"Are you saying the Blackbirds are connected to the Gourd Mountain we're heading for?" Lin Shen understood what Lao Ye meant.
"Think about it carefully. Bai Shenfei may have come from Seahorn Base, but she only studied and trained there. Even we don't know what kind of background her family truly has, so the Qi Family and Wang Family definitely can't know either. Then why do they trust Bai Shenfei so much, enough to take such a huge risk and come here? Along the way, they've practically obeyed her every word. Even after losing Alloy Gene Mutators, they haven't complained to Bai Shenfei once. Is it really just because Bai Shenfei said she knows where Gourd Mountain is? Even we're suspicious. Why do the Qi and Wang Families trust her so much? It's far too abnormal." Lao Ye said.
"What do you think?" Lin Shen had no intention of guessing and motioned for Lao Ye to continue.
"I've thought it over and over. Maybe there's one possibility: Bai Shenfei truly knows where Gourd Mountain is, but she can't enter it herself. She must rely on some special object or power to get inside." Lao Ye lowered his voice so much that Lin Shen, sitting right beside him, could barely hear him.
"The Blackbird?" Lin Shen understood what Lao Ye was referring to.
"That's right, the Blackbird. If, as she said, Fourth Master told her to take you into Gourd Mountain, then she only needed to take you. Even if she needed extra hands, she could have brought people from the Lin Family. Why did she insist on bringing the Qi Family and Wang Family along?"
Lao Ye snorted coldly. "I couldn't figure it out before, but when I saw Wang Tianer use the Blackbird today, I suddenly understood a few things. The only thing the three families have in common is that they all possess Blackbirds, and the Blackbirds were obtained near this canyon. Perhaps the key to entering Gourd Mountain lies with the Blackbirds. That's why she insisted on bringing all three families here. To win the trust of the Qi and Wang Families, she has probably already told them that the Blackbirds are the key to entering Gourd Mountain. That's why Qi Shuheng and Wang Tianer obey her every word—they want to find Gourd Mountain. Once they find it, with Blackbirds in their hands, they can cast us aside and monopolize everything inside Gourd Mountain. They're simply using and plotting against one another."
"Since Bai Shenfei knows where Gourd Mountain is, and the Qi and Wang Families have Blackbirds, why did they bring us here? We don't know where Gourd Mountain is, and we don't have Blackbirds." Lin Shen pondered.
"Maybe they're afraid Third Master and Fourth Master didn't die inside Gourd Mountain. If anything happens, they can still use you as a hostage." Lao Ye said this, then looked up into Lin Shen's eyes. With a complicated expression, he continued, "There may be another possibility."
"What possibility?" Lin Shen felt that, judging from the way Lao Ye was looking at him, what came next would probably concern him.
"Maybe they suspect that you have a Blackbird." Lao Ye stared at Lin Shen with blazing eyes, speaking slowly and deliberately, word by word.
Lin Shen was stunned. "How could I possibly have a Blackbird? The Lin Family's Blackbird pet was lost long ago. Even if it hadn't been lost, Second Brother should have inherited it. If not Second Brother, then Third Brother or Fourth Brother. No matter what, it wouldn't have fallen to me."
"The Lin Family's Blackbird was indeed lost, but that doesn't mean the Lin Family has no Blackbird." Lao Ye said softly.
"That's too strange. If it was lost, then obviously it's gone." Lin Shen stared at Lao Ye, unable to understand what he was getting at.
"Little Fifth Master, you may not know this, but there were actually not three Blackbird Eggs found back then, but four. The ancestors of the Qi and Wang Families each obtained one Blackbird Egg, while the Lin Family's ancestor obtained two."
"What?" Lin Shen's eyes widened in disbelief, and his voice rose despite himself.
Lao Ye hurriedly covered Lin Shen's mouth. "Keep it down. Walls have ears."
"Why have I never heard that our Lin Family obtained two Blackbird Eggs?" After Lao Ye released him, Lin Shen lowered his voice again.
