After hearing these words, Earth-Monkey closed his eyes again, and a weathered voice emerged from his mouth.

“‘Jade City’…” Earth-Monkey sighed. “Didn’t I already say? I worked in ‘Jade City.’ I had my gambling establishment there too.”

After finishing, Earth-Monkey sighed deeply again. “I should have known to design a game with a more complex venue. Otherwise, every time there’s a work transfer, we ‘Zodiacs’ who don’t need venues are always the first to be reassigned. Damn it…”

“Uncle, you know that’s not what I’m asking…”

Zheng Yingxiong reached out and grasped Earth-Monkey’s wrist. At that moment, Earth-Monkey felt that Zheng Yingxiong’s hand was ice-cold.

This child’s gaze was extremely complex—within the fear was also a trace of anticipation.

“Uncle… if you’ve hosted ‘games’ there, you should know that ‘Jade City’ has already fallen ill… It…”

“Yeah, I stayed there for a few years. In total, only two people ever entered my venue. It really is an interesting city.” Earth-Monkey nodded and once again pulled out a cigarette from his chest.

“Two people is already quite a lot…” Zheng Yingxiong replied. “Uncle, you’re neither a ‘Divine Dragon’ nor a ‘Punishment Official.’ Two people is already quite a lot…”

“Yeah.” Earth-Monkey nodded. “That’s why I say ‘Jade City’ is really interesting. They think the rules and regulations set by the ‘Land of the End’ aren’t enough—they even create new rules themselves. They have to pay respects to the ‘Divine Dragon’ morning and evening, and if they commit wrongdoings, they still have to go see the ‘Punishment Official’…”

Zheng Yingxiong drew his hand back and began fidgeting with the hem of his clothes, while Earth-Monkey continued to glance at the child from the corner of his eye.

“Have all the ‘Zodiacs’ there been transferred away now?” Zheng Yingxiong asked softly again. “Is there no way to save the people of ‘Jade City’ anymore? Do the people there still have a chance to escape by ‘participating in games’…?”

Zheng Yingxiong threw out several questions in succession. This was the first time the people around him had heard Zheng Yingxiong say so much at once.

“It’s impossible now.” Earth-Monkey lit his cigarette and replied. “That city isn’t just ‘sick’—it has a ‘terminal illness.’ The entire city has a terminal illness. We can only wait for it to perish on its own.”

“But I came out this time specifically to cure ‘Jade City.’ It’s all because of me that…”

“I…”

Zheng Yingxiong’s tender face bloomed with a sorrow that didn’t belong to his age.

Thinking about it carefully, he was fundamentally very different from ordinary children. At eight or nine years old, he didn’t possess even a trace of the innocence and liveliness that should belong to that age.

“When they place all their hopes and responsibilities on a child, they’ve already doomed themselves to the path of destruction.” Earth-Monkey said softly. “It has nothing to do with you. You’ve also come to see the outside world—do you think what the people of ‘Jade City’ did was right?”

“I… I don’t know… but they placed their hopes in me… I shouldn’t let them down…”

Zheng Yingxiong kept his head lowered, as if he had done something wrong, yet no one in the room wanted to blame him.

“Don’t you find it ridiculous?” Earth-Monkey said. “All the other cities are doing everything possible to make themselves stronger—researching ‘Divine Powers,’ defeating the ‘Zodiacs,’ escaping from here—but ‘Jade City’ has been creating a ‘city hero’ from the very beginning. They’re counting on this ‘hero’ they crafted themselves to lead them through difficulties. It’s already fortunate that Jade City has lasted until now.”

“So Uncle… you recognize me…” Zheng Yingxiong raised his head with a blank expression.

“The renowned ‘City Hero’—who among those who’ve been to ‘Jade City’ wouldn’t recognize you?” Earth-Monkey reached out, wanting to touch the newspaper crown on Zheng Yingxiong’s head, but Zheng Yingxiong instinctively stepped back.

“What’s wrong?” Earth-Monkey sneered. “Have you already accepted this title yourself?”

“No…” Zheng Yingxiong shook his head. “Deep inside, I’ve always known I’m not any kind of ‘hero,’ but this crown is very important to me.”

Earth-Monkey looked at Zheng Yingxiong with a complex gaze, then said nothing more and closed his eyes to rest again.

Seeing that Earth-Monkey was ignoring him, Zheng Yingxiong reached out to pat him again. “Uncle, I still have one more question…”

“Aren’t you annoying?”

Though Earth-Monkey’s words were somewhat harsh, his tone was gentle.

“I’m sorry, Uncle, but I really want to know… Will the ‘Divine Dragon’ and ‘Punishment Official’ also be transferred away?”

“You’ve asked me so many questions—aren’t you afraid I’ll lie to you?” Earth-Monkey replied. “Don’t you know that you’re a ‘Participant’ and I’m a ‘Zodiac’? Do the people in your city encourage you to talk with ‘Zodiacs’?”

“I simply haven’t had any opportunities to talk with ‘Zodiacs’… I actually have many questions I want to ask you all…” After pondering for a moment, Zheng Yingxiong continued, “Uncle, the scent on your body isn’t that dirty, so you probably won’t lie to me. Tell me, will they be transferred away?”

Looking at Zheng Yingxiong’s earnest expression, Earth-Monkey couldn’t help but feel compassion.

Should all of this really be borne by the child before him?

“The ‘Divine Dragon’ and ‘Punishment Official’…” Earth-Monkey shook his head. “Don’t you all really know? Those are just ‘Earth-Dragon’ and ‘Earth-Ox.’ Like me, they’re both ‘Zodiacs,’ so one day they’ll leave that city. When they leave… ‘Jade City’ will truly be dead.”

Zheng Yingxiong sighed. His small body seemed to require all his strength just to stand in place.

‘Jade City’… was going to die?

Sister would also disappear?

Just as Zheng Yingxiong was hesitating, he suddenly caught a whiff of an extremely bizarre scent.

This scent was neither fragrant nor foul, but rather a completely indescribable strange odor.

Throughout the span of several decades, Zheng Yingxiong had only smelled this scent once before.

“He’s appeared…” Zheng Yingxiong said.

“He?” Everyone turned to look at him. “Who’s appeared?”

While everyone was still puzzled, they discovered some unusual movement in Qi Xia’s direction.

They saw Qi Xia’s drooping head slowly lift up. Accompanied by the sound of “crack, crack,” Qi Xia moved his neck with his eyes still closed. Strange and dangerous auras continuously emanated from his body, as if he had once again “evolved.”

Before he even opened his eyes, the corners of his mouth had already slowly curved upward.

Everyone had spent a long time with Qi Xia, yet they had never seen such a terrifying smile appear on his face.

Then he opened both eyes and swept his gaze across the several people before him.

His eyeballs had turned dark gray, and his pupils presented a horizontal rectangular shape.

Zheng Yingxiong slowly took a step toward Qi Xia’s direction. “The ‘target’ I came here for has appeared…”