“White Sheep…” Goat called out in a low voice, “I heard you just became a ‘Zodiac’ a day or two ago and were immediately fast-tracked here by the teacher, right…?”
“Yes,” White Sheep nodded. “That’s no secret.”
Goat’s tone had become noticeably more respectful than before. “What exactly are you racing against time for…?”
“I’m racing against time with time itself,” White Sheep replied. “But that’s not the topic we should be discussing now. Let’s focus on the upcoming collaboration instead.”
At the mention of “collaboration,” Goat’s gaze visibly flickered. He turned his head silently to look at Pug.
“Collaboration…” Pug still seemed dissatisfied. He turned to Goat and said, “Goat, did you hear that? This guy just said that even without us two in the room… he could still oversee three games. Do you really want to collaborate with someone like that?”
Goat lowered his head in thought for a long moment before responding, “Pug, whether you admit it or not… White Sheep is an extremely strong ‘Zodiac.’ His promotion speed has been unprecedented. Not only did he become an interviewer right after reaching ‘Human-Level,’ but now, thanks to him, we’re just one step away from becoming ‘Earth-Level.'”
“Thanks to him…?” Pug sneered. “What kind of nonsense is that?! There are three games here—didn’t we contribute at all?”
While Goat and Pug argued endlessly, Zhang Qiang and I exchanged glances. These ‘Zodiacs’ seemed to treat us as if we were invisible, blurting out everything, whether it should be said or not.
We both knew the situation was dire. The most likely outcome now was being silenced.
After a moment, Zhang Qiang and I locked eyes and nodded at each other.
A few seconds later, the distant sound of a bell rang out. We steadied ourselves and seized control of the “memory” first.
Though we were immobilized and at their mercy, preserving the “memory” meant that even if we were silenced afterward, it wouldn’t matter.
But the expected bloodshed never came. I suddenly remembered Clause 2.4 of the “Zodiac Ascension Betting Contract”:
“Party B promises to establish a correct worldview for participants and ensure they voluntarily, willingly, and calmly embrace death. Party B shall not indiscriminately kill innocents or settle personal vendettas.”
So, they were the ones who revealed all this. Did that mean Zhang Qiang and I were considered innocents…?
Seeing their argument go nowhere, I turned to look at White Sheep again.
Strangely, he never interfered with Goat and Pug’s debate. Instead, he kept glancing at the clock on the table.
As if he truly meant what he said—he was running out of time. The clock had already passed 12:05 and was slowly creeping toward 12:30.
At this point, Goat seemed to have sided with White Sheep, but Pug still refused to back down, finding every possible reason to argue.
White Sheep listened to their bickering for a while before sighing in frustration and cutting in, “I never expected that, whether among ‘Zodiacs’ or ‘participants,’ fools are everywhere.”
“What…?” Pug was instantly infuriated. He stopped arguing with Goat and turned sharply to White Sheep. “Don’t you dare mock us. We spent a long time just to get to this interview room—unlike you, who climbed here through connections. We value our lives more than you do. How could we follow your reckless plans? Just because you don’t care about your position doesn’t mean we don’t.”
“Value your lives…?” White Sheep shook his head. “Pug, blindly following the rules here isn’t ‘valuing your life’—it’s called ‘barely surviving.'”
After speaking, he checked the time again. The delay had gone on far too long—it was almost 12:30 now.
“This is truly frustrating…” White Sheep sighed and looked at Pug. “Let me cut to the chase, Pug. The core of your hesitation is whether ‘violators who die can come back to life,’ right?”
“Exactly,” Pug nodded. “That’s why I can’t take risks with you. No matter how convincing you sound, it’s useless.”
Without another word, White Sheep pulled out an old pistol from his chest pocket—the same one he had used to kill himself after the previous game.
What happened next stunned me. White Sheep raised the gun and slowly pressed it against his own temple.
“I really don’t have time,” he said coldly, the gun still pressed to his head. “Since I can’t convince you this time, I’ll have to try again next time.”
“Wh—” Pug’s eyes widened beneath his mask. “What are you doing?! Your game hasn’t even started yet—”
“I’ll show you whether death from violation means revival. After this, you don’t need to worry about what I do—just proceed with your own games as usual.”
He cocked the pistol. Zhang Qiang and I held our breaths. Everything in this cycle had been beyond our expectations. Just who was this White Sheep?
“Everyone, the ‘Liar’s Game’ is over.”
With that final declaration, the gunshot echoed through the cramped room. The strongest ‘Zodiac’ in my eyes had committed suicide in the most bizarre way possible.
By the rules, there was no reason for him to kill himself—yet there he was, collapsing lifelessly. The bullet tore through his temple, splattering brain matter and blood across the floor, turning him into a silent, motionless corpse right before my eyes.
Though Zhang Qiang and I could move again, we didn’t dare act rashly. Every ‘Zodiac’ in the room was beyond our resistance—this was the gap between ‘participants’ and ‘Zodiacs.’
We stood in silence for a long time. We truly didn’t understand ‘Zodiacs,’ nor did we know what they were thinking.
Eventually, Pug was the one who broke the silence. He explained the rules of “Bamboo Shoots After Rain,” and Zhang Qiang, who had already ‘echoed,’ was the one who spun the table rapidly.
As the number of people in the room dwindled, I had to thank Zhang Qiang. Without his ‘brute strength,’ I would have theoretically needed to manipulate the ‘Zodiacs’ to turn the table for me—which would have put me in even greater danger.
For those of us who retained our memories, these games became repeatable as long as we had cleared them once. So, once again, we found ourselves standing on this blood-red land.
Just as Zhang Qiang was about to turn and leave for the streets, I called out to him.
“Qiang-ge,” I said—if I remembered correctly, this was the first time I had ever spoken to him voluntarily. “Where… do you usually go?”
He glanced at me and replied quietly, “Got a lot of time to kill. Gonna find something to eat, then something to drink.”
“Oh…” I nodded.
He seemed to sense the awkwardness and asked, “What about you?”
“Same. Find something to eat, then something to drink.”
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