“But this theory is based on the premise that ‘Heavenly-Dragon’ has a very strong sense of self-determination and knows what he wants,” Earth-Snake said.

“Yes.” Qi Xia nodded. “Anyone with even a bit of brains would understand this principle. ‘Heavenly-Dragon’ is no fool.”

“But there’s a second person in charge of this matter,” Earth-Snake said. “Qi Xia, you also know that there are three lunatics with powerful ‘immortal techniques’ on this land… They each have their own duties, are temperamental and moody, completely irrational, and utterly insane. They act according to the original rules, and once anyone violates those rules, not even ‘Heavenly-Dragon’ can stop them.”

“Yes, I know those three,” Qi Xia nodded. “They are indeed severely mad.”

“They weren’t this crazy in the beginning…” Earth-Snake said. “They were once ordinary ‘Participants’… did you know that?”

“What…?”

“But I heard that the Teacher conducted his first experiment on three young people a long time ago. I don’t know what he did to them at the time, only that he turned these three people into neither-human-nor-ghost existences… Their power became incredibly strong, and their thinking became extremely deranged. Due to their overwhelming strength, they were even directly granted names following ‘Qinglong’s’ naming convention. ‘Xuanwu’ can only understand the simplest commands, ‘Zhu Que’ has become bloodthirsty and murderous, and ‘Baihu’ cannot control his own power.”

“These three ‘young people’…” Qi Xia’s eyes slowly narrowed, as if discovering a strange suspicious point. Then he interrupted his train of thought and asked, “Do they also have ‘eyes’ on their bodies?”

“I don’t know…” Earth-Snake shook his head. “They were transformed too early… I think it’s not a matter of ‘eyes’ at all, after all, their very thoughts have been altered. They were among the earliest batch of people with ‘multiple immortal techniques coexisting,’ it’s just that both ‘Heavenly-Snake’ and ‘Heavenly-Dragon’ refuse to speak about this transformation method, and never chose to replicate it again afterward. What’s even more terrifying is that even though the Teacher created them… now even the Teacher has to take detours to avoid them when he sees them.”

“So what you’re worried about is… ‘Baihu’?” Qi Xia asked.

“Exactly,” Earth-Snake said. “Baihu’ is specifically responsible for ‘Zodiac fratricide.’ His existence ensures that all the ‘Zodiacs’ on the entire train only engage in ‘brawls’ at most. If anyone truly dares to kill, regardless of whether they kill a ‘Zodiac’ from the ‘Heaven,’ ‘Earth,’ or ‘Man’ level, the ‘killer’ won’t survive.”

“Alright,” Qi Xia nodded. “I understand your concern. But because ‘Zodiacs’ cannot move freely in the ‘Land of the End’ and can only move near their game venues, the probability of encountering other ‘Zodiacs’ is zero, so the only place where ‘Zodiac fratricide’ can occur is on the train.”

“Of course,” Earth-Snake nodded. “No matter how much the ‘Zodiacs’ fight on the train, those ‘natives’ can restore the rooms. But once brawls between ‘Zodiacs’ result in death, it cannot be restored by the ‘natives” ‘immortal techniques,’ so ‘Heavenly-Dragon’ established strict rules forbidding any instances of ‘Zodiac fratricide’ from occurring.”

“Then you can be even more at ease,” Qi Xia said. “I’m declaring this rule null and void.”

“What…?” Qi Xia’s words once again made Earth-Snake’s eyes widen.

After hearing this, Earth-Snake pondered for a moment and said, “Qi Xia, this matter is no joke… If ‘Baihu’ is really still at the ‘train head,’ my life would have ended the moment I killed that ‘Man-level,’ let alone killing ‘Heavenly-Snake.'”

“Relax,” Qi Xia said. “You’ve never seen ‘Baihu’ all these years, have you?”

“The reason I’ve never seen ‘Baihu’ is because not a single ‘Zodiac’ here has ever been foolish enough to do such a thing… This is explicitly prohibited behavior,” Earth-Snake said. “Otherwise, those ‘Heavenlies’ couldn’t possibly have lived peacefully until now—they would be assassinated every single day!”

“Rules only need to be established once,” Qi Xia said. “What’s interesting is that aside from this one matter, everything else has been executed methodically according to the rules, without a single exception. ‘Zodiacs who flee’ will die, those who ‘fail at gambling their lives’ will die, and even changing one’s own game might attract the managers. Under this atmosphere, no one would notice that ‘Baihu’ has disappeared, so no one dares to try. After all, among these various violations, ‘Zodiac fratricide’ appears to be the most serious one.”

“Then how can you be certain that ‘Baihu’ isn’t on the train…?” Earth-Snake asked again.

Qiao Jiajin was slightly stunned at this moment: “Baihu…? Isn’t that the old guy we met before…”

Qi Xia turned his head and frowned at Qiao Jiajin, interrupting his words.

Qiao Jiajin quickly swallowed the words in his mouth, but couldn’t help muttering to himself.

‘Baihu’ is a young person…?

That old man from before looked at least seventy or eighty years old—how could he be a young person?

Meanwhile, Earth-Snake was also staring at the expressions on Qiao Jiajin’s and Qi Xia’s faces, keenly perceiving something.

“You’ve seen him outside the train…?” Earth-Snake was slightly stunned, and his voice couldn’t help but rise. “‘Baihu’ was expelled from the train…?”

Qi Xia sighed and said, “Earth-Snake, you said it yourself—’Baihu’ cannot control his own power. He could destroy the train at any moment. Such a ticking time bomb—not just me… even ‘Heavenly-Dragon’ wants to eliminate him.”

“But wouldn’t this be too unreliable…” Earth-Snake reached up to scratch his head. “It’s equivalent to the train having no ‘security guard.'”

“‘Heavenly-Dragon’ and I think alike,” Qi Xia said. “He knows that not a single one of you would dare do such a thing, after all, the seed of fear has already been planted in your hearts.”

After hearing this, Earth-Snake fell into deep silence once more.

After a long while, he spoke: “I said before that you’re the person I trust most. Since you guarantee me that killing ‘Heavenly-Snake’ won’t summon ‘Heavenly-Dragon’ or ‘Baihu,’ then I’ll try it at the first opportunity.”

“Go ahead boldly,” Qi Xia said. “Right now, the only one who can manage this matter is ‘Heavenly-Snake’ himself. I’m afraid you’ll need to carefully formulate tactics—just how does one kill a person who can ‘read minds’?”

“Don’t worry,” Earth-Snake said. “If such an opportunity truly arises, I will decisively blind all the eyes on my body.”

After hearing this, Qi Xia wanted to say something more, but only swallowed his words and then nodded.

“It’s getting late,” Earth-Snake said. “I won’t keep you bunch of stinking brats here to rest.”

“No need,” Qi Xia stood up and was about to lead everyone away when he suddenly thought of something, then stopped and turned back around.

“What is it?” Earth-Snake asked.

Qi Xia stared into Earth-Snake’s eyes for a long time, then spoke: “Do you know what the flower language of the michelia alba is?”