After those words, everyone was shocked.

Even the Man-Mouse was slightly stunned.

“You want to… wager your life?” the Man-Mouse confirmed.

“That’s right.” Qi Xia nodded. “I want to wager my life.”

The Man-Mouse’s throat moved slightly as she swallowed, then said, “There’s… there’s no need for that, right?”

Her reaction exceeded Qi Xia’s imagination.

He had thought these animal masks would be willing for him to wager his life, but why was she flustered?

“I… this is just a very simple ‘search’ game. For you… for you to wager your life is too exaggerated… Besides, my entrance fee only requires one ‘Dao.’ You don’t need to wager your life…”

Lin Qin and Qiao Jiajin were also puzzled on the side.

“This game… you can actually wager lives?” Qiao Jiajin asked with furrowed brows. “But you liar, why do you want to wager your life? Don’t we have enough ‘Dao’?”

“I remembered what that withered old man said and wanted to try it here,” Qi Xia said in a low voice. “Looking at her reaction, she seems very afraid of me ‘wagering my life.'”

“I know you really want to win,” Lin Qin interjected. “But if you wager your life to open cans and something goes wrong, what then? What if the ‘Dao’ isn’t inside?”

“I will win.” After Qi Xia finished speaking, he raised his head to look at the Man-Mouse. “I’ve already placed my wager. Can we begin?”

The Man-Mouse was silent for a long while before finally saying tremblingly, “If you truly want to wager your life, then don’t regret it… The game begins now.”

Qi Xia walked into the room.

Just as the Man-Mouse was about to exit the room and close the door, Qi Xia grabbed hold of her.

This action made the Man-Mouse’s entire body freeze.

With an expressionless face, Qi Xia reached out his hand and slowly pulled a “Dao” from the Man-Mouse’s shirt pocket.

“I found it.”

The three people at the doorway all opened their mouths wide.

Was this allowed?

The instant the game started, finding the “Dao” on the referee’s body.

Did this really not violate the “rules”?

The Man-Mouse trembled continuously, looking extremely frightened.

“If I’m not mistaken, as long as you close the door, it would be impossible for there to be a ‘Dao’ in this room anymore, right?” Qi Xia asked aggressively.

“How do you know…”

“Very simple.” Qi Xia said softly. “Every time you explain the game rules, you must stand in the room and tell us that ‘right now’ there is one ‘Dao’ in this room. What you said wasn’t wrong, but unfortunately it’s a huge trap.”

Seeing the Man-Mouse didn’t respond, Qi Xia continued, “‘Right now’ there indeed is one ‘Dao’ in the room, but unfortunately it will disappear very soon.”

The eyes beneath the Man-Mouse’s mask began to spin frantically. After holding back for a long time, she asked, “You wagered your own life based on just this bold hypothesis?”

“Hypothesis? Of course not.” Qi Xia continued. “What really convinced me was when you announced Tiantian’s ‘game failure.'”

“What?!”

“At that time the door was closed. By all rights, all of us should have known nothing about the situation inside, but the instant you opened the door you told Tiantian she had failed.” Qi Xia helplessly shook his head. “How did you know she hadn’t found it?”

“I…”

“The answer is obvious—you knew it was impossible for there to be a ‘Dao’ in the room.”

The Man-Mouse’s body trembled slightly with a cold shiver.

“And the ‘Mouse-Type’ game is another trap. We all thought mice like to hide during the day and come out at night, searching for targets in darkness. This was also the direction Tiantian was thinking in. By all rights, she wasn’t wrong. But there are other types of mice in this world—they hide important things in their mouths, right?”

The Man-Mouse stared at Qi Xia for a long while, knowing she had truly lost.

She paused, then suddenly used great force to push Qi Xia down and turned to run.

“Holy crap!” Seeing this, Qiao Jiajin immediately reached out to grab the Man-Mouse, but she dodged like a real mouse with a turn of her body.

Her running speed was very fast as she fled far away down the street.

At this moment, everyone was somewhat at a loss. They had never imagined these animal masks would actually run away.

“What’s going on… you liar?” Qiao Jiajin helped Qi Xia up from the ground, his face full of confusion. “Why did she run away?”

“I don’t know either.” Qi Xia shook his head, but his expression seemed as if he had thought of something.

Could “wagering life” mean…

He looked in the Man-Mouse’s direction, wanting to confirm his thoughts, but couldn’t help widening his eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

Qi Xia reached out his hand and pointed tremblingly into the distance.

The three people turned their heads to look and were also instantly frozen in place.

A floating person appeared in midair, blocking the Man-Mouse’s path.

“Holy crap… is that the Terminator…?” Qiao Jiajin’s voice carried a slight tremor. The scene before his eyes had completely exceeded his imagination.

The person in midair gently waved their hand, and the Man-Mouse collapsed sitting down, as if her entire body had lost all strength.

Immediately after, the two disappeared in the distance, and the next second appeared before Qi Xia and the other three.

This scene, like a deity descending from heaven, left the four people present momentarily blank-minded.

Floating in midair was a man with a thin, elongated build. He was naked, draped in a cloak made of blood-red feathers, with several feathers also inserted into his disheveled long hair. At this moment, his entire body was flipping up and down in the air, like a flying bird.

The four people were frightened considerably by the scene before them. No one dared to speak.

And the Man-Mouse was trembling all over, with what sounded like sobbing coming from beneath her mask.

“Man-Mouse, what are you trying to do?” the man asked softly. “Were you just trying to run away?”

“I… I…” the Man-Mouse kept trembling, her voice sounding distorted.

“Running away won’t do.” The man slowly landed and reached out to gently stroke the Man-Mouse’s head. “You need to be good. ‘Wagering life’ means ‘wagering life.'”

“Lord Zhu Que…!” the Man-Mouse cried out wailing. “Please spare me…!”

“That won’t do.” The person called “Zhu Que” extended his slender fingers, continuously wandering over the Man-Mouse’s mask. “When you gamble, you must accept the outcome. It was the other party who wanted to wager life with you. I have no choice in the matter either.”

An ominous premonition arose in Qi Xia’s heart. He mustered his courage and spoke to the other party, “I… I don’t want her life. I wagered my own life only to obtain more ‘Dao.'”

“Oh?” Zhu Que lifted his eyes to look at Qi Xia, but his hand slowly moved down, shifting to the Man-Mouse’s pale neck, gripping her like he was holding a real mouse.

The Man-Mouse’s entire body stiffened as she trembled, not daring to say a word.

“Is this necessary?” Qi Xia frowned. “I am the one who initiated the ‘life wager.’ Now I don’t want her life anymore—I only want ‘Dao.’ Killing her has no benefit for me.”

Hearing that Qi Xia seemed to be pleading for her, the Man-Mouse slowly raised her head to look at him, her eyes full of tears.

Hearing Qi Xia’s words, Zhu Que slowly withdrew his hand and laughed with a “puchi.”

“How interesting… Man-Mouse, get up quickly… He’s sparing you.” He patted the Man-Mouse’s back.