“You’re a fucking lunatic…” Old Lu was so frightened he nearly lost his footing. “It’s just ten ‘Dao’ that I won from you—is it really necessary to play this big?”

“Do you think I want to live like a pig in this godforsaken place, relying on luck to get by each day?”

The Man-Goat reached up and touched the pig’s snout on his mask. Though the mask had no expression, he always gave people a feeling of ferocity.

“You don’t understand me… Only by ‘gambling with lives’… only by ‘gambling with lives’ against formidable opponents does life here have any meaning.”

The Man-Goat’s gaze gave Qi Xia a certain feeling—he had been playing the pig all along, waiting for the day when he could devour the tiger.

“A real lunatic…” Old Lu looked at Qi Xia with some difficulty. The Man-Goat before them had specifically named him as his opponent for this life-or-death gamble, and now even running away was too late.

“Man-Goat, let’s change the approach,” Qi Xia said after thinking for a moment. “I’ll stay here and gamble with you myself. I don’t need their help.”

“Huh?” Old Lu and Lin Qin were both stunned at the same time.

“Kid, what are you doing?” Old Lu was taken aback. “I was the one who dragged you into this game. What’s the point of you staying here alone to gamble with your life?”

Qi Xia looked at Old Lu with equal bewilderment and realized he had indeed been somewhat prejudiced against him before. He hadn’t expected Old Lu to be surprisingly reliable at critical moments.

“Uncle,” Qi Xia said, “the more people who stay, the more dangerous it gets. If I die, take my friend here to find that man and woman.”

“No, I’m not leaving,” Lin Qin shook her head. “Qi Xia, have you forgotten what I told you?”

“I’m not fucking leaving either.” Old Lu shook his head. “Kid, this Man-Goat called you out. By rights, the little lady and I should be safe… but rest assured, if you die, I’ll personally collect your corpse.”

Qi Xia helplessly scratched his head. Although his opinion of Old Lu had improved somewhat, his words were still as unpleasant as ever.

“That sounds really inauspicious… In that case, I won’t try to persuade you.” Qi Xia sighed and looked up at the Man-Goat. “You said there’s a new way to play. What is it?”

The Man-Goat showed his excitement again and pushed two pairs of glasses toward them. “Come, put them on! Put them on!”

After a moment’s hesitation, Lin Qin and Old Lu put on the two pairs of glasses.

The next second, two mechanical arms extended from the ends of the temples, wrapping around the back of their heads with a “click” and fastening together head to tail.

Lin Qin felt something was wrong. She tried to remove the glasses but discovered that these small spectacles had complex mechanisms inside and were now locked onto her head like a golden circlet.

“What’s going on…” Just as Lin Qin was about to speak, the Man-Goat raised his hand to interrupt her.

“Beautiful lady, don’t speak carelessly,” the Man-Goat said with a smile. “From now on, only by following my rules will you be safe.”

“Rules…”

“Now your glasses have begun to ‘take effect,'” the Man-Goat explained. “One of you will feel your glasses are somewhat cold, while the other will feel them somewhat hot. In the time ahead, the person who feels the glasses are cold is only allowed to tell lies. The person who feels the glasses are hot is only allowed to tell the truth.”

Qi Xia had an ominous premonition. This game mode seemed familiar somehow.

“If you want to play any tricks or open your mouth to speak before the game…” The Man-Goat pointed at his own forehead. “This spot will be pierced through. Understand?”

Lin Qin immediately closed her mouth upon hearing this.

Because she discovered that the position between her brows seemed to have some mechanism being triggered. Inside these glasses, a spring had been wound—it could be a bowstring or possibly a laser.

Old Lu’s face also turned from green to purple. He knew that “the more you say, the more you err,” and he couldn’t be sure which sentence might trigger the mechanism.

Seeing the two fall silent, the Man-Goat turned his head toward Qi Xia and said, “As for the game between you and me, the overall rules are the same as last time, except this time… I’ll do the distribution.”

“You distribute?” Qi Xia looked at the pieces on the table and thought for a moment. “After you distribute… I choose?”

“Correct.” The Man-Goat nodded. “Doesn’t it sound very unfair to you?”

“Of course it’s unfair.” Although he said this, Qi Xia knew the “rules” hadn’t ended yet, since the rules regarding “truth” and “lies” hadn’t made their appearance.

“So I’m being magnanimous and adding one more rule for you…” The Man-Goat grinned foolishly and grunted a few times. “After you’ve made your selection, you need to ask these two people to confirm the color. But no matter who you choose to ask, you can only ask once in total.”

After saying this, he raised his head and said to Lin Qin and Old Lu, “To ensure fairness, you two can only answer with ‘black’ or ‘white.’ Any questions?”

The two nodded with panicked expressions on their faces.

Qi Xia seemed to understand. This rule was absurd.

Now he had no way of knowing which of Lin Qin or Old Lu would tell the truth, and asking would only make the situation more complicated.

“The watch paradox…” Qi Xia closed his eyes and muttered, “When a person has only one watch, they’ll know the time clearly, but when they have two watches showing different times, they cannot trust either one…”

“Are you ready, Qi Xia?” the Man-Goat asked.

Qi Xia took a deep breath and looked up at the Man-Goat. “I want to ask you the same thing. This is a battle with our lives on the line. Are you ready?”

“Lives? Hehehe…” The Man-Goat grunted and revealed a smile, soon shaking all over with laughter. “Living here, what lives do we have to speak of… Only when ‘dying’ can I feel that I’ve actually lived.”

Qi Xia nodded. He knew the Man-Goat seemed to have lived here for a long time, and ordinary thinking couldn’t persuade him.

So Qi Xia reached out to take the blindfold and put it on.

The Man-Goat silently began distributing the pieces.

Lin Qin and Old Lu watched these two composed individuals from the side. Clearly they were the main characters gambling with their lives, yet both remained calm and collected throughout, as if neither cared about what was about to happen.

On the contrary, Lin Qin and Old Lu were so nervous their legs were trembling.

“Do you want to leave?” Qi Xia suddenly asked.

“What?” The Man-Goat didn’t even lift his head, saying carelessly.

“Besides dying here, haven’t you thought about escaping?”

The Man-Goat’s hand paused in midair for a moment, then he answered, “Escape to where?”

“Go back to where you came from,” Qi Xia said seriously despite wearing the blindfold. “Don’t you want to go back?”

The Man-Goat pondered for a moment and said, “If I didn’t want to go back, why would I willingly become a ‘pig’?”

“What?” Qi Xia felt as though he had learned some important clue.

“But I’m not planning to ‘escape,’ Qi Xia.” The Man-Goat finished placing all the pieces, then said solemnly, “I plan to walk out of here openly and honorably.”