Chapter 67 Audio: "I love you".
What does it feel like to be in a deadly formation?
Jiu Su is probably the only person in the world who can answer this question, yet even he can't answer it.
Sharp needles piercing the brain, blades drilling into the bone, raging fire burning the heart... all cruel words seem so pale and weak, so powerless, in the face of that indescribable pain.
This pain, combined with the excruciating agony of being poisoned by her own hand, had once made him personally experience what it meant to be in excruciating pain, what it meant to be worse than dead.
He was imprisoned as a child and experienced war as a teenager, so he thought he was no longer afraid of any torture inflicted upon him. However, the memory of being trapped in the killing formation still makes him tremble when he recalls it now. That memory is so fragmented that it is almost impossible to piece together a complete cause and effect.
He couldn't figure out whether he had stopped daring to recall it later, letting that near-death experience fade away, or whether his mind had been clouded at the time, making his memory incomplete.
Jiu Su was never a soft-hearted person. If he could truly kill one to save a hundred, he wouldn't hesitate for even a blink of an eye—but he absolutely couldn't let all the innocent demons in the city center die in such a tragic and desperate way.
Among the others present, some also felt it was inappropriate. Leaving aside humanitarian concerns and potential future public opinion risks, the main issue was security. Even if they could persuade Jiu Su now, what about the other monsters in the Super Management Bureau? What if the monsters in the Special Operations Department found out about today's events? How could they appease them? How could they ensure no unrest occurred?
Besides, what Jiu Su said makes sense. Even if we don't mention wild monsters, there are probably many people in the city center who keep small monsters as pets.
Someone hesitantly suggested, "Could we evacuate the crowd? At least let those who keep little monsters at home evacuate with their pets first, right? Or, let them watch their pets die before their eyes... that's just..."
“We should have evacuated them already,” another person objected irritably. “You know how sensitive a supernatural creature on the verge of going out of control is. If a bunch of people run out, how can we not alert it? It might just go out of control and we’re all doomed.”
"Then what about the lives of supernatural beings? Using a deadly formation directly will definitely pose a risk to public opinion in the future. How will we explain that?"
"If the great demon gets out of control, won't those lesser demons also be doomed? Between two evils, choose the lesser. If there were any other reliable solutions, I wouldn't agree to use this one!"
The plane erupted into another argument. The capital city wasn't far from City B; a private jet would only take ten minutes, which wasn't nearly enough time for them to reach a conclusion. By the time the plane landed, they still hadn't come to a satisfactory agreement.
The airport of the Superpower Management Bureau is quite a distance from the city center, so everyone had no choice but to get into their own private cars and compromise—B City's field operations department can't compare to the capital's; they still haven't figured out what kind of creature, or what shape, that supernatural being on the verge of going out of control is. What if it has a particularly obvious weakness? Maybe then they could find a solution that satisfies both sides?
Jiu Su and Jin Wanli were in the same car. The driver knew that the two behind them were powerful demons from the Special Operations Department, so he didn't dare to talk to them and could only communicate with another human colleague in the passenger seat.
Jiu Su closed her eyes, her mind racing, trying to come up with other solutions. Jin Wanli frantically tapped away at his phone; he wasn't good at thinking, and had developed a habit of consulting search engines when in doubt.
He had only been in the car for a short while when Jiu Su's phone screen suddenly lit up. Shu Qing had messaged him asking, "Have you gotten off the plane yet?"
Jiu Su snapped her fingers, cast a sound-blocking spell, and dialed Shu Qing's voice call.
"What's wrong?" Shu Qing answered the phone, smiling with a puzzled look. "Are you airsick again?"
Jiu Su gave a muffled "hmm," and after a while, she called out softly again, "A Shu..."
Shu Qing heard his noise and immediately understood—she wondered what had happened to him, and that he had come to her specifically to act cute.
Normally she would definitely tease him with a smile, but now she couldn't smile. Because when she thought about where he was and what he was doing, she knew that if she heard something that made him feel down, she would probably be sad for a while too.
She asked cautiously, "What happened? Is the operation not going well?"
"Hmm," Jiu Su leaned her head back against the car seat cushion and said softly, "Yang Zheng wants to use..."
He stopped mid-sentence, realizing he couldn't tell Shuqing this. His death in his previous life had always been the biggest unresolved issue between them. Although they had temporarily put it out of the way, bringing it up again would only make Shuqing dwell on the past and rekindle her curiosity, which wouldn't be good.
He glossed over the matter of the killing formation, vaguely describing it as, "...using a formation technique that only targets demons to kill that demon on the verge of going out of control. If he really does that, all the demons nearby will die along with him, but I can't persuade him to give up right now."
