Earthworm

Situ Xun's expression was grave. "Although the earthquake pushed Forbidden Island directly onto the mainland, it's now located at the midpoint of more than a dozen countries. It's heavily guarded and equipped with the most advanced protective shields and city-defense weapons. The city is guarded entirely by A-rank and higher ability users who have been transformed into monsters, along with the experimental subjects whose previous trials succeeded. They're also part of the island's defensive forces.

"Forget breaking in—even ordinary people can't get inside!"

"You managed to get in, didn't you?"

Jiang You stared straight at Situ Xun, and the surrounding voices suddenly fell silent.

A trace of bitterness flashed across Situ Xun's aged face. "After I concealed the opening of the Abyss entrance and secretly helped arrange the sacrificial ritual, Forbidden Island struck me off its list. There's no way I can enter again. Unless..."

Wang Qichuan hurriedly pressed him. "Unless what?"

The corners of Jiang You's crimson lips lifted slightly, her voice carrying a hint of chill. "Unless you can offer a token of allegiance..."

At those words, Situ Xun raised his head in disbelief. Even through the screen, his eagle eyes seemed razor-sharp.

"What are you trying to do?"

His voice was somewhat slow and tremulous.

Impossible. It shouldn't be what I'm thinking.

No matter how crazy this girl was, she couldn't possibly be crazy enough for that.

He stared fixedly at Jiang You, waiting for her answer.

"Using me as the token of allegiance might let us knock on Forbidden Island's gates. The question is whether you dare use me as bait and offer up that token..." Jiang You's words were cold and detached.

Use her as the token of allegiance?!

Did she know what she was saying?!

A chill rose in everyone's hearts.

Everyone knew Jiang You was ruthless in how she acted, but no one had known she could be this ruthless toward herself.

"You... you're willing to sacrifice yourself for everyone..."

Seeing that Jiang You actually possessed such awareness, Situ Xun burst into tears.

For a moment, no one knew what to think.

"Good girl, this old man misunderstood you. I never imagined you'd possess such a noble sense of duty. Don't worry. After you die, I'll tell every survivor in Great Xia about your selfless contributions to Great Xia... I..."

"What are you thinking?"

Jiang You rolled her eyes at the old man, who was so moved that tears and snot streamed down his face and he nearly knelt before her.

She cut him off directly.

"If everyone needs me to sacrifice myself to survive, then you may as well all go die. I'm not Mo Fei. I don't possess such lofty ideals."

The grief on Situ Xun's face froze instantly, while Long Luo let out a sigh of relief.

Wang Qichuan wore an expression that said he knew it all along. She had known Jiang You would never sacrifice herself to benefit others.

For that brief moment, he had looked at that selfless Jiang You and gotten goosebumps all over his back.

If Jiang You had truly been willing to sacrifice herself, it could only prove one thing: the thing before them wasn't Jiang You at all, but a monster that had crawled out of the Abyss wearing human skin!

After she said that, the goosebumps on Wang Qichuan's back strangely vanished.

Thank goodness. Jiang Gouzi was still Jiang Gouzi—the same old recipe!

"But how are you going to use a fake corpse to fool them? Forbidden Island's technology is more advanced than Hope Base's. We have no technology that can deceive them."

"Only the truth is flawless. Even the perfect imitation won't withstand scrutiny. Situ Xun, I want you to take my head and use it as the token of allegiance to enter Forbidden Island."

"Long Luo, you and Sansheng must create a small device as quickly as possible and implant it in my tooth. Once we enter Forbidden Island, it must interfere with the island's central control system as quickly as possible."

As long as they broke through the island's defense mechanisms, its people would be as good as dead.

If she could destroy Forbidden Island once, she could destroy it a second time!

This time, she would leave not a single survivor there and erase the place from the world entirely!

The grudges of two lifetimes had to be settled.

Wang Qichuan nodded. "I have something to say about this. Sometimes, the more advanced technology is, the more easily something can go wrong."

Jiang You swept him a glance. "Shut up."

