novelraw Chapter 44 : Hidden Struggle
Chapter 44 : Hidden Struggle
Chapter 44: Hidden Struggle
Just as Lu Feng had expected, disagreements naturally broke out.
Of course, this situation was also the result of his deliberate guidance.
Those who supported not making the information public, in a way, tacitly acknowledged that Lu Feng was not an Evil Spirit Follower, and at the same time, had half a foot planted in Lu Feng’s camp.
However, when Lu Feng mentioned putting it to a vote to decide whether to disclose all the information, Lin You and the others stared at him in shock.
Lin You didn’t even care about his bleeding head, quickly grabbing Lu Feng and whispering anxiously into his ear,
“Feng Feng, what are you doing? There are five Evil Spirit Followers! If you put it to a vote whether to reveal the information, they will definitely cast their votes in favor!”
Those five votes from the Evil Spirit Followers would undoubtedly be in favor.
They desperately wanted to know all the information Lu Feng had, and under such circumstances, the opposing side’s chances of winning would be extremely low.
Deciding through voting whether to disclose information was practically no different from giving it away.
But Lu Feng merely shook his head slightly and secretly sent Lin You a subtle look.
“What do you all think of this proposal?”
After pondering for a while, the crowd began to nod one after another.
Most of them expressed agreement.
Seeing his proposal accepted, Lu Feng continued,
“Since I am the one holding the information, I will naturally cast a vote against.
To ensure fairness, I will abstain.”
“Then, those who agree that I should reveal all the information, please raise your hands.”
One after another, people in the crowd raised their hands, but one person Lu Feng paid particular attention to did not—
Dong Ningning’s gaze showed a trace of wariness.
After some repeated hesitation, she ultimately did not raise her hand.
Thus, the result came out: 13 votes to 7.
This result left Lin You and the others dumbfounded.
What they had thought would be a vote with no suspense at all, how had it turned out like this?
“13 to 7… seems like there are still more people opposed after all…”
Lu Feng stroked his chin in feigned thought, then suddenly turned to Zhang Tong and asked,
“Zhang Tong, why did you vote against?”
“Huh?”
Zhang Tong was stunned by this sudden and inexplicable question.
“Of course, to stop the Evil Spirit Followers from knowing this information.”
“Mm… so, who do you think most wants to obtain this information right now?”
“Well…”
Zhang Tong thought for a moment, then suddenly had a flash of inspiration,
“The Evil Spirit Followers! They’re the ones who definitely want this information the most!”
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone’s expressions changed.
But Lu Feng acted as if he hadn’t noticed the change at all, and calmly continued addressing the crowd,
“So now you all see, it’s not that I intentionally refused to disclose the information. It’s because I cannot be sure who among us are Evil Spirit Followers and who are not. As for Lin You and the others—”
Lu Feng glanced at Lin You’s group of four.
“The reason I am willing to share information with them is because I trust them enough, and their actual actions are enough to convince me they are not Evil Spirit Followers—”
As he spoke, Lu Feng cast a cold look at the others.
“So then, how will you prove that you are not Evil Spirit Followers… Take you, for example, Zhang Yifeng—”
His gaze landed directly on the fat figure.
“Your actions today give me more than enough reason to believe you are an Evil Spirit Follower—”
“Wh-what did you say!?”
“Don’t play dumb. You deliberately incited the crowd, pushing us into the spotlight. Wasn’t your goal to force the label of Evil Spirit Follower onto us? And just now you raised your hand, wanting me to reveal the information… To put it plainly, all your actions look exactly like those of an Evil Spirit Follower!”
“Y-you’re spouting nonsense!”
Zhang Yifeng’s face turned pale, then flushed, as he hurriedly retorted.
This time, Zhang Yifeng was actually right—Lu Feng really was spouting nonsense.
After all, in this situation where the Evil Spirit Followers already had a huge advantage, if Zhang Yifeng truly was one of them, there would have been no need for him to stand out so conspicuously.
But at this moment, whether Lu Feng’s words were true or not was irrelevant.
What mattered was shifting the suspicion directed at him and his allies onto someone else.
Lu Feng had to admit, this tactic was shameless—but also highly effective.
After all, in the real world, a certain superpower was very good at playing this card.
Sure enough, after hearing Lu Feng’s words, many people’s eyes toward Zhang Yifeng changed.
Sensing that their gazes were turning on him with growing suspicion, Zhang Yifeng hurriedly argued back again,
“This is all just your imagination! You don’t have any evidence to prove what you’re saying!”
“That’s right, I don’t have evidence.
So then, what evidence do you have to prove that what you’re saying is true?”
Lu Feng sneered as he countered.
This was exactly the line he had been waiting for.
In an instant, Zhang Yifeng was left speechless.
His face darkened, his mouth opening and closing, but no words came out.
Zhang Yifeng’s suspicion of Lu Feng and the others boiled down to just one thing—that Lu Feng had information he refused to disclose.
But once Lu Feng explained his reasoning, Zhang Yifeng himself had no way to justify his own position.
Combined with Lu Feng’s deliberate guidance, the fat man suddenly became the prime target of suspicion.
“Now that you mention it… why was Zhang Yifeng so desperate to learn the information Lu Feng’s group discovered?”
“Yeah, and he admitted himself earlier that there’s no evidence proving Lu Feng is an Evil Spirit Follower…”
“Could it be… that Lu Feng’s group learned some crucial piece of information, and that’s why Zhang Yifeng, as an Evil Spirit Follower, was so desperate to know?”
“So then, doesn’t that mean the ones who voted in favor just now… are the most likely to be Evil Spirit Followers?”
As the discussion spread, the direction of suspicion became increasingly twisted.
Those who had voted in favor of revealing the information instantly became the thorns in everyone else’s eyes.
From the moment Lu Feng suggested being willing to reveal the information, explained the risks, led the crowd to split into opposing sides, used the vote to make people suspicious of those who voted in favor, and finally shifted the conflict from himself onto Zhang Yifeng—inducing him to say that fatal rebuttal—
Through a chain of deliberate guidance and rhetoric, Lu Feng had successfully cleared himself and his allies, while making Zhang Yifeng slap himself in the face with his own words.
“Y-you all stop spouting nonsense! I’m not an Evil Spirit Follower! I just voted in favor because I wanted the information, to secure victory!”
Yu Zhe, who had voted in favor, hurriedly explained in panic.
“Secure victory? You mean helping the Evil Spirit Followers secure victory.”
Yu Mo interjected at just the right moment.
And with that, the situation spiraled completely out of control.
Those who had voted against immediately banded together, glaring with hostility and suspicion at the few who had voted in favor.
And those who had voted in favor, on the other hand, kept explaining their reasons—but were met only with distrustful stares.
So then, did voting in favor automatically mean one was an Evil Spirit Follower? Of course not.
It was a false proposition, because the vote itself was essentially just bait.
From the perspective of the Evil Spirit Followers, it wasn’t hard to see through Lu Feng’s trap—
After all, those who most wanted to know the information Lu Feng held were undoubtedly the Evil Spirit Followers.
If they had still voted in favor, it would have been no different from selling themselves out.
So it wasn’t strange at all for them to vote against, resulting in the 13-to-7 outcome, which was completely within Lu Feng’s expectations.
Lu Feng knew this very clearly, but he had no intention of clarifying it.
At this most critical moment, he would rather let the scene remain chaotic than allow a few idiots to completely derail everyone’s thoughts.