Qi Xia reflected on the situation just moments ago.

At some instant, Chen Junnan had suddenly become filled with sorrow. But if Earth-Sheep had truly used some underhanded trick, why were the others unaffected?

Although Chen Junnan was responsible for conversing with Earth-Sheep, she herself had also exchanged a few words with him. It shouldn’t be from “hearing his voice.” Could it be from touching him?

When Earth-Sheep was about to hang himself, Chen Junnan had reached out and grabbed him. If there truly was a trigger, that was likely the catalyst.

“Try not to touch him later,” Qi Xia said. “I’ll go ask a few questions. Once we’re done asking, we’ll return to ‘Heaven’s Mouth.’ Staying too long will probably cause problems.”

“Alright…” Chen Junnan nodded. “Let’s skip this old bastard’s game today, shall we?”

“We’ll see how it goes.”

Qi Xia led the three of them through the door and discovered this was indeed a bookstore, though there wasn’t a single book on the shelves—at most a few scraps of waste paper.

Earth-Sheep didn’t turn back to look at the four people behind him. After entering the bookstore, he continued walking through another door on his own.

The group followed him inside and found that the bookstore had a small reception room inside, which in the real world should have been used for book signing events.

The reception room had several chairs arranged together, and piles of books were stacked in the corner of the room.

“Please, sit down, everyone,” Earth-Sheep said. “I lost my composure earlier. Feel free to ask whatever questions you have.”

“We can ask anything?” Chen Junnan confirmed.

“Yes, anything. But I may not necessarily answer.”

Earth-Sheep dragged over a chair and placed it behind himself, then sat down gracefully and crossed his legs.

“What exactly is the ‘Mutual Aid Society’?” Qi Xia asked.

“Hmm…” Earth-Sheep pondered for a moment, then answered, “Theoretically, I shouldn’t explain the situation to you without an introducer. But since you just witnessed my embarrassing display, I’ll tell you ‘what the Mutual Aid Society is,’ and you keep my hanging incident secret. Is that acceptable?”

“Quite interesting,” Qi Xia said. “That embarrassing display was something you insisted on showing yourself, but now it’s become leverage for negotiating with us?”

“Ha.” Earth-Sheep looked at Qi Xia with polite yet somewhat contemptuous eyes and said, “People living in this world naturally want to do whatever they wish immediately. Isn’t it awkward to be overly cautious? Earlier I simply wanted to hang myself, and now I want you to keep it secret. These are two different matters with no causal relationship.”

Chen Junnan frowned and said, “Your thinking is quite logical, damn it.”

“Naturally,” Earth-Sheep nodded. “I believe in following one’s heart.”

“Deal,” Qi Xia said. “But my questions aren’t limited to just the ‘Mutual Aid Society.’ What leverage will you ask us to provide then?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Earth-Sheep shook his head. “I’ll go by my mood. If the conversation goes well, I might answer for free.”

“Good,” Qi Xia agreed. “Then let’s start by talking about the ‘Mutual Aid Society.'”

“The ‘Mutual Aid Society,’ well… it’s just everyone sitting together sharing their own suffering, then having others comfort them, and I’m the moderator,” Earth-Sheep said. “You’ve seen this kind of organization in other places, right?”

“This thing…” Chen Junnan furrowed his brow. “It’s common in foreign movies, but it’s not very popular here, is it?”

“Indeed, indeed,” Earth-Sheep nodded, reaching up to touch his pale white forehead. “But in this godforsaken place, there really aren’t any stress-relief activities, so I established this organization. Unexpectedly, the response has been quite good.”

“I don’t quite understand,” Qi Xia said. “This is the first time I’ve heard of a ‘Zodiac’ establishing an organization, and it’s even a public welfare organization. What’s your purpose?”

“As for my purpose…” Earth-Sheep said, “Once I tell you, you should be able to understand.”

Everyone waited for him to elaborate, thinking they could resolve their doubts, but his answer once again exceeded everyone’s expectations.

“I established the ‘Mutual Aid Society’ precisely to mock these people,” Earth-Sheep slowly widened his eyes, his mouth stretching to his cheeks. “Oh my, who knew I could grow it bigger and stronger… more and more customers?”

“Mock?” Qiao Jiajin was stunned. “You created an entire organization just to mock the Participants?”

“Yes, exactly right,” Earth-Sheep nodded, asking with a serious expression, “Very reasonable, right?”

“Reasonable your mother,” Qiao Jiajin said with complete bewilderment. “What kind of psychology is this?”

“Because no one in this world wants others to live well!” Earth-Sheep declared righteously. “Do you really want to see everyone around you doing better than yourself?”

“What’s wrong with that?” Qiao Jiajin retorted. “If you’re unwilling to accept it, you should work harder. What kind of skill is it to mock others for not doing well?”

“You think I wanted this?!” Earth-Sheep said. “Every late night when I enter Weibo and WeChat Moments, I see someone who earned over ten thousand this month, someone who went traveling abroad, someone who had a meal costing hundreds per person… Don’t these people post these things to prove ‘I’m living better than you all?’ Don’t you want them to die?”

“Then just don’t go to those two shops!” Qiao Jiajin said. “There will always be such people. Why do you care about them?”

“Two, two shops?” Earth-Sheep was slightly stunned.

“Yes, if those two shops don’t work, go somewhere else!” Qiao Jiajin said. “Go practice boxing, go exercise, go make money. Why must you go to those two shops?”

Chen Junnan and Qi Xia both showed troubled expressions upon hearing this and reached out their hands to restrain Qiao Jiajin.

“Old Qiao… wait, wait… the conversation’s gone off track,” Chen Junnan said. “I’ve never seen anyone go off track this confidently.”

“How did it go off track?!” Qiao Jiajin clearly didn’t agree with Chen Junnan’s words. “Just look at this snake. He feels uncomfortable when others are doing well, and he’s happy when others are suffering. What a pitiful person!”

“But… it really has gone a bit off track… let me explain…”

Qi Xia laughed lightly after hearing this, then nodded. “I don’t think it’s off track. We can continue.”

“Old Qi, you…”

Hearing Qi Xia’s support, Qiao Jiajin’s tone became more assertive. “White snake, you tell me. You spend every late night at bars, yet you complain that the people in the shops are doing too well. How are you any better yourself?”

Earth-Sheep clearly felt a bit overwhelmed hearing Qiao Jiajin’s words. “I seem a bit confused… Are we talking about the same thing?”

“Yes,” Qiao Jiajin said seriously. “The Liar says it is, so it is.”

Qi Xia shook his head helplessly, feeling that whether it was Qiao Jiajin or Chen Junnan, they both seemed to be snake slayers.