Chapter 40: He Has Always Believed You Are a Good Person!

Just moments ago, Bald Biao had spoken of sharing hardship and facing life and death together, yet now one of their comrades had been assigned to stay behind and watch over the luggage. When it came time to divide up the spoils, that person would inevitably receive less, and resentment was sure to fester.

Even though Fu Yunsheng had been "ostracized" by the scavengers, he still identified with them rather than with the porters. If the porters tried to stir up trouble, he would step in to stop them. That was why the scavengers chose to gang up on Wang Chen.

But who could have expected that Fu Yunsheng, who had been daydreaming under the shade of a tree, would suddenly rush into the temple to watch the commotion, only to be immobilized by the Eye of Binding as well?

Now, the only ones they could rely on were the porters left outside.

A figure entered from outside the temple: burly, with a simple, honest face.

A scavenger who could see him immediately shouted, “Da Li Yong, think of a way to get us out of here!”

Da Li Yong glanced at the speaker without a word, then surveyed the situation inside the temple, quickly understanding what had happened. He then walked toward the nearest scavenger.

That scavenger’s face lit up with joy, thinking he would be rescued from a grisly fate.

But Da Li Yong, standing beside him, didn’t search for a leverage point to move him. Instead, he began rifling through the man’s belongings.

The scavenger’s possessions had already been searched—a few coins and some cheap jewelry, all loot from their previous robberies. Da Li Yong pocketed these items and moved on to the next person.

Seeing his actions, the scavenger was instantly furious.

“You’ve got some nerve! Stealing from me? I swear, I’ll gut you the moment I can move again!”

But with his limbs stiff and paralyzed, he could do nothing but watch helplessly as Da Li Yong plundered everyone’s valuables.

Gradually, the scavengers understood what Da Li Yong was doing. One after another, they threatened and tried to cajole him.

“That’s my savings for getting out of here—touch it and I’ll chop your hand off when I’m free!”

“What good will this loot do you? Do you really think you can escape alone? In the end, you’ll just die with silver and gold in your pockets, food for the beasts!”

Da Li Yong heard their words but didn’t respond, seemingly unused to bickering. Nor did he care about their curses. He simply went about his business, methodically stripping them of their valuables.

At first, Bald Biao raged at Da Li Yong as well, but he soon gave up the futile struggle, as if resigning himself to his fate.

“Kid, looks like we’re destined to die together after all. What irony, that for the sake of the money on you, we lost all our brothers’ lives,” he said to Wang Chen.

“Money? I don’t have any money left. I spent it all on magic scrolls,” Wang Chen replied with a smile.

“That’s exactly why we wanted to rob you—to sell those scrolls!” Bald Biao snarled.

“Magic scrolls? I’ve already used them all up. My hands are empty; I was just worrying about how to get out of here, but it seems I don’t need to worry anymore. Looks like we’ll all die here together,” Wang Chen said with a cruel twist to his words.

Bald Biao fell silent for a while.

“So that’s how it is? We’re all doomed…” he suddenly burst out laughing, a manic, bitter laugh that soon brought tears streaming down his face.

Wang Chen, hearing the sound, allowed a faint smile to touch his lips. He still had magic scrolls left, of course, but seeing as they were all about to perish, he couldn’t resist taking one last jab at Bald Biao. After all, this man was the true cause of their misfortune—had he not distracted Wang Chen, the skeletal python would have been finished off long ago, and none of this would have happened.

Bald Biao’s laughter faded, leaving his throat hoarse as he coughed uncontrollably. He knew Wang Chen was probably lying, but he still felt deep regret and remorse for leading the team into this dead end and could only lament the fickleness of fate.

He glared at Da Li Yong, who was rummaging through his pockets with an expressionless face, and spat out, “Xu Yong, you’ll never get out of here! Even if you do, our ghosts will haunt you—you’ll never die in peace!”

Xu Yong? So Da Li Yong’s real name was Xu Yong?

A flicker of realization flashed in Wang Chen’s eyes. Could it really be him?

Quickly, Wang Chen called out, “Xu Yong, come search me first! I guarantee I’ve got better loot than Baldy here!”

Bald Biao scoffed, “Kid, isn’t it a bit late to cozy up to him? Don’t think you’ll earn his mercy just because you never bullied him. He’s got blood on his hands—at the end of the day, he’s no different from us.”

“He just wasn’t skilled enough to become one of us, that’s all.”

Xu Yong’s eyes dimmed at Bald Biao’s words. He finished searching Bald Biao and moved on to Wang Chen, but after a thorough search, found only a cell phone and the Forest Gale Wang Chen was clutching.

Of course—Wang Chen had stashed everything else in his storage ring. Even the phone should have been inside, but when he entered the majestic temple earlier, he couldn’t resist pulling it out to snap a few photos.

That impulsive act had unwittingly given him a sliver of hope.

Seeing Xu Yong take the phone, Wang Chen quickly said, “Point the screen at my face to unlock it and open the photo album.”

Xu Yong looked puzzled, but just as he’d ignored the scavengers’ curses, he decided to ignore Wang Chen’s odd request as well.

“Your father is still waiting for you to come home, Xu Yong!” Wang Chen, seeing Da Li Yong’s face clearly, felt more certain than ever that he was the old man’s son from the teleportation circle.

Xu Yong paused, “My father? You know my father?”

“Look in my photo album and you’ll understand,” Wang Chen replied.

Xu Yong unlocked the phone, opened the album, and when he saw the familiar photo, his hands began to tremble.

“Why… why do you have a photo of me and my father?” Xu Yong asked.

So Wang Chen told him the whole story.

“Your father is still waiting by the teleportation circle, isn’t he? He’s so old now, can barely walk without a cane…”

“You should go back, Xu Yong. Like your father said, he named you Yong—courage—not just for bravery, but to have the courage to face your own mistakes and overcome your shame. That’s what true courage is!”

Wang Chen didn’t care how much he embellished the old man’s words; he just hoped this man would have a change of heart.

“It’s never too late to be a good person. You can start right now, at this very moment!”

“My father would never say something so poetic,” Xu Yong replied. “But he does want me to be a good man.”

Wang Chen recalled the old man’s words at the teleportation circle. “No, he’s always believed you are a good man.”

Xu Yong was stunned, and lowered his head in silence.

Wang Chen grew anxious; part of the temple was already collapsing, bits of rubble raining down.

After a moment, Xu Yong suddenly grabbed Wang Chen by the armpits, hoisted him onto his shoulder, and ran for the temple entrance.

Before the roof on that side of the temple completely caved in, they burst outside.

Behind them, stones crashed down in a roar, the ground shaking as if in an earthquake, dust flying everywhere.

The once magnificent temple had finally become nothing but a pile of shattered ruins.