"I only heard about this from the old master before. Once, the old master called Cang Yun and me to drink with him. When we got carried away with drinking, somehow the conversation turned to Blackbirds." Lao Ye recalled, "The old master said that the Blackbird nest had been discovered by the Lin Family's ancestor, and the Lin Family had contributed the most to obtaining the Blackbirds. So when they found that there were four Blackbird Eggs in the nest, the Qi and Wang Families each received one, while the Lin Family's ancestor took the other two."
"Then why have I never heard that our family had two Blackbirds? Could it be that both Blackbirds were lost together?" Lin Shen asked doubtfully.
"No. Only one Blackbird was lost. As for the other Blackbird Egg, after the Lin Family's ancestor brought it back, no one ever saw it again. That was because the Lin Family's ancestor said the other Blackbird Egg had failed to hatch and became a Dead Egg."
Lin Shen paused slightly. "Then our Lin Family ancestor really had rotten luck. Four Blackbird Eggs hatched three Blackbirds, and only that one became a Dead Egg."
"You don't believe it either, do you? The Qi and Wang Families didn't quite believe it, either. They had always suspected that the Lin Family's other Blackbird Egg wasn't a Dead Egg at all, but had been hidden away as a trump card. That was why, even during the Lin Family's darkest days, the Qi and Wang Families didn't dare strike a killing blow. They feared the Lin Family was still hiding another Blackbird. That gave Second Master the chance to rise, allowing the Lin Family to preserve its current position."
Lao Ye continued reminiscing. "During that time, the Qi and Wang Families kept testing the Lin Family, trying to find out whether the Lin Family had hidden another Blackbird. If not, the Lin Family's best possible outcome would have been losing all its interests at Blackbird Base. It might even have ended in the family shattered and its people dead. They simply never expected Second Master to be so formidable. Before they could test out an answer, they discovered that even if the Lin Family had no Blackbird, dealing with Second Master would require them to pay an enormous price. By then, they had already missed their chance."
"Later, Second Master's growth made them afraid. Then Third Master and Fourth Master gradually grew up and rose to prominence as well. Back then, the Qi and Wang Families were scared stiff, like grandsons before their elders. They probably couldn't even sleep peacefully. Even without a Blackbird, with those three masters around, the Lin Family was more terrifying to them than if it had possessed one." Lao Ye grew a little proud as he spoke and chuckled twice.
"If Second Master hadn't vanished without a trace, Blackbird Base would probably have long since borne only one surname: Lin." Lao Ye's gaze settled on Lin Shen's eyes again. "Fifth Brother, you should know best what kind of people those three masters are. In a place like Blackbird Base, they don't need Blackbirds at all. If the Lin Family truly still had a Blackbird..."
"Then it could only be on me, the most useless fifth son, right?" Lin Shen was no fool and naturally understood Lao Ye's meaning. He sighed helplessly. "Lao Ye, I really have never seen any Blackbird. When Second Brother and Third Brother were around, I could walk sideways through Blackbird Base, and Alloy Gene Mutators were always protecting me. I had no need for that thing at all. Besides, with my strength, do you think I could keep myself alive against Qi Shuheng and Wang Tianer even if I had a Blackbird on me? I'm afraid they'd kill me before I could even summon it."
"Fifth Brother, of course I believe you. But it's useless for me to believe you. The Qi and Wang Families don't believe you, Bai Shenfei doesn't believe you, and that Wei Wufu—I'd say nine times out of ten he came for the Blackbird too. Otherwise, why would he cling to your side?"
"There's nothing I can do if they don't believe me. I truly don't have one." Lin Shen thought for a moment, then added, "And no matter how powerful a Blackbird is, it's only a Crystal Grade Creature. Whether it really has such great use remains to be seen."
Lao Ye was about to say something else when a clamor erupted outside, accompanied by startled cries.
Both men's hearts tightened. They hurriedly crawled out of the tent to see what was happening.
Wei Wufu, who had been keeping watch outside the tent, was already on his feet, looking up at the night sky. The others in the camp were doing the same, every one of them staring upward.
Lin Shen looked toward the direction they were watching. The moment he did, he could not help letting out an astonished cry. "Ah!"
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