“But that guy seems really sharp,” Qiao Jiayin said. “He can crush stones barehanded…”
“Yeah, Lao Qi,” Chen Junnan chimed in. “Even if we all gang up on him, can we really take him down? Crushing our heads would be a piece of cake for him…”
“Wrong,” Qi Xia replied. “No matter how strong his physique is, he can’t see or hear. If they actually fight people, they’ll suffer terribly. Even someone with no combat skills could easily toy with them.”
“That makes sense,” Chen Junnan mused after a moment, then nodded. “We could hit them if we want, or run if we want. Just throwing stones would be enough to finish them off.”
“So they’ll avoid fighting others at all costs,” Qi Xia said. “That’s probably why they stay away from people.”
Qi Xia recalled the day he and Lin Qin first encountered these “ants.” When they initially met, the creatures showed no reaction, but as soon as they brought a torch closer, the ants scattered as if sensing something—likely the heat from the flame. For them, it was an extremely dangerous signal.
Ironically, that day, everyone in the room had been terrified that the “ants” would break in and tear them apart.
If you thought about it from the “ants'” perspective, it was obvious—how could they possibly break in?
Their sense of crisis and fear far surpassed that of anyone else here.
“It’s almost like ‘Locke’s Law’—if a lofty goal is unattainable, lower it appropriately,” Qi Xia said. “The rulers have quietly altered the ‘ants” objectives.”
“‘Locke’s Law’?”
“These people’s goals have been steadily lowered,” Qi Xia explained. “Not just the ‘ants’—everyone else too.”
“What do you mean?” Chen Junnan asked.
“Think about it. If ordinary ‘participants’ find collecting 3,600 ‘tokens’ too difficult, they’ll gradually shift their goal and choose to become ‘zodiacs.’ So their objective changes from collecting tokens to ‘killing.’ For many, killing is far easier than gathering tokens.”
“But what does that have to do with the ‘ants’?” Chen Junnan pressed.
“Chen Junnan,” Qi Xia said gravely, “a large portion of the ‘ants’ are ‘zodiacs’ who made mistakes.”
“This…”
Though he’d suspected as much, Chen Junnan still found it hard to believe. Those seemingly pitiful “ants” had once been full of hope.
“Maybe they took off their masks, maybe they revealed their names, or maybe they just offended ‘Tianlong’ and ‘Qinglong’ on the ‘train.’ Whatever the reason, they ended up like this,” Qi Xia said. “Their goal shifted from ‘collecting tokens’ or ‘killing’ to ‘becoming human again.'”
Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiayin’s expressions darkened at that.
“And is ‘becoming human again’ an easy goal to achieve?” Qi Xia continued. “These ‘ants’ must have their own ‘promotion rules.’ Their current objective might just be scavenging countless corpses in the endless night to find a single ‘token.’ But even if they do become ‘human’ again, it’s hardly a ‘success’—it’s just resetting everything. They’d still have to gather tokens here as ‘humans.’ What kind of despair is that?”
Chen Junnan nodded. “Thinking about it that way, the two at the top are downright monstrous, huh?”
“It’s just a highly effective method of control,” Qi Xia said, turning to Chen Junnan. “‘Tianlong’ and ‘Qinglong’ keep everyone here too busy with immediate tasks. The ‘participants’ face severe punishment for the slightest misstep. How many even remember that the real goal here is to ‘escape’?”
Even the usually cheerful Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiayin fell silent at that.
In the end, the “upper echelon” here had always been safe.
The ones killing each other, scrambling, or risking their lives on a knife’s edge were always the “participants.”
Even if everyone achieved their immediate goals right now, no one would escape.
The “participants” would remain “participants,” and the “upper echelon” would stay the “upper echelon.”
“Scammer…” Qiao Jiayin said. “So, in your view, what was that guy trying to tell you by crushing the stone in the end?”
Qi Xia pondered for a few seconds, then pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket and slowly unfolded it in front of them.
It was a map.
“What’s this?” Chen Junnan asked.
Qi Xia didn’t answer, just let them examine the markings.
On a highly detailed map, eight words were written in red:
Chou, Mao, Chen, Si, Xu, Shen, You, Hai.
“These are eight ‘zodiacs,'” Qi Xia explained. “I suspect all eight of them know me.”
Qi Xia deliberately omitted what “Qinglong” had said, since “Qinglong” had invoked “Silence” when telling him these things.
“I know this ‘Shen,'” Chen Junnan said, pointing to the spot marked “Shen” on the map. “Isn’t that the big fat monkey?”
“Fat monkey?” Qiao Jiayin also looked at the map and confirmed that “Shen” was indeed the location of “Earth Monkey.”
“Right,” Qi Xia nodded. “In order, the rest are ‘Chou Ox,’ ‘Mao Rabbit,’ ‘Chen Dragon,’ ‘Si Snake,’ ‘Xu Dog,’ ‘You Rooster,’ and ‘Hai Pig.'”
“Uh…” Chen Junnan studied the map for a while, then pointed at “Mao Rabbit.” “I know this rabbit. He’s alright.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, I’ve met him, and I’ve got this weird ‘gut feeling,'” Chen Junnan replied. “That big rabbit’s always trying to kill us, but he’s pretty decent. At least he doesn’t play dirty, and he didn’t give us trouble after winning. All in all, not bad.”
Qi Xia had also heard Earth Tiger mention that strange rabbit—how he seemed to have no motive but had stubbornly stayed in the “rebellion” room.
Now, the identities of the rabbit, monkey, and pig were confirmed, but the others…
“So, Lao Qi, what’s the connection between this map and the ‘ants’ from earlier?”
“There is one,” Qi Xia said. “Thanks to you two, I’ve come up with an idea.”
“Which is…?”
“If most ‘ants’ are former ‘zodiacs’… could one of these eight have already become an ‘ant’?” Qi Xia speculated. “And if that ‘ant’ still remembers me, they’d do everything to reach me and warn me to beware… the ‘dragon.'”
“Huh?”
“Precisely because I’m me, this message is something only I can receive. No one else.”
Qi Xia glanced at the two of them again. “So, he is that ‘dragon.'”
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