Chapter 596: Inferior
“What…?” Earth Horse turned back to look at Earth Rat, her face full of confusion. “You’re threatening me? On what grounds?”
“Hey, I just have a guess. It might be ridiculous, but you might as well hear me out!” Earth Rat stepped forward step by step, his face plastered with an ingratiating smile.
“You…”
Earth Horse finally realized just how troublesome the rat in front of her really was. She could only regret having underestimated him before.
“You kept saying to Pig Leader just now, ‘If we can take them down, we’ll earn merit,’ which made me think of something interesting.” Earth Rat grinned. “Forgive my bluntness, but you really don’t come off as a clever sort. I was wondering—when you were egging on Pig Leader, could it be that you couldn’t think of a good excuse at the time, and accidentally blurted out what was really on your mind?”
The others frowned at these words, while Earth Horse’s eyes went wide.
“So you never actually wanted Pig Leader to earn merit—you wanted to earn it yourself…” Earth Rat pressed on with a relentless smile, his words like blades closing in on Earth Horse.
“I’m done talking to you.”
A flicker of panic passed over Earth Horse’s expression. She turned to leave, but Earth Rat stepped forward and grabbed her by the arm.
“Leader, don’t rush off. I’m not finished.” Earth Rat smiled. “I’d like to keep guessing. Give me another chance.”
“Get lost!” Earth Horse seemed agitated. She shook off Earth Rat’s hand and insisted on pulling open the door.
Earth Goat and Earth Tiger now sensed what was going on and quickly moved to block the doorway.
“Hey, don’t leave!” Earth Tiger sneered. “You didn’t hesitate to stir up trouble, but now that it’s blown up in your face, you want to run? Where’s the fun in that?”
“Exactly!” Earth Rat chimed in. “I said I was going to threaten you, and I haven’t even said anything yet, and you’re already trying to bolt?”
Seeing that she was outnumbered, Earth Horse stopped trying to escape and turned around to face off with Earth Rat.
“Fine. Since you say you’re going to threaten me, let’s see what you’ve got. How exactly do you plan to threaten me?”
Earth Rat scratched his forehead and said, “Leader, you’re so forthright, it makes me look a bit sinister. Alright then, I’ll take a bold guess… You don’t seem like a big shot. Even though you’ve had the game designed by ‘Golden Monkey,’ in thirty years you haven’t managed to kill three thousand six hundred people, have you?”
Earth Horse’s expression was extremely ugly. She didn’t answer.
“One hundred a year—that’s less than one every three days.” Earth Rat nodded. “So I think my guess is a bit off. You don’t actually want to ‘earn merit.’ Your situation is different from Pig Leader’s. Trying to please the ‘Sky Level’ won’t get you promoted. So what you’re doing now seems more like… like…”
He thought for a long time about how to phrase it.
“Ah, I’ve got it. ‘Atone for your crimes with merits,’ right?” Earth Rat’s smile grew brighter. “Leader Ma, you haven’t made some fatal mistake that you need to fix in a hurry, have you?”
“I…” Earth Horse stared at Earth Rat in disbelief. “Just who are you…?”
“But we’re already ‘Earth Level.’ What could be so urgent that you’re this panicked…?” Earth Rat lowered his head, pretending to think. “So panicked that you need to do something immediately to show loyalty to your superiors… but you don’t show loyalty to ‘Sky Horse’—you’re trying to show it to ‘Sky Dragon.’ Is it really that serious…?”
Black Goat glanced at the lounging dog in the corner, who was idly eating sunflower seeds, and his eyes grew deep. The rat his brother had brought might have plenty of character flaws, but his mind was certainly sharp.
“In other words, this incident would make ‘Sky Dragon’ angry, and it could even threaten your own safety…” Earth Rat stroked his long whiskers. Within seconds, he had the answer. “As everyone knows, there’s a group of ‘Participants’ causing trouble outside today… Putting it all together, is there a chance that they caused some huge problem in your territory—something so big you couldn’t control it—with consequences so severe that you can’t even stay an ‘Earth Level’ anymore?”
“Are you really just guessing?” Earth Horse asked, eyes wide.
“Of course, of course.” Earth Rat nodded. “You don’t think I already knew the answer, do you? Then you’re overestimating me.”
Upon hearing this, Earth Horse gave up resisting and said to the group, “My situation is indeed quite critical right now… If I don’t do something quickly, I’ll definitely be expelled. That’s why coming after you was a last resort.”
“I’ve heard that kind of talk too many times.” Earth Tiger shook his head. “‘Because of my situation, I have to do this to you.’ But no one in this world is obliged to put up with you. Why should we suffer for your own problems?”
Earth Horse’s brow furrowed, and her voice changed. “Then what do you want me to do?! That ‘Participant’ single-handedly made my game ridiculously easy with just one sentence! I can’t kill anyone anymore! If ‘Sky Dragon’ finds out I’m wasting a spot here, he’ll definitely expel me!! Using you to gain some merit is the only thing I can do!”
“Made your game ridiculously easy with just one sentence…?”
None of them had ever heard of such a thing, and they couldn’t even imagine what it looked like.
“But you still have another option.” Black Goat spoke coldly from the side. “I was just reading from ‘The Chen She Family’ that Brother Goat left behind yesterday: ‘Now to flee is death, and to rise up is also death.’ Since you can’t escape no matter what, why not try joining us?”
Black Goat’s words made several of them hesitate. After all, Earth Horse didn’t seem like a reliable ally. Was it really a good idea to bring someone like that into the team?
But on second thought, everyone in this group wasn’t much better than her. They each had their own agendas and motives. It was already a team of misfits, so adding one more weak link wouldn’t hurt.
“That’s right, Leader Ma…” Earth Rat caught on to Earth Goat’s meaning and quickly interjected, “Even Dog Leader and Pig Leader understand this reasoning. How can you not? Are you really worse than a pig or a dog?”
Earth Pig and Earth Dog both felt the sentence was a bit off, but they couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was strange.
“So I’m being forced into this, aren’t I…?” Earth Horse frowned. “I never wanted to join in the first place. That ‘Participant’ is the one who harmed me…”
“So what’s your decision?” Earth Rat asked.
“I need to go back and think about it.”
“Too bad.” Earth Rat said. “I told you, this is a ‘threat.’ If you don’t agree, I’ll spread your story everywhere. Then not only will your Achilles tendons be cut, but probably your arteries too. I don’t think any of us want to see that happen, Leader Ma—pig-and-dog-brained as you are.”