Qi Xia had originally wanted to summon everyone back and have them hand over all the “characters” on their persons to wait in the “Preparation Zone,” but he discovered the situation was somewhat unexpected.

Apart from Chen Junnan, Qiao Jiajin, and Han Yimo who were originally in the “Preparation Zone,” the remaining people had not returned for a long time. They all seemed to be locked in the game rooms.

There were a total of five paths leading to the “River Road,” and now three of them were already locked.

Qi Xia realized this might be some kind of tactic employed by Chu Tianqiu, but most of the opponent’s team members had already returned to the “Preparation Zone” under Chu Tianqiu’s command. Who else could trap so many people by their own power alone?

He quickly guessed that the only person with such courage and skills was probably Jin Yuanxun. Thinking of this, Qi Xia’s heart tightened.

Zheng Yingxiong and Lawyer Zhang didn’t matter much, but if Jin Yuanxun had trapped Tiantian in the game venue… the situation would be quite troublesome.

So Qi Xia could only patiently wait with the few people in the “Preparation Zone.” After waiting for nearly ten minutes, everyone finally completed their games without stakes. During this time, neither Qi Xia nor Chu Tianqiu made any moves, as if they were both planning something.

When Lawyer Zhang and Zheng Yingxiong returned, Qi Xia informed everyone that he would take all the chips and go to have a final showdown with Chu Tianqiu.

Tiantian finally arrived late and gave Qi Xia the “warrior” character on her person as well.

When Qi Xia saw Tiantian return, he clearly showed joy: “You’re back?”

“Mm.” Tiantian nodded, “I guess I was lucky.”

“Does that mean… it’s done?”

“Should be… okay.” Tiantian nodded, “But I really have no way to be certain… After all, it’s ‘modification’ rather than ‘creation,’ so I’m still a bit worried.”

“Which room?”

“It’s ‘Mao.'”

“Did he see you?”

Tiantian didn’t speak, only quietly stared at Qi Xia, and Qi Xia captured all the information he wanted from that gaze.

“Then the ‘characters’ on him…”

“They’ve been on him all along.” Tiantian answered again.

“Alright, this at least means it’s mostly successful.” Qi Xia said, “Even if it failed, it’s not your problem. The time was just too tight.”

After hearing this, Tiantian nodded with a hint of shame. She knew that in this game, Qi Xia had only assigned her one task, and naturally she would feel guilty if she hadn’t completed it.

But would such a person really exist in this world?

He wouldn’t blame you for things you did wrong, and even for tasks he assigned you, he only expected you to complete them as best you could.

In her limited twenty-one years of life, she had borne infamy for things she hadn’t done.

Compared to that time… wasn’t the “Land of the End” paradise?

Qi Xia collected all the “characters” and set off for the “River Road.”

At this moment, Qinglong felt the situation seemed much more interesting than he had imagined, and slowly stood up on the “viewing platform.”

“How interesting…” Qinglong turned his head to Earth-Dragon and said, “Do you know what I find most fascinating about ‘mortals’?”

“What?” Earth-Dragon asked disinterestedly.

“It’s that even though I clearly set down all the ‘rules,’ some people just love to operate outside the rules.” Qinglong’s expression gradually grew excited, “I clearly drew them a maze with mothballs, yet a few ants insist on tasting the mothballs… How interesting is that?”

“I understand… You wanted them to collect twenty-eight ‘characters’ to achieve victory, but didn’t expect both sides to abandon this winning method when they were halfway through.” Earth-Dragon said, “I can only say that if this game were played by ordinary people, it would show you a steady and methodical match, but Qi Xia and Chu Tianqiu are clearly not that kind of people.”

“Yes…” Qinglong smiled, “From the very beginning of this game, the tactics given by both sides exceeded my imagination… including the final strategies Qi Xia and Chu Tianqiu have now each presented. It’s truly spectacular.”

“So what do you want to do?” Earth-Dragon said.

“What do I want to do…” Qinglong turned back to Earth-Dragon with deep meaning, “Since the game is so spectacular, what do you say… if I recruit all fourteen people before me as new ‘gods’?”

“What…?” Earth-Dragon was startled.

“A complete reshuffle of the existing ‘Peach Blossom Spring.'” Qinglong smiled, “Let whatever ‘Zodiac’ and ‘Participants’ go to hell. I’ll reset the three tiers of ‘game pieces’—’Heaven,’ ‘Earth,’ and ‘Man.'”

Earth-Dragon’s eyes gradually began to flicker: “Qinglong, what nonsense are you talking about…”

“Doesn’t ‘Heaven-Tier Game Pieces’ sound good?” Qinglong looked at the people below with gleaming eyes, “Let all the ‘Heavenly-Ox’ and ‘Heavenly-Rat’ go die. Keep only ‘Heavenly Soldiers’ and ‘Heavenly Generals’…”

“Enough…”

“I’ll have Heavenly-Dragon make some large hollow wooden chess pieces to put on everyone’s head to distinguish their identities…” Qinglong ignored Earth-Dragon and just muttered to himself, “Might there be too many people…? How about having ‘Heavenly Generals’ and ‘Heavenly Commanders’ manage them…? But then ‘Heavenly Horses’ would appear. Would that make me seem unoriginal?”

“Stop talking…”

“Or instead of dividing into ‘Heaven, Earth, and Man,’ we could divide into ‘Yin and Yang.'” Qinglong nodded, speaking as if no one else was there, “‘Yin Soldiers’ and ‘Yin Commanders,’ plus ‘Yang Horses’ and ‘Yang Pawns’… Sounds very fresh, doesn’t it?”

He cast an expectant gaze toward Earth-Dragon, as if waiting for a word of praise.

Earth-Dragon kept a stern face, and only after a long while said: “Qinglong, were the current ‘Heaven-Level Zodiacs’ also selected by you and Heavenly-Dragon in this manner…?”

“Oh? What do you mean?”

“To fill out the ‘Zodiac,’ you casually picked eleven people from a game you considered spectacular and granted them titles and power…” Earth-Dragon said, controlling her emotions as much as possible, “Just so casually and absurdly… you promoted these eleven people whose abilities, levels, and personalities differ vastly as ‘Heaven-Level Zodiacs,’ ultimately causing this land to be in utter chaos.”

“No, that’s not right.” Qinglong shook his head, “How could it be ‘casually picking eleven people from a game’? Since I felt it was spectacular, naturally I took all the people from that game, even if there were many old people and children in the game—it doesn’t matter.”

“You…”

“And the sequence of cause and effect is also wrong.” Qinglong said, “How could I have chosen eleven people because I wanted them to be ‘Zodiacs’? Earth-Dragon, the reason they became ‘Zodiacs’ is naturally because there were only eleven people in that game. Adding ‘Heavenly-Dragon’ makes twelve in total. After thinking it over, only the title of ‘Zodiac’ could continue along with ‘Heavenly-Dragon’s’ name. Doesn’t that feel very fitting?”

Fitting? Earth-Dragon only felt extremely angry, yet couldn’t articulate the specific reason for this anger.

Perhaps it was because she thought of the thousands upon tens of thousands of people in this place working desperately for these ridiculous and absurd rules, and felt it was exceptionally unfair to them.

What “Heaven, Earth, and Man,” what “Zodiac”—those rules that seemed so imposingly strict before one’s eyes were so laughably absurd in truth.

Why did the “Heaven-Level Zodiacs” give people such a strong sense of dissonance…?

Because they were never “gods” to begin with, but merely eleven “Participants” from a certain game who were able to please Qinglong and Heavenly-Dragon.