Inside the room, Monkey frowned and asked after the other party hung up the phone, "Young Master Duan, what do you mean by these people from Fengmen Village? Didn't they stipulate that each team could send six people? Why did they only allow one person to participate in the second round?"
"We can't be so absolute. Didn't they say they only want us to send one representative to understand the competition rules? There are dozens of people from fourteen teams, and it would be chaotic if everyone went down."
After calming the monkey down, Jiang Man said to me, "You are the core of our team, so we need to trouble you to make this trip. If the second round of the competition is really a solo operation, your chances of winning will be greater."
At that time, Jiang Man and her bodyguards were outsiders in our team, and Lin Que and Man Jing knew nothing about it either, so this task naturally fell to me.
I did not refute this, but greeted the others and left the room to go downstairs.
When I got downstairs, there were already seven or eight people gathered in the square behind the building.
Across from us, there were a few people from Fengmen Village.
A middle-aged man was the first to ask, "Weren't we told to come down and receive our tasks? When does the second round of the competition start?"
The people from Fengmen Village said loudly, "Please be patient, everyone. Although you all took the same dose of sleeping pills, everyone's tolerance is different. There are still a few contestants who haven't woken up yet. I will make the announcement once everyone is here."
When I heard the other person say that, I looked around the crowd but didn't see Wei Shengnan, Song Laosan or Qu Ruilin. So I went to the side to smoke, but when I reached into my pocket, I realized I had forgotten to bring a lighter.
Just as I was about to ask someone for a light, a hand holding a lighter suddenly reached out in front of me.
I looked at Wei Shengnan's face, illuminated by the firelight, lit a cigarette, and asked, "I remember you don't smoke."
“It is instinctive for tomb raiders to carry fire with them.”
Wei Shengnan put the lighter away and smiled at me: "I originally thought that you didn't know what Duan Jinyan was looking for the Zewang Jade Seal for, especially when you were spreading the news all over the capital that you had the Zewang Jade Seal in an attempt to lure Duan Jinyan out. I didn't think you would be a threat, so I was quite surprised to see you here today."
I replied with a sneer, "Surprised? Surprised that after you destroyed my stuff, I could still participate in the competition and almost kicked you out, is that it?"
"Destroy your things?" Wei Shengnan's eyes showed a hint of confusion: "Duan Shenxing, what are you talking about?"
I looked into Wei Shengnan's eyes and said seriously, "Your Wei family has always prided itself on being the leader of the four sects. Surely you don't even dare to admit what you've done?"
"It seems there are just too many misunderstandings between us."
Wei Shengnan took a deep breath: "Although we have been trying to stop you all this time, and of course you may think we are going against you, from beginning to end, neither Qu Ruilin nor I have ever had any intention of harming you! Even when we were in the Far East, we only wanted to get the Ze King's Jade Seal and prevent you from entering Fengmen Village."
We have never forgotten your kindness in risking your life in India to help the Wei family retrieve the immortal scriptures, and we are sincerely grateful for everything you have done. The reason we have come to this point is simply because we lacked an opportunity for a calm conversation! Actually, I have always wanted to have a peaceful talk with you, but I have never found the chance.
"Come on, I'm sick and tired of your lies. We have different goals, and this isn't something that can be resolved through negotiation."
I glared at Wei Shengnan: "Even if what you said is true, you knew from the very beginning what Duan Jinyan wanted to do with the Ze Wang Jade Seal, so why did you attack our residence and destroy the things we were preparing for the competition?"
"That's why I said there must be a misunderstanding between us! Because I had no idea you were participating in the Treasure Battle!"
Wei Shengnan replied earnestly, "After seeing you today, we all found it unbelievable, especially since you almost eliminated us! As for the attack you mentioned and the destruction of something, I really have no idea!"
Looking into Wei Shengnan's eyes, I sensed that she wasn't lying, and asked in a deep voice, "When did you arrive here, and how did you get here?"
Without hesitation, Wei Shengnan replied, "We drove here, and the car was parked at the International Hotel in the county town the whole time. We didn't leave there at all."
I thought for a moment and then tricked Wei Shengnan with a question: "As far as I know, you rented cars to come here, all of them with Shenyang license plates, and there are four Mercedes-Benz S-Class cars in total."
"Impossible! What you're saying is completely illogical! You know Changwei Group. My family's businesses are all over the country, and we have a huge fleet of special vehicles and private cars. Why would we need to rent a car?"
Wei Shengnan paused for a moment: "Since it's a car rental, the goal is naturally to conceal one's identity. Even if I were to rent a car, I couldn't possibly have a Shenyang license plate on it! You don't actually think that with the Wei family's influence, it would be difficult to find a few cars with out-of-town license plates, do you?"
After listening to Wei Shengnan's words, another hypothesis suddenly flashed through my mind.
What if Duan Jinyan did this?
He deliberately arranged four cars with Shenyang license plates to make me mistakenly believe that Wei Shengnan and her group had arrived, thus leading me to follow them, and then he destroyed the antiques I had brought.
In this way, I became enemies with Wei Shengnan and the others, and we were bound to bite each other, just like when I almost eliminated them in the first competition.
As for why Duan Jinyan wanted us to fight each other, it's quite simple: he wanted to sit back and watch the tigers fight.
If we hate each other, it will drain each other's energy, allowing Duan Jinyan's people to easily get rid of the pressure and concentrate on the competition.
And our two groups are Duan Jinyan's biggest obstacle, after all, our ideas are different from his.
At least for me, whether or not I can find the Miao Jiang Immortal Palace is secondary; all I need to do is capture Duan Jinyan.
Although Wei Shengnan's words made me think this way, I still felt resistant to her: "You keep saying there's a misunderstanding between us, but how do you explain Song Laosan's matter? When I first came back from India, I had already formed an alliance with him, so from the beginning, he was your mole planted next to me. This shows that you never trusted me from the start!"
"I should apologize to you about what happened with Song Laosan, but things aren't as you think."
Wei Shengnan sighed: "As long as we are both looking for Duan Jinyan, the path we have chosen is a process that will only deepen the conflict. I just hope you won't hate me. At least in terms of my grandmother's matter, I owe you."
If it were in the past, Wei Shengnan's words would definitely have moved me.
However, after experiencing so much, I no longer felt anything for such empty words, but I still asked, "I want to know, what was Song Laosan's bargaining chip in betraying me? Was he always one of your people, or was he won over by you in some way?"
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