Chapter 399: The Goat's Secret
“You’re playing dirty with me, aren’t you…” Earth Goat pushed Earth Tiger with a flustered expression. “You’re practically sending the two of us to our deaths!”
“What’s there to die for?” Earth Tiger said nonchalantly. “What are you afraid of? Afraid of ‘Heaven’?”
“You…” Earth Goat glanced back at the door at this, feeling as if death was right around the corner. “Can you keep your voice down?!”
“I don’t care anyway…” Earth Tiger said. “I only wanted to drag you into this at first, but now that Dog is here too, we three can go together.”
“What do you mean, go together…” Earth Dog shot up from his seat. “Are you out of your mind? Which eye of yours saw me agreeing to join you?”
Seeing that Earth Tiger’s expression wasn’t joking, he turned to Earth Goat. “What the hell is wrong with this Worthless Tiger?”
“This…” Earth Goat’s eyes showed a hint of hesitation. “Probably because of Brother Goat’s matter…”
“What about Brother Goat?” Earth Dog looked at the two of them in confusion. “Isn’t Brother Goat ‘Heavenly Goat’ now? Is he inciting you to rebel?”
“Don’t talk nonsense…” Earth Goat interrupted. “This has nothing to do with Brother Goat at all. It’s purely that Worthless Tiger acting on a whim.”
With Earth Goat’s recounting, Earth Dog roughly understood the whole picture.
“What…?” After listening to Earth Goat’s account, Earth Dog furrowed his brow slightly. “You suspect that Brother Goat didn’t become ‘Heavenly Goat’… but instead turned into an ordinary participant?”
“Just a guess,” Earth Goat said. “But this Worthless Tiger is ready to rebel based on nothing more than a ‘guess.’”
Earth Dog still couldn’t comprehend it after hearing that. “Wait… Worthless Tiger, what exactly is your reason? If you’re really sure that man named Qixia is Brother Goat, shouldn’t you talk to him first?”
“Damn it…” Earth Tiger cursed under his breath. “Talk my ass out there! You know damn well how good your boss’s ears are. What if he overhears?”
“Then you shouldn’t be talking about it here either!” Earth Dog blinked after speaking. “No, you shouldn’t be talking about this anywhere! Do you have a death wish?”
“What’s the big deal?” Earth Tiger sneered. “The physical fitness of ‘Heaven’ is the same as ours—they just have a few weird abilities… I think that as long as we’re ruthless enough, rebellion is no problem at all…”
“No, no, no…” Earth Dog shook his head frantically. “Worthless Tiger, listen to me first…”
“Go ahead.”
“Tell me—is it possible… that the reason we became ‘Zodiacs’ is to survive and escape?”
Earth Dog then glanced at Earth Goat. Their goal was now the same: to convince Earth Tiger to abandon this idea.
“That’s right, Worthless Tiger,” Earth Goat nodded. “You can be impulsive, but we don’t have to be. Isn’t it better to just stay here and advance? You spent so long becoming an Earth-level, and you’re just going to throw it all away?”
“Are you two idiots?” Earth Tiger asked in exasperation. “We can’t become ‘Sky-level’ at all! Brother Goat’s example is right here in front of us! Even if we kill enough people, as long as the ‘Sky-level’ above us is vacant, we’ll just turn into ordinary participants!”
“I already said it’s just a guess!” Earth Goat was getting anxious. “Worthless Tiger, we don’t have a hundred percent certainty that Qixia is Earth Goat. Have you forgotten? Human Snake said he’d go confirm that person’s identity…”
“What else is there to confirm?” Earth Tiger’s voice grew louder. “You, me, and Dead Snake all think he looks like him. We’re the ones who know Brother Goat best! Could there be such a coincidence in this world?”
Neither could convince the other, so they fell into silence.
“Wait a moment…” This time, Earth Dog spoke again, his gaze slightly different from before. “I don’t really care about ‘rebellion’ anymore now… What you said earlier—‘we can’t become Sky-level’—is that true?”
Earth Tiger nodded seriously after hearing this. “Dog, think for yourself. In all the years you’ve been a ‘Zodiac,’ which ‘Earth-level’ has actually become ‘Sky-level’?”
“You can’t say that,” Earth Dog replied. “The problem now is that we and the ‘Sky-levels’ aren’t even together. How do you know none of those ‘Earth-levels’ succeeded in advancing?”
“My brain only has one track!” Earth Tiger said. “I’ve never seen a single ‘successful advancement,’ but I’ve seen one ‘failed advancement.’ Based on that, the probability of ‘failing advancement’ is one hundred percent.”
“You…!” Earth Goat was choked speechless by Earth Tiger’s bully logic.
Meanwhile, Earth Dog’s expression had completely changed.
“Tiger… if we really can’t advance to ‘Sky-level’… then the situation really is more troublesome…” Earth Dog’s expression gradually turned serious. “I’ve been crawling and struggling here all these years, carefully treading water… if there’s no good ending in the end, then what were the people I killed for? What were all my efforts for? What’s the point of reporting to work on time every day?”
“Earth Dog, even you…” Earth Goat was taken aback. “I remember you weren’t this kind of person…”
“Before, I couldn’t care less about anything, because it didn’t touch my interests. As long as I could clock out on time, I had no other demands,” Earth Dog shook his head. “But now, if things are really as Tiger says… then I have to reconsider this matter…”
“You, you two calm down…” Earth Goat slowly raised his hand. “Although I understand your thoughts now, can we wait a little longer?”
“Wait for what?” Earth Tiger asked.
“Wait for Human Snake to confirm Qixia’s identity…” Earth Goat said nervously. “At least there are still a few days, right?”
“What good will those few days do?” Earth Tiger said. “If that Dead Snake really confirms Qixia’s identity, that means he’ll be dragged into this struggle too. But he’s a ‘Human,’ right? Even though the three of us can’t stand each other, do you really want him to die?”
“It doesn’t matter that he’s a ‘Human’…” Earth Goat shook his head. “But at least wait first… We need to wait a little longer…”
“Old Black…” Earth Tiger slowly stood up and walked in front of Earth Goat. “You seem a bit strange…? Isn’t the situation clear enough? Either you agree, and the three of us discuss it together, or you leave right now, and I’ll pretend you were never here tonight. Do you get it now?”
“No…” Earth Goat shook his head, looking at the two with a very strange expression. “I won’t leave, and I won’t let you rebel.”
“Oh?” Earth Dog gave a cold laugh upon hearing this. “So that’s how it is… you can neither leave nor agree, meaning you have some other plan… right?”