Chapter 774: Sudden Change
Qi Xia walked out of the Earth Dog's venue and once again pulled out the map given by Qing Long.
Among the eight Zodiacs, four had already been identified, and he had met three of them in person.
One was the Earth Monkey, whose strangeness was apparent at a glance. Another was the Earth Dog, who had stumbled into being left behind by a previous teammate. As for the third... that was the Earth Pig, whom he had encountered briefly before.
Qian Wu had once led some people to confront that short, arrogant Earth Pig, and Qi Xia himself had crossed paths with him in front of his venue. But at that time, the Earth Pig had only looked at him meaningfully without uttering anything suspicious.
Thinking back, when Qi Xia first met that short Earth Pig, the Pig had immediately gotten into a conflict with Luo Shiyi, leaving a terrible first impression.
"Wait... conflict?"
Since Qi Xia had still regarded the Earth Pig as a teammate back then, he subconsciously assumed the Pig was clever. But was it common for a Zodiac to openly clash with a participant on their own turf, even shoving them?
Though on the surface, Zodiacs and participants had always been at odds, after all this time, everyone tacitly confined their killing to the games, rarely escalating disputes outside the venues. After all, in the eyes of the Zodiacs, participants were merely tools for their own advancement. They had to find ways to make their targets willingly walk into their venues to die, so many Zodiacs strove to improve their "service attitude."
Under such circumstances, someone doing the opposite could only mean two things.
First, he didn't want to lure participants into his game—or he was actively controlling the number of people entering his venue.
Second, he was trying to convey some information under the given circumstances.
Qi Xia looked at the map and rubbed his chin. Although his memories would eventually return, deducing the answer in advance would save him a lot of time.
That Earth Pig had clashed with Luo Shiyi and Zhou Liu right in front of him... What exactly had he said back then?
Qi Xia slowly closed his eyes, recalling the scene. Unfortunately, he had only taken the Pig for an ordinary one at first and hadn't paid much attention to his words.
When he pushed Luo Shiyi down, he had said: "What right do you have to yell at me? I can't kill you, but can't I hit you?"
He also said: "Mortals defying gods—seeing how frail you are makes me want to laugh."
Qi Xia's eyes slowly opened. Yes, that was it.
Now that he thought about it, blurting out that line to Luo Shiyi was clearly odd. Luo Shiyi had only exchanged a few insults with the Earth Pig—how did that become "mortals defying gods"?
So that statement wasn't directed at Luo Shiyi; it was directed at himself.
That Pig seemed more like he was complaining to Qi Xia.
"In your expectations... I should have been the 'Earth Sheep,' not a 'participant'... right?"
Qi Xia pieced together the Earth Pig's mindset. Only from this perspective did the Pig's words fully make sense.
All in all, the Earth Pig was a strange Zodiac. The Earth Tiger had said he was just a youth and had earned the Tiger's trust. But judging by his ruthlessness and cunning, he didn't seem like a youth at all.
"My former teammates really are more interesting than the last," Qi Xia muttered to himself.
If the Earth Pig really was a child, his mind wouldn't be fully mature. He would easily believe that "power is everything." Having tasted power's enhancement, he would naturally think Qi Xia, lacking divine power, was a burden and incapable of carrying out the escape plan.
All things considered, if forced to choose between Qi Xia and Tian Long, it was possible—even highly likely—that the Earth Pig would betray him.
After his conversation with Qing Long, Qi Xia now understood that he couldn't fully trust his former teammates.
Though Tian Long and Qing Long were both madmen, they knew how to manipulate human nature and offered tempting conditions. Over such a long time, there was no guarantee that these people's loyalties would remain unchanged.
"How strange..." Qi Xia shook his head again, muttering to himself. "Did I... not leave behind any 'needles' before I did this? How was I supposed to ensure the eight of them would advance smoothly along the path I set...?"
He looked down at the map again. Now, the Zodiacs he had never seen nor even heard of were only four in number:
Chou Ox, Chen Dragon, Si Snake, You Rooster.
The closest one to him was the Ox.
Qi Xia tied the cake box and the plastic bag of fruit together with a tight knot, then walked toward the location marked for the Earth Ox on the map.
If he had a choice, he wouldn't have sought out Ox or Tiger Zodiacs. Their games weren't in his area of expertise, and he couldn't threaten them with "life-or-death bets." But since the map indicated "Ox," he should theoretically go meet him.
Just as he confirmed his direction, Qi Xia felt something off. For some reason, the hairs on his body stood on end.
The atmosphere around him seemed to have changed.
He looked back at the Earth Dog's venue suspiciously, but saw nothing different. Then he scanned the empty street.
The street was the same as before—quiet and decaying. The withered bones along the curb and the sticky ground were unchanged.
Yet Qi Xia felt something had shifted. How could he describe it...?
It was as if a storm was about to break, an unusual pressure suffusing the entire street. But theoretically, the Land of Endings never rained. Where was this strange feeling coming from?
It was a feeling both familiar and unfamiliar, as though he had experienced it just days ago.
"This... could it be..."
Qi Xia slowly raised his head to look at the sky, and saw that it had changed.
Countless black particles were drifting out from the direction of the "sun," spreading across the sky like a swarm of locusts or a black rain, instantly staining the entire dark red firmament.
Before he could react, countless black specks fell like a torrential downpour.
The "rain" had truly come.
Qi Xia's expression shifted. He was about to retreat into the Earth Dog's venue to avoid this unknown disaster when a rough hand suddenly grabbed his arm.
"Don't go!"
A hoarse, jarring voice sounded in Qi Xia's ear. He spun his head sharply and saw someone he never expected to find here.
"Wei Yang...?" Qi Xia was stunned. "You—"
"Don't ask questions! Come with me first!" Wei Yang tugged at Qi Xia's arm and shouted. "We need to survive!"