The Man-Mouse was still shaken, looking at Zhu Que in panic, as if seeking his approval.

“What? Do you need me to help you up?” Zhu Que asked with a smile.

“No… no need…” The Man-Mouse stood up tremblingly.

After a long pause, she said to Qi Xia, “Thank you! Thank you!”

Qi Xia shook his head. “You don’t need to thank me, I just…”

Puchi.

Before he could finish speaking, Qi Xia saw a hand pierce through from the Man-Mouse’s abdomen.

Her body froze, and her voice came to an abrupt halt.

Warm, sticky blood splattered all over Qi Xia.

Zhu Que slowly embraced the Man-Mouse from behind, like embracing a lover.

“This child is very polite,” Zhu Que said with closed eyes, pressing against the Man-Mouse’s face as if smelling her scent. “Saying ‘thank you’ is a good habit, but you violated the rules and actually tried to run away. He spared you, but I won’t spare you.”

After speaking, Zhu Que reached out his other hand, removed the Man-Mouse’s mask, and threw it to the ground.

Qi Xia and the Man-Mouse were face to face. At this moment, he could see clearly.

This “Man-Mouse” was clearly just a teenage girl.

Her face still held traces of youthful innocence. Her tear-filled eyes were full of fear and despair, and she was coughing up fresh blood from her mouth.

“It… hurts so much…” The Man-Mouse spat out a large mouthful of fresh blood.

“Good girl… it won’t hurt soon…” Zhu Que nuzzled the Man-Mouse’s hair with his nose. “You’ll die very soon, don’t worry… don’t worry… when you die, it’ll all be over…”

“What kind of pervert are you?!” Qiao Jiajin couldn’t stand watching anymore. “She’s still a child! Fuck your mother… let go!”

Zhu Que laughed coldly, withdrew his bloody hand, and pushed the Man-Mouse forward.

Qi Xia instinctively caught the girl, his expression full of shock.

That’s right, this was “wagering life.”

If he won, the other party would die.

Even if he didn’t want her life, she would definitely die.

This little girl called Man-Mouse had been driven to her death by Qi Xia.

He thought he was only wagering his own life, never imagining the other party would stake the same price.

But weren’t they one of the game organizers?

Were these animal masks also some kind of “participants”?

“Qi Xia, why are you here?” Zhu Que shook the blood off his hand and asked coldly.

“What…” Qi Xia was startled and raised his head to look at him. “You know my name?”

The corners of Zhu Que’s mouth lifted slightly, then he pointed at the four people, calling out in turn, “Qi Xia, Qiao Jiajin, Lin Qin, Zhang Lijuan. Why are you all here?”

Tiantian also froze. “Zhang Lijuan” was her real name, but she hadn’t used it since she was fourteen.

“What do you mean by ‘why are we here’?” Lin Qin asked. “If we’re not here, where should we be?”

Zhu Que’s face continuously wore a meaningful smile. He slowly shook his head and said, “It seems you truly don’t know why you’re here. This is simply too pathetic.”

“If you have something to say, just say it directly. What’s the point of being evasive?” Qi Xia held the dying Man-Mouse in his arms, his eyes exceptionally cold. “Do you think being mysterious will make you seem profound?”

Hearing this, Zhu Que’s eyes slowly turned stern, and the smile that had been hanging on his face disappeared.

“Qi Xia, as I thought, you and I really don’t get along.” Zhu Que looked at him contemptuously. “You will never escape from here. Just rot in this place.”

“Oh?” Having reached this point, Qi Xia had nothing left to fear. He continued asking aggressively, “Let me rot here? Are you going to kill me now?”

Zhu Que flashed to Qi Xia’s side in an instant, his feathered cloak billowing behind him.

He grabbed Qi Xia’s collar and said viciously, “If it weren’t for the rules restricting me, I would tear you apart right here!”

“In other words… according to the ‘rules,’ you can’t kill me,” Qi Xia replied.

“Hehe…” Zhu Que finally showed a smile again. “Even if I don’t kill you, you’ll still die here.”

Under everyone’s vigilant gazes, Zhu Que slowly floated up into midair, like a deity.

“Why do you think I’ll die here?” Qi Xia raised his head and asked.

“Because you are Qi Xia, so you’re destined to die here.” Zhu Que snorted coldly, then disappeared without a trace in the air.

He didn’t fly away like immortals in TV dramas, nor did he emit light as if casting magic. The entire person simply vanished from the air in an instant.

This sudden change left everyone bewildered.

“Because I am Qi Xia… so I’ll die here?”

“Cough…” The Man-Mouse lying in Qi Xia’s arms coughed.

Qi Xia lowered his head and looked at her. This girl’s face was very clean, unlike someone from this world.

His mood was somewhat complicated. If he hadn’t chosen to wager his life, this young girl shouldn’t have ended up like this.

Thinking carefully, she had never been detrimental to Qi Xia from the beginning.

One “Dao” for one “Dao.”

Perhaps, as she herself had said, Qi Xia would never again find such a simple, such a safe game.

The Man-Mouse reached into her pocket and slowly took out three “Dao,” then said with difficulty, “What a pity… I waited here for so long. You were the first batch of participants. I thought I could earn ‘Dao’…”

She handed the “Dao” to Qi Xia’s hand, then said intermittently, “One of these is your entrance fee. The other three are my own ‘Dao.’ Now they all belong to you…”

The four people looked at the girl before them but didn’t know what to say.

In terms of position, they should have been adversaries. But this girl’s helplessness and despair penetrated deeply into everyone’s hearts, triggering an indescribable, inexplicable resonance.

“Are you also some kind of participant?” Qi Xia asked in a cold tone.

Hearing this, the Man-Mouse actually laughed. Fresh blood began flowing from her mouth again. “Who here isn’t a ‘participant’… To be honest… I’d rather be like you, never having put on the ‘Mouse’ mask… Even though none of us can get out…”

Her head slowly fell to the side, and her arm dropped to the ground.

The two girls sighed on the side, and even Qiao Jiajin looked sorrowful.

But Qi Xia’s expression remained as cold as ever.

He laid the girl flat on the ground and slowly stood up. No one knew what he was thinking.

“Qi Xia… are you alright?” Lin Qin asked.

“Me?” Qi Xia was slightly stunned. “Do I look… like something’s wrong?”

“Because there’s no expression on your face… That’s not quite normal.”

“I…”

Before he finished speaking, Qi Xia’s entire body was suddenly struck with splitting headache. He let out a shrill scream and crouched down, holding his head.

“Hey! You liar!” Qiao Jiajin felt something was wrong with Qi Xia’s condition. This morning when Han Yimo died, Qi Xia had also experienced a headache.

Qi Xia only felt his head was about to split open, as if something was throbbing in the depths of his brain.