Qi Xia recalled the time he saw those “ants.”

They indeed had no facial features—their eyes and mouths were all hollow, with these areas bleeding. These so-called “ants” had no aggression whatsoever. They only groped about in the darkness, as if searching for something.

These monsters, due to hiding during the day and coming out at night for years without any sunlight exposure, had skin that had become extremely pale. Things without facial features and without the ability to speak…

Had they all once been arrogant “Zodiacs”?

These people had once obtained “Echo” and “divine power,” but because they couldn’t please Heavenly Dragon and Qinglong, they could only become what they are now.

They were first “Participants,” later became “Zodiacs,” and now transformed into “ants.”

In other words, ever since arriving here, their lives had always been toyed with by Heavenly Dragon and Qinglong. They conscientiously followed the various rules set by these two, time and again thinking they saw hope, only to ultimately fall into monsters that could never escape.

Qinglong slowly stretched his neck and continued, “But later Heavenly Dragon told me that they didn’t quite look like ‘ants’—they still looked human. People who offended the two of us cannot stand like humans. They don’t deserve it. We could only arrange for others to twist and break the joints of their limbs, bending their hands and feet in the opposite direction. Thanks to the powerful physical constitution of ‘Earth-level,’ these people quickly healed, but their limbs couldn’t bend back and could only crawl on the ground. Hahahaha!”

Qinglong seemed to be sharing a funny joke with the two, but Qi Xia and Chu Tianqiu just looked at him expressionlessly.

Some things sound absurd at first hearing, but thinking carefully, in this kind of place and under the intervention of Heavenly Dragon and Qinglong, everything was very reasonable.

This was clearly something they could do.

“This is truly interesting to the extreme!” Qinglong said. “How did Heavenly Dragon come up with such a wonderful idea?! At that time I was still very worried… I asked him, ‘What if these people can’t walk? What if they move slower and slower?’ But Heavenly Dragon told me they would figure out ways to move faster themselves. Originally I didn’t take his words to heart, but I soon felt that Heavenly Dragon was absolutely right.”

After speaking, he turned his head and looked at Qi Xia with anticipation. “Quick! Qi Xia, guess again! How did they make themselves move faster?”

After hearing this, Qi Xia’s pupils moved slightly. After pondering for a few seconds, he spoke, “Climbing walls.”

“Yes!!” Qinglong laughed loudly. “You’re truly so likable—you guessed it again!! It’s climbing walls! Those people can only crawl on the ground now. Their hands and feet are dispersed to both sides like a spider. Their movement speed is greatly reduced in this ridiculous posture, but many of them had been ‘Earth-level,’ so they quickly discovered a trick. If they wanted to reach some places faster… they couldn’t consider how to make themselves stand up, but had to consider how to insert their fingers into walls. This way, even if some ‘chips’ were hidden in tall buildings, these fellows could climb up and retrieve them. The complete form of ‘ants’ was born at this moment! Tell me, is this a coincidence or is there fate in all this?! Things called ‘ants’ actually move like ants… Too interesting… interesting to the extreme!!”

“There’s a loophole in your story,” Qi Xia said.

“Oh?” Qinglong raised his eyebrows with an expectant expression. “What loophole? Wasn’t my story good enough?”

“The number of ‘Earth-level Zodiacs’ couldn’t possibly be this many,” Qi Xia said. “The number of people needed to collect ‘chips’ from all cities is extremely large. Relying solely on all the ‘Zodiacs’ who broke rules isn’t enough.”

“Oh? Why is that?”

“Because Earth-level ‘Zodiacs’ are more afraid of death than anyone,” Qi Xia said. “These people not only possessed unprecedented power and preserved enough memories, but more importantly, they would mistakenly believe they were closer to the finish line than anyone else. At this time, as soon as an ‘ant’ appeared, it would sound an alarm bell for these Earth-levels, triggering the ‘Barnum Effect.'”

“Ha.” Qinglong widened his eyes a bit more. “I haven’t heard such familiar words in a long time. Qi Xia, in your opinion, what should we do to have enough ‘ants’?”

“I don’t know.” Qi Xia shook his head. “I only know that you and Heavenly Dragon must have used ‘Echo’ to create an endless stream of ‘ants.'”

“That’s right.” Qinglong nodded in agreement. “We only used this method to create the first batch of ‘ants.’ After all, the first ability Heavenly Dragon personally selected was ‘Soul Migration.’ If he discovered that the quantity needed later was enormous, he could use corpses to create a true endless stream of ‘ants’ at any time. The ants you can see now have quite complex membership.”

After hearing this, Qi Xia still frowned.

He knew his most crucial memories hadn’t returned yet. There was now a paradox he couldn’t explain.

If offending Heavenly Dragon and Qinglong meant being made into an “ant,” then why was he still standing here perfectly fine?

Previously, he had clearly heard Zhu Que tell him, “You offended Heavenly Dragon.”

So what exactly happened at that time that allowed him to not become an “ant” after offending Heavenly Dragon, but instead become an ordinary “Participant”?

“Qi Xia, you also know this,” Qinglong said again. “If you want something to proceed smoothly, you must first present a model. I think you told me before—what was it called… ‘Horse Distribution Law’?”

“I haven’t seen the ‘Horse Distribution Law,'” Qi Xia refuted. “I’ve only seen the ‘Broken Windows Effect.’ Once you two started using your abilities to do as you pleased, this matter became uncontrollable. The holes in the window grew more and more numerous, cold wind blew straight in, making this place a true hell.”

“Is that so…?” Qinglong chuckled lightly. “Qi Xia, I still can’t figure it out. What heinous thing did Heavenly Dragon and I do that would make you all think this is hell?”

“You told a monstrous lie,” Qi Xia said. “This lie has toyed with everyone.”

“No, the one who lied wasn’t me.” Qinglong shook his head with wide eyes. “It was Heavenly Dragon…!”

“So you’re shirking responsibility?” Qi Xia asked. “All these things have nothing to do with you—they’re all Heavenly Dragon’s doing alone?”

After hearing this, Qinglong only smiled and didn’t answer.

Chu Tianqiu also said in a deep voice from the side, “So this is what ‘gods’ are? Can I also pull you two down from that position and then do these willful things?”

“Watch your words.” Qinglong suddenly turned his head. “You want to oppose me face to face? With your current strength?”

Although Chu Tianqiu wore a smile on his face, he had been secretly gripping “Tian Xing Jian” in his hand all along.

Even he himself couldn’t be sure whether this eyeball would work on Qinglong or not.