Lu Zhi emerged, followed by a spirited little pink horse. The light steps of its white hooves on the ground clearly showed the little pink horse's joyful mood.
Captain Wang Cao Tian, shocked, looked at Lu Zhi as he leisurely introduced, "This is the little horse I'm going to raise from now on. I've named her Pink Barbie Q."
Wang Cao Tian was dumbfounded, stammering, "You, you, you, what did you say its name was? Pink Barbie Q?"
Lu Zhi stroked the little pink horse's head, smiling like a doting father introducing his beloved daughter, "Isn't this name nice, spirited, and fashionable? Right, Pink Barbie Q?"
Pink Barbie Q: ...
The little pink horse angrily nudged Lu Zhi's side with its head, nearly toppling him over.
"A pink horse, this is the first time I've seen one. Are there pink horses?" Wang Cao Tian snapped back to reality and recalled the scene of him picking out horses with confusion. He was certain he couldn't have forgotten such a 'uniquely styled' horse.
Lu Zhi guessed the reason and asked, "Your horse is black, what color was Junior Sister Jiang's?"
Wang Cao Tian replied, "White."
Lu Zhi asked again, "When you came in, did you encounter anyone who asked you questions?"
Wang Cao Tian nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, yes. The questions were all very simple. I think these divine horses aren't very intelligent... Ah—Holy hell???"
Pink Barbie Q, who had been standing obediently, suddenly reared up and kicked Wang Cao Tian in the backside.
Wang Cao Tian, caught off guard, landed face first on the ground.
Lu Zhi quickly helped him up, asking with concern, "Senior Wang, are you alright?"
Wang Cao Tian spat out the grass from his mouth, clutched his backside, and gasped as he stood up, "Holy crap, what happened? Why did you attack me out of nowhere?"
Pink Barbie Q stared angrily at Wang Cao Tian with its big, bright eyes, stamping its front hooves on the ground as if it wanted to kick him again.
Wang Cao Tian, frightened, quickly hid behind Lu Zhi, "I didn't provoke you, why are you hitting people?"
Lu Zhi thought, how could it not be angry when you call its intelligence low right in front of a divine being.
"Ahem... alright, he was in the wrong, but you kicked him once, so it's even," Lu Zhi said, petting the horse's head to soothe it.
Barbie Q bared its teeth at Wang Cao Tian and whinnied mockingly twice.
Wang Cao Tian: ...Why is a horse looking down on me?
Lu Zhi said, "Senior Wang, among the questions you answered, were there any about the horse's color?"
Wang Cao Tian nodded, "Yes, I answered my favorite color was black... Wait, are you saying that whatever color you like is the color of the horse you'll get?"
"No wonder when I went to pick out horses, they were all black..." After saying that, Wang Cao Tian gave Lu Zhi a peculiar look, then glanced at the little pink horse and chuckled, "Junior Lu's taste is really girlish."
Lu Zhi: ...Heh, if you knew the truth, you'd be scared to death, this is a divine horse.
After choosing their horses, Wang Cao Tian took Lu Zhi to their yurt.
"The horses are chosen, what should we do next?" Lu Zhi had not received any instructions.
"Raise the horses, of course. Every morning you have to take the little horse for a morning run, at noon take the little horse to the river to bathe, and in the evening feed the little horse. After seven days, the little horse will grow into an adult," Wang Cao Tian said, glancing at the sky, "Junior Sister Jiang should be back soon."
Not long after he finished speaking, Jiang Yue walked over leading a white little horse. She looked refreshed, her clothes clean and neat.
"Oh? Junior Lu, you're here too?" Jiang Yue tied up the little horse and curiously circled the pink little horse behind Lu Zhi, teasing, "I didn't expect Junior Lu's hobbies to be so fresh and refined."
Lu Zhi was surprised, "Junior Sister Jiang, you already guessed?"
Jiang Yue put her hands on her hips, her chest puffed out proudly, "It was just a guess at first, but I confirmed it when I saw you. The color of the horse is decided in the first Q&A. As for your pink one... it's the first time I've seen it."
Lu Zhi didn't know how to explain that he just wanted to take a shortcut, but the answer apparently pleased the divine being so much that it personally came to play with them.
"Junior Sister Jiang, may I introduce Pink Barbie Q," Lu Zhi said with a gentle, harmless smile.
Jiang Yue: "???"
