Could there be such a coincidence?

In a certain cycle, none of the nine of them happened to hear the “Echo,” so they all lost their memories simultaneously.

Moreover, other “Participants” who had once known the nine of them also happened not to “Echo,” so no matter how they moved about here, it was difficult to encounter “acquaintances.”

The possibility of this situation occurring certainly existed, only the probability was extremely low.

“The Infinite Monkey Theorem.” Qi Xia murmured to himself.

If infinite monkeys spent infinite time randomly typing letters on keyboards, then one of them would certainly, one day, consecutively and accurately type out all of Shakespeare’s works.

Although the probability was infinitely low, it was something that could happen.

This was Qi Xia’s current predicament.

If they cycled enough times, then at some moment, the situation of “total amnesia” would certainly occur with an extremely small probability.

This would make them think they had just arrived here.

But if that were the case… wouldn’t it be too terrifying?

Just as “Baihu” had said, they were trapped here.

Living then dying, dying then living.

No one could get out.

“Chu Tianqiu, what exactly is the method to escape?” Qi Xia asked somewhat desperately. “Do three thousand six hundred ‘Dao’ have any meaning at all?”

“Qi Xia, I’m glad our conversation has entered the main topic. Everything I’m about to discuss with you next is confidential.” Chu Tianqiu slowly stood up, his expression equally despairing. “Three thousand six hundred ‘Dao,’ no matter how you think about it, is an impossibly distant goal. Even if we can obtain ‘Dao’ cycle after cycle, this world ultimately has the ‘Extreme Path,’ and they’ll try every means to obstruct us. So we can only collect ‘Dao’ on the surface, but actually carry out our own plan.”

“Yes.” Yun Yao also chimed in. “We have very many enemies.”

“Then what is your plan?” Qi Xia asked again. “The people of ‘Heaven’s Mouth’ keep saying they want to ‘break through all the games’—what exactly does that mean?”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed…” Chu Tianqiu said in a low voice. “We can cycle, but the ‘Zodiacs’ in the city cannot.”

The corpse of the Man-Mouse surfaced in Qi Xia’s mind.

“What does that represent?”

Chu Tianqiu pushed up his glasses and said seriously, “It represents that as long as we spend enough time, we can definitely gamble all the ‘Zodiacs’ to death.”

“What?” Qi Xia was startled. “I see… no wonder it’s ‘breaking through’ all the games, not ‘clearing’ all the games.”

“That’s right.” Chu Tianqiu nodded. “If all the ‘Zodiacs’ in this city die, ‘games’ and ‘Dao’ lose their meaning. The people at the very top will naturally have to come out to meet us. That’s when our chance to get out will come.”

“In other words… the ultimate goal of ‘Heaven’s Mouth’ is to face the ‘Organizers’ directly.” Qi Xia felt this method was extremely absurd, but it might just be feasible.

“For this goal, we may die many times.” Chu Tianqiu said. “But just like the ‘Infinite Monkey Theorem’ you mentioned just now… as long as we persist, we’ll achieve this goal one day.”

Qi Xia nodded slightly. Now his view of “Heaven’s Mouth” had improved somewhat.

“But I still have one question.” Qi Xia said. “I’ve participated in two ‘Earth’ level games and couldn’t find any opportunity to ‘gamble for life.’ In ‘Earth’ level games we’re going to die anyway—how can we drag the ‘Zodiacs’ down with us?”

Chu Tianqiu and Yun Yao both fell silent simultaneously.

They seemed to know the answer, but judging by their expressions, it was difficult to speak of.

“We’ve only conducted one life-gambling operation with ‘Earth’ level, and it was temporarily shelved.” Chu Tianqiu shook his head. “Those are almost certainly fatal games, so before we find the correct method, we’re temporarily not considering gambling for life with ‘Earth level.'”

“Certainly fatal?” Based on Qi Xia’s understanding of this place, he didn’t quite believe there were “certainly fatal” games.

“Qi Xia, each animal among the ‘Human level Zodiacs’ has nine to twelve individuals, while each animal among the ‘Earth level Zodiacs’ has two to three individuals. Just gambling for life with ‘Human level’ Zodiacs has already caused us heavy casualties.” Chu Tianqiu’s tone began to grow heavy. “We advanced from the city center all the way here, sweeping through the ‘Zodiacs’ along the way, but we’ve only eliminated half of the ‘Human level.’ Three months ago, we began to establish roots in this school, preparing to use this place as a base and set out toward the vicinity again.”

After hearing this, Qi Xia seemed to understand something.

He had been to the city center, where indeed it was rare to see “Zodiacs”—most were natives.

So this was “Heaven’s Mouth’s” handiwork?

Seeing that Qi Xia didn’t quite believe him, Chu Tianqiu explained, “We once had a teammate who gambled for life with the ‘Earth-Horse’…”

“And then?” Qi Xia asked.

“And then…” Chu Tianqiu’s expression was extremely sorrowful. “She lost, and never appeared again.”

“Never… came back?” Qi Xia was startled. “Could it be that she…”

“She didn’t revive.” Chu Tianqiu said. “That one ‘game’ she lost made her disappear forever.”

Qi Xia slowly widened his eyes. “You’re saying… she was truly ‘eliminated’?”

“That’s right. She came from the same room as me.” Chu Tianqiu murmured. “Ever since she failed at gambling for life with ‘Earth’ level, no matter how many times we cycle, that seat is always empty.”

Hearing these words, Qi Xia took a deep breath.

It seemed the decision to join “Heaven’s Mouth” was extremely correct. Now Qi Xia not only understood this damned place better, but also had a clearer direction for action.

“Can you tell me about that life-gambling attempt?” Qi Xia asked.

“I can.” Chu Tianqiu nodded and began to slowly tell this story.

That brave girl was called Xu Liunian.

She came from the same room as Chu Tianqiu, Yun Yao, Jin Yuanxun, and others.

Their “interview game” was: Man-Pig, Man-Horse, Man-Ox.

The overall difficulty wasn’t very high, yet it wasn’t until the third cycle that everyone could guarantee at most eight survivors.

At that time, the “Echoers” Chu Tianqiu, Yun Yao, and Xu Liunian had already begun to emerge, leading everyone to break through difficulties.

Xu Liunian was an ordinary girl, yet she had an extraordinary dream.

She wanted to become an actress.

For this dream, she went to Hengdian at sixteen and stayed there for a long time.

Because Xu Liunian’s appearance was too plain, at first she could only play corpses.

The pay was forty yuan a day. Each day she usually had to lie down for eight hours. If the production crew filmed overtime, there would be a five yuan subsidy for each hour.

Hengdian in those years wasn’t like these recent years—even playing a corpse wasn’t a cushy job you could encounter every day.

Xu Liunian quickly became distressed over the problem of basic necessities.

She could only earn a few hundred yuan each month. Even eating instant noodles every day, she might not be able to save enough for rent.

Later she prepared to change her acting path. She learned some martial arts online herself, and in a moment of impulse ran to audition for stunt work.

Female stunt performers were few in number. Whether serving as a double or as an extra, they had decent compensation.

Xu Liunian also successfully earned a small sum of money.

She had thought she could be like many predecessors in the performance industry, slowly working her way up from a bit player to a big name, but fate didn’t comply with her wishes.

During one stunt performance, she was severely injured when a scaffolding pole struck her waist.

This experience nearly injured her spine and left her paralyzed.

From then on, Xu Liunian’s body didn’t allow her to stand for long periods, so her “actress” dream was shattered.

But she couldn’t bear to leave Hengdian, so at age twenty-four, she used the money she had saved to lease a taxi in Hengdian and became a taxi driver.