Yun Yao, Lawyer Zhang, Tiantian, and Zheng Yingxiong stood quietly on the street, their faces all bearing expressions of lingering fear.

“Those black dots… they all shattered?” Yun Yao asked.

Tiantian wiped the beads of sweat from her face, then nodded. “It seems so…”

Everyone looked at Lawyer Zhang with disbelief written across their faces.

When the black dots had fallen earlier, the group had instantly erupted with countless questions, and all of these questions had been directed at Lawyer Zhang, who appeared relatively composed. Lawyer Zhang had managed to stay fairly calm in steadying everyone, then stated an answer along the lines of “Although I don’t know what this thing is, it could potentially kill us.”

A few seconds later, she added, “These beads move according to the questions each person poses. I estimate that answering incorrectly means death.”

After all, Zhang Chenze had personally witnessed a scene very similar to this manner of death and clearly remembered what happened if you answered wrong.

At that time, the Heavenly-Serpent had cleanly and efficiently killed Qin Dingdong right in front of her on the grounds of “ignorance.” Only she herself had been able to contend with it. Combining this with the characteristics of the previous “Pegasus’s Moment,” this time was clearly a “Heavenly-Level Moment.” And now, with the appearance of ninety o’clock, it was likely the “Heavenly-Serpent’s Moment” where life and death were determined through “question and answer.”

After she had sorted through her thoughts, she guided everyone through several rounds of back-and-forth questioning and answering. All the black beads shattered before Lawyer Zhang, while Yun Yao helped her resolve her own bead.

“That was close…” Yun Yao breathed a sigh of relief, then looked toward Lawyer Zhang. “Zhang Jie… good thing you were here.”

Hearing this form of address, Lawyer Zhang’s expression paused slightly, then she shook her head helplessly. “I feel like I haven’t heard that title in so long, it’s like a lifetime ago.”

“A lifetime ago?” Yun Yao smiled. “Do many people call you that in the real world?”

“Not many people…” Lawyer Zhang said dimly, “but they’re very important.”

“Don’t lose heart,” Yun Yao revealed a sunny smile and reached out to link arms with Lawyer Zhang. “Aren’t we about to go pick up Wen Qiaoyun right now? I think once we have her, plus Qi Xia and Chu Tianqiu, maybe with more people comes greater strength—everyone might really be able to come up with a way to liberate everyone… Then you’ll be able to go back and find your important people.”

“Return to the real world…?”

“Everything will get better,” Yun Yao said while linking arms with Lawyer Zhang, then turned to look at Tiantian. “As long as we’re still alive, everything will get better.”

“I hope so,” Lawyer Zhang said.

Tiantian didn’t speak, only turned her head to look at Zheng Yingxiong beside her, who had been silent. Since earlier, Zheng Yingxiong had been staring into the depths of an alley, his expression pensive.

“Yingxiong, what’s wrong?” Tiantian asked softly.

Regarding the question of “whether to escape,” she felt that the circumstances of those around her were more worthy of attention.

It was strange to think about—in the materially abundant real world, she had encountered nothing but cold, living corpses, yet in this foul-smelling “Land of the End,” she had collided with many burning hearts.

“Elder sister…” Zheng Yingxiong said while looking at the alley, “I want to go take a look there.”

“Take a look?” Tiantian followed Zheng Yingxiong’s gaze into the distance. “Is there something there?”

“I… I…” Zheng Yingxiong stammered in response, “I seem to smell a familiar scent.”

After hearing this, Yun Yao also looked in the direction of Zheng Yingxiong’s gaze, feeling that she had walked that path before.

“Little brother,” Yun Yao called out, “you said you were looking for someone. Is that person there?”

“I’m not sure,” Zheng Yingxiong answered. “His scent has changed… it’s not quite like it used to be.”

“Qi Xia and I have been there before,” Yun Yao’s expression darkened as she spoke. “There’s a ‘Man-Monkey’ who’s been there long-term. It shouldn’t be the person you’re looking for.”

“No…” Zheng Yingxiong’s voice became slightly choked. “If it’s a ‘Man-Monkey’… then he’s the person I’m looking for.”

As his words fell, Zheng Yingxiong walked straight toward the alley.

The girls behind him exchanged glances before hurrying to follow. Yun Yao hadn’t expected that the person Zheng Yingxiong had traveled so far to find would turn out to be one of the “Zodiacs” she hated most.

She couldn’t even remember how many of her teammates had died at the hands of these “Zodiacs.”

The group passed through the alley and quietly walked forward for several dozen meters. In the distance, they could see the Zodiac in his tattered suit standing there rigidly with his hands behind his back.

Though called a “Man-Monkey,” the mask the person before them wore was actually that of a large, rotting baboon.

Although they didn’t know what he originally looked like, wearing this mask gave the impression of extreme ferocity, making him extremely difficult to approach.

The four people came before the large baboon and met his seemingly dead eyes. No one spoke.

Zheng Yingxiong walked forward step by step until he stood before the Man-Monkey.

The Man-Monkey lowered his head slightly, his gaze shooting out from within the mask. His dead eyes finally gave birth to a glimmer of light at this moment.

“Man-Monkey…?” Zheng Yingxiong called out with a choked voice.

“That’s… that’s right,” the Man-Monkey’s voice also sounded choked. “Would… would you like to participate in my game?”

He struggled to control his voice, making an effort to speak a complete sentence.

“What are your rules?” Zheng Yingxiong’s tears gradually gathered in his eye sockets, like river water held back by a dam.

“We… we take turns removing ‘Dao’ from the box… whoever takes the last one wins… the winner can… take all the ‘Dao.'”

The large baboon’s voice sounded increasingly pained, as if countless sufferings had accumulated in his heart, but he had no one to tell, nor could he speak them aloud.

“Then how much do you charge for admission…?” Zheng Yingxiong asked again.

“The admission fee is the ‘Dao in the box’…” the Man-Monkey answered mechanically. “Whatever amount you want to put in, I’ll match it… only more, never less…”

Tiantian didn’t understand what was happening between these two people. She could only crouch down and put her arm around Zheng Yingxiong’s shoulder, only to discover that the child’s entire body was trembling.

He was holding back from letting his tears fall.

“Are you doing well?” Zheng Yingxiong asked again.

“Is she doing well?” the Man-Monkey asked in return.

Neither of them gave the other an answer. They simply hung their heads—one a child who usually appeared incredibly resolute, the other an intelligent Man-Monkey who had played games of wits with Qi Xia—yet at this moment, they were like two heartbroken people, standing in silence for a long while.

How could anyone be doing well here?

For those surviving in this place, there was no worst circumstance, only worse circumstances.

No matter which path one chose, it was all the same.

Most of the time, reunions after long separations were things that made people feel happy, but this place was precisely the exception.

“Elder sisters… I want to participate in this game… Could you wait for me outside for a bit?” Zheng Yingxiong asked.