Chapter 55: Insect Chirping
Lin Qin was startled by Qi Xia's sudden move and quickly stepped forward to pull him back. "Qi Xia... calm down..."
She found it hard to understand why the usually composed Qi Xia would suddenly become so agitated.
Qi Xia did not let go. He gripped Dr. Zhao's collar tightly and said through gritted teeth, "How do you expect me to stay calm? Do you have any idea how many people I've watched die in front of me today?!"
Upon hearing this, Lin Qin silently lowered her head.
Yes. Starting from the initial "Ren Shu", all the way to Qiao Jiajin and Tiantian at the end, they had experienced far too many moments teetering on the brink of death.
"No wonder..." Qi Xia continued, "No wonder your first reaction when someone entered was to strike with a wooden board... You both knew that Officer Li and Lawyer Zhang would never return, didn't you?"
A flicker of panic crossed Dr. Zhao's face. "No, no, Qi Xia, listen to me. I had no choice either. They really wanted to go seek their deaths..."
"Seek death?" Qi Xia sneered. "You've never stepped foot outside this door, so you know nothing about this place. Officer Li must have chatted with the Ox Head across the way. He discovered the games here don't cost lives but might actually yield 'Dao', so he took Lawyer Zhang and left."
"Huh?" Dr. Zhao wore a confused expression, clearly hearing this news for the first time. "No lives lost? H-how can that be?"
At that moment, Xiao Ran picked herself up from the ground, wiped the mud off her face, and turned around furiously. "Zhao Haibo! What are you just standing there for?! They're stepping all over us!"
"B-but I..." Dr. Zhao's face turned ugly.
"Useless!" Xiao Ran shouted frantically. "How can you be so useless?!"
Qi Xia looked at Xiao Ran, then at Dr. Zhao, and suddenly felt a wave of despair wash over him.
Did he even have time to waste bickering with these two here?
With that thought, he silently released his grip.
At this moment, Qi Xia had completely lost his bearings.
Where had Officer Li and Lawyer Zhang gone?
Had they met a Zodiac whose name started with "Earth"?
Had they joined a life-risking game?
Were they still alive?
Rustle rustle, rustle rustle.
The chirping of insects outside grew more chaotic, as if a cricket were crouching right beyond the door, making it impossible for anyone to think clearly.
"Qi Xia, what should we do?" Lin Qin asked sorrowfully.
Qi Xia raised his head and asked Dr. Zhao, "Did the two of them say where they were going?"
He clung to the last shred of hope.
Officer Li was a cautious man. If he truly intended to go far, he should have left some clue behind.
"No..." Dr. Zhao shook his head. "But after I saw them finish the Ox Head's game across the street, they turned right and followed the road..."
"Right?" Qi Xia peered into the pitch-black night outside and calculated in his mind.
Officer Li probably hadn't gone too far—he likely just wanted to get away from these two people.
After all, he had told Qi Xia that he hoped they could meet again someday to exchange information.
If that was the case, he should still be active in this area. Aside from the restaurant across the street, the most likely place was the nearest "game room".
Having determined a general direction, Qi Xia felt more grounded.
Although it was deep into the night, he had no desire to stay in the same place with these two any longer.
So he picked up a wooden stick from inside the room, walked slowly over to Han Yimo's corpse, and said in a low voice, "Brother, you can't even rest in peace. Sorry for the trouble."
"What are you doing now?" Xiao Ran asked impatiently.
Qi Xia didn't answer. Instead, he tore off a piece of cloth from Han Yimo's clothing, wrapped it around the top of the wooden stick, then rubbed the stick against some dry filth on the ground.
After that, he walked over to the firelight inside the room and lit the cloth-wrapped end. A makeshift torch was ready.
"Lin Qin, I'm going out to look for them," Qi Xia said. "I don't know if there'll be danger outside, but I don't want to stay here. Are you going to wait here until dawn? No matter whether I find them or not, I'll come back to get you."
Lin Qin turned to glance at Xiao Ran and the other man, then shook her head. "No, I'll go with you."
With that, she picked up the pot containing the bear meat and stood beside Qi Xia.
"What's that..." Dr. Zhao finally noticed the battered aluminum pot, and his eyes practically lit up.
"This is..." Lin Qin hesitated for a moment, then shook her head. "Nothing."
"Is it food?!" Dr. Zhao stepped forward immediately. "You found food?!"
Xiao Ran's expression also shifted. "Something to eat?"
Their eyes no longer looked human; they had become the eyes of starving beasts.
Qi Xia pulled Lin Qin behind him, shielding her, and said slowly, "Sorry, this isn't for you."
"Qi, Qi Xia..." Dr. Zhao stammered. "No, Brother Xia... we went too far just now. Don't take it to heart."
"Yeah..." Xiao Ran forced a smile. "No one in this world goes without arguing. Besides, you're a man—are you really going to hold a grudge against me, a woman? We were just joking with you..."
"Exactly, exactly..." Dr. Zhao chimed in. "You've got plenty in that pot. We'll just have a little bit—we won't eat it all..."
Qi Xia's expression darkened again. "What's in this pot was earned by Qiao Jiajin risking his life. You can go ask him. If he agrees, I won't have any objection."
When Xiao Ran heard this, her face twisted through a series of expressions. After a pause, she lunged straight for the pot.
Qi Xia had anticipated this move. With a helpless sigh, he reached out to stop her.
"What's this? Abandoned the 'lying' and switched to 'stealing'?" Qi Xia said with a hint of mockery. "There's no 'lawless place' anywhere in this world. I suggest you think twice. Your team 'used to' have a police officer, you know."
"You—"
Qi Xia snorted, pushed Xiao Ran aside, and walked out the door with the torch. Lin Qin followed closely behind.
Only then did Xiao Ran and Dr. Zhao realize what it meant to have "the cooked duck fly away."
That pot of food, faintly fragrant, was right in front of them, yet they couldn't even touch it.
"Don't you dare leave!" Xiao Ran screamed, rushing out the door after Qi Xia.
Outside, the world was pitch black except for the dim firelight and the chirping of insects.
But to Xiao Ran's surprise, Qi Xia and Lin Qin were standing motionless three steps away from the door, their backs to her, not moving an inch.
"Huh?"
A few seconds later, she saw Qi Xia and Lin Qin slowly take a step back.
"Hey, what's wrong with you two?" Xiao Ran asked.
Lin Qin turned her head stiffly, like a robot, her eyes full of terror. She raised a finger to her lips, gesturing for silence.
"Are you crazy?" Xiao Ran said irritably. "If you're leaving, at least leave the pot behind!"
As she spoke, Xiao Ran felt something was off.
The torch in Qi Xia's hand illuminated a small area. In that dim light, something seemed to be moving.
The next second, Xiao Ran saw what was beneath the firelight. Her eyes widened instantly, and an expression of extreme terror spread across her face.
Right in front of Qi Xia, there was a man so emaciated he barely looked human, his pale body completely naked.
He was on all fours, his two legs stretched out behind him, crawling on the ground in an extremely awkward posture.
On his shriveled face hung two empty eye sockets, hollowed out. His lips were pursed, and he kept making sounds:
"Rustle rustle—"
"Rustle rustle—"