Chapter 83: Signs of Giving Up
"Logical relationship..."
Regardless, this superpower called "Echo" was already beyond everyone's comprehension.
In this bizarre place, not only were there people who seemed like gods, but also madmen scattered throughout the streets. Numerous participants were being slaughtered here at random, and now they could even acquire superpowers...
If this wasn't a dream, who would believe it?
"Qi Xia..." Zhang Chenze looked at Qi Xia's wounds with a worried expression. "You didn't fool Jiang Ruoxue just now. What do we do next?"
"Fool?" Qi Xia shook his head as he clutched his wound. "I wasn't lying. I really am going to give up."
"Huh?" The two of them were genuinely stunned. "You're really giving up?"
"Yes." Qi Xia's eyes were like a pool of dead water. "Someone stabbed a hole this big in me. It's impossible for me to continue participating in the games."
Zhang Chenze and Lin Qin hadn't expected Qi Xia to give up so decisively. For a moment, they didn't know what to do.
"Don't lose heart. I know some bandaging too," Lin Qin said. "Let's find a place to stop the bleeding first. There are still many days ahead. Saying 'give up' is too early."
"Stop the bleeding..." Qi Xia looked up at the sky. This day had felt extraordinarily long—it was only now reaching evening.
"Yeah, Qi Xia..." Zhang Chenze chimed in, "You have more hope than either of us of collecting three thousand six hundred 'Dao'. If you give up, we really won't know what to do."
...
The three of them found an abandoned massage parlor to take shelter.
In Zhang Chenze's opinion, a massage parlor had separate booths and beds, which at least would allow Qi Xia to rest and recover properly.
Like all the other buildings, the interior of this massage parlor was almost completely dilapidated, but fortunately, they managed to find some cloth curtains.
Lin Qin tore the curtains into strips and prepared to bandage the wound.
Zhang Chenze also cleared off a clean single-seat sofa. The two of them helped Qi Xia onto the sofa and removed his shirt.
Qi Xia's shirt was completely soaked with blood. It felt heavy in their hands, and when they twisted it slightly, the bloody water poured out in streams.
Now the two of them understood what Qi Xia himself had said—his injury was so severe that even standing took all his strength, let alone continuing to participate in the games.
Lin Qin examined Qi Xia's wound and sensed something was wrong.
The bald man had twisted the blade when he stabbed it into Qi Xia's shoulder.
That motion had turned what should have been a simple cut into a blossoming red flower of torn flesh. Not only had the surface skin and muscle been completely lacerated, but it had likely damaged the internal muscle tissue as well.
"We can't stitch the wound..." Lin Qin said. "Bear with it for now. I'll bandage you."
"Bandaging alone won't help." Qi Xia pulled an old metal lighter from his pocket. "Find a dry piece of wood. Light it, and you can use it to cauterize the wound and stop the bleeding."
"This..." Lin Qin hesitated as she took the lighter. "It's going to hurt a lot..."
"It's fine..." Qi Xia was about to say something more when he suddenly heard a faint rhythmic sound coming from somewhere nearby.
The sound was like something hitting the wall in a steady rhythm.
"What's wrong?"
"Shh!" Qi Xia motioned for them to be quiet and listened carefully. "There seems to be someone in this building."
"Someone?" The two lowered their voices and listened as well. There was indeed something making noise inside the house.
"It might be a native..." Qi Xia slowly stood up. "We don't know if there's danger. Let's find another place."
"No, your injury won't allow you to keep moving around. I'll go check." Zhang Chenze said. "We've been in here for a while. If there were danger, we'd be dead by now."
"No..." Qi Xia tried to reach out and stop Zhang Chenze, but she was always decisive and quick. She had already dashed out in a single stride. Seeing this, Qi Xia could only turn to call Lin Qin. "Stop her. There's no need to take risks."
Lin Qin nodded and hurried after her.
But this massage parlor wasn't big. The hallway had only four booths on each side. Within seconds, Zhang Chenze found the room where the noise was coming from.
She thought for a moment, then knocked on the door.
"Chenze!" Lin Qin whispered urgently. "Be careful of the 'natives'!"
"Natives shouldn't hurt us," Zhang Chenze said. Receiving no reply, she pushed the door open.
The moment the door swung open, a foul stench rushed out, forcing both of them to step back.
Inside, a gaunt man stood with his back to the door, massaging the back of a "customer" on the bed.
When they saw the scene before them, both drew in sharp breaths.
Yes, the "natives" wouldn't harm people.
But their actions always sent a chill down one's spine.
The "customer" lying face down on the bed was nothing but a mummified corpse. Yet the gaunt man kept his hands crossed, continuously pressing down on the corpse's back.
He seemed to have been doing this for a long time. The entire back of the corpse had been flattened, and foul-smelling liquid splattered all over the bed.
"Guest... is the pressure okay... Guest... is the pressure okay..."
The gaunt man asked in a lifeless tone while pressing down with force.
His hands, passing through the corpse, hit the bed board with a heavy "thump, thump."
The two women stood frozen in place, not moving for a long time.
Qi Xia walked over slowly and reached out from behind them to close the door.
"Don't let it affect you."
With that, Qi Xia found a relatively clean booth and walked inside, sitting down on the bed. "Go find a piece of wood."
Lin Qin snapped back to reality, knowing that stopping Qi Xia's bleeding was the top priority. She quickly turned and left to search for dry wood.
Meanwhile, Zhang Chenze stared thoughtfully at the room they had just seen. After a few seconds, she spoke: "Qi Xia... do you think these people were once like us?"
Qi Xia didn't answer. Instead, he said to Zhang Chenze: "Lawyer Zhang, don't be so impulsive in the future. If the room hadn't held a native, but a group of desperadoes like that bald man, what would you have done?"
Zhang Chenze slowly lowered her head and replied, "I let my concern cloud my judgment. If we can't rest here, your injuries will get worse."
"Concern clouding your judgment?" Qi Xia felt a bit awkward. He thought for a moment and said to Zhang Chenze, "Lawyer Zhang, you need to understand that I saved you from that giant microwave only because it was necessary to win the game. That doesn't mean I have any special regard for you."
"I know..." Zhang Chenze nodded. "Maybe it's because of what happened to Officer Li. Such a good person died right in front of me... I'm afraid you'll end up like that too."
"Such a good person...?" Qi Xia fell silent.
He recalled the story Officer Li had told him in his dying moments.
Could Officer Li really be considered a "good person"?