Actually, I felt somewhat surprised that someone like Baiyang would be curious about an organization.

Since Baiyang said that Miànyang wasn’t gambled to death in a life-or-death bet, but died from “breaking the rules,” this meant the other party had no premeditation or plan.

They very likely just happened to cause Miànyang’s death, or perhaps some uncontrollable small accident occurred during the game, causing Miànyang to break the rules on the spot.

After I told Baiyang my thoughts, Baiyang raised a different perspective.

He believed Miànyang wasn’t the type to be easily careless or easily angered. Although Miànyang’s game was set up in a concealed location, that didn’t mean its difficulty would be low.

After all, Miànyang needed to use this game as a stepping stone to meet Baiyang. Otherwise, when Baiyang became “Earth-level,” if he discovered that Miànyang had designed a simple, mindless, and remote game, how would he believe in Miànyang’s capabilities enough to bring him into the team?

So the problem was: an “Earth-level” game that was not only a “Sheep” game with the hardest-to-control rules, but also quite difficult and located in a concealed spot.

With so many harsh conditions combined, yet someone could suddenly one day cause the referee to break the rules and die… wouldn’t that be too strange?

Baiyang told me the other party was very likely also covering their tracks.

The person who struck believed that killing such a remote Zodiac wouldn’t draw attention, but they didn’t know that Miànyang happened to be Baiyang’s person.

Even if his location was extremely remote, someone had always been paying attention to him.

Baiyang had never seen Miànyang’s game, nor had he ever met people who participated in Miànyang’s game, yet through known conditions, he dissected the entire incident crystal clear in just a few sentences.

I couldn’t hold a candle to him.

I agreed to the request to investigate that organization, then went to Earth-Snake’s residence, wanting to return that “Advanced Plant Atlas” to her, only to discover she was hanging herself again.

I had nothing to say and could only quietly wait for her to finish hanging.

“Smelly girl…” She was stunned for a moment, then explained while coughing, “*Cough*… don’t think this is just an ordinary hanging… *cough cough*…”

“Oh?” I shrugged my shoulders. “How is this time different from before?”

“Of course it’s different…” Earth-Snake stood up with a proud expression on her face. “In the past, I would hang myself because I was too sad, but this time…”

“What about this time?”

“This time I’m hanging myself because I wanted to hang myself!”

After the air froze for a few seconds, I slowly pushed the book forward, placing it in Earth-Snake’s arms, and said hoarsely: “Thank you for the book. I’ll be going now.”

“Hey… no, smelly girl… wait a moment…” Seeing me turn to leave, Earth-Snake quickly changed her tune. “Never mind, never mind… I’ll explain properly… there really is a reason this time!”

I shook my head: “Whether you tell me or not, I can guess. It’s probably because you couldn’t stand other people’s sad stories again, so you’re committing suicide to relieve your emotions.”

“It really isn’t!” Earth-Snake waved her hands somewhat excitedly. “Because this matter is too bizarre, I’m afraid if I tell you, you’ll think I’ve gone crazy!”

Good heavens, my sister who hangs herself every day—how could I possibly think you haven’t gone crazy?

“How about… you tell me?” I asked.

“Hiss… a paranormal incident has occurred, and I can’t quite figure it out. It’s been going on for two cycles now.” Earth-Snake scratched her forehead, saying with a fearful expression, “If I’m not having hallucinations, then there are ghosts here.”

“What do you mean?” I truly found it hard to believe that the “Land of the End” would be haunted, because this place was far more terrifying than hauntings.

Earth-Snake leaned closer and said to me in a low voice: “Smelly girl… two cycles ago I killed seven people, but Earth-Dragon told me I only killed five. And last cycle I killed nine people, but Earth-Dragon said there were only four…”

“Uh…”

“What does this mean…? Where did these people go?!” Earth-Snake looked around cautiously, then said very seriously, “Either I’m having hallucinations and keep seeing people who don’t exist… or it really is haunted… those people weren’t human to begin with, so killing them doesn’t count…”

As soon as she finished speaking, Earth-Snake shuddered: “Too terrifying… sister… I need to hang myself to ward off evil spirits.”

Good heavens, a rope for hanging was perpetually hung at your doorway, which was already evil enough. I had never thought that thing could also be used to ward off evil spirits.

“Uh… maybe, maybe it’s not haunting… it’s some other reason…” I said.

“What reason?” Earth-Snake looked at me. “Do you know, sister?”

Yes, I knew, but this was really hard to explain.

“In any case, you don’t need to be afraid…” I stood up with an awkward expression and smiled apologetically at Earth-Snake. “Perhaps those people appeared here not originally to participate in your game, but to participate in someone else’s game…”

That brief sentence left Earth-Snake dumbfounded.

“Appearing at my game venue… to participate in someone else’s game?” After hearing this, Earth-Snake blinked. “Are you mentally okay, smelly girl? Do you want to listen to what you’re saying?”

Yes, if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe it myself.

Those few people who died at Earth-Snake’s venue but weren’t counted in the scores had already become Baiyang’s scores.

They died here only to control the “lights.”

A small lamp was worth at minimum three to five “Dao,” and at maximum could affect “deposits” and “lottery tickets.”

“Hey… then just consider what I said as nonsense.”

I shook my head. I didn’t want to deceive Earth-Snake but also didn’t want to betray Baiyang, so I could only remain silent and hurriedly left Earth-Snake’s venue.

That day I walked the path Jiang Ruoxue had walked, spending roughly five hours traveling to the other end of the city, but I didn’t know Jiang Ruoxue’s exact spawn location.

I didn’t have “cause and effect” on my body, so I couldn’t advance as freely as Jiang Ruoxue. She could always find me, but I couldn’t necessarily find her.

I only knew she had a high probability of being active in this area, and with her outgoing personality, surely many people would recognize her. I should be able to find her after asking around.

Unfortunately, I met many people who appeared to have preserved their memories, but not a single person recognized Jiang Ruoxue.

I took the opportunity to inquire about organizations in this area, and sure enough, as Baiyang had said, there was a massive organization here called “Heaven’s Mouth” with over thirty members, all of them “Echo” users. Their headquarters was a hotel, and their leader was called Chu Tianqiu.

If Yang Ge was right, this Chu Tianqiu was almost certainly the murderer who killed Miànyang.

But was he really that powerful?

At dusk, I pulled aside another girl on the roadside who looked cool. She wore leather clothing and had many ear studs and lip piercings. I don’t know why, but I always felt this kind of unconventional girl would know Jiang Ruoxue.

“Um… excuse me, dear.” I said with a smile. “I’d like to ask you something…”

“Tch!” That girl looked at me impatiently. “Who’s your dear?”

“No…” I felt this girl was a bit strange. “I just want to ask about someone.”

“Tch! Don’t know!”