Dox: "Not even as a friend?"
Angel sized him up without a word.
But Dox understood Angel’s meaning: Who’s your friend?
Angel: "Alright, since the last Zodiac Palace can’t be cheated through, let’s just go through it. Cha Cha already agreed that the final Zodiac Palace questions will be a bit simpler."
After saying this, Angel walked forward.
Soon, Angel and Dox arrived inside the twelfth Zodiac Palace.
Though the exterior was the same as the other Zodiac Palaces, resembling temple-like structures, the interior was vastly different. The interior of the twelfth Zodiac Palace was immensely luxurious.
There were gold decorations, expensive furnishings, and white gauze everywhere, with a steaming hot spring pool not far away.
The air was filled with a relaxing and soothing fragrance.
As they followed this opulent scene, they reached the deepest part of the Zodiac Palace. Upon arrival, they saw someone sitting in front of a Golden Throne, drinking tea... a big fat man.
This big fat man was like a mountain of flesh, extremely ugly, and his supposedly elegant tea-drinking stance performed in an exceedingly greasy manner.
However, Dox’s attention was not on the big fat man’s appearance, but on the hat he was wearing on his head.
Unlike his luxurious attire, he wore a plain white top hat, which looked very out of place and had a very strong presence.
Even though the top hat was nothing special, Dox’s attention inexplicably drifted to it.
"Ah, great Brave, after many adventures and countless challenging checkpoints, you have finally arrived at the Twelfth Zodiac Palace—the Bitter Zodiac Palace. Let me see, who will be the final boss you face today?"
"Huh?! The Earl of Black Tea!!!"
"Tsk tsk, your luck is truly bad, it turned out to be the Earl of Black Tea. The Earl of Black Tea is infamous among the checkpoint bosses for setting the trickiest questions. You should have come tomorrow; I secretly heard from Cha Cha that tomorrow’s boss is the gentle and lovely Cake Sister."
An exaggerated voice rang in his ears, and Dox impatiently scratched his ear and said, "Quit the nonsense, and step aside quickly."
"... The atmosphere group never admits defeat."
"Scram."
The surroundings immediately quieted down.
Dox looked up at the mountain of flesh on the Golden Throne: "Pose your question."
The Earl of Black Tea let out a villainous chuckle, then slowly said, "Although Cha Cha asked me to go easy, I won’t hold back!"
After making the harsh remark, the Earl of Black Tea started the first round of questioning: "Where do I like to sit the most to drink tea?"
Dox turned to Angel, signaling with his eyes: Is it the throne?
Angel shook his head, indicating that he didn’t need to answer right away.
A few seconds later, the Earl of Black Tea said again, "Looks like I have stumped you; I’ll give you three options. First, my hall filled with gold and antiques; second, the open-air hot spring where you can see the starry sky; third, the balcony on the second floor overlooking the garden."
Others trying to pass the checkpoint obviously wouldn’t get options; it’s likely Cha Cha’s way of easing the burden. It’s also Cha Cha’s last effort to prevent them from cheating.
Angel stepped aside and said to Dox, "Let’s see how you do on this one."
Dox didn’t reply, he closed his eyes as if sensing something.
Not long after, he opened his eyes and said, "The answer is the third one."
The Earl of Black Tea looked shocked, and his body quivered: "You, you... how did you know?"
At the right moment, the exaggerated narrator voice twined around everyone’s ears: "Congratulations on answering correctly! The Earl of Black Tea loves to have tea on his castle’s second-floor balcony because from there he can see Miss Green Tea’s bathhouse next door."
Angel, Dox: ...
"Don’t celebrate too soon. I don’t believe you can answer the second question: What is my favorite collectible?"
Dox waited silently, and sure enough, after a while, the Earl of Black Tea offered options again, this time six options. The Earl of Black Tea seemed to be showing off his collection.
Dox again closed his eyes, and after a while, gave the answer: "The Collection of Poems by Xie Dai’er."
