Neither Zhang Qiang nor I dared to speak, silently watching the white sheep before us.
“First, I must commend both of you,” the white sheep said. “I was randomly assigned to this room. While I can choose my ‘Zodiac’ teammates, I have no control over the ‘participants.’ For me, whether the room has intelligent people is crucial—fortunately, I wasn’t disappointed.”
“We… are intelligent?” Zhang Qiang ventured cautiously. “But we haven’t done anything.”
“Self-awareness is invaluable. One should act within their capabilities,” the white sheep replied. “This ‘liar’ game reveals much. The first lesson in adulthood is learning when to stay silent.”
Hearing this, my earlier suspicion was confirmed—the white sheep was formidable.
His strength didn’t lie in physical prowess but in his intellect and awareness.
“The world is full of people who love expressing their ideas and bending others to their will,” the white sheep continued. “The seven who disappeared before you were all like that. Even if you two had figured out who the ‘liar’ was, it wouldn’t have mattered. They didn’t understand you, so they refused to trust you. They’d try to rally others to their side in no time—except everyone thought the same, so none succeeded.”
I finally spoke up, eager for a chance to engage with him.
“But by your logic… shouldn’t truly skilled people be able to convince the others to vote for you?”
“That’s not something one can achieve alone,” the white sheep said. “It also depends on the others in the room. When you realized these people were impossible to reason with, you gave up trying. I’d have done the same.”
“So that’s how it is…”
“Now, there’s an opportunity before you—but it requires your cooperation,” the white sheep interjected, cutting through our thoughts. “I need to make this room completely empty.”
Zhang Qiang and I paused, sensing something ominous.
“Empty…” I met his gaze. “Does that mean… we’d have to disappear too?”
“No.” The white sheep shook his head. “I know you won’t vanish on your own, so I’ve prepared a ‘path of ascension’ for you.”
“Ascension…?”
“Exactly,” he confirmed. “Every time you drew ‘identity cards,’ I left messages. Through repeated trials, I’ve stabilized your ‘echoes’—your first ascension. Now comes the second.”
Zhang Qiang cleared his throat. “So you deliberately fed us that information?”
“Yes, and only you two,” the white sheep said approvingly. “I only needed one round to identify candidates. From then on, I guided you through notes until you mastered your ‘echoes.’ With the added ‘threat of death’ over these two cycles, you can now wield them freely, making you two of the strongest in ‘Terminal Land.'”
We both hesitated. We knew our limits—how could we rank among the top so easily?
“And the second ‘ascension’…?” Zhang Qiang pressed.
“I’ve prepared two paths,” the white sheep said. “One is the ‘absolutely safe participant path,’ the other the ‘absolutely safe Zodiac path.’ If you accept, I’ll begin arrangements.”
“Absolutely safe…?”
The phrase was eerie and absurd. We exchanged uneasy glances.
I knew nothing in this world was absolute—so why was the white sheep so confident?
“The ‘Zodiac path’…?” I hesitated. “What does that entail?”
“Ah, my mistake,” the white sheep nodded. “Given your tendencies, I doubt you’d participate in games even if you left, so you wouldn’t understand why ‘Zodiacs’ exist. Fair enough—let me explain briefly.”
What followed defied all our expectations.
He revealed that all ‘Zodiacs’ were once ‘participants.’ Theoretically, if you obtained their mask, you could become any ‘Zodiac.’
This was why some ‘participants’ gambled their lives against ‘Zodiacs’—aside from acquiring ‘Tao.’
One of the paths he offered was becoming a ‘Zodiac.’ He’d provide the mask directly, sparing us unnecessary trouble.
“Even if that’s true…” Zhang Qiang looked up. “The ‘Zodiac path’ can’t be absolutely safe. Whether ‘Human-level’ or ‘Earth-level,’ we could still be challenged and die in a game.”
“That’s where the ‘Zodiac’ promotion rules come in,” the white sheep explained. “As a ‘Human-level,’ if you earn your mentor 3,600 ‘Tao,’ they’ll arrange a ‘Zodiac Ascension Gambit’ to enter an interview room. Then, you must clear the room within three cycles to become ‘Earth-level.’ Legend says an ‘Earth-level’ who kills 3,600 will ascend to ‘Heaven.'”
“Heaven…?”
We’d thought ‘Celestial-level Zodiacs’ were just a myth—yet here they were, real.
“But there’s always someone stronger…” Zhang Qiang said. “Even the mightiest ‘Celestial’ could still be challenged, right?”
“True. Most ‘Zodiacs’ live on thin ice. Though they surpass all ‘participants,’ they’re ultimately reactive,” the white sheep explained patiently. “They’re trapped in place, facing the unknown every day.”
“Just as I thought,” I nodded. “Then there’s no such thing as an ‘absolutely safe Zodiac,’ is there?”
“Except for one scenario,” the white sheep said, turning to me. “I said ‘Zodiacs’ are usually on thin ice—except now.”
“Now…?”
“Exactly.” He glanced at the sheep beside him. “Only in an ‘interview room’ is a ‘Zodiac’ absolutely safe.”
“But wait…” Zhang Qiang frowned. “Even in an ‘interview room,’ if everyone disappears, the ‘Zodiac’ would be promoted to ‘Earth-level’—bringing back the danger.”
“No, don’t worry,” the white sheep assured him. “The ‘interview room’ I’ve arranged for you can never promote.”
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