Just as the onlooking crowd wore expressions of panic, Earth-Ox slowly walked over.

“You two, stop,” he said indifferently. “It doesn’t matter if you kill each other, but I’d trouble you to go outside this room before you make your move.”

The two men were completely impervious to persuasion, not taking Earth-Ox seriously at all. Both were gritting their teeth and exerting force in secret.

Earth-Ox looked at the two men grappling together, and simply stopped trying to persuade them. Instead, he bent down and effortlessly removed Qiao Jiajin’s arm from Zhang Shan’s neck. Then, his left hand grabbed Zhang Shan’s collar while his right hand seized Qiao Jiajin’s arm. With a light toss, the two flew out like small pebbles, knocking over all the chairs.

“Holy crap…” Qiao Jiajin felt like his bones were about to break.

Zhang Shan on the other side wasn’t having a much better time either. He lay on the ground rolling in pain, all his wounds bleeding.

“Damn… dead old ox, someday I’ll skin you alive…”

At this moment, everyone hurried forward to check on the two men’s condition.

“Hey, Qiao Jiajin, are you still alive?”

Qiao Jiajin smiled bitterly after hearing this. “What do you think…”

Tiantian and Lin Qin also gathered around. The three of them helped Qiao Jiajin stand up together.

On the other side, Zhang Shan was also helped up by Little Glasses and Old Lu.

“Are you okay, Zhang Shan?” Little Glasses asked.

“I’m fine.” Zhang Shan scratched at the wounds on his body. Though they didn’t feel too good, he still came to his senses and said to Little Glasses, “Looks like what you said was right. Those two are pretty interesting.”

“Right!” Little Glasses seemed to have received praise himself and laughed happily. “Flower-Arm Man’s strength is great, and that one called ‘Little Liar’ is very clever. Those two are definitely qualified.”

Old Lu, however, kept curling his lips to the side, as if he didn’t quite agree with what Little Glasses said.

“Come on, let’s go talk to them again.” Zhang Shan laughed heartily and led the two men forward once more.

Before he had taken three steps, Earth-Ox extended a pitch-black hand and pressed it on Zhang Shan’s shoulder.

“Planning to cause more trouble?”

Zhang Shan looked at Earth-Ox and said, “Don’t worry, it’s just a simple conversation.”

Earth-Ox thought for a moment, then withdrew his hand.

“Be careful. I’m watching you.”

In a few steps, Zhang Shan stood face to face with Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajin again.

Qiao Jiajin stepped forward, blocking Qi Xia. “Big guy, are you planning to settle things with me again after we leave?”

“Forget it.” Zhang Shan scratched at the shocking wounds on his chest and said, “I don’t have the energy today. I’ll arrange another match with you next time.”

“Ha.” Qiao Jiajin was amused by him. “Since you’re not here to fight, what do you want with us?”

“That’s really unreasonable of you to say.” Zhang Shan shook his head helplessly. “I wasn’t here to fight you from the beginning. It was your brother who suddenly attacked me.”

Qiao Jiajin thought about it and found this was indeed true.

“Not here to fight us?” Qi Xia felt the person before him was somewhat strange. “Then what do you want with us?”

Zhang Shan turned his head and waved at Little Glasses and Old Lu. The two removed cloth bags from their waists and handed them to him. Though Old Lu looked extremely unwilling, he seemed to have some fear of Zhang Shan and could only follow his instructions.

Zhang Shan weighed the two cloth bags in his hands, then tossed them to Qi Xia.

“Thirty-eight ‘Dao’ in total. For you.”

Qi Xia caught the two bags in disbelief. Opening them, he saw they were indeed filled with small golden balls.

“What does this mean?” Qiao Jiajin looked at Zhang Shan suspiciously. “We haven’t decided the winner yet. Why are you giving us the ‘Dao’?”

“Because this was agreed upon in the game—when you gamble, you must accept the loss.” Zhang Shan looked back at Little Glasses and continued, “Besides, Little Glasses has praised you two in front of me again and again, saying you’re both excellent.”

“Excellent?” Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajin looked at each other, not knowing what the other wanted to do.

“I didn’t come looking for you to cause trouble in the first place.” Zhang Shan extended a finger and tapped his own temple, saying to Qi Xia, “Little Glasses told me you defeated that black bear using this. Is it true?”

Qi Xia didn’t answer, still looking at Zhang Shan with caution.

“Don’t overthink it.” Zhang Shan said. “We’re gathering a group of capable people to leave this place together. Are you two interested in joining?”

“No.” Qi Xia answered.

“Don’t refuse so quickly…” Zhang Shan smiled foolishly and reached out to pat Qi Xia’s shoulder. “You can think about it some more.”

“That’s right!” Little Glasses also came forward and said to Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajin, “Mr. Qiao, Mr. Liar, you both have outstanding abilities. We have a great chance of getting out of here.”

“Mr. Liar?” Qi Xia thought he had misheard. “Are you calling me?”

“Yes…” Little Glasses thought he had misspoken. “Doesn’t this Mr. Qiao keep calling you ‘Little Liar’…?”

Qi Xia shook his head helplessly and said, “Forget it. A name is just a form of address—you can call me whatever you like. But I won’t be joining you.”

“Why are you so firm about it?” Little Glasses didn’t quite understand. “As the saying goes, there’s strength in numbers. Plus, I participated in a game with you before and know you’re a trustworthy teammate. If we work together…”

“But I don’t trust you all.” Qi Xia interrupted. “Besides, only one person can leave this place. What good does it do to gather so many people? In the end, won’t they just be cannon fodder?”

“On-only one person can leave?” Little Glasses was slightly stunned. “What nonsense are you talking about? Why can only one person leave here?”

“Isn’t that the case?” Qi Xia asked back. “Those animal masks said…”

Qi Xia was about to say something when he suddenly froze.

Wait.

Why did he think only one person could leave?

Had anyone said something like that?

No, they hadn’t.

Man-Goat had once told Qi Xia that if they won the game, one of them would become a “god.”

At that time, Qiao Jiajin had clearly asked Man-Goat, “What happens if we can’t win the game?”

Man-Goat’s answer was—”If you can’t win, that would be too bad.”

He had never mentioned anything about escaping this place.

“Could I have misunderstood…?”

The word “too bad” was quite ambiguous.

When Man-Goat said “too bad,” for whom was it “too bad”?

For himself… or for the participants?

Qi Xia blinked, feeling like he had understood something.

In this godforsaken place, besides “becoming a god” and “being destroyed,” was there also an option to “escape”…

“Why do you all… think you can escape this place together?” Qi Xia asked.

“Of course it’s because we’ve seen people who escaped from here,” Zhang Shan answered.