Qinglong stretched out his hand and lightly tapped on the tabletop, feeling that the current situation was somehow strange.

Clearly nothing had happened… yet why did he have this uneasy premonition?

He had walked through the “Taoyuan” for so long and had never felt this way before.

It was as if he was waiting for death.

The chaotic beliefs and irritable mood made him restless.

He turned his head and saw Heavenly-Snake and Heavenly-Dog also sitting at the round table, and immediately felt anger rising within him.

“Everyone else has gone to attend to their own matters… Are you two really this idle?” Qinglong said coldly.

“Ah?” Heavenly-Snake raised her head, wanting to say something, but suddenly caught sight of Qinglong’s eyes and was so frightened that she quickly lowered her head. “But… but right now there aren’t any ‘research projects’…”

“There aren’t?” Qinglong frowned. “Has the giant bell reconstruction been completed? Has Xuanwu’s replacement been found?”

“This…” Heavenly-Snake said somewhat timidly. “Today it’s gotten a bit too late… I was thinking that after dawn tomorrow I would…”

“Tomorrow is the tenth day,” Qinglong said. “Heavenly-Dragon is about to wake up—when would it be your turn to prepare research?”

Heavenly-Snake had almost forgotten about this and hurriedly stood up. “Yes… I’m sorry… I’ll go find a suitable candidate right away…”

After Heavenly-Snake left the room, Qinglong looked toward Heavenly-Dog.

Heavenly-Dog didn’t know what Qinglong wanted to say and simply kept his head lowered in silence.

“You should leave too. Let me have some peace and quiet alone,” Qinglong said. “If there’s any news, come find me in this room.”

“Is there really no abnormality below?” Qinglong asked.

“Abnormality… there isn’t any,” Heavenly-Dog shook his head. “Earlier someone violated the rules and Zhu Que went to handle it. Now the matter has been dealt with.”

Qinglong stared into Heavenly-Dog’s eyes for a long time, finally revealing a hint of a sinister smile. “Heavenly-Dog, if you dare deceive me… you know what the consequences will be.”

Heavenly-Dog’s entire body shuddered, then he looked at the human head in the center of the table.

This head of Heavenly-Pig had been placed here for an entire night, with the dried bloodstains still clinging to the skin on its face.

“Yes…” Heavenly-Dog gritted his teeth and nodded. “Everything I said is true…”

After Heavenly-Dog also left the room, Qinglong slowly closed his eyes and leaned back against the chair.

What exactly was going on…?

After walking out from the “Cangjie Chess” venue, why did everything feel somewhat different?

What exactly happened during that game?

—

“Brother!” Old Sun waved at Earth-Tiger in the “Train” corridor. “Since I’ve come up, I really must leave! No matter what, I can’t cause trouble for my brother today!”

“Don’t do this! Are you not giving your little brother face?” Earth-Tiger grabbed Old Sun’s arm. “Since you’re already here, come sit at my place!”

“Really can’t, brother. I came empty-handed!” Old Sun waved his hands repeatedly. “Who shows up at someone’s place empty-handed the first time?”

“Are you being distant with your little brother?!”

Man-Monkey watched the two noisy men and stepped forward to remind them quietly. “Teacher, your voices are too loud. You’ll attract other ‘Zodiacs.'”

“Ah…?” Earth-Tiger paused, then said to Old Sun in a low voice, “Give your little brother some face. Come sit at my place. I’ve got wine—let’s brothers have a couple of bottles.”

“Even with wine, I can’t…” Old Sun hesitated for a moment. “If there’s wine, then…”

“Old Sun…” One of the “Extreme Path” members really couldn’t watch anymore. “We still have a mission.”

“Oh! Right!” Old Sun hurriedly asked Earth-Tiger, “Brother, we have important business. Where’s the ‘cargo hold’?”

“Cargo hold…?”

“Black Sheep would work too!” Old Sun said. “Do you guys have a Black Sheep here?”

—

Earth-Pig led the members of the “Cat” team behind him out through the door, then looked around. There wasn’t a single person nearby in the corridor for now. The only figure they could see was at least a hundred meters away.

“This is fucking thrilling…” Luo Shiyi said. “Did we really come up…?”

“You all need to be very careful,” Earth-Pig said. “Every step we take now has the probability of death. I’ll take you to hide in my room as quickly as possible, trying not to alert anyone.”

“So how are your interpersonal relationships normally?” Luo Shiyi asked. “If we run into other ‘Zodiac’ members… will they turn a blind eye?”

“My interpersonal relationships…” Earth-Pig paused. “Extremely poor.”

“Huh?”

Earth-Pig knew that he was usually arrogant, and quite a few “Zodiacs” were probably hoping for his death.

In normal times, his methods were ruthless, so naturally no one dared to provoke him. But now he had lost his “Brute Strength” and had merely an ordinary person’s body. In this situation, bringing a group of “Participants” swaggering through openly would naturally be dangerous.

“Hot-tempered woman,” Earth-Pig turned back to look at Zhoumo. “You have ‘Sound Transmission,’ right? Why don’t you ask what the situation is with the others?”

“Mm.” Zhoumo nodded, then closed her eyes.

She had never tried using sound transmission on the “Train” before, so she inevitably felt somewhat nervous.

But after trying several times, she gradually discovered something wasn’t quite right.

No matter what information she transmitted to the other side, it was like a stone dropping into a deep well—she couldn’t hear any echo.

“Tsk, strange… My ‘Echo’ seems to…”

She turned to look at Qian Wu, Bai Jiu, and Luo Shiyi.

“Can you all control your ‘Echoes’?”

After hearing this, the three of them lowered their heads to control their beliefs, only to discover that there seemed to be a river separating them from their “Echoes”—they couldn’t find any trace at all.

“It’s fine,” Earth-Pig said, comforting them. “Everyone is like this at first.”

“Right.” Zhoumo nodded. “Tsk, you also have an ‘Echo.’ How did you manage it?”

“I don’t know,” Earth-Pig answered honestly. “I always thought I hadn’t successfully brought my ‘Echo’ onto the ‘Train,’ so for a very long time I didn’t pay it any attention. Then one day, when I had almost forgotten I even had an ‘Echo,’ it suddenly appeared out of nowhere.”

Earth-Pig’s answer undoubtedly left everyone even more confused.

“Tsk, but we don’t have that much time,” Zhoumo said. “Isn’t there some simple and easy-to-understand method? Once I can’t release my ‘Echo’… the situation could be worse than imagined.”

After hearing this, Bai Jiu thought for a few seconds, then reached up to touch her ponytail. “Forgot it… and it will appear?”

“Little Jiu, do you have a lead?” Zhoumo asked.

“Not yet…” Bai Jiu said. “Maybe I’ll think of something in a bit.”

“Let’s go,” Earth-Pig said. “I just hope we don’t run into any ‘Zodiacs’ along this route. My room is very far—over one hundred fifty doors from here.”

The group had just taken a few cautious steps when they suddenly heard footsteps behind them.

Looking back, they saw a group of unfamiliar “Participants” starting to emerge from the very door they had just exited.