As the two were speaking, a withered old man near the round table suddenly began trembling all over.

Although the hair on this elder’s head was sparse, every strand was grown very long. His skin was mottled and pale, his clothes barely covering his body, yet he wore a belt around his waist.

Hanging from the belt was a pile of devices resembling remote controls.

A few seconds later, he seemed to have seen something extremely terrifying in his sleep. His expression became agonized, his limbs twisted, and the remote controls at his waist began crackling and clattering chaotically.

Soon he fell from his chair, then woke with a start, looking around in panic.

“Fuck!!” The withered old man cursed loudly. “What’s going on?! What the hell is going on?!”

Qinglong and Heavenly-Ox stood to the side, watching him coldly.

He quickly noticed Qinglong, and his tone immediately softened somewhat, though it was still filled with dissatisfaction.

“Qinglong… what does this mean?” He stood up tremblingly and said to Qinglong. “Didn’t ‘Tianlong’ make an agreement with us? We could return to the real world to live with our families… but how can he suddenly appear in the real world?! Does he want to drive me insane?!”

After hearing this, Qinglong’s eyes revealed a trace of disdain, then he said, “Are you pretending not to understand, or have you really gone mad? The scene you see when you close your eyes—is that really the real world?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?!” The old man shouted. “When I open my eyes, it’s one world; when I close my eyes, it’s another world. You tell me—which seems more like a dream, here or there?!”

Hearing these words, Heavenly-Ox turned her face away, seemingly unwilling to pay attention to this elder.

“Are you… planning to keep speaking to me in this tone?” Qinglong asked with a trace of killing intent.

“I… no… no…” The old man knew he had lost his composure and hurriedly improved his tone. “I… I can’t lose my family… I need to keep sleeping… I’m sorry… I’ll sleep first…”

“Stop being foolish.” Qinglong said. “A world where you can see ‘Tianlong’—how can that be considered the real world?”

“That’s a world he granted you, so naturally he can enter and exit as he pleases.” Qinglong continued speaking, ignoring the elder’s feelings. “How long will you remain addicted to it?”

“This is ridiculous… this is too ridiculous…” The old man’s eyes slowly widened. Hunched over, he came before Qinglong. “Qinglong… what is Tianlong doing now?”

“Why do you ask?”

Heavenly-Mouse seemed not to have heard and continued, “He’s snatching away the straw from the hands of drowning people, then placing it on the camel that’s about to collapse. One straw kills two people—he wants everyone to die…”

Qinglong sighed and said, “Rather than complain about why he suddenly appeared there, you should think about the order he gave you. That way you can at least live a bit longer.”

“His… order…” The old man recalled for a long time before slowly widening his eyes. “He told me to activate the ‘Heavenly-Mouse Moment’…”

“What…?”

“How is this possible…?” The old man stared at Qinglong. “Why would he have me activate the ‘Heavenly-Mouse Moment’?”

“How would I know?” Qinglong asked back. “Isn’t that what he said to you?”

“This is too terrifying…” The old man reached up to grasp the sparse hair on his head, then slowly crouched down. “He transformed into the appearance of my family members, then ordered me to activate the ‘Heavenly-Mouse Moment’… but we’ve never activated this moment in all these years! That’s the ‘Hour of the Rat’! That’s ‘midnight’!”

“This doesn’t concern me.” Qinglong said. “Heavenly-Mouse, make your own choice.”

“Damn it… this is ridiculous!” Heavenly-Mouse stood up angrily. “Going out at midnight… what is he thinking? If we’re going to die, then let’s all die together…”

His eyes gradually became manic, then he removed those strange remote controls from his waist one by one.

Among the dozen or so remote controls, only one had its light on.

Without a word, Heavenly-Mouse reached out and pressed the switch, and at this moment Qinglong also extended a finger to lightly press against his ear.

Although he blocked his ear quickly, Qinglong still heard a muffled boom from far away, followed by blood everywhere and continuous screaming.

“Heh… hehe… comfortable…” Heavenly-Mouse revealed his withered yellow teeth and said. “If we’re going to die, let’s die together… too bad that among so many people, only one is wearing a ‘collar’!”

Qinglong didn’t speak. Heavenly-Ox beside him spoke up:

“The Earth-level ‘Zodiac’ are clearly short-handed. You should control yourself. Managing the ‘ants’ is already annoying enough for me—don’t increase my workload.”

“What kind of good person are you pretending to be?!” Heavenly-Mouse said. “Don’t you want to kill the ‘Earth-level’ beings?! They’re the ones who want to kill us at any time! Moreover, those wearing ‘collars’ voluntarily joined their games in the first place… if anything happens, they have to bear it themselves. We already explained all the pros and cons beforehand… and I haven’t mistreated them either!!”

After speaking, Heavenly-Mouse extended his hand, and a bright red, plump cherry appeared in his palm.

“Beautiful lady… let me treat you to a cherry.”

Heavenly-Ox looked at him with disdain and knocked the cherry from Heavenly-Mouse’s hand to the ground, answering, “Reeking of ‘Peach Blossom Spring’. Get lost.”

“Ahahahaha!” Heavenly-Mouse danced with joy, then pulled out a banana from his hand and threw it directly at Heavenly-Ox. “How hilarious! How hilarious! Hahaha! Haven’t I treated these people well?! Even if they’re all conjured from ‘Plant Object’, they’re still fruit!”

Heavenly-Ox was quite angered by Heavenly-Mouse’s actions and was about to step forward to act, but Qinglong merely cleared his throat slightly, and the two were frightened into freezing in place.

“If you’ve lived enough, you can tell me.” Qinglong said. “One dares to eavesdrop on my conversation at the door, the other casually slaughters Earth-level beings. How long has it been since I’ve disciplined you, and you’ve already become this bold?”

After hearing this, the two deeply lowered their heads, not saying a word.

Qinglong first looked at Heavenly-Ox and said, “From today onward, your every breath will be monitored by me until I’ve calmed down.”

“Under… understood…”

Qinglong then looked at Heavenly-Mouse. “In the future, if you want to vent, you can sever their hand and foot tendons or cut out their tongues, but you cannot reduce the headcount. Understood?”

“Fine… fine…” Heavenly-Mouse said. “I’ll see who doesn’t consume all their fruit tonight when they come back… and I’ll cut out their tongues to play with…”

Qinglong snorted coldly, pushed past the two and walked toward the exit. But after taking just a few steps, his ears twitched.

Something seemed to have changed on the ‘Train’ side. There were unusual sounds from the sky above.

It seemed the ‘Heavenly-Serpent Moment’ had arrived.

Qinglong’s gaze gradually deepened as he said in a low voice, “Come then. Let me see where your ‘upper limit’ truly lies.”