“So can you work some overtime?” Su Shan asked. “Does your game take a very long time?”

“Not really.” Earth-Dog shook his head and sighed. “But it’s exhausting. I’ve already killed off one batch today. Can you come back tomorrow?”

“Already killed off one batch…?” Lawyer Zhang revealed an uneasy expression from the side.

“Yeah, I’m a bit tired. How about we schedule for tomorrow?” Earth-Dog yawned and said lazily. “I’m afraid I might fall asleep during the game.”

Qin Dingdong turned to look at Su Shan: “Are you really decided on participating?”

“What about you all… are you prepared?” Su Shan asked in return.

Qin Dingdong sighed after hearing this.

“Lin Qin and I are both ‘Echoed Ones.’ Participating in this kind of game doesn’t put much pressure on us. After all, even if we lose, we’ll retain our memories. But what about you two?” Her gaze moved between Su Shan and Zhang Chenze. “If you die before ‘Echoing,’ you’ll forget these experiences.”

“I…” Zhang Chenze paused, then said, “Actually, I don’t really mind. I haven’t retained my memories. If you all hadn’t just explained the rules here to me, I would’ve really thought I’d only arrived recently.”

After hearing this, everyone focused their gazes on Su Shan.

“I’m not afraid of failure.” Su Shan said. “The more painful the failure, the more it can stimulate my ‘Echo.'”

Earth-Dog used his pinky to scratch his ear, feeling the situation was getting troublesome: “Wait, you… all four of you are veterans?”

“No.” Su Shan shook her head. “To be precise, only two are veterans. The other two are newcomers.”

“Two is still very troublesome…” Earth-Dog pursed his lips. “Can you go to another place? Although I really want to kill you all, I’m genuinely tired today.”

“How strange…” Su Shan looked at the emaciated dog-headed person before her with confusion. “Can you ‘Zodiacs’ actually refuse to let us participate in games?”

“I can’t refuse, actually.” Earth-Dog said with a furrowed brow. “If I could refuse, I would have already.”

“This…” Su Shan was somewhat puzzled. “Since you can’t refuse, why are you still trying to persuade us to go somewhere else?”

“Because I’m stalling for time.” Earth-Dog leaned back against the wall, pillowing his arms behind his head. “Maybe if I stall a bit longer, I’ll be able to clock out.”

“It’s no use.” Su Shan shook her head. “My mind is made up. I must participate in your game today.”

“Sigh…” Earth-Dog slowly closed his eyes. “It’s not just me saying this… veterans really are too difficult to deal with…”

Qin Dingdong, Lin Qin, and Zhang Chenze all looked at each other. After a moment, Qin Dingdong spoke: “Little Shan, since he doesn’t want to host us, let’s just forget it. It’s getting late anyway…”

Su Shan glanced at Qin Dingdong after hearing this and said: “Why don’t you go rest first? I think time is precious and don’t want to waste it on sleeping.”

“Huh?” Qin Dingdong hadn’t expected Su Shan to give such a far-fetched reason.

After speaking, Su Shan looked at Earth-Dog again: “May I ask how many people are needed to participate in your game?”

Earth-Dog looked at everyone with dejected eyes and answered in a low voice: “What rotten luck—it just happens to need four people.”

Zhang Chenze nodded after hearing this: “Su Shan, I’ll go with you too. Gathering intelligence will help me make better judgments.”

“Oh?” Su Shan looked at her, then nodded with a hint of satisfaction.

Lin Qin and Qin Dingdong clearly lacked motivation. Both wanted to leave.

“Su Shan…” Lin Qin called out. “As someone who’s been here before, I’m telling you that in this place, the first people to die are often those who are most enthusiastic about participating in games.”

“You mean it’s always those who know how to swim that drown?” Su Shan raised a pair of exceptionally bright eyes to look at Lin Qin. “But this entire world is flooded with water. We either learn to swim at the first opportunity or slowly drown. Which do you choose?”

Lin Qin thought for a moment after hearing this, then nodded.

It was precisely because the “Land of the End” always produced people like this that it made one feel they were still alive.

“Old Qin, what do you say?” Lin Qin turned to ask.

“Sigh… what can I do?” Qin Dingdong sighed. “Who told me I’m Little Shan’s ‘good friend’?”

“Alright.” Lin Qin extended a hand and said, “Lawyer Zhang, Su Shan, for safety’s sake, let’s shake hands.”

“Shake hands?” Both were somewhat puzzled.

“That’s right.” Lin Qin said. “As long as you’re willing to shake hands with me, Old Qin and I will go to this game with you.”

Su Shan extended her hand without hesitation and clasped it with Lin Qin’s. Afterward, Lin Qin released her hand and looked at Zhang Chenze.

Zhang Chenze looked at Lin Qin with some caution, then asked: “I’ll pass. Unless it’s an emergency or a medical situation, I don’t want anyone touching me at other times.”

Hearing this, Lin Qin remembered that she had participated in the previous Earth-Dog game with Lawyer Zhang, and she had said the same thing then.

“Although I don’t know why you’re so averse to others touching you, after we shake hands, you’ll have a higher probability of ‘Echoing.'” Lin Qin said. “Are you sure you don’t want to touch me?”

Hearing this, Zhang Chenze thought for a moment, and finally extended her hand, lightly touching the back of Lin Qin’s hand.

“Will this work?”

Lin Qin nodded after looking and said: “Although it’s somewhat reluctant, let’s go with this.”

The four women turned back to look at Earth-Dog, their expressions seeming more serious now.

“No way…” Earth-Dog felt like he was about to collapse. “When did you ‘Participants’ become so intense? I just want to find a quiet corner and be invisible, but today I actually have to host two batches of customers.”

“Since you’ve opened your doors for business, you’ll naturally encounter this day.” Su Shan smiled. “How do you charge for admission?”

“How about… how about…” Earth-Dog pulled out a coin from his pocket. “I’ll play a coin-guessing game with you. If you guess correctly, I’ll give your team one ‘Dao,’ and we’ll call it a day.”

“What do you think?” Su Shan asked.

Earth-Dog’s expression turned cold after hearing this. He put the coin back in his pocket, then slowly stood up, smoothing the fur on top of his head, looking somewhat unhappy.

“There are two types of people I hate most in this life…” He yawned and said, “The first are people who slack off, and the second are people who prevent me from slacking off.”

“Then wouldn’t you hate yourself very much?” Su Shan asked.

“Exactly.” Earth-Dog nodded. “The admission fee is three ‘Dao’ per person. After winning, you get ten ‘Dao’ each.”

“Not bad.” Su Shan said. “As expected of an ‘Earth-level.’ We worked hard all day and only earned three or four per person. Your one game can let us earn seven.”

“I don’t want it either.” Earth-Dog shook his head. “A slacking ‘Zodiac’ accidentally took on a few very intense disciples, and now I’m very conflicted. If I don’t pretend to work a little harder, my disciples will look down on me.”