“Fucking hell…”

Earth-Monkey came to his senses and cursed. His expression seemed somewhat puzzled and somewhat angry.

*BOOM!*

Upon hearing this muffled thunder, Earth-Monkey directly turned around and opened the door, pointing at the sky and saying viciously: “You won’t even let me speak about this?! Just how big of a spectacle are you planning to watch?!”

Muffled rumbling rolled across the sky above, but no thunder struck again.

“If you don’t want me to tell others, then why did you tell me?!”

Everyone gazed at the sky outside. There wasn’t even a single cloud in that dark red sky.

“Madman… are you fucking doing this just to watch the fun?!”

Earth-Monkey pointed at the sky and cursed profusely, leaving everyone inside the room somewhat stunned.

“Wait…” Chen Junnan turned back and asked, “Old Qiao, who’s he pointing at the sky and cursing?”

“Pointing at the sky…” Qiao Jiajin blinked. “Probably cursing at birds.”

Earth-Monkey cursed for quite a while. The sky above gave no response at all. Only then did he spit on the ground and return to the room in a huff. He kept panting heavily, looking extremely upset.

“Yo, Monkey Brother, were you just making a phone call?” Chen Junnan said with a smile.

“Damn…” Earth-Monkey kept shaking his head. “I truly can’t figure out ‘Qinglong’…”

“Who?”

“Who else could it be when he’s already brought out ‘Startling Thunder’?” Earth-Monkey said in a low, angry voice. “Really doesn’t treat us like people… Clearly has the ability to sanction the entire ‘Land of End,’ but just knows how to frighten us ‘Zodiacs’… Damn… damn… we…”

“Alright, alright, Monkey Brother, don’t be angry.” Chen Junnan said. “This young master thinks that ‘Qinglong’ was just messing with you for fun. Otherwise, if that lightning bolt had struck down, you’d already be an African great ape by now. Don’t you agree?”

Earth-Monkey stopped speaking. He turned and came to sit at a table to the side, then waved his hand: “I’ve said it already—my business has nothing to do with you all. Leave early.”

After speaking, he jerked his mouth in Qi Xia’s direction: “Take him with you.”

“Monkey Brother, Monkey Brother.” Chen Junnan continued walking forward with a grin. “Look, we’ve already talked to this extent—why not tell us everything you know? If you can make deals with Old Qi, maybe we can too.”

Earth-Monkey was just about to take out a cigarette from his pocket when he paused involuntarily upon hearing Chen Junnan’s words. He looked up at Chen Junnan and asked in a heavy voice: “Kid… tell me, how many years can a plan set by one person continue to operate?”

He dejectedly took out a cigarette and lit it. Everyone looked at the floor of this gambling den, not knowing whether Earth-Monkey’s smoking addiction was truly this great or if their arrival had made him extremely vexed. The dirty, messy floor was already full of cigarette butts.

“That depends on whose plan it is.” Chen Junnan answered. “Take this young master, for example. For things that just happened, I’m only making plans for them now. After all, this young master’s life motto is ‘when the cart reaches the mountain, there will be a road; when the boat reaches the bridge, it will naturally straighten.'”

After speaking, he turned to look at Qiao Jiajin: “Old Qiao, how long can your plans persist?”

Qiao Jiajin let out a “heh heh” laugh upon hearing this: “What plans do I have?”

Earth-Monkey let out a helpless sigh upon hearing this: “Tell me, if someone’s plan could continue to be effective for decades… and this plan has been advancing along its predetermined trajectory the whole time, what does this represent?”

Chen Junnan pondered after hearing this, then said: “This represents that the person who formulated the plan is very capable. For example, Old Qi—Old Qi has always been such a capable person.”

“How could he have always been this capable…” Earth-Monkey gritted his teeth and viciously crushed the cigarette butt in his mouth in his hand. “This is exactly where the problem lies… this is the biggest problem!”

“What?” Everyone was somewhat puzzled.

Earth-Monkey’s brows remained tightly locked, as if he also had ten thousand questions in his heart.

“A person who wasn’t that smart originally… suddenly became extremely intelligent. Even though I can understand this situation… but why would the plan he set while in that ‘not so smart’ state proceed so smoothly…? Do you know what an enormously complex plan this is…?”

“This young master roughly understands…” Chen Junnan nodded thoughtfully. “You’re saying Old Qi wasn’t as smart before as he is now, but he set a grand plan… and until now, you’ve all been acting according to the plan? Is this matter very frightening?”

“Isn’t this matter frightening enough?!” Earth-Monkey suddenly widened his eyes and said, “Can a normal person accomplish this kind of thing?! Even if an ordinary person wants to plan out the next day’s itinerary, they’ll constantly fine-tune their plan due to all sorts of trivial matters… What if this time frame is changed to decades? Being too smooth is absolutely not a good thing… You fundamentally don’t understand…”

Chen Junnan thought along Earth-Monkey’s line of reasoning for a moment, then nodded: “I truly don’t understand. Aren’t you still praising Old Qi? It’s precisely because the person who set the plan is him that you can live so smoothly…”

“No!!” Earth-Monkey looked somewhat anxious. “Do none of you have brains?!”

After speaking, he took a step forward and extended both hands to press down on Chen Junnan’s shoulders, calling out softly with a face full of terror: “This fucking shows that other people are interfering with this plan!! There are people besides Qi Xia and us who are helping Qi Xia’s plan along, which is why everything has proceeded so smoothly!”

Upon hearing this, everyone finally understood what Earth-Monkey had been worried about all along.

“Don’t you see…” Earth-Monkey pointed at the sleeping Qi Xia. “Do you know who has ‘entering dreams’? Do you know how the ‘Zodiacs’ receive ‘that person’s’ instructions? Now even ‘he’ has intervened. This shows that the plan Qi Xia set was exposed decades ago! He might have been used by someone all along, and so have I! All my waiting has become nothing but bubbles!! In this game of chess, who exactly is the player? Who are the pieces?”

Seeing Earth-Monkey’s emotions gradually lose control, everyone felt something was amiss. He looked as if he had suffered a tremendous grievance, and also as if… he had gone too long without anyone listening to what was in his heart.

“Big Horse Monkey… calm down first.” Qiao Jiajin stepped forward and patted Earth-Monkey. This Earth-Monkey gave him a very strange feeling.

Although they had just been at odds with him during the gambling match, they always felt this Earth-Monkey wasn’t quite like an enemy.

“You need to think positively…” Qiao Jiajin racked his brains trying to comfort Earth-Monkey.

“Think positively…?” Earth-Monkey turned his head, looking at him with a face full of despair. “Qi Xia has already been struck down by ‘entering dreams.’ Now all the facts are laid bare before us. You tell me how to think positively?”

“Hmm…” Qiao Jiajin thought for a moment, then said: “My brain is slow, so maybe my thinking is also simple. Tell me, could it be that the person who’s been ‘interfering with the plan’ all along is actually the Liar himself after becoming stronger?”