Chapter 64: The Atoning Man
"After all, you are not the 'Sheep,'" Qi Xia said to the Human Pig. "The first time we met the Human Sheep, he gave us a hard time. You thought adding a lying mechanism to your game would increase your chances of winning, but you never expected that choice would end up killing you instead."
The Human Pig was silent for a moment after hearing this, then reached up and removed the mask from his head.
Beneath that filthy, stinking mask was a man with regular features, around forty years old, his eyes and brows filled with intelligence.
"What a pity—I was so close," the Human Pig said. "I was this close to walking out of here with my head held high."
Qi Xia's eyes flickered slightly, and he asked, "Human Pig, what exactly does it mean to walk out 'with your head held high'?"
The Human Pig paused, then looked the young man before him over again. He felt a resemblance to his younger self.
"Qi Xia, have you ever made a mistake?"
"A mistake?" Qi Xia thought seriously. The word 'mistake' was actually a bit hard to define. In some respects, his very profession was a mistake. But from another angle, he had no choice—he could only do what he did.
"It's not about the 'law,'" the Human Pig added. "It's the kind of mistake that changes the entire trajectory of your life. The one that fills you with remorse, that makes you regret profoundly, that forces you to spend the rest of your life atoning for the 'mistake' you made."
Qi Xia's brow furrowed deeply at this. Something deep in his mind was throbbing wildly.
"What do you mean?" Qi Xia asked coldly.
"We are all guilty people..." the Human Pig said with a bitter smile. "As expected, the guilty cannot attain the 'Way.' In the end, I will still die here..."
The guilty cannot attain the 'Way'?
Qi Xia felt he had heard that phrase before.
"Qi Xia, you know? The business world is like a casino." The Human Pig slowly stood up and walked over to a drawer, rummaging for something. "I once gambled all of the group's liquid capital on a single 'hope.' Looking back now, there was practically no difference between that and 'betting your life.'"
After searching for a while, the Human Pig pulled an old revolver out of the drawer.
He blew the dust off the gun, opened the cylinder to check the one remaining bullet, and continued, "At the time, my odds were less than fifty percent. The other shareholders on the board were all opposed. But I knew that I was only betting liquid capital—it wouldn't bankrupt the group, and it might even give a glimmer of hope for future development. But who could have expected... a global infectious disease suddenly broke out. The group's revenue was severely hit, and later, due to a shortage of liquid capital for turnover, we suffered continuous losses."
The Human Pig lifted his despairing eyes to Qi Xia: "I thought I was betting on a ticket to heaven, but I never imagined I would end up in hell."
With that, he continued carefully wiping the gun's chamber.
Qi Xia felt that the Human Pig's words had slightly clarified some of the confusion in his mind: "So you think this place is hell?"
"Who knows?" The Human Pig shook his head. "I founded that group with my own hands, yet in the end, the board fired me. As chairman, I lost my power. To pay off debts, I sold my shares at a low price. My wife had started the business with me from nothing, yet in the end, I couldn't even afford the money for her medical treatment. My daughter, studying abroad, had no money to continue her education and eventually became a famous prostitute at her school. Compared to the real world, this place is my paradise. Here, I don't have to think about anything every day except finding ways to send you to your deaths."
The Human Pig's tone began to spiral out of control: "I often wonder, what would have happened if I hadn't gambled on that fifty percent chance?"
Qi Xia was silent for a long time, then finally spat out four words: "You bet, you lose."
"Ha, haha..." The Human Pig suddenly seemed dazed, letting out a few bitter laughs. "Yes, you bet, you lose."
"But there's still one thing I don't understand..." Qi Xia spoke again.
The Human Pig raised his deep eyes to look at Qi Xia, then slowly said, "I've answered too many of your questions. That's unfair to the other participants."
"What?" Qi Xia was a little confused. "Can't you tell us this information?"
Upon hearing this, the Human Pig opened the revolver's cylinder, gave it a fast spin, then flicked his wrist to snap it back into the chamber.
Slowly, he raised the gun and pressed the muzzle against his temple.
"I'll leave it all to 'Fortune,'" the Human Pig said. "For every question you ask me, I'll pull the trigger once. As long as the gun doesn't fire, I'll answer you."
Qi Xia sighed helplessly at this and said, "You were once the chairman of a group. Don't you want to go out with some dignity?"
"Dignity..." The Human Pig smiled bitterly. "I've been wearing this stinking, filthy pig head for a long time. What dignity is there to speak of?"
"Since that's the case..." Qi Xia nodded. "Then forgive my rudeness, sir. Why did you voluntarily become the 'Human Pig'?"
*Click*!!
The Human Pig pulled the trigger without hesitation, not even blinking.
The gun didn't fire.
"Because I want to 'atone,'" the Human Pig replied. "Someone told me that as long as I put on the mask and send participants to their deaths through games, I can eventually atone for my sins."
"What does it mean to 'atone'?"
*Click*!
The gun didn't fire.
The Human Pig let out a sigh: "What they call atonement is being able to rewrite your past and make up for the mistakes you previously committed. After all, all the 'Zodiacs' are 'sinners.'"
Qi Xia pieced together the fragmented clues in his mind and found it hard to believe. He organized his words and asked, "So you once had a chance to leave, but you didn't. Instead, you chose to stay here and 'atone'?"
*Click*!
The Human Pig frowned. As he had said, Qi Xia possessed extremely strong 'Fortune'—three consecutive shots had failed to fire.
"I'm not sure if I can leave, but I stayed," the Human Pig continued. "I hope none of you have made mistakes. Otherwise, you'll end up just like me, choosing to stay here voluntarily. After all, staying here gives you a faint, invisible hope."
Qi Xia slowly stepped forward and asked with great seriousness, "So, what's the fastest way to get out of here?"
*Click*!!
The Human Pig closed his eyes and shuddered, but the gun still didn't fire.
"I'm not sure," the Human Pig said. "Three thousand six hundred 'Ways' is obviously the slowest method. Even though I put on the mask, there are still many things I don't know. After all, I am still 'human.' If you want to seek the truth of this place, you'll have to find a way to beat 'Heaven' and 'Earth.'"
After a pause, he continued, "No... don't even think about beating 'Heaven.' Just beat 'Earth' and that's enough. The 'Three Talents Zodiac—Heaven, Earth, and Man' are arranged from top to bottom, all with 'Dragon' as the head. If you want to survive in this place, first, don't provoke 'Heaven,' and second, don't go up against 'Dragon.'"
The Human Pig's four answers had indeed clarified Qi Xia's thoughts considerably. It seemed that escaping this place wasn't as difficult as he had imagined.
He had no more questions to ask the Human Pig, but the man still held the gun, his eyes full of complex emotions.
Qi Xia knew that the fifth shot carried a fifty percent chance of death, and the sixth was a hundred percent.
The scene before him felt familiar—it was like returning to that moment of betting his life on a fifty-fifty chance.
Qi Xia stood up and turned toward the exit. Lin Qin and Old Lyu, not understanding what was happening, slowly followed him.
Just as he was about to step out, Qi Xia turned around and asked a fifth question: "Sir, do you regret it?"
Having asked this, Qi Xia didn't wait for the Human Pig's answer. He turned and walked away with Lin Qin and Old Lyu.
The vast chess club now felt empty, leaving only the Human Pig sitting alone in the center.
He thought for a long time, then slowly uttered three words:
"Thank you."
A loud gunshot echoed through the room. The Human Pig collapsed.