Chapter 48: Harvest
"What did you say?" Qi Xia's eyes widened. "You're saying... you've seen someone escape from here?"
"That's right." Zhang Shan nodded. "But to be precise... we only found that person's notes."
"This..." Qi Xia found this somewhat bizarre. "You only found someone's notes, and you determined that they escaped from here?"
Zhang Shan smiled and nodded, saying to Qi Xia, "Bro, let me make this clear first. If you want to join us, we can share this information with you. But right now... believe it or not, I've said what I needed to say."
Qi Xia more or less understood what Zhang Shan meant, but he simply couldn't determine whether the man was telling the truth or not.
Just then, a slightly chubby girl overheard Zhang Shan and came over. "Bro... are you still taking people in? I can do anything..."
Zhang Shan glanced at the girl and chuckled. "Miss, it's not that I don't want to take you in, but our goal is to 'conquer all the games.' Are you determined enough to face the dangers ahead?"
The chubby girl lowered her head in silence for a moment before speaking. "I can."
"Haha!" Zhang Shan clearly didn't believe her. He walked up slowly and said, "Miss, don't force yourself. Just stay alive."
The girl failed to convince Zhang Shan, and her expression darkened.
Seeing that no one else in the room was speaking, Zhang Shan looked at Qi Xia again. He pulled a scrap of paper from his pocket, dipped his finger in his own blood, and roughly sketched a map.
"This is where we are." Zhang Shan handed the scrap to Qi Xia. "If you change your mind, you can come find us."
Qi Xia took the paper, still eyeing the three of them warily. But Zhang Shan didn't mind. He put his arm around the bespectacled youth, picked up the two bear arms from the ground, and limped toward the door.
"Hey," Qi Xia called out.
"Hmm?"
Zhang Shan turned around just in time to see a white cloth bag flying toward his face. He reached out and caught it.
A cloth bag.
"I changed my mind. I'll only take half," Qi Xia said. "The one with glasses isn't bad. I don't want his 'Tao.'"
Zhang Shan looked at the bag in his hand, frozen for a few seconds, then burst into hearty laughter. "Hahaha! You're a real one!"
The bespectacled youth looked confused. "Huh? Why? I volunteered... before, you said..."
"I'm a liar," Qi Xia said coldly. "Don't trust my words."
"B-But, Mr. Liar..."
"My name is Qi Xia," he interrupted. "Don't call me Mr. Liar. It sounds awful."
"Qi Xia..." Zhang Shan repeated the name. "Interesting. I'll remember you."
With that, he raised one of the black bear's forelimbs and tossed it to the four of them.
"F**k me!" Qiao Jiajin was startled, but he still caught the furry severed limb.
He noticed it was unusually heavy, at least twenty or thirty pounds, and it was dripping blood in large splatters.
Zhang Shan said, "The three of us can't eat all of this, and it's heavy to carry. Help me get rid of it."
"Get rid of it?"
Zhang Shan waved his hand and turned away.
The four of them, including Qi Xia, didn't know what to say as they stared at the bear arm. They watched until Zhang Shan and the other two had left.
After a moment, the Bull Zodiac approached and handed them four dirty cloth bags.
"Take them."
Qi Xia and the others snapped back to reality and accepted their rewards.
This time, there was a huge amount of "Tao"—so much that they were a bit overwhelmed. Thanks to Zhang Shan, they also got their hands on some long-missed "food."
The chubby girl standing nearby glanced at Qi Xia and cautiously walked over. "Can I... join you guys? My teammates all died in the 'Interview'..."
Qi Xia seemed not to hear her. He weighed the cloth bag in his hand and said to the others, "Let's go."
Without another word, he turned and walked toward the exit, leaving the girl standing there awkwardly.
Qiao Jiajin shrugged helplessly at the girl. "Don't take it personally. He's always like this."
Seeing that Qiao Jiajin seemed easy to talk to, the girl grabbed his arm nervously. "Please, let me join you... I'm so scared right now..."
"Well..." Qiao Jiajin gave an apologetic smile. "That might work... pretty lady, how about you follow along for now..."
"Hey, Qiao Jiajin." Qi Xia had stopped in the distance and turned around. "Let's go."
Qiao Jiajin looked at Qi Xia and noticed he was frowning slightly.
"Oh, right. Coming." Qiao Jiajin seemed to understand. He nodded and turned back to say, "Pretty lady, not this time. Maybe next time."
With that, he also ignored the girl and walked toward the exit, just like Qi Xia.
The chubby girl watched Qiao Jiajin leave. Her formerly pitiful expression turned cold, gradually shifting into something sinister.
At this point, only she and the Bull Zodiac remained in the room; all the participants had left.
The Bull Zodiac was picking up the overturned chairs. He looked up at her and, after a moment, asked calmly, "Still up to your old tricks?"
"Yeah." The chubby girl nodded. "What a shame. Our line of work is getting harder and harder."
"Why can't you just be normal?" The Bull Zodiac turned to her. "Wouldn't it be better if we all followed orders together?"
"Haha!" The girl let out an angry laugh. She strode up, grabbed the Bull Zodiac by the collar, and snarled, "Who do you think you are to talk to me like that?! Speaking of 'normal,' what makes you 'Zodiacs' any better than us?!"
The Bull Zodiac turned his head away and said quietly, "At least we're all working toward the same goal..."
"Then let's each work toward our own goals and see who's right." The girl released his collar and turned toward the exit. Just before leaving, she said gravely, "Zhang Shan can't stay. As for that Qi Xia... I'll find a way."
...
"Li'ar..." Qiao Jiajin cautiously glanced back after they left the room and asked in a low voice, "What's going on? That woman suspicious?"
"I'm not sure, but I'd say ninety percent sure." Qi Xia said. "Better to be careful in a place like this."
"You can read faces too?" Qiao Jiajin chuckled. "With that kind, gentle look she had, I couldn't see anything wrong."
"It's not about reading faces," Qi Xia shook his head. "First, she said all her teammates died in the 'Interview.' If that's true, she must have used some extreme method. Otherwise, I find it hard to believe that out of nine people, only a weak woman would survive." Qi Xia continued, "Second, she's survived alone until now, and combined with the desperate tactics she used in the game, that's enough to prove she's no ordinary person. Chances are, she approached us for our 'Tao.'"
Qiao Jiajin nodded in realization. "I see... f**k me. I thought she was really pitiful."
"Of course, everything I said could be wrong," Qi Xia added. "I just don't want to trust people easily."
He turned back and asked the three, "By the way, give me your 'Tao.' I need to use it."