Chapter 266: A Little More Than a Hundred
By the time Di Yang reached Qi Xia, Qi Xia's words had already fallen.
He reached out a hand, ready to finish Qi Xia off, but in the end, he held back. Now, only the two of them were left in the entire venue. If he killed Qi Xia... how would he get out himself?
Qi Xia threw away all the fans he had been holding, then lazily sat down on the table. He cast a contemptuous glance at Di Yang and said,
"Table Theory... When you're at a gambling table and can't tell who's the easiest to deceive, then the easiest to deceive is yourself."
Di Yang said nothing, just stared at Qi Xia.
"What a pain, switching back and forth with a few broken fans, completely pointless..." Qi Xia raised his head with a hint of mockery. "Don't you think?"
Di Yang's protruding mouth was pressed into a tight slit, his mind racing like a stampede of horses.
"Originally, I wanted to just hand over 'Sorrow' to them," Qi Xia shook his head. "But you know how humans are—if something is given for free, they'll always be suspicious. So I had to auction it, trade it—what a hassle."
Di Yang gritted his teeth and spat out a few words: "What do you want?"
"What can I want? Now that the words 'life gamble' have tied us together, I definitely don't dare kill you." Qi Xia's gaze was full of contempt as he looked at Di Yang. Though the two of them were like grasshoppers tied to the same rope, Qi Xia had completely seized the upper hand.
"Your deception is not bad..." Di Yang nodded. "You never actually wanted to monopolize 'Sorrow.' You just wanted to decide for yourself when everyone would leave. Am I right?"
"Yes." Qi Xia admitted.
"But I still don't understand." Di Yang asked like a humble student seeking guidance. "What did you say to the others? Why did they cooperate with you like that?"
"Isn't it simple?" Qi Xia laughed. "I told them that Di Yang would go on a killing spree at the last moment to reduce losses. So I said I'd help them think of a way to stall for time, and then they could take the chance to escape en masse. But who knew that in the face of death, they'd be smarter than I expected—they actually came up with the plan of creating a collective conflict."
"And I lost because of such a simple sentence..." Di Yang's expression was extremely grim.
"No." Qi Xia shook his head. "Di Yang, you didn't lose because of that one sentence. You lost because of every single sentence I said."
"Ha..." Di Yang let out a pained and eerie smile. He shifted his body and sat down next to Qi Xia. The two of them sat like friends, staring ahead and chatting.
"What's your name?" Di Yang asked.
"Qi Xia."
Di Yang nodded, then said, "So at the very last moment, you came to me again to confirm whether I had the complete set of 'Joy, Anger, Sorrow, Happiness.'"
"Yeah." Qi Xia nodded. "That's what we'll need when we escape together. Don't lose it."
"Qi Xia..." Di Yang turned his head to look at him. "Why are you trying so hard? With your brains, you could have made a fortune here... Why tie my life to yours?"
"Because I want to negotiate terms with you."
"What makes you think you can negotiate terms with me?"
Qi Xia said, "Because everyone else is thinking about how to exchange their goods for money, but I went straight to robbing the bank. That's my skill."
"Qi Xia, aren't you afraid I'll fight you to the bitter end—break the net to escape the fish?"
"No, no, no..." Qi Xia shook his head. "Di Yang, it's not 'break the net to escape the fish.' If you want to fight to the end, it'll only be 'you break, you die.'"
Di Yang remained silent, and the atmosphere grew suffocating.
"When I came in, I didn't have an 'Echo,' and not a single 'Dao' on me," Qi Xia said. "If I lose the life gamble, I'll just become a 'Native.' I've only retained my memories twice—if I turn into a 'Native,' I'll accept it. But what about you?"
Di Yang hadn't expected this man to have considered even that step in advance. If he wasn't lying, he must have had overwhelming confidence.
Di Yang pressed his lips together and sighed. Then he slowly said, "Alright... let's negotiate terms."
Qi Xia nodded. "Good. I don't want any of the fans on the ground. I want all the 'Dao' you have on you."
"Impossible." Di Yang said firmly.