Jiang Yue burst out laughing, "Hahahaha, Pink Barbie Q for God's sake, hahahaha..." kuAiδugg
Pink Barbie Q suddenly butted towards Jiang Yue's stomach, who was laughing uncontrollably.
"Oh my—" Although Jiang Yue reacted quickly, she was still knocked to the ground, her expression one of utter shock.
"Hahahaha..." Wang Cao Tian chuckled gloatingly from the side.
Lu Zhi's voice deepened, his expression suddenly imbued with a hint of solemnity, "You mustn't be so rude. If you do that again, I'll get really angry."
Perhaps startled by Lu Zhi's scolding, Barbie Q stared at him with its big black eyes, tilting its head and acting cute.
"Alright, alright, I'm fine," Jiang Yue said, standing up and patting the dust off her pants. "Why isn't Senior Shen with you?"
Lu Zhi replied, "He has other things to attend to, so I came in by myself."
Jiang Yue chuckled, "Senior Shen sticks to you like glue, he'd let you come in alone?"
Lu Zhi's gaze drifted. He couldn't exactly say that the divine being here didn't let him in, could he?
Jiang Yue added, "But if Senior Shen is confident letting you come in alone, it means the divine tower should be safe inside."
Wang Cao Tian scratched his head, "Anyway, I think we're safe now. I just don't know how Xia Zhi and the others are doing."
"Can't you contact them?" Lu Zhi opened his optical computer, but it was indeed useless. This space was likely isolated.
"Let's complete the mission and pass the trial first. Maybe then we'll see them?" Lu Zhi consoled.
Wang Cao Tian nodded, "That's all we can do."
Jiang Yue suddenly asked, "Junior Lu, are the things you and Senior Shen said on the ship true?"
Lu Zhi looked confused, "What things?"
Jiang Yue's gaze was serious as she fixedly looked at Lu Zhi's expression, "The twelve zodiac animals were created by you."
Pink Barbie Q's eyes widened abruptly.
Lu Zhi: ...
What a question. He didn't know himself.
Lu Zhi said with a wry smile, "Do you think it's possible? That kind of talk is obviously fake, isn't it? If I could create divine beings, wouldn't that make me the Creator?"
Wang Cao Tian looked bewildered, "What are you two talking about? What twelve zodiac animals, what Creator?"
Jiang Yue confirmed there was no deception on Lu Zhi's face. While relieved, she also felt a bit disappointed, "Oh, I was overthinking it. It's nothing, I was just asking."
Lu Zhi naturally changed the subject, "It seems to be getting dark. Where will I sleep tonight?"
"Of course, you'll sleep with us. Sleep here, there are three beds inside," Wang Cao Tian said excitedly, lifting the yurt's door curtain, and indeed saw three beds.
"Let's rest quickly. When we open our eyes again, it will be the next day. Time flows very fast here, seven days will pass in the blink of an eye," Wang Cao Tian said, lying down on a bed.
Jiang Yue also nimbly got into bed.
Lu Zhi stopped as he walked into the yurt and looked back at the little pink horse that was closely following him, asking, "Where is she?"
"In the horse stable next door," Wang Cao Tian said, yawning, indicating the half-open yurt where he had tied his black horse.
However, before Lu Zhi could react, Barbie Q had already entered, knelt beside an empty bed, and fixed her big black eyes on him.
Jiang Yue and Wang Cao Tian were both stunned.
Wang Cao Tian remarked curiously, "How come I feel this little horse is smarter and more obedient than me and Junior Sister Jiang?"
Lu Zhi first sought their opinions, "Can she stay and sleep in here?"
Jiang Yue shrugged, "I don't mind, whatever you want."
Wang Cao Tian chuckled, "I can tell you really like horses."
Lu Zhi smiled. Perhaps it was because he couldn't treat the little pink horse as a real horse, but he would unconsciously picture a little girl.
As Lu Zhi lay down on the bed, he found that the sky outside immediately darkened. There was no light inside the yurt, only the breathing of Wang Cao Tian and Jiang Yue, and the occasional sound of the little pink horse bumping against the bed frame.
Lu Zhi closed his eyes. Whether it was the sleep-inducing mechanism of the divine tower or not, he quickly fell into a deep sleep.
After the three of them had completely fallen asleep, Barbie Q opened her eyes, her eyes remarkably bright in the darkness.
A little girl's voice asked cautiously, yet with hope, "Is it you?"