Chapter 626: Direction
Earth Chicken’s expression darkened for half a second after hearing this, then she slowly walked over to stand before Black Sheep.
“Couldn’t he have introduced himself to me?”
“But that would be strange,” Black Sheep said. “You yourself said that your game is unusually simple—the rules could even be explained in just a few words. Under those circumstances, why would Qi Xia need to introduce himself to you?”
Earth Chicken stared into Black Sheep’s eyes for a long moment, then suddenly let out a snort of laughter.
This unexpected laugh left everyone momentarily frozen.
“As expected of White Sheep’s apprentice—you really do sound just like him,” Earth Chicken said, covering her mouth. “It’s just a pity you’re not as handsome as he is.”
Black Sheep furrowed his brow slightly. “What…?”
“Our team needs someone like you.” Earth Chicken winked with a smile. “If you hadn’t stopped me today and I had stepped out that door, I probably would never have come back.”
“You…”
At this moment, the other “Zodiacs” felt that Earth Chicken’s identity was somewhat unusual, but they couldn’t grasp her stance.
“Because Qi Xia said I can act entirely according to my own preferences. If I think it’s fine, then it’s fine. If I don’t think so, then it’s not. He’ll bear all the consequences.” Earth Chicken rubbed her feathered hands together. “Do any of you have objections to that?”
“So… do you know why we’ve all gathered here?” Black Sheep asked tentatively.
“Of course,” Earth Chicken said. “I knew you would gather here many years ago.”
“Hey… miss, that’s not right of you,” Earth Tiger quickly stood up. “You say you know everything, and yet you come accusing us of ‘disturbing the peace’ or whatever… aren’t we all on the same side?”
Earth Chicken didn’t directly answer Earth Tiger’s question. Instead, she calmly dropped a single sentence: “Everyone, do you know what the ‘herd effect’ is?”
Earth Rat slowly squinted his eyes upon hearing this, then took a fresh look at the Earth Chicken before him.
“The herd effect…?” Black Sheep didn’t understand what she meant. After thinking for a moment, he asked, “What are you trying to say?”
“Qi Xia has always been my ‘bellwether.’ I can die for him.” Earth Chicken said with a smile. “Whether he’s White Sheep or Qi Xia, I can die for him.”
This brief statement silenced everyone.
“Qi Xia’s greatest strength is calculating the human heart. But ironically, the most difficult thing in this world to calculate is precisely the human heart.” Earth Chicken glanced meaningfully at the few people in the room, then continued, “I can die for Qi Xia—I have always been able to, for all these years. But I’m not sure about your intentions.”
“What do you mean…?” Black Sheep’s eyes suddenly blazed with anger. “Are you saying that we wouldn’t die for Brother Sheep?”
“You would, and Earth Tiger would too—I believe that.” Earth Chicken nodded. “But what about the rest?”
The expressions of the other five “Zodiacs” in the room were somewhat complicated.
The reasons they stood here were perhaps varied and bizarre, but they definitely had nothing to do with being willing to die for White Sheep.
At this point, Earth Rat slowly took a step forward and asked, “Do you mean that only by dying for him can we possibly break the curse and escape this place?”
“No, we don’t necessarily have to die for him,” Earth Chicken said. “But we need to have the resolve to die for him.”
“What…?”
“Only then can Qi Xia’s ‘plan’ proceed.”
“So you know what we’re going to do…?”
Earth Chicken gave a faint smile and waved for everyone to come closer.
…
When Earth Tiger arrived at the venue for his shift carrying a bag of food that had long gone cold, he found Qi Xia already standing at the door waiting for him.
He quickened his steps, suppressing his complicated expression, and put on an apologetic face. “Sheep—uh, Qi Xia—I’m really sorry… I’m a bit late today.”
“Mm…” Qi Xia nodded absently. “It’s fine.”
“Anyway, Qi Xia, I met her.” Earth Tiger said. “That eighth person is an ‘Earth Chicken.’ We’ve already met. You really are a prophet!”
“…Good.”
Qi Xia didn’t seem to be listening at all. He just rubbed his forehead, his expression looking somewhat unwell.
Seeing that Qi Xia showed no reaction, Earth Tiger froze for a few seconds, then quickly changed the subject. He held up the plastic bag in his hand.
“Qi Xia! I brought you some food!” Earth Tiger said with a smile. “You haven’t eaten properly in days, right? Let me tell you, there’s a chicken leg in here that Old Black specifically asked me to bring you! Isn’t that brat such a sentimental fool?”
Qi Xia glanced at the bag in Earth Tiger’s hand, his expression dazed.
“What’s wrong… Qi Xia…” Earth Tiger looked puzzledly at Qi Xia’s bloodshot eyes. “You look like you haven’t slept all night. What happened last night?”
“I’m fine. I won’t eat that. You have it yourself.”
Qi Xia waved his hand, shook his head, and brushed past Earth Tiger, walking away.
Earth Tiger stood there dumbfounded, completely unable to understand the current situation.
Brother Sheep had been perfectly fine when they met yesterday, but overnight he seemed to have become a different person. What exactly had happened last night?
He watched Qi Xia’s retreating figure, feeling like a child who had done something wrong—daring not to say a single word. He just clutched the plastic bag tightly in his hand.
Meanwhile, Qi Xia only felt a wave of dizziness in his head. He walked step by step down the street, each step feeling exceptionally heavy.
Ever since he had woken up the night before, the dizziness had been intensifying. It seemed that Heavenly Dragon had truly affected his state of mind. The strangeness of Heavenly Dragon’s ability was far beyond what he had imagined.
Smashing the buildings in a dream to pieces… could that really affect his thinking?
Qi Xia kept rubbing his forehead, trying to clear his mind.
But his current state felt like having a high fever—his head was throbbing and he was utterly exhausted. He could clearly feel every pulsing blood vessel on his scalp, and his entire brain seemed to be churning together, as if it might explode at any moment.
“Not good…”
He pounded his head a few times forcefully. Apart from a slight numbness in his scalp, he felt no pain.
“You’re something else, ‘Heavenly Dragon.’”
Qi Xia swallowed, pulled out the map from the Green Dragon, and checked it.
Time was extremely tight. Starting today, he had to visit the four remaining “Zodiacs” without a moment’s rest. And yet, at this very critical juncture, he had run into “Heavenly Dragon.”
It was both good news and bad news. The good news was that he now had a way to fully guard against “Heavenly Dragon.” The bad news was that the encounter had left him with wounds of his own.
Qi Xia steadied his mind and checked the location of the nearest “Zodiac.”
It was “Rooster.”
But then he reconsidered: Earth Tiger had just mentioned that this “Rooster” had already entered the room, so she was not the target he was looking for.
His targets were only the remaining four:
Ox, Dragon, Snake, and Monkey.
However, none of these four “Zodiacs” were close by. The only one he could reach by morning was “Earth Monkey.”