Chapter 140 I Didn't Do Anything Bad

Night fell.

When Xu Zhe returned to his room, he found that Chu Xiaotong was already lying on the bed, waiting for a long time.

To be precise, she wasn't quite lying down; she was just slumped against it, without taking off her shoes or her clothes. Her long legs were crossed over the quilt, and she was holding the jade slips Xu Zhe had given her, reading them with intense concentration.

Too much!

Xu Zhe curled his lips.

"The materials have all been prepared for you on the table," Chu Xiaotong said without raising her head.

Xu Zhe looked toward the table, where several storage rings were already placed. His divine sense swept into them, and he found that the various materials were quite complete, with quantities leaning toward the generous side.

"Any problems?" Chu Xiaotong asked again, finally casting her gaze toward Xu Zhe.

"No problems, but I just went out for a stroll and brought you good news and bad news. Which one would you like to hear first?"

Xu Zhe shook his head, wearing a charming smile. His eyes were bright, his teeth white, and his demeanor gentle and refined.

"Oh!"

Chu Xiaotong was startled at first, but then sat up from the bed with full of interest, highly anticipating the moment. "I just love that smiling face of yours right after you've done something mischievous. Tell me, which unlucky soul has suffered?"

"Pay attention to the question. How many times have I told you to read the questions carefully?" Xu Zhe frowned, explaining earnestly, "Besides, I didn't do anything mischievous."

"Fine, then let's hear the bad news first," Chu Xiaotong cooperated, though a knowing smile hung on her lips.

"The bad news is that your little plan was a true success. The mole could not wait to show his cloven hoof, and he happened to be caught red-handed by me right at the scene of the crime," Xu Zhe replied.

"Really? Can a plan like this actually work?" Chu Xiaotong asked in astonishment.

Originally, when she publicized in advance the fact that Xu Zhe had a way to repel the demon race, besides the two main reasons mentioned earlier, she also harbored a slight temptation.

What if the mole in the Vermilion Bird Army—regardless of whether he actually existed—took some action upon receiving the news?

Logically speaking, she hadn't expected the other party to do anything substantial, other than perhaps notifying the demon race so that they might be a bit more cautious on the day of the battle.

If the demon race grew cautious, it would basically confirm that there truly was a mole within the Vermilion Bird Army, rather than just lingering suspicion.

That was all.

Therefore, when Chu Xiaotong casually brought up this little idea to her conversation with Xu Zhe back then, neither of them held much hope for it.

Never did she expect an unexpected harvest: the mole could not wait to jump out himself, and was caught on the spot by Xu Zhe. This was truly an unexpected pleasant surprise.

"Hey, wait a minute, shouldn't this be good news? How did it become bad news?"

Chu Xiaotong suddenly paused, realizing that Xu Zhe's description was not quite accurate.

"A mole has appeared among your Vermilion Bird Army—can this possibly be good news?" Xu Zhe was also stunned; this should undoubtedly be considered bad news.

"That depends on where you place the pause in the sentence. If there is a comma placed before the word 'among', then it indeed isn't good news." Chu Xiaotong grinned mischievously, even winking at Xu Zhe.

Ah, this...

Poo, old scoundrel!

It took Xu Zhe a rare moment to grasp the implication of Chu Xiaotong's words, and his face instantly flushed red.

How did such a proper sentence get twisted by Chu Xiaotong into something so suggestive?

Public morals are deteriorating day by day, and human hearts are not what they used to be.

"The mole is Lan Zhen," Xu Zhe added with a blank expression.

"What?"

Chu Xiaotong's expression instantly changed. "Lan Zhen was amo... wait no, Lan Zhen is the mole?"

"En. Based on my judgment, there is a ninety-nine percent probability that he is the mole, and a one percent probability that he has been deceived." Xu Zhe nodded, making a reasonable and rigorous data analysis.

"What did he do?" Chu Xiaotong frowned and asked in a deep voice.

"This is the good news I am about to tell you." The corners of Xu Zhe's mouth lifted slightly.

Soon, he recounted to Chu Xiaotong how Lan Zhen had privately gathered a group of battalion commanders for a small meeting, including the contents of the meeting.

The more Chu Xiaotong listened, the uglier her expression became, until her look finally turned complex.

"Don't be sad. From the perspective of those battalion commanders, you indeed looked a bit like you were deceived, yet very persistent. However, the second plan they arranged understands you quite well; they were terrified that you wouldn't allow them to march to their deaths, so they decided to keep it a secret from you and charge out to make the ultimate sacrifice at the critical moment," Xu Zhe comforted.

"Is that the conclusion you reached?" Chu Xiaotong looked at Xu Zhe with a peculiar expression.

"Oh, no." Xu Zhe shook his head. "My conclusion is... the people under your command have relatively low intelligence and are easily bewitched by 'their own people.' Of course, this is also related to your methods not being ruthless enough, and military discipline not being strict enough."

"En, my responsibility still accounts for a good part of it," Chu Xiaotong nodded noncommittally, though she didn't seem to care too much.

"But speaking of which, Lan Zhen bewitched the people under my command to march deep into the demon territory to die on the day of the battle, and you call this good news? Didn't you say that the method to break the battle array requires finding the person who set it up?" she asked with a face full of puzzlement.

"Right, and this is precisely the good news. Lan Zhen wants them to carve out a breach from within the demon army. Normally speaking, this should be impossible, right? How could a demon army reinforced by a middle-tier battle array be easily breached?"

