Chapter 821: The Stone of the Gods
"Oh?" Ground Snake blinked. "You can even do that?"
"By sheer luck," Qi Xia said. "Feel free to say whatever you want. If I think something is off, I'll naturally stop you."
Ground Snake listened, then nodded with a mix of doubt and belief. "In that case, I'll risk my life to keep you company. Since I'm in a pretty good mood right now, I don't mind telling you a bit more."
"I'm listening," Qi Xia said.
Ground Snake didn't speak immediately. Instead, he looked up and slightly raised his voice. "I'm about to explain 'The Zodiac Never Echoes'!"
The air above remained utterly silent. Not a single stir.
"Damn it... You little brat called it right," Ground Snake said. "It's like the sky has gone mute. Can it not hear me?"
"It can't hear you, but I can," Qi Xia said. "What exactly is the relationship between 'Zodiac' and 'Echo'?"
Ground Snake thought for a moment, then answered, "As far as I know, there are currently only two ways for a 'Zodiac' to gain an 'Echo'."
Every time he spoke, he glanced upward with a hint of wariness, as if still concerned about "Azure Dragon."
"First, the person obtains an 'Echo' before putting on the mask," Ground Snake said. "The moment they put on the mask, their identity reverses—they go from being a 'Participant' to a 'Zodiac.' And because 'The Zodiac Never Echoes,' they become unable to perform any actions related to 'Echo.' In other words, they can neither gain an 'Echo' nor get rid of it. They become a 'Permanent Echoer' from then on. But this method has a huge downside: they absolutely cannot be discovered by any administrator. Otherwise, the next time they meet, they'll be 'Ants.'"
"That's how it is for you, isn't it?" Qi Xia said. "Because you became a 'Zodiac' with strange powers, it brought you a lot of trouble, which created your terrible personality. That way, not too many people would approach you, let alone touch you. And to avoid being discovered by more people, you came up with that eerie-sounding 'Mutual Aid Society.' That way, even if someone walked out of your venue sobbing, you could conveniently brush it off as them sharing the hardships of life in the 'Mutual Aid Society.' Looking at it now, everything makes sense. Rather than saying you 'do whatever you want,' it's more accurate to say you've been using 'self-preservation tactics' all along."
Ground Snake paused for a moment after hearing this, then slowly revealed a faint smile. "I don't understand what you're saying. The person I mentioned isn't me either. I'm just a perfectly ordinary 'Zodiac.' Like I told you, my 'Mutual Aid Society' is purely a way to mock the participants—it helps me do my job better. And when they walk out of my venue crying, it's because they shared their miserable stories here and their moods were affected. Everyone was just a little sad, that's all."
"Fine, I'll take that as you tacitly admitting it," Qi Xia nodded. "What about the second scenario?"
Ground Snake was choked by Qi Xia's words, but didn't argue. He simply followed along and replied, "The second scenario, you can thank my esteemed teacher for. Even though a 'Ground-level' doesn't really need a teacher, he is still the person I respect the most!!"
Ground Snake suddenly raised his voice as he spoke, as if he was saying it for someone else to hear.
But Qi Xia could clearly see that his expression was off—there was a hint of fear.
"How great my teacher is!" Ground Snake continued, raising his voice even more. "He single-handedly changed the structure of this place! All because of 'Sky Snake's Knowledge.' If only I could achieve even half of my teacher's greatness, how wonderful would that be?"
Qi Xia and the other three exchanged glances, naturally knowing there was more to this story.
Qin Dingdong thought for a moment and said, "You mean that crazy 'Sky Snake' is your teacher? And you call him 'great'?"
"Of course!" Ground Snake replied, his voice trembling. "Who else but the 'Sky Snake' in charge of 'Research' could be the second only to the god in this place?"
Qiao Jiagan frowned and whispered to Qi Xia beside him, "I suspect this white-skinned snake has been scared shitless by that guy. I've seen that kind of lackey under a lot of big shots before."
Qi Xia nodded and spoke up, "Since he's in charge of 'Research,' what are you in charge of?"
"Me...?" Ground Snake blinked after hearing this, then let out a slow sigh. "Every 'Ground Snake' has different duties... Some of them provide 'test subjects' for the teacher, some provide various financial support, and some can't provide anything at all... Like me."
"What happens if you can't provide anything?" Qi Xia asked again.
Ground Snake slowly forced a smile after hearing this, then reached up to unbutton his suit jacket and tossed it aside.
Under the puzzled gazes of the group, he unbuttoned his shirt as well, revealing his pure white skin.
This was the first time any of them had seen a 'Zodiac's' body. They seemed to be half-human, half-beast—though their heads were beastly, their bodies were human. Yet the body also seemed to have many animalistic traits. The Ground Snake before them had a pure white body, with snake scales on both sides of his ribs and on his shoulders.
Without saying a word, he smiled bitterly and slowly turned around, revealing his horrifying back to the four of them.
Everyone gasped sharply at the sight, goosebumps rising all over their bodies.
On that scarred back were dozens of eyes.
But what was curious was that almost all of those eyes were either injured or directly stabbed blind. Dried black blood covered his entire back. Some eyes seemed to be healing, but they had already lost their vision.
At this moment, only one intact eye was still moving. This eye was located below Ground Snake's neck, between his shoulders, right on his spine.
It darted around frantically, as if it hadn't seen light in a long time, its gaze filled with terror.
Besides that, Ground Snake's back was covered in countless horrifying scars—not just burns, knife wounds, and lacerations, but also bite marks and gunshot wounds.
"You little bastards," Ground Snake said, his voice low, still facing away. "For those of us who can't provide anything and have leverage held by the teacher, we just become one of his experiments. Aren't we lucky?"
Chen Junnan slowly swallowed his saliva and said, "You call that lucky?"
Ground Snake still didn't turn around. He seemed a little sad too.
"The teacher told me that I'm just a stepping stone on the path to godhood for the people here," Ground Snake replied. "He conducts all kinds of experiments on me, trying to find the best 'Path to Godhood' for the higher-ups here."