She continued, "Number Nine City. I heard you have mecha warriors?"

Wang Qichuan said nothing. Jiang You had just told him to shut up.

Thus, the question fell to the Li family head and the Zhang family head. The Li family head looked from side to side.

Mechas cost an astronomical amount of money. The Li family head had a feeling she was about to bleed—and bleed heavily at that. She wasn't stingy, but Jiang You was asking for far too much at once.

Still, it seemed impossible to refuse her now. She simply shot a meaningful glance at the Zhang family head, who had been pretending to be a quail the entire time.

The Zhang family head spoke up. "We have them. Three hundred and sixty-two mechas in total!"

Jiang You said, "Send all of them to Forbidden Island as compensation!"

"All—all of them?"

The three of them looked at her simultaneously.

They had thought Jiang You merely wanted them to suffer a major loss. They hadn't expected this woman to go straight for the kidney!

"Yes. Not one left behind."

"Then our main defensive force will be even weaker. What if we're breached?"

"Then consider yourself unlucky."

The three family heads: "..."

After a brief silence, Wang Qichuan suddenly spoke. "You said you were going to take your own head?"

Jiang You said, "Yes."

"...How?"

"Like this..."

"Pfft!"

Jiang You offered no explanation. She plunged a knife directly into her throat and slashed sideways with her other hand.

Blood instantly splashed across the camera before them. Everyone on-screen leaned toward it in shock, their eyes widening abruptly.

"Jiang You!" Long Luo cried out.

"Why did she suddenly start playing at suicide?!"

But in the next second, they saw the head in Jiang You's hand visibly decay into a pool of blood.

At the severed stump of her neck, flesh churned as red threads writhed.

A scene that made their scalps prickle appeared before them.

She... she had actually grown a new head.

The sight was bizarre beyond words, and everyone felt the air around them grow colder.

Long Luo hurriedly told Sansheng to turn on the lights.

Several minutes later, Jiang You, now sporting a new head, twisted her neck.

"Do you know about earthworms? If one is cut in half, it can grow into two completely independent individuals. I'm not that abnormal. If I'm cut in half, only one side can live.

"But fortunately, I can decide which side survives..."

This still wasn't abnormal?!

This was abnormality among abnormalities!

Situ Xun was an old hand at this. He understood Jiang You's meaning instantly.

"Because of the Seed of Fire, Forbidden Island must have prepared for you long ago. The living you can't possibly enter Forbidden Island. But they could never imagine that the Seed of Fire's ability could be this abnormal.

"So you want to use your own head to sneak into Forbidden Island, then regrow your body.

"After that, Sansheng will interfere with their protective shield!

"What a plan. What a truly brutal plan!

"But what about Number Nine City's mecha warriors? Are we really giving them away for nothing?"

Jiang You smiled. "Why shouldn't we give them away? If our sincerity isn't sufficient, the other side won't lower its guard. Of course, these mechas need a little modification. We can discuss the details later."

She looked around at everyone. "So next, we'll have to suffer a few defeats."

"Dawn Tower will resist to the bitter end, Hope Base will suffer heavy losses, and Number Nine City will be destroyed, leaving families ruined. Only when they see our despair and our lack of escape will they believe that you truly intend to defect."

No one present was a fool. Jiang You didn't need to explain the rest.

The three families of Number Nine City: "Why do we feel like we're suffering the greatest losses..."

Situ Xun smiled bitterly. "There's no need to pretend. Hope Base is already close to collapse. The food and weapons in the city are being rapidly depleted. They can't break in, so they're trapping us inside and starving us to death. It's only a matter of time..."

Sansheng: According to calculations, this plan's success rate is only thirty percent.

Jiang You said, "The success rate is a little low. Are you still doing it?"

Number Nine City: "Damn right!"

Hope Base: "A dying horse as a living horse doctor!"

Long Luo: "Sansheng's probability calculation is wrong. Once something begins, there are only two possible outcomes: success and failure. So the odds should be fifty-fifty."