Qiao Jiajin and his small team wandered for a long time before finally locating the second Earthly Zodiac.
The three men and three women in the group had no idea what Qiao Jiajin was so hesitant about, but considering how even the entire force mobilized by the “Cat” faction earlier had failed to defeat him, they had no choice but to follow him aimlessly through the streets.
Eventually, they spotted the Earthly Horse from a distance.
The Earthly Horse appeared to be a woman, with a pure white horse’s head and a mane that cascaded like long hair. She wore an immaculate white suit with a wine-red shirt underneath and was standing in front of an indoor basketball court, waiting for them.
“Hello,” she greeted them from afar as soon as she saw them approaching.
Qiao Jiajin scratched his head and slowly walked forward.
“Horse… Horse…” He hesitated for a long moment before finally uttering uncertainly, “Horse… sis?”
“What do you mean, ‘sis’?” The Earthly Horse frowned. “That’s so rude. At the very least, you should call me ‘Earthly Horse.'”
“Alright, alright,” Qiao Jiajin nodded. “Earth… sis.”
“That’s still rude!” the Earthly Horse snapped. “How can someone be this disrespectful?!”
“Huh?” Qiao Jiajin felt a bit wronged. “Where was I disrespectful? Didn’t you just tell me to call you ‘Earthly Lady’?”
“Enough nonsense,” the Earthly Horse said, visibly annoyed, her previously refined demeanor vanishing in an instant. “Are you playing or not?”
“Uh…” Qiao Jiajin blinked. “Yeah, sure… But could you at least tell me what we’re playing first?”
“Death Race,” she said impatiently. “Five ‘tokens’ per person. Ten for each survivor. Hurry up.”
Qiao Jiajin turned back to his teammates and whispered, “Did I do something to upset her? Do Zodiacs usually go by ‘Earth’ or ‘Horse’ as their surname?”
“I don’t think it’s about the surname,” Bai Jiu chuckled behind her hand. “The problem is with ‘sis.'”
“‘Sis’?” Qiao Jiajin was puzzled. “She’s almost two meters tall—shouldn’t I call her ‘sis’?”
“You’re pretty solid yourself,” Bai Jiu said, playfully tapping his arm. “You look lean, but you’re actually really sturdy.”
“Ah, don’t even bring that up…” Qiao Jiajin shook his head. “Do we have enough ‘tokens’? Seven people, five tokens each… That’s a lot.”
“Don’t worry,” Bai Jiu assured him, pulling out dozens of tokens from her small backpack. She counted them in her small hands before standing up and handing them to the Earthly Horse. “Sis, don’t be mad. Here are the tokens.”
“Good girl,” the Earthly Horse said, patting Bai Jiu’s head before collecting all the tokens.
Qiao Jiajin was even more confused now. “I still don’t get it… Why is it fine when you call her ‘sis’?”
“Qiao-ge, just drop it,” Bai Jiu and Yun Shijiu said with wry smiles. “Let’s just go inside.”
The Earthly Horse stored the tokens and gestured for them to follow as she opened the door behind her.
A wave of cold air rushed out, as if the room was kept at an extremely low temperature.
“If any of you have thick clothes, I suggest putting them on now. Catching a cold would be unpleasant,” the Earthly Horse said in a soft voice, seemingly back to her composed self. “This way, please.”
The group took a deep breath outside before stepping into the icy arena.
Fortunately, basketball courts were usually simple in design, and they could take in the entire layout at a glance.
Though it was called a “basketball court,” it had been completely transformed into a small square. The hoops on both ends had been removed, leaving only a flat, icy floor.
Upon closer inspection, the floor had been tampered with—thick layers of ice coated its surface, making it seem more like an ice rink than a basketball court.
In the center of the arena, rows of sharp, upward-pointing shards of glass were neatly arranged, forming a straight track down the middle of the ice.
On either side of the track stood several waist-high wooden boxes, each with a small round hole—their purpose unclear.
At the far end of the track, something roughly the size of a motorcycle was covered by a dark curtain.
“Ladies and gentlemen, my game is called ‘Wooden Ox and Gliding Horse,'” the Earthly Horse announced.
“‘Wooden Gliding Horse’?” Qiao Jiajin repeated, confused.
“‘Wooden Ox and Gliding Horse.'”
“Uh… ‘Wooden Ox Ox Horse’?”
“Wooden—” The Earthly Horse cut herself off, turning away angrily. “If you can’t understand, then just stop interrupting. It’s not like a brute like you would get it anyway.”
“Uh…” Qiao Jiajin scratched his head, sensing her lingering irritation but still unsure what he’d done wrong.
“Now, let me explain the rules. Pay close attention,” the Earthly Horse said as she carefully stepped around the ice to the end of the track. “My game is very simple. All seven of you must complete one round trip on this track within fifteen minutes. Succeed, and you win.”
“One round trip?” Qiao Jiajin eyed the thick ice coating the track and swallowed hard. “Are you gonna give us ice skates?”
“Ice skates?” The Earthly Horse smirked, revealing that she had painted her dark lips with red lipstick—an oddly unsettling sight. “No, you won’t get ice skates. But I *will* give you something else—something far superior to those Western contraptions.”
“What…?” Qiao Jiajin looked down at his worn-out leather shoes, already dreading the challenge.
The Earthly Horse paused before pulling aside the curtain, revealing the wooden structure hidden beneath—a strange-looking handcart.
At first glance, it resembled an ordinary cart, but its top featured a chair seamlessly integrated into the frame, likely secured with traditional mortise-and-tenon joints during construction.
Qiao Jiajin then examined the wheels—or rather, the single wheel. His eyes widened in shock.
Unlike normal carts, this one didn’t have standard wheels. Instead, a single, meticulously carved wooden sphere sat at its base.
“Oh, hell no…” Qiao Jiajin muttered under his breath. “Earthly Lady, you can’t be serious. We’re supposed to push this thing—with a *ball* for a wheel—on *ice*?”
“Correct,” the Earthly Horse replied. “Not only must you traverse the ice, but you must also return before time runs out. Otherwise, everyone dies.”
“Do you think I’ve never pushed a cart before?” Qiao Jiajin found the whole idea absurd. “Even regular wheels would struggle on ice like this, let alone a *ball*!”
“Which is precisely why someone needs to push it,” the Earthly Horse said. “Seems perfectly reasonable, doesn’t it?”
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