Bai Ye pondered for a moment and asked, "So, what do you mean?"
Li Jia Yi replied, "Those cultists clearly intend to pick us off one by one. Hamir and I are purely dragged down by you. They don't want anyone to know they exist, so they want to kill us all to keep their secret. This way, no one will benefit. There's only one path forward."
Bai Ye asked, "Cooperate again?"
Li Jia Yi gritted his teeth and said, "If I can put aside our past grievances and seek cooperation with you, what reason do you have to be unhappy? Every time you mess up my good deeds, every time you take advantage of me, and my assistant was even killed by you! You have no right to be unhappy. I should be the one who's unhappy!"
"Don't get so agitated. I didn't say I wouldn't cooperate," Bai Ye replied. "I'm just worried you'll double-cross me. What was that vehicle called again?"
"The Sky Eye Wave Sensing Tactical Vehicle," Li Jia Yi said. "Am I crazy to deceive you? What benefit would I get? If we could evade them, why would I deliberately provoke the cultists? That vehicle can genuinely track us down; we can't escape it."
Bai Ye said, "Alright, continue."
Li Jia Yi stated, "There are five of them..."
Bai Ye interrupted, "Four."
Li Jia Yi blinked in surprise. "You took one down?"
"Mm," Bai Ye confirmed. "To be honest, not very strong."
Li Jia Yi: "..."
Can't you just not show off for a single moment? If they were willing to fight me one-on-one, I could take one down too!
Li Jia Yi took a deep breath, telling himself to remain calm. Unity was paramount right now.
"Then it's four!" Li Jia Yi continued. "With our combined strength, three against one, we might not lose. Furthermore, we don't necessarily need to confront them head-on. We can find a way to disable their Sky Eye Wave Sensing Tactical Vehicle. Without that, escaping for three days will be easy."
Bai Ye mused for a moment, then suddenly asked, "You seem to know a lot about the cultists?"
Li Jia Yi paused, then firmly denied, "No, I don't."
Bai Ye chuckled with a hint of sarcasm. "Heh heh."
Bai Ye added, "Since we're cooperating, we should be more honest. You clearly know something about these cultists. You recognized them when you saw them and even knew they wouldn't let you and Hamir off to hide their identities. You're clearly familiar with their modus operandi."
"Trust is the foundation of any cooperation. If you don't tell me what you know, how can I be sure you're not playing games?"
Li Jia Yi scoffed, "Don't put it so nicely. Even if I knew something, what does that have to do with our cooperation? Aren't you just trying to pry information about the cultists out of me?"
Bai Ye nodded. "Exactly!"
Li Jia Yi: "..."
Li Jia Yi was speechless again. Bai Ye's candidness left him unsure how to respond.
Li Jia Yi finally admitted, "I was hunted by them before."
Bai Ye asked, "Then how are you still alive?"
Li Jia Yi replied, "I gave them what they wanted, alright?"
Bai Ye sneered, "They kill even those who know their identities. Do you think they would spare you just because you gave them the item? Do you take me for a three-year-old child to be so easily deceived?"
Indeed, Yimi was also alive.
However, Yimi had a unique situation. The cultist hunting him at the time was his friend, who had briefly regained his memories. Yimi managed to escape with his life after leaving the item beside his friend's corpse.
Following the incident with the Life Crystal, Yimi might find himself back on the cultists' kill list.
Li Jia Yi sighed helplessly. "Do you have to bring this up now? If we delay any longer, Hamir might really be in trouble. Can we discuss this after we deal with these cultists?"
Bai Ye asked, "Are you sure you'll tell me then?"
Li Jia Yi affirmed, "I'm sure."
Bai Ye considered for a moment. "I'll trust you this time. Where is that bat now?"
Li Jia Yi replied, "In the east district, there's a river. The fight is happening there. You should be able to see it once you arrive, but we need to make a plan."
"Just say it directly," Bai Ye instructed. "Since you came to me, you must have already thought of a plan."
Li Jia Yi explained, "We don't need to fight them to the death. Our main objective is that Sky Eye Wave Sensing Tactical Vehicle. However, they've currently locked onto Hamir's position, so they have no reason to deploy that vehicle."
Bai Ye thought it over. "So, our top priority is to rescue Hamir and then escape successfully. Once the four cultists lose our trail, they'll have to use that vehicle you mentioned to track us down."
"But our escape will be a ruse, designed to lure them into deploying the vehicle. Then, we can seize the opportunity to destroy it. Once the vehicle is gone, we can hide within the city, and they'll have almost no chance of finding us."
Li Jia Yi confirmed, "Yes, that's the general idea."
Li Jia Yi suddenly remembered his beautiful assistant. She was indeed stunning, but her mind wasn't quite sharp.
Looking at Bai Ye, he realized how much easier it was to talk to an intelligent person. He had barely started, and Bai Ye already understood what he was getting at.
Li Jia Yi propped his chin on his hand, wishing he could recruit this guy as his assistant.
Not to mention being incredibly smart, his intelligence was at least online, and he was a formidable fighter. Although his words were harsh, and they disliked each other and even wanted to kill each other, wasn't that just because they were on opposing sides at the moment?
Upon reflection, apart from being a man, which meant he couldn't be kept for eye candy or subjected to workplace harassment, Bai Ye was actually a pretty good candidate.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Bai Ye stood up and smiled at the woman, bowing his head in thanks. "I apologize for the intrusion all night. I should be going now. Have a pleasant day."
With that, Bai Ye's body transformed into a bolt of lightning and vanished without a trace.
East district?
Bai Ye recalled having been there before, which was convenient. He could simply expand his electrical field in that direction without needing to deviate.
About fifteen minutes later, Bai Ye's body again became a streak of lightning, reappearing by the river. Not far away was a cross-river bridge, which was now broken into two halves.
Bai Ye recognized the broken bridge from the news. But where were Hamir and the cultists?
RUMBLE!
As if in answer to Bai Ye's unspoken question, a tremendous explosion echoed from the other side of the broken bridge.
When Bai Ye turned his head, he saw a massive geyser of water erupting into the sky, sending sprays of water falling back down.
Even an idiot would know what was happening then.
Bai Ye immediately flickered, transforming into electricity once more, and sped towards the source of the towering water column.
...