After listening for a long time, Bai Jiu felt the rules weren’t being explained very clearly.

“May I ask why we need to push this cart?” She asked somewhat puzzled. “Didn’t you say we just need to make the round trips ourselves?”

“Of course not.” The Earth-Horse said. “You all don’t look like cultured people. I’m probably the only one who’s read all of ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms.'”

“No.” Yun Shijiu shook his head. “We’ve all probably read it. What are you trying to say?”

After hearing this, Qiao Jiajin very consciously took a step to the side.

Yes, he was probably the only one who hadn’t read it.

“Oh?” The Earth-Horse somewhat contemptuously stroked her mane. “You’ve all read it? Well, you really can’t judge a book by its cover. If that’s the case, then tell me—where did the ‘Wooden Ox and Gliding Horse’ come from?”

Yun Shijiu answered almost without hesitation: “The Wooden Ox and Gliding Horse should be transportation tools invented by Zhuge Liang, the Prime Minister of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period, divided into the Wooden Ox and the Gliding Horse. According to historical records, Zhuge Liang used them during his Northern Expeditions from the ninth to twelfth years of Jianxing.”

Bai Jiu also smiled slightly and spoke: “According to legend, the Wooden Ox and Gliding Horse could carry ‘one year’s grain,’ approximately over four hundred pounds. Their daily travel distance was ‘several dozen li for a single cart, thirty li for a group,’ transporting grain for Shu Han’s hundred-thousand-strong army.”

The Earth-Horse truly hadn’t expected that these people dressed so casually would actually be quite knowledgeable when they opened their mouths, and could only nod with slight surprise.

At this time, a tall young woman also spoke up: “Although your game is called ‘Wooden Ox and Gliding Horse,’ in reality, no one knows the true style and appearance of the Wooden Ox and Gliding Horse. Many documents explain it differently. Some say it’s just an ordinary single-wheeled pushcart, while others say it’s a wooden structure shaped like oxen and horses.”

Qiao Jiajin looked at this very tall young woman. If he remembered correctly, she was called Feng Shiqi.

“Unexpected.” The Earth-Horse turned to look at everyone. “You’re quite knowledgeable… But so what?”

“What…?”

“This knowledge is merely words to you…” The Earth-Horse somewhat wistfully stroked the wooden pushcart beside her. “Even if craftsmen painstakingly restore these lost things, you’ll only say that since no one in this world has seen them, any restoration must be fake.”

Qiao Jiajin scratched his head somewhat blankly: “I, I don’t quite understand what you mean… Are they wrong? Things made by later generations, aren’t those fake?”

“Of course they’re wrong.” The Earth-Horse said. “The significance of our master carpenter family’s existence is to restore these lost precision wooden implements, and we often spend our entire lives without gaining anyone’s understanding…”

After hearing this, Qiao Jiajin looked at those wooden boxes placed on both sides of the track. Since this was a “master carpenter family,” did that mean those wooden boxes were also made by this Earth-Horse herself?

“I still don’t understand.” Qiao Jiajin said. “I know quite a few master carpenter families… But aren’t you being a bit extreme?”

“Extreme?”

“This whatever ox horse…” Qiao Jiajin patted the pushcart beside him. “Does it hold extraordinary significance for you?”

“No, I said… I simply want to replicate these lost things. They are part of the brilliant history that has dissipated in the long river of time.”

“What’s the significance?” Qiao Jiajin asked.

“Significance?”

“After hearing your introductions just now, I feel this thing once helped Zhuge Liang, which means it should be a transportation device, right?”

“That’s right.” The Earth-Horse nodded. “The Wooden Ox and Gliding Horse is recorded in many ancient books. It’s the pushcart Zhuge Liang used to transport grain and fodder through the mountains.”

“Then it should hold extraordinary significance for Zhuge Liang, not you.” Qiao Jiajin said. “Are you dedicating your entire life to this kind of thing? Does Zhuge Liang agree with this?”

“Ah…?”

“I might be speaking out of turn.” Qiao Jiajin smiled bitterly and shook his head. “I just hope that when you have time, you’ll do something happier instead of this kind of thing.”

“You…” The Earth-Horse sighed. She didn’t know why she would say so much to this annoying flower-armed man, and could only sigh as well and say, “There’s no need to curry favor with me before the game starts. Besides my own obsession, I have no happy things left. If you can’t win this game, you’ll die more miserably than in any other place.”

“Is it that difficult?” Qiao Jiajin said. “Don’t we just need each person to push the cart for one round trip to complete the game?”

“No…” The Earth-Horse shook her head. “Because the original design concept of the Wooden Ox and Gliding Horse was ‘transport’… So you yourself passing through the track has no effect…”

“Ah?” Qiao Jiajin suddenly couldn’t quite understand. “Wait a moment… Didn’t you just say that as long as each person can make one round trip on the track, we can win the game?”

“Yes, but that’s not the complete rule.” The Earth-Horse smiled and said. “Only when all seven people ride the Wooden Ox and Gliding Horse for one round trip will it count as clearing the game.”

“What the hell?!” Qiao Jiajin was stunned. “You pink… you Earth Lady, what nonsense are you talking about? Running on the ground barefoot doesn’t count?”

“It doesn’t count.” The Earth-Horse shook her head. “I’ll observe the entire process from the side. All seven people must ride on the ‘Wooden Ox and Gliding Horse’ for one round trip. Once cheating occurs, I’ll impose sanctions on you.”

“This is really difficult…” Qiao Jiajin lowered his head and looked back at his several teammates, as if waiting for their ideas.

Although Qi Xia wasn’t there, Qiao Jiajin was at least leading a group of “little brains.”

“So… what do you all say?”

“Um… Qiao Ge, come with me for a moment.” Bai Jiu reached out and tugged at his clothes.

Qiao Jiajin nodded and retreated to the corner with everyone.

“Do you all have ideas?”

“More or less…” Bai Jiu nodded. “Although this game is a racing game, it looks like it still needs some cooperation.”

Yun Shijiu also nodded: “That’s right. The Earth-Horse only counts people sitting on the ‘Wooden Ox and Gliding Horse,’ but she never mentioned people on the track…”

“It seems Nineteen and I are thinking the same thing.” Bai Jiu nodded. “We can go all out every round.”

“All out…?”

“We have seven people.” Bai Jiu explained. “Each round only needs one person sitting on the chair, then send out three people on each side to maintain the pushcart’s stability. This will greatly increase our time to pass through the track.”

“Is that so?” Qiao Jiajin furrowed his brows and scratched his hair, feeling something wasn’t quite right. “Have any of you ever walked hand-in-hand on an ice surface?”

“Uh… no…” Everyone shook their heads.

“I haven’t either.” Qiao Jiajin said. “But I can roughly guess… Although there’s a probability of ensuring everyone’s stability, there’s an equal probability that pulling one will move the whole. Once one person falls, the rest will have difficulty maintaining balance. Even the person sitting on the ‘Wooden Ox and Gliding Horse’ might fall off.”

“In… indeed there’s that possibility…” Bai Jiu nodded.

“Has your team ever had that kind of game…?” Qiao Jiajin asked. “The kind where you move the same hands and feet together?”