“What are you drawing here?” Earth-Tiger stared at Qi Xia blankly. “Did something happen?”

“Earth-Tiger, if I’m not mistaken, one more person will come tonight,” Qi Xia said.

“What?”

“You just need to wait,” Qi Xia said. “At the earliest tonight, that person will come to find you on their own initiative.”

Earth-Tiger still felt he couldn’t quite understand Qi Xia’s words, but this feeling was extraordinarily familiar to him.

This was Brother Sheep’s style of doing things.

He didn’t need to ask anything—he just needed to do as told, just needed to wait.

“Qi Xia, there’s one more thing,” Earth-Tiger said again.

“What?”

“Just like I said…” Earth-Tiger shook his head. “Among us, not a single person can serve as ‘captain.’ Whose instructions should we follow? Could it be the last person you mentioned?”

Qi Xia pondered for a while, feeling this question was somewhat uncertain.

After all, whoever that “hidden needle” was, even someone as powerful as Baiyang had no choice in the matter.

That person could only be him.

So whether he would have the qualifications to be captain was completely unknown.

“I’ll be the captain,” Qi Xia said.

“At critical moments, you’ll follow my command,” Qi Xia said earnestly. “After all, the organizer of this matter isn’t you, but me. So only I can convince everyone.”

“This…” After hearing this, Earth-Tiger scratched his head, feeling this proposal sounded both reliable and unreliable. “We gather in the evenings, and basically all on the ‘Train,’ but Sheep… Qi Xia, you’re not on the train.”

“That’s why I said ‘at critical moments’ listen to me.”

“What about non-critical moments…?”

Qi Xia shook his head helplessly. “Non-critical moments are even easier—you can each act independently. All seven people are captains. Whoever thinks of something can go do it. Adapt to circumstances as they arise.”

“Will that work?”

“The situation is already like a collapsing building—it’s out of control.” Qi Xia reached out and patted Earth-Tiger’s shoulder. “So at this point, whatever chaos occurs is the same. Even if this building explodes continuously from the ground floor, in the end it still has to fall.”

“Oh…” Earth-Tiger nodded as if he half-understood.

“But there’s no need to worry. By then your team will have taken shape… a full eight people.”

When mentioning “eight people,” Qi Xia furrowed his brow slightly.

“What’s wrong?” Earth-Tiger asked.

Qi Xia paused, then pulled out from his pocket the rolled-up map that “Qinglong” had given him. “Coming to find you, besides asking about your progress, there’s also a small trouble that needs your participation.”

“You need my help?” Earth-Tiger laughed boldly. “Aren’t you being too formal? If there’s anything you can use me for, just say it.”

Qi Xia unrolled the map in front of Earth-Tiger. It depicted the layout of this area in detail.

“What’s this thing?”

Earth-Tiger picked up the map and looked it over repeatedly, discovering that although the map was hand-drawn, it was extraordinarily detailed. It even drew out the shapes of important buildings, and marked words like “Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao” in front of some buildings.

“Earth-Tiger, there are some red characters on here representing some ‘Earth Level’ members. Do you know who’s there?”

“Oh, oh!!” Earth-Tiger finally understood the map’s meaning. “Let me see!”

He extended his thick finger, pointing at the red characters on the map and reading them one by one: “Chou, Mao, Chen, Si, Xu, Shen, You, Hai…”

After reading, he extended his finger again to count: “Chou is Ox… what’s Mao? Rabbit? And Chen…”

Qi Xia waited silently on the side for a while before Earth-Tiger raised his head thoughtfully, his expression somewhat complex.

“What?” Qi Xia asked.

“It’s a bit strange…” Earth-Tiger scratched his head. “What are these eight red ‘Earth Level’ members doing?”

“Earth-Tiger, there’s something I’d like your help with.” Qi Xia placed the map before Earth-Tiger. “This time—”

“This is…”

Qi Xia frowned, feeling it wasn’t easy to say, since in the next second he might become enemies with these eight people.

But he had seen these eight characters before, and they differed from the team Earth-Tiger mentioned—at least among these eight people there was no “Yin Tiger” or “Wei Sheep.” The only red character he had visited and was currently recorded was “Hai,” which was that arrogant, unlikeable Earth-Pig.

So the problem wouldn’t get too out of control. As long as his “needle” was still there, they could thread other “strings” at will. Even if the other six people all died, it wouldn’t be a problem.

“You don’t have to say if you don’t want to.” Earth-Tiger shook his head. “It’s just a bit coincidental… Among these eight red characters, three of them came to my room yesterday.”

“Oh?”

“Right here…” Earth-Tiger picked up the map and pointed it out to Qi Xia. “Mao Rabbit, Xu Dog, Hai Pig… I looked at these three positions—they’re clearly their game venues.”

Qi Xia had been to Earth-Pig’s venue and naturally understood it, but he didn’t know the locations of Earth-Rabbit’s and Earth-Dog’s venues. Looking at it now, the situation was about what he expected—there was indeed some connection between these two matters.

“Three out of eight have joined the team, which means there are really five enemies…?” Qi Xia muttered to himself.

“What ‘enemies’?” Earth-Tiger asked.

Qi Xia didn’t answer, only saying to Earth-Tiger, “Remember the positions of the remaining five red characters. If I’m not mistaken, one of these five will knock on your door tonight.”

Earth-Tiger felt Qi Xia was simply divine. He casually pulled out a map, marked a few red characters, and then said that one of the Earth Level members would join him.

Who else besides Baiyang from back then would dare say such things?

Xu Liunian on the side also didn’t quite understand. She had been present for the conversation with “Qinglong,” and she had been present when Earth-Tiger recounted last night’s encounter, but she completely didn’t know what Qi Xia was thinking.

“Qi Xia… why would someone among them join?” Xu Liunian asked. “Is there some inevitable connection between these two matters?”

“Yes, because arranging it this way fits ‘Qinglong’s’ personality.” Qi Xia raised his head, as if talking to Xu Liunian but also as if saying it for “Qinglong” to hear. “Four ‘rebels,’ four ‘enemies,’ and these four enemies want to exchange the lives of my four ‘teammates.’ Four in each category. In the end, he wants to see how I choose… He wants to know who I’ll keep and who I’ll abandon. For someone who knows everything about the ‘Land of the End,’ doing this couldn’t be more appropriate.”

“What…” Xu Liunian’s eyes widened. “But what’s ‘Qinglong’s’ purpose in doing this?”

“Most likely to watch the show,” Qi Xia said. “There’s no need for any complex reason. He can’t possibly help me, nor will he kill me. He’s just looking for interesting things to keep himself alert.”