Chapter 848 - 848 Jungle Law
Chen San finally understood Ye Qingzhen's real plan; in fact, Ye Qingzhen had been employing the Empty Fort Strategy from the start.
From the beginning, Ye Qingzhen appeared confident, telling Wang Tian'an about his plan. This put Wang Tian'an on edge, making him wary of Ye Qingzhen all the time. Later, Ye Qingzhen orchestrated an attack on Wang Tian'an's territory and stole the food for the Heart-devouring Bug, pushing Wang Tian'an nearly to the brink of collapse. He began to suspect that Ye Qingzhen indeed had a winning strategy. The calmer Ye Qingzhen appeared, the more frightened Wang Tian'an became, considering he had been scared by Ye Qingzhen several times before and was now in a state of high alert.
Then, the appearance of the fake Netherworld Scholar entirely broke Wang Tian'an's psychological defenses, making him think that this was Ye Qingzhen's real killer move. Already anxious, seeing the Killing Gate Seven Hidden gather, his first instinct was to turn and run, truly falling into Ye Qingzhen's trap. His fleeing resulted in the loss of over a hundred men, severely weakening him tonight!
"Speaking of which, it really is quite ludicrous," Chen San chuckled and said, "Wang Tian'an plotted for two days to deal with the Ye brothers. Little did he expect that all his planning actually facilitated everything for the Ye brothers. Not only did he fail to harm them, but he also ended up losing so many men. What do you think, isn't Wang Tian'an so furious he could spit blood?"
The members of Sha Men also burst into laughter; they had a deep grudge against Wang Tian'an and were pleased to see him suffer.
Ye Qingzhen, however, remained calm, as he looked at the people captured by Chen San and silently pondered for a moment before asking, "Third Brother Chen, what do you plan to do with these people?"
Chen San looked at those people and said, "Kill them!"
There were fifty or sixty people there, and Chen San's words were remarkably bold—was he really going to kill all these people just like that?
The subordinates of Wang Tian'an who heard Chen San's declaration were terrified, turning around and desperately begging Chen San for mercy. However, Chen San paid no heed to their pleas. After all, since he was young, Chen San had witnessed his family members die one by one in front of him. Over the years, his heart had turned as hard as stone; to him, killing dozens of people didn't mean much!
People like Ghost King Li Ruoyuan, Black Asura, and He Qinghua really liked Chen San's character—they themselves were capricious and had killed countless people. Chen San's temperament truly matched theirs.
"Exactly!" Ghost King Li Ruoyuan nodded repeatedly, saying, "To eliminate weeds, you must remove their roots. Little Leaf, you are too indecisive. If it were me, I would just kill them. If you dare not kill, how can you achieve great things?"
Ye Qingzhen, looking at the people kneeling and begging for mercy, sighed softly and said, "I only kill those who deserve to die. If it were Wang Tian'an or Xu Cunxiao, I'd kill them without hesitation. But these people are just controlled by Wang Tian'an; they aren't really at fault!"
Chen San glanced at Ye Qingzhen and said, "Ye brothers, you know that these people are controlled by Wang Tian'an. If I don't kill them, either they will die from the Heart-devouring Bug consuming their organs, or they will return to Wang Tian'an and continue to be driven by him. Rather than that, it's better to cut the weeds and remove the roots. Those who want to achieve great things must not get bogged down in trivialities!"
Ye Qingzhen looked at Chen San and said, "Third Brother Chen, are you mainly worried that these people will go back to serving Wang Tian'an?"
Chen San nodded, and Ye Qingzhen pondered for a moment, saying, "If they won't go back to helping Wang Tian'an, could you spare them then?"
This question somewhat startled Chen San, who looked at Ye Qingzhen and fell silent for a while before saying, "Ye brothers, I know you've stolen some food for the Heart-devouring Bug from Wang Tian'an. But with only this food, how long can it last? You can't save these people forever. If this food runs out, or if Wang Tian'an finds them, they'll still be controlled by Wang Tian'an. As long as they have the Heart-devouring Bug inside them, keeping them alive is always a risk. Better to kill them and end it all!"
"Regardless of how long I can save them, these are still lives!" Ye Qingzhen said, "Since you've already captured them, it means they are not prepared to resist any more. If they don't resist and you still kill them, isn't that a bit unreasonable?"
Chen San, too, fell silent. Ye Qingzhen's words made him hesitate. After some thought, he sighed and said, "Ye brothers, I know you were once a soldier. In the army, there's a notion of treating prisoners of war well. But this isn't the army; there aren't so many rules and regulations. Don't be fooled by the metropolitan glitz; it's no different from the primitive jungle. The law of the jungle, survival of the fittest, is the only truth. Today, if you don't kill them, someday, you might die by their hands. So, you should seize the opportunity when you have it; otherwise, you will eventually pay the price for your kindness!"