"Indeed. But if one is unaware of the power of the middle-tier battle array, one might feel that it's worth a try," Chu Xiaotong thought for a moment and nodded.

If she herself did not know the function and destructive power of the middle-tier battle array and learned of such a method while having no other alternatives, she might indeed try it.

The problem, however, was that Lan Zhen, as a mole, should naturally have known this as well. Why would he still agitate those battalion commanders to lead troops to break through with him?

"Wait, I understand. The demon army will cooperate with him and deliberately let our people break through?"

Chu Xiaotong suddenly realized, and her heart sank.

Extrapolating along this train of thought, she basically understood the reason behind Lan Zhen's actions.

In the previous battles against the demon race, they had lost two consecutive lines of defense and suffered millions of casualties. This result was severe for the Vermilion Bird Army.

However, for the demon race, the outcome was definitely unsatisfactory.

They had brought out so many middle-tier battle arrays, only to capture two lines of defense and inflict a few million casualties?

Yet there was truly no alternative, as the Vermilion Bird Army had already begun a tactical retreat upon realizing they were outmatched.

If the demon race wanted to kill more people and thoroughly weaken or even destroy the Vermilion Bird Army, then Lan Zhen's plan was indeed a brilliant one. At that time, a large force of the Vermilion Bird Army would be deliberately allowed into the demon army's ranks, akin to sheep entering a tiger's den, and would undoubtedly be devoured down to the bones.

"What a vicious conspiracy." Chu Xiaotong's expression grew gloomy, filled with murderous intent.

"Don't get angry; aren't I still here? We can just turn the tables by playing along..." A look of eager anticipation appeared on Xu Zhe's face.

He wanted to use this opportunity to see exactly who among the demon race was deploying the middle-tier battle array. If the other party truly hailed from the Azure Heaven Domain, it would be the perfect chance to see if there was any new pathway to travel between the two great heavens.

"How do we play along?" Chu Xiaotong asked.

"Like this, like that, and thus and so..."

"Speak human language!"

"Coming right up..."

The two of them stood before the sand table array once again, beginning to rehearse how to heavily damage the demon army on the day of the battle according to the troop distribution listed upon it.

This discussion continued directly into the deep of night before it finally concluded.

Xu Zhe was full of enthusiasm and decided to strike while the iron was hot, preparing to begin crafting the middle-tier battle array.

Chu Xiaotong also cooperated by choosing not to disturb him, turning around to lie back on the bed, pulling out her jade slips to study them once more.

"What are you doing?" Xu Zhe blinked, looking thoroughly perplexed.

It's so late, and we've finished discussing business. What are you doing lying on my bed?

"This is this lady's room!" Chu Xiaotong retorted unceremoniously.

"Then where am I supposed to go?"

"In the middle of the night, where else do you want to go? This lady's place is the safest."

Chu Xiaotong propped up her long legs, shaking them as she said with an air of absolute authority, "For the next few days, you will stay right here in this room with me and go nowhere."

"Is this really appropriate? What am I supposed to do when I take a bath?"

Xu Zhe's face was full of difficulty.

He had observed that there was no dedicated bathroom in Chu Xiaotong's room; he would only be able to use a wooden tub for soaking.

"Just take your bath. What hasn't this lady seen when we were kids?" Chu Xiaotong answered dismissively.

"That won't do. Can childhood be the same as now?" Xu Zhe remained deeply troubled.

Although Brother Tong was a true brother, their physical structures still had certain differences.

"Tsk."

Chu Xiaotong grew somewhat impatient. Frowning with a click of her tongue, she said, "So what if I actually watch you? Will you lose a piece of flesh? Or should I also take a bath here for you to see? Then we'll be even?"

"..." Xu Zhe rolled his eyes, but a second later, he recalled his transformation technique and wondered if it could be used to test whether things were the same underneath the clothes?

"Fine." After thoughtful deliberation, Xu Zhe made this difficult decision, nodded, and asked, "Do you want to wash first, or should I?"

"I..." Chu Xiaotong had barely uttered a single syllable before she suddenly realized something was amiss. Her eyes widened as she stared at Xu Zhe.

"Little Zhe, what did you just say?" she asked in disbelief.

"Do you want to wash first or..."

"Not that sentence, the one before it."

"Fine?"

"Fine my foot! In your dreams! Not a chance! This lady is an innocent maiden; it was one thing when we were young and ignorant and you saw me, but now that I've grown up, you still won't let go—are you even human?"

A torrent of scrimmages poured from Chu Xiaotong's mouth as she swiftly put away her jade slips, her face flushed red as she fled through the door.

Xu Zhe remained frozen in place, utterly bewildered, having no idea what had just happened.

A moment later, a wooden tub filled with hot water was brought over by someone, thoughtfully sprinkled with a few petals.

However, Chu Xiaotong did not come back; she stayed in the neighboring room instead.

...

Over the next few days, Xu Zhe did not step a single foot outside the door.

He remained completely immersed in the creation of the middle-tier battle array.

On the third day, Qu Hongxiu and Gu Jia'er arrived, coinciding with the main force retreating from the front lines and reaching the third defense line.

The entire defense zone entered a state of tense preparation for battle.

By the fifth day, Xu Zhe had crafted three middle-tier battle arrays according to the original plan, and incidentally crafted an additional new type of middle-tier battle array inspired by a sudden flash of brilliant insight he'd had over the past few days.

However, before he had time to inform Chu Xiaotong, a sharp and urgent alarm suddenly resounded through the entire third defense line camp.

The demon army was attacking.

...