Chapter 1042: The Pig's Farewell
The human-pig appeared increasingly agitated, as if carrying a bellyful of grievances that could not be voiced aloud.
Yes, how would an ordinary participant know the categories of "Zodiacs"?
"Zodiacs" are not merely divided into "Heaven, Earth, and Human."
After all, the most numerous "Human-grade Zodiacs" are divided into three categories—
"Candidates," "Judges," and "Assistants."
Although they are "Human-grade Zodiacs," they are also the most "human-like" among all "Zodiacs."
They neither need to kill like the "Human-grade Zodiacs" inside the interview rooms, nor do they need to curry favor with superiors or hand over their "life-buying money" like ordinary "Human-grade Zodiacs."
They only need to open the door after the interview ends and smoothly guide the "participants" inside the door into the corridor.
What’s more, some of them would only see a pile of corpses every time they opened the door. Over time, they got used to it and stopped bothering to open the door at all.
They enjoy the same treatment as all other "Human-grade Zodiacs," whether in terms of housing or food—only they don’t have to deal with death.
These are the "Assistants" who can never be promoted and can never escape. They are also the idle posts known to all "Zodiacs."
But just yesterday, Azure Dragon suddenly selected twenty "Assistants" and sent them letters, ordering them to design games overnight and await further orders at any time.
The "Assistants," accustomed to a life of leisure, were thrown into a panic. They scrambled to design their own "Human-grade games." This was a proposition they hadn’t touched in a long time, so naturally, it was no small challenge.
In his letter, Azure Dragon also clearly told them that if they could use their own games to take the lives of "participants" in this game—even just one—they could bypass all restrictions and be directly promoted to "Earth-grade."
This was news that both gave the "Assistants" a headache and delighted them—
As long as they could take a life through the game, they could skip the steps of "handing over the offering," "signing the contract," "entering the interview room," and "killing," and become "Earth-grade" directly. Yet these "Assistants" also knew... that in the entire "Land of Finality," there was no such thing as a free lunch. Every seemingly tempting choice here would definitely take something of equal value from them in ways they didn’t realize.
Moreover... as "Human-grade Zodiacs," their "games" were inherently incapable of causing death. So the only way to kill a "participant" was to actively gamble with the participant’s life.
Although Azure Dragon didn’t explicitly mention "punishments," something as good as becoming "Earth-grade" by killing a single "participant"... how could there be no other penalty?
And what if they never killed anyone at all?
There were fourteen participants in this game, but it was said that the number of "Judges" was far more than twenty. These twenty-plus individuals didn’t even know the identities of the other "Zodiacs." They had no way to contact each other or inquire about the details. They could only wait desperately by the "door" Azure Dragon had given them—waiting for participants to suddenly walk out from the other side of that "door."
By the same logic, there would definitely be unlucky "Zodiacs" who never encountered any "participants" from start to finish, and the game would already be over.
What would happen to them then?
All the "Assistants" felt that this didn’t seem like just a game targeting "participants," but rather a reshuffling of the "Assistants" themselves.
But after the reshuffling... who would open the doors in the next cycle? Did that mean they no longer needed "Assistants"?
Moreover... who exactly were the participants in this "game"?
Why would Azure Dragon go to such great lengths to deal with them?
The human-pig before them was one such confused soul under the weight of immense pressure.
He could not afford any misstep in this game. Yet, after finally waiting for two participants, things turned out differently from what he had imagined.
These two hadn’t even fully experienced his game before completing the trade on their own.
"Even if you don’t have chips... but... you can’t just decide for yourselves..." the human-pig said. "You really don’t know how scared I am right now..."
Han Yimo felt that the human-pig before him seemed genuinely terrified. The trembling in his voice didn’t seem faked.
Wen Qiaoyun sighed after hearing this and asked, "So what do you want, then?"
"I... I..."
Wen Qiaoyun sighed again and said, "Anyway, for us, everything we’ve done—including entering your game venue—has been nothing more than determining the ownership of the 'character.' Now that the ownership of the 'character' is settled, keeping us here any longer serves no purpose. It’s just wasting your time."
After hearing this, the human-pig glanced sideways at the pitch-black object in Wen Qiaoyun’s hand, his mind racing.
These participants’ goal... was the "character"?
They didn’t want the "Dao" nor did they seek to take each other’s lives. Instead, they wanted to use the various "Assistants" to determine the ownership of the "character"?
The human-pig shook his head, snapped back to reality, and stared at Wen Qiaoyun and Han Yimo again.
Why was he getting tangled up over these "characters"?
What a golden opportunity this was now! The step to "Earth-grade" was right in front of him!
More than twenty judges, fourteen participants. And since only two people entered each room, that meant this game would likely need no more than seven judges to intervene before the outcome was decided.
At least thirteen "Zodiacs" would not get this chance.
"I... I want to... I... I want to..." The human-pig suddenly raised his voice, stammering as he shouted.
Han Yimo and Wen Qiaoyun were startled, but judging by their expressions, they had no idea what was going on. They just stared blankly at him.
But the words stuck in the human-pig’s throat, refusing to come out.
Gamble for life?
With this woman opposite him?
She had seen through the game in the first round, confirmed it in the second, started arranging tactics in the third, and began leading him by the nose in the fourth and fifth. Now, before the game was even over, the other party’s "character" was already in her pocket.
And he, a lazy "Zodiac" living from hand to mouth, designing and hosting a game for the first time, was going to gamble his life with her?
"You want to what with us?" Wen Qiaoyun asked, frowning.
She felt that the human-pig seemed to have made a huge decision, but after waiting for a long time, not a single word came out.
"I want to..." The human-pig gritted his teeth in desperation, but ultimately, reason conquered greed. Through clenched teeth, he forced out a few words. "...say goodbye to you..."
Wen Qiaoyun frowned and exchanged a bewildered glance with Han Yimo. Neither of them had ever heard such an expression before.
The other party had shouted so emotionally, and what came out was: "I want to say goodbye to you?"
"So... does that mean we can leave?" Wen Qiaoyun said.
The human-pig let out a deep sigh. "Yes... go..."
He knew that even if he wanted to gamble for life, now was not the time. He was in charge of the game about "luck," and it was very likely that some other unlucky bastard would stumble into this place.
Wen Qiaoyun’s lips curled slightly, as if she already had a plan in mind. But the immediate priority was to inform Chu Tianqiu about the situation inside the "door."
In this game, it wasn’t just the "participants" who were slaughtering each other. There was also another path they could take.