“What…?” Earth Horse turned to look at Earth Rat, her face filled with confusion. “Are you threatening me? On what grounds?”
“Hey, I just have a guess—it might be way off, but why not hear me out first?” Earth Rat stepped forward, his face plastered with an ingratiating smile.
“You…”
Earth Horse finally realized just how troublesome this rat was. She regretted underestimating him before.
“You kept telling Pig Leader that ‘capturing us would earn you merit,’ which got me thinking about something interesting,” Earth Rat chuckled. “Forgive my bluntness, but you don’t seem like the sharpest tool in the shed. I wonder if, while egging Pig Leader on, you accidentally blurted out your own true motives because you couldn’t think of a better excuse?”
The others frowned at his words, while Earth Horse’s eyes widened.
“So, you never intended for Pig Leader to earn merit—you wanted it for yourself…” Earth Rat pressed on, his smile sharp as a blade, his words cutting closer and closer.
“I’m done talking to you.”
A flicker of panic crossed Earth Horse’s face as she turned to leave, but Earth Rat grabbed her arm.
“Leader, don’t rush off—I haven’t finished,” he said with a grin. “I’d like to keep guessing. Give me another chance, won’t you?”
“Get lost!!” Earth Horse, visibly agitated, shook off his grip and stubbornly reached for the door.
Earth Sheep and Earth Tiger suddenly understood something and quickly moved to block the exit.
“Whoa, don’t leave!” Earth Tiger sneered. “So bold when stirring trouble, but in such a hurry to bolt when things go south? That’s too convenient!”
“Exactly!” Earth Rat chimed in. “I said I’d threaten you, and now, before I’ve even said anything, you’re already running?”
Seeing she was outnumbered, Earth Horse stopped trying to flee and turned back to face Earth Rat.
“Fine. Since you claim you’re threatening me, let’s see what you’ve got. How exactly do you plan to do it?”
Earth Rat scratched his forehead. “Leader, your openness makes me seem like the villain here. In that case, I’ll make a bold guess… You don’t strike me as particularly capable. Despite running a game designed by the ‘Golden Monkey,’ you haven’t even killed 3,600 people in thirty years, have you?”
Earth Horse’s expression darkened, but she stayed silent.
“A hundred a year—not even one every three days.” Earth Rat nodded. “So my earlier guess was off. You’re not after ‘merit’—your goals differ from Pig Leader’s. Sucking up to the ‘Celestials’ won’t get you promoted. No, what you’re doing now seems more like… like…”
He paused, searching for the right words.
“Ah, got it—’atonement,’ right?” His grin widened. “Leader Horse, you wouldn’t have made some fatal mistake and now need to scramble to fix it, would you?”
“I…” Earth Horse stared at him in disbelief. “How did you—?”
“But we’re already ‘Earth-level.’ What could possibly have you this panicked…?” Earth Rat lowered his head, feigning deep thought. “Panicked enough to act immediately, to prove your loyalty to a higher-up… Yet you’re not groveling to ‘Celestial Horse’—you’re trying to impress ‘Celestial Dragon.’ Is it that serious…?”
Black Sheep glanced at the slacking dog in the distance, cracking sunflower seeds, his gaze turning contemplative. The rat he’d brought, despite his flaws, was undeniably sharp.
“So, this is something that would anger ‘Celestial Dragon’ and might even endanger you personally…” Earth Rat stroked his long whiskers and arrived at an answer in seconds. “As we all know, a group of ‘participants’ are causing trouble outside today… Putting it all together, is there a chance they’ve done something catastrophic in your domain? Something so bad you can’t control it, with consequences severe enough to strip you of your ‘Earth-level’ status?”
“Are you really just guessing?” Earth Horse demanded, wide-eyed.
“Of course, of course.” Earth Rat nodded. “You don’t think I already knew the answer, do you? That’s giving me too much credit.”
Earth Horse, seeing no way out, sighed and admitted, “I am in a tight spot… If I don’t act fast, I’ll be exiled. That’s why I had no choice but to come after you.”
“I’ve heard that excuse too many times,” Earth Tiger said, shaking his head. “‘Because I’m in X situation, I have no choice but to do Y to you.’ But no one owes you anything. Why should we suffer for your problems?”
Earth Horse’s brow furrowed, her voice strained. “Then what do you want me to do?! That ‘participant’ reduced the difficulty of my game with just one sentence! I can’t kill anyone now! If ‘Celestial Dragon’ finds out I’m wasting my position here, I’ll be exiled!! Using you to earn merit is the only thing I can do!”
“One sentence reduced your game’s difficulty…?”
The others had never heard of such a thing—they couldn’t even picture it.
“But there’s another way,” Black Sheep interjected coldly. “I just read this line in ‘The Biography of Chen She,’ left behind by Sheep Leader: ‘To flee is death; to rebel is death.’ Since you’re doomed either way, why not join us instead?”
His words gave the others pause. Earth Horse hardly seemed like reliable ally material—was bringing her into the fold really wise?
Then again, everyone in their ragtag group had their own flaws, motives, and agendas. Adding one more weak link wouldn’t make much difference.
“Exactly, Leader Horse…” Earth Rat, catching on, quickly added, “Even Pig Leader and Dog Leader get it. How can you, a leader, be worse than pigs and dogs?”
Earth Pig and Earth Dog frowned, sensing something off about that remark but unable to pinpoint what.
“So I’m just being forced into this…?” Earth Horse muttered. “I never wanted to join. It’s all that ‘participant’s’ fault—”
“Then what’s your decision?” Earth Rat pressed.
“I need time to think.”
“Too bad.” Earth Rat shrugged. “I said this was a ‘threat.’ If you don’t agree, I’ll spread your secret far and wide. By then, it won’t just be your Achilles tendon—they’ll slit your arteries. I doubt any of us want that, Leader Horse, worse-than-pigs-and-dogs.”
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