“We both share half the responsibility for this,” Qi Xia said calmly. “It’s my fault for trusting you too much, and yours for trusting me too much.”
“Hahaha… you little bastard,” Earth Snake chuckled as he stood up, his expression unusually complex. “Qi Xia, Qi Xia… talking to you always feels like walking into a carefully laid trap if I’m not careful.”
“No, this time, I mean it,” Qi Xia replied. “I take half the blame, so I’ll save you.”
“Your idea of ‘saving me’ is having a battered ‘Earth-level’ like me first rebel against ‘Celestial Snake,’ then defy ‘Dragon,'” Earth Snake said. “But Qi Xia, do you know what I truly want for myself?”
“Tell me.”
“To ‘flee in disarray,'” Earth Snake answered. “How exactly are you planning to convince someone like me… to become your pawn in the end?”
“I know you want to revert to being a ‘participant,'” Qi Xia nodded. “But that’s unrealistic. Even if I became a ‘participant’ now, I’d still be looking for ways to ‘flee in disarray’—when does it end? The upper echelon will always remain the upper echelon, and the enslaved will always be enslaved. How can we ever truly break this cycle?”
“Then…”
“We can run, but we can’t keep running forever,” Qi Xia said. “Let’s find a way to leave this place together. Only then can we truly be free.”
“Do you really have that confidence?” Earth Snake asked. “I’ve suffered too much already. I’m barely holding onto my last shred of sanity… If I lose faith in my teacher… do you have any idea what I’d become…?”
Before Qi Xia could respond, an unsettling aura suddenly emanated from Earth Snake.
A few seconds later, Chen Junan’s voice came from behind, weak and despairing: “I feel even more useless than before…”
Qi Xia turned slowly to see Chen Junan’s face twisted in sorrow, as if he were on the verge of tears.
Then came Qiao Jiajin’s voice: “I’ve truly failed Brother Guan…”
“You two…” Qin Dingdong began, trying to console them, but her own eyes suddenly reddened. Countless sorrows surfaced in her mind like submarines breaking through the ocean’s surface, densely packed and overwhelming.
At the same time, Qi Xia felt a sharp pain pierce his mind.
“Qi Xia… if my faith completely shatters… things won’t end well,” Earth Snake whispered. “I amplify the sorrow in everyone’s heart, and here, everyone’s sorrow is already immense. Just the slightest push could send them spiraling into collapse.”
Qi Xia turned back and placed a hand on Earth Snake’s shoulder. “You know the one you trust most has returned. Hold onto this state—you’ll need it later.”
Earth Snake remained silent for a long while before finally reining in his aura.
The three who had been drowning in sorrow gradually felt some relief.
“I am sorrow’s eternal vessel,” Earth Snake rasped. “I hope one day you can free me, you little bastard. Fine, I’m boarding this pirate ship.”
“No, you’ve always been on it,” Qi Xia said. “Ready to act?”
Earth Snake nodded. “I’ve wanted to do this from the start… As long as ‘Azure Dragon’ doesn’t interfere, I’ll personally kill ‘Celestial Snake.'”
“Now that’s more like it,” Qi Xia chuckled lightly.
“I’ll carve countless wounds into him, stuff them full of eyeballs, then gouge them out one by one,” Earth Snake grinned. “Now that’d be satisfying… right?”
“As long as it makes you happy,” Qi Xia replied.
“Since we’re on the subject, I should tell you something,” Earth Snake’s tone shifted. “Listen, kid, ‘Celestial Snake’ is far more important than you think.”
“How so?”
“Those mindless ‘Divine Practitioners’ under him obey only his commands and manage the entire train’s operations,” Earth Snake explained. “Some conjure food, some cook it, others produce fruits and cakes, and some even use faith to repair rooms and clean. As long as those powerful ‘Divine Practitioners’ exist, the train runs smoothly.”
Qi Xia’s mind flashed with fragmented memories. “Oh?”
“My teacher—somehow—implanted thoughts into those mindless ‘Divine Practitioners,’ creating an unnervingly efficient assembly line,” Earth Snake continued. “Every day when the ‘Zodiacs’ leave for work, these ‘Divine Practitioners’ spring into action. In just a few hours, they restore the entire train to pristine condition and prepare vast amounts of food for their return. Right now, my teacher is even planning to build hot springs and entertainment rooms—though he’s still missing a few key ‘Divine’ abilities.”
“This is…” Qi Xia’s thoughts raced as fragmented images began connecting in his mind.
“He calls it the ‘Rainier Effect,'” Earth Snake said. “A strategy to attract and retain talent through a welcoming cultural environment. No matter what setbacks or suffering the ‘Zodiacs’ face outside, returning to the ‘train’ guarantees the finest service in ‘Terminus.’ This service even defies nature—destroy an entire room, and it’ll be restored by the next day. Not to mention the ever-changing gourmet meals. Word of such perks would naturally entice many to become ‘Zodiacs’ and serve the upper echelon.”
Qi Xia fell silent, deep in thought. The “gourmet meals” Earth Snake mentioned took shape in his mind—some tasteless, tainted with Terminus’s signature rot, others delicious but leaving no sense of fullness.
If asked what the best thing he’d eaten on the train was… he might say a bag of peanuts.
Earth Snake sighed. “Tell me, kid… my teacher, my guiding light all these years, the old bastard I want dead… isn’t he a master of management? Even knows obscure theories.”
“Unfortunately,” Qi Xia snapped back to reality, “‘Rainier Effect’ isn’t a management term—it’s economics. And it’s not about better management, but squeezing more out of subordinates. Just another self-deluding fantasy of leadership.”
“Is that so…?” Earth Snake let out a bitter laugh.
“If you can’t offer real rewards, obsessing over workplace culture is pointless,” Qi Xia said. “Do they really think they’re running a company? Everyone here is a desperate soul who walked in with murderous intent, fighting to escape. They’re not nine-to-fivers collecting a paycheck.”
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