After hearing this, Chu Tianqiu glanced at Qian Wu. His condition was clearly not very good.

After all, he didn’t have a dwarf’s body—he had probably already used “Twin Flowers” far too many times.

“I heard that ‘Cat’ has consecutively killed Xuanwu and Zhu Que. Is that true?” Chu Tianqiu asked.

“Just luck,” Qian Wu said, wanting to pull out a cigarette but finding his pockets empty. Only after a few seconds did he remember that he had already given the remaining half-pack of cigarettes to Officer Li.

He patted down his pockets, and with no other choice, he turned his head to look at an Earth-Dog standing on one side of the corridor—a large bulldog with a fat head and big ears.

Qian Wu simply stared at that Earth-Dog without saying a word from beginning to end, but this gaze made the Earth-Dog extraordinarily uncomfortable. His eyes dodged for quite some time before he finally forced out a bitter smile.

“Hey… what do you want…?” the Earth-Dog asked. “Boss Qian, I’m…”

Qian Wu still didn’t speak, just quietly watching him.

The Earth-Dog smiled awkwardly in apology, then sensibly walked over. He reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a crudely made rolled cigarette, respectfully inserting it into Qian Wu’s mouth before reaching for his lighter.

*Click.*

The flame of the lighter flickered once, illuminating Qian Wu’s cold face and lighting the cigarette in his mouth.

Qiao Jiajin and the others beside him were left completely confused by this scene, staring at Qian Wu for a long time but not knowing where to begin asking questions.

“Boss Qian…” The Earth-Dog put away his lighter and handed all the remaining rolled cigarettes from his chest to Qian Wu. “Don’t look at me like that… You know we just made a deal—we didn’t sign a contract…”

Qian Wu grabbed the Earth-Dog’s hand and smoothly took the lighter from him as well, stuffing it into his pocket.

“Dog,” Qian Wu said. “Anyone who owes me, Qian Wu, a favor in the ‘Land of the End’ and doesn’t repay it—even if they’re a ‘Zodiac,’ I won’t let them off easy. You know that, right?”

“Landlady doing dishes is too tempting..!”

“You, this dog, dare to mention Old Seven?” Qian Wu exhaled a puff of smoke. “Old Seven handles matters steadily and can give everyone face—he’s ‘Cat’s’ diplomat. But I’m different. I’ve always only remembered grudges and gratitude.”

Qian Wu turned his head back to look coldly at the Earth-Dog. “I told you to give Zhu Que some trouble, but I feel like you did nothing at all.”

“Boss Qian…” The Earth-Dog’s eyebrows wrinkled flatteringly into an inverted V-shape. “You’re really making things difficult for people here… When you came aggressively to us ‘Zodiacs’ saying we should repay a favor, how would we dare refuse…? If we had refused, we would have been swapped bodies by you right then and there…”

“Doesn’t ‘Dog’ represent loyalty?” Qian Wu flicked his cigarette ash. “Your attitude is somewhat beyond my expectations.”

“What does ‘Dog’ loyalty have to do with me?” The Earth-Dog said with a grin. “Laugh all you want—my game type is ‘Loyalty,’ but my game name is called ‘Messenger.’ At most I can only help you deliver messages and pass on words. If you’re asking me to risk my life… I definitely have to think it over carefully.”

The Earth-Mouse in the distance couldn’t help but laugh at seeing this bulldog’s appearance.

“Dog thief…” the Earth-Mouse murmured. “I’ve never seen you looking so fawning before. This time I really underestimated you with my human eyes looking at a dog.”

“Le, where the hell are you any better?” The Earth-Dog frowned at the Earth-Mouse. “Have you done any less fawning and flattering? I’m truly laughing to death.”

Qin Dingdong felt extremely awkward listening to this Earth-Dog speak, because she rarely saw anyone incorporate so much internet slang into their daily conversations.

“‘Fawning and flattering’? That’s really hard to say.” The Earth-Mouse shook his head. “At least I’m the same way with everyone I meet. But you’re two-faced.”

“Can you use fewer of those weird idioms in the future?” the Earth-Dog said. “We’re discussing serious matters here, don’t interrupt.”

The Earth-Mouse naturally didn’t care to deal with this kind of two-faced person. In his view, people like this were even more like fence-sitters than himself—people who were inconsistent in word and deed were terrifying at any time.

“Boss Qian…” The Earth-Dog continued turning back to speak to Qian Wu. “I really didn’t expect you could still board this ‘Train’… I admit defeat, okay? Now I’ll listen to whatever you say.”

Hearing this, Qian Wu’s lips curved slightly upward. “Good, that’s what you said.”

Seeing Qian Wu’s expression, the Earth-Dog immediately knew he had made a mistake.

What kind of person was Qian Wu? Would he not understand his own personality?

To put it nicely, it was because he hadn’t repaid Qian Wu’s favor that he now had no choice but to agree to his demands. But looking at it now, all of this was within Qian Wu’s calculations.

Even without himself giving Zhu Que trouble, they still killed Zhu Que. So this plan never needed his participation from the very beginning.

And he, this chess piece, was destined to help him on the “Train.”

“Boss Qian… it seems like you’re digging a pit for me to jump into…?” The Earth-Dog’s facial flesh twitched as he spoke with an unhappy expression.

“Digging a pit?” Qian Wu shook his head. “You can’t quite say it like that. If you had chosen to ‘collapse’ back then to create chaos for Zhu Que, you wouldn’t be here now being ordered around by me.”

The Earth-Dog’s bulldog face showed no expression, but the corners of his mouth drooped downward the entire time, looking unhappy.

Although Qian Wu was so aggressive, the Earth-Dog had no way to punish him, because wanting to kill him would mean touching him, and at that point he might very well be forcibly taken away.

“You…” The Earth-Dog pondered for a while before asking unhappily, “What do you want me to do? I’ll say it upfront—life-threatening matters are still out of the question.”

“I need time,” Qian Wu said. “Starting now, these few people and I will go to your room together to rest for a while, and you’re responsible for protecting our safety.”

After hearing this, the Earth-Dog slowly squinted his eyes, then stuck out his tongue to lick his own nose.

“Boss Qian… this is really strange…” The Earth-Dog looked at the many “Participants” standing before him. “Did you plan all these things long ago?”

“Why do you ask?”

“All of this is just too coincidental.” The Earth-Dog frowned. “It’s as if you calculated everything in advance and are now methodically making me fall into a trap step by step. This kind of operation of thinking three steps ahead with each move is truly puzzling to me…”

“Then just consider it a spur-of-the-moment decision on our part,” Qian Wu said. “Don’t think about things you can’t figure out.”

After hearing this, Chu Tianqiu slowly nodded his head. Qian Wu’s strategy seemed to be another brilliant move.

No one would think that they would next hide in the room of an Earth-Dog with whom they had almost no previous interaction. Even if Qinglong sent people to investigate all the “Zodiacs” who might possibly “rebel,” it would be difficult to investigate this Earth-Dog.

“Both of you, follow me,” Qian Wu said, discarding his cigarette butt and looking toward Qiao Jiajin and Zhang Shan. “We need a quiet place to prepare you both for ‘pre-battle preparations.'”