Lin Qin was clearly stunned after hearing this.

“What do you mean ‘why am I still alive’?” She gradually took a step back, feeling the Qi Xia before her was somewhat dangerous. “What… what are you going to do?”

After seeing Lin Qin’s reaction, Qi Xia seemed to understand something, so he slowly walked over to Qiao Jiajin and Tiantian’s side.

“Qi Xia… do you know something?” Lin Qin asked with a trembling voice. “What exactly happened?”

Qi Xia crouched down, staring at these two “comrades” he had spent barely two days with, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

Although his mood was depressed, whenever he thought of the moments spent with the two of them, it felt as if a worm in his mind wanted to break out of his body, making his head split with pain.

Lin Qin looked at Qi Xia somewhat fearfully: “Say something… you…”

“That woman called Xiao Xiao killed them,” Qi Xia said in a low voice. “I’m going to make her pay for this blood debt with blood.”

“Xiao Xiao…?” Lin Qin blinked in disbelief. “Is that the girl we met earlier…?”

Qi Xia gently touched Tiantian’s forehead, where there was a small hole.

This was the mark left after being pierced by a nail.

Tiantian had once said she could die here.

But now, she didn’t even know why she had died.

“But I don’t understand why…” Lin Qin said. “Why would she kill Qiao Jiajin and Tiantian?”

Qi Xia paused slightly and said: “I also want to know why she did this. More importantly, I want to know… why didn’t she kill you?”

“No wonder you asked me like that…” Lin Qin seemed to understand Qi Xia’s meaning. “But I also don’t know why I survived. Even if you suspect me, I have no way to prove my innocence.”

“When I first woke up, I did suspect you, but now I no longer have any doubts. After all, you seemed afraid that I would kill you just now. That’s not the expression an accomplice would show.” Qi Xia looked at Qiao Jiajin and Tiantian reluctantly once more, then slowly stood up. “You thought I killed them just now, didn’t you?”

“I…” Lin Qin lowered her head regretfully. “Indeed, after all, only the two of us are alive. The killer could only be…”

Qi Xia didn’t mind and continued: “Xiao Xiao told me to give up searching for ‘Dao,’ but I don’t intend to listen to her.”

Lin Qin frowned and carefully considered this sentence, then couldn’t help but question: “She told you to give up searching for ‘Dao’? Why?”

“I don’t know.” Qi Xia shook his head. “They seem to be an organization. If I’m not mistaken, they’re preventing others from collecting ‘Dao.'”

“That’s too strange…” Lin Qin said while reaching for her waist. “Ah! Where’s my ‘Dao’?”

After speaking, she looked at Qi Xia’s waist, then looked down at Qiao Jiajin and Tiantian’s waists.

Everyone’s “Dao” were gone.

“This is exactly what I wanted to tell you.” Qi Xia murmured. “That woman isn’t collecting ‘Dao’—she’s destroying them.”

With that, Qi Xia pointed to the extinguished furnace not far away and said to Lin Qin: “I saw with my own eyes as she burned our ‘Dao.'”

“But that’s not right…” Lin Qin seemed unable to comprehend. “Didn’t you say that the ‘Referee’ wouldn’t allow something like ‘murder to steal Dao’ to happen?”

Qi Xia thought for a while with his head lowered, then answered: “That woman called Xiao Xiao is very clever… or rather, she thoroughly understands the ‘rules’ here. First, as I said, she didn’t ‘steal the Dao’—she only destroyed them. Second, when she removed or destroyed the ‘Dao,’ Qiao Jiajin and Tiantian were still alive. From any angle, she didn’t violate the ‘rules.'”

“In other words, ‘killing’ is allowed, but ‘stealing Dao’ is not…” Lin Qin crouched down with an extremely sorrowful expression. She sat down on the ground and asked Qi Xia, “Now we don’t have a single ‘Dao’ left… Even if we want to participate in games, we can’t… right?”

Qi Xia looked at Lin Qin and said indifferently: “Do you care so much about whether you can participate in games? I didn’t sense before that you wanted to leave this place.”

Lin Qin nodded: “Yes, originally I didn’t have the slightest bit of interest in this place, but now… there’s something I absolutely must go back to confirm.”

“Go back to confirm?”

“That’s right.” Lin Qin also looked at Qi Xia with a serious expression. “I need to return to the real world to confirm something.”

Qi Xia stared into Lin Qin’s eyes for three seconds, as if judging whether she was lying.

After a while, he slowly stood up and said: “Lin Qin, no matter what, let’s separate.”

“Separate?”

“Yes, separate.” Qi Xia nodded. “That woman came after me. If you continue following me, you’ll be in great danger.”

Lin Qin also stood up and answered: “I can’t leave. I must act together with you. Otherwise, even if I return to reality, I won’t be able to confirm that matter.”

After hearing this, Qi Xia paused slightly and asked: “This ‘matter’ you’re talking about—is it related to me?”

“Yes.”

“Your interest in me is also because of ‘that matter’?” Qi Xia asked.

“Yes.”

“What exactly is it?” Qi Xia rarely encountered situations he couldn’t figure out completely. This girl called Lin Qin before him made him far too curious.

“I’m sorry, I really can’t say.” Lin Qin shook her head. “You just need to remember that we’re not enemies.”

Qi Xia remained silent for a moment, then earnestly tried to persuade her: “If you stay with me, you might die.”

“Mm…” Lin Qin seemed somewhat hesitant, but still answered: “I’m prepared to take a gamble. Maybe I won’t die and will even get out of here.”

Seeing Lin Qin so persistent, Qi Xia no longer tried to dissuade her. He slowly walked to the doorway and looked at the sky that had already darkened.

“In that case, let’s gamble together.” Qi Xia said. “We don’t have no ‘Dao’ at all—there’s still one stored with an acquaintance.”

“You mean…” Lin Qin also thought of something. “Will Officer Li give you the ‘Dao’?”

“He will.” Qi Xia paused and added: “But his three teammates won’t.”

“Then what do we do?”

Qi Xia shifted his gaze and looked at Qiao Jiajin on the ground, saying through gritted teeth: “I’ll beg them. I must obtain that ‘Dao’ no matter what. As long as I keep participating in games, that woman called Xiao Xiao will definitely appear again. I can’t let Qiao Jiajin and Tiantian die in confusion.”

With that, he picked up the remaining bear meat along with the pot, then pushed the door open and walked out. Lin Qin followed closely behind.

At this time, the sky had become somewhat dim. The city seemed to have quite a few insect sounds, with the rustling of crickets audible everywhere.

“We need to hurry.” Qi Xia said. “I hope they’ll appreciate this bear meat.”

Lin Qin looked up at Qi Xia once more, feeling empty inside.

This man before her seemed to have no emotions. He appeared indifferent to everyone’s death.