Some time later, Shuxue and Zhujiao made their way out of the black market.

“You’ve got all the jade slips in your forehead, right?” Shuxue asked Zhujiao, fidgeting excitedly.

“Yes, yes, you already asked me 10 times.” Zhujiao looked quite annoyed. “Who do you think I am? I’m Zhujiao!”

Shuxue pulled out a jade slip, placing it on his forehead. “I’m just so giddy right now. Who would’ve thought we could get jade slips peacefully? It’s ridiculous!”

Two paws grabbed their shoulders, hoisting them up into the air.

“What the fuck do you motherfuckers think you’re doing?” The Sphinx growled, back in his winged lion form. “I’m trying to host an unsecluded meditation here! All my life, I’ve wanted to host unsecluded meditations! Are you actually going to ruin my lifelong dreams over a few jade slips?”

Shuxue snorted. “What? I live to achieve mathematical enlightenment! Are you actually going to impede me, Shuxue, over some unsecluded meditation?”

Sparks flew between their eyes.

“Shuxue, I have always held myself back.” The Sphinx’s eyes glittered. “But I am an early late Calculus stage mathematical Spirit! As a mathematical lifeform, I have my own mathematical domain, as you should know. You had best be careful when you speak with me!”

Zhujiao looked confused. “Stop fighting! I’m Zhujiao, and we’re friends! Friends can’t fight! If they have a problem, they need to not talk about it!”

Shuxue stepped back, raising both hands. “Yes, we are brothe, err, comrades-in-arms. A Sector must never be internally divided. United we stand, divided we fall!”

The Sphinx smiled smugly. “Yes, you’re absolutely right.”

“How about this.” Shuxue continued. “Just give me some face.”

The Sphinx’s smile instantly disappeared. “No, you give me some face.”

“No, you.”

“No, you!”

“Stoppppp!” Zhujiao yelled. “I have the solution!”

Shuxue and the Sphinx’s gazes snapped onto him. In unison, they spoke. “What?”

Zhujiao lifted up a finger. “Why doesn’t Shuxue just use the jade slips before giving them back to the people at the unsecluded meditation?”

Shuxue’s eyes bugged. “Didn’t we collect 50? Am I supposed to stay in this shithole for all that time? I want to go back home already!”

The Sphinx snorted. “Just gain enlightenment from them while I’m hosting the unsecluded meditation! When they come to, they’ll just think the cracks in the jade slips you made from using it will be from them fucking around.”

Shuxue’s eyebrows began to twitch, but he nodded. “Very well, then. It seems there truly is no way to peacefully obtain jade slips after all.”

They began to walk back to the black market, Shuxue madly pressing jade slips to his forehead all the while.

“Friends, this fellow human being is dying of hunger!” An old, bearded beggar rattled a tin at the three of them. “Friend with the ridiculous green hair. Can you save a fellow human being from a horrible death?”

Zhujiao ran a hand through his green hair, sneering at the beggar. “How many people are going to die horrible deaths? If I saved you from a horrible death, I would have to save everyone in the Tesseract from a horrible death! I can’t save everyone. If I saved you, it would be unfair to everyone else who died! I only save members of my Sector!”

The beggar fell silent. Smirking, Zhujiao went on his way. Suddenly, tin rattled again.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“One pearl is all I ask. One pearl?” The beggar smiled at another passerby.

His face red with rage, Zhujiao whirled around. “You dirty rat! You actually want to ask someone for a pearl? How dare you harass this beautiful lady! If she gave you one pearl, wouldn’t she have to give everyone else a pearl? Otherwise, it wouldn’t be fair! She should only give pearls to people in her Sector! I only give pearls to people in my Sector!”

The Sphinx rolled his eyes. “No, you don’t.”

“Shut up!”

The beautiful lady coughed embarrassedly, separating herself from Zhujiao and gave the beggar a pearl.

Zhujiao looked like his head could explode. He lifted his finger up to attack the beggar, but Shuxue instantly slapped him.

“What the hell are you doing, Zhujiao!” Shuxue snarled. “You can’t attack people here, this isn’t the black market! Remember what I said back then in that first mathematical dungeon we went to? If we kill one person, we have to kill them all! Do you really want to kill them all?”

Zhujiao took several breaths before calming down. “Listen up, scum!” He shouted to the beggar. “By asking a beautiful woman for money, you are committing a great crime! Because she gives you money and doesn’t give other people money, she is promoting inequality!”

The Sphinx nodded matter-of-factly. “That’s right, Zhujiao. Inequality is bad!”

“What!” Shuxue’s face grew ugly to behold. “Inequalities show the relations between two different values! They are an important and beautiful mathematical concept! Sphinx, you can’t just blaspheme the laws like that!” Shuxue and the Sphinx began to heatedly argue with each other.

“I can avert my gaze if you have someone else promote inequality!” Zhujiao roared. “After all, if I stamp out one inequality, I would have to stamp them all out! And I can’t do that, so then I would be promoting inequality by only stamping out some inequalities and not others!”

The beggar frowned, as if he couldn’t understand Zhujiao’s simple, but airtight logic.

“I only help beautiful women!” Zhujiao yelled. “You can have other people promoting inequality, but not beautiful women! Otherwise, you’ll feel the wrath of me, Zhujiao! You can only ask help from your Sector members and people that are not beautiful women!”

The beggar scratched his head. “My boy, you seem to like talking about Sectors.”

“I’m Zhujiao!” Zhujiao shouted. “I’m the Grand Ancestor of the Infinity Sector!”

“You only help people in your Sector, right?” The beggar smiled, showing several missing teeth from when he got punched in the face.

“Of course I help people in my Sector! If I didn’t help people, I would be a horrible person!” Zhujiao thumped his chest.

“Then can I join your Sector?” The beggar prodded.

“Of course not!” Zhujiao groaned. “If I let you into my Infinity Sector, wouldn’t I have to let everyone into my Infinity-”

His eyes bugged for a moment, and he began holding his head in his hands.

“Actually, that would be fine! You’re a member of my Sector!”

“Excellent!” The beggar struggled to get up, but he had chopped off his own feet to inspire more pity. “So, can you spare some food?”

“Of course I can!” Zhujiao pulled out a freshly cooked steak sizzling on a platter from his forehead and handed it to the beggar.

The beggar stared at Zhujiao’s forehead in shock, but quickly recovered.

“Can you spare some pearls as well?” He asked excitedly.

“No, fuck off!”