The woman spat the words out fiercely: "Are you truly pushing us to the brink? Do you actually intend for us to kill your companion? Are losing two thousand reward points, or more, truly meaningless to you? Then I'll kill this person right now... what do you think?" Chu Xuan gave a cold laugh, about to speak, but Zero Point stepped in front of him. This reserved man looked at Chu Xuan and said, "Chu Xuan, letting Luo Gandao go offers you no advantage... Moreover, I believe Zheng Zha would also hope to save Luo Gandao's life. Pushing him this way undoubtedly drives him into a corner. Let him go; I have a rough understanding of the previous situation—it wasn't fair to him."

Chu Xuan silently regarded Zero Point.

This assassin usually guarded his words like gold, yet now he had spoken at length for Luo Gandao. In fact, Chu Xuan could not ignore Zero Point's words any more than he could ignore Zheng Zha's. Thus, he merely nodded slowly, then sent a thought to the woman: "In that case... how many people are currently by your side? Among them, are there any dead weights you intend to discard? What are the capabilities and combat strengths of these individuals? Answer me, or within four minutes I will leave this battleship, and then... it will no longer be my responsibility."

This final sentence was directed at Zero Point.

The woman fell into a long silence.

Then she murmured, "There are two others beside me, making three of us here. Then there are two more on the flagship fighting your captain, and one person already died on the information vessel... Of these three here, one can be given to you to kill. My ability is witchcraft; essentially, I can transform mental power into attacking bees. Of course, those who control mental power have a fatal countermeasure against these psychic bees."

"Furthermore, I can sacrifice my life to place a curse on one of your members. I believe the one cursed by me won't survive long enough to return to the 'Main God' space... Besides that, we have the mental power controller of the South Flame Continent team. Thus, we basically no longer possess any offensive capability against you. If you spare us, I am not BC, and I won't casually employ curses..." Chu Xuan tapped his forehead and said, "...Let's set that aside for now. Tell me now. How did the person you captured inform you of our team members' names and locations? On what exact date did he reveal all this? How did he tell you? Did you question him about anything? Tell me everything."

The woman was silent again for a moment, then recounted how, after capturing Luo Gandao, they had interrogated him, how they had tortured him with [omitted word for literary pacing], and how they had been repeatedly stonewalled. Then she explained that only this morning did Luo Gandao readily disclose the names of everyone in the Central Continent team, omitting only the mental power controller. She then detailed Nios's subsequent questioning and Luo Gandao's answers. The woman rushed through this sequence of events; though the haste made the telling less detailed, it managed to convey the general outline of everything that had transpired.

"...Is that how it happened? Interesting. It is certainly an interesting turn of events. He has exceeded my expectations."

Chu Xuan adjusted his glasses, then said to the woman, "Good. I accept your surrender, but there are two conditions you must heed. First, your mental power controller must be placed under our protection. If you commit any act that could endanger the Central Continent team, we will instantly execute your mental power controller. Second, the remainder of your team must participate in our battle against the Forest Continent team. During that fight, you will likely face a near-certain death... Choose now. If you agree, answer me."

The woman who had been conversing with Chu Xuan was visibly worn out. She glanced at the little girl beside her, at the black man who had fallen unconscious, and then at Luo Gandao, who sat to the side pretending to be unconcerned but was in fact extremely anxious. She then murmured to the little girl, "Xue Ling'er, I'm sorry, I have to do this... Rose told me everything about The Mummy world. As long as a few core members of our team can survive, as long as we can make it to the The Mummy world, we can revive Nios then... Xue Ling'er, forgive me, I can't let him die here!" The little girl smiled sweetly, taking the woman's hand and saying, "Sister Aya, don't worry. Xue Ling'er doesn't want Brother to die either. Don't worry, Sister Aya, Xue Ling'er will be very, very good, absolutely without any resistance. Don't worry..."

Chu Xuan and the other two retreated back along the corridor toward their entry point. As they walked, Zero Point suddenly asked, "Chu Xuan, tell me what happened. I still don't fully understand the sequence of events. I only knew you intended to kill Luo Gandao, but why did you end up letting him go? Was it because he didn't reveal all our members' names? That isn't like you..."

Chu Xuan replied calmly, "I did intend to kill Luo Gandao. He questioned team orders back on Bug Planet. As a variable within the team, his potential harm outweighed his utility; I could not accept that. Therefore, killing him was a viable choice... From the very beginning of the overall plan, I designated him as bait to set up the entire scenario. In my original projection, Luo Gandao had a fifty percent chance of dying during these group events. But he is still alive. This was my first test for him: whether he would betray us out of fear of death. If he had revealed our information, he would have been executed without fail... It's bothersome; I cannot let Zheng Zha know I intended to kill him, at least not before I did. Otherwise, the chance of the plan being obstructed rises to over ninety percent. Moreover, Luo Gandao still has a function: to serve as bait to mislead the strategist of the opposing team."

"The situation proceeded smoothly. The runic information I projected was successfully seen by Luo Gandao. In truth, this was merely a gamble, a fifty-five percent probability, but Luo Gandao proved sufficiently lucky. Following that came my second test for him: a test of ability. If the opponent truly had a strategist who set up this situation, he would certainly question why Luo Gandao would so readily reveal all the names of the Central Continent team while withholding only the mental power controller. What would Luo Gandao's reaction be? Immediately reveal the runic information? Or lie and offer evasions? Or perhaps timidly sell us out and become our outright opponent?"

"This was actually a trap I set. It matters little whether the opponent knew about the runic information or not, because the situation had been forced to this point. Unless the opponent intended for peaceful coexistence, they could only proceed further down this path. What I truly wanted to test was Luo Gandao himself: whether he could survive, by what means he would survive, and if the value of his survival outweighed the threat he posed as a variable to the team... Zheng Zha mentioned that Luo Gandao is someone who desperately desires to live, which is very similar to Zheng Zha himself. So, I wanted to see this obsession with survival. Can this obsession truly overcome the most dangerous predicament? If he achieves that, then I might as well design further scenarios to instill a sense of belonging to the team. Such a person, who has the potential to become strong, is worth this level of planning on my part..."

"...From the probing I just conducted, and the information I already possess, he demonstrates an obsession with survival, possesses sufficiently strong abilities and intellect, along with ample luck... He has passed my test. He is a member of our Central Continent team."