Pain.
A pain that pierced deep into his bones. Qi Xia gritted his teeth and squatted on the ground, letting out a muffled groan of agony. He felt as if he truly had some severe psychological problem.
Every time someone died near him, his head would ache as if it were splitting apart. What exactly caused this? Could it be that just seeing a dead person would trigger this?
No, Qi Xia had already seen dead people several times in the game. It was not that every person's death would give him a headache. It took a full half minute before Qi Xia finally let out a long breath and stood up again, his face expressionless once more.
The three people outside the door finally noticed the situation inside the room. They rushed into the room one after another to check, only to find that Officer Li had already died with a cigarette dangling from his mouth. Zhang Chenze covered her mouth, wanting to cry bitterly but not daring to make a sound.
Son of a bitch... She slowly walked to the corner, grabbed her hair, and squatted down. Her originally overly standard Mandarin had now turned into a local dialect.
What kind of thing is this... What the hell is going on... Her emotions seemed very unstable, as if she had suffered a huge shock.
Before Qi Xia could even open his mouth to speak, the sound of a bell rang out once again in the distance.
Clang!
Lin Qin and Old Lu were startled and looked in the direction the sound came from. Although neither of them knew what the bell sound represented, they had already heard this sound many times when someone died.
Lin Qin steadied her mind, went to Lawyer Zhang's side, gently patted her shoulder, and then said, Lawyer Zhang, you need to pull yourself together. How can I pull myself together... Lawyer Zhang raised her head with a haggard face, her eyes filled with despair.
Officer Li died for me... He died to save me... What exactly happened?
Lin Qin held Lawyer Zhang's ice-cold hands. At a time like this, do not keep it bottled up inside, tell me about it. She seemed to know very well how to talk to people who had lost control of their emotions.
Just a few short sentences made Lawyer Zhang relax her guard. It was all because of that rabbit... Lawyer Zhang shook her head.
That crazy rabbit... She wanted both of our lives... If it were not for Officer Li, we both would have died...
They are all lunatics... In their eyes, there is absolutely no law... Lawyer Zhang slowly recounted the things that happened after Qi Xia and the others left.
The encounter of the two was different from what Qi Xia had deduced. It was not Officer Li who discovered the game mode of this hellish place, but rather Lawyer Zhang. After Qi Xia's group of four left, Lawyer Zhang decisively started chatting with the bull-headed man opposite the convenience store.
Just as she herself had said, she needed to gather enough intelligence in order to make the correct judgment. After learning that the game in this place would not cost lives, but instead offered a chance to win Dao, she explained the situation to Officer Li, Xiao Ran, and Doctor Zhao.
However, among the three, only Officer Li supported her view and decided to take their only remaining piece of Dao to make a gamble. This course of action met with strong opposition from Xiao Ran. Even though she knew clearly that Dao was the chips used to participate in the game, she insisted on keeping the Dao by her side.
She would rather let this sliver of an opportunity go to waste than allow it to be taken for a gamble. Officer Li, mindful of the fact that the other party was a weak woman, kept trying to persuade her with gentle words. But Lawyer Zhang did not coddle her.
After a few exchanges of clear logic and sharp words, she left Xiao Ran completely speechless. After all, when it came to arguing, how could a kindergarten teacher possibly out-argue a lawyer? The one who designed the game opposite the convenience store was Human Bull.
It was a game so simple it could not be simpler, an obstacle course race. Inside the restaurant, there were many scrapped tires and tall wooden walls set up. As long as one could complete the course within the specified time, they could win two pieces of Dao.
This game was practically tailor-made for Officer Li. He originally came from a police academy background, and obstacle course racing was something he practiced often during his student days. Although he was a bit out of practice after so many years, completing the course within the specified time was still more than easy for him.
The ticket was one piece of Dao, and winning would earn two pieces of Dao. Officer Li seemed to have found some kind of loophole. He participated three times in a row, and the Dao between the two of them also became four pieces.
It was not until he truly had no physical strength left that the two of them left the game venue. This experience greatly boosted their confidence, and they believed they had a good chance of collecting enough Dao before meeting Qi Xia. Later, they stumbled by mistake and arrived at the game venue of Human Rabbit.
That was an escape-type game. They originally thought the difficulty of this game would not be too high either. In a modestly sized room, the two were trapped in two separate corners of the room.
Lawyer Zhang was tied up inside a giant transparent fish tank, and the fish tank was filling with water. Meanwhile, Officer Li was handcuffed to the wall on the other side of the room. By his hand, there was only a wooden stick.
The key to Officer Li's handcuffs was placed inside Lawyer Zhang's fish tank. And the switch for the water filling Lawyer Zhang's fish tank was not far from Officer Li. Both of them had the means to save the other at hand.
However, Lawyer Zhang was bound by iron wires. She could not untie the ropes at all, nor could she throw the handcuff key out of the fish tank. Although Officer Li was very close to the water valve switch, his right hand was locked up, keeping him constantly two steps away from the water valve.
Neither of them could save the other right away. Just how cruel was this game? It was not an escape-type game at all, but an absolute game of testing human nature.
It looked like both of them were trapped and needed to escape on their own, but thinking about it carefully, Officer Li's situation was completely different from Zhang Chenze's. As time passed, Zhang Chenze would definitely drown, but Officer Li would not. He would be perfectly safe even if he stayed there for a whole day.
Zhang Chenze said without hiding anything, At that moment, I thought I was dead for sure. Next, Officer Li tried many methods to break free from the handcuffs. For him, ordinary handcuffs were not hard to open, but he did not have any lock-picking tools at hand.
The only useful thing was that single wooden stick. Officer Li was really so foolish... Zhang Chenze sobbed and lowered her head.
Why did he not throw the wooden stick over and smash the fish tank...? Instead, he broke his own... After hearing this, Qi Xia sighed helplessly.
He went through an internal struggle.
What?
Zhang Chenze raised her lifeless eyes. Are you saying this was the result of his consideration?
Yes.
Qi Xia nodded. He must have known that using the wooden stick to smash the glass was not a wise choice. But he did not even try...
Zhang Chenze started crying again. He clearly could have given it a try... What if he had tried?
Qi Xia said. If that wooden stick did not smash the glass, but instead fell next to the fish tank... what would you two have done then? Zhang Chenze choked up.
Qi Xia's question hit the nail on the head. If that wooden stick failed to shatter the fish tank and instead fell far away, the two of them would have completely lost all hope of escaping from there. Amidst Zhang Chenze's look of shock, Officer Li used that wooden stick to smash his own hand.