In a room that looked fairly spacious, faint gasping sounds gradually rose.

The Earth-Mouse, covered in wounds, leaned against the door. He looked almost unable to move, with an oddly shaped wooden sword stuck in his stomach, and even his intestines spilling onto the ground.

The door behind him was also constantly resounding with knocking sounds at this moment.

“Bang!”

“Bang!”

Earth-Mouse struggled to raise his head and looked at Heavenly-Mouse sitting across from him, then the corner of his mouth lifted as he said softly: “Boss… where’s that energy you usually have when toying with us? In our era, retirement was at fifty-five… What about you, Boss? Suddenly retiring today?”

Heavenly-Mouse’s body was also bleeding profusely. The two seemed to have experienced a fight to the death.

However, the injuries Earth-Mouse received were more fatal, while Heavenly-Mouse only looked like he had fallen into excessive fatigue.

“I really can’t figure it out…” Heavenly-Mouse said with a bitter smile. “I smelled the killing intent on you after just a few steps… All these years, even when I hung a collar around your neck, you never emanated this kind of killing intent toward me…”

“So does the Boss understand my suffering now?” Earth-Mouse chuckled lightly. “Wanting not to feel murderous intent toward a great boss like you is truly as difficult as ascending to heaven. After all, you’re just too dazzling, too deserving of death in front of me. Every day I suppress my true desires… just so you won’t hold it against us lowly nobodies.”

Heavenly-Mouse knew that the Earth-Mouse before him had hidden a considerable portion of his strength in order to kill him. Although he had no “Echo” and no powerful combat abilities, he possessed a desperate resolve to throw his life away.

And Heavenly-Mouse’s own “Immortal Techniques” happened to be “Spirit Scent,” “Clever Objects,” and “Created Objects”—three abilities, not one of which could help him survive here.

If neither of them considered “Immortal Techniques” and only considered “Physical Enhancement,” he was just a frail old man, while his opponent was a strong, robust young man who had completely stopped caring about his life.

Even taking another ten thousand steps back, if their fighting levels were at the same grade… his body still bore old wounds left by Qinglong.

Countless coincidences created the current situation, leaving both men lying on the ground unable to move.

“No way, Boss…” Earth-Mouse supported himself on the ground with both hands and struggled to stand up, his intestines hanging outside his body. “You don’t really think I was afraid of you, do you? Although I’ve always had the ability to kill you, I would also certainly die. What I fear isn’t your bones that tremble when you walk, but rather the retaliation I’d face.”

He pulled the wooden sword from his stomach and casually threw it on the ground. Fresh blood also stained the floor red at this moment.

“But can you survive now…” Heavenly-Mouse raised his head to look at the heavily wounded Earth-Mouse. “If we keep fighting… it’s hard to say who’ll die…”

“That’s really hard to say.” Earth-Mouse walked step by step to Heavenly-Mouse’s side. “Boss… may I presumptuously ask, have you been hearing knocking sounds since earlier?”

Heavenly-Mouse naturally heard the constant banging sounds, but he didn’t understand why the corridor was so chaotic. On normal nights… would many “Zodiacs” knock on doors like this?

“Today I heard an interesting plan.” Earth-Mouse walked to Heavenly-Mouse’s side and slowly bent down. “They said they want to liberate all the ‘ants’ here… Boss, you’re well-informed and have one foot in the grave already. Can you help this youngster analyze what this plan means?”

After hearing this, Heavenly-Mouse’s eyes instantly widened. He raised his nose to sniff, and indeed smelled threads of killing intent from outside the door.

Would ordinary “Zodiacs” carry killing intent all over their bodies and keep knocking on an inconspicuous door?

“The ‘ants’… came aboard the ‘Train’?!” Heavenly-Mouse asked incredulously. “You’re joking… There’s Heavenly-Ox at the ants’ place… and a ‘door’ that can’t be opened from inside. They can’t hear or see. Theoretically it’s impossible… Even if they really want to rebel, you’ll absolutely die before me…”

Taking advantage of Heavenly-Mouse’s speech, Earth-Mouse instantly reached out both hands to cup his face, pressing his two blood-covered thumbs against his eyeballs.

Heavenly-Mouse was so frightened he closed his eyes tightly, and his hands also nervously waved about.

“Boss…” Earth-Mouse cupped Heavenly-Mouse’s cheeks and said with a weak, smiling expression, “Now as long as I open the door, they’ll tear you to shreds. Yet you’re still worried about whether I’ll die? You truly keep my life and death in your heart at all times. Where else could I find such a good boss who cares so much about his subordinates?”

“Earth-Mouse… wait a moment…” Heavenly-Mouse swallowed and said in a flustered manner, “Listen to me. Once you kill me, Qinglong and Heavenly-Dragon won’t let you go… You’ve already been disemboweled by me. If I plead for you and get you emergency treatment, you’ll…”

“Wait a moment, Boss…” Earth-Mouse paused. “You seem to have misunderstood something.”

As soon as the words fell, his two thumbs began to slowly apply pressure.

Heavenly-Mouse instantly felt something was wrong. After letting out a scream, he reached out to grab Earth-Mouse’s scattered intestines hanging outside. He pulled hard, but Earth-Mouse had no intention of letting go.

With a light smile on his face, Earth-Mouse fiercely thrust his two thumbs into Heavenly-Mouse’s eyes.

He felt like he had crushed two beads filled with dirty water. His hands instantly became incredibly sticky.

“Ahhh!!!!!!”

“Boss…” Earth-Mouse slowly smiled. “Please allow me to report to you the upcoming work plan. First, you’ll be tortured to death by me bit by bit. No matter what my fate is, making sure of the Boss’s death will definitely be my primary task, earnestly implementing the ruthless action policy you’ve practiced for many years.”

“You beast… you’ve gone mad… you’ve truly gone mad…” Heavenly-Mouse frantically struck at the wounds on Earth-Mouse’s body with his hands. He could clearly feel that Earth-Mouse was constantly bleeding, but his thumbs remained thrust into his eyes.

“Boss, if the plan to torture you unfortunately encounters a hitch, you don’t need to worry about surviving afterward. After all, there are ‘ants’ waiting outside the door for you to come and guide them. The moment you meet with them, you’ll feel the full enthusiasm of grassroots workers.”

“Wait a moment…” Only after hearing this did Heavenly-Mouse realize that today he was truly going to die here.

Whether or not he could kill this Earth-Mouse, after opening the door he would die without a burial place.

No… he felt he was still overthinking things. Was there even a way to open the door now?

Perhaps he would die before the door even opened.

He felt his eyes throb with pain. Earth-Mouse slowly withdrew his fingers, as if he had completely run out of strength.

Then those sticky palms gripped his neck, wanting to end Heavenly-Mouse’s life here.

But his ice-cold hands could never muster any strength. Heavenly-Mouse only felt as if the other party was gently caressing him.

Heavenly-Mouse knew his opportunity might have come… Although Earth-Mouse was trying to appear strong, his life force didn’t seem willing to give him the chance.