After hearing this, Earth-Tiger froze for a moment, then wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

“Dead Old Black… are you okay?” he asked in a daze. “Didn’t you just say you weren’t going? Could it be that those injuries on your face were from ‘Heavenly-Tiger’ scratching you? Are you going to find him for revenge?”

“This is indeed very difficult for me…” Black Sheep sighed. “Normal people only need to die once in this plan, but I might have to die twice.”

“What are you talking about…” Earth-Tiger chuckled foolishly. “Dead Old Black, don’t try to play the hero here. If you really have something urgent to do, then go ahead. Although that ‘Heavenly-Tiger’ does counter me a bit, I can still try to have it out with him. When the others finish killing their own ‘corresponding zodiacs,’ they can come help me.”

Upon hearing this, Black Sheep immediately stood up, grabbed Earth-Tiger’s collar, and slammed him hard against the wall, looking extremely angry.

Earth-Tiger hadn’t expected such a reaction from Black Sheep. He just stared with wide eyes, not knowing what to do for a moment.

“Pei Qianhu! Stop being foolish!” Black Sheep roared in a low voice. “Why don’t you understand even now…? Other than me, no one will come to help you…!!”

“What, what do you mean…” Earth-Tiger blinked. “This is something everyone is working together to accomplish… what’s wrong with helping each other out?”

“What working together! There’s no such thing!” Black Sheep still wouldn’t give up, leaning close to Earth-Tiger and saying in a low voice, “Pei Qianhu, if you really want to live, then don’t bother with that ‘Heavenly-Tiger’… When the time comes, follow me!”

“You…” Earth-Tiger reached out and pushed Black Sheep away, saying with displeasure, “What are you doing? Don’t Baiyang’s words count anymore?”

Black Sheep paused after hearing this: “Pei Qianhu… do you trust me or not?”

“I trust you!” Earth-Tiger nodded.

“If you trust me, then don’t go!” Black Sheep said. “This plan wasn’t what Baiyang said at all. Someone else wants to get you killed… Damn it, don’t you have a daughter waiting outside? Don’t you want to see her?!”

“I…” Earth-Tiger paused slightly, quickly catching the key point. “Wait, this plan wasn’t what Baiyang said…?”

“It’s a plan that Earth-Ox adjusted on his own,” Black Sheep said. “From the beginning, there was no such thing as ‘corresponding kills.’ It’s all fake!”

“What if…? What the hell ‘what if’!” Black Sheep roared. “You’re going to die! You’re going to die, do you know that?!”

“Hey…” Hearing this, Earth-Tiger actually smiled embarrassedly. “Old Black… sit down first. Why are you getting so worked up?”

He pulled Black Sheep to the side, dragged over two chairs, and sat down first himself.

“Even if these words didn’t come from Baiyang…” Earth-Tiger murmured, “I just want to ask you one question. If I go kill ‘Heavenly-Tiger,’ will it benefit Baiyang or not?”

“You…”

Black Sheep was stunned for a long time, then reached out and fiercely slapped Earth-Tiger across the face.

*Smack!*

“You dare say I’m playing the hero!! How are you any better?!”

He looked even angrier than before. Earth-Tiger had never seen Black Sheep show this kind of expression. Usually when he said he was angry, a few words of coaxing would make it better, but this time it seemed he truly couldn’t be placated.

Having taken a slap, Earth-Tiger rubbed his face but still pulled Black Sheep to sit down: “Old Black… Old Black, listen to me first.”

Black Sheep sat down with a dark expression, looking exceptionally serious.

“Old Black… my brain is slow, help me think this through.”

Black Sheep still didn’t speak.

“Tell me, if there were no Baiyang… would we two still be ‘Earth-level’ now?” Earth-Tiger asked with a smile. “Or rather… would we two still be ‘zodiacs’? So our lives…”

“Don’t try to fool me with your twisted logic…” Black Sheep said through gritted teeth. “What touching scene are you trying to perform?”

“But that’s just how it is…”

“Bullshit! Let me ask you… the reason Baiyang has led you to where you are today, isn’t the ultimate goal to have you live?” Black Sheep hit the nail on the head. “At this final moment, you’re being all righteous and noble. Will this kind of self-moving behavior really satisfy Baiyang?!”

“You…”

“Let me make this clear first,” Black Sheep said. “If Baiyang personally tells me ‘let Pei Qianhu die,’ I’ll immediately agree without a second word, even if he asks me to do it myself… but as long as he doesn’t say it, you cannot die.”

After hearing this, Earth-Tiger also felt a bit anxious: “You dead Old Black… what exactly are you being so stubborn about? Can Baiyang plan for every tiny contingency? This plan spans such a long time. Any person’s small thought, any small encounter could cause the entire thing to change…”

“So what?”

“Then shouldn’t we actively share some of Baiyang’s burden!” Earth-Tiger said. “As Baiyang’s students, we two definitely understand him better than anyone. He would also let us decide certain things ourselves at critical moments.”

“This situation is completely different!” Black Sheep said. “This plan involves too many people. Not everyone is as selfless as you. Everyone has their own ideas! Do you know what’s hardest to control in this world?! It’s damn well ‘people’!”

“It won’t be that difficult…” Earth-Tiger said. “As long as everyone works together with one heart, we can definitely…”

Black Sheep leaned forward and grabbed Earth-Tiger’s collar once more: “Pei Qianhu… do you know why after Emperor Qin Shi Huang ‘unified weights and measures,’ people talked about it endlessly and praised him for benefiting the people?!”

“What…?”

“It was merely unifying various measurement units. Something that could clearly be solved with a single imperial decree—why has it been passed down through the ages?!”

“You, you know I’m not very educated… I…”

“It’s because there were too many people! Too many people, do you understand?!” Black Sheep said with a fierce expression. “Even in a company with just ten people, when the leader speaks, there are always two or three who don’t understand the requirements. Even in a chat group of twenty people, there are always five or six who don’t see the announcements… What if you scale this up to hundreds, thousands? And then to tens of thousands?! How can you ensure that everyone understands a clear requirement and executes it smoothly?! This is the terrifying thing about ‘people’! ‘People’ are the creatures most prone to thinking they’re clever!”

Earth-Tiger indeed fell silent after hearing this.

He also truly knew that the current rebel team could never be united as one, let alone the fact that Baiyang’s plan involved even more people—not just this small squad.

Within such a large scale, if even one person changed their mind or didn’t understand Baiyang’s plan, everyone could lose everything.

“But… but this isn’t right either…?” Earth-Tiger asked.

“Pei Qianhu, how much clearer do I need to make this…?”

“No… I’m not trying to contradict you,” Earth-Tiger said. “Old Black, the reason Baiyang is Baiyang is precisely because he can control ‘people.'”