“How could he be dead?!” Qi Xia said in disbelief. “He was fine when we parted yesterday.”

“I also find it very strange.” Old Lu said. “Could it be excessive blood loss? He was still talking and laughing before going to sleep last night, but this morning he didn’t wake up.”

Qi Xia’s pupils contracted slightly, sensing something inexplicably eerie about this matter.

Although Zhang Shan had been injured, it clearly wasn’t fatal. From Lin Qin and Tiantian’s descriptions, the black bear had only caused him some superficial wounds without injuring his internal organs.

So how could he have died in his sleep?

“Did he sustain any other injuries?” Lin Qin asked. “For instance, being stabbed by a blade or sword in the early morning…”

“No.” Old Lu shook his head somewhat sadly. “But I can’t say for sure either. After all, we’re not forensic doctors. We only know that Zhang Shan stopped moving, stopped breathing, and his heart stopped beating too.”

Qi Xia stroked his chin, feeling that this matter was most likely related to “Xiao Xiao.”

In Earth-Ox’s game, Qiao Jiajin and Zhang Shan were undoubtedly the two most outstanding people. Without the two of them, it would have been impossible for so many people to survive these two rounds of games.

Yet in just one night, both of them had perished.

If it wasn’t Xiao Xiao’s doing, then it must have been Earth-Ox’s.

“Are you playing dirty…” Qi Xia muttered through gritted teeth, his eyes carrying a trace of coldness.

“Who? Me?” Old Lu was startled.

“No…” Qi Xia felt an ominous premonition in his heart. Following this trend, fewer and fewer people would have hope of clearing the game.

Thinking this, he turned to Old Lu and said, “Old Lu, since your ‘organization’ is no more, can you tell me about escaping from this place?”

“No more?” Old Lu scratched his head awkwardly. “You can’t really say it’s gone… It’s just that with Zhang Shan dead, I can’t stay there anymore…”

“Hm?” Qi Xia didn’t understand. “Isn’t Zhang Shan your leader?”

“Not quite.” Old Lu shook his head. “Our leader isn’t Zhang Shan. He was the third-ranking figure in the organization.”

“Third-ranking figure?”

“Yes.” Old Lu continued. “Our organization is called ‘Tiantangkou.’ There are about twenty people. The leader is called ‘Chu Tianqiu,’ a very intelligent man. The second-in-command is called ‘Yun Yao.’ Her luck is very good—she often wins when gambling—and she’s extremely beautiful. I heard she was a celebrity before coming here. As for Zhang Shan, because he used to be a soldier, he mostly chose ‘Ox-type’ games…”

“Wait, wait a moment…” Qi Xia felt like he had discovered some loophole and hastily interrupted Old Lu. “You said your organization has twenty people?!”

“It’s probably less than twenty now… With Zhang Shan dead, those of us who are ‘useless’ got kicked out…”

“That’s not the issue!” Qi Xia said with a puzzled expression. “Old Lu, which day did you arrive at this place?”

“Two days ago.” Old Lu said without hesitation. “Aren’t you the same?”

Qi Xia was even more confused now. “We did arrive two days ago, but I still don’t understand… In just two short days you were able to establish an organization? You even divided it among three leaders? Can you really trust each other?”

After saying this, Qi Xia shook his head again. “No… that’s not right. You already had an organization yesterday. In other words, you established this thing called ‘Tiantangkou’ on the first day?!”

“Yes.” Old Lu nodded seriously. “This was all Chu Tianqiu’s idea. On the first day, he didn’t participate in any games. Instead, he rushed around to various corners of the city searching for strong people. Since Little Glasses, Zhang Shan, and I walked out of the same room, we joined him together. But now that Zhang Shan is dead, I…”

“Hold on…” Qi Xia raised his hand to interrupt Old Lu again. “You’re saying this man called Chu Tianqiu gathered twenty people in one day?”

“Yes.” Old Lu looked at Qi Xia earnestly. “That’s why I say Chu Tianqiu is very intelligent.”

“But why would you believe him?” Qi Xia said in confusion. “When encountering a stranger who comes to form a team, shouldn’t you be skeptical?”

“Because Zhang Shan believed him.” Old Lu explained. “I don’t know what he said to Zhang Shan in private, but in any case, after thinking for a few minutes, Zhang Shan brought Little Glasses and me to join ‘Tiantangkou’ together. But I have to say, the people there are all quite decent. Comparatively, I’m the most useless one.”

Qi Xia looked at Old Lu incredulously, as if judging whether what he said was true or false.

If there really was something like “Tiantangkou,” if there really was someone as formidable as “Chu Tianqiu,” why would he be fine?

If the “Zodiacs” truly wanted to eliminate capable participants, the first one to be eliminated should be the leader Chu Tianqiu.

“Didn’t Little Glasses come with you?” Qi Xia asked again.

“No.” Old Lu seemed somewhat dejected. “Little Glasses is stronger than me, so he stayed at ‘Tiantangkou.’ He’s been good at studying since he was young, unlike me—I’ve been selling socks at a street stall for over twenty years.”

Qi Xia nodded. It seemed that although Zhang Shan had died, nothing had changed.

This organization called “Tiantangkou” still held the method to escape from this place.

The “notebook for escaping this place” that Zhang Shan had mentioned should be with the leader. With Old Lu’s status, it was impossible for him to know the detailed contents.

Qi Xia gradually clarified his own objective.

After finding Officer Li this time, he would try to team up with him, since Officer Li was one of the few people Qi Xia could trust.

Then they could volunteer themselves to “Tiantangkou.” On one hand, they could pursue the method of “escape,” and on the other hand, if there really was a group of formidable people there, Qi Xia wouldn’t mind participating in these life-threatening games together with them.

As Qi Xia was thinking, the three of them passed the intersection with the “S” and “Z” written on it.

Old Lu led the two of them directly in the opposite direction.

Lin Qin was startled and turned to Qi Xia, saying, “So we went in the wrong direction? Those ‘S’ and ‘Z’ weren’t left by them?”

“I don’t know.” Qi Xia shook his head.

Old Lu heard the two’s conversation and glanced from afar at those two characters that looked like both letters and numbers.

“‘S’ and ‘Z’?” Old Lu hesitated. “Isn’t that ’52’?”

“You know what this means?” Qi Xia asked again.

“I don’t know what it means exactly, but I’ve seen such numbers in many places.” Old Lu said. “Maybe they’re numbers for helping people remember routes? For instance, this place might be called ’52nd Street’ or something like that.”

When Qi Xia learned that these two symbols had nothing to do with Officer Li, he no longer cared about their meaning.

After all, there were too many puzzling things here—there was simply no time to investigate them one by one.

“We’re almost there. It’s just ahead.” Old Lu quickened his pace.