The Earth-Mouse slowly frowned after hearing this and said, “Leader, what do you think this place is? A restaurant?”

“Isn’t it?” Chen Junnan said with a smile. “Last time you treated us to fruit. I want to eat some again this time.”

“Leader, last time was because of the ‘Heavenly Horse Moment,'” the Earth-Mouse said. “The ‘Heavenly Horse Moment’ had just ended then, and the number of people who could participate in the game was greatly reduced. If I didn’t consume the fruit, there would be problems.”

“Isn’t it the same this time?” Chen Junnan said while scratching his head. “The impact caused by the ‘Heavenly Horse Moment’ hasn’t subsided yet. I estimate not many people will participate in your game either.”

“You jest, Leader.” The Earth-Mouse shook his head. “It’s early morning now. If I consume the fruit, the rest of the time won’t be easy. If you’re all hungry, go eat some corpses instead.”

Chen Junnan took a step forward after hearing this, facing the Earth-Mouse, then said, “Big mouse, are you really not understanding or just pretending not to understand…? We not only want to ‘eat fruit,’ we also want to ‘listen to music.'”

The Earth-Mouse’s expression changed after hearing this. He looked at the three people in front of him again, and finally nodded, saying, “‘Listening to music’ is fine. ‘Eating fruit’ is out of the question.”

He turned and went into the house on his own, then came to the “Mouse House” and pushed open the door.

Qiao Jiajin and Chen Junnan walked in after him, and Qin Dingdong followed closely behind. Although she didn’t know what scheme the two were plotting, she always felt they had a deep relationship with this mouse.

The four people came to the cramped “Mouse House.” The Earth-Mouse very perfunctorily stretched out his hand, indicating they should make themselves comfortable, then turned back to fiddle with something.

“What’s your relationship with this mouse?” Qin Dingdong asked quietly from the side.

“I don’t know either,” Qiao Jiajin said. “It seems like cooperation?”

“Shh!” Chen Junnan said. “Old Qiao, be careful with your words and actions.”

“Oh…” Qiao Jiajin nodded.

When the Earth-Mouse turned on the radio and the irritating, restless heavy metal music began to permeate the entire room, Chen Junnan immediately stood up and grabbed the Earth-Mouse.

“I have way too many questions. Are you fucking bullshitting me when you said that big fat monkey who cheats is ‘Heavenly Dragon’s’ person?!”

“Oh?” The Earth-Mouse questioned softly. “How could it be bullshitting? He is indeed ‘Heavenly Dragon’s’ person.”

“He’s Old Qi’s person!” Chen Junnan said. “What do you mean by this? Is Old Qi ‘Heavenly Dragon’?”

The Earth-Mouse squinted and pondered for a while after hearing this, then said, “Old Qi?”

“Old Qi is Qi Xia,” Chen Junnan said. “Are you going to play dumb with me now? Old Qi said the Earth-Monkey was his former teammate. This is completely different from what you said!”

Chen Junnan’s words clearly left the Earth-Mouse confused. He stared at Chen Junnan for a long time without speaking.

“You told me there are seven more people like this…?” Chen Junnan became more and more puzzled as he spoke. “Could it be that all eight people on your list are Old Qi’s teammates? What exactly is your position?”

“They’re Qi Xia’s former teammates…?” The Earth-Mouse thought for a long time but couldn’t find an answer. “What’s going on here?”

“I advise you to stop playing dumb with me,” Chen Junnan said. “What exactly do you know? Where did this list of eight people come from? You hope to use our hands to kill Qi Xia’s former teammates… what is your purpose?”

Chen Junnan threw out all his questions in one breath, but the Earth-Mouse didn’t answer them one by one.

Although his brownish-gray mouse face didn’t have human expressions, confusion was clearly visible, as if even he himself didn’t know the answers.

“Chen Junnan…” the Earth-Mouse said. “Whether you believe it or not, these people are all being key cultivated by ‘Heavenly Dragon.'”

“Key cultivation?” Chen Junnan was stunned. “What kind of ‘cultivation’?”

“As far as I know, they not only have a faster promotion speed than other Zodiacs, but even have ideas provided by ‘Heavenly Dragon’ himself,” the Earth-Mouse said.

“Does this prove they’re ‘Heavenly Dragon’s’ confidants?” Chen Junnan felt the Earth-Mouse was being somewhat arbitrary. “Just because of your own speculation, you dare to have us go kill them?”

“Chen Junnan…” the Earth-Mouse narrowed his eyes and said. “Among all the ‘Earth-level’ I currently know, only these eight people have this privilege… isn’t that enough? Being able to receive ‘Heavenly Dragon’s’ guidance in dreams is enough to prove they’re stronger than everyone else. Moreover, that piece of paper…”

“What paper?” Chen Junnan asked.

Upon hearing this, the Earth-Mouse lowered his head in thought amid the loud music, as if contemplating whether or not to reveal this matter.

After a long while, he raised his head and said, “In any case, I’ve seen a list. That list clearly recorded these eight people. They are all targets that ‘Heavenly Dragon’ is focusing on supporting.”

“Who else knows about this?” Chen Junnan asked again. “Do all of you ‘Earth-level’ know?”

“No…” The Earth-Mouse shook his head. “Probably only I know… but that’s enough. I said before, I want to board Brother Yang’s ship, so I’ll do my utmost to clear obstacles for him.”

“Damn…” Chen Junnan was no ordinary person either. He quickly heard the unreasonable aspects of this matter. “You couldn’t have been played, could you…?”

“What?”

“Could you have been used as a weapon…?” Chen Junnan thought for a while and said. “If ‘Heavenly Dragon’ really wanted to cultivate these eight people, why would he specifically list them separately? Only eight people—could he not remember them? This list was obviously made for others to see… the purpose was probably to mislead Old Qi and make Old Qi kill each other with them.”

After hearing this, the Earth-Mouse reached up to stroke his whiskers, finding that the core contradiction of this matter hadn’t been resolved.

“What do you mean by ‘kill each other’?” the Earth-Mouse said. “Those eight people are Zodiacs to begin with. Now they and Brother Yang aren’t in the same camp. To be honest, even if I didn’t say anything… they still have the possibility of killing each other.”

“That might all have been arranged by Old Qi,” Chen Junnan replied. “But… Old Qi’s plan seems to have been seen through by ‘Heavenly Dragon.'”

“What do you mean…?” the Earth-Mouse asked.

After hearing this, Chen Junnan organized his thoughts and said, “Stop hiding it. Just tell me who those eight people are. I suspect not only Old Qi, but even you have been played by ‘Heavenly Dragon.'”

After hearing this, the Earth-Mouse also pondered for a while. Under the witness of Qin Dingdong and Qiao Jiajin beside him, he spoke of the list he had seen.

The eight Zodiacs were Earth-Ox, Earth-Rabbit, Earth-Dragon, Earth-Snake, Earth-Dog, Earth-Monkey, Earth-Rooster, and Earth-Pig.

Exactly the same as the Zodiacs marked on Qi Xia’s map.

What made the Earth-Mouse even more uneasy was that four of these eight people had already joined the Earth-Tiger’s rebellion squad.

“Everyone, to be honest, I’d rather wrongly kill than let anyone slip through,” the Earth-Mouse said. “I absolutely cannot make any mistakes. I must board this ship.”