The Earth Dog hesitated for a few seconds before speaking, “But I haven’t finished explaining the rules yet…”
“Enough conditions are already known,” Qi Xia said. “Each of the ‘Four Seasons’ must fulfill their seasonal duties, and everyone’s ‘Sticks’ will continuously change due to the attributes of the ‘Four Seasons.’ Otherwise, the ‘Four Seasons’ you designed would be meaningless. The ones fighting the ‘Nian Beast’ could just as well be four ‘Warriors’ holding firecrackers, not the ‘Four Seasons.'”
The Earth Dog swallowed hard. “Brother Goat… you…”
“So I’ve roughly grasped the game’s framework, and the countermeasures follow naturally,” Qi Xia nodded. “‘Winter’ is the only season in the year capable of resisting the ‘Nian Beast.’ You must have placed the majority of your ‘Disasters’ in ‘Winter.'”
The Earth Dog blinked. “But Brother Goat, you just said… that only one smart person is needed. My game is purely ‘cooperative’—how could one smart person be enough?”
“You don’t believe me?” Qi Xia asked.
“No, I find it hard to believe,” the Earth Dog replied. “If it were you participating in the game… which season would you choose to be? ‘Winter’?”
“‘Spring,'” Qi Xia answered. “You yourself mentioned that there’s a choice in the game called ‘Passing,’ where the first season can transfer their ‘Stick’ unchanged to the second season.”
“Correct.”
“That means as long as ‘Spring’ can control the overall situation, they can convey their strategy to everyone,” Qi Xia said.
“But that’s impossible,” the Earth Dog countered. “This game has absolutely no means of communication—the soundproofing in each room is impeccable. The only reason we can talk freely here is because of that.”
“Actually, all you need is a pen,” Qi Xia continued. “With a pen, a single ‘Neutral Stick’ is enough to let everyone know my strategy. Even without a pen, blood or an engraving tool would work. As long as I can leave a mark on the Stick, everyone will see it.”
“You…” The Earth Dog now truly felt that the man before him must be the White Goat. “Not only did you figure out how to crack the game, but you also devised a way to convey that solution to the other three players.”
Qi Xia nodded. “Your game is well-designed. Though not particularly difficult, it still ensures stable casualties among ‘participants.’ There are plenty of strategic elements involved. As a ‘participant,’ I could guarantee a 90% win rate, but as the ‘referee,’ it’s 100%.”
The Earth Dog fell silent, stunned not only by how quickly this man had devised a strategy in mere seconds but also by his claim of a “100% win rate.”
“So do you believe my identity now?” Qi Xia asked.
“Yes…”
“Then the question I asked earlier…” Qi Xia pressed on. “Who were your former teammates?”
“Brother Goat, promise me one thing. Even if you find out who they are, don’t ask them about my name. That would violate the ‘Zodiac’ rules, and I could face fatal consequences.”
“Don’t worry,” Qi Xia nodded. “I’m not asking about your origins to uncover your name.”
“Good.” The Earth Dog seemed to relax slightly, speaking cautiously, “Brother Goat, there weren’t many people in my room. I’ve heard only four remain now: Jiang Ruoxue, Zhou Mo, Su Shan, and Fang Zichen. Rumor has it they’re still active in the ‘Endgame.’ You might have encountered them.”
Qi Xia narrowed his eyes slightly upon hearing this.
Perhaps it was fate—he had indeed met all four of them.
“With you, that makes five,” Qi Xia said. “Were there only these people in your room?”
“From what I remember, it was always just the five of us,” the Earth Dog replied. “Later, I left the room and became a ‘Zodiac,’ but that was many years ago.”
“How long ago was that?” Qi Xia asked.
“You mean when I became a ‘Zodiac’?” The Earth Dog thought for a moment, sounding uncertain. “About thirteen years?”
“Thirteen… years?”
Qi Xia frowned, his partially restored memory still leaving him puzzled about this timeline.
“You’ve been a ‘Zodiac’ for thirteen years?” Qi Xia confirmed.
“Yes…” The Earth Dog sighed helplessly. “Brother Goat, I know what you’re thinking. It took you only seven years to complete the entire path, while I haven’t even made it halfway in thirteen. But people are different…”
“No, that’s not the issue,” Qi Xia interrupted. “You’re saying you were already in that room thirteen years ago, and there were only five people in it?”
“Yes,” the Earth Dog nodded. “Is there a problem…?”
Based on Qi Xia’s own deductions and fragmented memories, he had likely reassembled his room around twelve or eleven years ago, spending roughly a year with the group inside. That was when he had grown close to Qiao Jiajin and Chen Junnan.
In other words, if he had wanted his original teammates to all become ‘Zodiacs,’ it could only have been before twelve years ago.
So who was this Earth Dog, who had been in a room with Su Shan thirteen years ago?
Why had he been swept into this current?
“There’s still fog,” Qi Xia murmured. “The most important memories haven’t returned yet…”
“What ‘memories’?” the Earth Dog asked, puzzled.
Qi Xia shook his head but, to be safe, asked, “Earth Dog, were you a ‘Resonator’ before becoming a ‘Zodiac’?”
“No,” the Earth Dog answered firmly. “I was an ‘Unfortunate One.’ That’s precisely why I became a ‘Zodiac.'”
This answer dispelled some of the fog in Qi Xia’s mind.
He realized things were indeed different from what he had imagined.
If the eight ‘Zodiacs’ marked on the map were all his teammates, there couldn’t be an ‘Unfortunate One’ among them.
Because he would have inevitably discovered the principle of ‘Resonance.’ As long as the right ‘trigger’ was found, there could be no true ‘Unfortunate Ones’ in this land.
Moreover, he would never have allowed an ‘Unfortunate One’ to become a ‘Zodiac.’ Without spending a long time building trust and camaraderie, such a teammate couldn’t serve as a reliable ‘chess piece.’
In conclusion, an ‘Unfortunate One’ was definitely not one of his own.
This made the Earth Dog’s identity even more enigmatic.
Could he truly be one of ‘Heavenly Dragon’s’ confidants, as ‘Azure Dragon’ had suggested?
Qi Xia and the Earth Dog stood facing each other in the cramped glass room, their gazes locked, both seemingly lost in thought.
If he really was ‘Heavenly Dragon’s’ man, shouldn’t he be trying to kill Qi Xia right here?
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