Chapter 398: The Blood Oath
On the train.
Earth Tiger was pacing anxiously in front of a wooden door. Passing Zodiacs bowed in greeting before scurrying away to keep their distance.
"Damn... still not off work?" Earth Tiger leaned against the wall with one hand, his expression utterly irritated. "What the hell are you working so late for every day, anyway..."
After waiting a few more minutes, the door before him finally creaked open.
Earth Goat stepped out, his body covered in black fur. He gave Earth Tiger a blank look, then turned to leave.
"Hold up!" Earth Tiger called out.
Earth Goat stopped and turned back, speaking impatiently. "Do you have a problem? It's only the first day. I'll pay back your 'Dao' slowly."
"Who the hell cares about 'Dao'!" Earth Tiger grabbed Earth Goat by the arm. "I've got a new idea, and I need your help..."
"Just say it."
"I..." Earth Tiger started, then suddenly remembered something. "Uh, well... when you ask someone for a favor, shouldn't I buy you a meal first?"
"Can you cut the fake politeness?" Earth Goat shoved Earth Tiger away. "If you're not talking, I'm leaving."
"Wait, wait..." Earth Tiger put on a troubled expression. "It's not convenient to talk here. Let's go to my room?"
"Huh?" Earth Goat looked annoyed. "What exactly do you want?"
"Ah... just come on, come on..."
Earth Tiger dragged Earth Goat toward his room by force. After a few steps, another door ahead of them opened, revealing a figure.
It was a dog, bare-chested, wearing a suit jacket draped over his shoulders.
"Oh..." Earth Tiger gave a perfunctory nod. "Rare sight, Dog. You working overtime too?"
"Don't even mention it. Ran into a veteran," Earth Dog sighed. "Tiger, got any food? Take me to grab a bite. Got off too late and missed the meal distribution."
"What? Not today." Earth Tiger said decisively. "Tomorrow. I'll buy you two meals tomorrow."
"What the hell?" Earth Dog frowned. "No way... you're that stingy? I've shared all my hidden booze with you, and you won't even buy me a meal?"
"Ah! Today really isn't the day!!" Earth Tiger looked pitifully at Earth Goat. "We've got important stuff to discuss, right?"
"Who's discussing anything with you?" Earth Goat sneered. "Earth Dog, you come too. This kid said he's treating us to a meal."
"I knew it." Earth Dog yawned. "Hurry up, Tiger. Don't waste precious after-work time."
What started as Earth Tiger dragging Earth Goat soon turned into Earth Dog dragging both of them toward Earth Tiger's room.
Earth Tiger pushed open his door with a resigned expression. Inside, seven or eight Human-level Zodiacs were sitting around a table waiting for him, and the table was covered with food.
"The teacher's back..." a female Human Monkey said.
At that, all the students looked at Earth Tiger.
"Uh... well..." Earth Tiger looked completely awkward. "You guys, get lost for a bit. We three have something to discuss."
Seeing that three Di-level Zodiacs had entered, the seven or eight students didn't dare to linger. They stood up and filed out, with the Human Monkey at the back carefully closing the door.
Earth Dog, seeing the table full of food, didn't stand on ceremony. He sat down and started eating.
Meanwhile, Earth Tiger and Earth Goat remained silent.
"Go ahead and talk," Earth Dog said. "My ears are bad. I can't hear a thing."
"Damn," Earth Tiger muttered. "Do you even believe that yourself? You're a 'Dog'—bad ears?"
"What else can I do?" Earth Dog said, keeping his head down and grabbing food. "You don't have any plastic bags here, or I'd just take it to go."
Earth Goat crossed his arms and sighed. "Just say what you have to say. Don't waste everyone's time."
"But there's an outsider here!" Earth Tiger shouted.
"Outsider?" Earth Dog paused with a bun stuffed in his mouth, looking around. "Where?"
"You, damn it!" Earth Tiger roared. "Why did you have to come over?!"
"That's really hurtful." Earth Dog shook his head and took another bite of his bun. "If I hadn't been forced to work overtime today, would I have run into you two? Running into you is fate, and you treating me to a meal represents 'Zodiac Brotherhood.' From every angle... this should be a pleasant meeting..."
"Cut the crap!"
Earth Goat reached out, grabbed a carrot from the table, took a bite, and said to Earth Tiger, "We've known this dog for years. He's hardly an outsider. What's there that he can't hear?"
"Ah... well... well..." Earth Tiger lowered his voice. "It's about 'Brother Goat'..."
Even though he tried to keep his voice down, Earth Tiger's naturally loud voice carried clearly to Earth Dog's ears.
"Brother Goat?!" Earth Dog froze. "White Goat?"
"Don't you listen!!" Earth Tiger shouted.
"Not my fault... your voice is like a subwoofer—I can't help but hear it," Earth Dog said. "Brother Goat is my idol, didn't I tell you? I wanted to be a Goat at first, but people are hard to fool and Goats are hard to be, so I had to settle for being a Dog..."
"Alright, alright..." Earth Tiger waved his hand. "You brought this on yourself. From here on, you asked to hear it. If something goes wrong, I'm not taking responsibility."
"Huh?"
Hearing this, Earth Goat and Earth Dog felt a bad premonition. They suddenly regretted following him.
"Old Black, Dog," Earth Tiger looked into both their eyes very seriously and said something that made both their eyes go wide—
"Let's rebel."
At that, Earth Dog coughed violently, clearly choking on his food.
Earth Goat hurriedly stood up, muttered a quick "I'm out," and bolted for the door.
"Hey, don't leave!" Earth Tiger stepped forward and grabbed Earth Goat. "You've already heard. It's too late to leave now."
Then he turned back and pointed at the still-coughing Earth Dog. "And you, you're in now too. Whoever leaves, I'll report. Damn it, neither of you is getting away."
Earth Dog coughed for a long time before dislodging the stuck food. "You old bastard, you're too ruthless... This is the first time I've ever bummed a meal off you, and you pull this? Just wait, I'll spit it right back up..."
He frantically poked his throat with his fingers, but it didn't seem to do much good.
"Too late even if you throw up!" Earth Tiger said. "I've already said it. You're both in the know now. Either report me now, and I'll drag you down with me, or we sit down and seriously discuss the feasibility of this plan."
Earth Dog kept making himself gag, but still couldn't figure out what any of this had to do with him.
He just wanted a meal. He never thought he'd end up on such an absurd pirate ship.
Was Earth Tiger out of his mind?