Earth-Dragon remained silent for a long while before slowly saying, “I really don’t know…”

“Qi Xia split one plan into countless fragments—even he himself has no way of knowing the full picture right now,” Qinglong said. “It’s hard for me to understand… The reason behind all of this is actually to go to that blood-red world. Would you be willing to go with him?”

Seeing that Earth-Dragon didn’t respond, Qinglong looked her up and down once more and added, “Would you go with your current appearance… with scales covering your body and a lizard-like face, and then leave with him?”

“You mean…”

“I don’t know what exactly exists in that world. Right now, both ‘Heavenly-Dragon’ and Qi Xia want to go there and explore, but I don’t. I don’t want to build an entirely new world again…”

Earth-Dragon’s expression grew somber once more, remaining silent throughout.

“Earth-Dragon,” Qinglong continued, “even if the other ‘Earth-level Zodiacs’ haven’t prepared themselves for this, you should have.”

“I… have prepared myself?”

“All the ‘Earth-level Zodiacs’ look forward to the day they can advance to ‘Heaven-level’ and shed their monstrous shells, but only the ‘Earth-Dragons’ know that no matter what, they can never advance to ‘Heavenly-Dragon,'” Qinglong said with a slight smile. “You already prepared yourself for this when you chose this path, didn’t you?”

“Yes, at first I didn’t quite understand…” Earth-Dragon said with a bitter smile. “The ‘Dragons’ could clearly become managers of the ‘Zodiacs,’ yet no one was willing to take that position… Later I figured it out—because everyone who joins the ‘Zodiacs’ wants to leave, but the ‘Dragons’ cannot. Once you choose to become a ‘Dragon,’ you become a slave forever.”

“So you admit it,” Qinglong said. “Your purpose for joining the ‘Zodiacs’ was different from theirs.”

“Yes,” Earth-Dragon said. “There’s no need to hide anything at this point. Perhaps I’ll die, but it’s already been worth it.”

After Earth-Dragon finished speaking, she displayed an expression of facing death unflinchingly, yet Qinglong made no move.

“You’re not going to kill me…?” Earth-Dragon asked after a moment.

“I quite like your frankness,” Qinglong turned back and continued looking down below. “If you had shown any sophistry or denial, you’d already be dead by now.”

Hearing this, Earth-Dragon smiled bitterly again and simply squatted down, sitting beside Qinglong.

Her stature was petite, with small horns and scales on the sides of her face, making her look almost like a spirit companion beside Qinglong.

“I don’t quite understand either,” Earth-Dragon asked. “If you already knew everything… why did you still let Qi Xia reach this stage?”

“I told you… I’m a bit curious,” Qinglong said. “When you discover that the ants at your doorstep have begun to develop their own ideas and are mobilizing their entire army to plot something big… you’d also want to see the outcome.”

“What a fine comparison to ‘ants’…”

Qinglong chuckled softly, “Do you think anyone would single out and kill a specific ant just as the ants begin to take action…”

“But you didn’t expect the ants could transform into humans and eventually stand before you, becoming almost as powerful as you, to the point where you can no longer kill each other,” Earth-Dragon said, also looking down below. “This must have been unexpected for you as well, wasn’t it?”

“Oh…?” Qinglong looked at Earth-Dragon with interest. “I never realized you were such a talkative person.”

“Ever since I knew you’d seen through me, I don’t know why… but I’ve actually relaxed considerably,” Earth-Dragon laughed a few times. “For so long, even the nightmares I had while sleeping were about you learning my identity and then twisting my head off.”

“So what’s the source of your sudden cheerfulness?” Qinglong asked. “Do you think I won’t kill you anymore?”

“No,” Earth-Dragon shook her head. “I just know that I’m definitely going to die, so there’s no point in pretending anymore. I just want to sit and rest for a while.”

“Ha, somewhat interesting,” Qinglong said, propping her chin up and looking down at the people coming and going below. “I had no intention of killing you, yet you feel you’re definitely going to die.”

“Yes, ever since becoming a ‘Zodiac,’ I’ve had a lot of time for independent thinking,” Earth-Dragon said. “I’ve figured out many things because of this.”

“Such as?”

“Such as in this game, even if you don’t kill me, I’ll still die,” Earth-Dragon said with a smile as she looked at the people below, speaking with complete indifference. “I have a premonition that someone will ‘bet their life’ against me.”

Hearing this, Qinglong asked with the same expressionless face, “So Qi Xia won’t save you?”

“Qi Xia is one of the potential candidates,” Earth-Dragon answered. “He might personally kill me.”

“Then I truly can’t understand,” Qinglong sighed. “How can such a relationship exist in this world? You’re willing to die for his plan, even though he knows nothing, even though he might personally kill you… and you still feel it doesn’t matter?”

“To be honest…” Earth-Dragon said with a furrowed smile, “I’m very afraid of pain, and very afraid of death. But some things are like this—after being afraid for so long, you stop being afraid. Pain is the same way—after hurting for so long, you get used to it.”

“I really can’t understand this ‘human nature,'” Qinglong said.

“Qi Xia let us live for several more decades,” Earth-Dragon said. “Isn’t that enough? We came here in our twenties, struggling and fighting our way through for fifty or sixty years. Each of us has already reached an age where we could die of old age.”

“Die of old age…?”

“That’s right!” Earth-Dragon revealed a warm smile, staring at Qinglong as she said, “You don’t know how much I miss it—I miss that gathering commemorating our ‘dying of old age’… Qi Xia said that after we drank enough wine and woke up from sleep that day, each of us would be considered to have ‘died of old age.'”

Qinglong turned to look at Earth-Dragon speaking with such animation, clearly becoming interested.

“That year, we calculated our ages—some were over ninety, some over eighty, and some over seventy. No one in this world can choose when they ‘die of old age,’ but we could. My companions who were like family and I chose to ‘die of old age’ on the same day. After that day, we threw ourselves into the ranks of the ‘Zodiacs.’ You ask why we face death unflinchingly, but for us, we already died of old age long ago.”

“Interesting,” Qinglong nodded. “I’ve never heard such a statement. Not only did each of you choose your own ‘death,’ but you even used ‘dying of old age,’ a method unique to mortals.”

“What’s so hard to understand about that?” Earth-Dragon continued smiling. “Our bodies haven’t changed at all, but our thoughts and memories are already old enough. True ‘monsters’ like us—even without these shells we wear—can no longer integrate into the real world.”