At this moment, the carefully planned setup had come to a perfect close. All that remained was to lure J into the trap.
If this had been in the past, it would not have been easy for D to successfully bait J.
Back then, D was straightforward by nature and poor at hiding his true thoughts. Almost all of his emotions were written plainly on his face, without any reservation.
But now, things were completely different.
The D of today, having cast aside emotional bonds, could easily take control of J.
After some careful thought, a detailed and thorough plan quickly took shape in D's mind.
After closing his eyes to sense J's current location, he immediately teleported to J's side.
D's sudden appearance truly startled J. Just as J was about to complain a bit, he suddenly noticed that D's expression looked rather heavy, as if something was weighing on his mind.
Seeing this, J couldn't help but feel worried and quickly asked, "What happened? Why do you look so troubled?"
Faced with J's concerned questioning, D frowned deeply, let out a heavy sigh, and said, "You've probably heard of the 'Execution Dragon,' right?"
J gave a slight nod to show that he knew, and replied, "Mm, she seems to be Witherzilla's archenemy?"
After saying that, he turned his gaze to D and asked, "What's going on with her?"
D shook his head as he sighed. "I just found Witherzilla. I told him that he had already completed our mission and that he shouldn't continue killing and destroying anymore."
"He seemed unable to understand our approach, but he didn't immediately reject my request. Instead, he proposed a condition."
Hearing this, J frowned and asked, "What condition?"
D took a deep breath and said with a heavy expression, "He wants me to help him kill the Execution Dragon…"
D's words didn't surprise J. In fact, the moment D mentioned the Execution Dragon, J had already more or less guessed where things were headed.
After all, Witherzilla and the Execution Dragon were archenemies. Once both of them existed in this world at the same time, they were bound to fight to the death until a winner was decided.
So J wasn't surprised at all that Witherzilla would make such a request of D. It was entirely predictable.
Thinking this through, J looked at D and asked, "And you…"
In his heart, J was quietly thinking that although he had already anticipated the kind of demand Witherzilla might make, at this very moment, he had no way of guessing what choice D would make.
In the past, J believed he understood D's character inside and out, and knew very well how D handled things.
Because of that, whenever certain situations arose, J could always accurately see through D's inner thoughts and predict his next move.
But ever since D had resolutely chosen revenge over friendship, J suddenly realized that he seemed to be losing his grasp on D's thoughts.
At the end of that final conversation, D's decision to let go of his obsession and hatred for J's sake had completely exceeded J's expectations.
Although J had always done his best to persuade D, repeatedly and earnestly advising him not to keep sinking deeper into obsession, he knew deep down that convincing D was nothing short of a fantasy.
Because he knew D too well. He understood that D would never easily follow his advice, nor would he simply let things go.
That was why, from the very beginning of that conversation, J had never truly expected to succeed in persuading D.
Yet, unexpectedly, by the time that conversation ended, D had completely changed his long-standing temperament for J's sake.
The stubborn D who always put his own interests first actually changed himself because of their friendship. This gave J an enormous shock.
After all, for D to be willing to undergo such a dramatic transformation for their friendship was, to J, rarer than winning tens of millions in the lottery.
And for J, the emotional satisfaction and inner comfort brought by D's final choice far surpassed the joy and fulfillment that any massive lottery prize could offer.
However, what J had not anticipated was that it was precisely this change in D that caused J to gradually become unable to see through him.
After all, D's change meant that he was no longer the same as before. His way of thinking and his patterns of behavior had been completely renewed.
What J knew and was familiar with was only the old, unchanging D. As for the D whose mindset had been completely overhauled, J could almost say he knew nothing at all.
He had no way of predicting what actions D would take when faced with various events, nor could he foresee whether D might suddenly revert to his former self.
Even though the current D had successfully become the ideal version in J's heart, at the same time, he had become strangely unfamiliar.
———
At this moment, seeing the worry on J's face, D patted him on the shoulder to reassure him.
"Don't worry. I took what you said to heart."
"If those two really start fighting, the damage to the main world would be unimaginable."
"And the fate of those two archenemies isn't really based on any deep hatred. It's just Notch's setting…"
"They're both pitiful beings who've been kept in the dark. I naturally won't allow them to slaughter each other."
Clearly, D knew exactly what J wanted to hear, and in order to lure J into the trap, he naturally only said what J wanted to hear.
It had to be said, D really had J firmly under his control. These words were exactly what J wanted to hear.
J let out a long sigh of relief and nodded. "Yes. Settings can be changed, but once a life is gone, there's no chance for it to be rekindled."
Hearing J's words, D nodded and continued.
"I didn't tell Witherzilla all this directly…"
"You know me, I hate trouble the most."
"I figured that if I had to explain the whole thing about the settings again when I met the Execution Dragon, I might as well let the two of them meet first and then explain it to them together."
After saying this, D let out a long sigh and said with a self-blaming expression, "Sigh… It's my fault for trying to take shortcuts…"
Seeing D's expression, J asked anxiously, "What happened?"
D continued helplessly, "Witherzilla took me into the Void and found a place called the Nameless Land. He said the Execution Dragon was inside."
"Before he even finished speaking, he went straight in."
"I was about to follow him, but I didn't expect that I couldn't get into that place at all!"
"They must already be fighting fiercely inside…"
Hearing D's words, J looked puzzled.
"There's actually a place even you can't enter?"
Before D could respond, J reached out and grabbed D by the arm.
"Come on, let's go see what's going on."