After hearing Zhoumo’s telepathic message, Yan Zhichun paused slightly, then stood up and looked out the bookstore window.
Two people in black leather jackets were already standing in the distance.
Yan Zhichun walked out the door with slight concern, quickly coming to the side of the person in the lead.
“Song Qi?” Yan Zhichun asked.
“It’s me.” The man answered. “Behind me is Ma Twelve.”
Yan Zhichun nodded: “The target has appeared at Earth-Pig’s location. Go quickly, don’t wait for the signal.”
“Earth-Pig…” Song Qi thought about the map in his mind and immediately furrowed his brow. “Damn… the distance is a bit… too far…”
“We bet wrong.” Yan Zhichun said. “Zhu Que doesn’t know I’m a ‘King,’ so he didn’t descend here. But once Zhoumo dies, the entire information chain will be broken.”
“I’ll go right now.” Song Qi said with a grave expression. “I hope Fifth Brother can arrive before me.”
Song Qi nodded slightly at Yan Zhichun, turned around, and immediately left the scene with Liu Twenty-One behind him.
After Jiang Ruoxue lowered her head to receive the information, she also ran out the door at the first opportunity, discovering Bai Nine standing not far away on standby.
“Little Jiu’er!”
“Sister Ruoxue!” Bai Nine waved her hand.
“At Zhoumo’s location!” Jiang Ruoxue said. “It seems to be Earth-Pig. I’m not quite sure of the position. Contact them quickly, don’t wait here!”
“Oh! Okay!” Bai Nine nodded. “It doesn’t seem far. Sixth Sister should send up a signal.”
Bai Nine lightly rolled her eyes after hearing this: “Sister Ruoxue, I just look young—I’m not a child.”
“Jiu’er is so great! Jiu’er, run quickly!”
“Okay, okay, okay…”
……
Before the signal flare in Zhoumo’s hand even began to smoke, Zhu Que had already flashed before them in an instant.
“What are you doing?”
The many “Extreme Path” members behind Zhoumo wanted to rush forward upon seeing this, but were blocked by Zhoumo’s outstretched hand.
Zhu Que smiled and grasped Zhoumo’s hand, his thumb gently moving to block the smoke emission port of the signal flare.
Due to the action being too fast, neither Zhoumo nor Earth-Pig had time to react. After all, the oppressive feeling that “Divine Beasts” gave people had always been like this.
They were like real cats, toying with a dying mouse.
“Tch, setting off a firework—is that not allowed?” Zhoumo said, steadying her nerves.
“It’s not allowed.” Zhu Que smiled, then looked at Earth-Pig. “It’s already time to board. Why aren’t you leaving?”
After hearing this, Earth-Pig swallowed slightly and said: “I have something to do today and want to stay here a bit longer.”
“How strange…” Zhu Que raised his head to look into the distance. “It seems many Participants are gathered at the doors of various Zodiacs. What are you all planning to do?”
“Zhu Que.” Before Zhoumo could reply, Earth-Pig decisively spoke up: “I’m the one breaking the rules this time. What’s the use of troubling the Participants?”
“Oh…?”
Zhu Que looked at Earth-Pig, then squeezed hard with his hand. The signal flare in Zhoumo’s hand had already misfired, only able to emit a small amount of smoke. That smoke couldn’t ascend and merely swirled on the ground.
Seeing this scene, Zhoumo became slightly anxious. However, due to the limited number of signal flares from the prison, each “Cat” squad could only carry one.
The most fatal problem was that after “Cat” killed Xuanwu, they had split into seven squads. Apart from her own direction, the others each followed a group of “Extreme Path.”
In the short term, the only combat power at her disposal was the six or seven “Extreme Path” members behind her. Now with no way to send their position, how could she notify all the “Cats” to gather?
“How rare, Little Pig.” Zhu Que said. “Whenever a Zodiac breaks the rules, the first thing they say when they see me is ‘I’m innocent,’ yet you’ve taken the responsibility on yourself. Do you have some plan?”
“When I learned I couldn’t be promoted to ‘Heavenly-Pig,’ I had already made my decision.” Earth-Pig answered. “Since either way leads to death, I might as well die gloriously. That way I can live up to the bonds with my companions.”
Seeing the two begin to converse, Zhoumo turned back and gave Liu Twenty-One a look. After thinking for a moment, Liu Twenty-One nodded.
“Death…?” Zhu Que still didn’t seem to quite understand Earth-Pig’s meaning. “Why would you die?”
“Because today I’m going to let these Participants enter my door.” Earth-Pig said. “Is that reason enough for me to die?”
“So young… yet such big words.” Zhu Que slightly furrowed his brow. Although his mouth spoke words of indifference, he was somewhat puzzled in his heart.
He didn’t know why the Participants wanted to enter the “train.”
Why hadn’t Qinglong and Heavenly-Dog’s two sets of ears heard about something this important?
“So all of you are waiting by the Zodiacs for them to open their doors…?” Zhu Que asked again.
Before Earth-Pig could speak, Zhoumo waved her hand: “Tch, no need to tell him too much. ‘Rebellion’ is ‘rebellion’—why do we need to ask so many questions?”
“‘Rebellion’…?” After hearing this, Zhu Que became puzzled again. His feeling had been strange all day.
It was as if someone had blocked both his ears—he hadn’t received any information at all.
Since this was a “rule-breaking” incident, he and Xuanwu should have appeared together—Xuanwu responsible for Participant violations, and himself responsible for Zodiac violations.
But why had only he come now?
“Heavenly-Dog…” Zhu Que slowly raised his head, directly calling out Heavenly-Dog’s name. “Something this big and Qinglong doesn’t move—is it you who’s deaf or him?”
Heavenly-Dog’s entire body trembled as he sat in the room, only able to pretend he hadn’t heard any sound.
“You’re acting strange today…” Qinglong stared at Heavenly-Dog and said. “What’s happening down there?”
“Nothing…” Heavenly-Dog said. “A Zodiac broke the rules. Zhu Que is handling it.”
“A Zodiac breaking the rules…” Qinglong reached up to rub his temples. The sanity he had expended in his previous battle with Xuanwu still hadn’t fully recovered.
He felt like he wanted to kill someone.
Anyone would do—he just wanted to slaughter indiscriminately.
But the “Heaven Level” before him all had their uses to some degree. He needed to focus his remaining sanity as much as possible so he wouldn’t attack these “Heaven Level” members.
“What the hell.” After looking at the sky for a long time and still receiving no response from any “Heaven Level,” Zhu Que said, “Which link went wrong…?”
“At ‘Earth-Pig.'” Zhoumo slowly closed her eyes, continuously murmuring the same phrase. “People at ‘Earth-Pig.'”
Soon she received several replies. Since most of the “Cats” were following “Extreme Path,” they had no way to immediately confirm “Earth-Pig’s” location, and everyone asked about the detailed coordinates of “Earth-Pig.”
Just as Zhoumo was about to answer, she discovered Zhu Que had come before her. He stared at her and asked with a smile: “What are you chatting about?”
“Tch…” A bead of cold sweat slowly dripped down from Zhoumo’s forehead. “None of your business…?”