Nine-layer armor-breaking

Chapter 303 Taking a Gamble (Seeking Monthly Tickets!)

The forest above them was weighed down by dark clouds, making it feel suffocating.

Even at this moment, he was still thinking hard in his mind.

Right now, the thug pinned to the ground by his own short knife, and his teammate beside the leader, hadn't noticed the movement between Jiang Xian and the Jiang family guard on horseback.

Right now, he's busy thinking about the actions the leader had just taken.

Even the gesture of wiping the cold sweat from his forehead was something he couldn't understand no matter how long he thought about it.

Normally, the two had an average relationship, neither particularly good nor bad, but ever since he heard the rumors about the backbone of the family, his attitude had changed drastically.

Therefore, the relationship between the two was not good in any respect. He did not know why his mentor did that, nor did he know what it meant.
Why make such a strange move? Why wipe his cold sweat? What is the main figure really up to?
Does it signify a friendly gesture, or a warning?

He didn't understand, he just couldn't figure it out.

He had been working for his boss for a long time, so when he saw his leader kill his boss with his own hands, he naturally harbored resentment towards him.

But now, he doesn't have time to think about that anymore.

There are still very important issues waiting for him to resolve.

He forced his brain to work at full speed, trying to think: What will the leader do next? And how should he deal with it?

Compared to his core support, he now seemed to find Jiang Xian and the other two quite agreeable.

But no matter how hard he tried, no matter how much he forced his brain to work, his mind remained blank and he couldn't function at all.

He had no other thoughts at the moment, only that his pillar of support had gone mad, completely and utterly mad.

How could he save his life? But what could he do?
"So? Any ideas?" The leader asked his teammate, whose leg was practically pinned to the ground, once again.

Right now, the leader was actually quite panicked. He knew that the guard on horseback not far away was getting impatient, and he guessed that soon, all three of them would become impatient as well.

The moment the young master also became impatient was the moment when the three of them completely lost patience with him.

At that point, he would no longer have a choice in many things, and even the way he died would probably be out of his control.

Even in the midst of the chaos, the leader looked at his teammate beside him with a smile on his face.

He didn't have a moment to spare to tease his teammate sitting on the ground, and naturally didn't want to waste his time trying to play games with him.

The core of the team now is to extract some valuable information from his teammate.

He knew that person's temperament; he couldn't force him unless absolutely necessary.

Even if forced to reveal something, unless it's truly voluntary, they won't tell everything the key person wants to know; they'll definitely hold back.

Therefore, he first made a threat, and then gave the person some breathing room.

The principle of giving a slap followed by a sweet treat is something that a shrewd and calculating person like the leader naturally applies with ease.

Upon hearing this, the man frowned even more deeply, and a hint of confusion even appeared in his eyes.

He had no idea what his leader was up to, or what he wanted to do to him. He just found that sudden smile rather creepy.

He really didn't expect that his pillar of support would ask him a question again, and he didn't know how to answer.

Finally, feeling the atmosphere growing increasingly strange, he decided he couldn't delay any longer and asked, "What do you mean? Just say it." He looked at his leader with trepidation, awaiting his reply.

Upon hearing his reply, the leader's eyes first flashed with disappointment, then a smile appeared on his face.

In an instant, the pillar of support seemed to have convinced himself to be right.

He told himself not to be impatient, to continue waiting, and to be more patient.

He hadn't decided on the two people he was going to take with him, but one thing he was certain of was that one of them would be the person next to him.

The teammate next to him, pinned to the ground by a dagger, was one of his boss's closest confidants in the team.

Although his boss was usually very kind to Zhuxin Gu and Xiao Lu, Zhuxin Gu didn't know whether his boss truly cared about Zhuxin Gu before the rumors surfaced. But after the rumors, his boss's concern for Zhuxin Gu was genuinely feigned, a fact Zhuxin Gu was well aware of.

If, after the incident, his boss is constantly worried and distressed, his backbone can still defend him, believing that his boss had no other choice.

Putting myself in his shoes, if his boss had to resort to underhanded tactics to protect his position, I could understand his boss's thoughts to some extent.

But clearly his boss did the exact opposite.

His eldest brother always wore a smiling expression, feigning concern for the pillar of the family, advising him not to overthink things, assuring him that the family would be forgiving and that he could continue as usual.

If he hadn't known the mastermind behind the scenes, and had heard his boss going to great lengths to persuade him, he might have been so moved that he wouldn't know how to repay his boss.

But ever since he learned the truth, he only felt it was hypocritical, and even a little disgusting.

Many times, he forced himself to endure the nausea and listen to his boss's "concern" over and over again.

Later, he felt that he really didn't need to endure this pain, and began to frequently avoid conversations with his boss.

He was a master of psychological warfare, so naturally he wouldn't let his boss realize that he had become suspicious of him.

In order to avoid hearing those insincere words, he could only try his best to change the subject, steer the conversation away from what his boss found most interesting, and thus forcibly divert his boss's attention.

Looking back now, I think his boss probably felt the same way about Xiao Lu, but it just hadn't come to the point where Xiao Lu needed to sacrifice himself.

His teammate was someone who followed his boss around all day.