"No, it's possible." Qi Xia said. "Di Yang, this is my only condition. If you can't do it, we'll wait here to die together."
Upon hearing this, Di Yang stretched out his legs and stood up. He turned around, his face full of rage, and shouted, "Do you even fucking know what 'negotiating terms' means?! Who negotiates like that?! Who asks for the other side's everything right off the bat?!"
"This is 'negotiating terms.'" Qi Xia said. "I have only this one condition. If you don't agree, I will definitely die here with you."
Di Yang knew that the best outcome now was for the two of them to pair up and walk out of the room together. That way, neither of them would have killed the other in the game, which would count as a 'life gamble failure.'
"Don't be too greedy," Di Yang said angrily. "If I really give you all the 'Dao,' how am I supposed to exchange them for fans when I get out?! I'll be 'violating the rules' too!"
"Oh?" Qi Xia raised an eyebrow. "Violating the rules?"
"If their fans can't be exchanged for 'Dao,' my game becomes meaningless! I'll be punished too!" Di Yang roared. "If I'm going to die either way, I won't let you off the hook either!"
"Is that really such a hard problem?" Qi Xia said.
"What?"
"You just have to give them 'Dao,' right?" Qi Xia asked, stroking his chin.
"Of course! Rewards in the game must be honored!"
"Then write an IOU."
"An IOU...?!" Di Yang's jaw nearly dropped in shock.
"Tell everyone to come back this time tomorrow to collect the 'Dao.' Until then, you owe them."
"Are you fucking insane?" Di Yang said, on the verge of breaking down. "I've been here so long, and I've never heard of 'writing an IOU'... Besides, that much 'Dao'—even if it's tomorrow, I still..."
"Go borrow from Di Hu." Qi Xia said. "Daily interest rate of ten percent. If you're willing, you can go borrow tonight."
"Di Hu...?" Di Yang's eyes widened. "You... Did Di Hu send you to screw me over?!"
"Don't overthink it." Qi Xia shook his head. "Even without Di Hu, I would have come looking for you."
"Why...?"
"Because you are 'Sheep.'"
Hearing those words, Di Yang finally deflated.
"Qi Xia, that's one thousand one hundred 'Dao.' Can you even carry them away?"
"You miscalculated." Qi Xia shook his head. "It's not one thousand one hundred. It's one thousand four hundred and seventy-six."
"What?" Di Yang felt Qi Xia was being too overbearing. "I handed out one hundred and sixty fans the first time, fifty-two the second, four the third, and four the fourth—a total of two hundred and twenty fans. Each fan costs five 'Dao.' I only prepared one thousand one hundred 'Dao.' Where did you get the extra three hundred-something?"
"The entrance fees for the fifty-one of us." Qi Xia said. "Five 'Dao' each, totaling two hundred and fifty-five."
"That's still one thousand three hundred and fifty-five..."
"Plus the first time we restocked fans, we spent three 'Dao' to buy fifty-two fans. Together, that's one thousand four hundred and seventy-six."
Di Yang knew he was completely under Qi Xia's thumb.
"Qi Xia...!" Di Yang roared. "Your appetite is way too big! In all the history of the 'Land of Endings,' no one has ever won this many 'Dao' in a single game! Do you have any idea what will happen when you walk down the street carrying all these 'Dao'?!"
"That's none of my concern." Qi Xia shook his head. "Right now, I'm just a gambler who's won money. If you don't pay me, I'll risk my life with you. Simple as that."
"You..." Di Yang felt dizzy from anger. "What grudge do I have against you?"
"None. We have no grudge at all. But I told you, because you are 'Sheep,' I was bound to find a way to get a hold over you." Qi Xia said. "This opportunity just happened to come up. I also want to ask you a few questions."
Di Yang slowly lowered his head. "What... do you want to know?"
"I want to know where 'Heavenly Sheep' is." Qi Xia said.
At this question, Di Yang shot Qi Xia a suspicious look, then said, "Though I shouldn't tell you this, the position of 'Heavenly Sheep' is currently vacant."