As the bell gradually faded away, the several people standing outside the room were all left speechless.

Luo Shiyi, Zhou Liu, Qiu Shiliu, and Wang Ba had gone from their noisy bickering before entering the game to complete silence now.

After quite a while, Luo Shiyi finally spoke up: “This… this was all part of your plan?”

“No,” Qi Xia said coldly. “I came up with it on the spot.”

But this time, not a single one of the four believed Qi Xia anymore.

Qi Xia had mentioned four objectives during the game, and looking at it now, all of them had actually been achieved.

Not only had they won the game, obtained the fruits, and had everyone “echo,” but they had also learned of Qi Xia’s capabilities—even the Earth-Mouse had been intimidated by Qi Xia.

“You, you’re really…” Wang Ba said with a hint of respect. “Were you also a ‘Cat’ before?”

“I don’t know,” Qi Xia said. “If I remember correctly, I was never a ‘Cat.'”

“Tch!” Zhou Liu suddenly interjected. “Then why does Fifth Brother trust you so much? It looks like he knew all along you had some skills…”

“Perhaps in this world, everyone hopes to find someone to rely on,” Qi Xia replied. “The one you rely on is Qian Wu, and the one Qian Wu relies on in his heart is me.”

If not for this experience, everyone would have definitely thought the man before them was bluffing, but now no one spoke up to refute him.

The same thought involuntarily emerged in all their minds—

Following this person, perhaps they really could destroy this place?

Or even… really escape?

Qi Xia paid no attention to the crowd and continued walking forward.

“Tch, where are we going now?” Zhou Liu called out from the side.

“I need to know the locations of Qiao Jiajin and Chen Junnan,” Qi Xia said. “I need to know these two people’s whereabouts. I’m not sure if they can manage, so I need to go check on them.”

Qiu Shiliu asked with furrowed brows: “Don’t we need to participate in games anymore?”

“There’s no need,” Qi Xia said. “We didn’t come out here to earn ‘Dao.’ Now that all our objectives have been achieved, let’s go back.”

Qiao Jiajin walked along the road with six people, constantly scratching his head.

Leader?

What kind of joke was this?

If he had the skills to be a leader, why would he need to cooperate with Qi Xia?

“But that’s just how big shots are…” Qiao Jiajin helplessly shook his head. “Even though they think they can’t do it, they still have a group of underlings following them…”

“Qiao Ge, what are you saying?” The Nineteen who had previously used “Silence” asked quietly from the side.

“Ah, nothing…” Qiao Jiajin waved his hand and looked back at his team.

Three men and three women, each one of them skin and bones.

But that wasn’t the most critical issue. The most critical issue was that Qian Wu had said he wanted to lead this team to participate in physical strength, combat, and killing-type games.

Was he really not joking?

“Ah… that…” Qiao Jiajin turned around wanting to say something, and the several young people before him immediately stood respectfully at attention.

Seeing their expressions, Qiao Jiajin grew nervous again.

“No… don’t be so serious, everyone’s friends here.” He smiled bitterly and said, “I just wanted to ask you all… what games are nearby?”

After hearing this, a girl with twin tails slowly raised her hand: “Brother, there’s a ‘Rabbit’ nearby. Want to go take a look?”

“Rabbit?” Qiao Jiajin blinked after hearing this. “What does the Rabbit play?”

“Escape,” a male student answered.

“Escape?” Qiao Jiajin furrowed his brows and scratched his head. They said physical strength, combat, and killing-type games—did “escape” count?

“Should we go over? Qiao Ge?” someone asked.

“Go, let’s go?” Qiao Jiajin smiled bitterly. “Speaking of ‘escape,’ isn’t that about who runs faster?”

“You could understand it that way…”

“Then it should be fine, right? Do you all exercise regularly?”

“This…” The three men and three women exchanged glances. A tall girl finally smiled and said, “Qiao Ge, although we do exercise regularly, our positioning has always been as strategists and support for the ‘Cat’ team, so we’ve taken on very few combat and physical strength type tasks…”

“Well, well, that’s no problem…” Qiao Jiajin seemed to be trying to encourage everyone, but everyone could tell he wasn’t confident. “Let’s go check out that ‘Rabbit’ first. If it doesn’t work out, we’ll switch to another one.”

The seven people confirmed their direction and began walking toward that “Rabbit’s” venue.

Halfway there, Qiao Jiajin suddenly realized he didn’t know any of the people in his team at all. He could only pull out the name list Qian Wu had given him in advance and looked at it. But one look made him feel things were a bit troublesome.

He’d heard that the higher the ranking in the “Cat” team, the stronger the person, but these six people before him—forget being in the top ten, they were barely even in the top fifteen.

“Transformation guy… why do you have such high expectations of me?”

Luo Shiwu, male, “Energy Storage,” stores food in the body for long periods, “Echo Trigger” is “Hunger.”

Feng Shiqi, female, “Flash Burst,” makes entire body burst with dazzling light, “Echo Trigger” is “Fear of Darkness.”

Ning Shiba, female, “Wild Growth,” accelerates the growth of plants touched, “Echo Trigger” is “Extreme Pain.”

Yun Shijiu, male, “Silence,” isolates sound in a space for a set time, already echoed.

Qiu Ershi, male, “Strong Wind,” raises strong winds within a certain range, already echoed.

What made Qiao Jiajin particularly concerned was the last name—Bai Jiu.

Bai Jiu, female, “Liquification,” liquifies objects, “Echo Trigger” is “Physically and Mentally Exhausted.”

Qiao Jiajin held the note in his hand, turned around, and very politely raised his hand: “Um… excuse me.”

“Ah, yes!”

Several people stood respectfully in place, all waiting for Qiao Jiajin to speak.

“Everyone, don’t be so formal… I wanted to ask who is Bai Jiu?”

After hearing this, the girl with twin tails blinked, then also raised her hand: “I’m Bai Jiu!”

“Oh?” Qiao Jiajin nodded with interest. “You’re ranked ninth?”

“Ah… hehe.” Bai Jiu scratched her head. “Maybe because I came early? Fifth Brother gave me face and ranked me ninth.”

“So is ‘Liquification’ powerful?” Qiao Jiajin asked. “What kind of effect can it achieve?”

“Actually, I don’t know if this ability counts as powerful or not…” Bai Jiu shook her head. “I can make objects I touch melt.”

“Oh?” Qiao Jiajin thought for a while, feeling he had absolutely no idea where this ability could be used, but still nodded somewhat perfunctorily. “That’s really impressive…”

The abilities of the remaining people were basically clear at a glance, so Qiao Jiajin didn’t ask further. After verifying each person’s name, he walked forward.

Before long, everyone saw that “Rabbit” at the end of the road.

Different from what Qiao Jiajin had imagined, this Rabbit was actually an exceptionally tall man with a gray rabbit face.

“Oh…?” The Earth-Rabbit nodded slightly after seeing several people. “Are you coming? Earth-Rabbit game?”

Qiao Jiajin slowly took a breath, then scratched his head: “I, I can’t say for sure. Why don’t you explain the rules first?”