Chapter 65: Impersonation
The three of them walked out of the chess club, unable to calm down for a long time.
Although what had died was the "Pigman," no matter how you looked at it, the Pigman was a human being of flesh and blood.
He was not a monster, not a madman, and certainly not the evil organizer.
Qi Xia kept his head lowered, deep in thought. Lin Qin stayed close by his side, never leaving.
At that moment, Old Lu kept looking into the room where the Pigman's corpse lay, but he seemed unconcerned, instead searching for something else.
"What's wrong?" Qi Xia turned and asked.
"Well... although it's a bit inappropriate to say this now," Old Lu said, "but you won the 'gamble with life,' so the other party's 'Tao' is ours."
"Don't be silly," Qi Xia shook his head. "The Pigman couldn't have had any more 'Tao' left. The ten he gave you were his entire stash."
"What?" Old Lu's eyes bulged, then he shook his head dramatically. "Impossible, I don't believe it."
He hurried into the room, trying his best not to look at the Pigman's corpse, and began searching through his drawers.
The originally clean and tidy chess club was soon turned completely upside down.
Just as Qi Xia had said, there wasn't a single 'Tao' left.
Qi Xia shook his head from outside the door and said, "If he had any remaining 'Tao,' why would he choose to 'gamble with life' against us?"
"Isn't this just fucking cheating?!" Old Lu cursed in exasperation. "Empty hands tricking a wolf!"
"Empty hands tricking a wolf?" Qi Xia couldn't quite follow Old Lu's logic. "Didn't the other party pay with his 'life'?"
"Uh... that's true." Old Lu put his palms together and bowed toward the Pigman's corpse. "I spoke too hastily, please don't take offense."
After bowing a few times, Old Lu still felt a bit shortchanged, after all, he didn't really want the other's life.
"I need to find if there's anything else valuable."
Old Lu began searching the room again, but this place was originally an abandoned chess club. Besides the chess pieces scattered everywhere, the only things that could be considered valuable were the tables and chairs.
"Too big a loss..." Old Lu shook his head regretfully. "Kid, we took a huge loss! You almost died here, and in the end we're leaving empty-handed."
Just as he was saying this, Old Lu suddenly spotted the pig-head mask that the Pigman had left on the ground.
"Mask..." Old Lu's lips twitched, and suddenly something occurred to him. "Damn it... isn't this the most valuable thing?!"
Qi Xia frowned, stepped forward slowly, and asked, "What are you going to do?"
"Do business!" Old Lu picked up the dirty, smelly mask from the ground and held it in his hands like a treasure. "Kid Qi, with this mask, can't we do the 'Go Club' business?!"
"What..." Qi Xia's pupils moved, feeling that this was unreliable. "Old Lu, you want to become the 'Pigman'?"
"Pfft, to hell with the Pigman!" Old Lu waved his hand. "Impersonation! You understand impersonation, don't you?"
"You..."
Old Lu raised the mask, pretended to put it on his face, and said in a muffled voice, "Heh heh, finally someone's come to play with me! Hurry up and assign! Hurry up and assign!"
Qi Xia kept his brow furrowed. This matter sounded far too dangerous.
The 'Zodiac' were under the unified management of those administrators; how could they be casually impersonated?
"Old Lu, you should know that 'killing to seize Tao' is not allowed, right?" Qi Xia asked.
"I heard Zhang Shan say that, but this isn't 'killing to seize Tao,'" Old Lu pushed the mask forward. "We didn't kill him, and this isn't 'Tao' either."
"That's not what I mean." Qi Xia took the mask and placed it on the table. "I advise you not to touch this thing. At the very least, this is called 'impersonation'; at worst, it's 'usurping authority,' which is even more serious than 'killing to seize Tao.'"
"Usurping authority?!"
Qi Xia nodded: "Is there an assessment needed to become a 'Zodiac'? What are the rules for designing games? If you put on this mask without clarifying these questions, I'm afraid you'll be punished by the administrators."
Old Lu looked somewhat disappointed after hearing this. Just a moment ago he could see the beautiful picture of himself earning dozens of 'Tao' every day, but in a blink, it was shattered.
"Kid Qi, aren't you being too cautious?" Old Lu asked reluctantly. "Maybe anyone who wants to wear this mask can wear it, as long as they can set a riddle."
"I don't know," Qi Xia said. "I'm just telling you my opinion. If you still want to wear this mask, I won't stop you. But before that, you need to tell me the whereabouts of those two people."
Old Lu thought it over a few times and said to Qi Xia, "Wait a moment."
With that, he wiggled his fat body, carrying the mask, and ran around the room. In no time, he found a corner piled with discarded table boards.
He hid the mask behind the boards, then carefully covered it layer by layer with waste materials.
"Let's hide it here for now. A man should at least keep a backup plan..." Old Lu dusted off his hands and turned around to say, "Kid Qi, I'm a man of my word, I won't go back on it. Come with me!"
The three said goodbye to this heart-stopping chess club and headed toward the dilapidated street.
Old Lu led them along the road they had come from.
"By the way, Kid Qi, why didn't you choose me earlier?" Old Lu asked.
"What?"
"Back during 'truth or lie,'" Old Lu scratched his chubby face. "You chose this little girl called Lin Qin, why didn't you choose me?"
Qi Xia said helplessly, "To be honest, I think Lin Qin is a bit smarter than you."
"Pfft..." Lin Qin, who had still been somewhat sad, suddenly burst out laughing. Although Qi Xia was a liar, many times he simply didn't tell lies.
"What kind of talk is that..." Old Lu was a bit speechless. "Kid Qi, you don't know me. The more critical the moment, the smarter I get."
"Yeah," Qi Xia nodded. "In critical moments, you also think of grabbing an iron plate and shrinking into a corner."
"Huh?" Old Lu was suddenly cornered, looking somewhat embarrassed. "You can't blame me for that. At the time, I didn't know you were so resourceful."
"That's true, we're even," Qi Xia said.
Old Lu shrugged helplessly, then looked at the aluminum pot Lin Qin had been holding and asked, "Did you eat the bear meat?"
"We ate it," Lin Qin replied. "It was especially terrible."
"Alas..." Old Lu nodded with some disappointment. "Even though bear meat is terrible, it can at least fill your stomach. It's a pity Zhang Shan didn't get to eat any. In the end, he became a starving ghost."
"Why didn't he eat?" Lin Qin asked casually.
The next second, her eyes suddenly widened.
Qi Xia also realized something, and the two of them looked at Old Lu together.
"Starving ghost?"
Old Lu's eyes were somewhat desolate. He sighed and said, "Zhang Shan is dead."
"Dead?!" The two exclaimed in unison.
"That's right... otherwise, why would I be out alone?"