"Cough, cough, cough..." Shen Lu put down his water cup. "Sorry, I choked on some water. Please continue."
Lu Zhi snapped out of his shock, subconsciously glancing at the shy Black Treasure Rabbit.
Were they playing that rough?
Black Treasure Rabbit slurped. "Spicy rabbit head is delicious."
Lu Zhi: ??? I'm eating myself?
Zhu Ziqian sighed, shaking his head. "I can't convince you anymore. Do whatever you want."
Niu Xiaotong bit her finger, looking left and right. She asked Zhu Ziqian, "Hei Bao, is spicy rabbit head really delicious?"
Zhu Ziqian naturally held Niu Xiaotong's horn, turning her towards Black Treasure Rabbit. "He's over here."
Zhu Xiaotong said shyly, her cheeks red, "Ah, I mistook him again."
Lu Zhi: ...
Black Treasure Rabbit huffed, "I just want to be with him, why don't you all bless us? Are you discriminating against rabbit-human relationships?"
Shen Lu immediately replied, "How could that be? What era are we in? We pursue freedom in love. Gender and attributes don't need to be so rigid. As long as it's true love."
Black Treasure Rabbit then showed a happy smile. "You speak so well. I'll call my man right away."
The call was answered quickly, and Black Treasure Rabbit said softly, "Darling, my family has agreed to us being together. I'm coming to find you now."
After hanging up, she happily waved goodbye to Lu Zhi and the others and hopped out of the principal's office.
Lu Zhi remained bewildered. After a long while, he murmured, "Uh... well, we advocate for freedom in relationships. We should support Hei Bao."
He just wondered how a rabbit and a spicy rabbit seller would date. Would they sit together and discuss a hundred ways to cook a rabbit?
It was so surreal...
"Do the Rabbit God's words always have such... personality?" Shen Lu handed Lu Zhi a cup of ice water to help him calm down.
"Thank you." Lu Zhi gratefully took a sip. The chill swept through him, and he calmed down. "I'm not sure either."
Black Treasure Rabbit's way of speaking was a bit cunning, a bit like a damsel in distress, and with his constant use of "this one" and "that one," it felt very awkward.
Huang Kou, the earth dog who had been sitting on the sofa gnawing on a bone, replied, "He spent too long in the harem before, that's how he learned."
Lu Zhi looked at Huang Kou, immediately recalling his "jianghu" language when he jumped onto the car roof. He asked softly, "Are you and Rabbit Bao together?"
Huang Kou crunched the bone before replying, "Yeah. Back then, I had just become a constable and was assigned to find a rabbit, that guy Hei Bao."
Lu Zhi pondered. So, these deities had been sleeping for thousands of years.
"Ah... I remember." Niu Xiaotong seemed to have a habit of saying "ah" before speaking, and her speech was slow, like a sluggish old ox. "Uncle Sheep said he wanted to find a place with clear waters and a lush grassland to sleep."
Shen Lu glanced at Xue Jinhuai, the meaning clear without words.
"A grassland?" Lu Zhi's expression was indescribable. "Like yours?"
Zhu Ziqian: "Not like ours. Old Sheep likes to dig holes. Even if no one calls him when the time comes, he'll sleep permanently."
Digging holes?
Lu Zhi chuckled wryly. "Then how do we find him?"
"Look for the monkey," Huang Kou said. "The monkey can find Old Sheep."
Lu Zhi understood. It seemed that among the Zodiac signs, those as powerful as the Snake God slept alone, guarding a piece of heaven and earth.
"Then where did the Monkey God go?" Shen Lu asked.
Zhu Ziqian closed his eyes, seemingly sensing the Monkey God's location. "I sense him, about a hundred kilometers from us."
Lu Zhi looked at Shen Lu, and after receiving Shen Lu's approval, he decided to go with Zhu Ziqian to find the Monkey God.
Huang Kou said he had been chasing cars all day and didn't want to move.
Lu Zhi was worried that Niu Xiaotong, who had prosopagnosia, might forget them at any moment and run off with someone else.
Shen Lu, experienced in coaxing children, naturally took Niu Xiaotong's hand and asked, "Want to watch Piggy Hero?"
Niu Xiaotong's eyes lit up. "What's Piggy Hero?"
And so, Niu Xiaotong was easily lured away by Shen Lu to watch cartoons.
—
This time, when they went to find the Monkey God, Jiang Yue and Yan Shao did not accompany them. Having been hit with reality multiple times, they could now accept the down-to-earth nature of the Twelve Zodiacs with equanimity.
As for Silver Moon and Little Skeleton, they were taken by Jiang Yue to interact with everyone on campus and were very popular, reluctant to leave.
Following the direction given by Zhu Ziqian, the map navigation eventually pinpointed their location at Hengshan Zoo.
Lu Zhi felt a sense of inevitability.
Each Zodiac sign had a distinct personality, and it was precisely Zhu Ziqian's normalcy that made Lu Zhi feel unaccustomed.
"I almost got taken over by the Shepherd Lord several times," Zhu Ziqian chuckled.
In fact, during their sleep, the deities' self-awareness was completely sealed off. They attached themselves to the bodies of other livestock and spirits. When that body died, they would randomly search for the next.
Before Lu Zhi arrived, they had only been awake for less than a month.
Lu Zhi: "I see."
The Horse God, the Rat God, and the Snake God had all said, "The time is not yet. When the time comes, they will naturally awaken."
Does this mean that the time has already come?
There was a sense of impending unrest, but what could it be?
Suddenly, Shen Qi held Lu Zhi's hand, his warm touch smoothing Lu Zhi's inner unease. His silver-gray eyes, as calm and collected as ever, said, "I will be with you."
Lu Zhi softly hummed and lowered his gaze in thought.
The vehicle soon reached its destination.
Hengshan Zoo.
As it was a Sunday, the zoo was crowded with people, mostly parents accompanying their children.
Lu Zhi, Shen Qi, and Zhu Ziqian buying tickets together made them particularly noticeable, especially with their striking appearances and refined demeanor.
"That's right, it's here," Zhu Ziqian twitched his nose. "It's just ahead."
Hengshan Zoo was the largest and most luxurious wildlife park in the vicinity. In every animal viewing area, large crowds were gathered.
"Monkey Mountain is open, let's go quickly. We won't be able to find a spot later."
"I heard from the internet that once you come here, you'll be hooked. Today's performance is 'The Monkey's Return, Part Three'. If we miss it, I don't know if there will be another chance to see it."
Lu Zhi: ...
What the hell?
The Monkey's Return, Part Three?
Zhu Ziqian: "It must be Hou San. He woke up earlier than all of us, and he's always liked shadow puppetry since way back."
Lu Zhi's curiosity was piqued, and he immediately pulled Shen Qi's hand and hurried towards Monkey Mountain.
Monkey Mountain was vast, occupying a quarter of Hengshan Zoo's wild forest.
The ticket booth had a long queue. Lu Zhi heard the ticket seller shouting through a loudspeaker, "The Temptation of Return, ah, no, 'The Monkey's Return, Part Three' is about to start. Those who want tickets, please queue up properly and don't push."
Lu Zhi: ...
I already have a pretty good idea of what this is.