The three people who walked out of the chess club could not calm down for a long time. Although the one who died was the Human Pig, no matter how you looked at it, the Human Pig was a human of flesh and blood. He was not a monster, not a madman, and certainly not the utterly evil organizer.
Qi Xia kept his head down, constantly pondering over something. Lin Qin followed closely beside him, never leaving his side. Old Lu kept looking back inside the room at this moment.
The corpse of the Human Pig lay there, but he seemed not to care about it at all, searching for something else instead.
"What's wrong?"
Qi Xia turned his head and asked.
"Well... although it is a bit inappropriate to say this right now," Old Lu said, "but you won the life gamble, so the other party's Dao is ours."
"Don't be silly," Qi Xia shook his head.
"The Human Pig could not possibly have any more Dao left. The ten he gave you was all he had."
"What?"
Old Lu's eyes widened, and then he shook his head in an exaggerated manner.
"Impossible, I don't believe it."
He hurriedly walked back into the room, trying his best not to look at the Human Pig's corpse, and started rummaging through the drawers. The originally clean and tidy chess club was turned upside down in just a short while. Just as Qi Xia had said, there was not a single Dao left here.
Qi Xia shook his head outside the door and said, "If he still had leftover Dao, why would he choose to gamble his life with us?"
"Isn't this damn well cheating?!"
Old Lu cursed in exasperation.
"He was trying to get something for nothing!"
"Getting something for nothing?"
Qi Xia could not quite understand Old Lu's train of thought.
"Didn't the other party pay with his life?"
"Uh... that is true too."
Old Lu put his palms together and bowed to the Human Pig's corpse.
"I spoke too fast, please do not take offense."
After bowing a few times, Old Lu still felt like he had taken a loss. After all, he did not want the other party's life either.
"I need to see if there is anything else of value."
Old Lu continued his search in the room. However, this place was inherently a rundown chess club. Aside from the chess pieces scattered everywhere, the only things that could be considered valuable were the tables, chairs, and benches.
"This is too much of a loss..."
Old Lu shook his head in frustration.
"Kid, we took too big of a loss! You almost died here, and in the end, we are leaving empty-handed."
Just as he was speaking, Old Lu suddenly saw the pig head mask that the Human Pig had left on the ground.
"The mask..."
Old Lu's mouth moved slightly, suddenly realizing something.
"Damn it... isn't this the most valuable thing?!"
Qi Xia frowned. He slowly stepped forward and asked, "What are you going to do?"
"Run a business!"
Old Lu picked up the dirty, smelly mask from the ground, cradling it in his hands like a treasure.
"Kid Qi, with this mask, couldn't we run the business of the Go Club?!"
"What..."
Qi Xia's pupils shifted, feeling this was highly unreliable.
"Old Lu, you want to become the Human Pig?"
"Bah, screw being the Human Pig!"
Old Lu waved his hand.
"Impersonate! Don't you understand impersonation?"
"You..."
Old Lu raised the mask, pretending to wear it on his face, and then made a muffled voice, saying, "Oink oink, someone has finally come to play with me! Quick, distribute them! Quick, distribute them!"
Qi Xia kept frowning. This whole thing sounded far too dangerous. The Zodiac were under the unified management of those administrators.
How could they be casually impersonated by anyone?
"Old Lu, you should know that killing a person to seize their Dao is not allowed, right?"
Qi Xia asked.
"I heard Zhang Shan mention it, but this isn't killing a person to seize their Dao."
Old Lu pushed the mask forward.
"We were not the ones who killed him, and this is not a Dao either."
"That is not what I meant."
Qi Xia took the mask and placed it on the table.
"I advise you not to touch this thing. Put mildly, this is impersonation. Put severely, this is usurping authority. This is much more serious than killing a person to seize their Dao."
"Usurping authority?!"
Qi Xia nodded.
"Is there an assessment required to become a Zodiac? What are the rules for designing a game? If you put on this mask without figuring out these questions, I am afraid you will face punishment from the administrators."
Old Lu looked a bit disappointed after hearing this. Just a moment ago, he could already picture the wonderful scene of himself raking in dozens of Dao every day, but that dream was shattered in the blink of an eye.
"Kid Qi, are you being too cautious?"
Old Lu asked reluctantly.
"Maybe anyone who wants to wear this mask can wear it, as long as they can come up with a challenge."
"I do not know," Qi Xia said.
"I am just giving you my opinion. If you still want to wear this mask, I will not stop you. But before you do, tell me the whereabouts of those two people first."
Old Lu thought it over carefully, then said to Qi Xia, "Wait a minute." After saying that, he twisted his plump body and scurried around the room holding the mask. In no time, he found a corner piled high with discarded table boards.
He hid the mask behind the boards, then carefully covered it layer by layer with scraps and debris.
"I will hide it here for now. A man should always keep a backup plan, after all..."
Old Lu clapped the dust off his hands, turned back, and said, "Kid Qi, I am a man of my word. I will never break a promise. Come with me!"
The three of them left the nerve-wracking chess club and headed out onto the ruined street. Old Lu led them back the way they had come.
"By the way, Kid Qi, why didn't you choose me back there?"
Old Lu asked.
"What?"
"When we were doing the truths and lies."
Old Lu scratched his chubby face.
"You chose this little girl named Lin Qin, why didn't you choose me?"
Qi Xia said helplessly, "To tell you the truth, I feel that Lin Qin is a bit smarter than you."
"Pfft..."
Lin Qin, who had been feeling a bit sad just moments ago, suddenly burst into laughter. Even though Qi Xia was a con man, there were many times when he simply did not lie at all.
"What kind of talk is that..."
Old Lu was a bit speechless.
"Kid Qi, you don't know me. I get smarter when it comes to the critical moments."
"Right," Qi Xia nodded.
"At critical moments, you even thought of grabbing the iron plate and hiding in the corner."
"Eh?"
Old Lu was suddenly caught off guard, his expression turning a bit awkward.
"You can't blame me for that. At the time, I didn't know you had such good ideas."
"Fair enough. We are even," Qi Xia said.
Old Lu gave a helpless shrug, then looked at the aluminum pot that Lin Qin had been holding the whole time. He asked, "Did you guys eat this bear meat?"
"We did," Lin Qin replied.
"It tasted absolutely awful."
"Sigh..."
Old Lu nodded, looking a bit down.
"Even though the bear meat tastes awful, it can at least fill your stomach. It is a pity that Zhang Shan didn't get to eat any. In the end, he still died a starving ghost."
"Why didn't he eat it?"
Lin Qin asked absentmindedly. The next second, her eyes suddenly widened. Qi Xia also realized something.
The two of them looked at Old Lu in unison.
"Died a starving ghost?"
Old Lu's eyes looked despondent. He let out a sigh and said, "Zhang Shan is dead."
"Dead?!" the two of them exclaimed in unison.
"Yeah... otherwise, why would I have come out alone?"