The square-faced man looked around, then hurriedly reached out to press the button.

His photo appeared on the screen, displaying “Waiting for teammate…”

Qi Xia keenly discovered this person had already lost one pairing opportunity.

If he guessed correctly, he had also deceived others, and due to fear of retaliation, he was eager to leave.

But exactly how many fans had he swindled?

“Brother, it’s your turn!” the square-faced man said.

“Alright.” Qi Xia nodded and also pressed the button.

Qi Xia’s photo appeared on the “Pairing Machine” for the first time. All three of his chances remained.

The man, seeing this, felt relieved. He reached out to take out two fans, opened them to show Qi Xia—they were indeed “Sorrow” and “Happiness.” After displaying them, he inserted them into the machine.

Twenty-five “Sorrows” remained on the “market.”

Qi Xia nodded, inserted the “Joy” in his hand, then took out another fan from his pocket and inserted it as well.

The square-faced man breathed a sigh of relief and thanked Qi Xia repeatedly.

“Don’t thank me yet, it’s too early to thank me now.” Qi Xia said in a low voice.

“Identifying…”

After a moment, the text on the screen suddenly changed.

“Identification Failed.”

Then the screen went black.

The square-faced man was stunned.

“What’s going on?!” Qi Xia was the first to shout, then immediately reached out to pat the machine. “What does ‘Identification Failed’ mean?! What’s happening?!”

The square-faced man was dazed for a while, then subconsciously followed Qi Xia in patting the machine.

“Is the machine broken…?” He paused, then turned to Qi Xia and said, “Brother… what you just put in… are you sure it was ‘Joy’ and ‘Anger’?”

A trace of displeasure flashed across Qi Xia’s face.

“What do you mean?” Qi Xia said with anguished sincerity. “I also lost two fans! Who would joke around with their own fans?!”

The square-faced man knew what Qi Xia said wasn’t false. Even if he wanted to deceive someone, he couldn’t possibly deceive after inserting the fans.

Could the machine really be broken?

“How about…” Qi Xia paused, suggesting, “We try a different machine?”

The square-faced man now only had one pairing chance left. He appeared somewhat at a loss.

“Brother… although I don’t know if the machine is broken…” the square-faced man said with lingering fear, “but next time you should look carefully at the fan faces before putting them in… I, I really can’t afford to lose anymore…”

“I know… I know…” Qi Xia nodded repeatedly. “This time I’ll open the fans, and we’ll both confirm them before putting them in.”

“Alright then…”

The square-faced man and Qi Xia changed to another machine together. The square-faced man tremblingly pressed the button, consuming his last chance as well.

“Brother… take out the fans…”

Qi Xia nodded, then felt his pocket.

“Oh no!” Qi Xia suddenly looked shocked. “I don’t have any extra ‘Joy’!”

“Ah?!”

“I remember now, I only had one ‘Joy’…” Qi Xia said with an apologetic expression. “The one you gave me just now was also put in!”

“You!” The square-faced man obviously hadn’t expected this situation, but thinking carefully, Qi Xia had asked him for “Joy” from the very beginning of the game, which was enough to prove he didn’t have extra fans.

After pondering for a long time, the square-faced man still took out a “Joy” and handed it to Qi Xia: “Use mine! But you must put in an ‘Anger’! Otherwise I’ll have a huge loss!”

Qi Xia nodded and took the “Joy.”

“No problem.” Qi Xia said. “Let’s put the fans in!”

“Mm…” The man nodded and inserted “Sorrow” and “Happiness.”

But the next second he felt something wasn’t right. He had been too hasty—Qi Xia hadn’t even pressed the button yet.

He saw Qi Xia pause, put the “Joy” in his pocket, then opened all three other fans in his hand.

All were “Sorrows.”

“Brother, sorry, I remembered wrong.” Qi Xia said. “Turns out I only have three ‘Sorrows’ left, I don’t even have ‘Anger’.”

“You… you…”

A trace of despair passed across the square-faced man’s expression. He was silent for a long time before speaking: “You’ve dragged me into hell.”

“Really?” Qi Xia said. “If you give me an ‘Anger’ now, can’t we both get out?”

“Do you think I’ll still trust you?” the square-faced man roared angrily. “You’re a fraud!”

“Thanks for the compliment.” Qi Xia said. “But I’m not negotiating with you.”

“What?”

Qi Xia slowly extended his hand and placed it on the button.

“Now you have one way to live, which is to quietly wait here for other people to be your teammate.” Qi Xia said. “As long as someone else comes and presses the button, inserting ‘Joy’ and ‘Anger,’ you and he can still get out.”

“So what do you mean?”

“My meaning is simple.” Qi Xia said. “Now give me all the fans in your hand, otherwise I’ll press the button and consume your last chance.”

The square-faced man was stunned.

He knew that if Qi Xia pressed the button, he and Qi Xia would begin “pairing,” but Qi Xia simply wouldn’t insert any fans. All three of his chances would be completely consumed—certain death.

He felt the man before him was too terrifying.

Although he had only placed his hand on the button, it was clearly like holding a knife against his throat.

“Deal?” Qi Xia asked.

The square-faced man felt he’d never been so passive. He had just used similar tactics to deceive others, but hadn’t done it so thoroughly.

“Don’t…” The square-faced man gave in. “Don’t press…”

He slowly took out all his fans—there were actually still two. It seemed he had also swindled another person’s entire collection.

“After I give them to you… what will you do?” the square-faced man asked.

“Although I’ve defrauded you of everything, you’re not my target, so at some moment later, I might take action to save your life.” Qi Xia answered.

“Why take such a huge risk?” the square-faced man said, not understanding. “Even if you can gather twenty fans, at most one hundred ‘Dao,’ but you’ll be enemies with everyone… after the game ends, can you leave alive?”

“Offend everyone to earn one hundred ‘Dao’?” Qi Xia smiled slightly. “You think of me as too weak.”

“What? You… exactly how many do you want?”

“A bit more than one hundred.”

After hearing this, the square-faced man was silent for a long time before finally handing over the fans in his hand to Qi Xia.

Qi Xia lowered his head to look—”Anger,” “Anger,” “Happiness.”

Adding the previous fans, he now had a total of three “Sorrows,” two “Angers,” plus one each of “Joy” and “Happiness.”

He already had seven fans, enough to reach the level of a “wealthy person.”

Although he could already make a small profit, for “winning all of Earth-Sheep’s Dao,” this was far from enough.

Qi Xia indeed kept his word. After taking the man’s fans, he directly turned and left.

Because the square-faced man couldn’t move far from the “Pairing Machine” whose button had already been pressed, Qi Xia’s situation was relatively safe.

If he rashly left and other people came to press the button, it would be equivalent to directly declaring his death sentence.

If he was willing to obediently stay there without moving, Qi Xia was confident he could preserve his life. But if he had other ideas, he could only be left to die.

Now two pairing chances remained. Qi Xia’s expression gradually became heavy.

He needed to hurry—the moment for the second fan replenishment was coming.