Chapter 561: The Saber's Death

“So, if Su Lun intercepted the information about discovering me and privately told Xiong Ying about it before suggesting he should kill me ahead of the others, there's a high chance that Xiong Ying would take the bait, right?” Meng Chao said.

“Su Lun could have said that I'm already heavily injured and this is a rare chance. As long as he beheads me, he will gain even more favor from Xiong Wei, and his position as the heir will become even more solid or something along those lines.”

“It's highly possible!” Song Jinbo saw the light, then shuddered. “So that's how it is. Red Brows Su Lun is the traitor. It's no wonder why the abnormal beast has such a deep understanding of the lair and managed to set us up to this point. It's as if it's monitoring our every movement!

“No! We must expose Red Brows Su Lun's true colors!

“I'll bring you to the leaders of the gangs right now. Phantom Bear Xiong Wei is a ruthless person and just lost his beloved son, so he might not listen to us, but Poison Scorpion is supported by Sky Pillar Corporation, and you have a good relations.h.i.+p with Sky Pillar Corporation. With my testimony as well, Poison Scorpion is definitely going to believe us!”

“Hold on.” Meng Chao stared at Song Jinbo. “Do you have a grudge against Red Brows Su Lun?”

Song Jinbo's face turned red. He pondered this and realized that he had no need to lie. Though it was not as if he could deceive Meng Chao in the first place. “H-How did you know?” he asked in a stutter.

“You immediately believed me the moment I mentioned these suspicious points and became really eager to 'expose Red Brows Su Lun's true colors'. You don't seem to like this G.o.d of Wealth a lot,” Meng Chao said. “Also, if you didn't have a grudge against him, why would he have tricked you into coming to get killed by me?”

Song Jinbo made a lot of inconsequential noises before he said, “It's not really a grudge. Before Red Brows Su Lun became the vice gang leader, the entertainment industry that earned the most money under Golden Tooth was under me. But my old ways of management were gradually going out of style, and Mr. Jin was getting increasingly displeased, that's why he hired Su Lun to become the vice gang leader.

“The revolutionary decisions he took naturally earned a lot of money for the gang, but the more useful he became, the more useless I appeared to be.

“Now, the business I'm in charge of has shrunken from the entire entertainment industry to the monster coliseums. I even have to listen to him when it comes to the various measures I want to implement in the monster coliseums, even though this is a territory where I should be able to exercise full freedom and do whatever I want. I might be known as the manager, but I'm really just a superintendent who answers to Red Brows Su Lun!

“But I don't believe that he's the traitor because of my personal grudge. It's just that the points you gave are convincing and I trust you on behalf of Golden Tooth Lair and the entire lair!”

“I believe that, but it's useless even if I do,” Meng Chao said. “If you really do have a conflict of interests with Red Brows Su Lun and your personal grudge is so great that everyone knows about it, then the effect of you accusing him will have no real power. It's unlikely that the leaders of the gangs will believe you.”

Song Jinbo thought things through and said, “Then, I'll bring you to the borders of the lair. We can get to the point of contact between the lair and the outside world.”

“If I were Red Brows Su Lun, I'd definitely set up a lot of firing points around the contact point. Once anyone suspicious is noticed, they should be killed without mercy,” Meng Chao said. “It doesn't matter whether they can kill the target or not. The important thing is that the people who listen to Red Brows Su Lun might be innocent people who are deceived, just like you, Xiong Ying, and Rattlesnake Xiang Wei.

“If I slaughter my way out just so that I can break out of the encirclement, I'm going to end up killing dozens of people. At that time, will it matter whether I really killed Bullet Xue Rui or not?

“Of course, the lair is huge. Even though they say that they performed a full lockdown, it's impossible for the lockdown to be so tight that not even a single sparrow can escape. There has to be a way for us to sneak out.

“But it all circles back to that one crucial element—time.

“If we avoid all the pursuers, bypa.s.s all the firing points, search for the secret tunnel to escape from the lair, circ.u.mnavigate the many guards, and look for the commander outside, it'll take at least a few hours.

“And if we leave without any proof, our verbal testimony alone won't be enough for the commanders outside to immediately believe us.

“Even if the commander somewhat believes us, he won't have enough fighting power to send into the lair right away. Yet the depths of the lair are a rampaging volcano that might erupt at any minute!”

“Indeed, the people in the distance can't save us. We don't have the time to escape and explain the situation…”

Song Jinbo sank into contemplative silence for a while before he gritted his teeth and said, “Let's just take a gamble and sneak into Golden Tooth's headquarters right under Red Brows Su Lun. I'll take you to Mr. Jin straightaway!

“No matter what, I've been with Mr. Jin for decades, and even if it means that I'll have to die in front of him, I'll make him believe me!”

