Chen Bugu considered himself not a good person, but he had his basic bottom line.
Abandoning teammates as bait, even after three years of the apocalypse, while not uncommon, was still a clear act of a scumbag.
Chen Bugu was angry because he clearly understood the feelings of the weak.
Because they were weak, they would be abandoned.
Because they were weak, they would be manipulated.
Because they were weak, even their right to survive had to be handed over to others.
Although Chen Bugu knew in his heart that the law of the jungle was the main theme of this apocalypse, and the weak had no right to choose.
But!
This was only the fifth day since arriving at the Initial Forest, not the third year of the apocalypse, yet basic human nature could disintegrate to this extent in such a short time.
This filled him with immense sorrow.
"If they are truly such scumbags, I will naturally kill them, but at least for now, this is just your side of the story. Why should I believe you?"
Although Chen Bugu was angry, he hadn't completely lost his mind. He needed to verify how much of what this middle schooler said could be believed.
"Judging by Ding Wenli's attitude towards you, he isn't sure of your strength, but for your team to have survived until now, it's impossible that you don't have one or two strong individuals. So, I guess Ding Wenli will use you as cannon fodder to wear down those Green-skinned monsters."
"He wasn't lying about the Green-skinned monsters' gathering place having a lot of food, so they will definitely target it."
"Yesterday, Xue Ke advanced to Black Iron Four Star, and while Ding Wenli still appears to be Black Iron Three Stars on the surface, he has actually also reached Black Iron Four Star. So I guess they will attack that gathering place within the next two days."
"When he seeks you out to discuss the battle plan, you can make your own judgment based on his arrangements. Then you can naturally verify my guess."
The middle schooler in front of him explained his thoughts in detail. His eyes were firm, and he showed no signs of backing down in the face of Chen Bugu's questioning.
Chen Bugu understood the middle schooler's meaning. If Ding Wenli intended for his team to be the vanguard or bait, he would inevitably conceal some crucial information.
He already knew the Goblin tribe's troop strength tonight, and it didn't differ much from his previous estimates, so it should be trustworthy.
Therefore, if Ding Wenli deliberately concealed something at that time, it would be clear whether his intentions towards his team were good or malicious.
"You said you could help me advance to Black Iron Five-Star? How did you determine I was Black Iron Four Star?"
Chen Bugu continued to ask.
"My ability currently has two special functions: one is sound transmission into the mind, and the other is Energy Monitoring. Both abilities have a range of a 100-meter radius centered on me."
"When I activate my ability, every living being appears as a ball of energy in my eyes."
"Human energy appears as a gaseous flow, condensed in the abdomen, and varies in size according to different levels. The higher the level, the larger the energy mass. Xue Ke and Ding Wenli's energy masses are one red and one blue, both about the size of a fist."
"And in your team, the suit-wearing man's energy mass is golden, no smaller than theirs. Even if the others haven't reached Black Iron Four Star, they generally have Black Iron Three Stars strength. Your team is very strong."
"However, you are an exception. To be honest, I can't be sure if you are Black Iron Four Star, because in my eyes, your energy mass is very strange. It's not spherical, but a bright silver hemisphere."
"I guess the different colors should classify the types of abilities. Silver should be elemental abilities. There are Awakeneds in our team who can control water and trees, but I've observed their energy masses, and they are also spherical."
"Moreover, the person who controls water has a silver energy mass mixed with blue, representing water, and the person who controls trees is mixed with green, representing trees. But your energy mass is not only not spherical, but it also doesn't contain any other colors."
"I can't see through you, but when Ding Wenli first extended the invitation, the suit-wearing man clearly deferred to you, so I guess you are not weak, at least not weaker than him."
Chen Bugu re-examined the middle schooler in front of him. He was smarter than Chen Bugu had imagined.
However, this made Chen Bugu more cautious, so he interrupted the other party's words.
"So, you're saying that you told Ding Wenli that we were hiding in the bushes?"
"That's right, but..."
Bang!
Before he could finish, Chen Bugu's left hand clamped around his neck, pressing him forcefully against a tree.
