The group was at a loss. No one could have imagined that simply walking down the street as usual would lead to an encounter with the Celestial Serpent.
Almost all the games involving human and earth serpents revolved around “question-and-answer” mechanics, making it clear that the Celestial Serpent must be a master of such challenges.
Could they escape this predicament just by posing questions to him?
“I have one last question…” Zhang Chenze’s gaze turned icy. “If you know the answer to this one, then I’ll accept my fate even if you kill me.”
“Go ahead,” the Celestial Serpent sneered. “As long as your question has an answer, there’s no way I wouldn’t know it.”
Zhang Chenze took a deep breath and, mimicking Lin Qin’s earlier gesture, closed her eyes and said, “I have a colleague who goes to the hot pot restaurant below our office every Monday to eat alone. His favorite dishes are pork aorta and horsehead fish because the restaurant gives them very interesting names. What are these two dishes called in that restaurant?”
The moment she finished speaking, everyone around her froze in shock.
“Huh…?” The Celestial Serpent frowned slightly. Though he understood every word of the question, he couldn’t make sense of it at all.
“What the hell is ‘pork aorta’?” he asked. “And… ‘horsehead fish’?”
“Five-second countdown,” Zhang Chenze continued, eyes still closed.
The air hung heavy for five seconds as the Celestial Serpent remained utterly silent.
“You see…” Zhang Chenze opened her eyes. “There are things you don’t know either. So you have no right to decide our lives, do you?”
“You made that up, didn’t you?!” The Celestial Serpent glared at Zhang Chenze, but after a few seconds, he realized with frustration that the question did, in fact, have an answer.
His expression darkened, his pale face twitching slightly.
“I absolutely must have you as my assistant…” He glanced at the two corpses beside him and muttered, “You’re far more impressive than them…”
“No. Like I said, every one of us holds knowledge you don’t possess,” Zhang Chenze replied calmly. “If you truly wish to become wiser, then you shouldn’t kill anyone so easily.”
The Celestial Serpent stared into her eyes again, his lips parting slightly. “You… didn’t actually lie to me?”
“That’s right. I don’t like lying,” she said.
“How strange…” He took slow steps toward her, his cold fingers brushing against her neck, making her shiver slightly. “Every time I appear, everyone lies to me… yet you didn’t?”
His bloodstained fingertips pressed lightly against her skin.
“Your situation is so peculiar…” The Celestial Serpent studied her with an eerie expression. “You’re so knowledgeable… yet your family is so ignorant? How can you bear such a life?”
“I’m not like you,” Zhang Chenze answered. “The world is full of ignorant people, but I don’t seek to make them all wise. I can only strive to be the best version of myself.”
She thought back to her own absurd life.
To escape that soul-devouring village, she had spent every waking moment learning new things, just to better herself. Never did she imagine that knowledge would prove useful in a situation like this.
“That makes sense.”
Suppressing her fear, Zhang Chenze spoke again: “I like people who value reason. You wouldn’t kill us for no reason, would you?”
The Celestial Serpent hesitated for a long moment before finally withdrawing his hand.
“You’re right,” he nodded. “I despise liars more than anything. Since you didn’t lie to me and are so knowledgeable, I have no reason to kill you… Now, tell me where that man named Chen Junnan is, and I’ll spare you.”
Lin Qin and Yun Yao exchanged uneasy glances. Among those present, only the two of them knew Chen Junnan’s exact location—and where “The Cat” was hiding.
“Do you have any connection to Chen Junnan?” the Celestial Serpent asked. “Are you willing to die for him?”
“Of course not. I can tell you where he is,” Lin Qin said.
“Hey… are you serious?” Yun Yao whispered. “Qi Xia and the others are there too.”
“We have no choice…” Lin Qin murmured back. “Even if we don’t say anything, he can still read our thoughts. If that’s the case, we might as well trade this information for our lives.”
From what she had observed earlier, Lin Qin noticed that the Celestial Serpent had a peculiar obsession—he admired intelligence.
In other words… if she led him to Qi Xia, Qi Xia probably wouldn’t die.
If even Zhang Chenze could come up with a countermeasure on the spot, Qi Xia would surely think of something.
Not to mention, “Twin Blossoms” were stationed there. Even a Celestial-level Zodiac would have to think twice before making a move.
“Look into my eyes,” Lin Qin said. “The location of ‘The Cat’ is in my memories.”
The Celestial Serpent stared deeply into her eyes for a long moment before suddenly widening his own.
“Your gaze doesn’t just hold ‘The Cat’s’ location… it also shows me fighting ‘The Cat’! You’re trying to send me into a battle with that man named Qian Wu?!”
“What…? No—”
Before she could finish, he lunged at her, his hand aimed straight for her heart. “You dare play tricks on me?!”
Lin Qin froze. She had never fought someone like him before and had no idea what his limits were.
Just as the Celestial Serpent’s hand was about to pierce her chest, a powerful gust of wind suddenly swept through, knocking everyone off balance.
The Celestial Serpent was the first to recover, turning to see an elderly man standing behind him.
The man stood on his tiptoes, his body leaning forward at an unnatural angle, his face almost pressed against the Celestial Serpent’s.
“You…” The Celestial Serpent took a step back, steadying his glasses.
“Reeks of Zodiac filth…” The old man bared his single remaining tooth in a grotesque grin. “Though it’s none of my business… what gives you the right to kill participants out in the open like this? Who granted you such audacity?”
“Y-You are…?” The Celestial Serpent hadn’t felt pressure from another being in a long time, but this old man unsettled him.
“How strange…” The elder’s yellowed, murky eyes narrowed. “You’ve clearly broken the rules… yet no one interferes? The balance here is so delicate… wouldn’t disrupting it lead to endless consequences?”
The Celestial Serpent stared back, unnerved by the fact that he couldn’t read the old man’s thoughts at all.
This man didn’t seem human—his mind was a void, as dark and thoughtless as a stone.
“Are you… a ‘Divine Beast’?” the Celestial Serpent stammered.
After all, the only ones who could speak so boldly to a Celestial were the Divine Beasts, and among the four, the only one he hadn’t met was the White Tiger.
“I am the White Tiger,” the old man said, straightening his posture. “Whose Zodiac are you? Who ordered you to kill?”
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