Chu Tianqiu came back to his senses again and looked down at the ground beneath his feet.

Although he didn’t know what had just happened, fortunately his rationality had gradually stabilized.

“Leader…” Earth-Mouse looked at him with confusion and revealed an enigmatic smile. “If you two are really that scared, there’s no need to act so frightening. Just shout ‘How terrifying!’ and you can make your exit.”

“Scared…?” Chu Tianqiu shook his head. “Earth-Mouse, I boarded this train to deal with Heavenly-Dragon. What reason do you think I have to be scared now?”

After hearing this, Earth-Mouse furrowed his brows slightly: “Leader… you’re going to deal with Heavenly-Dragon? Then I’ve really looked down on you.”

“Then open your dog eyes and watch carefully. Right now I need to reach the ‘train head’ as quickly as possible,” Chu Tianqiu said.

“This path isn’t easy to traverse. Leader, hold on tight,” Earth-Mouse said. “In a place like this, if you accidentally trip and fall, there won’t even be a complete corpse left of you.”

“That makes sense,” Chu Tianqiu said. “I probably won’t be able to leave a complete corpse anyway, so I can only try my best not to trip.”

“Then I wish you great fortune and prosperity.”

Earth-Mouse then looked at Qin Dingdong: “This leader… what brings you here?”

“Excellent question,” Qin Dingdong said irritably. “Does this big sister need to honestly tell you, a mouse classmate I’ve only met a few times?”

“Leader,” Earth-Mouse sighed. “Right now I’m the one clearing the path for you. If I can’t know your ultimate objective, it’s hard for me as a ‘fence-sitter’ to make a choice.”

“You’re already a ‘fence-sitter,’ so what the hell are you choosing?” Qin Dingdong said. “Just lead the way properly. This big sister isn’t paraquat—I won’t kill you.”

As several people were talking, they heard heavy footsteps coming from the other direction.

Earth-Mouse’s brows slightly furrowed as he slowly turned around to see an Earth-Ox walking step by step toward them.

“Everyone… I might have to betray you next,” Earth-Mouse said, looking at the water buffalo.

“Betraying already?” Zhang Shan chuckled. “Not planning to reconsider?”

“Leader…” Earth-Mouse turned to look at Zhang Shan. “The one coming has ill intentions… do you think the two of us can stop him? At this moment, betraying all of you is the best choice.”

Zhang Shan didn’t speak, only moved his neck. With a series of cracking sounds, the wounds on his body actually began to slowly heal at this moment.

It seemed this strange space was indeed similar to “Cangjie Chess.” “Echo” seemed to have temporarily lost connection, but as long as the method was appropriate, one could still “Echo” again immediately.

Seeing Zhang Shan’s injuries beginning to heal, Earth-Mouse’s expression also gradually changed.

“Well, I was indeed inconsiderate. Pretend I said nothing. I temporarily won’t betray you all.”

Earth-Ox took heavy steps to stand before the group. His massive frame was almost half a head taller than even Zhang Shan.

“Oh…” Earth-Ox immediately spotted Zhang Shan. “It’s you again.”

“What the hell do you mean ‘you again’?” Zhang Shan seemed to have forgotten the Earth-Ox’s name. “Don’t act familiar. What do you want?”

“Fine,” Earth-Ox nodded. “I don’t particularly want anything… I just want everyone to obediently follow the rules. If you all get off the train now, I’ll act as if nothing happened.”

After hearing this, Chu Tianqiu looked up at the tall water buffalo before him: “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why won’t you attack us, and why do you want to protect the rules here?”

The water buffalo shook his head: “The relationship between ‘Zodiacs’ and ‘Participants’ is merely a cooperative one at best. I take your lives, you take our ‘Dao.’ Both sides mind their own business. If we lose our ‘Dao,’ we can obtain it again. If you lose your lives, you can live again. But the act of destroying each other’s livelihoods is somewhat inappropriate.”

“What fine words about ‘livelihoods,'” Chu Tianqiu said. “Do you really believe that killing three thousand six hundred people will allow you to become ‘Heaven’?”

“After becoming ‘Heavenly-level,’ one can freely enter and exit ‘Taoyuan.’ This is the direction every ‘Zodiac’ strives toward,” Earth-Ox said. “In our eyes, your actions are almost cutting off the path for all ‘Zodiacs,’ which forces me to take action to stop you.”

After hearing this, Qin Dingdong let out a cold laugh and pointed into the distance: “Ox classmate, don’t you see? There are so many ‘Zodiacs’ in the distance, yet only you walked over. Are you sure you can represent all the ‘Zodiacs’?”

“I don’t care about them,” Earth-Ox sighed. “I’ve always been diligent and conscientious, only doing what’s within my duties. If you all won’t leave, I’ll ask you to leave right here.”

Earth-Mouse walked forward and raised his head to get close to Earth-Ox: “Leader, as the ‘First Beast Tamer of Taoyuan,’ why do your words have a bear-like quality to them?”

“Earth-Mouse…” Earth-Ox stared at him with displeasure. “It doesn’t matter if the ‘Participants’ rebel—if they die, there’s still a chance they can live… but why are you going crazy with them? Not a single one of us who has reached where we are today relied on ‘luck.’ Why are you so careless with your life?”

“Careless with my life?” Earth-Mouse’s face lost its smile as he spoke to him seriously. “How can you, a ‘Zodiac’ without a collar around your neck, tell that I’m careless with my life? Every single day I spend in ‘Taoyuan’ is like licking blood off a blade’s edge. I can’t even sleep peacefully. Now I want to resist for once, yet you’re accusing me of being careless with my life?”

“Don’t you not have a collar now?” Earth-Ox said. “That being said, the reason you all were confined by collars was because back then you believed in Heavenly-Mouse’s so-called ‘pie falling from the sky,’ wanting to reach the heavens in a single step. The tragic situation today can’t be blamed on anyone. But you’re leading people to ‘rebel,’ genuinely interfering with my interests, so I can only step forward to stop you. If you had known earlier that ‘pie’ and ‘pitfall’ differ by only a radical, you should have woken up long ago.”

“Yes…” Earth-Mouse nodded. “Just like how people believe in the existence of ‘gods’ when they’re in despair… when I couldn’t see any hope, Heavenly-Mouse appeared before me with a collar, telling me I could become ‘Earth-level’ faster and see my own family… if it were you… wouldn’t you be tempted?”

“Perhaps I would have put it on too,” Earth-Ox said. “But what we’re discussing isn’t a hypothetical situation, but a real one. In the end, I didn’t walk down your tragic path, and you are genuinely threatening all the ‘Zodiacs,’ so I can only stand from the perspective of the actual situation to constrain you.”

“What an inhuman wild bull,” Earth-Mouse said, his eyes gradually becoming cold and severe. “This leader, it seems we both have our own reasoning, and neither can persuade the other, so we can only let our fists speak the truth.”

“I heard your game is ‘Fruits,'” Earth-Ox said, slowly removing his suit and tossing it to the ground. “And my game is ‘Hunting.’ What are your chances of winning?”

“Wrong, isn’t it?” Earth-Mouse chuckled lightly. “I heard my game is called ‘Cat and Mouse,’ while your game is called ‘Eagle Catches Chickens.’ Doesn’t seem like there’s much difference.”