“Cherokee roses.”

Walking out of the soccer field, Qi Xia muttered these three words, feeling that Earth-Ox’s final behavior was somewhat strange.

Why bring up a flower out of nowhere?

Qi Xia knew that all the knowledge in his mind came from books and written words. He had no concrete impression of the image of “Cherokee roses,” and among all the books he had read, none had mentioned the flower language of “Cherokee roses.” He was not yet omniscient—this knowledge was perhaps somewhat obscure.

Before Qi Xia could think through the matter, the blurry image of “Cherokee roses” in his mind suddenly transformed into Yu Nian’an’s smiling face, then dissipated completely like scattered petals.

At that moment, he suddenly felt a slight stabbing pain in his head.

“What’s going on…?”

Qi Xia frowned. To verify his feeling, he tried again to contemplate the image of “Cherokee roses” in his mind.

But “Cherokee roses” seemed like a strange key—every door it opened led to Yu Nian’an’s smiling face.

“What is this…” Qi Xia shook his head, feeling that the more he thought about this problem, the more chaotic his mind became.

Since waking up this time, his brain had rarely felt chaotic, but these “Cherokee roses”…

Qi Xia could only interrupt his train of thought and make a mental note of this question.

What is the flower language of Cherokee roses?

If he found someone knowledgeable about flowers, he should go ahead and ask.

Besides Cherokee roses, there was another issue that concerned Qi Xia greatly.

“Cangjie… Chess…”

Just hearing this name, Qi Xia felt he had no leads.

He knew he hadn’t conducted any in-depth research on chess games, and adding “Cangjie,” the legendary creator of Chinese characters, made it even more puzzling.

Could his first meeting with Chu Tianqiu in a game really be the two of them sitting face to face playing chess? Thinking about it this way seemed too boring.

But even though Dragon games could be divided into many categories, their core content was nothing more than “Scales” and “Yin-Yang.” How could the three words “Cangjie’s Chess” be connected to these two elements?

He had originally thought he could employ some tactics to see what potential Chu Tianqiu could unleash in a desperate situation. If he didn’t meet his expectations, he would let him lie forever in that game venue.

Now it appeared this was a “Confrontation” type game. Without needing to use any tricks, he could face Chu Tianqiu head-on, determining both superiority and life or death.

This approach naturally had more benefits than drawbacks. While it might expose his own cards before the Earth-Dragon, it could also be a good opportunity to gauge Chu Tianqiu’s true capabilities.

“You must hold on,” Qi Xia narrowed his eyes meaningfully. “Without you… how could we leave this place?”

Qi Xia took a breath, pulled out the map to confirm Earth-Snake’s direction, then slowly walked along the main road.

At this point, the images of most of the “Zodiac” on the map had already been constructed in his mind.

“Ox” came from “Jade City”—a woman with very muscular build but not particularly tall stature. Her muscle mass was quite possibly higher than ordinary people even before becoming a “Zodiac,” so in the real world she was most likely an athlete or similar. Due to her powerful core strength, she probably engaged in sports like high jump.

The image of “Rabbit” came from Chen Junnan and Earth-Tiger’s descriptions—tall in stature with a steady personality. Earth-Tiger held a suspicious attitude toward him, but Chen Junnan’s intuition sensed he wasn’t a bad person. He had actively joined “Earth-Tiger’s” team and was most likely a capable assistant.

“Dog” was a “Zodiac” who seemed prone to giving up easily. He inherited his teacher’s game venue and continued some of the former “Earth-Dog’s” beliefs. He could possibly become a teammate or completely give up. He had now also joined “Earth-Tiger’s” team.

“Monkey” was a middle-aged man addicted to gambling. He seemed about to lose motivation, but fortunately Qi Xia appeared in time to temporarily stabilize him. However, Earth-Monkey’s personality was rather negative, so logically there was still a possibility he could waver.

“Pig” seemed like a teenager with a bad attitude. From the current situation, he appeared to have been carrying some resentment toward Qi Xia all along. He could possibly become his helper or possibly become “Heavenly-Dragon’s” helper.

Next on the map were three more people: “Snake,” “Dragon,” and “Rooster.”

Qi Xia felt he had recovered some memories about “Rooster.” She was Earth-Tiger’s neighbor and gave off an unusually noisy impression, but she was actually quite reliable. Although in his memories she was a lively and boisterous girl, before meeting her, Qi Xia couldn’t completely trust his memories.

“Dragon,” according to Earth-Ox, was an extremely dangerous person. She was this city’s “Earth-Yin-Dragon,” presiding over “Cangjie’s Chess.” She was also the person that strange “Ant” wanted him to stay away from.

So she most likely wasn’t one of his former teammates but rather a latecomer who had taken someone else’s place.

Besides the seven people above with clear images, only one person remained on the map.

“Snake.”

As long as he went to see this Snake, the identities of these eight people would be determined, without needing to wait for memories to slowly resurface.

Thinking to this point, Qi Xia frowned slightly.

“Wait…” He gently pressed his temple. The current situation seemed to have some suspicious points.

“Ox, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Dog, Monkey, Rooster, Pig…” Qi Xia muttered these eight zodiac animals and slowly narrowed his eyes.

If these eight people, plus Earth-Tiger whom he trusted in the “Rebellion” room, his former student Black Sheep, that strange-tempered Rat, and Earth-Horse whose game venue he had dismantled…

“Exactly twelve people,” Qi Xia said in a heavy voice.

Twelve zodiac signs with exactly one person per animal, no duplicates.

Could this be a coincidence?

“Twelve different ‘Earth-levels’…” Qi Xia vaguely felt this was the full picture of this team. Although he couldn’t think of the reason for now, things that were too coincidental definitely weren’t coincidences.

Why did all paths converge at this moment, pointing to these twelve people?

“What are you trying to do?” Qi Xia turned his head to look at the deserted street.

A white sheep in a suit appeared there, its form ethereal, its expression cold.

“Leaving me ‘foolproof’ clues again?” Qi Xia said. “Do you really look down on me that much?”

The ethereal White Sheep was about to open its mouth to say something when it suddenly turned its head toward the end of the street, where three figures were slowly appearing.

White Sheep’s figure let out a cold laugh, then vanished from the spot.

“Hoooooo~~~~~”

A sound that pierced the sky came melodiously, making Qi Xia instantly show a helpless expression. Then a familiar voice reached his ears.

“Liar boy!”

“Student Qi!”

Before Qi Xia could respond, he was interrupted by another loud voice.

“What a coincidence!!” Chen Junnan shouted at the top of his lungs. “If it isn’t Old Qi with the bad temper who later got better! Recently it’s been raining fucking black rain from the sky—remember to bring an umbrella when you go out!”