Chapter 444 We Are One Whole

Of course, the chaos spread so rapidly thanks to the naivety of these demons.

When they heard the indiscriminate command telling all demons to start fighting each other, almost all of them had only two reactions—either they charged in to brawl or they bolted.

Knowing they couldn’t win, their instinct to survive kicked in, leading them to either escape to areas yet untouched by the command or flee beyond the city limits. This mad rush only accelerated the chaos’s spread—some demons, while fleeing, would even attack others weaker than themselves, thinking that by eliminating a fellow demon, they were completing their task.

This unraveling was quite unexpected for Ling Mo and Xia Xinyan.

They had thought they could stir the pot a little, but they never considered it could turn the entire pool upside down. Of course, it could also be that the water in this pool was already restless, further igniting the violence within them.

Though they understood that this situation was their doing, Ling Mo felt no guilt—just a profound sense of… helplessness.

From what they observed, it seemed unlikely that these demons could coexist harmoniously with humans.

Even for an unverifiable command, these demons could unhesitatingly slaughter their companions who had just been living in harmony a second ago. Their behavior resembled that of machines coldly executing orders, their violence almost extreme—only targeting those weaker than themselves, and fleeing at the first hint of stronger companions.

While this could be attributed to their simplicity, in their blind execution of such brutally lethal commands, Ling Mo didn’t even want to think about the nightmare of these demons coexisting with humans.

The question now was whether this trait was intrinsic to all demons or if it could change with evolution. If it was the former, an expedition would be unavoidable; if the latter… perhaps there were other ways to resolve the world’s troubles.

To find the answer, maybe they could probe that woman.

Once she discovered the city-state under her control was in turmoil, she would undoubtedly step in to manage it, and from her methods, they could glean significant information.

But what puzzled them was that even as the city neared a sea of blood, the woman had yet to show up—she previously claimed to be managing the city-state; they had no clue how that was going down.

—And soon, they would find out.

In their temporary residence, the woman found them watching the chaos from the balcony.

“What happened to my city-state?” Her tone was full of confusion but lacked any urgency, almost as if she was just curious about why this was happening, completely indifferent to the demons dying each moment in the city that were her own subjects.

Ling Mo turned back to glance at her, equally perplexed: “We don’t know either. The city just suddenly fell into chaos. We thought it was a command from the King for entertainment, so we didn’t try to stop it.”

Xia Xinyan nodded in agreement: “Exactly.”

The woman appeared even more baffled: “I’ve been in my sacred place learning how to manage the city with that box and have never issued such a command—though those fools are stupid, this command is even dumber.”

Ling Mo cleared his throat: “I’m not sure how that’s possible… but there’s one more thing that might be related—we captured that… outsider, and he escaped.”

“He escaped?” The woman was momentarily stunned.

“Yeah,” Ling Mo’s expression grew serious and guilt-ridden, “that sly outsider, he’s very crafty. Not only can he talk, but he’s also no slouch in strength. While we weren’t paying attention, he slipped away, and we couldn’t catch him, so we came back here hoping to spot that despicable guy.”

Xia Xinyan nodded again: “Exactly.”

The woman didn’t seem surprised: “The person from the box wasn’t wrong; outsiders from beyond the city aren’t trustworthy.”

“Does the King believe us?”

“Of course,” the woman nodded, “you are different from those outsiders; you’re of the same race as us, the same kind of beings.”

—In that moment, for the first time, Ling Mo felt a twinge of guilt for deceiving this simple demon so unabashedly.

The woman continued: “Now that the city is in chaos, you need to help me suppress those fools. If anyone disobeys you, just kill them.”

With that, she turned to leave: “I’ll handle this personally, find that outsider, and kill him.”

After she left, Xia Xinyan and Ling Mo exchanged glances.

It felt like the city was about to get lively.

“So… should we go?” Xia Xinyan asked, glancing at the chaos outside the balcony.

“Better not, let’s just take a back seat,” Ling Mo shook his head, “that woman probably doesn’t care about us right now, and it’s not suitable for us to join in.”

The demons were on edge, and there were plenty fleeing for their lives—who knew what chain reactions would occur once that woman showed up?

But before that, he had an important matter to address.

After a pause, he pulled out a recorder: “The intel we got from that guy, we need to send it back to use it to its full potential.”

“Are you planning to send it to Zhang Daring?” Xia Xinyan tilted her head at him.

“Or does Xinyan have a better option?” Ling Mo countered.

“The Eagles Alliance doesn’t have many connections among the major forces. Even if we pass on this information, it won’t have much impact and might even alert the enemy—Eternal Life Palace isn’t a small force. If we had to choose one, most expedition members would certainly trust Eternal Life Palace over us,” Xia Xinyan said seriously, “but there’s one person we can trust.”

“Summer Jincang,” Ling Mo nodded, “I understand.”

That made sense; as a solid brother complex, Summer Jincang would definitely side with them, and New Dawn’s connections were still beyond the Eagles Alliance. If Summer Jincang got this information and used it, that would be far better.

Guess he had been thinking too simply before.

After a moment’s pause, Ling Mo suddenly smiled: “Xinyan, you don’t always have to try to get me to make the decisions. You’re the leader of the Chicks and the Eagles Alliance, my girlfriend; you have decision-making power too. I know you want to train me, but… we are one whole, aren’t we?”

Xia Xinyan paused, then nodded: “Mhm.”