123: Chapter 123 The Third Pair of Eyes in the Dark

At the Gray Pigeon Train's temporary stronghold, a dozen or so people sat huddled around a dimly glowing emergency light, each of their faces grim.

A lean, buzz-cut man slammed his thigh.

"Boss, we really can't wait anymore. Black Shark and Train No. 774 have already fought twice. Now is the best opportunity. While they're at each other's throats, we can go straight to the Clock Tower to grab the flag, then hole up somewhere and wait until the time runs out."

A companion nearby immediately nodded repeatedly in agreement.

"That's right, Brother Lu. Wealth is found in danger. If we just sit here staring blankly, waiting for them to finish their fight and decide a winner, we'll be the next to die. You know what kind of bastard Chen Xiao is—do you really think he'll let us be?"

A woman wearing glasses adjusted her frames.

"No. Grabbing the flag now just draws everyone's hatred onto ourselves. Black Shark will definitely abandon Train No. 774 immediately to come after us. Do you think the people from Train No. 774 will just stand by and watch us walk away with the flag?"

Lu Heng, the Gray Pigeon leader sitting in the center, remained silent. He was in his early thirties with an ordinary appearance, but his eyes were exceptionally bright. He rhythmically tapped his fingers against the cold ground, calculating the situation in his mind. Could the young man named Fang Che, who had repeatedly made Black Shark suffer and even played them for fools, really be just a host who relied on women to grow stronger, as the rumors suggested?

Lu Heng absolutely did not believe it.

A weakling who only relied on others could not possess such calculation and courage. Train No. 774 had displayed a high level of calmness and discipline that far exceeded his expectations. They were not a mob, but an armed force that was rapidly taking shape.

Lu Heng's gaze fell on a girl in the corner.

"Xiao Ying, did you see anything?"

The girl, named Shen Ying, was Gray Pigeon's chief scout, and her Talent granted her extremely strong stealth and observation abilities.

Shen Ying raised her head slightly.

"Black Shark is not a monolith. The woman named Sister Tang Yan and Chen Xiao are not on the same page at all. She manages her own subordinates and completely forbids them from touching the female survivors they captured. I've seen the way she looks at those women; it's quite sympathetic, and she seems to be struggling with something."

She swallowed hard.

"I have a premonition that if Train No. 774 can show some real capability and extend a bit of goodwill, there's an eighty percent chance Sister Tang Yan will defect. She holds at least one-third of Black Shark's elite forces in her hands, and they are all the type who would die for her."

Lu Heng's eyes flickered. This was exactly the intelligence he wanted to hear. The flag was a dead object, but people were alive. The key to the three-way game was to pinpoint the fulcrum that could shift the entire situation.

Lu Heng finally made his decision.

"Keep watching Train No. 774. Being able to play Black Shark for fools and then casually frame us is definitely not simple."

The buzz-cut man who initially suggested grabbing the flag couldn't help but lean forward.

"Boss, what should we do now?"

Lu Heng's expression was calm.

"Wait. Wait for them to reveal their flaws. I don't just want a tattered flag; I want us all to leave this hellhole alive."

...

Meanwhile, inside the Train No. 774 bus station stronghold, the atmosphere was the complete opposite of Gray Pigeon.

"That was so satisfying! You guys didn't see the expressions on those Black Shark bastards at the end; it was like they'd eaten crap, haha."

"Sister Jiang Ning is amazing, and so is Brother Fang Che."

Several girls who had recently joined the combat team sat in a circle, excitedly distributing the compressed biscuits they had just captured. Their faces were full of the joy and relaxation that followed a victory. Two consecutive victories had caused their originally tense nerves to loosen significantly, and some even felt that Black Shark was nothing special.

Su Qingxue stood with her arms crossed, leaning against the wall, her brows slightly furrowed. This sense of arrogance was far more dangerous than any enemy. She walked straight into the middle of the group.

"Tonight's guard duty is doubled. Everyone will take turns on watch, and rest time will be cut in half. If anyone complains about being tired, get out of the combat team right now."

The originally noisy atmosphere instantly dropped to freezing point. The smiles on the girls' faces completely froze, and they looked at her, at a loss.

One girl mustered the courage to speak up.

"Sister Qingxue, didn't we just win? Why are we still being punished?"

Su Qingxue cut her off immediately.

