“That’s a fresh perspective,” Qinglong said. “You were originally a group of people wanting to escape, but then you gave up on your own?”

“That’s exactly what I mean,” Earth-Dragon said. “I’ve spent more time in the ‘Land of the End’ than I did in the real world… You know, besides nightmares of you killing me, I also have nightmares about actually returning to reality.”

“For you, ‘returning to reality’ counts as a nightmare?”

“Of course it does,” Earth-Dragon looked down at her scale-covered hands. “If I were to return to the real world now to find a job, typing on a computer every day to earn some money—it sounds really appealing. But I’ve even forgotten the keyboard layout. I’ve forgotten how to unlock a phone, forgotten what my relatives look like and their phone numbers… I’m not even sure whether red lights or yellow lights mean you can proceed on the street. People like us… how are we supposed to go back and live in the ‘real world’…?”

“Put that way…” Qinglong nodded, “mortals’ are indeed more troublesome.”

“In my era, people who spent three years in prison would be severely disconnected from society when they got out, because every day there are fresh things appearing before your eyes,” Earth-Dragon continued with a smile. “Fashion trends, internet memes, explosive gossip, AI development… Some things don’t require three years of disconnection—even three weeks without going online and you’d fall behind. But I’ve been here for decades. What meaning would there be in us going out?”

“So you’re comparing this place… to a prison?”

“Similar, but not entirely,” Earth-Dragon said. “Even prisoners can read newspapers and books, regularly learning about things ‘outside,’ but we can never do that. Every day I think about which buildings might have scrap wood to burn, where I might find some remaining canned food, what specific effects someone’s ‘Echo’ has, whose game can earn more ‘Dao,’ and I even think about what kind of injury would allow me to commit suicide immediately.”

After Earth-Dragon finished speaking, she looked down at her suit again: “Now the lifestyle is different from before. In the past, when my clothes got dirty, I wouldn’t wash them right away but would calculate how many days until the next ‘Annihilation’ and the clothes would refresh. Now when I return to my room every day, there’s food falling from the sky and clean clothes. My daily work is ‘managing the Zodiacs,’ and the Zodiacs’ work is killing people. All of this is completely beyond what normal life could possibly involve… Qinglong, how exactly am I supposed to go back?”

“Then I’m even more curious,” Qinglong asked, propping her chin. “If each of you thinks this way, then ‘Taoyuan’ should be more suitable for you. After all, you’d be immortal here, you’re more familiar with life here, so why would you help Qi Xia complete his ‘plan’?”

“Perhaps we saw the ‘divinity’ in him,” Earth-Dragon said. “That might be the only reason.”

“‘Divinity’…?” Qinglong had never heard this term before and merely frowned slightly.

“In my memory, Qi Xia has never done anything for his own sake,” Earth-Dragon said with a shake of her head and a smile. “He’s like what people in our era called a ‘saint’ on the internet—something everyone criticized—but he actually achieved it… To break the ‘Taoyuan’ you created and let everyone return to the real world, he pushed himself step by step into what he is now. Now he’s about to reach the ‘endpoint.’ We might have some emotions and complaints because of how long it’s taken, but no one could possibly betray him—that’s our bottom line.”

“Even if it means dying?” Qinglong asked again. “You’re about to reach the ‘endpoint’—are you willing to die before the ‘endpoint’?”

“Have you forgotten?” Earth-Dragon smiled. “We already died of old age long ago! We’re all just lingering patients clinging to life now. It doesn’t matter who dies before the ‘endpoint.’ It’s like knowing that many years from now people will travel through space and reach countless new worlds, but my lifespan won’t last until then, so I won’t feel it’s a pity.”

Because these people could no longer leave.

Their lives consisted of two parts: a small part from the real world, and a large part from ‘Taoyuan.’

If they were to leave ‘Taoyuan’ and return to the real world now… they would suffer even more than they do now.

So at an age when they could reasonably die of old age, they actively ‘ended’ their own lives and threw themselves into Qi Xia’s ‘divinity.’

They discarded their names, appearances, and all other information about being ‘human’ to become ‘Zodiacs’—no different from being dead.

“It’s almost like the ‘herd effect’…” Qinglong said. “Just because Qi Xia possesses ‘divinity,’ you follow him in maintaining that ‘divinity’…”

“Decades are enough time for us to understand a person,” Earth-Dragon said. “We understand Qi Xia, just as we understand you and Heavenly-Dragon. If we let all the people in the ‘Land of the End’ choose, Qi Xia would definitely receive the most votes. If he can become a ‘god,’ then we’ll all be ruled by him together. If he becomes a ‘demon,’ then we’re willing to be his underlings. So it doesn’t matter what’s on the other side of the red door… If he’s willing to take us there, it means that after his consideration, that hellish place is more suitable for survival than here.”

After hearing this, Qinglong fell silent again for a moment before asking softly, “Is this what you ‘mortals’ call ‘brainwashing’? Qi Xia used his silver tongue to recruit a group of devoted subordinates.”

“Wrong,” Earth-Dragon said. “First, we’re not ‘subordinates.’ Second, Qi Xia never demanded anything from us. Even on the path of becoming ‘Zodiacs,’ he gave us countless opportunities to betray him. All of us voluntarily chose this path, and no one forced or threatened us during the process. That’s the biggest difference between him and you.”

“Interesting,” Qinglong said in a deep voice. “I never imagined that the most moving words I’d hear in this lifetime would come from a ‘Zodiac’ beside me.”

“Thank you,” Earth-Dragon said with a smile. “If you like a butterfly, you’ll find a way to catch it and hold it in your hand until the butterfly can’t move. But Qi Xia also likes butterflies—he chooses to bow his head and plant flowers, until they bloom magnificently, and butterflies from across the sky flock in.”

After hearing this, Qinglong lowered her head once more, looking at the crowd beginning to move around below, and said softly, “Earth-Dragon, let me make a private bet with you.”

“A bet?”

“Who do you think will be the final winner in this game?” Qinglong asked again.

“I think…” Earth-Dragon also looked down below with lowered head. She first looked at Chu Tianqiu, then at Qi Xia, and said with a smile, “I think the final winners will be all the ‘Participants.'”