Chapter 12: Cooperation

Chapter12: Cooperation

Jinling?

Chen Jian watched Xu Lie, still bound and immobile on the ground, a flicker of doubt crossing his eyes.

From Chuansha, where they were, to Jinling as he remembered it, the straight-line distance was nearly nine hundred kilometers—without high-mobility transport, could one simply decide to go and arrive?

Even at forced march standards, walking nonstop each day would still take twenty days.

Such a span was far too long, with too many variables.

Chen Jian found it hard not to suspect Xu Lie had another agenda—after all, the refugees had just given him a lesson, and now Xu Lie so openly revealed the bounty information, which seemed utterly absurd.

So he didn’t even entertain Xu Lie’s words; instead, he posed three fundamental, yet crucial, questions.

First, where could they obtain food and water?

Second, where could they find ammunition resupply?

Third, how could they completely kill the mother entity?

Xu Lie, utterly unreserved, answered each in turn:

"Within the entire Chuansha city, you will find no directly edible food, and most of the water sources have already been contaminated by the mother."

"But in the forests outside the city, food is plentiful and the water is safe."

"As for ammunition resupply, you might do better to ask the Mechanical God Cult—we hardly ever fight with firearms."

"What kind of joke is this?"

Chen Jian exclaimed in disbelief:

"Without guns or heavy weapons, are you seriously expecting to take down a twenty‑meter‑high monster with just that fruit knife you carry?"

Hearing this, Xu Lie snorted and replied:

"You know it’s a fruit knife? That blade is merely a tool—used for making fire, cutting meat, slicing fruit."

"Don’t let the Saint‑Blooded’s superior physique fool you; our combat relies on wit."

"We spend considerable time tracking prey, seeking weaknesses, laying traps; when we finally decide to strike, even a single bullet is superfluous."

"So, what was your original plan to kill this monster in Chuansha?"

Chen Jian cut him off, leaving no room for argument:

"Tell me."

Xu Lie glanced around, then spoke:

"All I want to say is simple—I’m not asking you to release me, but at least move these stones off me, okay?"

"The iron spikes on them are rubbing my wound; it hurts."

Chen Jian nodded, gave Lei Jie a glance, and the latter immediately shifted the stones.

Everyone noticed that Xu Lie’s left leg and left abdominal wounds had completely stopped bleeding, even showing a faint tendency to close.

Although no signs of healing were yet visible, such a recovery speed was already astonishing.

Good grief, is he becoming saint‑flesh?

Chen Jian warily placed his finger on the trigger, while Xu Lie, after a relieved groan, spoke:

"Actually, you should know better than I do—this monster’s strengths and weaknesses are both glaringly obvious."

"It has strong regeneration, high agility, a massive body, and it commands a horde of servant creatures."

"Trying to win by brute force against something like this is extremely difficult."

"But it possesses a rather fatal flaw: an overly complex circulatory system that makes its clotting ability remarkably poor."

"To be frank, it essentially lacks any clotting capacity commensurate with its size."

"So, if you cut it open to create a steady bleed, it will die from blood loss soon enough."

"As for how we keep its muscles from contracting to stop the bleeding—that’s our secret."

When Xu Lie finished speaking, Chen Jian could only stare, dumbfounded.

He had imagined that humanity’s clash with monsters—or at least the Saint‑Blooded’s confrontation with them—would be a collision of man versus beast, sword versus flame, armor versus flesh.

But now it seemed nothing of the sort.

Bleeding, preventing muscle contraction.

Could these so‑called Saint‑Blooded be planning to jab the mother with a massive dose of muscle relaxant??

What is this?

A battlefield medic, killing with chemicals?

Indeed, just as Xu Lie said, this group fights with wisdom.

"I have a rough idea of what you intend to do."

Chen Jian drew a deep breath and said:

"Then let’s go take down that monster; after we return to Jinling we can discuss how to split the bounty."

"We can cooperate fully—you give us the information we need, and I guarantee your safety."

"Besides, you’ve delayed long enough."

Chen Jian’s gaze shifted from the corner of his smart goggles, and he continued:

"Tell your friends to lay down their weapons; don’t waste their effort."

"They’re already at the edge of the exclusion zone—if they step any closer, I’ll immediately order them treated as enemies and eliminated."

As Chen Jian’s words fell, Xu Lie’s face changed in an instant.

He stared into Chen Jian’s eyes and asked incredulously:

"Just how did you see that?"

"It doesn’t matter."

Chen Jian took the walkie‑talkie he had confiscated from Xu Lie’s hand, pressed a few keys at random, and a broken signal crackled from within.

"An antique, a civilian‑grade handheld, or perhaps an analog set—it’s practically a child’s toy."

"You probably don’t understand how it works; otherwise you couldn’t have left it constantly on, thereby broadcasting every teammate’s position."

"You think we’re spying on you?"

"Wrong—from the moment you switched on the radio, we already had all your information."

"You should be glad you didn’t lie to me about my questions, and also relieved that your code word was ‘wait’ rather than ‘attack.’"

"Otherwise, you’d have killed not only yourself but them as well."

As the words fell, Xu Lie, lying immobile on the ground, felt a chill run through his whole body.

He had always thought he had disguised himself well enough and acted naturally enough.

But the problem is, if they knew from the start that you were acting, what’s the point of all that elaborate performance?

Cold sweat beaded on Xu Lie’s back as he recalled Chen Jian’s remark.

A child's toy

This is clearly a priceless walkie-talkie; not even the Holy Blood Organization I belong to, nor even the Machine God Cult, forever obsessed with technology, could decipher its operating principle.

But in the eyes of the person sitting across from me, it is merely a toy.

What is even more frightening is that Xu Lie can clearly sense that the other party is not exaggerating.

He even knows the covert signals of my own squad, which means that every conversation I have with my teammates is under their surveillance.

Xu Lie gazes at the calm-faced Chen Jian; at this moment, he no longer feels any desire to resist.

Thus, he drops his feigned nonchalance, his tone solemn as he speaks:

"Let's cooperate then."

"I concede."

(End of chapter)