Heirs of the Seven Swords of the Qin Dynasty

Chapter 1952: Demon Slayer (XII)
Dao Zhi also felt a little depressed and anxious, but he still had something to do... although it was unlikely to be of much use.

But having something to do to distract myself at least helped me calm down a little.

You need to calm down on depressed days, and if you want to calm down, the most convenient way is to find something to do.

………………

Although Shao Yu Dao Zhi alarmed the Yin-Yang School members when he evacuated, they did not make any additional response.

Perhaps they were unable to respond further.

All the available manpower of the empire in the Songhai region has basically been concentrated in the Mirage and the port, and the small place is already crowded.

Theoretically, today's mirages are impregnable and flawless.

All areas that can enter and exit the mirage, and even all areas that can exchange materials with the mirage, have been watched continuously for twelve hours.

Its only flaw is the inherent defects of human beings.

People get tired, lazy, careless, make mistakes... and everyone has their own little thoughts.

In this situation, if the Yin-Yang School wants to counterattack the Mohist School, it must take the initiative to reduce the defense of the Mirage and switch to active offense.

As the saying goes, the best defense is a good offense.

But at the same time, "The Art of War" says: The only way to be invincible is to defend.

Therefore, which is better, offense or defense, and which is more important, still needs to be analyzed based on specific issues.

For the Yin-Yang School at the moment, defense is undoubtedly more important.

Even if they attack, they cannot spare too many manpower, and it is impossible for them to achieve any significant results.

In this case, it is better to just stay put. After all, they only have one goal that they really care about, and as long as they stay put, they will surely succeed. There is no reason to take any risks at all.

The tranquility of the mirage ensures the tranquility of Sanghai, but outside the city of Sanghai, everything is not so peaceful.

After a few days, all the imperial troops that could be mobilized in Jiaodong County had been concentrated in Sanghai... although there were not many of them, only about 3,000 people.

The empire was at war on two fronts, north and south, and had several major projects underway. Even though the fighting in the north was gradually subsiding and Lingnan was in a truce, the empire was still somewhat stretched.

In addition, due to repeated assassination attempts, Ying Zheng's security intensity had to be raised again and again, and a lot of manpower was withdrawn.

The fact that three thousand men could be mobilized now was enough to illustrate the importance of the Mirage issue within the empire.

Most of these people were stationed outside the city to guard the main entrances and exits, but this only increased the number of manpower, and the intensity of inspections in and out of the city was not increased - if this was increased, the city would be affected.

The remaining personnel were transferred to the port to strengthen the defense there. At the same time, the Shadow Secret Guards originally stationed at the port were freed up and arranged on the ship to further strengthen Mirage's own defense.

On the other side, the Mohist people finally rushed back to Sanghai.

Then Master Ban and his friends received a very exciting suggestion—from Tianming’s theoretical guardian, Gai Nie!

"I hope you give up rescuing Tianming."

When Gai Nie said this, everyone present, from Master Ban to Gao Jianli and Shao Yu, was stunned.

Shao Yu subconsciously thought that he had heard it wrong, and couldn't help asking, "Mr. Gai, you...what did you say?"

Gai Nie calmly faced the incredulous and shocked looks of the crowd and responded in a steady tone, "I say, give up saving people."

"Why!?" Shao Yu wanted to jump up, his eyes wide open, full of disbelief.

In comparison, Gao Jianli and the others were much calmer. After looking at each other, Master Ban spoke up and asked as calmly as possible:
"Does Mr. Guy have any concerns? Or is there any special reason?"

After a moment of silence, Gai Nie replied calmly:

"Of course there is a reason."

Shao Yu was anxious and couldn't help but interrupt, "What reason can make you give up Tianming!?"

"Of course it's Tianming himself." Gai Nie's tone was not impatient, and his emotions were always so stable and calm.

This response stunned everyone.

Gai Nie continued to explain, "Everyone here knows that Tianming has a problem with his body. The situation is unclear and it's a big problem that is difficult to eliminate!"

"So... it's to cure Tianming's illness?" Master Ban asked proactively.

Gai Nie nodded, "I once sought a way to cure Tianming. I didn't get a definite answer, but I got a possibility."

"This possible opportunity lies in the mirage."

"So you want to hand Tianming over to the Yin-Yang family and leave him on the Mirage?" Shao Yu could not accept this reason after hearing the explanation.

