The spaceship moved at an incredible speed, reaching up to one-tenth of the speed of light at its maximum. However, deliberately slowed down by the Red Queen, the escape pod maintained a distance of about 450,000 kilometers from the ship.
Xia Ren asked, "Jie, show us what the universe looks like. How big does the spaceship look from your end?"
His curiosity piqued by Xia Ren, Zhang Jie looked through the window, only to see pitch-black emptiness.
"What spaceship? I can't see a damn thing!"
Looking out the window, he couldn't help sighing, "The universe is truly huge. It makes a person's heart feel so empty and unsettled."
"Feeling unsettled is right. After all, this is a burial site I specially chose for you."
"What?"
The abrupt twist left everyone dumbfounded.
They had just been chatting and laughing a moment ago; how did it suddenly come to this?
Zheng Zha demanded, "Xia Ren! What nonsense are you spouting again? What burial site?"
Zhang Jie's slightly anxious expression appeared on the control room's monitor. His face was cold as he asked, "What do you mean?"
Xia Ren slowly said, "The oxygen supply equipment inside the escape pod has been destroyed by me. The oxygen left inside will last you five, maybe six, or seven, eight, nine, ten hours at most. Once the time is up, you'll suffocate to death inside that pod."
"Xia Ren! Have you lost your mind? Why are you doing this?!"
Zhang Jie's transmission had a delay, making his reaction slower than Zheng Zha's.
Ling Dian, Bawang, and Li Shuaisi—the three newcomers—remained silent, quietly taking three steps away from Zheng Zha and moving closer to Chu Xuan.
Xia Ren smiled faintly. "Why? Let's leave that question for Jie to answer."
"Ask Jie?" Zheng Zha was completely bewildered, but still said fiercely, "Today you must give me an explanation! Otherwise, if anything happens to Jie, I'll never let you go!"
On the screen, Zhang Jie's expression shifted several times before he stubbornly blurted out, "I don't know what you're talking about! I have no grudges against you, why would you want to harm me?"
"Red Queen, open the escape pod door and blow some cool air on Jie to help him cool down."
*Clack~~~*
The Red Queen's dainty voice replied, "Master, there is no air outside the pod. Opening the door will only cause the oxygen to leak out."
"Stop!!"
Zheng Zha's eyes turned red, the unlocked genetic constraint activated, and he lunged toward Xia Ren in a flash.
"Zheng Zha!"
Zhan Lan tried to stop him reflexively, but Zheng Zha's body moved faster than his brain; his fist arrived well ahead of Zhan Lan's voice.
Xia Ren sidestepped slightly and easily dodged the punch.
On the monitor, the pod door that should have been opened by the Red Queen let out a sharp *clack*, snapped back into place, and slammed shut into its original position with a loud bang.
Xia Ren feigned astonishment. "Jie! And you said you didn't know martial arts! How did that door close all by itself?!"
"The door closed?"
The foolish Zheng Zha still didn't understand what had happened. Fortunately, the clever Red Queen replayed the footage on another screen over and over again, showing Jie using telekinesis to pull the door back.
"Red Queen, tell everyone, how heavy is the escape pod door?"
"It weighs 750 kilograms. It requires B-rank or higher telekinesis, or CC-rank or higher metal manipulation abilities, just to move this door. Furthermore, to close it with such a tight and perfect seal requires an extremely high level of proficiency."
"Telekinesis! B-rank??"
The looks everyone cast toward Jie changed completely.
Zhang Jie sighed helplessly and asked, "When did you start suspecting me?"
When? Even if it beat you to death, you'd never guess—I suspected you even before I entered the Lord God's dimension!
Xia Ren chuckled lightly and said, "A Nightmare on Elm Street, Final Destination... To survive all those worlds and be the only one left alive. You're telling me your abilities are inferior to the Lori I created? Who are you trying to fool?"
Xia Ren pointed at Zheng Zha and asked again, "Do you think everyone is as stupid as him?"
*Hahahahaha, muahaha~~~*
Truth be told, when Xia Ren first read the book, he hadn't noticed anything wrong with Zhang Jie either, which showed that his true discernment back then was rock-bottom.
No matter, he had intelligence! And so-called strategy was simply 99% intelligence plus 1% thinking!
With a flush on his face, Zheng Zha looked blankly at Jie, waiting for an explanation.
Zhang Jie had one last trump card left: activating the team leader verification.
However, only Zheng Zha met the conditions at the moment; once the verification was initiated, either he would die, or Zheng Zha would.
More crucially, he wasn't certain whether activating the verification would cause the Lord God to send him back to the spaceship, or send Zheng Zha to the escape pod, or if the distance was simply too great for it to work at all...
Xia Ren said, "Zhang Jie. Now you talk, and I listen. If you want to live, say something that satisfies me."
Zhang Jie gritted his teeth, falling once again into an agonizing dilemma.
Whether it was psychological or real, he began to feel that breathing was becoming somewhat difficult.
"Time is running out, you know. Think of sister-in-law; she and the Lories are waiting anxiously on the Lord God Square for you to return."
"The two of you are so close, even if you die, you should die together."
The more Xia Ren spoke, the gloomier Zhang Jie's expression became.
"But don't be sad. After you die, I'll spend 1,000 points to create another you, and then create another sister-in-law..."
Zheng Zha finally broke down and snapped, "Xia Ren, shut the fuck up!"
"What are you yelling for? Not only am I going to create them, but I'm going to use your reward points to do it."
"Fuck!"
"What, you dare refuse? Believe it or not, I'll make sister-in-law look just like Lori."
"I'm sorry."
Zheng Zha's face turned black, green, red, and purple in a dazzling array of colors. The mere thought of Nane turned into Lier made him decisively concede and apologize.
Inside the escape pod, Zhang Jie—torn to shreds by conflicting thoughts—was so thoroughly disrupted by this intercession that his brain turned to mush.
Gritting his teeth, he slowly began: "As for my story, it's a long one."
Xia Ren: "Then take your time and tell it in detail. Don't leave a single thing out, and absolutely do not make it a long story short."
"..."
"I'm not sure if the Lord God will still allow me to exist after I reveal this..."
Xia Ren spread his hands. "Then let me make this clear in advance: if you get erased by the Lord God after telling it, the ultimate culprit is the Lord God. Zheng Zha, if you want revenge, go find the Lord God; it has nothing to do with me."
Zheng Zha: "..."
At this moment, the clever Chu Xuan spoke up, "Zhang Jie, you can try describing it indirectly. You could phrase it like this..."
Zhang Jie's eyes lit up.
Although he wasn't sure if this would fool the Lord God, it was indeed one of the very few viable options left.
After a moment of thought, he began: "This matter has to start with the team leaders of each squad..."