Chapter 764:

“Oh my god…” Chen Junnan’s eyes slowly widened as if he had realized something. “You mean…”

He nearly blurted out, “Your teammate turned into an ‘ant,'” but after some hesitation, he swallowed the words.

Even the term “ant” was being kept under wraps, so it probably wasn’t appropriate for him to shout it out.

“Chen Junnan, you’ve said it yourself—the eight teammates in my room were all reassembled,” Qi Xia said. “So where do you think the original eight went?”

Though Qi Xia didn’t spell it out, Chen Junnan fully grasped the implication.

If the eight people marked on the map were all Qi Xia’s former teammates, and they had followed his instructions to become “Zodiacs,” then the next part was worth pondering.

Among them, the one who climbed the fastest and highest had ascended to become the “Dragon.”

The person who could become the “Dragon” must have been Qi Xia’s most capable teammate—otherwise, they’d never have risen to the top of the “Zodiac” hierarchy.

But this “Dragon,” whether due to exposure or some other violation, had now been demoted to an “ant.” Not only had he lost everything, but he’d also lost the chance to fight alongside Qi Xia.

Now, this “ant”—once the “Dragon”—had come before Qi Xia to warn him about the current “Dragon.”

If that were the case, everything made sense.

“Old Qi… could it really be true?” Chen Junnan asked.

“Like I said earlier…” Qi Xia sighed. “Right now, he isn’t even considered a ‘person.’ There’s no reason for him to take such a huge risk just to warn me. He could’ve ignored me entirely, yet he still chose to deliver this message—which tells me it must be critically important to him. Who would risk delivering a fake message that offers them no benefit?”

“Damn…” Chen Junnan lowered his head slowly, then pointed at the “Dragon” on the map. “So if this guy… really has been replaced… what are you planning to do?”

“I’m going to pretend I don’t know,” Qi Xia said.

“Huh?”

Both Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiajin looked puzzled.

“Pretend you don’t know? Why?”

“Because I need to wait for them to make a move,” Qi Xia replied. “If I prepare for everything in advance, I’ll never know what this ‘Dragon’ is truly planning.”

“Ah…”

Chen Junnan glanced silently at Qi Xia. In his memory, Qi Xia had always been this kind of person.

Not only would he predict the current situation, but he’d also devise a countermeasure for that prediction.

If someone truly intended to scheme against him, they’d need to think at least two steps ahead of him.

“Isn’t that a bit dangerous?” Chen Junnan pressed.

“No,” Qi Xia answered. “Before this ‘ant’ appeared, I was in the open while the enemy lurked in the shadows. Now, he’s flipped our positions—that alone is the biggest gain I’ve made today.”

Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiajin nodded, though judging by Qiao Jiajin’s expression, he hadn’t understood a thing.

“The plan sounds solid, but it still feels risky,” Chen Junnan said. “Jumping into a trap you already know exists… meaning your opponent won’t just be Xiao Chu, but also the referee? What if the ref’s playing dirty?”

Qi Xia chuckled softly. “But if I want to know where they’ll strike, I have to let them make the first move.”

The two knew that once Qi Xia made up his mind, he had already considered everything carefully. There was no point in interfering further, so they simply nodded.

Silence fell over the room again, though none of the three felt sleepy. Qi Xia turned to look out the window—still pitch black.

The nights in the “Land of Finality” had no moonlight. In this darkness where one couldn’t even see their own hand, the bonfires lit in various rooms of “Paradise Mouth” illuminated the area for hundreds of meters.

Qi Xia sat in his chair, staring blankly into the night until the yellowish sun began to rise.

He watched the slow ascent of the sun for a long time before finally pressing a hand to his forehead.

Now, every time he saw the sun, his head throbbed faintly—apparently, the aftereffects of the “Heavenly Dragon” hadn’t yet faded.

“It’s been a while since I’ve had a headache…” Qi Xia murmured. “‘Heavenly Dragon’… did you build the ‘Finality’ from my dreams, or did you invade my dreams with the ‘Finality’?”

This was already the seventh day of the cycle, and Qi Xia knew he still had much to do. He had to make the most of whatever time remained.

Just as dawn broke, footsteps could be heard moving around in some of the school’s classrooms.

Outside the gates, scattered figures gradually began to gather. The new day was already bustling.

Qi Xia stood up and stretched. Qiao Jiajin and Chen Junnan followed suit, also stretching their stiff limbs. Thanks to the uninvited guest, none of them had slept well, and their energy was low.

“So, where are we headed first today, Old Qi?” Chen Junnan asked. “Are we just gonna wait here for the others to bring back Wen Qiaoyun and that Yan… whatever-her-name-is?”

“No… I still have many people to meet,” Qi Xia said. “You two wait here. I’ll follow the map on my own.”

“Huh?”

Chen Junnan clearly didn’t understand. “Old Qi, isn’t your map full of ‘Zodiacs’? You’re going alone?”

“Yes,” Qi Xia replied. “But I don’t plan to participate in any more games. I just want to talk to them.”

“Everyone outside right now has ‘Echoes,'” Chen Junnan warned. “Don’t go dying in some random alley.”

“Don’t worry. Unless it’s the tenth day, no one can kill me,” Qi Xia said softly.

“You…” Chen Junnan frowned, sensing that Qi Xia was brewing some bold idea in his mind. “You can’t possibly ‘duplicate’ yourself, can you…?”

“I’ll be back,” Qi Xia said. “Don’t worry about the rest.”

Just as they were speaking, the classroom door creaked open.

They turned to see Lawyer Zhang standing there, nodding at them with a faint smile.

“Oh?” Chen Junnan blinked. “What a coincidence. The great lawyer’s here.”

“Apologies for interrupting,” Lawyer Zhang said. “I ran into Qin Dingdong in the hallway earlier and suddenly remembered something I needed to pass on to Qi Xia.”

“Me?” Qi Xia raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”

“Before… when I was participating in a game with Su Shan and the others,” Lawyer Zhang said with a trace of sorrow, “a ‘Zodiac’ wanted to see you. We agreed and planned to trade information about you for some cakes and fruit…”

Her words left the three in the room utterly baffled.