Chapter 1070: Mortal-Grade Needle

“He said this alone…?” Qi Xia tentatively asked.

“No… there was a bit more afterward,” the Serpent replied.

“Tell me,” Qi Xia demanded in an uncompromising tone. “If you don’t choose to trust me now, you might miss the best opportunity.”

The Serpent knew Qi Xia wasn’t lying, so after a long pause, he spoke: “He said, ‘If you human-level Zodiacs don’t like the new leader, then remove your masks.'”

Qi Xia lowered his head, carefully considering these two sentences. He thought to himself that it was no wonder the Serpent had taken it as a farewell—yet now it seemed more like a mission. Because these words could only become a mission upon his arrival; otherwise, they would remain just a farewell.

This task didn’t seem limited to just the Serpent. It also faintly hinted at something else.

Why had Aries told the Serpent in advance, “He is him, and I am me”?

Could this also be attributed to Aries’ contempt for him?

Qi Xia quickly shook his head, feeling that Aries was overcomplicating things. If Aries truly held contempt for him, he could have conveyed it directly through other means—there was no need to single out this message for the Serpent alone.

Even if he himself wanted to distance himself from Aries, there was no need to emphasize it at such a critical moment of farewell.

Of course, the second sentence was also worth noting—if you “human-level Zodiacs” don’t like the new leader, you can remove your masks.

This sentence sounded like a death sentence, yet the Serpent had mistaken it for a farewell.

“Serpent, do you want to remove your mask now?” Qi Xia asked.

The Serpent let out a bitter laugh and shook his head. “I’ve thought about this for a long time, but I’ve never reached a conclusion.”

“How so?”

“I know Brother Goat didn’t want to kill me,” the Serpent said. “But he clearly knew that removing my mask would mean my death. So I’ve come up with many possibilities, but none of them explain his words. Maybe Brother Goat was grieving at the time…?”

“Then let me help you interpret it,” Qi Xia said, stroking his chin. “Though I can’t recall the exact emotions behind his words, I can probably reconstruct his reasoning.”

The Serpent nodded.

“You know that neither I nor Aries wants to kill you, so the first question is: Under what circumstances would removing your mask *not* lead to death?” Qi Xia asked.

The Serpent thought for a few seconds, finding the question itself somewhat absurd.

“As long as we’re still in the ‘Land of the End,’ removing our masks will definitely kill us,” he answered. “Unless… we’re no longer here.”

“That doesn’t hold up,” Qi Xia swiftly rejected the idea. “Because Aries’ wording was, ‘If you don’t like the new leader’—I assume that new leader is me. He also assumed you’d be in the ‘Land of the End’ when removing your mask. So my question is: How can you remove your mask *in the Land of the End* without dying?”

“I… don’t know…” The Serpent shook his head. “From my experience, all human-level Zodiacs die when they remove their masks. There are no exceptions.”

“You’re stuck in a mental trap,” Qi Xia said, tapping the notebook on the table. “Haven’t all these difficult problems sharpened your thinking?”

“I…” The Serpent lowered his head, unsure how to respond.

“Whether a human-level Zodiac dies after removing their mask depends on only one person,” Qi Xia said solemnly. “That’s Vermilion Bird, right?”

The Serpent’s eyes widened, and he quickly nodded. “Yes… Vermilion Bird is the enforcer of punishment for Zodiac violations. But what are you implying…?”

“If you want to survive removing your mask, there are currently only two paths.” Qi Xia raised two fingers. “The first is Vermilion Bird’s death…”

“Wha—?!”

“If Vermilion Bird dies, it means all human-level Zodiacs are freed.” Qi Xia explained. “At that point, every human-level Zodiac can remove their masks and revert to being ‘Participants’ without facing any punishment.”

The Serpent’s eyes remained wide, too stunned to speak.

Vermilion Bird… dead?

Human-level Zodiacs spent every day worrying about how to survive under Vermilion Bird’s watch—they had never even considered the possibility of Vermilion Bird dying.

“But… how could Vermilion Bird die…?”

Qi Xia didn’t answer. Instead, he slowly stood up and walked to the door on one side of the room.

This door didn’t lead to the “Cangjie Game.” Instead, it opened to the streets outside.

Qi Xia pushed the door open and gazed at the sky of the Land of the End, then roughly determined the direction before looking toward the prison.

As if reading the Serpent’s thoughts, Qi Xia murmured, “Someone will take care of Vermilion Bird.”

“What…?”

“I think I understand Aries’ intention now…” Qi Xia continued. “Human-level Zodiacs might be swept into the tide of ‘killing Vermilion Bird.'”

“Huh?” The Serpent hesitated, finding the idea almost incomprehensible. “But you just said someone else is handling Vermilion Bird?”

Qi Xia organized his thoughts and replied, “Yes, but neither Aries nor I can guarantee their success. We still need support from the side—and that’s where you come in.”

The Serpent hurried over to close the door and asked in a hushed voice, “…What do you need us to do?”

Qi Xia didn’t answer directly. After a moment of silence, he said, “That brings us to the second way to remove your mask without dying.”

“What is it?”

“If too many human-level Zodiacs ‘violate the rules’ at the same time, Vermilion Bird won’t be able to kill them all,” Qi Xia said.

The Serpent felt like every word from Qi Xia was shattering his understanding of the world, making his voice tremble. A strange urge welled up in him to call out “Brother Goat,” but the words “He is him, and I am me” blocked the way.

“W-Wait a minute…” The Serpent waved his hand. “Isn’t that too extreme? ‘Not being able to kill everyone’ counts as surviving?”

“That’s how it works everywhere,” Qi Xia said. “If lawbreakers suddenly multiply, every city’s law enforcement would collapse. The same applies here. All human-level Zodiacs fear Vermilion Bird’s ruthless methods, so none of you dare to break the rules. As a result, Vermilion Bird has it easy.”

“That’s… insane…” The Serpent muttered. “Are you comparing us to ‘lawbreakers’ and Vermilion Bird to ‘law enforcement’?”

“That’s not my analogy,” Qi Xia said, staring intently into the Serpent’s eyes. “But if the time for action truly comes… in the eyes of all ‘Participants’ and ‘Zodiacs,’ we will be nothing but outright ‘lawbreakers.'”

The Serpent lowered his head again, deep in thought.

Qi Xia’s words seemed to confirm that, in this operation, their opponents wouldn’t just be the Zodiacs—they would also include those who, unaware of the truth, would side with the Zodiacs.

“Serpent,” Qi Xia called again. “This afternoon, how many human-level Zodiacs can you rally to remove their masks together?”