"Won? Are all the enemies dead? We could be surrounded by hundreds of monsters at any moment, and Black Shark and Gray Pigeon could crawl out from a blind spot you never expected. Do you think you can sleep soundly just because you're clutching a broken knife?"

The girl was left speechless and could only lower her head in shame. The atmosphere inside the stronghold became serious once again.

"Hold it back. Who are you crying for? Do you think the monsters won't bite you if you cry? You're as slow as a turtle. Your reactions are so dull that if you were really sent out there, you wouldn't even be as good as a living target."

The girl bit her lip tightly, her face full of grievance but not daring to talk back. The other girls nearby with average strength were also terrified, all feeling that Jiang Ning was too perverted and didn't treat them like human beings.

Lin Xinyi walked over and handed the injured girl a bottle of water and a can of hemostatic spray.

"That's enough, Jiang Ning. She's actually been trying quite hard."

She reached out and gently patted the girl's shoulder.

"Go sit on the side and treat your wound. Don't be discouraged. When I first came here, I was in much worse shape than you. Sister Jiang Ning is actually afraid that you'll die out there. Suffering a little more now is better than losing your head when you actually encounter monsters."

Jiang Ning frowned and glanced at Lin Xinyi, too lazy to voice a rebuttal.

Lin Xinyi turned to look at the remaining newcomers, her expression very serious.

"Everyone is tired and scared. Sister Jiang Ning pushing you hard is because she really wants you to survive. Think about the sisters back there who don't even dare to touch a gun. The fact that we can stand here holding weapons and fight alongside Brother Fang Che and Sister Jiang Ning is already a huge stroke of luck. Can't you handle just this little bit?"

Her voice was not loud, but it carried real weight. Those newcomers who had originally felt aggrieved looked at Lin Xinyi, who had been just as timid and hesitant as them not long ago but had now completely changed. Their eyes began to change. If Lin Xinyi could handle it, there was no reason they couldn't.

Fang Che, who had been standing not far away witnessing the whole process, stepped over to Lin Xinyi.

"You will be the leader of Combat Team Two. I'm handing the entire flank support squad over to you to lead."

Lin Xinyi's head snapped up, her eyes full of astonishment and disbelief, followed immediately by irrepressible nervousness.

"Can… can I really do it, Brother Fang Che?"

"If I say you can, you can."

Fang Che's tone was calm but very firm. He turned his head to look at Jiang Ning. Jiang Ning turned her head away, somewhat displeased, only letting out a hum from her nose, which counted as having no objections.

That night, Lin Xinyi was so restless from excitement and nervousness that she couldn't sleep at all, so she simply snuck light-footedly to outside Teacher Qin Bing's door.

She stood uneasily by the door.

"Sister Qin Bing, I really don't know what to do. I'm afraid I'll mess it up and cause the team to fall apart, and I'm even more afraid of losing face for Brother Fang Che."

Teacher Qin Bing was looking down at some resources. Hearing the sound, she looked up and beckoned her to come into the room and sit down.

"Xinyi, a title given by others won't last long. You have to earn your prestige yourself. Just be who you usually are."

"Just like I usually am?"

Teacher Qin Bing looked her straight in the eye.

"Yes. You know better than anyone else in the team what it feels like for an ordinary female student in this hellhole to go from complete despair to desperately clutching at a straw. You just need to show them that stubborn persistence of yours and all the suffering you've endured to survive. You must prove to them with your actions that as long as they follow you, Lin Xinyi, they won't be bitten to death by monsters and might even grow stronger. This sense of trust can only be accumulated bit by bit."

Lin Xinyi lowered her head, thoughtful, her fingers gripping tightly.

Just as a subtle change was taking place within the stronghold, Mu Waner, who had been clutching a military tablet all night, suddenly raised her head.

"Fang Che, something is wrong."

The gazes of the others immediately swept over to her. Mu Waner reached out and tapped the red dot in the center of the screen that represented the Clock Tower flag tower.

"Look at the activity frequency and movement patterns of the monsters around here; they are too rigid. They change shifts almost exactly every hour, as if something invisible is deliberately forcing this group of monsters to maintain the defensive net around the flag tower."

"They want to force us into a decisive battle. Whoever is clumsy enough to touch the bait right now will be torn alive by all the remaining sharks."

He propped himself up on the table, stood up, and scanned the group.

"So, before we go touch the bait, we only have one thing left to do—kill all the other sharks in the pond."