Chapter 810: Twelve
"Tumi flower."
Qi Xia, walking out of the football field, muttered these three words to himself, feeling that Earth Ox's final actions had been somewhat strange.
Why bring up a flower out of the blue?
Qi Xia knew that all the knowledge in his mind came from books and texts, and he had no concrete impression of what a "Tumi flower" looked like. None of the books he had read mentioned its floral language either. He wasn't yet omniscient, and this knowledge might be a bit obscure.
Before he could piece together a clue, the vague image of the "Tumi flower" in his mind suddenly transformed into Yu Nian'an's smiling face, then scattered like drifting petals into nothingness.
At that moment, he also felt a faint pang of pain in his head.
"What's going on...?"
Frowning, Qi Xia tried to summon the image of the "Tumi flower" in his mind again to verify this sensation.
But the "Tumi flower" was like a strange key—every door it opened led to Yu Nian'an's smile.
"What in the..." Qi Xia shook his head, feeling that the more he thought about this problem, the more muddled his mind became.
Ever since he had awakened this time, his mind had rarely felt so hazy. Yet this "Tumi flower"...
Qi Xia had no choice but to interrupt his train of thought and silently note this question in his heart.
What is the floral language of the Tumi flower?
If he happened to find someone knowledgeable about horticulture, he would ask.
Besides the Tumi flower, there was another issue that bothered Qi Xia greatly.
That was the "Cangjie Chess."
"Cangjie... Chess..."
Just hearing the name gave Qi Xia no insight at all.
He knew he had no deep understanding of board games, and adding "Cangjie"—the legendary inventor of Chinese characters—made it even more puzzling.
That his first encounter with Chu Tianqiu in a game would be them sitting across from each other playing chess? That seemed far too dull.
Yet even if the dragons' games were divided into many categories, their core content was nothing more than "balance" and "yin-yang." How could the name "Cangjie Chess" be connected to these two elements?
He had originally planned to use some tricks to see Chu Tianqiu's potential when pushed to the brink. If Chu Tianqiu didn't live up to expectations, he could have let him rot in that game venue forever.
Now it seemed this was a "competitive" game. No need for any petty tricks; he could face Chu Tianqiu head-on, to determine both victory and death.
This approach naturally had more advantages than disadvantages. It might reveal his trump card to Earth Dragon, but it also gave him a chance to gauge Chu Tianqiu's true worth.
"You'd better hold on tight," Qi Xia squinted meaningfully. "Without you... how are we supposed to leave this place?"
Qi Xia took a deep breath, pulled out his map to confirm the direction of Earth Snake, and then slowly walked along the main road.
By now, the images of most "zodiacs" on the map had been constructed in his mind.
Earth Ox: from "Jade City," a woman with extremely muscular build but not tall. Her muscle mass was likely already above average before becoming a zodiac, suggesting she might have been an athlete—probably a high jumper, given her powerful core strength.
Earth Rabbit: based on Chen Junnan and Earth Tiger's descriptions, tall and steady. Earth Tiger was skeptical of him, but Chen Junnan's intuition said he was a good person. He voluntarily joined Earth Tiger's team, likely a valuable ally.
Earth Dog: a zodiac who seemed ready to slack off. He inherited his teacher's game venue and continued part of the former Earth Dog's beliefs. He could become a teammate or completely give up; now he had also joined Earth Tiger's team.
Earth Monkey: a middle-aged man addicted to gambling. He seemed to be losing motivation, but Qi Xia had appeared just in time to stabilize him temporarily. However, Earth Monkey's pessimistic nature left room for wavering.
Earth Pig: a young man with a bad attitude. From the current situation, he seemed to hold a grudge against Qi Xia. He could become either Qi Xia's ally or Heavenly Dragon's ally.
Next on the map were three more people: Earth Snake, Earth Dragon, and Earth Rooster.
Qi Xia felt he had recovered some memories of Earth Rooster. She was Earth Tiger's neighbor, extremely noisy but reliable. Although in his memories she was a lively, loud girl, he couldn't fully trust his memories until he saw her.
As for Earth Dragon, Earth Ox had described her as extremely dangerous. She was the city's "Earth Yin Dragon," in charge of "Cangjie Chess," and the strange "ant" had warned him to stay away from her.
So she was likely not an old teammate but an impostor who arrived later.
Besides these seven with clear images, only one person remained on the map.
Earth Snake.
Once he met this snake, the identities of these eight people would be fixed. No need to wait for memories to slowly come back.
At this point, Qi Xia frowned slightly.
"Hold on..." He gently pressed his temple. Something seemed off about the current situation.
"Ox, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Dog, Monkey, Rooster, Pig..." Qi Xia softly recited these eight zodiacs, narrowing his eyes.
If these eight people, plus Earth Tiger—whom he trusted from the "rebellion" room, his former student Black Sheep, the sarcastic Rat, and Earth Horse whose venue he had dismantled...
"That makes exactly twelve people," Qi Xia said solemnly.
Twelve zodiacs, one of each animal, no repeats.
Could this be a coincidence?
"Twelve different 'Earth-level' zodiacs..." Qi Xia faintly felt this was the true composition of the team. Though he couldn't think of a reason yet, coincidences this perfect couldn't be coincidences.
Why was every path converging now on these twelve people?
"What are you trying to do?" Qi Xia turned his head toward the empty street.
There, a White Sheep in a suit appeared, his figure illusory, his expression cold.
"Leaving me another 'foolproof' clue?" Qi Xia asked. "Do you really think so little of me?"
The illusory White Sheep was about to say something when he suddenly turned to look at the end of the street. Three figures were slowly emerging there.
The White Sheep's figure let out a cold laugh and vanished on the spot.
"Whoa~~~~~~"
A piercing sound split the sky, making Qi Xia instantly show a resigned expression. Then a familiar voice rang out.
"Lying guy!"
"Classmate Qi!"
Before Qi Xia could respond, another high-pitched voice interrupted him.
"What a coincidence!!" Chen Junnan shouted at the top of his lungs. "Isn't this Old Qi, who's got a big temper but then got better? There's some damn black rain falling from the sky these days, so don't forget your umbrella when you go out."