I never imagined that Baiyang Gege would come to save me.

I thought I would have to live in that room from then on…

But Baiyang Gege really came. He brought Tiger Shushu, Snake Shushu, and Black Goat Shushu.

All four of them came to rescue me.

That night, Baiyang Gege fought fiercely with the snake-headed man. Tiger Shushu kept covering my eyes, not letting me watch.

But I could hear it—those were the sounds of fighting.

They were both very strong. When they fought, it was like two tractors colliding.

In the end, Baiyang Gege won. The snake-headed man was beaten until his face was covered in blood.

Baiyang Gege didn’t kill him, only warned him to be more careful in the future.

I didn’t know what exactly had happened. I didn’t know whether to be afraid or happy.

They had clearly abandoned me, yet they came back together to save me… Would they abandon me again?

I could accept people treating me badly, but I couldn’t accept people treating me well and then abandoning me…

Tiger Shushu carried me in his arms and took me back to Baiyang Gege’s room.

“Little Mouse… are you okay?” Tiger Shushu asked me.

“I… I’m fine, Tiger Shushu…” I forced out a smile with effort.

After hearing this, Black Goat Shushu also cursed under his breath. “Bastard… I forgot about that old thief Earth-Snake’s trick… Good thing we went early.”

“Oh!” Snake Shushu looked at my clothes, slapped his forehead, and walked to a cabinet on the side to pull out a dirty suit. “I’ve got an extra suit here! I’ll alter it for you tonight, and you can wear it to work tomorrow.”

“What are you being so attentive for…” Tiger Shushu said. “Are you planning to go two nights without rest?”

“So what? I’m happy to,” Snake Shushu said, shaking his head and winking at Tiger Shushu.

“Then you alter the clothes. I’ll coax Little Mouse to sleep.”

“Why should you?” Snake Shushu shouted. “You’re so ugly—how are you going to coax anyone to sleep?”

“If I don’t coax her, who will?” Tiger Shushu retorted. “Will you? You’re so smelly, who are you planning to suffocate?”

I felt like the atmosphere had changed somehow… They didn’t seem to want to abandon me anymore.

“Mouse, from now on this will be your rest room,” Baiyang Gege said. “Let me reintroduce myself. I am ‘Earth-Goat.’ From now on, I’m your teacher, and you’re my student. I will guide your advancement direction. Perhaps someday I can recommend you to sign the ‘Zodiac Ascension Gambling Contract.'”

“Tea… teacher?” I stood up immediately, hesitating about whether I should say “Hello, teacher.”

“From now on, you’ll live together with my other three students. If you have questions you don’t understand, feel free to ask them. If they can’t answer, you can come ask me,” Baiyang Gege continued. “Remember, on this train, only the four of us can discipline you. No one else is allowed to.”

I don’t know why, but I felt quite happy.

“But… can I really do it…?” I looked at Baiyang Gege somewhat anxiously. I was worried I would mess things up again.

“There’s no such thing as someone who ‘can’t do it’ in this world,” Baiyang Gege said in a gentle tone. “Because there are many roads in the world, and everyone has their own path. We just choose different roads—that doesn’t mean we can’t reach the destination.”

After Baiyang Gege said he was my “teacher,” I suddenly felt he really was very much like a teacher.

From that night on, I spent the happiest period of my life.

During the day, I would sit at the door of the empty warehouse. At night, I would come back and play with everyone.

I gradually discovered that the uncles’ personalities were really interesting.

Although Black Goat Shushu seemed not to pay much attention to me, he would draw a small picture and place it at my bedside every day.

Apparently, Black Goat Shushu not only knew how to paint before, but also how to do calligraphy. Tiger Shushu said that the fan paintings Black Goat Shushu made could be sold for money in the past.

Snake Shushu was the most cheerful among the four. He often made me laugh, and I often forgot about the unpleasant smell on his mask. He was really very nice. To train me, he often asked me some intelligence questions, though I could never figure them out.

The most interesting one should be Tiger Shushu! He listened to me very much. No matter what I said, he would agree. I heard that Tiger Shushu has a daughter the same age as me. The reason he became a “Tiger” here was so that he could go back and see his daughter again someday.

Tiger Shushu often found ways to bring me a bag of snacks. His game venue seemed to be a supermarket, where he could often dig up some unwanted snacks.

Although many of the snacks he brought me had already gone bad, I was still very happy. No one in this world had ever bought me snacks before.

Actually, I was a bit envious of Tiger Shushu’s daughter.

If only my dad could miss me like this too. Unfortunately, he abandoned me very early on.

Even if I could go back someday, I wouldn’t know where to find him. If my dad was even half as good as Tiger Shushu… then even if I died, it would be worth it.

As for Baiyang Gege…

He was a very strange person.

He was different from all of us. He never slept. Whenever he had time, he would lock himself in his room and read books. Every book he read was so profound—I’d never even seen anything like them.

What was even more curious was… Baiyang Gege didn’t seem to have a reason to go out.

He had said more than once that he had no relatives outside, and going out would be worse than staying here. But the games he designed were too excellent. Apparently, he could complete the “quota” every single day. They wouldn’t tell me what the “quota” was. They only told me that once a game was designed, it couldn’t be changed, so Baiyang Gege would definitely go out someday.

I both looked forward to that day… and feared it.

Tiger Shushu said that if Baiyang Gege really did get out… then the three of us would have no “teacher.”

We might be randomly assigned to other “Earth-Level” Zodiacs… or we might be assigned to Earth-Dragon.

At that time, I might not be able to live together with the three uncles anymore.

But I also really hoped Baiyang Gege would get out.

This place clearly wasn’t a normal world. Baiyang Gege was such a good person—he shouldn’t have to stay here for his whole life.

This place was like a huge prison. It had locked us up.

The uncles said that from the moment we boarded this train, we could never leave.

Every one of us was actually a “participant” here, even though we wore masks. Whenever this topic came up… the uncles’ eyes would become very despondent.

It seemed like we had trapped ourselves here. Whether it was us or the participants… it seemed like no one could get out.

The day the change occurred was no different from usual.

Baiyang Gege still sat at the dining table and told us to come eat.

It was just that halfway through our meal, he suddenly said something out of the blue:

“Everyone, I’ve paved the road for your futures.”

“What…?”

“I recommended the three of you to Heavenly-Dragon and turned in the quantities you needed to turn in,” Baiyang Gege said.

“Our… quantities?”

“Three thousand six hundred ‘Tao’ per person, for a total of ten thousand eight hundred. I’ve already turned them all in to Heavenly-Dragon.”