“How do we earn ‘Dao’?” Qi Xia asked again.

“We found an ox-type game. From what we heard about the rules, it can earn a large amount of ‘Dao,’ but that game requires twenty people to start. We’re still short five people. Do you all want to join us?”

“Still short five people?” Qi Xia was startled. “You’ve already gathered fifteen people?”

It seemed there really were many participants here.

“That’s right.” The bespectacled man nodded. He pointed toward the distance with his hand, where indeed a crowd of people could be seen, appearing quite numerous.

Qi Xia pondered briefly, then nodded and said, “Alright, we’ll go take a look as well.”

“Great! Then I’ll head over first and wait for you all!” The bespectacled man tactfully walked away.

“Hey!” Qiao Jiajin felt something was off. “We’re going over together?! What if that’s a violent gang? Do you want me to show you what I can do?”

“It won’t be,” Qi Xia said. “Each room has a maximum of nine people. In this kind of environment, trying to form a gang of more than ten people is still too far-fetched. Never mind these strangers—even those of us who came out from the same room don’t necessarily completely trust each other.”

After saying this, he glanced at Lin Qin, as if his words had deeper meaning.

Lin Qin appeared somewhat displeased. She seemed not to know why she was being suspected. Was it just because she didn’t recognize that “flyer”?

Walking across an old, dilapidated road, the four of them arrived in front of a large building.

Just as the bespectacled man had said, standing at the entrance of this large building was a man wearing a water buffalo mask.

Outside the entrance, numerous participants stood in small groups of twos and threes, deliberately keeping their distance from each other.

Although all these people were strangers, being able to see so many normal people appearing together still gave Qi Xia and the other three a long-lost sense of security.

No matter how disagreeable these people might look, they were still living, breathing human beings.

“Not bad, Little Glasses!” A middle-aged man patted the bespectacled man. “You found four people just like that!”

Qi Xia looked at the ox-headed person before him, walked forward, and asked, “What are the game rules?”

The ox-headed person said indifferently, “Ox-type game. Entry ticket is one ‘Dao’ per person. Twenty people are required to start. During the game, players will be eliminated. When the game ends, each player remaining on the field can obtain a number of ‘Dao’ equal to the number of people who cleared the game.”

“A number of ‘Dao’ equal to the number of people who cleared the game?!” Qi Xia was stunned. “You mean, if twenty people ultimately remain on the field, then each of those twenty people can obtain twenty ‘Dao’?!”

“Yes.”

Upon hearing this, Qiao Jiajin’s mouth also fell open. “Holy crap! Doesn’t that mean we’d strike it rich in one go?! That’s four hundred ‘Dao’ all at once!”

“Could it really be that easy…” Tiantian felt somewhat incredulous. “Hey, Man-Ox, you won’t go back on your word, will you?”

After hearing this, the ox-headed person remained silent for a moment, then shook his head and said, “Please allow me to correct you. I am not a ‘Man-Ox.'”

“Not a ‘Man-Ox’?” Tiantian looked at the large man before her in confusion. “But aren’t you all called ‘Man’-something?”

“I am an ‘Earth-Ox,'” the ox-headed person said indifferently. “If you think I’m a ‘Man-Ox,’ you’ll have more trouble than you can handle.”

Only then did everyone realize that the “Earth-Ox” before them was indeed quite different from the animal masks they had encountered before. His mask was very clean, almost lifelike like a living ox. His black suit was spotless, as if it had been specially ironed. When he spoke… it seemed as though the mask’s mouth was also moving slightly.

But what was the difference between a Man-Ox and an Earth-Ox?

“Earth-Ox…” Qi Xia scratched his head, unable to figure out the relationship. He raised his head and asked again, “Earth-Ox, what is your game?”

Earth-Ox paused slightly and said, “Pay the entry ticket, learn the content.”

“Pay the entry ticket…”

What Qi Xia was most concerned about now was that if all four of them participated in the game together, the tactics they had discussed earlier would become invalid.

The four of them would simultaneously be thrown into an unknown game—the risk was extremely high.

But if they were participating in a game with such high stakes, the risk and reward seemed to be proportional.

“Liar Boy, what do you think the ‘Ox’ game type is?” Qiao Jiajin asked from the side.

Qi Xia contemplated briefly, then answered, “Probably the type I dislike the most.”

“Oh? You actually have a game type you dislike?” Qiao Jiajin became interested at once. “What is it?”

“‘Oxen’ are born to plow diligently. If I’m not mistaken, it should be a ‘physical strength’ type game,” Qi Xia said, glancing indifferently at Qiao Jiajin. “It might be quite suitable for a brute like you.”

“Ha!” Qiao Jiajin rolled up his sleeve, revealing his muscular flower-tattooed arm. “Finally it’s my turn to shine… wait, who are you calling a brute?”

Qi Xia shook his head helplessly and said, “If it weren’t for the sake of the ‘Dao,’ I probably wouldn’t enter an ‘Ox’s’ room.”

“Don’t worry. Call me ‘boss’ once, and I’ll clear all the ox-type games for you,” Qiao Jiajin said with a mischievous grin. “Sounds like a good deal, right?”

Qi Xia turned back to look at Qiao Jiajin before him. “You and I look about the same age, at most twenty-six or twenty-seven. Why should I call you ‘boss’?”

“If you’re going to say that, I’ll have to settle this properly with you!” Qiao Jiajin scratched his head. “What year were you born?”

Qi Xia always felt that Qiao Jiajin carried an air of fearlessness about him, able to joke around even in such an oppressive environment.

“Instead of wasting your energy on this, you might as well warm up early,” Qi Xia said dismissively. “So you don’t get cramps later.”

“Come on,” Qiao Jiajin became interested. “Just tell me! If you’re older than me, I can call you ‘boss’ too!”

“Sigh.” Qi Xia really couldn’t resist Qiao Jiajin’s persistence and could only sigh and say, “Fine, then you go first. What year were you born?”

“’79,” Qiao Jiajin said with a grin.

“’79… Is that funny?” Qi Xia frowned. “To trick your way into getting that ‘boss’ title, you’ll really use any means necessary. I don’t want to discuss this topic with you anymore.”

“Huh? Why?” Qiao Jiajin looked at Qi Xia in confusion. “Just tell me what year you were born. Are you younger than me?”

Tiantian also shook her head with a smile from the side. It seemed that staying with Qiao Jiajin was the right choice. His personality would help dispel some of the gloom weighing on everyone’s hearts.

Qiao Jiajin called Qi Xia’s name a few more times, but finding that the other party was completely ignoring him, he could only shake his head helplessly.

Several minutes passed, but the number of people remained at nineteen.

It seemed that although there were quite a few participants here, they weren’t exactly everywhere. Trying to gather twenty people in a short time was indeed somewhat difficult.

“Hasn’t he arrived yet?” the middle-aged man asked Little Glasses beside him. “Did he oversleep?”

“I don’t know either. He promised to come this morning,” Little Glasses scratched his head. “How about I go into the streets and find another person?”

“Forget it, forget it…” The middle-aged man waved his hand. “We already have nineteen people now. Let’s wait for him. I don’t want to die without knowing why.”

Their conversation was captured word for word by Qi Xia not far away.

“Die?” Qi Xia’s brow furrowed. “What does ‘die’ mean? People can die in this game?”

Before he could figure it out, a lazy figure appeared in the distance.

He was bare-chested, revealing a body covered in scars. On his lower body, he wore camouflage pants. He stretched lazily while moving toward them.