Chapter 798: The Road of Dilemma
The three girls beside him noticed the expression on Zheng Yingxiong’s face and couldn’t help but feel a pang of pity.
The boy’s eyes were red and brimming with tears, but he kept his lips pressed tightly together, refusing to let out a sob.
They had spent time with Zheng Yingxiong, yet they had never heard him actively voice what he wanted. This was perhaps the first time he had ever spoken up.
“Give them some time,” Tiantian said, then pulled three “Dao” from her pocket and handed them to Zheng Yingxiong. “We’ll wait for you outside.”
The three of them nodded in unison toward Zheng Yingxiong. Carefully, he took the three “Dao” and turned around to hand them to the Human Monkey.
The Human Monkey’s gaze pierced through his rotting mask. He gave the three girls a slight nod, as if expressing his gratitude. Then, naturally, he took Zheng Yingxiong’s hand and led him into his game arena.
They looked like big brother and little brother reunited after a long separation. Yet one wore a rotting baboon head mask, while the other had a crown folded from newspaper on his head. Their backs exuded a strange warmth—a warmth tinged with an eerie sort of tenderness.
But Yun Yao couldn’t understand. In a place like this, what kind of experience could lead to such a reunion between a “Zodiac” and a “Participant”?
Although the Human Monkey’s mask was terrifying, the others somehow felt that he wasn’t a bad person, nor that he would do anything dangerous to Zheng Yingxiong.
As he opened the door, the three of them caught a glimpse of the room’s layout. The game arena was extremely crude—just a simple table with two old cardboard boxes on top.
Yun Yao had seen this room before. It felt like being inside a sealed bathroom—tiny, with no window to let in even a sliver of light.
In many cases, a small room like this, along with a set of very basic game props, constituted the entirety of these Human-grade “Zodiacs’” lives.
Even if they spent all their time, they weren’t necessarily guaranteed to win three thousand six hundred “Dao” from participants to hand over to the Earth-grade “Zodiac” managing them. And even if they managed to gather enough by some stroke of luck, they still had to hope their “teacher” would be willing to trouble themselves to apply for a “Zodiac Ascension Gambit Contract” on their behalf from the “Celestial Dragon.”
If they miraculously passed that step too, they would then be immersed in the “Interview Room” for years on end. It was possible they would be trapped there in an endless cycle, or they might once again break through that infinitesimally small probability and become a new “Earth-grade” Zodiac.
And when they finally struggled free from all that and reached a new height, only to discover that the path from “Earth-grade” to “Heaven-grade” was even harder to achieve, these Zodiacs—who had spent years running for their lives without losing their memories—would immediately fall into the trap of “sunk costs.”
After all, no one was willing to abandon years of hardship and turn back into a “Participant.” Nor did anyone dare to make an outrageous move, risking being turned into an unconscious “ant.”
Though the truth had been laid out before them countless times, no one was willing to accept that “Earth-grade” was the final destination. So they could only stand in that position, endlessly toiling for the “Celestial Dragon,” waiting for that minuscule chance to rise above.
Before them lay a fog; behind them, a cliff.
No room to advance, no way to retreat.
And yet, this path had an eerily reasonable side—
No one had ever promised anything to the “Zodiacs.” Each of them thought they had discovered the true “path,” and so they willingly put on their masks.
Though no one had ever said the words “you bear the consequences,” that unspoken price of wearing the mask was always branded into their hearts. Once the “Zodiac” mask was donned, no one would guarantee anything that happened from then on.
The Human Monkey before them was just one of many tragic Zodiacs. Unfortunately, he had only just started down this path when he realized there was no turning back.
He turned around, gently closed the door, and then switched on the dim light in the room.
Zheng Yingxiong kept his eyes fixed on the familiar yet unfamiliar back. Though he had ten thousand things to say, he was terrified by the rules concerning “Zodiacs.” He was also afraid that one casual word from him might cause the other to disappear forever.
In the entire “Land of the End,” there were very few people who mattered to Zheng Yingxiong. And Gu Yu just happened to be one of them.
The Human Monkey moved the two cardboard boxes aside, then turned his back and fumbled around for a while. About a few minutes later, he brought the two boxes back and placed them on the table again.
“Human Monkey…” Zheng Yingxiong called out. “Don’t you have anything you want to ask me?”
“Seeing you appear here alone… I think I no longer have any questions,” the Human Monkey said gloomily. “The outcome was already fated. It hasn’t changed just because so much time has passed.”
Zheng Yingxiong said nothing. He just nodded slightly and looked at the two cardboard boxes on the table.
“Three ‘Dao’ in each box. We’ll have a finger-guessing game to decide the order,” said the Human Monkey.
“No need. You go first,” Zheng Yingxiong replied.
The Human Monkey nodded. He took out one “Dao” from the box on his left. It seemed he didn’t really care about winning—he just wanted to spend a little more time with Zheng Yingxiong.
“Look at this ‘Dao,’” the Human Monkey said. “There are three in the box. This one was the first to leave. Though it escaped from the box first, it has no say in where it goes next. It can only stay on the table for now. In the end, the ‘winner’ will take it away. So even the ‘Dao’ itself can’t decide what comes next.”
“I know.” Zheng Yingxiong nodded sadly. “But maybe you’ll win? You could take the ‘Dao’ away and decide where it goes.”
“I can’t win.” The Human Monkey’s tone was deeply dejected. “I should have understood this problem from the very beginning… By myself, relying on my own strength, I simply cannot win. I can’t take this ‘Dao’ away. I can’t decide the path it takes next.”
“Is that so…?” Zheng Yingxiong stared at the “Dao” on the table and nodded. “But it’s free now.”
“Free…”
“No matter who takes it away, this ‘Dao’ has left the box. That’s a good thing, after all.” Zheng Yingxiong reached out and gently touched the little golden orb, speaking in a low voice. “I once searched for this ‘Dao’ with another Human Monkey, but that Human Monkey didn’t have a familiar scent. In the end, I found my way here.”
Gu Yu nodded after hearing that. “Yeah, after all, the ‘Dao’ in the box is always trying to find a way out…”
The two of them quietly took the “Dao” out of the boxes one by one. When only two “Dao” remained in the box on the same side, Zheng Yingxiong reached in and pulled one out.
But this time, he didn’t hold it steady, and it rolled with a clatter onto the floor.
Watching the “Dao” roll farther and farther away until it finally disappeared into the corner of the room, Zheng Yingxiong’s tears finally broke through the dam.
“But she’s gone…” Zheng Yingxiong sobbed. “Big Sister is gone… There were only the two of us left in the box, and her and me… but she left first…”