Chapter 685: A Long Plan

"Damn it..."

Di Hou came to his senses and cursed, his expression a mix of confusion and anger.

There was a muffled thunderclap—"Boom!"

Upon hearing it, Di Hou turned around, flung open the door, pointed fiercely at the sky, and shouted, "You won't even let me say that?! Just how big of a show do you plan to watch?!"

The muffled sounds rolled through the sky above, but no thunderbolt followed.

"If you don't want me to tell others, then why did you tell me in the first place?!"

Everyone gazed at the sky outside, where the dark red expanse was devoid of even a single cloud.

"You lunatic... Are you just doing this for your own amusement?!"

Di Hou pointed at the sky and cursed vehemently, leaving everyone in the room stunned.

"Isn't that..." Chen Jun Nan turned back and asked, "Lao Qiao, who's he yelling at up there?"

"Pointing at the sky..." Qiao Jia Jin blinked and replied, "Probably cursing at some bird."

Di Hou kept ranting for a while, but there was no response from above. He spat on the ground in frustration, then stormed back inside, breathing heavily and looking thoroughly upset.

"Hey, Hou Ge, were you just on the phone?" Chen Jun Nan said with a laugh.

"Damn it..." Di Hou shook his head repeatedly. "I just can't figure out Qing Long..."

"Who?"

Several people voiced their confusion.

"Who else could it be after 'Jing Lei' has been revealed?" Di Hou muttered angrily. "They don't treat us like people at all... They have the power to sanction the entire Zhong Yan Zhi Di, but they just pick on us 'Sheng Xiao'... Damn it... Damn it... We..."

"Alright, alright, Hou Ge, don't get so worked up." Chen Jun Nan said. "I think that Qing Long was just messing with you. Otherwise, if that lightning had struck, you'd be a big African monkey by now, right?"

Di Hou fell silent, turned, and sat down at a nearby table. He waved his hand dismissively. "I told you, my business has nothing to do with you all. You'd better leave soon."

With that, he nodded toward Qi Xia's direction. "Take him with you."

"Hou Ge, Hou Ge." Chen Jun Nan stepped forward with a grin. "Now that we've gotten this far, why not tell us everything you know? You made a deal with Lao Qi, so maybe we can too."

Di Hou was about to pull a cigarette from his pocket when Chen Jun Nan's words made him pause. He looked up at Chen Jun Nan and asked gravely, "Kid... How many years do you think a plan set by one person can keep running?"

He pulled out a cigarette, lit it wistfully, and everyone glanced at the casino floor, wondering if his smoking habit was that bad or if their arrival had him that stressed. The dirty floor was already littered with cigarette butts.

"That depends on whose plan it is," Chen Jun Nan replied. "Take me, for example. What happened just now? I've only just made a plan for it. My life motto is 'Where there's a road, the cart will find it; where there's a bridge, the boat will cross it.'"

He turned to Qiao Jia Jin. "Lao Qiao, how long can your plans last?"

Qiao Jia Jin chuckled. "Hey, I don't even have plans."

Di Hou sighed helplessly at that. "What if someone's plan could stay effective for decades... and keep moving along its set path? What does that mean?"

Chen Jun Nan thought for a moment. "That means the person who made the plan is incredibly capable. Like Lao Qi—Lao Qi has always been that kind of impressive figure."

"How could he have always been that impressive..." Di Hou gritted his teeth and crushed the cigarette butt in his hand. "That's the problem... That's the biggest problem!"

"What?" The others were puzzled.

Di Hou furrowed his brow deeply, as if wrestling with a thousand questions himself.

"A person who wasn't all that smart suddenly becomes extremely clever—I can understand that. But why would a plan he set when he wasn't so clever run so smoothly...? Do you know how massive this plan is...?"

"I've got a rough idea..." Chen Jun Nan nodded thoughtfully. "So, you're saying Lao Qi wasn't as smart as he is now back then, but he still set up this grand plan... and everyone's been following it right up to today? Is that what's so scary?"

"Isn't that scary enough?!" Di Hou's eyes widened. "Can a normal person pull off something like that? Even planning the next day's schedule, people adjust for all sorts of little things... Now imagine over decades? That kind of stability isn't a good thing at all... You just don't get it..."

Chen Jun Nan followed Di Hou's line of thinking and nodded. "Yeah, I really don't. Aren't you just praising Lao Qi? It's because he made the plan that everything's been so steady for you..."

"No!!" Di Hou seemed anxious. "Do none of you have any brains?!"

He stepped forward, placed both hands on Chen Jun Nan's shoulders, and whispered in alarm, "This means someone else is meddling with the plan!! Someone besides Qi Xia and us is giving it a push, which is why everything's gone so smoothly!"

Only then did the others realize what had been worrying Di Hou all along.

"Don't you see..." Di Hou pointed at the sleeping Qi Xia. "Do you know who 'Ru Meng' is? Do you know how the 'Sheng Xiao' receive orders from 'that person'? Now even 'he' is involved, which means Qi Xia's plan was exposed decades ago! He might have been used all along, and so have I! All my waiting has turned to nothing!! In this game, who's the player and who's the pawn?"

As Di Hou's emotions spiraled out of control, everyone felt uneasy. He seemed both deeply wronged and as if he hadn't had anyone to confide in for ages.

"Da Mu Lü... Calm down first." Qiao Jia Jin stepped up and patted Di Hou on the shoulder. Di Hou gave off a strange vibe to him.

Though they had just been at odds over the gambling, Di Hou didn't feel like an enemy.

"You've got to think positively..." Qiao Jia Jin racked his brain to comfort him.

"Think positively...?" Di Hou turned with a look of despair. "Qi Xia's been taken down by 'Ru Meng', and all the facts are right in front of us. How am I supposed to think positively?"

"Um..." Qiao Jia Jin thought for a moment and said, "I'm not the sharpest, so my ideas are pretty straightforward. What if the one who's been 'meddling with the plan' all along is actually Deception Boy himself, after he got stronger?"

(Recommend Er Mao's "Xian Ren Zhi Shang"—it's not a fast-paced story, the pacing is slow, and the world-building is vast. If you're interested, go check it out.)