The Earth Serpent stared at Qi Xia’s expression for a long time, actually feeling somewhat intimidated by his aura.
“Not necessarily impossible,” the Earth Serpent said. “I need to think about it…”
“Then I’ll take that as a yes,” Qi Xia replied. “I don’t know what I’ve said to you before, but I’m standing here now to ensure the plan proceeds smoothly.”
“You… damn brat.” The Earth Serpent slowly furrowed his brow. “You don’t even know what you’re supposed to do, yet you’re talking about ensuring the plan goes smoothly… Aren’t you being too confident?”
“Not confident enough,” Qi Xia said. “After all, I have no way back, so I don’t think about what happens if I fail. That mindset forces me to be this confident.”
Seeing the Earth Serpent fall silent, Qi Xia pressed on, “So, has your stance changed?”
“Stance?”
“Who do you belong to now?” Qi Xia cut straight to the point. “How much can I trust you?”
The Earth Serpent glanced at him and said, “You should know me…”
Hearing this, Chen Junnan couldn’t hold back his anger. “Whether Old Qi knows you or not, I sure as hell do. Are you gonna say, ‘I belong to whoever I want to belong to’?! That’s just pure cheating, you bastard.”
“Who asked you to butt in?” The Earth Serpent turned his head. “People live like this all the time. If you don’t do what you want to do, you might never get another chance.”
“Then how fucking messy is your life?” Chen Junnan retorted. “Were you like this in the real world too? Doing whatever illegal or reckless shit you felt like?”
“Hah…” The Earth Serpent let out a bitter laugh. “It’s precisely because I hesitated too much in my past life—too indecisive, too weak—that I missed the schools I should’ve attended, the things I should’ve learned, the love I should’ve cherished, and the life I should’ve lived. So I made up my mind to change. The moment I became a ‘Serpent,’ I decided I’d do whatever I wanted from then on. That’s all.”
Chen Junnan slowly furrowed his brow. “If there were such a thing as a ‘regret pill,’ you’d definitely sign up for a membership card.”
“Exactly because it doesn’t exist, my ‘regrets’ can never be cured. Countless nights, I’ve lain awake regretting the decisions I’ve made.” The Earth Serpent sighed. “Regret is the most painful thing in the world. I absolutely cannot let myself have any more room for regret.”
“But it’s the exact opposite,” Qi Xia said. “Doing whatever you want, in my opinion, only makes regret more likely. Because you only see the present, not the ‘future.’”
“It’s fine… Even if I do regret it… it’s because I wanted to regret it…” The Earth Serpent said with a despondent expression. “So everything I do is what I want to do.”
“If you truly never want to regret anything, then never look back,” Qi Xia said. “Never dwell on the decisions you’ve made, never revisit the paths you’ve walked.”
“What…?” The Earth Serpent seemed taken aback by this perspective. “Then how do we know if we’ve done right or wrong in our long lives?”
“As long as you don’t look back, you’ll never be wrong,” Qi Xia answered.
“You…”
“Every choice you make is the right one,” Qi Xia said. “Just remember that.”
Qiao Jiajin nodded beside him. “Yeah, White Snake, the frontrunner in a race never looks back. The moment they do, they get overtaken. So just stick to your own views.”
“Hah.” The Earth Serpent let out a somewhat relieved smile. “Qi Xia, I never expected you to become someone like this… If only it had been sooner? No… If only I’d met someone like you in the real world…”
“The real world?” Qi Xia raised an eyebrow.
“Why was everyone around me only capable of sarcasm and mockery?” The Earth Serpent chuckled bitterly. “They’d say things like, ‘I knew it wouldn’t work,’ ‘I wanted to tell you earlier,’ ‘You made your own choice, who else is there to blame?’ Some even said, ‘That ex of yours who dumped you is now with a rich guy,’ or ‘That job you turned down now pays tens of thousands a month’… There may be no regret pill in this world, but there are plenty of people happy to make you regret.”
“You’re just pathetic,” Chen Junnan interjected. “You’re so pathetic that anyone around you turns pathetic too. Don’t look at Old Qi here—yeah, he’s got a gloomy face most of the time, but I’ve learned a lot from him.”
“Who has a gloomy face?” Qi Xia frowned.
“Old Qi, I think this guy’s like that damn Earth Monkey—both of them have…” Chen Junnan’s lips moved, omitting the word “Echo.”
“That’s my take too,” Qi Xia said. “But I’m curious—aren’t you afraid of the consequences of using your power so recklessly?”
“My situation is special…” The Earth Serpent smirked. “Heh… After following your instructions back then, I think we all kept our guard up. And that’s how I stumbled upon this incredible secret.”
“Secret…?”
The Earth Serpent swept his gaze dramatically over the four of them before saying, “You brats all know that anyone here can become a ‘Zodiac’ by wearing a mask. After the trials and tribulations, only a few remain—those who’ve turned into something barely human. Many know about this now, but back then, it sounded like pure fantasy.”
“So?” Qi Xia asked.
“So when we followed orders and got those masks, we all left ourselves a way out.” The Earth Serpent sneered. “Have any of you heard the saying, ‘Zodiacs never Echo’?”
The group fell silent. Though they hadn’t heard the phrase before, they knew that, generally, “Zodiacs” couldn’t perform an “Echo.” Otherwise, they’d possess both superhuman physical abilities and the formidable power of the “Echo,” making them invincible.
“That’s what got me thinking…” The Earth Serpent grinned. “Why can ‘they’ be both ‘Zodiacs’ and ‘Echo’… while I can’t? Why can’t any of us?”
Chen Junnan nodded impatiently. “Spit it out already—why?”
“Don’t rush me… After all, my mentor oversees all the ‘research’ here, and I’ve learned a thing or two from him.” The Earth Serpent smirked. “But what comes next is downright deadly. If I say it, it might summon a ‘thunderclap.’”
Qi Xia looked up at the sky and said, “Don’t worry. I’ll block that ‘thunder’ for you.”
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