Chapter 264: Antitrust
The old man's teammates immediately sensed trouble. "Two?! Hey... you clearly only have one extra fan..."
"Give him yours too!" the old man said. "Without this fan, we're really going to be done for here!"
Qi Xia knew he had achieved his goal.
To earn enough wealth from these people, he couldn't defeat them one by one—he had to find a way to make them voluntarily form groups. That way, their total principal would increase.
Now, every individual in the group would willingly or unwillingly contribute to the group's gains and losses.
After all, you don't harvest leeks one by one—you harvest them in bundles.
"Since that's the case... I'm very sorry..." Qi Xia sighed helplessly. "Everyone wants to get out, so I can only go with 'the highest bidder gets it.'"
The phrase "the highest bidder gets it" fell among the crowd like an unspoken market rule.
"We'll offer three!"
Another team spoke up. This team clearly had someone with a bit of capital—together, the two of them had about seven fans.
Qi Xia still didn't agree. He simply scanned the crowd again.
This action undoubtedly shattered the last wall of the crowd's disaster bias. He was telling them with his eyes that "three" wasn't the highest price either—the final transaction price would only be higher.
The crowd fell silent for a long while before a team finally spoke: "Four."
Everyone looked at that team. The two of them each seemed to have four fans, and now each would have to hand over two to buy "Sorrow"—leaving them with nothing.
The rules here had been shrouded in layers of lies. For these people, trading fans naturally seemed less appealing than directly snatching them. But after Earth Mouse's seemingly fair yet selfish killing, no one dared make a rash move.
Yes, Earth Mouse would eventually go on a killing spree anyway.
Those who truly understood the rules had probably left long ago. Only two kinds of people remained here.
One kind was fools. The other was madmen like Qi Xia.
Qi Xia nodded slightly and said, "Does anyone offer higher than four?"
Everyone exchanged glances, none able to respond.
Some teams in the room could indeed afford four fans, but no one could offer more than that.
"Since that's the case... I'll have to give it to this team..."
Qi Xia took the four fans from the other party and tossed them a "Sorrow."
Although the two of them felt a pang of regret, time was almost up. In half an hour, Earth Mouse would start the massacre. If they didn't escape before then, the losses would only be greater.
The two escaped.
The remaining crowd now wore expressions of regret, as if sensing their doom approaching.
Seeing the two leave, Qi Xia slowly pulled out another "Sorrow."
"Everyone, I still have one more 'Sorrow,'" Qi Xia said.
These words were like a ray of sunlight shining into everyone's hearts, bringing them a glimmer of hope. At the same time, they were like an invisible knife, cutting cracks of suspicion into each person's mind.
"You... you have another?"
"That's right." Qi Xia nodded. "This one is also up for exchange."
The aunt in the team couldn't hold back any longer. "Young man, aren't you just tricking us? The way you acted earlier... it seemed like you only had one 'Sorrow'! If you'd said you had a second one, those two just now wouldn't have needed to offer four fans!"
Qi Xia felt today's jokes were especially plentiful.
"Auntie, have you ever done business?" Qi Xia said. "I'm not a savior. I'm just a participant like you."
The aunt turned her head away, seemingly unwilling to talk to Qi Xia any further.
After a few minutes passed, someone finally couldn't help themselves. They walked up to Earth Mouse's stall first and asked about the "Sorrow" whose price was negotiable.
Seeing Qi Xia exchange one "Sorrow" for four fans, Earth Mouse naturally started calculating the value of the "Sorrow" in his own hand.
After a moment, he said quietly, "Three. Only three fans, and the deal is done."
Hearing this price, the crowd stirred. After all, if they continued with "the highest bidder gets it," buying a fan from Qi Xia might cost them four again.
Two members of one team exchanged glances and were about to go purchase it when Qi Xia spoke again.
"Everyone, is there anyone here who only has the 'Joy' and 'Anger' fans?"
After a moment, someone raised a hand.
It was a slender woman.
Qi Xia looked at her, nodded, and said, "You don't need to team up with anyone else. I'll arrange a place for you to go."
"A place?"
"That's right." Qi Xia nodded, pointing to a square-faced man in the corner of the room. "You can go and 'match' right now. That man has already inserted 'Sorrow' and 'Joy.' You can leave right now."
"Huh?" The slender woman was stunned. "Are you serious?"
"Yes, I'm serious." Qi Xia said. "Go ahead."
No one understood what was happening, but they watched as the slender woman walked over to the corner, had a brief conversation with the square-faced man, and then inserted her "Joy" and "Anger."
In no time, the screen displayed "Match Successful."
The two escaped.
"Everyone." Qi Xia sighed, his voice calm. "Starting now, I'm going to lower the price again. I'll exchange fans with you at a discount you absolutely can't imagine."
"What?"
The crowd stopped in their tracks, fell silent, and turned to look at him.
But Earth Mouse sensed something was off. He stepped away from his table and came over to Qi Xia. "Are you really looking for death?"
"Oh? Getting anxious?" Qi Xia said. "Going to kill me right here?"
Earth Mouse slowly narrowed his eyes. He found the feeling Qi Xia gave him increasingly familiar.
"What exactly are you trying to do?"
Qi Xia curled his lips. "Earth Mouse, you're way too slow... I've been doing business right under your nose just to make you see my 'monopoly.'"
"What?"
"The moment you thought I was 'monopolizing,' you lost completely."
"I... lost?" Earth Mouse stared at Qi Xia in confusion.
"Are you going to kill me? If not... then I'll keep talking to everyone." Qi Xia slowly swallowed. He wasn't sure why Earth Mouse was tolerating him to this extent.
He had originally planned to use "Earth Tiger" to pressure him at a critical moment, but now it seemed completely unnecessary.
"What's this 'discount' you're talking about?" someone asked.
Qi Xia paused, then said, "Hasn't anyone noticed the number of people in the room right now?"
Everyone looked around. There were seventeen people left.
If seventeen people wanted to escape, wouldn't that leave one person stranded?
"From now on, all my 'Sorrow' fans will be exchanged one-for-one." Qi Xia struck while the iron was hot. "Including me, there are sixteen of us left. I still have seven 'Sorrow' fans. Right now, I need someone to get the 'Sorrow' from Earth Mouse. Once someone gets that fan, I'll immediately exchange the remaining 'Sorrow' fans with you."