The earthy yellow sun belonging to the second day once again climbed into the dark red sky. It should have been another foul-smelling and peaceful day, but Lin Qin and Zhang Chenze inside the massage parlor were in a panic. Because Qi Xia was gone.
They had searched every corner of the massage parlor and could even feel the chill of Qi Xia’s blood on the bed, blown cold by the wind, but there was no sign of him. At the deepest end of the corridor, that native was still massaging the dried corpse, making them feel extremely uneasy.
“He’s gone…”
Zhang Chenze said, looking despondently toward the door.
“Just like he said, he was tired. He gave up.”
“N-No way, right?”
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 here.”
Zhang Chenze picked up the small cloth bag from the bed and waved it at Lin Qin.
“Qi Xia didn’t take a single ‘Dao’. How could he participate in a game?”
Lin Qin was at a loss for words, completely unsure of what to say. Where could Qi Xia have gone? He was so injured and had no ‘Dao’ on him.
What could he possibly do, dragging that severely wounded body around?
“Lawyer Zhang, are you willing to participate in a game with me?”
Lin Qin steadied herself and spoke slowly.
“The two of us?”
Zhang Chenze was slightly taken aback.
“Are you confident?”
“I’m definitely not as strong as Qi Xia, so we’ll try to find some Human-tier games. If we win, it’s a gain, and if we lose, at least we won’t die. If Qi Xia ever comes back, we’ll have enough ‘Dao’ to welcome him again.”
Zhang Chenze pondered for a moment after hearing this, then nodded. Could Qi Xia really come back? With only seven days left until the annihilation, Qi Xia’s injuries would only worsen over the next few days; there was no way they could heal.
Would he really come back? The two of them packed their things and walked out of the massage parlor, facing the brand-new sun. ... Qi Xia held a map drawn in blood, staggering down the street.
He had never imagined that losing so much blood would make his hands and feet disobey him. After walking for just over an hour, his head was already covered in a cold sweat. He looked down at the map in his hand, knowing this was his last hope.
Heaven’s Gate.
After a few days of probing, Qi Xia already had a general grasp of the situation here. Trying to collect two thousand six hundred ‘Dao’ in these games was about as difficult as ascending to the heavens on the spot. After all, the rewards for each game were far too scarce.
Even if the rewards in Human-tier games could be increased by gambling one’s life with the Zodiacs, there was no such opportunity in Earth-tier games, and participants themselves would face mortal danger. In other words, whether it was a Human-tier or an Earth-tier game, one had to unhesitatingly risk their life to gain a substantial return.
The most dangerous game Qi Xia had seen so far was the Earth Bull’s black bear hunt. If not for the presence of Qiao Jiajin and Zhang Shan, that game would have been a certain death. Yet in such a perilous situation, each person could only get twenty ‘Dao’ at most.
If Qi Xia really wanted to collect ‘Dao’ by participating in games, he would need to play one hundred and eighty games as dangerous as the Earth Bull’s, and win every single one. How many people would die in the process? How many injuries would he sustain?
And what confidence did he have that he could last until the very end? Qi Xia had calculated for an entire night but couldn’t figure out his chances of survival. After thinking it over and over, Heaven’s Gate was the only and best place to go.
Zhang Shan had once said that they had seen someone escape from this place and had even found the "escaper's" notes, which were now in the hands of their leader, Chu Tianqiu. Qi Xia followed the map Zhang Shan had left him and finally arrived at the headquarters of Heaven’s Gate at noon. It was an abandoned school.
Since the school’s sign was already dilapidated, Qi Xia couldn't tell if it was an elementary or a middle school. All he could see were the teaching building and basketball court that came into view. A young man stood outside the school gate, warily scanning his surroundings.
He wore a sports tank top and had his hair in braids, looking to be only fifteen or sixteen years old. Qi Xia re-tightened the bandage on his shoulder and walked toward the young man before him. Seeing someone approach, the young man heightened his guard and asked, “Good people?”
“Good people?”
Qi Xia found the young man’s accent a bit strange, but he could only nod.
“I am good people.”
“You… need help like that?”
Not only was the young man’s accent strange, but his grammar was also very odd.
“I…”
Qi Xia thought carefully for a moment before speaking, “I want to see Chu Tianqiu.”
“See Brother Chu…”
The young man frowned slightly.
“May I ask your name?”
“Qi Xia.”
The young man thought for a moment, nodded at Qi Xia, and said, “Brother, please wait a moment.” He walked inside the school gate, locked it, and then ran quickly toward the teaching building. In the southernmost classroom on the first floor, a man in a black shirt and glasses was writing something furiously on the blackboard.
Not far from him, an exceptionally beautiful woman sat at a desk, painting her nails.
“Brother Chu! Sister Yun Yao!” the boy with the braids called out from the doorway.
“Come in,” Yun Yao said nonchalantly without even looking up.
The boy pushed the door open and came in. He looked at the two of them, bowed, and said to the man in the black shirt, “Brother Chu, there’s a person outside who wants to see you like that.” Chu Tianqiu continued writing and asked casually, “What’s his name?”
“Qi Xia.”
“Qi Xia?”
Chu Tianqiu’s hand paused, and he took two steps to his left. He searched for something among the densely packed words on the blackboard. Soon, he found the line of text.
“Number: 87, The Liar, spring bamboo after rain, Death from Above, Cunning Snake.”
He drew a horizontal line under this text and lowered his head in thought.
“What’s wrong?”
Yun Yao asked from the side.
“You’ve heard this name before?”
“This is an extremely formidable character.”
Chu Tianqiu smiled slightly.
“The two Zodiacs in charge of the interview for Number 87 were both on the verge of stepping into the ‘Earth’ tier. What kind of game do you think they would design?”
Yun Yao was also slightly stunned to hear this.
“Wouldn’t that be an interview where everyone is wiped out?”
“No.” Chu Tianqiu shook his head.
“Because of this young man named Qi Xia, nine people survived this interview.”
“Everyone survived? Is such a thing possible?”
Yun Yao raised her bright eyes to look at Chu Tianqiu, and then suddenly thought of something.
“Qi Xia, isn’t he that good person little glasses has been talking about these past two days?”
The braided-haired teenager seemed to understand something. He nodded and said, “Brother Chu, I’ll bring the person in now like that.”
“No…”
Chu Tianqiu raised a hand to stop the boy and said, “Jin Yuanxun, go ask him a question for me.”
“A question?”
“Mhm.”
Chu Tianqiu nodded.
“Help me ask that person named Qi Xia, ‘Which day did you arrive?’”
“Brother, but if I go ask him a question, will he not 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 named Jin Yuanxun was a bit confused, he knew that Chu Tianqiu was always thoughtful, so he could only nod and leave the room.
“I don’t quite understand.”
Yun Yao blew on her nails until they were dry, then twisted the cap back on the bottle.
“You clearly said that this Qi Xia is an ‘extremely formidable character,’ yet you don’t plan to recruit him under your banner?”
Chu Tianqiu smiled faintly.
“Yun Yao, this is precisely ‘king does not meet king.’”