Xiao Ran stood up and began surveying the people nearby who wouldn’t move at all.

She discovered these people seemed to be a type of furniture in this massive room.

Some of them had electrical wires wrapped around their bodies, holding light bulbs in their hands, as if being used as floor lamps. Others had their arms spread apart, with a towel hanging on one hand and clothes draped over the other.

If these people weren’t still blinking, Xiao Ran would have thought they were already dead.

“Servants, right?” Xiao Ran stared at one person and asked.

That person seemed deaf and blind, neither looking at Xiao Ran nor speaking to her.

“You’d better not have any complaints,” Xiao Ran said with her arms crossed. “The fact that I can lead your master on my very first day here is my own ability. As long as you all follow my wishes from now on, I guarantee I won’t make things difficult for you. Understand?”

Those “pieces of furniture” said nothing, just stared straight ahead.

Xiao Ran snorted coldly and began inspecting the room again. She discovered one person with their hands spread out in front of them, displaying quite a few books on their palms—clearly a bookshelf.

Xiao Ran casually picked up the top book and looked at it. The title read “Game Theory.”

“Disgusting,” Xiao Ran chuckled. “Does reading more books make you powerful?”

She randomly flipped open a page of the book, extended her fingernail and scratched it, tearing a long gash in the page.

“I never liked reading, yet now I can still boss around ‘Heaven-Level’ beings here. What does that tell you?” She closed the damaged book and put it back in place. “Instead of wasting time reading, you should learn from me and expand your network. Other people work hard to improve themselves, while I work hard to get to know them.”

Seeing that her impassioned speech caused no commotion in the room, Xiao Ran also felt a bit bored. She casually sighed, showing an expression of “disappointed that iron cannot become steel,” then stopped talking to the many pieces of furniture in the room and returned to lazily sit back down in her chair.

…

Before long, Heavenly-Dog slowly pulled open a door crack and looked out cautiously. After discovering the visitor was Heavenly-Snake, he shifted his gaze away and looked at the ground.

“No need to come find me,” Heavenly-Dog said. “I heard what you said. I’ll go contact the ‘Earth-Level’ beings in a moment.”

“Are you playing dumb with me… Heavenly-Dog… you really need to help me out,” Heavenly-Snake said. “Right now there’s a situation I can’t figure out… I feel like I’m teetering on the edge of angering Qinglong.”

“Then why are you asking me?” Heavenly-Dog said. “You can go back and think it through carefully.”

“It’s precisely because I can’t figure it out that I need to find someone to ask!” Heavenly-Snake said in a hushed voice. “I can’t very well go ask Qinglong… you also know his attitude toward us today was very strange… earlier Heavenly-Mouse didn’t even finish speaking before being beaten until he vomited blood, so if I…”

As he spoke, he adjusted his angle, seemingly trying to catch Heavenly-Dog’s line of sight.

When Heavenly-Dog noticed Heavenly-Snake’s movement, he calmly took a step back, letting his gaze sink into the shadows within the room.

“That’s not right… Heavenly-Dog… why are you avoiding me?” Seeing Heavenly-Dog’s behavior made Heavenly-Snake feel even more afraid. “What did you hear? Let me take a look…”

“This time I really can’t…” Heavenly-Dog said in a low voice from the darkness. “This situation is too special… I have no way to give you any advice.”

“So… so the situation is very serious, right?” Heavenly-Snake kept seeking confirmation from Heavenly-Dog. “Specifically what kind of serious… can you give me a hint?”

“I really can’t say…” Heavenly-Dog said. “I feel like everything has been designed by someone… Right now I have a deep sense of powerlessness and just want to protect myself.”

“But…” Heavenly-Snake reached his hand into the door crack, trying to grab Heavenly-Dog’s arm, but Heavenly-Dog dodged again. “Heavenly-Dog, aren’t we friends? All these years we’ve been looking out for each other…”

After hearing this, Heavenly-Dog sighed from the shadows. “Heavenly-Snake, don’t fool yourself. No matter how we get along normally, you yourself know that once problems arise, we’ll definitely protect ourselves first and certainly won’t take risks for each other.”

“So…” Heavenly-Snake seemed to catch the key point from Heavenly-Dog’s words. “This time… will I die? Just because of that woman…?”

“She’s already ‘Echoed,'” Heavenly-Dog said in a low voice. “Normally I shouldn’t give you any advice, but you’re right… over all these years, although we can’t say we’ve been deeply devoted to each other, we’ve at least weathered hardships together… Regarding that woman, I can give you one piece of advice.”

“What…?”

“Kill her,” Heavenly-Dog said. “Don’t worry about any ‘new Xuanwu,’ and don’t listen to her honeyed words. The moment you return to your room, kill her. Maybe there’s still hope, or maybe…”

Heavenly-Dog never stated the next outcome, making Heavenly-Snake’s heart pound continuously.

“What exactly happened…” Heavenly-Snake asked. “What exactly is that woman…?”

“She’s just a small soldier,” Heavenly-Dog said. “But the problem isn’t with her at all… Can you understand this feeling? I thought it was just a small soldier advancing to threaten the ‘General,’ but upon closer look… the opponent’s chariots, horses, and cannons are all aimed at the ‘General,’ even the board itself is tilted. This is a check with all killing moves deployed. We’re about to be checkmated.”

Heavenly-Snake felt more confused the more he listened. “What exactly happened? Aren’t they just some ‘Participants’ who boarded the train… Even if there are many of them, they can’t possibly do anything to the ‘Train’… Moreover, there are still many ‘Earth-Level’ beings here…”

“I truly envy you…” Heavenly-Dog murmured. “Unless people walk up to you and make eye contact, you can never hear what they’re thinking. But I know far too much…”

“So much that even I can’t make eye contact?” Heavenly-Snake asked again.

“Yes…” Heavenly-Dog replied. “I need to ensure I stay alive… What you need to do now is go back and kill that woman, so her disgusting ‘Echo’ will stop lingering in my ears.”

After saying this, Heavenly-Dog closed the door once more and returned to that pitch-black room.

Heavenly-Snake stood at the door in a daze for a long time. Although he didn’t know how to handle that strange woman in his room, he also knew the most urgent matter now was to inform the other “Heaven-Level” beings to resist.

No matter how that woman would ultimately be dealt with, Qinglong’s orders had to be executed immediately.