Seeing that everyone had completed this game, Earth-Horse’s expression gradually became complicated.

Seven participants, and she had only managed to kill one person.

This was a defeat she hadn’t experienced in decades.

“If even this game can be broken through… is there still any need for the ‘Land of Finality’ to exist?” Earth-Horse slowly looked down at the ground, and the bamboo tube in her hand was listlessly tossed onto the floor.

“Baa?” Qiao Jiajin slowly stood up, dripping with cold sweat as he said, “Isn’t it normal for us ‘participants’ to break through your games?”

“Yes, it’s extremely abnormal.” Earth-Horse said with furrowed brows. “But at this point, I have nothing more to say. The ‘Dao’ is yours, now go.”

Like the other Zodiacs, she walked over to a corner of the ruins, pulled out a filthy cloth bundle, then deducted the amount for the deceased from inside and threw the remainder to Qiao Jiajin.

Just as Qiao Jiajin was about to catch it, he suddenly discovered that his hands were somewhat unresponsive. Although he had raised them, he couldn’t control his fingers. Before he could say anything, he felt the world spinning around him, and the floor beneath his feet flew up before his eyes.

Fortunately, Qi Xia wasn’t far from him and quickly caught Qiao Jiajin just as he was about to fall.

Qiao Jiajin’s entire body temperature was dropping. Not only were both his hands completely fractured, but he had obviously lost too much blood.

“Hey!” Qi Xia instantly felt a bit of a headache coming on. He quickly covered his forehead and called back, “Qian Wu can heal people, right?! Hurry and help me get him over there!”

“Got it!”

The remaining people didn’t dare delay at all. Luo Shiyi and Wang Ba came to Qiao Jiajin’s side and supported him under his arms, helping him walk quickly out the door. After picking up the “Dao” from the ground, the rest of the group followed them out of the room.

Now only Zhou Liu and Bai Jiu remained by Qi Xia’s side. After Zhou Liu confirmed there was no immediate situation, he lowered his head and whispered a few words briefly, as if confirming Qian Wu’s location.

“Tsk, Qi Xia, let’s go too.” Zhou Liu said. “Luckily Fifth Brother isn’t far from us. His location with Fourth Brother is about ten minutes away from us.”

“Won’t there be a problem?” Bai Jiu asked from the side while rubbing her exposed midriff. “That woman was pretty ruthless.”

“There won’t be. You two go wait outside for me.” Qi Xia said.

The two looked at each other, nodded, and turned to leave.

“Want to chat with me?” Earth-Horse didn’t look at Qi Xia, only kept her head down picking up various fragments from the ground. “What do I have to chat with you about?”

After hearing this, Qi Xia didn’t beat around the bush anymore and asked directly: “Earth-Horse, do you still have any way out?”

“A way out…” Earth-Horse’s hands paused in their collection of fragments. “From the moment I first put on the horse-head mask, there was no longer any way out. This special identity forces me to only move forward, not retreat.”

“But what about this time?” Qi Xia walked over and helped Earth-Horse pick up a piece of iron ball fragment from the ice. “If you continue walking forward on this path, you’ll die.”

This sentence completely shattered Earth-Horse’s psychological defenses, forcing all those problems she had been avoiding and didn’t want to think about to the surface.

“Your game venue has been destroyed.” Qi Xia said. “The ‘participants’ didn’t touch those props, yet they were destroyed. Does this count as your problem or not?”

Earth-Horse’s hands trembled as she continued picking things up. Even she didn’t understand what exactly had happened.

That person had said “don’t cheat,” and all the props around them were destroyed just like that. Was this really reasonable?

In her memory, even “Echoes” couldn’t possibly achieve this level of power.

“What exactly are you people trying to do?” Earth-Horse looked up at Qi Xia. This time her gaze was different from before, carrying a trace of sincerity that was extremely hard to detect.

“We naturally want to get out.” Qi Xia said. “So I’m exploring a new ‘path’.”

“We all want to get out.” Earth-Horse said. “You should know this—whether ‘participants’ or ‘Zodiacs,’ all our efforts are for escaping from here.”

“But no one has ever succeeded.” Qi Xia said. “Your memories go back further than mine, so you should have seen more tragedies than I have. In your memory, who exactly has escaped from here?”

Hearing this, Earth-Horse’s eyes became utterly despondent.

Yes… who had ever escaped?

“If even Wen Qiaoyun couldn’t get out… no one else stands a chance.” Though Earth-Horse’s voice was very small, this sentence still reached Qi Xia’s ears clearly.

“Wen… Qiaoyun?” Qi Xia looked at Earth-Horse’s sorrowful eyes with furrowed brows and asked tentatively, “Who is that?”

Earth-Horse sighed: “It’s our… no, it’s yours. Your former leader.”

“Our… leader?” Qi Xia felt the information contained in this statement exceeded his imagination.

Though the few short words contained very little information, it wasn’t hard to deduce some clues. In Earth-Horse’s memory of over twenty years ago, or even earlier, there was someone named Wen Qiaoyun who was actually his leader?

What an absurd thing!

Even for someone like Chu Tianqiu, an intelligent figure who commanded an entire faction, Qi Xia had never acknowledged him as his leader.

Then this person named Wen Qiaoyun… had her strength completely earned his recognition?

Could there really be someone in the “Land of Finality” whom he would be completely convinced by in every aspect?

“You mean… someone as powerful as Wen Qiaoyun failed?” Qi Xia changed the subject and asked this critically important question again.

But even Earth-Horse had no answer to this question.

“I don’t know.” Earth-Horse replied. “Qiaoyun failed many times… even I don’t know where she is now, whether she’s still failing…”

After hearing Earth-Horse’s answer, Qi Xia slowly began to understand.

If what Earth-Horse said was true, if even someone he himself would recognize as a leader kept failing, then where was his own hope of escape?

“So in this world, aside from Wen Qiaoyun, you’re not prepared to trust anyone else anymore?” Qi Xia asked again.

“This question is truly absurd…” Earth-Horse shook her head. “If I still believed that ‘participants’ could get out, why would I have become like this?”

“But you should know your current situation.” Qi Xia reached out and pointed at the game venue that was already in complete disarray. “The people above you will discover the situation here sooner or later. How will you explain it then?”

“Explain…” Earth-Horse looked into Qi Xia’s eyes and smiled bitterly. “It seems like you’re concerned about me, but I know you hope for my death more than anyone.”

“Yes.” Qi Xia nodded and said with the corners of his mouth raised, “I want you to die, you want me to die, but we both also want to get out… aren’t you prepared to try? While we plot against each other, we search for a way to escape… just thinking about it sounds like a very interesting thing!”

“You…” Earth-Horse instantly furrowed her brows upon hearing this. “Are you insane? Who would knowingly cooperate with someone who wants them dead?”