicating that they were still following the strategist's line of thought.

"After that, he took advantage of the argument with Seven Kill... improvised and subtly revealed some information to us, and mocked us in passing," Greed Wolf continued. "Although his words were a mixture of truth and falsehood... I think you and I both realized at that moment... that his words were intended to anger us, create psychological pressure on us, and make us speed up our exploration in anxiety."

"Yeah, isn't that the case?" Long replied.

"No," Greed Wolf shook his head.

Seven Kill and Long's expressions immediately changed.

"A double trap..." Greed Wolf said, looking at each of his teammates in the face. "Understand?"

"You mean..." Seven Kill replied thoughtfully. "His real intention... is actually the opposite?"

"That's right," Greed Wolf nodded in response. "We might as well rethink it through the surface... Assuming that Feng Bujue really wants us to speed up our actions, what is the purpose of doing so? It's nothing more than to make us consume more energy and life in a hurry, making it easier to kill us." He paused for half a second, then changed his tone, "But what is the actual situation? From the time we entered the city until now, we haven't encountered any particularly dangerous obstacles..."

Greed Wolf looked up and looked around, continuing, "Since our actions are always under his surveillance, why doesn't he do something? With his ability, even if he doesn't show up or make a direct confrontation, there are countless ways to deal with us... But he only put verbal pressure on us once, isn't that self-contradictory?"

"Hmm..." Hearing this, Long touched his chin and pondered, "According to you... does he not want to kill us?"

"He wants to, but not now," Greed Wolf's expression sank, and he continued, "According to my observation... Feng Bujue and Devouring Ghost General have a common point, that is - no matter how they arrange things strategically, psychologically... they never put their enemies on the same level as themselves. In simple terms... they are both extremely arrogant." He snorted coldly, "Hmph... so they both have a habit of prioritizing 'exploring the script' over 'defeating the enemy'."

As Greed Wolf spoke, he gestured to his two teammates to turn their heads and retreat.

At this point in the conversation, although Greed Wolf hadn't finished explaining everything, Seven Kill and Long Aomin had both felt his confidence, so they didn't question the decision to "back into the door."

The three of them retreated in large strides, and soon passed through the mouth of the stone face, from the emerald-green passage to another dark brown space.

As a result... no traps were triggered at all. They turned around again, and the mouth of the stone face didn't close.

"In terms of the current script, Feng Bujue is obviously playing this trick again..." After a few seconds, Greed Wolf continued where he left off, "In fact, he doesn't want to confront us so quickly. No matter what he says, what he is actually doing is... avoiding direct contact with us and dragging out time." He paused, "To achieve this goal, he needs our cooperation, so... he played this 'double trap' trick."

"In other words... he calculated from the beginning that we would see through the intention in his words," Seven Kill said as he thought. "So he deliberately conveyed information in his words that was contrary to his true intention?"

"Exactly," Greed Wolf replied, then sighed and continued, "Sigh... to be honest, this guy's talent in psychological manipulation makes even someone like me who has formally studied psychology feel ashamed..." He took the opportunity to show off, then continued, "When he urged, angered, and pressured us, he knew that we would see through his intention and then do the opposite - step by step, steadily and surely. And once we did that, it would be exactly what he wanted."

"I'm almost dizzy from being spun around by you guys..." Long said at this time, scratching his head. "In short... we still have to be fast, right?"

"Yes, the faster the better," Greed Wolf said. "Don't worry about any particularly dangerous situations, just treat it like playing an ordinary script." His eyes changed slightly, and he muttered, "If I'm not mistaken... Feng Bujue is probably busy with something else right now. As long as we speed up our pace, we will have the opportunity to disrupt his layout and rhythm, and even catch him off guard."

...

Above the black clouds, night had fallen.

A large-scale thunderstorm, rare in a century, had occupied the sky above the city, and most civilians had chosen to stay at home and avoid going out.

However, police officers, firefighters, medical staff, the military, and other groups still had to go to work as usual...

At this time, on a highway between Dark Creek Road and the city, a car was driving at a steady speed. There were two people in the car, the driver was the homeless man Hill, and in the passenger seat was the ten-year-old version of Feng Bujue.

Just as they were halfway there, a neat row of headlights appeared in the distance ahead... apparently heading in their direction.

"They're finally here..." Feng Bujue muttered when he saw this, then looked up at Hill next to him and said, "Do you remember all the lines I taught you?"

"Yes... I remember," Hill replied nervously.

