# Chapter 57: Old Lyu
"Hmm?"
Qi Xia was startled. He hadn't expected that to be Lin Qin's starting point.
"Are you overthinking things?" Qi Xia shook his head and said, "Every day I hold Xiao An until she falls asleep, and then I sit at my desk."
"Oh..." Lin Qin nodded as if she had suddenly relaxed. "Then doesn't that make things very hard for you?"
"I..." Qi Xia wanted to say something but found himself momentarily at a loss for words. "Lin Qin, you might not understand my line of work. If I let my guard down for even a moment, what awaits me could very well be an abyss."
"Is that so?" Lin Qin responded with a tone of half-understanding, then murmured to herself, "Actually, I'm really curious about you. You seem like a very intelligent person, yet you make a living by deceiving people..."
Hearing this, Qi Xia silently lowered his head.
"I don't want to either," he said. "But it's the only thing I can do."
The second long night was even more interminable than the first.
The pitch-black darkness hung in the air, like a long-lost friend who stubbornly refused to leave.
Although Qi Xia and Lin Qin had both managed to sleep a little, they still felt sore all over when dawn broke.
Dr. Zhao and Xiao Ran, on the other hand, appeared to have stayed awake all night. They had been staring at both the door and Qi Xia the entire time, and now both looked haggard with heavy dark circles under their eyes.
They were not only afraid of those "bugs" outside charging in, but also terrified that Qi Xia might raise a black giant sword and murder them at daybreak.
Fortunately, neither of those things happened by the time dawn arrived.
"Let's go." Qi Xia stretched and said to Lin Qin, "Time to start today's journey."
A full day had passed, and Qi Xia's gains were zero.
The original target of collecting three hundred and sixty "Dao" per day had now become four hundred per day.
Based on yesterday's situation, many games increased their rewards according to the difficulty level. If he wanted to reach his goal quickly, he would have to engage in several extremely dangerous games today.
Without saying goodbye to Xiao Ran and Dr. Zhao, the two stood up, picked up the aluminum pot, and walked out the door.
Outside, there was no trace of the "bugs" to be seen. Where did those countless monsters hide during the day?
Were they all inside the nearby buildings?
The air was still murky, but Qi Xia had gradually grown accustomed to the rotten, foul stench.
After leaving, he led Lin Qin past the restaurant opposite and then headed down the road to the right.
The buildings here were different from where Qi Xia had encountered "Ren Shu" — most of them were shops.
The two walked along the street all the way to the end without finding any signs of human activity.
Now standing at a T-junction, Qi Xia looked both left and right.
If they had come here, which way had they gone — left or right?
Qi Xia admitted to himself that he didn't know Lawyer Zhang and Officer Li well enough to deduce their decisions.
Just then, Lin Qin noticed something on the wall near the right side.
"Qi Xia, look." She pointed to a corner by the wall where there were some whitish markings.
Qi Xia bent down to examine them and found two crooked symbols — they looked either like the numbers "5" and "2" or the letters "S" and "Z."
"Could these have been left by them?" Lin Qin looked at the symbols and asked doubtfully.
"Eighty percent sure," Qi Xia nodded. "'Z' probably stands for Lawyer Zhang."
"And 'S'?" Lin Qin asked. "If it were Officer Li, shouldn't it be 'L'?"
"I don't understand that either..." After a pause, he asked, "Lin Qin, do you remember Officer Li's full name?"
"Full name...?" Lin Qin lowered her head to think, then suddenly remembered something. "Ah, during the first game, he said his name was 'Li Shangwu'!"
Then she looked at the symbol that resembled both an "S" and a "5."
"Could this really have been left by them?" Lin Qin said. "But how would they know we were coming?"
Qi Xia was also puzzled. If they really wanted to leave some information, the content should have been clearer. The only possibility now was that they seemed afraid he might get lost, so they left these symbols that only he could understand.
"Regardless, there must be someone in this direction. Let's go check it out."
Having determined their direction, they set off again.
Walking along the dilapidated street, sure enough, within twenty minutes, Qi Xia heard noisy commotion coming from a building.
"Damn it! This doesn't count! Again!" a man roared. "If you've got guts, let's go again!"
The moment the words left his mouth, he was flung out the door by a tremendous force and slammed heavily onto the ground.
"Ouch... mother of mine..." The man rubbed his backside and cursed, "Just you wait..."
Qi Xia glanced at him, and his expression darkened.
The one who had been thrown out was none other than the short, stout middle-aged man they had met before — Old Lyu.
The city Qi Xia was in seemed to be a considerable size, yet he had run into the same person two days in a row. What a coincidence.
Old Lyu also noticed Qi Xia. "Hey... kid?"
Then, as if recalling something, he shook his head, stood up, and with a look of frustration prepared to leave.
"Hold on..." Qi Xia called out to him. "Have you seen any other people around here?"
Old Lyu turned back and sneered at Qi Xia. "Oh? Isn't this King Yama himself? I haven't even finished using the life I bought from you, and you're already here to collect again?"
Qi Xia shook his head helplessly. "I don't want to argue about what happened before. I'm looking for my companions now. If you can help, I'll find a way to repay you."
"Repay?" Old Lyu's eyes darted around, then he walked over with a fake smile. "Fine, since you said that, do me a favor. If you satisfy me, I'll tell you right away where those two people I saw earlier are."
"Two people...? Fine. What do you want me to do?" Qi Xia asked coldly.
Old Lyu pointed to the room in front of them. It was a Go club.
"Go in there and gamble that pig to death," Old Lyu said with a grin. "I want him to lose everything, even his underwear."
"Pig?" Qi Xia turned to look. Sure enough, sitting inside the Go club was a grimy pig-headed man.
In front of him were black and white Go pieces, and beside them were two empty bowls.
Qi Xia rubbed his nose, then turned to ask Old Lyu, "Old Lyu, I don't mind helping you, but you have to answer me first. Did you really see other people just now?"
Old Lyu hesitated, then said, "I did."
Qi Xia took a step closer, closing in on the fat man, and asked again, "I'll ask you one more time. Did you really see other people?"
Old Lyu looked frightened, his eyes fixed on Qi Xia's. "I really did see them..."
"Two people?"
"Yes."
"A man and a woman?"
"Yes..."
"What were their characteristics?"
"Huh?" Old Lyu quickly recalled. "The man was serious, the woman didn't talk much..."
Old Lyu kept backing away, clearly still wary of Qi Xia.
He knew this man had once beaten Zhang Shan into the ground and was not someone to be trifled with.
And through several rounds of pressing questions, Qi Xia found that the other party didn't seem to be lying, so he said, "Fine, I agree."
The corner of Lin Qin's mouth lifted slightly. "Qi Xia," she said softly, "you know psychology too?"