“The benefit is that we now know the ‘Zodiac’s’ motive,” Qi Xia said. “Doesn’t this count as having a hold on the other party’s weakness?”

“Well…” Officer Li shook his head with a troubled expression. “If this contract is all real, then it’s indeed possible.”

“What do you mean?”

Officer Li pointed at clauses five through ten of the contract and said, “The contract states that this contract only has four categories, which means these clauses shouldn’t exist in the contract. Could it be that this contract has been altered?”

“That’s indeed the case.” Qi Xia nodded. “But that’s not strange, is it… You can conjure cigarettes out of thin air, so I can also understand text appearing on the contract out of nowhere.”

“Your understanding is a bit too accommodating.” Officer Li sighed helplessly. “How come I can’t understand it…”

“According to the content on the contract, if the Man-Goat sees more than four clauses, then it proves his mind is not clear,” Qi Xia pondered for a moment before continuing, “But from the looks of it, we can also see more than four clauses, so this has nothing to do with whether one’s mind is clear or not. It’s possible that ‘Heavenly-Dragon’ is using this trick to eliminate the Man-Goat.”

“But the Man-Goat is somewhat suspicious… so he didn’t tear up the contract, but instead kept it on him?” Officer Li asked.

Qi Xia turned around with a slight smile at the corner of his mouth. “I say, Officer Li, your understanding is also quite accommodating.”

“Don’t tease me.” Officer Li shook his head. “I studied proper criminal investigation—those interrogation, inspection, examination, search, and seizure techniques are hard to apply here.”

“In any case, let’s not tell anyone else about this contract for now… until another ‘Resonator’ we can trust appears.” Qi Xia folded the contract and put it in his pocket.

Officer Li nodded, having no choice but to bury this matter in his heart for the time being.

“By the way.” Officer Li took out four “Dao” from his pocket. “Qi Xia, take these.”

“Give them to me?” Qi Xia didn’t reach out to take them, but instead shook his head. “Officer Li, we’re now people of ‘Heaven’s Mouth.’ If they want us to work for them, they need to provide the ‘Dao.’ Keep these four to save your life.”

“Then you keep them to save your life.” Officer Li said, “You’re better at using ‘Dao’ than I am. In your hands they can double in value, but in my hands they’re purely wasted.”

“Hmm…” Qi Xia pondered for a moment, then reached out and took one “Dao.” “How about this—if I take them all, it will definitely cause dissatisfaction among the ‘moral experts’ in the team. Last time I gave you one, this time I’ll take back one. Let’s call it even.”

Officer Li could only sigh helplessly and agree to this plan. The two then turned around and returned to the teaching building.

In this brightly lit teaching building, Qi Xia felt inexplicably at ease.

This was the feeling of living together with “people.”

Rustling sounds still came from the distant road. It seemed the “insects” had already come out.

But they were all subconsciously staying away from this place. It appeared that the more people there were, the safer it was. If those insects wanted to do anything excessive, “Heaven’s Mouth” couldn’t possibly maintain their operations so openly for such a long time.

When they returned to the room, most people had already gone to sleep.

Officer Li and Qi Xia exchanged a glance, then also found places to lie down. Before long, snoring sounds could be heard.

Qi Xia casually checked on Han Yimo’s condition, then turned back to close the classroom door. He also took a plastic lighter from the side and placed it on the door handle.

After finishing all this, he also went to a corner, picked up the can he had heated earlier and ate a few simple bites, then found a chair and sat down.

Since coming to this godforsaken place, this was the first time he could sleep soundly.

Between half-sleep and half-wakefulness, Qi Xia closed his eyes.

After an unknown amount of time, a barely perceptible sound entered his ears. Qi Xia immediately opened his eyes.

The sound of the lighter falling on the cement floor wasn’t even as loud as the insect chirping outside, but Qi Xia rarely let himself enter a state of deep sleep, so he would wake up at the slightest disturbance.

