Qi Xia was slightly stunned. He had finally found the pattern to Earth-Sheep’s lies.

“Replenishing fans.”

Strictly speaking, Earth-Sheep wasn’t completely lying either. This was indeed replenishing fans, just that many people couldn’t replenish them.

Just as he himself had said, everyone had the “opportunity” to replenish fans, but not everyone necessarily had the “ability” to replenish fans.

“Hey, referee, what does this mean?” an old man asked.

Earth-Sheep reached out and patted the small blackboard. “It means exactly what it says.”

Qi Xia saw many people showing troubled expressions.

This was hardly surprising. After all, this was the first day of the entire cycle. Those who could produce five “Dao” to pay the entrance fee could already be considered excellent. Naturally, it would be somewhat difficult for them to produce another three “Dao” to purchase fans.

This was clearly a guaranteed profitable deal—fans costing three “Dao” could be exchanged for five “Dao”—yet everyone could only watch the opportunity slip away before their eyes, completely powerless to participate.

This feeling was just like life. Whenever you wanted to use money to make money, you precisely had no money.

But Earth-Sheep’s reason for doing this left Qi Xia somewhat puzzled.

Even if he didn’t care about “Dao” and only cared about human lives, how could selling fans cause people to lose their lives?

A young man carrying a handbag slowly walked up and directly threw the bag onto the table.

The remaining people with handbags also came forward one after another, all revealing their handbags.

They opened their bags. Each person’s bag contained twenty to thirty “Dao.”

Qi Xia now understood what Qin Dingdong meant by “speculation.” This was a very simple and brutal investment game. As long as you had enough capital, you could earn sufficient “Dao.”

The corner of Qi Xia’s mouth curved up. He finally understood how people would lose their lives in this game.

“Very good.” Earth-Sheep looked at the briefcases and nodded. “Please select at will.”

Select?

Everyone paused. The fans being replenished this time weren’t random—they could actually be selected?

The five men carrying handbags directly stepped forward. Four of them began selecting fans, while the onlooking crowd also started whispering among themselves at this moment.

“No wonder that woman called Qin Dingdong wanted to give me three ‘Dao’ earlier…” Qi Xia touched his pocket. “Are you trying to see what I’m capable of?”

The four people with handbags each took nearly ten fans, but the fifth person just stood there in a daze, not knowing how to choose.

Seeing that more than half the fans on the table were gone, Qi Xia also silently walked forward and handed his three “Dao” to Earth-Sheep.

“Please select.”

For Qi Xia, this was an excellent opportunity. If he could select a folding fan, he should naturally take one other than “Sorrow.” This way he could ensure successful pairing with others.

“Qi Xia, which one are you buying?” Qin Dingdong suddenly appeared beside Qi Xia and asked.

Qi Xia looked at her and replied, “Naturally the one I’m missing.”

He opened a paper fan to look at it. It was “Joy.”

With this “Joy,” Qi Xia’s chances of getting out would skyrocket.

But… for Earth-Sheep’s deception game, should he take this “Joy” now?

If he wanted to win all of the referee’s “Dao,” naturally there was no need to rush out.

After thinking for a moment, Qi Xia put down “Joy” and picked up another fan. It was “Sorrow.”

“I’ll take this one.”

He tucked the fan into his pocket, then turned back to give Qin Dingdong an indifferent glance.

“Oh?” Qin Dingdong nodded with a smile. “Adding this ‘Sorrow,’ can you get out with the fans in your hand?”

“You’re too kind. I can barely get out.”

Qin Dingdong shrugged her shoulders and turned to leave.

But Qi Xia looked at the “Sorrow” in his hand for a long while, then walked toward a man beside him.

Although this man had brought a handbag over, at this moment he was looking at the fans on the table hesitantly.

“Brother, what are you hesitating about?” Qi Xia asked.

When the man saw Qi Xia approach, he immediately showed a cautious expression. “What are you asking this for?”

“I want to make a deal with you,” Qi Xia said. “A deal that guarantees you won’t lose.”

“A deal…?” The man’s expression seemed somewhat interested, but his tone remained cautious.

Qi Xia nodded and took a step forward, saying, “Brother, I’m prepared to give you a fan, but you need to help me with a small favor.”

Then he whispered a few words in the man’s ear, which finally relaxed the man’s tense expression.

“That’s all?”

Qi Xia nodded. “Mm, that’s all.”

The man thought for a while, then looked at the fan in Qi Xia’s hand. In the end, he agreed to his proposal.

He paid all his “Dao,” then bought all eight remaining “Sorrow” fans from Earth-Sheep’s table.

With this, Qi Xia’s initial objective had been achieved.

In the next half hour, no one would be able to replenish new “Sorrow” fans. This fan had temporarily become out of print.

No matter how many participants left next, the “Sorrow” in their hands would either be taken away or consumed. The quantity would only decrease, not increase.

In the final moments, about seven or eight more people slowly came forward and took out “Dao” from their pockets to buy folding fans.

Most people only bought one, but one middle-aged woman had surplus in her pocket and bought the last two fans on the table.

Now the plan had only one final step remaining.

Qi Xia turned his head to look at the man who had bought all the “Sorrow” fans. For the coming time, he must ensure this man could leave safely.

Right now, there were two most troublesome situations.

First, a “wealth gap” had already appeared here. The scene now had five “rich people” and a group of “poor people.” What was even more terrifying was that the only law enforcer here wouldn’t interfere with violent incidents, so the “rich people” must escape at the first opportunity. The longer they delayed, the more dangerous it became.

Second, the number of “rich people” was odd. Logically speaking, for safety’s sake, the “rich people” would definitely pair up in twos to escape, which would inevitably result in one of the five “rich people” being left alone.

No matter what, Qi Xia had to ensure the “rich person” beside him could escape. If he unfortunately remained here, his own situation would completely collapse.

Sure enough, two “rich people” in the distance had obviously thought out their strategy long ago. They stuck close together and strode quickly toward the “pairing machine” by the wall.

The other two “rich people” appeared not to know each other and were clearly somewhat guarded against each other. At this moment, they hadn’t teamed up at the first opportunity.

Qi Xia was rapidly thinking of countermeasures when he saw that the initial two “rich people” had already pressed the button in front of the machine.

They were going to run.

With this “strong joining forces” model, ordinary “poor people” definitely had no right to get involved, but…

Just as Qi Xia expected, a burly, thick-set man came before the two “rich people” and blocked the “pairing machine” with his bulky body.

This man had just recently snatched a fan from a thin man not long ago.

“What are you doing?” one of the “rich people” asked.

“Brothers, if you’re eating meat, I need to drink some soup too…” The burly man said with a smile. “I’m taking over this ‘pairing machine’ now. If you want to use it, you’ll need to pay.”

The two “rich people” looked at each other, then asked, “How much do you want?”

It seemed their main strategy was to “avoid disaster by spending money.”

“I want half of the fans in your hands,” the burly man answered.