“Is that so…” Earth-Serpent nodded thoughtfully.

“That’s right. Everyone rushing about here isn’t doing it for ‘life,’ but for ‘survival.'” Qi Xia said. “They live in enormous anxiety between life and death every single day. How could they feel at ease because of comfortable surroundings? Would someone who could die at any moment care about the culinary techniques used in the food they ate that day?”

“Yes… some ‘Zodiacs’ have to worry about more than just life and death.” Earth-Serpent smiled miserably. “After all, not many of the ‘Heaven’ here are normal.”

Qi Xia continued: “Moreover… in your memory, how many ‘Zodiacs’ joyfully accepted these excellent atmospheres? When they silently ate in their rooms, how many showed smiles?”

“You’re right. No one becomes happy because of these things, but as I said, the sorrow in everyone’s hearts here is too great, even among the ‘Zodiacs.'” Earth-Serpent said seriously. “Even though all the ‘Zodiacs’ here have become accustomed to these so-called gifts, if you want to break all this, many people will definitely come out to oppose you.”

“I expected that long ago.” Qi Xia said. “Even if I clearly tell everyone I’ve come to save them, many will still resist me. When there are countless paths ahead, people usually only choose the safest and most practical one. They couldn’t possibly be willing to give up everything before them to gamble on an uncertain future.”

“So how many ‘Zodiacs’ do you think you can gather at most…?” Earth-Serpent said. “There are nearly thirty ‘Earth-level’ now and ten ‘Heaven-level.’ Out of roughly forty people, how many do you think will be our own?”

Qi Xia thought for a moment before answering: “At minimum, eleven.”

“At minimum eleven…?” Earth-Serpent paused slightly. “And at maximum?”

“At maximum, ‘Endless Life.'”

“‘Endless Life’…?” Earth-Serpent blinked. “What does that mean? What is ‘Endless Life’?”

“It’s a belief.” Qi Xia said. “Only completely insane people could possibly understand this belief.”

“Is that true?”

Qi Xia stared into Earth-Serpent’s eyes for a while, then said indifferently: “It’s true.”

Earth-Serpent nodded slightly, as if thinking of something: “Then what role do you plan to play in this team?”

“My ‘eye’…?”

“‘Heavenly-Serpent’ discovered you were about to completely collapse, so he left you one surviving eye.” Qi Xia said. “This eye gave you hope and also gave you your last thread of rationality. Not only would you not resent ‘Heavenly-Serpent’ for the scars covering your body, you would even want to thank him for the appearance of this ‘eye.'”

“You’re saying that all of us ‘died,’ and you’re the only surviving eye.” Earth-Serpent nodded. “Are you going to take the remaining eyes to seek hope?”

“No, I won’t favor any particular ‘eye.'” Qi Xia patted Earth-Serpent’s shoulder. “I’m going to take ‘you’—that is, this land where all the ‘eyes’ survive—and seek hope together.”

“Ah…?”

Qi Xia’s words not only stunned Earth-Serpent but also left Chen Junnan and the other two beside him completely baffled.

“So no matter how many ‘Zodiacs’ come out to stop me at that time, I definitely won’t back down.” Qi Xia said. “Let’s walk forward with this body.”

“Qi Xia.” Earth-Serpent called out. “I’m not as smart as you to begin with, so I can’t guess what you want to do, but I’ll do my part.”

“Good.” Qi Xia nodded.

“Brat, if one day you can lead us out of here, you must help me strip off this layer of skin.” Earth-Serpent said. “Even if I die after stripping off the skin, I don’t want to return with this foul-smelling snake skin.”

“Rest assured.” Qi Xia said. “I will strip off everyone’s skin.”

After hearing this, Earth-Serpent smiled faintly and walked over to sit down by the chair.

“In that case, I’ll wait for your message.” Earth-Serpent said.

“No need to wait for me.” Qi Xia said. “Whenever you feel the timing is right, you can strike at ‘Heavenly-Serpent.'”

“Is that so?”

“It doesn’t matter even if I don’t launch the plan.” Qi Xia said. “You can become the new ‘Heaven’ and make all those managers on the train work for you.”

“It doesn’t matter if I kill ‘Heavenly-Serpent.'” Earth-Serpent said. “But I can’t possibly become the new ‘Heaven.'”

“How so?”

“Because no ‘Zodiac’ dares to kill other ‘Zodiacs,’ especially ‘Heaven.'” Earth-Serpent said. “Even if I could do it, I absolutely couldn’t survive.”

“What are you worried about?” Qi Xia said. “Tell me, and I’ll help you solve each problem one by one.”

“Ha…” Earth-Serpent laughed. “Qi Xia, although I trust you greatly, I estimate you can’t solve this matter. After all, you can’t deal with the two people responsible for this.”

“How do you know it can’t be solved if you don’t say it?” Qi Xia asked again.

Earth-Serpent sighed and said: “I told you about ‘Heavenly-Serpent’s’ importance to the entire train. He not only keeps the train running smoothly but also provides many research results to ‘Heavenly-Dragon.’ As long as ‘Heavenly-Serpent’ faces a death threat, ‘Heavenly-Dragon’ can’t possibly sit by and watch.”

“Rest assured.” Qi Xia said. “If you kill ‘Heavenly-Serpent,’ then you become the person who controls the most of ‘Heavenly-Serpent’s’ research results. After all, ‘Heavenly-Serpent’ conducted the most ‘experiments’ on you, and you’ve always presented yourself as conscientious and dedicated. Although you know it’s all fake, ‘Heavenly-Dragon’ might not necessarily know that.”

“You mean…”

“Yes.” Qi Xia nodded. “If you kill ‘Heavenly-Serpent’ and ‘Heavenly-Dragon’ then kills you, this place will completely lose its ‘research personnel.’ That way he’d lose two great generals at once, so there’s a high probability he won’t do this. At most he’ll give you some punishment.”

After hearing this, Earth-Serpent slowly frowned, feeling that what Qi Xia said seemed to make some sense.

“This is a very realistic management issue.” Qi Xia said. “Even in the workplace, people who force others to resign won’t be blamed by the boss. Everyone thinks they’re very important, but that’s not how it looks to the upper levels. So you can confidently and boldly kill ‘Heavenly-Serpent’ and guarantee to ‘Heavenly-Dragon’ that you’ll do all the original work, and even do it better than ‘Heavenly-Serpent.’ This way you’ll be absolutely safe. From every perspective, ‘Heavenly-Dragon’ won’t kill you—at most he’ll punish you. And since he still needs you to continue research, this ‘punishment’ will be very light.”