Chapter 637: Club 8 and Heart 9

[Audience Expectation -1]

[Current Expectation: 34%]

Chen Ling, who was wandering around the room in boredom, saw a line of characters float before his eyes, and his heart sank.

He knew he couldn't just wait like this. No matter what, he had to find something less boring to make the audience's expectation drop slower, buying as much time as possible for the Dusk Society.

Chen Ling swept his gaze around. The only thing here that could possibly create some fun was Club 8, who was lying on the bed without saying a word...

He simply took his chair and sat by Club 8's bed, looking at him solemnly.

"...What do you want?" Club 8 saw Chen Ling's sudden action and subconsciously dodged back, his expression suspicious.

"Let's chat."

"Chat? Chat about what?"

"Anything." Chen Ling thought for a moment. "How did you join the Dusk Society?"

"This... there's nothing much to say."

"Waiting is waiting anyway, might as well talk slowly." (If I don't get something going, my audience will really lose patience.) Chen Ling didn't say the second half, but his gaze toward Club 8 was indeed sincere.

Club 8 examined Chen Ling with a strange expression, and after hesitating for a moment, he spoke:

"Before joining the Dusk Society, I was the Ninth Hall Master of the Floating Life Painting. You should know that, right?"

"I know."

"When I was still the Ninth Hall Master, a Dusk Society member with an extremely arrogant style snuck into the Red Dust Main City, provoking three Hall Masters to take action to capture him at the same time... I was one of them.

This Dusk Society member, although arrogant in style, was extremely delicate in mind, leaving us almost no clues. The three of us searched separately in the city for several days without any results. Later, I accidentally caught a trace, followed the clues to find him, and then had a fight with him."

"An arrogant Dusk Society member..." Chen Ling's expression was subtle. "Heart 9?"

"...Yes." Club 8 seemed to remember something and gritted his teeth in anger. "Back then, I had just stepped onto the sixth stage, and he had been on the sixth stage for a long time. I had a fight with him, and I was just a hair's breadth away... just a hair's breadth away from winning! In the end, not only did I fail to capture him, but I was also mocked by him."

It was indeed Heart 9's style, Chen Ling thought.

"...And then?"

"Then, he ran away." Club 8 sighed. "After I returned to the Floating Life Painting, I was scolded by the Second Hall Master... because after discovering the Dusk Society member, I didn't call for teammates to support me immediately, but chose to fight alone. But I was indeed young and arrogant at the time, afraid of nothing, and never thought I needed support... This was indeed my problem.

It was also during that period that I discovered some problems. I had a fight with the Second Hall Master and decided to leave the Floating Life Painting."

Club 8 deliberately avoided what the "problems" were, and Chen Ling didn't pursue it, continuing to listen quietly.

"Coincidentally... on the train leaving the Red Dust Realm, I ran into Heart 9 again, who was disguised and preparing to escape...

At that time, I chased him without hesitation. We fought through a carriage, fighting in the Grey Realm, chasing and fleeing. In the end... I still lost."

Club 8 said with full resentment, "I lost, and he humiliated me again. I couldn't take it, so I attacked him... and was beaten up again. After several times, I passed out."

Chen Ling: ...

Chen Ling looked at Club 8, thinking you are really stubborn. Knowing you couldn't beat him, you kept rushing up... But thinking about it carefully, it was very reasonable.

Who was Club 8? He was the number one genius of the contemporary Qing Divine Path, a young hero known to several realms. Chen Ling calculated that when he fought Heart 9, he should have been about fourteen years old, exactly the age when he was most unwilling to admit defeat. How could he take this anger?

"He didn't kill me, just tied me up and took me to the next realm like a hostage... At first, I wanted to tear him to pieces, and even had thoughts of suicide, but later I found that these Dusk Society members didn't seem as evil as imagined... If you don't count the personal humiliation."

Club 8 paused for a moment. "In short, after getting along for a long time, I also came into contact with some of the Dusk Society's concepts and found that this organization didn't seem to be what the rumors said...

'Restart' might not be the best answer I'm looking for, but it is the closest option I've seen so far, so I finally chose to join the Dusk Society."

"No wonder." Chen Ling sat on the chair, listening with great interest, almost wishing he could conjure a bag of melon seeds.

"So what about now? Do you still hate him?"

"...Who?"

"Heart 9."

Club 8 opened his mouth, wanting to say something but stopping.

……

"Hahaha, you don't know, that kid had snot coming out when I beat him up back then!" Heart 9 described it excitedly, as if thinking of something happy.

Jack of Clubs rolled his eyes. "How old were you back then? How old was he? A twenty-something adult beating a fourteen-year-old child like that, and it was still a narrow victory, yet you still have the face to be proud."

"Just tell me if I won or not!"

“……”

Jack of Clubs didn't bother to argue with him. While following Liu Qingyan through the Grey Realm, he took shiny powder from his top hat and scattered it gently on the road.

"What are you doing?"

"Leaving a trail." Jack of Clubs replied calmly. "Leaving marks on the road so that even if we fall at the Red Dust base, those who come after can follow the marks to find the location of the base."

Jian Changsheng nodded, then asked worriedly:

"Speaking of which, with just the three of us, can we really break into the Red Dust base and rescue Chen Ling... That's the lair of the Floating Life Painting!"

"Not three, only two." Heart 9 looked at Jian Changsheng with a smile. "You are too weak, newcomer, you can't count as a person."

Jian Changsheng: ...

"I think I know why Club 8 insisted on beating you up back then." Jian Changsheng gritted his teeth.

"If it were an ordinary Seventh-order, the possibility of breaking into the Red Dust base to save someone would be zero." Jack of Clubs paused. "But as a [Magician], the thing I lack least is means to confuse people, so I have more confidence... but at most only twenty percent."

"Twenty percent, that's too low."

Jian Changsheng frowned.

"Then what if we add a [Thief]?" A familiar voice came from afar.

Jian Changsheng and the others were startled and looked back at the same time. On the path emitting faint silver light, two figures walked straight toward them.

One of them was Square 10, who had originally stayed at the Jinghong Building;

The other was wearing a grey wool coat, carrying Bai Ye, who was wearing a flat cap and still unconscious, on his back, smiling as he walked toward them... The one who said that just now was him.

Seeing this person, Jian Changsheng's mouth opened involuntarily, and he became excited!

"Senior Chu!!!"