"Tianming's problem is very complicated. I can't find any other solution, so I can only take a risk and give it a try." Gai Nie replied calmly, "Or... let Tianming face his own fate."

The reason why Gai Nie gave up on saving people was, on the one hand, because he was indeed concerned about treating Tianming. The sudden departure of the Mirage not only confused Tianming, but also caught him off guard, and he thought that there was no hope for this matter.

On the other hand, it is because people really cannot be saved.

As soon as they came back, Master Ban gave them a detailed introduction to the current situation of Mirage, and Gai Nie made his own judgment - the probability of successfully rescuing people was zero.

Unless a meteorite suddenly fell from the sky and killed most of the people in Sanghai Port and Mirage, and Tianming was lucky enough to be safe and sound, it would be impossible for them to rescue people.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the probability is zero, and it cannot even be rounded off.

For Guiguzi disciples, decisiveness is of utmost importance.

Of course, Gai Nie is an outlier. He has been pursuing the best of both worlds all his life, striving to live up to both Tathagata and his beloved.

But this doesn't mean that he can't see the situation clearly.

The people cannot be rescued.

On this basis, he chose to give up rescuing Tianming in order to treat his body. Otherwise, he would never give up Tianming even if it cost him his life.

Because the person could not be rescued, he said that this was Tianming's "fate".

"Destiny? Mr. Gai, do you actually believe in such nonsense?" Dao Zhi couldn't help but ask back.

There was no trace of emotion in Gai Nie's dark eyes, and he replied calmly, "It doesn't matter whether you believe it or not. What matters is that we can't save Tianming."

"How do you know if you don't try?" Shao Yu immediately retorted.

Gai Nie did not argue with Shao Yu about this issue - you can't expect everyone to make absolutely rational judgments.

Gai Nie himself is not a person who likes to act according to reason. If it weren't for Tianming's illness, he would be like Shao Yu, wanting to save people at all costs.

He directly replaced a possibility with a multiple-choice question and questioned Shao Yu in return:

"If Tianming stays in the Mirage, he might be killed, or he might be completely cured."

"If we take him away from the Mirage, and the Mirage finally sets sail, he will miss this only chance. Can you accept that?"

"Ah, this..." Shao Yu was stuck for a while.

According to Gai Nie, not saving Tianming might kill him, but saving Tianming might also kill him...but it might be a little later.

Given a choice between possibly killing him and possibly killing him, how should I choose?
Shao Yu is a bit down.

It was Master Ban who came to the rescue and released his single-core processor. "Mr. Gai, if what you said is true, we really have to make other plans whether to save Tianming."

"But can your information be guaranteed to be true?"

For them, Tianming’s problem is ultimately a disease, an unknown disease.

There are many ways to treat diseases - decoctions, pills, acupuncture, even qi therapy... and so on, but they have never heard of staying on a ship as a treatment.

Gai Nie's words were too vague. Even if they were willing to trust Gai Nie, they couldn't accept it all at once.

"I learned this method from someone else." Gai Nie replied calmly, "He wouldn't say anything he wasn't sure of. If there was a problem, it would be because he lied to me, but he had no reason and no need to lie to me."

Everyone present guessed who Gai Nie was talking about—it was none other than Gu Xun.

Theoretically speaking, if Gu Xun wants to harm someone, he doesn't need to resort to deception.

But there is no guarantee that he wanted to achieve something special, not just to take someone's life or arrest someone.

"He may not necessarily not lie to you, right?" Dao Zhi crossed his arms and was the first to question.

"At least not in Tianming's case." Gai Nie replied, "You all should know that he owed a promise to Tianming's parents, and this debt fell on Tianming's head."

"Promise..." Big Hammer stroked his smooth head with his broad palm and said hesitantly, "That person...will he really keep such a promise without a beginning, an end, or details?"

Gai Nie thought about it and changed his train of thought. He no longer tried to convince them of this, but instead turned it into a multiple-choice question:
"Well... let's not try to figure out whether what he said is true or not, let's just make an assumption first."

"If it is true, and we don't believe it, and we have missed this only chance, is there any way to make up for it?"

"If it's false, who do you think can give you the cure for Tianming?"

Gai Nie once again offered a choice.

Believe it or not, you can still take a gamble and give it a try.

