Nine-layer armor-breaking

Chapter 294 Can’t see clearly

There are two possibilities for how things will develop next.

The first possibility is that he was struggling, trying to survive, hoping that Jiang Xian would spare his life.

In such a situation, he might use his strengths, such as intelligence or wealth, to plead for them to do something for him or give him some benefits in order to save his life.

These two possibilities, however, lead to two different outcomes.

If his intelligence and wisdom can help Jiang Xian and the other two resolve some crises or prevent some unfavorable events from happening, then he will be somewhat useful and may be able to save his life.

However, in Jiang Xian's view, this situation was of little use, at least not at this moment.

While it's true that intelligence makes things easier, a clever stranger, especially one who exudes a dangerous aura, is someone you have to be wary of.

Jiang Xian did not return to the Jiang family with the two guards on this trip. She had her own plans. She needed to shake off the two Jiang family guards when she reached Yingzhou territory.

Jiang Xian was naturally worried about the safety of his two guards if he were to bring along a dangerous person.

More importantly, if he were to find out some specific details, it could very well bring danger to the Jiang family.

Therefore, intelligence alone is not enough for Jiang Xian.

In another scenario, if he knew some important information about Qizhou or other states that most people didn't know, or if he directly exchanged some gold and silver for his own life, he might be able to save his life, but it would depend on how smart he was.

For most people, revealing important information or giving away gold and silver treasures will most likely result in them being immediately silenced by the party who benefits from it.

If he's using these as his trump cards, then he has to find a way not to reveal everything he knows, otherwise he'll have no chance of survival.

Sometimes, when a knife is held to your throat, you have to say many things, but you still have to be mindful of the way you say them.

You need to give the other party a taste of success while keeping some trump cards up your sleeve. Offer them an even greater temptation so that you might be able to save your life. You can even set traps after gaining their trust and completely extricate yourself from the situation.

Another possibility is that it wasn't about saving his life. Rather, it was that he wanted to ask the three of them for a final favor in the last moments of his life, and such a favor would naturally come with some benefits; otherwise, no one would heed his words if there were no benefits involved.

In this situation, Jiang Xian would naturally not agree to help him in any way; it would be better to just end it all quickly.

But in either case, Jiang Xian always wanted to hear what he had to say before making a decision.

After all, this group had been robbing people here and around Qizhou for quite some time, so they naturally had some savings.

Now, the entire team is practically nonexistent.

In that case, it would be a good thing to be able to gain some benefits.

In fact, if Jiang Xian had completely disregarded his suggestion and killed him with a single blow, he wouldn't have lost anything.

But the current situation is that Jiang Xian, who witnessed all of this, saw everything from the internal strife within the team to the exciting dramas between the team members during the war.

Putting everything else aside, she was really eager to hear what that person had to say.

If we can gain some benefit, then it's still a win.

Jiang Xian did not answer either of his two attempts to speak, but simply listened quietly from a distance.

The leader's expression remained unchanged, but Jiang Xian sensed that his second request to Jiang Xian was much more flustered than the first.

When the key figure spoke for the second time, although there was no particular emotional fluctuation and his posture remained unchanged, Jiang Xian felt that his attitude had softened somewhat. Of course, the subtle difference between these two requests would be imperceptible to anyone who wasn't listening carefully and attentively.

This is also where the backbone's personality advantage lies.

He is able to quickly stabilize his emotions when he encounters people and situations.

He can quickly adjust to things that make him panic or leave him at a loss, keeping his emotions hidden from his face and his joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness unseen.

According to Jiang Xian's observation, his emotions in his team changed constantly, sometimes genuine and sometimes feigned.

However, Jiang Xian still noticed some subtle details.

These subtle details are enough to form a general judgment about him.

In Jiang Xian's view, he may not have deep feelings for many people, he may not have deep feelings for the people in his team, and he may be indifferent to many people.

Even if it takes a long time to think about it, you can quickly let go of it.

But his deep-seated hatred for his boss, and the moment his backbone showed emotion after his boss fell to the ground, that momentary exposure of emotion, were undeniable.

Although he was constantly suppressing his emotions, he couldn't control some things he wasn't even aware of, things beyond his control, such as the expression of his true emotions just now.

The pain, the hatred, the surging emotions, the body's subconscious reactions—these cannot be faked, and the true emotions cannot be completely concealed.

Even though he had just managed to recover from the grief of his boss's death, Jiang Xian had already roughly guessed his personality.

According to Jiang Xian's observation, although he was not the leader of the team, he was the core figure of the entire team.

Without him, the team would likely fall apart like loose sand, becoming disorganized and incapable of achieving anything significant.

Therefore, Jiang Xian guessed that he was not indifferent to anything, nor did he ignore everything or care about others. On the contrary, he was a person who valued relationships and loyalty, and whose emotions were not often revealed on the outside, but who had a clear understanding of many things in his heart.

A person who doesn't care about anything can never be the backbone of a team, and will never be able to offer advice or strategies for a team.

As the backbone of the team, one must have a very clear grasp of the overall situation of the team.

A person who can grasp the overall situation and also observe and handle small matters carefully.

How could such a person be indifferent to emotions?