The Earl of Black Tea was shocked once more, with a face full of disbelief.
The narrator provided immediate explanation: "Congratulations on answering correctly! The Earl of Black Tea loves the ’Collection of Poems by Xie Dai’er’, not for the poems, but because it contains the Thunder Punishment List of the god Relatos. This formidable artifact was used by the Earl to eliminate many adversaries."
Dox turned to Angel: "Is there really such an artifact?"
Angel: "You’re asking me, who should I ask?"
The Earl of Black Tea began the third question, and after two setbacks, the desire to win was apparent: "What is my favorite animal?"
"Three options, first, the Triangular Rhi—"
Dox listened intently, but before the Earl of Black Tea could finish, Angel said, "It’s a rabbit. You love rabbits."
The Earl of Black Tea immediately burst into laughter: "It’s not a rabbit, there are no rabbits in my options, you got it wrong! Hahaha!"
Dox looked at Angel in confusion with an expression that said, "Why did you jump to answer?" Dox could use his strong spiritual senses to detect the nuances of any question with options; Angel didn’t need to rush to answer.
Angel gestured for Dox to stay calm.
This time, the narrator came late, his exaggerated voice unchanged, but his answer differed from the Earl of Black Tea’s: "Congratulations, you got it right! The Earl of Black Tea’s favorite animal is indeed a rabbit! You’ve now successfully cleared the checkpoint. Do you choose to continue answering the remaining five questions for extra rewards, or take the guaranteed reward and leave?"
Dox was dumbfounded. Didn’t the Earl of Black Tea say the answer was wrong? How could the narrator say it was correct?
The Earl of Black Tea began to fuss: "What rabbit, rabbit is wrong. There’s no rabbit in the choices! Besides, I don’t like rabbits; I hate rabbits the most!"
As the Earl of Black Tea finished speaking, the temperature of the surrounding air suddenly froze, starting to drop rapidly.
And the previously exaggerated narrator’s voice turned cold and ghostly.
"Earl of Black Tea... are you sure rabbits are what you hate the most?"
Feeling the bone-chilling cold and the narrator’s voice like a death knell, the Earl of Black Tea seemed to understand something, swallowed some saliva, and awkwardly chuckled: "I, I was mistaken. Yes, yes, yes, I like rabbits the most, I love rabbits! Congratulations to the challengers for answering correctly and passing the Bitter Zodiac Palace, here is your reward."
The Earl of Black Tea tossed something towards Dox and fled as if being chased.
Once the place was empty, Dox still didn’t understand what happened.
"What exactly happened here?"
"Let’s keep going, Cha Cha is waiting for us at the innermost part. You’ll see soon enough," Angel said, "By the way, don’t forget to take the Bitter Stone."
Dox looked down at the stone the Earl of Black Tea had thrown: "Is this the Bitter Stone? What’s it for?"
"You’ll find out soon enough, let’s move."
After leaving the last Zodiac Palace, they walked a few more steps along the path until they reached the end, but saw no building.
While Dox was puzzled, Angel walked to the side, pushed aside the weeds on the ground, revealing a hole like the size of a well.
"What’s this?" Dox asked in confusion.
"The Rabbit Hole."
With that, Angel jumped right in. Dox thought for a moment, then followed.
The Rabbit Hole was like a slide, with several winding turns, Angel and Dox finally reached the bottom, the endpoint of this journey.
A huge underground cave.
Dox stopped trying to figure out how Angel managed to make such a cramped secret chamber so vast. It’s just as expected, the members of the Research and Development Institute are terrifying like this.
At this moment, the cave had no trace of any human activity; the only moving creature was a... rabbit.
"This rabbit is Cha Cha," Angel introduced.
Dox pondered for a while: "I already figured that out."
No wonder the narrator and the Earl of Black Tea’s answers differed earlier, the root of the issue is here. With the Great Demon King Cha Cha overseeing the entire Zodiac Palace, how dare the Earl of Black Tea say he doesn’t like rabbits?