“I don't doubt your loyalty to Saber Jin Wanhao, and I don't doubt that he will trust you,” Meng Chao said coldly. “But think about it. When was the last time you saw Saber Jin Wanhao? How was he at that time?”

“Well… I think it's last year, during Mr. Jin's seventieth birthday.” Song Jinbo recalled the event carefully. “At that time, Mr. Jin was already in a bad condition. Even though he wore an airtight medical suit and had medicine inside the semi-transparent armor-like suit, he still coughed nonstop, which made the medical suit rattle.

“Mr. Jin is a peerless elite known as the Underground Emperor, so when he turned seventy years old, we naturally had to organize a huge party for him.

“But Red Brows Su Lun didn't invite many guests for Mr. Jin on this occasion. Mr. Jin didn't stay for long at his own birthday party either. Throughout it all he didn't say a full sentence before he went back to his secret chamber to heal.

“Many of the guests said that Mr. Jin's ambitions weren't as great as in the past. Now that Golden Tooth got itself the G.o.d of Wealth, everyone can earn money, so there's no need for anyone to challenge Golden Tooth's might.”

“So…” Meng Chao narrowed his eyes and said something as sharp as a knife. “Do you think that Mr. Jin is still alive?”

Song Jinbo looked like he was struck by lightning and looked at him flabbergasted.

Then, he immediately started shaking all over. His eyebrows, lips, shoulders, and fingers began to tremble.

“Y-Y-You…” He stuttered as he pointed at Meng Chao as if Meng Chao had uttered a curse that was utterly blasphemous.

“Don't jump to conclusions. I'm not trying to curse Saber Jin Wanhao,” Meng Chao said. “It's just that based on my understanding from the outside world, the Underground Emperor is someone domineering and has a penchant for control. Based on your understanding of him, as long as he had at least one breath left, would he really hide while letting Red Brows Su Lun give orders when Golden Tooth Lair is facing a crisis that could potentially destroy it?”

Song Jinbo's expression became one of complete devastation. He started hyperventilating, and his expression gradually became distorted and full of pain.

“Of course, I was just talking about the worst case scenario.”Meng Chao did not dare to make it sound as if he was certain. He still tried to be as cordial as possible and comforted Song Jinbo. “Think positively. Perhaps Saber Jin Wanhao still has one breath left, but lost his fighting strength, became a cripple, and is controlled by Red Brows Su Lun, which made him end up as the Vortex's puppet.”

Song Jinbo gave a full-body shudder, and his eyes instantly became bloodshot.

His gaze was so intense that he looked like he wanted to burn two holes into Meng Chao's body.

“Then, tell me, what should we do now?” His voice was hoa.r.s.e, and he looked really fierce.

“We wait,” Meng Chao said.

“Wait?” Song Jinbo cried out. “You just said it yourself, we have less than ten hours left.

“And we don't even know whether Mr. Jin is still alive or not. Red Brows Su Lun has ulterior motives, and the Vortex has plenty of tricks up its sleeves. Leprosy Village might go out of control at any moment too.

“Golden Tooth Lair is about to be destroyed overnight, and you still want to wait?”

“Trust me. If we had a 30% chance of winning, I wouldn't want to wait for another 0.1 second. Unfortunately, I haven't found any good plan to risk everything. So, even if there were only three minutes left, I'd grit my teeth and continue waiting!”

Meng Chao changed his tone and said, “But I have a feeling that we won't need to wait for long before the enemy shows a fatal weakness.”

Song Jinbo widened his eyes and asked, “Why?”

“Because framing me as a murderer isn't the goal,” Meng Chao explained patiently. “Even inciting Leprosy Village and the lair to fight against each other isn't the enemy's ultimate goal. After all, even if Leprosy Village and the lair end up all dead, the chaos would be restricted to Golden Tooth Lair. As long as the chaos doesn't spread to the outside world, Dragon City won't end up in chaos, and once the pitched battle at the borders ends, it can mobilize forces at ease and solve the problem in the lair.

“At that time, no matter how much the Vortex changes its plans, it won't be able to cause a storm.

“That's why the abnormal beast's act of framing me as a traitor and forcing the villagers to charge out to seek shelter are all just ways for it to s.h.i.+ft the gangs' attention. They're not its real goal. The crux of its plan is more sinister and fatal to Dragon City compared to anything we've already seen. It's supposed to s.h.i.+ft the chaos in Golden Tooth Lair to the whole Dragon City.

“This is a major scheme, and now, an accident has appeared—the villagers aren't moving. This isn't something that the abnormal beast can make up for by just framing me as a traitor.

“That's why we should lurk in the dark and watch as the enemy tries to correct the path and makes more mistakes!

“Of course, to make sure that we can instantly cut the enemy's throat the moment he makes a fatal mistake, it would be best if we got as close as possible to Red Brows Su Lun…”