Inside the special police car.
Lu Zhi nudged Shen Qi beside him awkwardly with his elbow, unsure of what to do.
Shen Qi rested his chin on his hand, staring out the car window, ignoring her.
Heibao Tu, curled into a ball, tearfully wiped its eyes. "Wuwuwu~ How can Master say that about me?"
The Pig Uncle, who had transformed into human form, was a mature, steady, and handsome man named Zhu Ziqian. "Stop crying. Master didn't mean it, he just forgot."
Niu Xiaotong sat beside Lu Zhi, biting her thumb, her large, cute eyes trying their best to remember Lu Zhi's appearance.
Jiang Yue, driving, kept glancing at the 'group of gods' in the back seat through the rearview mirror, finding it strange and unbelievable.
"Watch the road," Yan Shao, in the passenger seat, had put on a pair of rimless glasses at some point and was calmly registering ID cards for the three gods.
"Um... why are you guys here?" Lu Zhi awkwardly broke the silence.
Before Zhu Ziqian could answer, Heibao Tu stopped crying and blurted out, "After Master's divine fall, we each chose a place to slumber. Then, Uncle Pig and Little Yellow Cow came to find me, so we decided to sleep together in one nest."
Lu Zhi: ...
So casual?
Compared to the previous gods, it lacked prestige.
"Ah!" Niu Xiaotong suddenly shrieked, urgently grabbing Lu Zhi's hand. "Forgot, forgot."
Lu Zhi was startled by Niu Xiaotong and comforted her, "Take your time, take your time, no rush."
Niu Xiaotong's face turned red from holding back, and she finally managed to squeeze out one word: "Dog!"
At the Zhaocai Ranch, the owner Zhang Xu, after finishing his meal, discovered his dog was missing. Remembering that Jiang Yue had stayed to make a phone call, he nervously dialed her. "Officer Jiang, I want to ask, my dog is also missing. Could it have become a spirit and disappeared too?"
Jiang Yue, who had just received the call, caught a glimpse of a dog's head flashing past the rearview mirror and instinctively swerved the steering wheel towards the emergency lane, startling her.
Lu Zhi, caught off guard, crashed into Shen Qi's embrace, disoriented. "Wh-what's going on? What happened?"
A corner of Yan Shao's rimless glasses broke. His extremely calm face cracked. He took off his glasses and took a deep breath. "It's nothing. Just a dog. It's chasing us."
Lu Zhi: ...
They were driving on the highway at 120 kilometers per hour...
"Ah, I remember now," Heibao Tu's long ears perked up. "We forgot Old Huang."
As soon as the words fell, an earth dog angrily jumped onto the car roof, roaring, "Audacious scoundrels, daring to commit a crime in broad daylight! Hand over Old Zhu, Stupid Rabbit, and Dumb Ox inside the car, or don't blame me for calling for reinforcements!"
Jiang Yue: ...
Yan Shao: ...
Lu Zhi: ...
One minute later, the car door opened, and the earth dog got in.
An hour later.
A video appeared on a website with the title: "An Earth Dog Racing a Special Police Car, Can You Believe It?"
"Seriously, I reported the poster for clickbait before entering. After watching, all I want to say is 'Holy crap, this is real!'"
"Amazing, worthy of being a dog passed down from our ancestors!"
"In this fantastical world, even dogs are racing at 120 kilometers per hour."
"...Am I the only one who noticed the young man who got out of the special police car? He's really handsome. Within one minute, I need all his information."
However, half an hour later, the video was deleted.
In the principal's office, Shen Lu looked at the group of zodiac gods on the sofa and then at Lu Zhi. "How about I invest in you and you open a zoo?"
Lu Zhi couldn't help but laugh. "I... I don't know why, but they've all suddenly appeared together."
It was as if time had arrived.
Shen Lu nudged Xue Jinhuai with his foot. Xue Jinhuai, who was scrolling on his phone, raised his eyelids. "Among the twelve zodiac signs, the confirmed gods are Horse, Rat, Snake, Dog, Rabbit, Ox, Pig... The remaining are Monkey, Sheep, Rooster, Tiger, and... Dragon."
The last word, Dragon, was spoken with particular emphasis.
The eyes of the zodiac signs, who were sitting around Lu Zhi, all turned to Xue Jinhuai. Facing the gaze of a group of gods, Xue Jinhuai's expression remained unchanged.
And Lu Zhi, on this side.
Already overwhelmed by the sudden appearance of so many zodiac signs, he had given up and shrunk beside Shen Qi. Only by Shen Qi's side would they not flock to him.
Just like in the car, when these few almost fought. If Shen Qi hadn't coldly thrown Heibao Tu, who was singing "The Injustice to Dou E," out of the car, deterring the others, Lu Zhi would not have found a moment of peace.
"Heh." Shen Qi smiled condescendingly at the person shrinking behind him.
Lu Zhi awkwardly touched his nose. Taking advantage of the fact that the zodiac signs' attention was diverted by Xue Jinhuai's topic, he leaned close to Shen Qi's ear and whispered, "Was it always this... lively before?"
It wasn't just lively; it was like suddenly becoming a kindergarten teacher, facing a group of noisy little bullies every day, his head buzzing with pain.
"They are all mud you molded yourself, don't you know their temperaments?" Shen Qi's words carried a lot of information.
Lu Zhi blinked, his eyes widening, his mouth slightly agape in surprise. "N-no way? Mud? Holy cow!"
Startled by Shen Qi's sudden words, Lu Zhi subconsciously glanced at his crotch. "Were these also made of mud? Is my hidden gender perhaps female?"
Shen Qi, without warning, hugged Lu Zhi and chuckled, laughing uncontrollably.
Lu Zhi's face instantly darkened. He smacked Shen Qi's back and asked worriedly, "You've always been reluctant to talk about my past identity. Could it be that my true identity is Nuwa, who created humans?"
Wouldn't the one who could mold humans from mud be Nuwa from mythology?
Was Shen Qi afraid he couldn't accept his gender change, which was why he had been hiding it?
"What are you thinking about every day?" Shen Qi's smile lingered. "Your gender is correct. You molded people from mud because you used divine earth."
Lu Zhi's heart, which had almost been scared out of him, finally settled back into his chest. He then angrily head-butted Shen Qi's chin. Hearing Shen Qi hiss in pain, he gritted his teeth. "You deliberately scared me."
Shen Qi spread his hands. "You scared yourself. Can you blame me for this?"
Shen Qi wore an expression of utter innocence.
If Lu Zhi truly believed Shen Qi was innocent, he would have been tricked out of everything.
"Master, Master," Heibao Tu suddenly called out to Lu Zhi from the side.
Lu Zhi: "What is it?"
"Master, tell Old Zhu that person is not a liar," Heibao Tu puffed out its cheeks, its long black rabbit ears twitching unhappily.
Lu Zhi, who had been whispering to Shen Qi and hadn't heard their conversation, asked very humbly, "What's going on?"
Zhu Ziqian said with a tone of exasperation and disappointment, "This guy wants to be with a man."
Lu Zhi: "That... doesn't seem wrong."
Zhu Ziqian: "But that man owns a restaurant, and he sells rabbit heads!"
Lu Zhi: !!!