With a slight exertion of force from Chen Bugu's left hand, the middle schooler's feet already left the ground.
"Since Ding Wenli knows you have the ability of Energy Monitoring, how could he not know our levels?"
Chen Bugu's eyes turned cold. The middle schooler's story was well told, but this was an unavoidable loophole.
Originally, he found it strange that they were discovered while hiding in the bushes.
Although Yan Kuan and Wang Bin always felt it was their fault, Chen Bugu didn't think so.
After the fight started, in such a chaotic battlefield, Yan Kuan and Wang Bin hadn't fully stood up. It would have been impossible to discover them without special abilities.
"I... lied... to Ding... Wenli."
The middle schooler desperately gripped Chen Bugu's left hand, trying to pry it open.
"Tell the truth!"
Chen Bugu's left palm remained motionless, even subtly tightening.
"You don't... need to... test... me, what I'm saying... is all true!"
His face was flushed, and he was already gasping for breath, but his eyes, looking at Chen Bugu, did not reveal a hint of fear.
Chen Bugu let go.
The middle schooler plopped onto the ground, coughing several times, tears streaming down his face.
"Ding Wenli only knows I have the Energy Monitoring ability, but he doesn't know I can monitor the strength of energy bodies. Sound transmission into the mind is an ability I gained after breaking through to Black Iron Two Star, and he doesn't know about that either."
"He always treated me as a radar. At that time, I didn't know if you would come out. If you did come out later, and I hadn't told him in advance that someone was nearby, I would have been severely beaten, so I could only tell him. And... I was also afraid you would just leave."
The middle schooler sat on the ground, looking at Chen Bugu, and continued to explain.
Actually, he was right. Chen Bugu just wanted to test him.
If Ding Wenli knew their strength, he would certainly not invite them to join.
Someone accustomed to being king in a team would never bring people who could threaten him into the group.
Moreover, under normal circumstances, without the "pig farming" method, most people would find it difficult to break through to Black Iron Four Star at this point, which was why Ding Wenli was so confident.
The reason Chen Bugu wanted to test him was that he was worried this middle schooler had also concealed information in some areas.
He was very smart! Telling all lies is easy to expose, but mixing one or two lies in a bunch of truths makes it very difficult to distinguish.
Everyone is afraid of death, and sometimes kind words are not as effective as torture.
But to remain calm in the face of the fear of death, and even guess that Chen Bugu was testing him, this middle schooler had already made Chen Bugu look at him in a new light.
"What about breaking through to Black Iron Five-Star? Even if we work together to kill that Black Iron Five-Star leader, the energy we gain might not be enough for me to break through to Five-Star."
Chen Bugu continued to ask.
"In the monsters' gathering place, there's a tree, and the fruits on it contain abundant energy. Yesterday, after we broke the limbs of a certain Green-skinned monsters, one of them dropped this kind of fruit. I ate it when no one was paying attention, and that's how I broke through to Black Iron Two Star."
Upon hearing this, Chen Bugu's pupils contracted.
yun ling fruit? The Goblin tribe actually had yun ling fruit!
"It seems you recognize that fruit, so I don't need to explain further."
This middle schooler indeed gave Chen Bugu a big surprise.
"Okay, I have no other questions. What about you?"
Chen Bugu was basically certain that the middle schooler in front of him wasn't lying.
"I only have one question, do you have the confidence to kill them?"
His eyes remained firm, staring intently at Chen Bugu.
Chen Bugu smiled and extended his hand to the middle schooler sitting on the ground. It was the first time he had smiled that night.
"Of course!"
"Deal!"
"Pleasure working with you!"
...
"Oh, by the way, what's your name?"
Before leaving, Chen Bugu suddenly remembered that he didn't know the middle schooler's name.
"My name is Han Badou, the Badou of 'cai gao ba dou' (meaning 'talented in eight ways')."
After Han Badou finished speaking, he saw Chen Bugu's pupils contract again, followed by Chen Bugu's second smile of the night.
"So you're Han Badou..."
