“What…?”
“Originally, I just wanted to wait for you to realize something was wrong, take off your eyes yourself, and make it easier for me to kill you,” the Earth Dog continued. “But I didn’t expect you to accept Qi Xia’s mission at such a critical moment. That left me in a dilemma. After all, our teacher’s dying wish was to ensure Qi Xia’s mission could reach its conclusion, so I had no choice but to accept all your subsequent proposals.”
Zheng Yingxiong looked at the Earth Dog and noticed that the scent of “lies” around him had completely vanished, replaced instead by a new scent—”hatred.”
“Revenge… wait a minute…”
The Celestial Dog finally realized what was so unsettling about the situation.
He had already removed all the eyeballs of the “Celestial” rank. Even if Qi Xia, Qinglong, and Tianlong didn’t attack him now, he might not stand a chance against an ordinary “Earth” rank.
Qi Xia had deceived him… but not entirely.
“Celestial Dog, did you wipe your shoes before stepping on the ‘sun’?” the Earth Dog asked as he slowly approached, his killing intent intensifying.
“Wipe my shoes… What do you mean…?”
“I’ve been looking for her for a long time,” the Earth Dog said with a bitter smile. “A ‘Earth’ rank who broke the rules. For a long time, I thought she had become an ‘ant.'”
Hearing this, the Celestial Dog shuddered, feeling as though the sun beneath his feet had suddenly turned scorching hot.
Zheng Yingxiong covered his nose. Besides the overwhelming stench of “tracking,” he sensed an endless wave of “sorrow” beginning to spread.
The entire eyeball seemed to radiate unbearable grief at that moment.
She had thoughts, feelings—she was a living person.
“I pulled every string I could to find her, but all the investigations told me she wasn’t an ‘ant,’ so I thought she was dead,” the Earth Dog said, his lazy expression twisting into something dark and vicious. “So back then, I made a decision—to make the informant pay.”
The Celestial Dog swallowed hard, his fat hands fidgeting nervously. “Wait… you can’t possibly blame me for this, can you? Sure, I was the one who reported her, but I didn’t personally punish her. Calm down for a second…”
“I *did* calm down,” the Earth Dog replied. “I thought, our teacher is already dead, and she *did* make a mistake. Becoming a ‘Zodiac’ while carrying ‘tracking’ is a fatal taboo. So it wasn’t any one person who killed her—it was this world. After that, I thought… this grudge… I’d settle it if I got the chance, but if not, I’d let it go.”
“Then—”
“But now I *can’t* stay calm,” the Earth Dog murmured as he crouched down, running his fingers over the dry, slightly elastic ground. “Celestial Dog, tell me—wouldn’t it have been better if she had died?”
The Celestial Dog took a step back as he watched the Earth Dog.
“If she had died… she wouldn’t have suffered like this,” the Earth Dog continued. “I wouldn’t have had to pick up this grudge again, and I could’ve just kept lazing around. But she didn’t die. Instead, she’s been hanging in the sky, staring straight at me all this time.”
“Let’s talk this through!” the Celestial Dog pleaded. “You *see* the situation we’re in now… Killing me won’t solve anything! What about Qinglong? He’s the one you *really* want dead, isn’t he…?”
“Qinglong? I’m a completely useless person,” the Earth Dog said with a hollow laugh. “I know I can’t kill Qinglong, so I have to settle for the next best thing—killing you right under our teacher’s ‘watchful eyes.’ At least that way, she can rest in peace. After all, she’s been watching me this whole time, and *you* are the thorn in her eye.”
Though the scent of imminent violence radiated from the Earth Dog, the Celestial Dog still showed no sign of fighting back.
Under the same physical enhancement conditions, his obese frame might not stand a chance against the Earth Dog. Worse, he had no way to rely on his “Spiritual Scent” to save himself.
“Kid,” the Earth Dog turned to Zheng Yingxiong, “go back inside.”
“Huh…?”
“Everyone behind that door is about to lose their sanity. If there’s someone you want to see, say what you need to say now,” the Earth Dog advised. “They might not recognize you in the next second.”
Zheng Yingxiong’s eyes widened slightly as the memory of parting with Sister Siwei flashed through his mind.
Not even getting a chance to say goodbye—what a cruel punishment.
Right now, he was even more worried about Tiantian.
“A fight’s about to break out here, and you won’t be any help staying,” the Earth Dog said, jerking his thumb toward the door. “Go back.”
Zheng Yingxiong nodded and, without another thought, sprinted toward the door. Though he couldn’t see the transparent threads, their thick scent of “Soul Theft” was unmistakable.
He dodged a few heavily scented spots near the entrance before bolting inside.
The Celestial Dog tried to seize the opportunity to escape through the door, but the Earth Dog blocked his path.
“Hey…” the Earth Dog said. “Whether Qi Xia is ‘Brother Sheep’ or not, even he makes mistakes sometimes. You’re not making it out alive today.”
……
At the “locomotive,” inside a room packed with “ants.”
Dozens of “ants” were being crushed against the wall by an enormous hand.
The hand nearly filled the entire room, its massive fingers distorted from the pressure. Desperate screams echoed from within.
“Qinglong…!! Qinglong, open the door!!” Xiao Ran’s hoarse voice shrieked. “I can’t move… Help me…!!”
The gigantic hand pinned the “ants” in place while also trapping Xiao Ran in the deepest part of the room, leaving her unable to even turn around. She could only pound on the far door with her other hand.
“Why is my hand like this again… It’s terrifying…” Xiao Ran sobbed as she shouted. “Qinglong, come out and see…! Everything’s falling apart out here…!”
She kept pounding on the door, but the sensation was strange—it didn’t make a sound, as if she were hitting a wall.
“What’s going on…?”
Xiao Ran’s eyes widened as she struck the door harder. Soon, her other hand also began to grow, its strength multiplying.
*BANG!*
*BANG!*
After several loud impacts, a crack finally appeared in the door.
Xiao Ran hesitated for a moment before speaking again. “Qinglong… Since you won’t open the door… I have no choice… I’ll break it down… Save me…”
*BANG!*
*BANG!*
She continued smashing the crack before wedging her enormous fingers into it and tearing the door apart.
What she saw next nearly made her eyes pop out of their sockets.
There was no room on the other side of the door.
Beyond the shattered door lay nothing but a bare wall.
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