"If that's the case, then so be it!" Ye Qingzhen's expression remained calm. He had heard such words from Chen San many times before. Although he had gradually adapted to city life, he still adhered to his own set of principles.
"Tonight, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been able to catch these people either," Chen San sighed and said, "Since you said so, I can't afford to not give you face. Here's what we'll do, I'll hand these people over to you. However, if these people go back to serving Wang Tian'an, I hope you will learn from this and avoid making similar mistakes in the future!"
Ye Qing was overjoyed and nodded, saying, "Third Brother Chen, don't worry. I swear on my life that these people will definitely not return to Wang Tian'an!"
"I hope so!" Chen San sighed, waved his hand, and signaled his men to hand over the people.
Wang Tian'an's subordinates, listening from a distance to the conversation between Ye Qing and Chen San, knew that it was Ye Qing who saved their lives. At the same time as they breathed a long sigh of relief, they felt extremely grateful towards Ye Qing. As soon as Ye Qing walked over, they all knelt down to thank him for saving their lives.
Watching Ye Qing being surrounded and knelt before by Wang Tian'an's men, Ghost King Li Ruoyuan scoffed and said, "Chen San, Ye Qing is naive, are you naive too? You still dare to bet with him on this? If these fifty to sixty people all return to Wang Tian'an, wouldn't Wang Tian'an's power recover a lot? Wouldn't our efforts tonight be in vain?"
"Ye Qing is good in every way, but he's just too soft-hearted!" Black Asura said solemnly, "One general's success is built upon the bones of many, those who achieve great deeds, who among them doesn't step over countless bones? With his personality, he will end up suffering greatly in the future!"
Not just Black Asura, even Cui Yu sighed gently looking at Ye Qing, while only Du Tianyi felt very good about Ye Qing's actions, as his personality was similar to Ye Qing's and he really couldn't bear to see so many people die here.
Watching Ye Qing's departing figure, Chen San remained silent for a long time, finally, he slowly shook his head and slowly walked away.
After clearing the battlefield, Chen San, Ye Qing, and Killing Gate members went their separate ways. Chen San took his men back to their place, ready to start taking actions against Wang Tianan—a matter Ye Qing no longer needed to be involved in. Due to the consecutive events, Wang Tian'an had suffered substantial losses, and now Chen San's strength was similar to his; in a real confrontation, Chen San wouldn't be at a disadvantage.
The people of Killing Gate were still looking for opportunities to deal with Wang Tian'an. However, now that Cui Yulong had returned, they had a pillar of support and could contend with Wang Tianan's men.
On Ye Qing's side, he took those fifty to sixty people back into the city area and directly sent them to the hospital to treat their wounds. Cui Yulong had also returned to Shenchuan City by this time and had practically packed up everything from Wang Tian'an's room and handed it all to Ye Qing. Ye Qing then handed these items to Lin Tianyou for him to investigate which ones were the food for Heart-devouring Bugs.
Lin Tianyou had already successfully extracted some Heart-devouring Bugs from the bodies of six previous victims and was studying these items. The items Ye Qing brought back could accelerate his research. Using these Heart-devouring Bugs, he could easily determine which item was the food for the bugs. However, the key was to find the formula for the Heart-devouring Bugs' food and manufacture it himself to eradicate the threat permanently. However, this was going to be a lengthy process and seemed to require some time to handle.
After arranging everything at the hospital, Ye Qing immediately rushed to the hotel to meet with the provincial inspection team representatives.
These representatives were captured by Wang Tian'an's men on the highway and had been detained in an old school, unseen daylight for two days, and many had lost hope. If not for Ye Qing rescuing them, they might have been dead.
The provincial inspection team's kidnapping had caused quite a stir. The city bureau took it very seriously and had already begun investigating; the provincial department was also monitoring the development of the situation. However, according to Zhao Chengshuang, the so-called investigation was merely a formality. There were definitely people backing Wang Tian'an behind the scenes. Everything regarding Wang Tian'an was a minefield, even the provincial department couldn't investigate him, indicating this case would probably end with just a few scapegoats being blamed, and nothing substantial reaching Wang Tian'an.
Still, to show its dedication to this matter, the city bureau specifically deployed a squad of police officers to strictly guard outside the inspection team's hotel. And the leader of this squad of police was none other than Zhao Chengshuang.
As Ye Qing arrived at the hotel, Zhao Chengshuang was waiting for him downstairs. Seeing him, Zhao Chengshuang hurried over and said, "Ye Zi, the situation isn't very good; you should brace yourself."
"What's not very good?" Li Lianshan, at Ye Qing's side, glared and said, "They were captured by Wang Tian'an's men, it's not Ye Zi's fault they were neglected. We haven't even met them yet and there's already a problem? What kind of people are these? Such bad tempers?"