The bonfire had completely gone out, and the entire room was pitch black. It took Qi Xia several seconds to roughly make out his surroundings.

Someone seemed to have opened the door and come in through the darkness.

Qi Xia initially thought it was a teammate who had gone to the bathroom in the middle of the night, but if that were the case, the lighter should have fallen long ago. In other words, this was the first time the door had been opened tonight.

Thinking of this, Qi Xia counted the eight black shadows lying in the darkness, further confirming his deduction.

Apart from himself, there were eight people lying in the room and one person standing.

Who was the standing person?

Qi Xia felt the situation was somewhat ominous. He remained quiet, then felt his pocket, only to discover he had no weapon for self-defense at all.

He saw that black shadow slowly walk to the side of a lying person and lower their head to look at her.

If Qi Xia remembered correctly, the person lying there was Lin Qin.

“Could someone have ulterior motives?”

Qi Xia slowly stood up and shifted his footsteps.

The other party was somewhat careless. They couldn’t have anticipated that someone in the room would actually be sleeping while sitting up all night.

He saw that person reach out to stroke Lin Qin’s hair, then lower their head to smell the fragrance on Lin Qin’s body, before turning to walk toward another person.

Qi Xia slowly stopped his steps, observing the changes quietly.

That person then came to Han Yimo’s side. This time they didn’t move, just stood quietly beside Han Yimo for a while.

Just as Qi Xia was puzzled, that person walked toward another person again. Judging by the direction, it should be Officer Li. Officer Li was snoring loudly, completely unaware of the changes beside him.

After the black shadow froze for a few seconds, they uttered two almost inaudible words: “Strange.”

Then they moved their steps again, as if searching for something in the room.

And Qi Xia had been standing not far behind the other party, moving along with their steps, always avoiding their line of sight.

The black shadow began to examine the situation inside the room, and Qi Xia remained three to five steps behind the other party the entire time.

For Qi Xia, the black shadow had not yet done anything excessive, so even if he subdued the other party, he would have no justification.

What if the other party was from “Heaven’s Mouth,” pretending to come check if everyone was comfortable? What then?

Or what if the other party claimed to have entered the wrong room? What then?

As the saying goes, “catch the thief, catch the loot.” Qi Xia could only cautiously watch the black shadow, ready to suddenly attack at any moment.

After surveying the room once, the black shadow touched their chin in puzzlement, then extended their finger and counted the eight people lying down.

A moment later, they froze in place.

Qi Xia furrowed his brow slightly, sensing that things weren’t looking good.

If the other party was very familiar with everyone in the room, they should now know that one person was missing.

Thinking of this, Qi Xia immediately turned back to close the door.

At the same moment, that black shadow turned and ran.

The two almost simultaneously rushed toward the classroom door. Qi Xia knew that closing the door was already too late, so he reached out to grab the other party, but the other party actually dodged with a turn.

“Able to decide to flee at the first moment—looks like they’re not an idiot either…”

Qi Xia thought for an instant, then immediately shouted loudly, “Stop!”

One loud shout startled the entire teaching building.

If other people woke up, the black shadow before him would have nowhere to hide.

That black shadow didn’t hesitate any longer and ran down the corridor with long strides. Qi Xia was only three to five steps behind the other party.

Just as he was about to reach out and grab the other party, Qi Xia saw that black shadow jump on flat ground.

Before Qi Xia could react to what this meant, he felt his foot suddenly trip, and he immediately flew forward and fell.

The other party had actually set up rope on the ground in advance!

Seeing the other party disappear in a flash at the end of the corridor, Qi Xia felt the situation was dire. He disregarded the pain and, after thinking for a moment, directly turned back and ran to the classroom. At this time, everyone was gradually beginning to wake up.

“Qi Xia, what happened?” Lin Qin asked with some worry.

“Someone broke in!” Qi Xia pulled open the classroom window and directly flipped out into the courtyard.

After hearing this, Qiao Jiajin also furrowed his brow and hurried to follow.