I knew I had already tried my absolute best and used the fastest time possible to find Baiyang.

From when I discovered he had disappeared from his venue until I found him, it took approximately five hours total.

But I felt I still arrived too late.

When we arrived at Baiyang’s new game venue, the first thing we saw was Baiyang, who had completely changed in appearance.

He no longer had a mask. In its place was a cold sheep face.

His suit was now spotless, and just standing there gave people considerable oppressive pressure.

However, he seemed to have encountered trouble. Several “Participants” were now standing in front of Baiyang, clamoring about something.

“Why aren’t you speaking?” a woman asked. “What exactly is your game?”

The Participants kept questioning Baiyang, but he kept his eyes slightly closed and didn’t say a word.

I suddenly thought of what White Snake told us—that “Baiyang designed a game full of loopholes and could violate the rules at any time.” Could he be stalling for time?

“What’s with this Earth-Sheep?” the several people in front whispered among themselves. “Can he not hear us speaking?”

“Hey…” someone else spoke up. “Don’t just stay silent. ‘Sheep’ are already rare… we finally found an Earth-Sheep. At least let us experience it, won’t you?”

Baiyang closed his eyes and pondered for a while, then opened them and said, “I apologize. The game has already been reserved by ‘VIP guests.’ I can only receive people in batches. Before the reservation holders arrive, you cannot play the game.”

Only then did I notice that Baiyang’s eyes were also very strange. Like a real goat, they appeared grayish-white with pitch-black rectangular pupils.

Moreover… his voice seemed to have changed too.

“Reservation…?” someone was stunned. “Your game requires a ‘reservation’?”

“Yes, this will be a game you’ve never seen before,” Baiyang said. “I will prioritize serving ‘VIP guests’ rather than ordinary people.”

After Baiyang finished speaking, he turned his head slightly. His gaze happened to pass through the crowd and saw Jiang Ruoxue and me.

“They’ve arrived.” Baiyang said with slight relief. “Now everyone, please wait. You can participate in the next batch of games.”

Jiang Ruoxue and I hurried through the crowd to Baiyang’s side. He nodded slightly at the two of us, then turned and opened the door of the building.

After entering, we discovered this seemed to be a bank with quite a large area. The center of the building had already been cleared out, leaving an empty small plaza.

In the center of the plaza, from left to right, stood twelve animal statues carved from wood. In front of each statue was a table.

Two vertical lines were drawn on each table, dividing the tabletop into three sections labeled “Win,” “Loss,” and “Kill.”

“Win” and “Loss” occupied the largest areas, while “Kill” occupied the smallest area.

The order of the animal statues went from Rat to Pig—it appeared all twelve zodiac animals were present.

At the base of each zodiac statue were three lights: one red, one white, one green.

At the distant bank counter, a display screen hung above. This screen stared at the twelve zodiac statues like an eagle circling in the sky.

“Baiyang…” I came back to my senses and called out. “Did we arrive early enough?”

“In any case, you’re not too late,” Baiyang said. “If you hadn’t appeared, I definitely would have been taken away by Zhu Que today. After all, I chose the crossroads with the most Participants for my game venue.”

“I don’t quite understand…” Jiang Ruoxue stretched and said. “You’re so clever, why didn’t you just design a stable Earth-level game? Why take the risk and wait for the two of us to come?”

“Fortune favors the bold,” Baiyang said. “High risk naturally brings high returns. Right now, most Earth-level games either use intricate mechanisms or have the Zodiac personally participate. The first type is safer but progresses slowly. The second type can accelerate progress but also puts oneself in a dangerous position. Because I’m in a hurry, I can’t choose either of these two methods.”

“So you chose ‘Cause and Effect’?” Jiang Ruoxue looked at the twelve statues in the venue. “Are you planning to have all these statues carry ‘Cause and Effect’?”

“Saying it’s ‘Cause and Effect’ isn’t quite accurate,” Baiyang said. “I only need the simplest logical relationships.”

“What logical relationships?” Jiang Ruoxue asked.

Baiyang walked to a “Rat” statue and said, “Next, I’ll tell you the logic involved, and you choose how to apply ‘Cause and Effect.'”

“Okay.”

“This statue represents the Earth-Mouse closest to me,” Baiyang said. “And I need this prop to satisfy the following conditions: once the Earth-Mouse’s game begins, the white light below the statue lights up. If the Earth-Mouse wins this game, only the red light lights up. If the Participants win, only the green light lights up. All twelve statues in front of us operate according to this logic.”

“Huh…?” Both Jiang Ruoxue and I were slightly stunned after hearing this. “That’s it?”

“This is the normal situation,” Baiyang said. “There are also special situations.”

“Go on…” Jiang Ruoxue said.

“If the Zodiac dies, all three lights turn on and flash,” Baiyang said. “The flashing continues for more than five minutes.”

After hearing this, Jiang Ruoxue nodded, then walked forward to look at those lights.

“Are all these lights… already wired with electricity?” she said. “I can only manipulate ‘Cause and Effect.’ I can’t do supernatural things. If there’s no electricity, these lights won’t turn on.”

“Of course,” Baiyang said. “All these lights are wired with electricity. The display screen behind me can also be used.”

“Then what is the display screen behind you for?” I asked.

“That’s the second gameplay element of this game,” Baiyang said. “First, add ‘Cause and Effect’ to these statues.”

“Okay, this isn’t difficult.” Jiang Ruoxue nodded and looked back and forth at the wooden statues in front of her.

These statues were quite exquisitely made. Although carved from wood, each animal was lifelike, with even fine hairs carved out.

After Jiang Ruoxue said a few words to each statue from left to right, lights gradually began to turn on.

At this moment, I felt this bank wasn’t just a game venue but more like a giant chessboard.

Every day, Baiyang only needed to stand in this venue to know the situation of the twelve nearest Zodiacs.

Moreover, according to this logic, even if the Zodiac closest to him was gambled to death, the second-closest Zodiac would become “the closest,” and the game facility would continue to function.

Plus those tables placed in front of the Zodiacs, I speculated that Baiyang’s game venue was very likely a “casino.”

This was a point that seemed relatively novel but not particularly perfect.

Although I didn’t know specifically how it could be better, if it was Baiyang… he should be able to design a better game, right?