After hearing this, the old man’s teammate immediately felt something was wrong. “Two?! Hey… you clearly only have one extra fan…”

“Give him yours too!” the old man said. “If we don’t get this fan, we’re really going to die here!”

Qi Xia knew his objective had been achieved.

To fully profit from these people’s wealth, he couldn’t defeat them one by one—he had to find a way to make them voluntarily form groups. Only then would their total capital increase.

At that point, each individual in the group would voluntarily or be forced to contribute for the group’s gains and losses.

After all, you can’t harvest chives one stalk at a time—you have to harvest them by the bundle.

“In that case… I’m very sorry…” Qi Xia sighed helplessly. “Everyone wants to get out, so I can only go with ‘highest bidder wins.'”

These four words—”highest bidder wins”—landed among the crowd like an established market rule.

“We’ll give three!”

Another team also spoke up. This team clearly had a “well-off person,” with the two of them having about seven fans combined.

After hearing this, Qi Xia still didn’t agree. He simply surveyed everyone once more.

This action undoubtedly shattered the last wall of everyone’s disaster bias. He was using his gaze to tell everyone that “three” wasn’t the highest price either—the final transaction price would only be higher.

The crowd fell silent for quite a while before a team finally spoke up: “Four.”

Everyone looked toward that team. Those two people each appeared to have four fans. At this moment, each would have to take out two to purchase “Sorrow,” and they would surely be left with nothing.

The rules here had already been covered with layers upon layers of lies. For everyone, exchanging with fans naturally wasn’t as good as directly snatching them, but after Earth-Sheep’s seemingly fair yet actually selfish killing, no one dared to act rashly.

Yes, Earth-Sheep would go on a killing spree sooner or later.

Those who truly saw through the rules had left early. Only two types of people remained here.

One type was fools, and the other type was madmen like Qi Xia.

Qi Xia nodded slightly and said, “Does anyone bid higher than four?”

Everyone looked at each other. No one could respond.

Among the teams present, there were indeed people who could afford four fans, but no one could offer a price higher than four fans.

“In that case… then I can only give it to this team…”

Qi Xia took the four fans from them and tossed them a “Sorrow” in return.

Although the two felt some heartache, time was approaching the end. After another half hour, Earth-Sheep would begin the slaughter. If they didn’t escape before then, the losses would only be greater.

The two escaped.

Those who hadn’t escaped now showed regretful expressions. They seemed to feel their doomsday was approaching.

Seeing those two walk away, Qi Xia slowly pulled out another “Sorrow.”

“Everyone, I have one more ‘Sorrow.'” Qi Xia said.

This statement was like a ray of sunlight shining into everyone’s hearts, bringing them ethereal hope. Yet it was also like an invisible knife, cutting a crack of doubt in each person’s heart.

“You… you have more?”

“That’s right.” Qi Xia nodded. “This one will also be used to exchange with you all.”

The older woman in the group couldn’t take it anymore. “Young man, aren’t you deceiving us? The way you acted just now… it seemed like you only had one ‘Sorrow’! If you had said earlier that you had a second one, would those two people just now have needed to offer four fans?”

Qi Xia felt he had heard especially many jokes today.

“Ma’am, have you ever done business?” Qi Xia said. “I’m not a savior, just a participant like all of you.”

After hearing this, the older woman turned her head away, seemingly unwilling to converse further with Qi Xia.

A few minutes passed, and finally someone couldn’t hold back. They walked to Earth-Sheep’s stall first and asked about the “negotiable price” for that “Sorrow.”

Seeing Qi Xia exchange one “Sorrow” for four fans, Earth-Sheep was naturally also calculating the value of the “Sorrow” in his own hands.

After a while, he said quietly, “Three. Just three fans and we can make a deal.”

Hearing this price, everyone became restless. After all, if they continued with “highest bidder wins,” the fan purchased from Qi Xia might cost four fans again.

After the two people in one team looked at each other, they were just about to go purchase when Qi Xia spoke again.

“Everyone, may I ask if anyone only has these two fans—’Joy’ and ‘Anger’?”

After a while, one person raised their hand.

It was a slender woman.

Qi Xia looked at her, nodded, and said, “You don’t need to team up with anyone else. I’ll arrange a destination for you.”

“A destination?”

“That’s right.” Qi Xia nodded and pointed toward a square-faced man in the corner of the room. “You can go ‘pair up’ with him right now. That man has already placed ‘Sorrow’ and ‘Happiness.’ If you go over now, you can leave.”

“Huh?” After hearing this, the slender woman froze. “Are you serious?”

“Yes, serious.” Qi Xia said. “Go quickly.”

Everyone had no idea what he meant, but they only saw this slender woman go to the room’s corner and, after conversing briefly with the square-faced man, place her “Joy” and “Anger.”

Before long, the screen displayed “Pairing Successful.”

The two escaped.

“Everyone.” Qi Xia sighed, his voice flat as he said, “From now on, I will reduce prices again and exchange fans with you at a discount you absolutely couldn’t imagine.”

“What?”

Everyone stopped in their tracks, fell silent, and looked toward him.

At this moment, Earth-Sheep felt something was wrong. He left the table directly and came to Qi Xia’s side. “Are you really seeking death?”

“Oh? Getting anxious?” Qi Xia said. “Are you going to kill me here?”

Earth-Sheep slowly narrowed his eyes. He found that the feeling Qi Xia gave him was becoming increasingly familiar.

“What exactly are you trying to do?”

The corner of Qi Xia’s mouth curved upward. “Earth-Sheep, your reaction is really too slow… To make you see my ‘monopoly,’ I’ve already been doing business right in your face.”

“What?”

“When you realize I’m ‘monopolizing,’ you’ve completely lost.”

“I… lost?” Earth-Sheep looked at Qi Xia in confusion.

“Are you going to kill me? If you don’t kill me… then I’ll continue talking to everyone.” Qi Xia slowly swallowed. He also didn’t quite understand why Earth-Sheep could tolerate him to this extent.

Originally, he had wanted to use “Earth-Tiger” to pressure the other party at a critical moment, but now it seemed completely unnecessary.

“What’s this ‘discount’ you mentioned?” someone asked.

Qi Xia paused and said, “Hasn’t everyone noticed the number of people doesn’t seem right?”

After hearing this, everyone looked around. Seventeen people remained in the venue.

If seventeen people wanted to escape, wouldn’t that ultimately result in one person being left alone?

“From now on, all my ‘Sorrow’ only requires one-for-one exchange.” Qi Xia struck while the iron was hot. “Aside from me, there are sixteen people remaining here. I still have seven ‘Sorrow’ fans. Now I need someone to take the ‘Sorrow’ from Earth-Sheep’s hands. Once someone gets that fan, I’ll immediately exchange the remaining ‘Sorrow’ with you all.”