The crowd, who had been somewhat tempted, showed troubled expressions once again after hearing Man-Monkey’s words.

Many people had already paid one “Dao” earlier. If they now paid another “Dao,” even if they won back two, wouldn’t it just be breaking even?

At this moment, it seemed to have become a contest between Xiao Cheng and Man-Monkey, and the crowd didn’t know whose side to take.

“It’s still fine! Everyone!” After thinking for a few seconds, Xiao Cheng said, “We can guarantee this game is a sure win! So even if the admission fee increases, we’re still making a profit!”

“This…”

Everyone looked at each other. Xiao Cheng also knew that some among them simply couldn’t understand what he was saying—they would only choose to follow the crowd.

As long as the majority chose to try once more, the remaining people would also develop a herd mentality.

But because Man-Monkey was truly too cunning, the timing of his statement was perfect, causing all the “Participants” to hesitate at this moment.

“I don’t think that’s right…” At this moment, a man in his thirties suddenly noticed something. “You young man are just lying, aren’t you?”

“Lying…?” Xiao Cheng didn’t immediately understand what the other party meant. “Didn’t I just tell everyone the solution method?”

After Xiao Cheng finished speaking, he pointed to Zheng Yingxiong beside him and said, “If you had all listened to this child’s suggestion earlier, we would have already won the first time! The winning suggestion was already given—how could we possibly be deceiving you?”

“The problem lies with this child!” The middle-aged woman spoke up. “Look at what color the light above this child’s head is yourself! He stood in the wrong position just now!”

“Stood in the wrong position…? Oh!” After hearing this, Xiao Cheng quickly nodded and said, “Everyone, please let me explain… When he came upstairs just now, the formation was already chaotic, so he didn’t need to…”

“Who knows that?” A middle-aged woman suddenly interrupted Xiao Cheng’s words. “Who knows what the situation was when he came up? I didn’t stand in the wrong position just now anyway.”

“That’s right, why would anyone bring a child to participate in the game?! Isn’t this just adding to the chaos?”

More and more questioning voices emerged from the crowd. They chattered away, sarcastically passing the buck, as if everyone was preparing to blame Zheng Yingxiong for the failure of this game.

Tiantian quickly pulled Zheng Yingxiong behind her, then raised a pair of eyes filled with compassion to confront the crowd.

She had always known that human nature was like this.

When something happened that damaged their own interests, most people would first find someone to blame rather than reflect on where they themselves fell short.

Right now, Zheng Yingxiong was everyone’s punching bag. If not controlled, an unpredictable outcome could very likely occur.

“Are you all fucking sick?!” Xiao Cheng really couldn’t hold back anymore and cursed loudly. “This child is stronger than all of you! He was the first to see the game’s solution method—what were you all doing then?!”

“No matter what solution method he mentioned, if he stood wrong, then he stood wrong!” A man who looked about thirty years old argued forcefully. “We only look at the results. If we follow his suggestion and then we all stand wrong, what should we do?!”

“Don’t you have a fucking brain?!” Xiao Cheng shouted angrily. “Can’t you think for yourself whether this solution method is right or wrong?!”

His voice was very loud, overwhelming the thirty-something man in terms of momentum.

At this moment, Tiantian felt slightly more at ease. She remembered the scene when Xiao Cheng had resisted those two middle-aged men earlier. Although this young man wasn’t very old, at least he could distinguish right from wrong and dared to stand out at critical moments.

“It’s okay!” Zheng Yingxiong’s childish voice suddenly came from behind Tiantian. “Everyone, please don’t argue.”

Upon hearing the voice, Tiantian immediately turned around to try to stop Zheng Yingxiong, but Zheng Yingxiong calmly shook his head at her and said quietly, “I can handle this.”

“But…”

“Please don’t.” Zheng Yingxiong immediately extended his tender palm and gently placed it over Tiantian’s mouth. “Sister, you don’t need to intervene. I won’t let this kind of thing happen again.”

“What…?”

He walked around Tiantian and stood before the crowd, his voice loud and full of momentum as he said, “Everyone, there’s no need to argue because of me! If there’s anything, you can come talk to me!”

The crowd didn’t expect this child would suddenly say such words and were momentarily stunned in place.

“There’s no need for any argument about this matter!” Zheng Yingxiong said with a serious face. “It’s my problem. I failed to protect everyone! You don’t need to blame others, and you don’t need to blame yourselves. Any dissatisfaction can be directed at me—even if you kill me, it’s fine!”

As soon as these words fell, everyone fell silent.

“I won’t hide, I won’t run away, and I won’t have any complaints!” Zheng Yingxiong shouted forcefully and powerfully. “If there needs to be someone in this world to bear the mistakes, then it’s best that it be me! But you must not argue because of me. The purpose of everything we do is to be able to escape from here!”

After finishing his words, Zheng Yingxiong removed the newspaper crown from his head and carefully placed it on the ground beside him. Then he half-knelt down and lowered his head, like a great knight.

“My head is here. You can cut it off at any time,” Zheng Yingxiong said in a deep voice. “But everyone must promise me to exchange my death for your unity—that way I’ll feel that I’ve died a worthy death!”

Zheng Yingxiong’s successive words caused several people present to show expressions of being at a loss.

It was clearly just losing a game, yet what this child said was really too serious.

“It’s… not that serious either.” The thirty-something man said. “What killing or not killing—isn’t it just a game? I can still afford to lose one ‘Dao.'”

Everyone also nodded in agreement at this moment. “That’s right, forget it.”

Xiao Cheng and Tiantian looked at each other. No one knew what exactly had happened to this child, but they only heard the crowd whisper among themselves for a while before leaving Man-Monkey’s game venue one after another.

It seemed they neither planned to pursue the matter further nor wanted to play another round of the game.

Seeing everyone depart, Zheng Yingxiong gradually revealed a lonely expression, then looked at the crown beside him and murmured to himself.

“Sister, I can do it now.”

Seeing this, Xiao Cheng quickly stepped forward to help Zheng Yingxiong up, while Tiantian also walked over to pick up the crown and place it on his head. The three of them didn’t know what to do at this moment.

Tiantian looked at Man-Monkey in the distance and asked quietly, “Xiao Cheng, are you still planning to participate in this game one more time? We paid one ‘Dao’—if we win, we’ll have six in total.”

“No…” Xiao Cheng shook his head helplessly. “Although it’s a bit inappropriate to say this, this game is really too simple. It can’t give me the feeling of a ‘brainstorm.'”