As for his boss, although he doesn't seem particularly clever or wise, he's definitely not an ordinary person.

He had won over every member of the team to his side, but not to the person who could offer strategic advice. In fact, not a single one sided with the person who offered advice; instead, they all spoke up for him and helped him oust the team's leader. To achieve this, he must possess extraordinary abilities. Jiang Xian didn't believe that someone as intelligent and wise as a core member of the team could be unable to win people's hearts.

There are two possibilities when this situation arises, where power is concentrated in the hands of his boss.

Firstly, he doesn't care about these things, and may even be doing so intentionally.

In this situation, there could be many reasons or he might have his own concerns.

One reason is that he has a good relationship with his boss, so he doesn't care about these things and intentionally helps his boss build popularity. Another reason is that he doesn't want to cause trouble and has his own concerns; he doesn't want to attract too much attention.

These two are the most likely reasons.

Secondly, he may be utterly disappointed with his team and the people in it.

In this situation, it would be understandable if he wanted to leave the team. Given his lack of ability, the fact that others dislike him but are reluctant to offend him due to pride makes it possible for them to let him go.

If he wanted to destroy the team, he wouldn't do it unless he was confident he could deliver a fatal blow. Otherwise, it would be better to make friends with people first and then make plans.

In the simplest case, he doesn't have any complicated issues in this matter and is too lazy to go through the trouble of cultivating relationships and fighting for power.

Based on Jiang Xian's observation of him, it was somewhat outrageous, because many shrewd people would not put themselves in such a situation.

But Jiang Xian had a feeling that this was actually his true thought, and he believed that the reason was the simplest one.

Considering his somewhat special feelings for his boss, which seem to involve both hatred and reluctance, that is very likely the key.

He didn't want to argue with his boss.

If people's hearts are no longer in the same place, then it's time to break up.

It's quite possible that someone you truly believe in and value will choose to leave rather than engage in any conflict with you.

Before the battle, if the core member of the team had a conflict with someone in the team, it was a sign that the people in his team, especially his leader, did not value him.

If the leader values ​​him, even if he isn't deeply popular, as long as no one in the team dislikes him intensely, absolutely no one would dare to underestimate him.

As long as they want to stay in the team, no one will dare to go against their leader.

They can all weigh these things.

Even those who utterly dislike him will restrain themselves and give their boss face.

Since they dared to say these things to him, especially in front of his boss, it must be because they felt their boss had been wronged, or they themselves had deep-seated grievances against their leader, which is why there was such a chaotic situation before the battle.

In that situation, faced with questioning, the core leader chose to speak out what was buried in his heart, venting the anger that had accumulated over many days. He appeared to have made up his mind to leave the team.

Whether it's simply leaving or seeking revenge to destroy the entire team, ultimately it's all about parting ways, just with different ways of leaving and different choices about life and death.

However, being such a rational person, he naturally knew when to say what.

He would swallow his anger, even if it was inappropriate, and at the wrong time, and would never show it.

Therefore, the moment he spoke, either he had a trump card or a plan and wanted to reveal everything and then leave the team; or he was determined to die with the team when he said those words.

If none of these apply, and everything is overturned, there is still one possibility left: the core leader himself doesn't want to live anymore.

Judging from his repeated attempts to survive, starting with his desire to go to Jiang Xian and his two companions to fetch a carriage, the possibility of this happening was extremely small.

Jiang Xian wanted to see the man more clearly, but even so, he didn't believe he would fall down so easily.

Even if he falls, he wants to be the last one to fall.

A calculating person wants even their own death to have some meaning.

But if you were to say that he didn't care about those rumors or gossip, then there would have been no need for him to lash out today.

He cared about the gossip, the pointing fingers, and the unfriendly looks, yet he endured it for so long before finally snapping and revealing his true thoughts today.

Judging from his demeanor, he wasn't entirely indifferent.

The rumors were so malicious and had such a far-reaching impact that even his teammates no longer respected him, yet he didn't use his intelligence to do anything about it.

There must be some reason behind this indifferent behavior.

The source of this reason is very likely his boss. He may still be weighing whether his respected boss has any sincerity towards him, whether he still cares about the past, and whether he still remembers the rainy day that brought him back.

He hasn't forgotten these things, but some people have.

Or perhaps, the person hadn't forgotten, but he had something else he wanted to pursue more, and compared to that, this old affection meant nothing to him; he could easily discard it.

And he, the backbone of this team, was treated like a discarded pawn.

It would be good if they were even, but why did his boss tell him to live well before he died? Why did he say such strange and incomprehensible things that made him anxious?
Why blur his vision, making it impossible for him to see the truth of the matter or discern people's true intentions?

Was he wrong?
What is true? What is false?
He stood still without making any movement, his gaze fixed on Jiang Xian.

The two gazed at each other from afar, but remained silent.

Jiang Xian spurred his horse to the middle of the road in the woods, next to the Jiang family guard standing by the carriage. He put down his horse's hooves but remained silent.

"Young..." The Jiang family guard standing in the middle of the road was about to say "Miss" when he realized what he was doing and swallowed the second word back, instead saying, "Master."

Seeing this scene, the Jiang family guard on horseback also panicked and became tense.

(End of this chapter)