# Chapter 285: One Man, Ten Thousand Daos
I never thought Brother White Goat would come to rescue me.
I thought I would just have to live in that room from then on...
But Brother White Goat really came, bringing Uncle Tiger, Uncle Snake, and Uncle Black Goat with him.
All four of them came to save me.
That night, Brother White Goat got into a fierce fight with the Snakehead Man. Uncle Tiger kept covering my eyes the whole time, telling me not to look.
But I could hear it—the sounds of fighting.
Both of them were incredibly strong; when they fought, it was like two tractors crashing into each other.
In the end, Brother White Goat won. The Snakehead Man's face was covered in blood.
Brother White Goat didn't kill him. He only warned him to be more careful in the future.
I didn't know what had really happened. I didn't know whether I should be scared or happy.
They had clearly abandoned me, but now they came back together to rescue me... Would they abandon me again?
I could accept people being mean to me, but I couldn't accept them being nice to me first and then throwing me away...
Uncle Tiger held me in his arms and carried me back to Brother White Goat's room.
"Little Mouse... are you okay?" Uncle Tiger asked me.
"I... I'm fine, Uncle Tiger..." I forced a smile.
Hearing this, Uncle Black Goat cursed under his breath: "Bastard... I forgot that old snake Earth Snake's dirty trick... Good thing we got there early."
"Oh!" Uncle Snake looked at my clothes, slapped his forehead, and walked over to a cabinet to pull out a dirty suit. "I've got an extra suit here. I'll alter it for you tonight. You can wear it to work tomorrow."
"What are you sucking up for..." Uncle Tiger said. "Are you planning to go two nights without sleep?"
"So what? I'm happy." Uncle Snake shook his head and winked at Uncle Tiger.
"Then you go alter the clothes. I'll put Little Mouse to bed."
"And why you?" Uncle Snake shouted. "You're so ugly, how are you supposed to put anyone to sleep?"
"If not me, then who?" Uncle Tiger shot back. "You going to do it? You stink so bad, are you trying to stink someone to death?"
I felt like the atmosphere was changing somehow... It seemed like they didn't want to abandon me anymore.
"Mouse, this will be your rest area from now on," Brother White Goat said. "Let me reintroduce myself. I am 'Earth Goat.' From now on, I am your teacher, and you are my student. I will guide your path of advancement. Perhaps one day I can recommend you to sign the 'Zodiac Ascension Bet Contract.'"
"T-teacher?" I jumped to my feet, hesitating whether to say "Hello, teacher."
"From now on, you'll live together with my other three students. If you have questions, you can ask them. If they can't answer, you can come to me," Brother White Goat continued. "Remember this: on this train, only the four of us are allowed to teach you a lesson. No one else. Understood."
For some reason, I felt really happy.
"B-but... am I really capable...?" I looked at Brother White Goat nervously, worried I might mess things up again.
"There is no such thing as an 'incapable' person in this world," Brother White Goat said gently. "Because there are many paths in this world, and everyone has their own. We simply choose different roads—that doesn't mean we can't reach the destination."
Ever since Brother White Goat called himself my "teacher," I suddenly felt that he really did seem like a teacher.
From that night on, I spent the happiest days of my life.
During the day, I would sit outside the empty warehouse entrance. At night, I'd come back and play with everyone.
Gradually, I discovered how interesting the uncles' personalities really were.
Uncle Black Goat didn't seem to pay much attention to me, but every day he drew a little picture and placed it by my bedside.
Apparently, Uncle Black Goat used to not only paint but also do calligraphy. Uncle Tiger said the fans Uncle Black Goat inscribed used to be worth real money.
Uncle Snake was the most cheerful of the four. He often made me laugh, and I would sometimes forget the foul smell coming from his mask. He was really a good person. To help train me, he often asked me riddles, and I could never figure them out.
The most interesting one was probably Uncle Tiger. He listened to everything I said. No matter what I asked, he would agree. I heard that Uncle Tiger had a daughter about my age. The reason he became a "Tiger" here was so that one day he could go back and see his daughter.
Uncle Tiger often found ways to bring me a pack of snacks. His game venue seemed to be a supermarket, where he could sometimes find discarded snacks no one wanted.
Even though most of the snacks he brought me were already rotten, I was still very happy. No one in this world had ever bought me snacks before.
Actually, I was a little jealous of Uncle Tiger's daughter.
If only my father missed me as much... but unfortunately, he abandoned me long ago.
Even if I could go back one day, I wouldn't know where to find him. If my father were even half as good as Uncle Tiger... then even dying would be worth it.
As for Brother White Goat...
He was a very strange person.
He was different from all of us. He never slept. Whenever he had free time, he locked himself in his room and read books. Every book he read was so profound—I had never even seen them before.
What was even more curious was... Brother White Goat didn't seem to have a reason to leave.
He had said more than once that he had no family outside, that leaving would be worse than staying here. But the games he designed were far too excellent. Apparently, he met his "quota" every single day. They never told me what the "quota" was—only that once a game was designed, it couldn't be changed. So one day, Brother White Goat would eventually have to leave.
I looked forward to that day... and yet I also feared it.
Uncle Tiger said that if Brother White Goat really left... then the three of us would have no "teacher."
We might be randomly assigned to other "Earth-rank" zodiacs... or possibly even to Earth Dragon.
At that point, I probably wouldn't get to live with the three uncles anymore.
But I really, truly wanted Brother White Goat to leave.
This place was clearly not the normal world. Brother White Goat was such a good person; he shouldn't stay here forever.
This place was like a giant prison, locking us all in.
The uncles said that once you board this train, you can never leave.
Every one of us was a "participant" here, even after we put on our masks. Whenever this topic came up... the uncles' eyes would grow very dejected.
It seemed we had trapped ourselves here. Whether we were zodiacs or participants... it felt like no one could ever get out.
The day everything changed was no different from any other.
Brother White Goat was sitting at the dining table as usual, calling us over to eat.
But halfway through the meal, he said something out of the blue:
"Everyone, I've paved your future paths."
"What...?"
"I recommended the three of you to Heavenly Dragon and handed over the quantity you owe," Brother White Goat said.
"Our... quantity?"
"Three thousand six hundred 'Daos' each, ten thousand eight hundred in total. I've already given them all to Heavenly Dragon."