"Relax," Feng Bujue said in a lazy tone. "Just do as I say, and nothing will happen. The more nervous you are... the more suspicious you will seem."

"Okay... I'll try my best," Hill said, took a few deep breaths, and adjusted his facial expression.

About a minute later, they met the team of cars. Coming closer, it could be seen that the cars were basically all military Jeeps and police cars, and there were even a few armored vehicles.

Obviously, the black pillar of light that soared into the sky had attracted a considerable degree of attention from the local government. However, in this type of script adapted from a movie, the police or the military often arrive relatively late... so it wasn't until a few hours later that these troops were assembled and drove to the current location.

Feng Bujue had naturally foreseen this situation in advance. Before leaving the castle, he had already gone over the story with Hill. In case the car was stopped for inspection, they could fool their way through.

Sure enough, before Jue-Ge's car and the cars of those military and police departments crossed paths, a police car drove out of the convoy and blocked the oncoming lane. Two police officers got out of the car and gestured to Jue-Ge and Hill.

Hill had also prepared himself mentally. He slowly stopped the car, turned off the engine, and then directly rolled down the window on his side, turning his head to look at the approaching police officers.

"What's going on? Officer," Hill asked, even before the other party had a chance to speak.

"The name of this situation is 'none of your business'," the police officer responsible for the questioning leaned over the car window next to the driver's seat and replied. "Take a look yourself... does this look like something you can ask about?" As he spoke, he also gestured with his eyes to the armored vehicle that was passing behind him.

"I say... could it be related to that black pillar of light?" Hill put on a curious look.

"What? Did you see anything, sir?" The police officer's expression immediately became serious.

"Uh... not really," Hill shrugged and replied with a sincere expression. "My nephew and I were camping by the river in the afternoon, just fishing... and then we saw a pillar of light appear in the sky..." He lowered his voice, "To be honest... I thought the military was doing some kind of experiment... I was so scared that I grabbed my nephew and ran, without even packing up our camping gear. But I didn't expect... my nephew accidentally fell into the river. This kid can't swim, and it took me a lot of effort to get him out... he almost drowned..."

"Alright, alright..." The police officer listened to him say all this and immediately showed an impatient expression, rudely interrupting, "First, take out your driver's license and let me see it."

"Oh, okay," Hill nodded when he heard this and took out his driver's license from his jacket pocket.

The police officer took the driver's license and, using the light of his flashlight, compared Hill's face with the photo on the license.

Since this was a real document and the holder was Hill himself, there was no problem with the inspection...

"Why is your nephew dressed like that?" The police officer glanced at the inside of the car when he returned the driver's license to Hill, looking at Feng Bujue and asked.

"I told you... he fell into the river..." Hill replied fluently, his expression also very natural, "There was no time to find dry clothes to change into, and I happened to have his clothes for the party tonight in my car, so I had him change into those first."

"Party?" The police officer asked again tentatively.

"Halloween party, officer," Feng Bujue also turned his head to speak at this time, pouting his mouth, using the expression of a ten-year-old child when he was angry, "But I heard that it's been canceled, it's so annoying!"

Hill looked back at Jue-Ge, giving his superb acting skills a respectful look, and then turned his face to look at the police officer and said, "We heard on the radio just now... that all the celebrations were canceled because of the thunderstorm, this kid is very disappointed, you know, that outfit is his mother..."

"Alright, that's enough... sir," The police officer had already regarded Hill as a chatterbox, and he preemptively said before the latter could continue to ramble, "You can go ahead now... remember, leave this area as soon as possible, and then stay indoors."

"Uh... okay, officer," Hill even stretched his head out of the car window to greet the other party very diligently, seemingly getting into the role.

Two seconds later, the police officer had already turned around and walked a few meters away, and spread his hands to shake his head at his partner.

It seemed... Hill and Jue-Ge's performance was very successful.

At this time, the mighty convoy had already passed by Jue-Ge and the others, and only the police car that had stopped to question them hadn't caught up yet.

A dozen seconds later, Hill restarted the car and drove past the police car; the two police officers had already returned to the car at this time, preparing to turn around and catch up with the convoy.

Just when both sides thought things were over...

By coincidence, the police officer responsible for the questioning caught a glimpse of the license plate of Jue-Ge's car (this state does not require a license plate to be hung on the front of the car, only the rear).

"Hey! Wait! That license plate number... isn't that the car that someone reported missing this morning?"

"Damn it! They're running away, chase them!"

In the next second, the two police officers reported the situation to their colleagues on the radio and sounded the siren, chasing after Jue-Ge and Hill.