“Then I understand…” Pei Qianhu slowly sat up, staring at the ground with a serious expression.

“Right… The situation should be like this. Brother Yang arranged a separate plan for her, and this plan most likely doesn’t include us at all.” Earth-Mouse said, “So that Earth-Ox is preparing to use us as cannon fodder to achieve her own ‘great undertaking.'”

“So you’re saying…” Pei Qianhu also began thinking along Earth-Mouse’s train of thought, “Not a single word of the ‘plan’ those two women spoke of today can be trusted?”

“I don’t think so.” Earth-Mouse shook his head, “We’ve been in contact with that ruffled chicken for several days… She doesn’t seem like someone who wants to get us killed, so I can tentatively trust what she says. But that Ox Leader… I can’t say for sure.”

“In other words, in your view, this plan from ‘destroying the equipment’ to boarding the ‘train’ might be real, but after boarding the ‘train’ it’s false.” Pei Qianhu slowly shook his head, “But how I wish ‘Matched Assassination’ were real…?”

“I’ve said it, Dog Leader.” Earth-Mouse said with a serious expression, “Even if this plan were real… we’d still have difficulty accomplishing it.”

“So what should we do now?”

“Now is the time to test how many smart people are in the team…” Earth-Mouse said, “Dog Leader, I’m not close with the others, so I’ve only told you about this matter. As for whether they want to go assassinate the ‘Heaven-level,’ that depends on how sharp their own minds are. But no matter what, we need to adapt to circumstances.”

“What do you mean by ‘adapt to circumstances’?” Pei Qianhu asked again.

“Our goal is to ‘assassinate Heaven-level,’ that’s true, but we absolutely cannot rashly walk into their rooms and face them one-on-one.” Earth-Mouse moved closer to Pei Qianhu again and said in a very low voice, “Since the ‘wrong team’ met the ‘wrong people’ at the ‘wrong time’ and mistakenly accepted the ‘wrong plan,’ then we’ll go along with these mistakes, proceed along these errors, and ultimately achieve our own ‘correctness.'”

“You…” Earth-Dog thought for a moment, “Elaborate.”

“Everything proceeds as normal in the early stages. If one day the giant bell and display screen are damaged, then we’ll receive those ‘destroyers’ and board the ‘train.’ But after that… we absolutely cannot be the first to assassinate the ‘Heaven-level.'” Earth-Mouse carefully explained, “We have no chance of winning against them one-on-one… so we must wait.”

“But what are we waiting for…?”

“In the worst case, we wait for the first person to make a move.” Earth-Mouse said, “After all, even if we kill all the ‘Heaven-level,’ we still have to face the four ‘Divine Beasts.’ Moreover, the most powerful among all the ‘Heaven-level,’ ‘Heavenly-Dragon,’ won’t be killed by anyone… We can only wait. Wait for others to create chaos for us, and then we’ll pretend to go help and see if there’s an opportunity to strike.”

“But will this work?” Pei Qianhu thought for a moment, “This is clearly a ‘prisoner’s dilemma.’ If there really is a first person to make a move, then all the ‘Heaven-level’ might arrive on the scene, and that person couldn’t possibly complete their mission. But once all of us attack together…”

“Isn’t it exactly that…?”

“Let me state my position first…” Earth-Mouse said, “If you follow my plan, once we’re defeated like a landslide, we can switch sides at any time. But if you choose to strike first, regardless of success or failure, your situation will be very dangerous.”

“If you put it that way, might you betray Brother Yang at the final moment?”

“Leader…” Earth-Mouse’s eyes became unusually cold, “What are you saying? At the critical moment, not to mention Brother Yang… even you, I would directly betray.”

Pei Qianhu fell silent, staring at Earth-Mouse without saying a word.

“I can’t be like Pei Qianhu.” Earth-Mouse smiled and said again, “He can die for Brother Yang without any reason, but I can’t… I don’t want to die.”

After hearing this, Pei Qianhu nodded slightly: “I understand…”

“I only seek stability.” Earth-Mouse patted Pei Qianhu’s shoulder, “If this opportunity isn’t good, I don’t mind waiting for the next one.”

“Although I can’t speak as freely as you…” Pei Qianhu said in silence, “But my thoughts are similar… The reason I’m willing to join Brother Yang’s team is because of my teacher’s dying wish… I can do many things for this wish, but I cannot die.”

“In that case, Dog Leader, you should follow my lead.” Earth-Mouse stood up and said, “That Ox Leader wants to use us, but whether we actually want to be used… we’ll wait until all this really happens to discuss it.”

“Alright, I understand.” Pei Qianhu nodded.

“Moreover, don’t you think the true content of this plan hasn’t fully surfaced yet?”

“Oh?”

“So many ‘participants’ boarding the train… what are they going to do?” Earth-Mouse asked again, “They can’t fight us in terms of force, they can’t fight the ‘Heaven-level’ in terms of ‘echoes,’ but Brother Yang still insists on having these people board the train…”

“You’re saying the ‘participants’ also have their own plan…” Pei Qianhu pondered.

“Exactly. At that time, we’ll act according to the ‘general direction.'” Earth-Mouse said, “Don’t rashly throw away your life.”

Pei Qianhu nodded after hearing this.

“By the way…” Earth-Mouse changed the subject and looked at Earth-Dog once more, “Dog Leader, what ‘echo’ are you actually carrying?”

After hearing this, Pei Qianhu froze for a second, then slowly revealed a smile: “When did I… ever say I had an ‘echo’…?”

Earth-Mouse frowned slightly, then after a few seconds also quickly revealed a smile: “You’re right. You’re truly too dog-like.”

“Thank you.”

Earth-Mouse stopped dwelling on it and said in a deep voice: “Dog Leader, if I’m not mistaken, you will one hundred percent receive the ‘destroyers’ on the day of the plan… I advise you to think of countermeasures in advance.”

“I…” After hearing this, Pei Qianhu’s cheeks quickly drooped, “I still have to think ahead of time…? That troublesome…?”

“We’re not sure exactly how many people we’ll receive, but those people will definitely be hunted by the ‘upper levels’… You’d better consider how to safely bring them onto the ‘train.'”

Hearing this, Pei Qianhu seemed to think of something and hurriedly said: “Wait a moment… That Earth-Chicken said earlier that ‘Zodiacs’ would encounter a ‘Death Gate’… Looking at it this way, could the ‘Death Gate’ be ‘Qinglong’? He will definitely be enraged that day because of the damage to the display screen and giant bell, then hunt down these ‘participants’ everywhere. Once he appears, the ‘Zodiacs’ protecting these ‘destroyers’ will die on the spot.”

Earth-Mouse considered this along Pei Qianhu’s line of thinking and felt there were still many loopholes.

“‘Qinglong’ has ‘Spiritual Hearing’ and ‘Teleportation’…” Earth-Mouse stroked his beard and said, “If ‘Qinglong’ truly becomes enraged that day… there can’t possibly be only one ‘Death Gate.’ He’ll quickly find the locations of all eight ‘Zodiacs’ and kill everyone.”