Chapter 34: My Tactics
Qi Xia grabbed his own hair tightly, patiently waiting for that wave of headache to fade.
After about half a minute, his breathing steadied, and he slowly lowered his hands before standing up.
His expression was as if nothing had happened.
That headache was like a gust of wind passing by him—fierce in its arrival, yet always fading away at some point without a trace.
Lin Ju glanced at Qi Xia and asked, "Are... are you okay? Do you often get headaches?"
"No, this is only the second time since I can remember." Qi Xia sighed. "I'm guessing it has something to do with this damn place."
Lin Ju wanted to ask more, but it seemed Qi Xia wasn't interested in dwelling on the subject.
"Our time is very tight. Even if there were bugs crawling in my brain, I wouldn't get a diagnosis here." Qi Xia looked up at the dark red sky and continued, "Thanks to that little girl, we now know a lot of useful information."
"Do we?" Tian Tian glanced at the corpse of the man-rat on the ground, her expression still somewhat sad. "I feel like the only useful piece of information was about the rules of 'Bet Your Life.' That child lost her life because of it."
"Not just that," Qi Xia said. "I originally thought this place was full of chaos and madness, but now it seems there are also 'rules' of its own here."
"'Rules'...?"
"Exactly." Qi Xia nodded. "That man called 'Zhuque' should be one of the administrators here."
"Administrator? You mean that 'birdman'?" Qiao Jiajin asked.
"Yes. He showed up to ensure the 'rules' weren't broken."
"But why doesn't the administrator wear clothes..." Tian Tian was puzzled. "He was naked except for a cape. He looked really weird."
"Compared to all his other bizarre behaviors, 'not wearing clothes' is the most normal thing," Qi Xia paused, then added, "This is just the clue we've seen with our own eyes. There might be others above the 'administrators.'"
Lin Ju seemed to have thought of something: "Oh... that man named Zhuque once said something like, 'If not for the rules restricting me, I would kill you for sure.'"
Qiao Jiajin also nodded. "Being able to restrain a lunatic with special abilities like that—I bet the people above him are even more terrifying."
"'Special abilities'?" Qi Xia furrowed his brow. "I haven't heard that term in a long time."
"Isn't that a special ability? Just like the Terminator." Qiao Jiajin gestured. "That guy was flying in the sky!"
Hearing this, all three of them paused.
"What does 'Terminator' mean?" Lin Ju looked at Qiao Jiajin curiously.
"With how fashionable you dress, you turn out to be a country bumpkin?" Qiao Jiajin grinned foolishly. "You've never even seen the Terminator?"
"Fa... fashionable?" Lin Ju opened her mouth awkwardly. Those two words could only be heard from the older generation nowadays—just being able to say them was already old-fashioned enough.
Yet she was being looked down upon by this guy.
Qiao Jiajin elbowed Qi Xia and asked, "Conman, you've seen it, right? Arnold Schwarzenegger—damn cool!"
"Arnold Schwarzenegger...?" Lin Ju felt like she'd heard the name, but also like she hadn't.
"I don't care about the 'Terminator' or Schwarzenegger, and I don't care how unbelievable that birdman is," Qi Xia said steadily. "Right now, I only want to know how broad the scope of the 'rules' is, and to what extent they can regulate."
The three didn't understand what Qi Xia meant and exchanged glances.
"Conman, what are you going to do?"
Qi Xia slowly raised his hand and gestured across his own throat, saying to them, "I want to know if 'killing to take Dao' is feasible."
As soon as he said this, Lin Ju and Tian Tian each stepped back.
Only Qiao Jiajin stayed put.
"Killing to take 'Dao'?" Qiao Jiajin furrowed his brow, his expression extremely serious. "You mean... if you can't gather three thousand six hundred 'Dao' within ten days, you're going to take others'?"
"Yes, that's the most effective method I can think of," Qi Xia said. "Now that we're a team, if we're going to accomplish something this big, I'll need your help. So I'm laying out the plan now and want to hear what you think."
"I won't help you." Qiao Jiajin shook his head decisively. "Even if the sky falls in this place, I won't do anything unrighteous. Those who have 'Dao' are probably just like us—barely surviving after countless hardships. What reason do we have to kill them?"
"Is that so..." Qi Xia nodded with a complicated expression. "But if we want to escape this damn place, this might be the only way. That's three thousand six hundred 'Dao'... you really don't want to give it a try?"
"I refuse too," Lin Ju also spoke up. "I don't think this idea is good. If we really kill someone, even if we manage to get out of here, we'll never be able to live the same life as before."
Tian Tian thought for a moment and said, "Yeah, if it means killing someone else, I'd rather die first."
Qi Xia looked into the eyes of the three, pondered for a long moment, and then the corner of his mouth lifted slightly:
"Good. Now I can safely tell you my real plan."
"What..." Qiao Jiajin was taken aback. "Aw, hell, Conman—you were testing us?!"
Qi Xia nodded. "If the three of you could accept a plan like 'killing to take Dao,' it would only prove we're not the same kind of people. I would have abandoned you at any time."
"You..." Qiao Jiajin was almost pissed to death by Qi Xia. "I thought you were really going to kill someone."
"Logically speaking, the 'rules' wouldn't allow 'killing to take Dao' to happen," Qi Xia explained. "Although I'm not sure what exactly the rules here are, they seem to maintain a kind of 'strange fairness.' Those administrators are more like 'referees.' If they really are 'referees,' then they must ensure the safety of the participants."
He paused, then added, "In other words... they want us to die in the games, not by killing each other."
Everyone fell silent for a moment after hearing Qi Xia's words.
After a while, Lin Ju came back to her senses and asked, "Then, what is your real plan?"
"My plan isn't complicated," Qi Xia replied. "Since these games won't cost us our lives, we'll go and 'test' them one by one. You guys figure out the rules of the games and gather clues along the way. Once we're confident enough... I'll go 'bet my life.' In the end, we'll split all the 'Dao' we get equally. Before we reach three thousand six hundred, we can keep using this tactic."