Upon closer reflection, the core leader realized that although his boss didn't seem to care much for this team member on the surface, he would entrust him with many tasks on his own.

He had been in the team for quite some time, and he wasn't sure what his relationship with his boss was, but the core member knew that this person must know many of his boss's secrets and some unknown things.

The leader guessed that either this person was in cahoots with his boss, cut from the same cloth, or he had been deceived by his boss's hypocritical mask for so long that he couldn't distinguish truth from falsehood or see his boss's true character. The leader's smile vanished instantly, his expression turned serious, and his tone became somewhat heavy.

He slowly moved a few steps closer to the man and said with a serious expression, "What I mean is... do you want to live?"

The leader paused, as if he were finally saying something he had been thinking about for a long time.

Upon hearing this, the man was startled; his heart pounded wildly, and he felt his heart leap into his throat.

What was a very simple sentence sounded very heavy to him.

He used to think his mentor had gone mad, but now he felt that his mentor's words didn't seem like a joke.

Seeing that the leader's eyes were sharp, as if he had regained his senses, he also became serious.

He was unclear about the current situation on the field.

All he knew was that there were three people who could easily wipe these long-time villains off the face of the earth with a flick of their fingers, but these three were unusually waiting for them, waiting for their leader to make a choice.

As a criminal, although he didn't think he was that bad, that's exactly what he was doing.

Moreover, he didn't believe that after being manipulated by someone while disguised as a criminal, he would end up in this situation.

He could never have imagined such a scenario.

He has no contingency plan for this, and currently has no way to deal with it.

Just like the martial artist who injured him before, and the guard sitting in the carriage now, who was able to let his sword attack him, he himself had no power to fight back.

So, even though it was something that could have been killed with a single blow, if they had the strength, they could have simply eliminated them, but they didn't.

Even if the three people on the other side wanted to get something from them, they could simply threaten them and get it done.

He never expected that the three of them would take things to this point.

He had never imagined such a scene.

Therefore, he had no way to retaliate against these three completely unfathomable individuals, nor could he escape from their clutches.

Right now, the only person he can rely on is someone he doesn't like, and even dislikes, but whose intelligence he cannot deny.

He couldn't come up with any methods or schemes.

But now he also clearly knows what he should do and what he should do next.
Next, he had to listen to his leader. Only by following his leader could he have a chance to fight back.

Seeing that his teammate sitting next to him didn't say anything, and that his expression had become even more confused, with the furrows between his brows deepening, he noticed that the other teammate was silent.

Seizing the opportunity, the leader leaned closer to the person, speaking in a softer tone but with even more determination.

With their faces close together, not far from the man's ear, he asked him again, "Pillar, do you want to live?"

After saying that, the leader leaned back slightly and looked intently into the man's eyes.

The man seemed to sense the steadfastness of his leader, and he did not directly answer the leader's question.

He asked his leader again, "Do you have a way... to save my life?"

His voice was extremely weak, seemingly because the injury to his thigh was too severe, and as time went on, he was finding it increasingly difficult to bear. It could also be due to the tense atmosphere, making it hard for him to breathe, or perhaps it was because of his tense expression.

Upon hearing the question, the core leader remained expressionless and serious.

The pillar of support slowly spoke, answering his question.

He quietly observed the man's probing gaze and said, "I can't say exactly how confident I am. But if you want to live, if you want a chance to live, then do exactly what I say and don't cause any more trouble."

After a brief pause, he saw that the person opposite him seemed to want to ask another question, so the leader said again, "If you don't listen, you might not even last until those three people make a move."

The man didn't ask him any more questions. He seemed to have anticipated the man's question and threw all the questions at him in one breath.

As soon as he finished speaking, the leader stared into the man's eyes again, scrutinizing him closely.

The man's heart seemed to skip a beat from his words.

The meaning of these words was very clear, and he understood it very well; it was a warning from his mentor.

He knew that this was his leader warning him that if he listened to him, he might still have a chance to live; but if he dared to disobey him, he would die under his leader's scheme, not even before the three of them could make a move, and he might die even faster and more tragically.

At this critical juncture, he knew that whether he stood up or retreated, he would be killed anyway, and now he had no reason or choice to back down. He could only listen to his mentor and follow him to try and overcome this adversity.

He knew his chances of survival were slim, perhaps less than a ten percent, but he had no idea what fate awaited him for being left behind by his leader.

He knew the leader's abilities; he knew that with just a few words, the leader could bewitch many people, leaving them disoriented and unable to distinguish right from wrong.

Therefore, he was also afraid that if he did not comply, the leader would use words to bewitch the three people and make them attack him.

Even if he doesn't trust his mentor now, all he can do and choose is to charge forward with his mentor.

If he survives by chance, he'll have won; if he doesn't, he'll have fought hard. No matter how you look at it, he won't lose out.

His current support no longer exists in this world, and now, whether he seeks revenge or not, he must first follow his leader.

Only by saving his own life for the time being can he think about what will happen in the future.

If he were to lose his life in this forest now, he would not only be unwilling, but everything else would be meaningless.

Having thought of this, he seemed to have made up his mind, and with a serious expression, he said to his leader, "I hope you can keep your word."

(End of this chapter)