If you don’t believe it, it means you are giving up on the future and only caring about the present.

The people of Mohism knew very well that they could not find another person who could give them reliable enough advice on Tianming's physical problems... They couldn't even find an unreliable person, after all, most people couldn't even see that there was a problem with Tianming.

Even the solution given by Gu Xun, which they deeply doubted, was vague, so they had to take a gamble even if they believed it.

In this case, what to choose?

Ensure immediate safety?
Or fight for future vitality?
Master Ban and the others all fell silent.

After a long time, Master Ban let out a long sigh and said slowly, "It seems that we need to take a long-term view on this matter."

Gai Nie continued, "My words are just suggestions. You decide how to act. I will not interfere or participate."

After saying that, he left here directly.

Gai Nie’s meaning was very clear, Mo Jia could still choose to save people, but he would not participate.

After he left, Master Ban looked at his colleague with a wry smile.

Every one of them - except Hammer - knew that they were in a dilemma.

It would be wrong to let the giant fall into the hands of the Yin-Yang family and be taken out to sea by Mirage.

But if the Mirage is really Tianming's only chance of survival, saving him will ultimately harm their own boss.

But choices always have to be made.

All they can do now is collect more information to make the most appropriate choice.

"Xiao Zhi, have you gained anything in the past few days?" Master Ban asked Dao Zhi first.

"Uh..." Dao Zhi pursed his lips, then spread his hands and said, "To be honest, I got nothing."

"If I have to say something... I'm basically sure that if we want to rescue people, we can only force our way into the mirage. It's impossible to sneak in quietly."

"Unless you can give me at least three months to fully understand the ship's defense situation bit by bit."

"You don't have to say the last sentence." Master Ban covered his head and retorted to him in annoyance.

There is definitely not enough time, so there is really no need for Dao Zhi to say that.

"Xiao Gao, what do you think?" Master Ban then looked at the others.

Gao Jianli immediately replied, "The first thing we need to do now is to collect intelligence."

"We need to use various means to find out Tianming's situation, find out Mirage's situation, and also find a way to find out Tianming's illness."

Dao Zhi sighed upon hearing this, "It sounds like it's not easy... We have been working on a lot of this in the past, but unfortunately there has been no results."

"We have to do it even if it's difficult!" Gao Jianli replied firmly, leaving no room for maneuver.

No one really objects to this.

In practice, it is really difficult for them to do so.

………………

After the meeting, Shao Yu pulled Dao Zhi aside.

"What do you want from me?" Dao Zhi staggered to the corner as he was pulled by him, and he couldn't help but asked with a smile.

"I have to go to the Mirage again." Shao Yu went straight to the point and stated the purpose of his visit to him.

"Come again!?" Dao Zhi felt a headache when he heard it.

Although his and Shao Yu's last attempt to sneak into the Mirage went smoothly, for this kind of thing, success once does not mean success a second time.

Given the current defense strength of the Mirage, no matter how carefully you plan, you will have to take some risks if you want to sneak in quietly.

"For information!" Shao Yu replied solemnly, "Brother, please help me!"

Upon hearing this, Dao Zhi's embarrassed expression froze.

What they need most now is intelligence, all kinds of intelligence.

If Shao Yu can get valuable information, he has to take any risk.

"Are you... sure you can get useful information?" Dao Zhi bumped into Shao Yu's shoulder and asked with a wink and a smile.

"If nothing unexpected happens, it should be possible." Shao Yu gave a fairly reliable response, and then said, "Anyway, you don't have any clues now, so help me."

"Okay, but this time we have to act at night, which is less risky." Dao Zhi grinned and replied reluctantly.

"At night..." Shao Yu was embarrassed about this, "Isn't it possible during the day?"

"I'm doing this for our own good. The chances of being exposed at night are much lower than during the day." Dao Zhu patted his shoulder and replied with a smile, "You've been there before, so you should know it well."

"But if we go at night, we may have to stay on the boat all night." Shao Yu spread his hands and replied with a drooping brow.

"What!?" Dao Zhi's eyebrows jumped, and he asked in surprise, "How did you get the information? Why do you have to stay overnight?"

Seeing this, Shao Yu quickly comforted him, "Don't be too scared. At most, the cat will sleep on the sacred Fusang tree for one night. You don't have to do anything else."