Han Yimo took out his “horse” from his pocket, hesitated for a moment, then handed it to Wen Qiaoyun.

“Good boy.” Wen Qiaoyun said. “This ‘character’ is the stepping stone for you to gain my trust. To completely earn our trust, I’ll need your second ‘character’.”

“Okay… but there’s still a problem…” Han Yimo said. “Qiaoyun Jie… you should know that if we lose this game, the losing side will all die.”

“Yes.” Wen Qiaoyun nodded. “No need to worry about that. Right now both teams have a mole on the other side. Perhaps the mole can survive.”

“Is that so…?”

Han Yimo didn’t seem to fear death at all, because he knew that after each death, a brand new life awaited him.

After all, this situation had continued for many years. Compared to those years, this cycle had already been lived quite long—so long that he even vaguely felt he’d lived enough.

So what he needed now was neither survival nor death, but an opportunity to thoroughly demonstrate his protagonist abilities.

“Don’t worry.” Wen Qiaoyun said. “Didn’t I just say so? Your team also planted a mole on our side. If the mole can’t survive… how could both ‘commanders’ make such a strategy simultaneously?”

Han Yimo’s mind couldn’t turn around for a moment. He could only nod blankly, even forgetting that his “mole” identity wasn’t arranged by Chu Tianqiu, but by Doctor Zhao.

At this moment, the Man-Boar wearing a wild boar mask turned around with a look of astonishment at the two of them, asking in a strange voice: “I’ve been wanting to interrupt for a while now… are you two planning to end the game just like this?”

“What?” Wen Qiaoyun looked at the wild boar with confusion. “Is there something we still need to confirm with you?”

“No… that’s not it… I mean…” the wild boar said. “I don’t know if this will work or not… but we have our own set of procedures here!”

After hearing this, Wen Qiaoyun found it rather interesting and asked: “Then tell me, what kind of procedure do you have?”

“Uh, well…” The wild boar clearly hadn’t thought the other party would ask like this. After hesitating for a while, he answered: “According to the rules, isn’t this a game… I’m the referee of this game. I haven’t announced the match is over yet, but you’ve already completed the transaction privately… This doesn’t seem right, does it?”

“I’m scared too, you know!” the wild boar shouted. “Are you the only one in the whole world who’s scared?!”

“Huh?!” Han Yimo became even more anxious after hearing this. “You’re the referee of this crappy game, you’re the villain… What does a villain have to be scared of?”

“Who the hell is the villain?!” The wild boar felt he’d heard something extremely absurd. “All of us have been hanging our heads on our necks because of you people’s arrival! Who exactly is the villain?! I’m extremely unwilling about this myself. You two stop causing trouble for me and let the game end normally!”

After hearing this, Wen Qiaoyun slightly frowned. If the referee before her really wanted to invalidate the transaction between the two of them at this moment, how should she refuse this proposal?

After all, she couldn’t win in the remaining time. Right now was already the best outcome.

Fortunately, Han Yimo’s mind, which had never seemed particularly bright, came into play at this moment.

Before Wen Qiaoyun could speak, he was first to say to the wild boar: “End normally, end normally—what the hell are we supposed to end normally?! I don’t even have any ‘chips’ left in my hand. I’ve already given them to the other side. If we end now, what do you expect me to lose? My life?”

“This… this…” The wild boar seemed to have never encountered such a situation either. “But this really puts me in a difficult position… What if the higher-ups blame me…”

Seeing the wild boar’s performance, Wen Qiaoyun immediately felt something strange. She looked around at the room where the three of them were currently located. This was the first time in her memory that she had walked into a game venue—

So she really wanted to ask, was every “Zodiac’s” game venue this shabby?

This was just a pitch-black room. The four walls were all wooden, blocking out light very well. In the center was a wooden table, and overhead hung a lamp that had just been installed.

In other words… the “props” used in this game were merely the “lamp” and the “coin.” They could be brought at any time and taken away at any time.

So was this really a game venue?

“That’s not right…”

Wen Qiaoyun lowered her head and looked at the “Retoss Card” remaining in her hand. These brand-new cards were also among the props.

The strange thing about this game was that all the props were new.

The smooth side of the coin didn’t even have a single scratch. Was it normal for a coin that was held in hand and tossed every day to not have a single scratch?

Wen Qiaoyun raised her head again to look at the lamp—it was a bright white bulb that looked very clean, without a trace of dust.

It seemed there were many things to figure out about this game… not just those “characters,” but also these strange referees.

“Mr. Pig…” Wen Qiaoyun called out.

“Man-Boar.” The wild boar corrected her.

“Alright, Mr. Man-Boar.” Wen Qiaoyun said. “You should experience all kinds of game participants every day… but your current state looks as if you’ve never seen anything similar… Is it because you just became a ‘Zodiac’?”

“What the hell are you talking about…” the Man-Boar said. “All the people you can see today are ‘veteran Zodiacs,’ but our peaceful lives have been disrupted by you! You’re the ones who deserve death!”

“We… disrupted your lives?” Wen Qiaoyun felt the Man-Boar seemed to have gotten something wrong. “Even if we didn’t appear, you’d still need to receive ‘participants’ every day, right?”

“Bullshit!” The Man-Boar said with a frown. “We were clearly the most carefree, well-provided-for idle positions in all of ‘Taoyuan,’ but because of your game this time… the higher-ups insisted on transferring a group of people over to act as temporary referees. Not only do we need to come up with games on the spot, we also have to hang our heads on our necks waiting to die at any moment.”

Now Wen Qiaoyun finally understood what the Man-Boar meant, but her understanding of this place was still too limited… Just from the literal meaning, it seemed the Man-Boar before her wasn’t a game referee before… He only temporarily became a referee in this “Cangjie Chess” game?

Not a game referee, but a “Zodiac”?

“Mr. Man-Boar, what were you originally responsible for doing…?” Wen Qiaoyun asked.

“We’re just ‘Assistants’!!” The Man-Boar said with an aggrieved face. “We only need to work once per cycle… which is to open the door and let the participants out of the room… Who knew we’d get mixed up in this kind of mess now?!”

“Huh…?” Han Yimo was stunned.