Shu Qing frowned slightly. As a self-media creator, she was far more sensitive to online public opinion than Jiu Su and the others. The fact that Huiyao Group and Qi Group had been embroiled in the "abuse of monsters" scandal one after another, both suffering serious damage, was a clear indication of the prevailing mainstream values.
When Director Yang proposed this tactic at this critical juncture, her first reaction was, "Does the Super Management Bureau not want its reputation anymore?" But then she immediately realized: the fact that Jiu Su couldn't persuade Director Yang to adopt this tactic must mean that there was no other way.
“What would happen if we didn’t do it this way?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” Jiu Su said wearily. “Maybe other tactics could have succeeded and saved both sides; but it’s also possible that the demon will go out of control in the city center, resulting in countless more deaths and injuries…”
"A 50/50 chance in both scenarios?"
“Not necessarily,” Jiu Su said softly with her eyes closed, “but my intuition tells me it’s more likely to be the latter.”
Shu Qing also fell silent.
Using this tactic means that humans trample on low-level superhuman beings, it means the subsequent backlash from public opinion, it means the dissatisfaction of the monsters in the Superpower Management Bureau, and it sows countless hidden dangers.
The Supermarket Management Bureau has essentially torn apart the facade of "harmony" and "equality," revealing the survival of the fittest beneath.
Not using this tactic would mean hundreds of lives lost, it would mean the absolute dominance of higher-level superhuman beings over humanity, and it would also not be well received in terms of public opinion. Labels such as "inaction" and "incompetence" would be impossible to shake off.
Shu Qing asked herself honestly, if she were in her shoes, she wouldn't have had a choice either.
She asked, "Do you want me to persuade Director Yang?"
“No,” Jiu Su’s voice was almost weak, “you can’t persuade him. I just wanted to hear your voice, I wanted to…”
He stopped abruptly once again—he actually wanted some support from her, wanted to hear her angrily scold him as usual, saying "That's too much," and wanted her to stand on the same side as him.
However, in that instant, he suddenly realized clearly that perhaps she wouldn't.
She has done a lot for the monsters, and she has devoted herself to healing the little monsters who have been trampled on by humans. Her career is also related to this... However, after all, she belongs to the human race first and foremost.
Her parents were just a hair's breadth away from dying in the disaster caused by the great demon. At this moment, would she still choose to stand with him?
At least in her previous life, she still chose to return to the Immortal Capital.
Jiu Su didn't finish speaking, but Shu Qing, despite the vast distance, still understood his meaning. However, she didn't know what to say for a moment. She couldn't bring herself to oppose him; she couldn't say anything insincerely to support him. So she could only pretend not to understand and wait for Jiu Su to continue, so that the conversation wouldn't seem too awkward.
Even if she actually knew... Jiu Su must understand, she had already understood.
The two remained silent on either side of the signal, and in the silence that spanned thousands of miles, they understood each other's meaning.
Five seconds, which felt like five centuries, passed before Jiu Su finally chuckled softly, breaking the silence and reminding her, "Remember to eat lunch."
“I know…” Shu Qing was at a loss for words, her lips automatically responding, “Take care of yourself too, don’t get hurt.”
She regretted saying those words as soon as she did; they were an escape—Jiu Su had given her the attitude of "I know we may have to go against each other again, but I still want to maintain the relationship," and she simply followed her instincts and replied with those words, deceiving herself along with him.
But the problem remains unresolved. Today, they've covered up their conflict with a blanket and maintained a superficial romantic relationship. But what about the future?
This is a conflict that spans past and present lives, and if Xiao Hong, a snake with such a righteous mind, is just brushed off like this, who knows what he might do next.
Shu Qing opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but although she realized the problem, she couldn't think of a good solution.
Before she could say anything, she heard someone on the other end of the line say, "We've arrived."
Jiu Su's voice rang out, and she casually replied with an "Mm," then, as if nothing had happened, she smiled and said to her, "Then I'm going."
Shu Qing couldn't let him go to fight with such a jumbled mess of thoughts, so she hurriedly called out to him, "Xiao Hong!"
"Um?"
On the other end of the voice call, the car door slammed shut, and footsteps sounded. It seemed the group was about to depart, and there was no longer time for her to sort out her thoughts and organize her words.
Her mind was a jumble of thoughts, and not a single word could soothe him at this moment. All her ideas were intertwined and ultimately led to their demise, leaving her with a blank mind.
In her haste, Shu Qing blurted out, "I love you."
No matter what happens, no matter if we disagree, no matter if we face the dilemma of conflicting positions again in this life, I will still love you.
Jiu Su paused for a moment, then chuckled softly. The coldness in his eyes vanished silently, and even those around him felt the pressure lessen, glancing at him furtively.
"Mmm." As if unaware, Jiu Su brought the phone's microphone close to her lips and whispered softly, "I love you."
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