Entering the Earth Snake’s room, the group identified the wall they needed to break through.
The walls were made of old, weathered wood and indeed looked fragile.
According to White Snake, these walls and the room itself were peculiar—sometimes soundproofing worked, sometimes it didn’t, appearing and disappearing unpredictably.
Earth Tiger stepped forward, ready to smash the wall with a single punch, but White Snake stopped him.
“This is my room. Let me handle it.”
After speaking, he turned around to ask everyone to step back, only to see Yan Zhichun with tears in her eyes, her face full of sorrow.
“Huh…? What’s wrong with you now, brat?”
“Ah…?” Yan Zhichun seemed unaware she had been crying and touched her cheek. “Oh no… I…”
“Did you just touch me?” Earth Snake asked again.
“Uh…”
“Well, don’t blame me for this. Go cry it out somewhere else.”
Earth Snake shook his head, rolled up his sleeves, and faced the wall.
With a swift, forceful strike, the fragile wall immediately shattered, leaving a gaping hole.
Sure enough, another room lay on the other side.
Gritting his teeth, he tore away the wallpaper and widened the hole until it was large enough for a person to pass through before stopping.
Earth Tiger stepped forward, peered into the neighboring room, and asked, “Who lives next door?”
“No idea,” White Snake replied. “Rarely hear any noise—might even be unoccupied.”
One by one, they passed through the hole in the wall to inspect the neighboring room. It had some furniture, but everything was covered in dust, just as White Snake had said—likely abandoned.
After all, even “Earth-level” individuals could die. Perhaps some “Zodiacs” had perished outside while on duty, leaving their rooms vacant.
“This is a great plan,” Earth Tiger said with a grin. “If we keep smashing through like this, we can bypass the crowds.”
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Yan Zhichun murmured. “We might run into other ‘Zodiacs’…”
“Relax,” Earth Tiger reassured her confidently. “Not many ‘Earth-level’ Zodiacs can take me down.”
With that, he approached the opposite wall, signaled for everyone to step back, then swung his arm—thick as a steel pillar—into the wooden wall.
Unlike White Snake’s strike, his punch was heavy and blunt, instantly cracking the entire wall.
Realizing he might have caused too much noise, Earth Tiger quickly aimed another punch at the center of the wall.
A hole the size of a washbasin appeared, but instead of revealing another room, it showed only darkness.
Earth Tiger pressed his large head against the hole, squinting before uttering three words:
“Lights off?”
“Lights off, my ass,” White Snake muttered, frowning. “Are you sure there’s a room on the other side?”
“Well…”
Earth Tiger stared into the darkness. Far, far away, tiny specks of light flickered, but he couldn’t confirm whether it was another room.
He stuck his head in further, trying to look down, but the darkness was too thick—he couldn’t even see the ground.
“Screw it… no time to overthink this. I’m going in!”
Earth Tiger began tearing away the wooden wall, widening the hole enough for himself to pass through, and was about to step in when—
“Wait!”
Yan Zhichun grabbed him. For some reason, the sight of this hole unsettled her. Something felt off, though she couldn’t pinpoint why.
She glanced back at the hole behind them—it clearly led to Earth Snake’s room. But where did this one lead?
“What’s up, sis?” Earth Tiger and Old Sun asked in unison.
“Something’s not right…” Yan Zhichun hesitated. “Earth Tiger, throw a piece of wood in first.”
“Throw wood? Oh… good idea.” Understanding her reasoning, Earth Tiger picked up a fragment of the wall and tossed it into the hole.
To everyone’s shock, the wood kept falling—there was no ground to land on.
“Holy shit…” Earth Tiger’s fur bristled in alarm. “What the hell is this… a cliff?”
Yan Zhichun narrowed her eyes, resting her chin on her hand.
“Are the ‘train’ rooms… not built symmetrically?” she murmured.
“What do you mean?” Earth Tiger turned to her.
“Well…” Struggling to explain, she looked around and found paper and a pen.
Quickly, she sketched her theory.
“I suspect Earth Snake’s room and this one are actually one space, just divided by a wall,” she said, pointing at her drawing. “But the other side of this wall isn’t another room—it’s just empty. Or…”
She couldn’t even describe what lay beyond.
If this truly was a “cliff,” then what was the “train” built on?
In other words… what was beneath this room’s floor?
White Snake pondered for a moment before suggesting, “Try throwing the wood farther.”
“Farther?” Earth Tiger glanced at him.
“Yeah,” White Snake confirmed. “Straight ahead.”
Though confused, Earth Tiger obeyed, hurling the wood into the darkness.
The group watched as the wood flew forward until it vanished, swallowed by the void.
Earth Snake shook his head, walked over to Yan Zhichun, and pointed at her sketch.
“Brat… see that? It doesn’t add up.”
He took the pen and marked the door’s position on her drawing.
“From the hallway, the ‘doors’ are close—just a few meters apart. So why does breaking through the wall show this kind of structure?”
He drew a question mark in the empty space.
Yan Zhichun understood, but the more she thought about it, the more abstract it seemed.
What kind of bizarre architecture was this?
“Are the hallway ‘doors’ fake…?” she voiced her suspicion.
“Unlikely,” Earth Snake disagreed. “Earth-level rooms are already scarce. Why waste space building distant rooms and inserting fake doors in between?”
Yan Zhichun and Earth Snake fell into deep thought, while Earth Tiger and Old Sun looked utterly lost.
“Is this really that complicated?” Earth Tiger grumbled. “If this path’s blocked, let’s just take another.”
“Exactly,” Old Sun agreed. “Tiger’s got a point.”
“Another path…” Yan Zhichun looked up at Earth Tiger. “What other path is there?”
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