Chapter 810: The Twelve

"Tu Mi Hua."

Qi Xia muttered the three words softly as he walked out of the football field, sensing that Di Niu's final behavior had been rather odd.

Why bring up a flower out of nowhere?

Qi Xia knew that all his knowledge came from books and texts, and he had no specific image of "Tu Mi Hua" in his mind. None of the books he had read mentioned the flower's language either. He wasn't omniscient yet, and this might be some obscure piece of information.

Before Qi Xia could sort out his thoughts, the vague image of "Tu Mi Hua" in his mind suddenly transformed into Yu Nian'an's smiling face, only to dissipate like scattering petals moments later.

At that very moment, he felt a slight sting in his head.

"What's going on...?"

Frowning, Qi Xia tried to verify his sensation by focusing on the image of "Tu Mi Hua" in his mind again.

But "Tu Mi Hua" seemed like a strange key, with every door it unlocked leading straight to Yu Nian'an's smiling face.

"What on earth..." Qi Xia shook his head, feeling that the more he pondered this, the more muddled his thoughts became.

Ever since waking up this time, his mind had rarely felt so foggy, but with "Tu Mi Hua"...

He had no choice but to interrupt his train of thought and make a mental note of the question.

What was the flower language of Tu Mi Hua?

If he could find someone knowledgeable about flowers and ask them, that might help.

Besides Tu Mi Hua, there was another matter that weighed heavily on Qi Xia's mind.

That was "Cangjie Qi."

"Cangjie... Qi..."

Just hearing the name didn't give him any clear leads.

He knew he hadn't delved deeply into board games, and "Cangjie," the legendary creator of Chinese characters, only added to the confusion.

Their first encounter with Chu Tianqiu in the game had them sitting face-to-face playing chess? Thinking about it that way seemed awfully mundane.

Even though the Dragon's games came in many varieties, their core elements were still "Tian Ping" and "Yin Yang." How did "Cangjie Qi" connect to those two?

He had thought about using some tricks to see what potential Chu Tianqiu could unleash in a desperate situation. If Chu didn't meet his expectations, he could just leave him trapped in that game arena forever.

Now, it seemed this was a "competitive" game, where he could face Chu Tianqiu head-on without any tricks, deciding both victory and life or death.

This approach had more pros than cons—it might expose his own hand in front of Di Long, but it could also be a chance to gauge Chu Tianqiu's true capabilities.

"You have to hold on." Qi Xia narrowed his eyes meaningfully. "Without you... how are we going to get out of here?"

Taking a deep breath, Qi Xia pulled out the map to confirm the direction of Di She, then slowly made his way along the main road.

By now, most of the "Zodiac" figures on the map had taken shape in his mind.

"Chou Niu" was from "Yu Cheng," a woman with extremely well-defined muscles but not particularly tall. Her muscle mass was likely already above average before becoming a "Zodiac," so in the real world, she was probably an athlete, specializing in something like high jump due to her powerful core strength.

"Mao Tu" was described by Chen Jun Nan and Di Hu—tall and steady in personality. Di Hu was suspicious of him, but Chen Jun Nan instinctively felt he wasn't a bad person. He had proactively joined Di Hu's team, likely proving to be a reliable ally.

"Xu Gou" seemed like a "Zodiac" who could easily give up; he inherited his teacher's game arena and carried on some of the former "Di Gou's" beliefs. He might become a teammate or just completely slack off, but he had already joined Di Hu's group.

"Shen Hou" was a middle-aged man addicted to gambling; he looked like he was losing motivation, but fortunately, Qi Xia had stepped in to stabilize him temporarily. However, Shen Hou's passive nature meant he could still waver.

"Hai Zhu" was like a hostile teenager; based on the current situation, he seemed to harbor some resentment toward Qi Xia. He could end up as an ally or even side with "Tian Long."

Next on the map were three more people: "Si She," "Chen Long," and "You Ji."

Qi Xia felt he had recovered some memories about "You Ji"—she was Di Hu's neighbor, incredibly noisy but reliable. In his memories, she was a lively and chatty girl, but until he met her, he couldn't fully trust those recollections.

As for "Chen Long," Di Niu had described her as extremely dangerous; she was the "Di Yin Long" of this city, in charge of "Cangjie Qi," and the strange "Lü Yi" had warned him to stay away from her.

So, she was likely not his former teammate but an impostor who took the role.

Besides these seven with clear images, only one person remained on the map.

"Si She."

Once he met this snake, the identities of these eight would be set, without needing to wait for his memories to slowly return.

Thinking this far, Qi Xia furrowed his brow slightly.

"Hold on..." He reached up and gently pressed his temple, sensing a potential inconsistency in the situation.

"Chou Niu, Mao Tu, Chen Long, Si She, Xu Gou, Shen Hou, You Ji, Hai Zhu..." Qi Xia muttered the eight Zodiac signs softly, narrowing his eyes.

If these eight, plus the "rebellion" room's trusted Di Hu, his former student Hei Yang, that yin yang guài qì old rat, and the Di Ma whose game arena he had destroyed...

"Exactly twelve people." Qi Xia said in a low voice.

Twelve Zodiac animals, each represented by one person, no duplicates.

Could this be a coincidence?

"Twelve different 'Di Ji'... " Qi Xia vaguely felt this was the full picture of the team, though he couldn't figure out the reason yet. Things that seemed too coincidental were never truly coincidences.

Why were all paths converging on these twelve people right now?

"What are you trying to do?" Qi Xia turned his head, looking toward the empty street.

There, a phantom white sheep in a suit appeared; its form was illusory, and its expression cold.

"Are you leaving me 'foolproof' clues again?" Qi Xia said. "Do you really think so little of me?"

The phantom white sheep was about to speak when it suddenly turned its head toward the end of the street, where three figures were slowly emerging.

The white sheep let out a cold laugh and vanished on the spot.

"Whoa~~~~~~"

A voice pierced the air, making Qi Xia instantly show a helpless expression, followed by a familiar sound entering his ears.

"You little liar!"

"Qi, my classmate!"

Before Qi Xia could respond, he was interrupted by another loud voice.

"What a coincidence!!" Chen Jun Nan shouted at the top of his lungs. "Isn't this the guy with the big temper who later turned nice—Old Qi? It's raining black stuff from the sky these days; remember to bring an umbrella when you go out, man."