The earth-yellow sun belonging to the third day climbed once more into the dark red sky. It should have been another day of foul stench and calm, yet inside the massage parlor, Lin Qin and Zhang Chenze were in a panic.
Because Qi Xia had disappeared.
They had searched every corner of the massage parlor and could even feel Qi Xia’s blood on the bed, blown cold by the wind, but there was no trace of him anywhere.
At the deepest part of the corridor, that native resident was still massaging the mummified corpse, making them feel extremely uneasy.
“He left…” Zhang Chenze looked toward the direction outside the door with a sense of loss. “Just like he said himself, he’s tired and has given up.”
“No, that can’t be…” Lin Qin found it hard to believe. “Maybe he was too worried about us, so he went to participate in a game by himself…”
“All twenty ‘Dao’ are still here.” Zhang Chenze picked up the small cloth pouch on the bed and waved it at Lin Qin. “Qi Xia didn’t take a single ‘Dao’ with him, so how could he participate in any games?”
Lin Qin was momentarily at a loss for words, completely unsure of what to say.
Where could Qi Xia have gone?
He was injured now, had no ‘Dao’ on him, and what could he possibly do dragging around that heavily wounded body?
“Lawyer Zhang, would you be willing to participate in games with me?” Lin Qin steadied her mind and said slowly.
“Just the two of us?” Zhang Chenze was slightly startled. “Are you confident?”
“I’m definitely not as capable as Qi Xia, so we’ll try to find some ‘Human-level’ games. If we win, we’ll profit, and if we lose, we won’t die. If one day Qi Xia can come back, we’ll also have enough ‘Dao’ to welcome him again.”
After hearing this, Zhang Chenze pondered for a moment, then nodded.
Could Qi Xia really come back?
With only seven days remaining until annihilation, Qi Xia’s injuries would only worsen over the next few days and couldn’t possibly heal completely.
Could he really come back?
The two packed up their belongings and walked out of the massage parlor toward the brand new sun.
…
Qi Xia held a map drawn in blood in his hand, staggering along the street.
He had never imagined that excessive blood loss would make his hands and feet disobedient. After walking for just over an hour, he was already covered in cold sweat.
He looked down at the map in his hand, knowing this was his last hope.
“Heaven’s Mouth.”
After three days of testing, Qi Xia had a general understanding of the situation here.
Trying to collect three thousand six hundred ‘Dao’ through these games was no different in difficulty from ascending to heaven from where he stood.
After all, the rewards for each game were far too meager.
Even though ‘Human-level’ games could expand profits by betting one’s life with the zodiac animals, ‘Earth-level’ games had no opportunity to bet one’s life at all—participants would encounter life-threatening dangers within the games themselves.
In other words, whether it was ‘Human-level’ or ‘Earth-level’ games, to obtain substantial profits, one had to stake their life without hesitation.
Currently, the most dangerous game Qi Xia had encountered came from Earth-Ox’s Black Bear Hunt. If it weren’t for the presence of Qiao Jiajin and Zhang Shan, it would have been an almost certain death game.
Yet in such a dangerous situation, each person could only obtain at most twenty ‘Dao.’
If Qi Xia truly wanted to collect ‘Dao’ by participating in games, then games as dangerous as Earth-Ox’s would need to be completed consecutively one hundred eighty times in a “complete victory” state.
How many people would die during this period? How many injuries would be sustained?
And what assurance did he have that he could hold on until the very last moment?
Qi Xia had calculated all night long but couldn’t figure out the probability of his survival.
Thinking it over and over, only “Heaven’s Mouth” was the best destination.
Zhang Shan had once said that they had seen someone escape from this place and had even found the “Escapee’s” notebook. The notebook was now in the hands of their leader, Chu Tianqiu.
Qi Xia followed the map Zhang Shan had left behind and continued forward, finally arriving at “Heaven’s Mouth” headquarters at noon.
This was an abandoned school.
Since the school’s nameplate had already deteriorated, Qi Xia couldn’t tell whether it was an elementary or middle school. He could only see the teaching building and basketball court that came into view.
A man stood outside the school gate, vigilantly watching his surroundings.
He wore a sports tank top with his hair tied in a braid, and appeared to be only fifteen or sixteen years old.
Qi Xia tightened the bandages on his shoulder and walked toward the young man before him.
Seeing someone approach, the young man heightened his vigilance and asked, “Good person?”
“Good person?” Qi Xia felt the man’s accent was somewhat strange, but could only nod. “I am a good person.”
“You… need help like that?”
Not only was the man’s accent strange, but his grammar was odd too.
“I…” Qi Xia thought carefully for a moment before speaking. “I want to see Chu Tianqiu.”
“See Brother Chu…” The man furrowed his brow slightly. “May I ask your name?”
“Qi Xia.”
The young man thought for a moment, nodded at Qi Xia, and said, “Brother, wait a moment.”
He walked through the school gate, then locked the main door, and quickly ran toward the teaching building.
In the southernmost classroom on the first floor, a man wearing a black shirt and glasses was writing something on the blackboard with scratching sounds.
Not far from him, an extremely beautiful woman sat in a seat painting her nails.
“Brother Chu! Sister Yun Yao!” The young man with the braid called out from the doorway.
“Come in.” Yun Yao didn’t even look up, speaking indifferently.
The young man pushed the door open, looked at the two of them, then bowed and said to the man in the black shirt, “Brother Chu, there’s someone outside who wants to see you like that.”
Chu Tianqiu continued writing, asking casually, “What’s the name?”
“Qi Xia.”
“Qi Xia?” Chu Tianqiu’s hand paused, then he moved two steps to the left.
He searched through the densely packed text on the blackboard for something.
Soon, he found that line of text.
“Number: 87, The Liar, Bamboo Shoots After Rain, Death From Above, Snake of Cunning.”
He drew a horizontal line under this text, then lowered his head in thought.
“What’s wrong?” Yun Yao beside him asked. “Have you heard this name before?”
“This is an extremely formidable person.” Chu Tianqiu smiled slightly. “The three zodiac animals responsible for interview number 87 are all people with one foot already in the ‘Earth’ level. What kind of game do you think they would design?”
After hearing this, Yun Yao was also slightly stunned. “Wouldn’t that be an interview with total casualties?”
“No.” Chu Tianqiu shook his head. “Because of this young man named ‘Qi Xia,’ nine people survived this interview.”
“Complete survival, such a thing exists?” Yun Yao lifted her bright eyes to look at Chu Tianqiu, suddenly thinking of something. “Isn’t ‘Qi Xia’ that good person that Little Glasses has been mentioning constantly these past two days?”
The young man with the braid seemed to understand something and nodded, saying, “Brother Chu, I’ll bring him in right now like that.”
“No…” Chu Tianqiu reached out to stop the young man, then said, “Jin Yuanxun, help me ask him a question.”
“A question?”
“Yes.” Chu Tianqiu nodded. “Help me ask that person named Qi Xia, ‘Which day did you arrive?'”
“Brother, but if I go ask him questions, will he be able to understand me like that?”
“It’s fine. You can take this opportunity to practice your Chinese.” Chu Tianqiu said with a smile.
Although the young man called Jin Yuanxun didn’t quite understand, he knew Chu Tianqiu was always deeply thoughtful, so he could only nod and leave the room.
“I don’t quite understand.” Yun Yao blew her nails dry, then capped the nail polish bottle. “You clearly said that person called Qi Xia is an ‘extremely formidable person,’ yet you’re not planning to bring him under your command?”
Chu Tianqiu smiled slightly. “Yun Yao, this is precisely ‘kings do not meet.'”