Chapter 424: The Harmonious Team
"Now I have to calm you down too…?"
Qi Xia felt like he was a babysitter.
Not only did he have to take these four problematic teammates into danger, but he also had to consider each of their feelings. If it weren't for the need to borrow the power of the "Cat," he would never have bothered with such a thankless task.
"If I don't calm down, I'll die," Qiu Shiliu reiterated. "If your goal and Fifth Brother's is 'training,' I feel like I can't die right away. Even though you're not qualified to be our leader, I still have to give Fifth Brother face."
"That logic is sound," Qi Xia nodded. "But I won't guarantee a hundred percent success. After all, my goal is just to make you achieve 'Echo.' Even if you burn to death on the spot after gaining the Echo, my mission is complete."
"Heh." Qiu Shiliu let out a cold laugh, but the veins on her forehead were already bulging. "I knew you weren't this kind-hearted… Which eye did Fifth Brother lose to make you our leader?"
Qi Xia's expression turned cold as well. He took a couple of slow steps until he stood right in front of Qiu Shiliu, staring coldly into her eyes and speaking softly: "If you have a problem, you can leave right now."
"You…" Qiu Shiliu clenched her teeth and looked at Qi Xia. She felt that his eyes were somewhat terrifying. "Why should I leave?"
"If you're not leaving, then show me some respect," Qi Xia said. "If you make me angry, I have countless ways to make you die miserably in the game without any warning."
Qiu Shiliu thought she had seen countless dangerous scenes in the Land of Endings, but none of them were as frightening as this pair of eyes.
"What the hell are you…?" Qiu Shiliu still frowned, but her tone had softened a bit.
"I'm a liar who has killed countless people," Qi Xia replied. "People who try to play mind games with me never end well."
"A liar…?" Qiu Shiliu frowned in thought. "Then how am I supposed to know which of your words are true?"
"Every word I say could be false," Qi Xia said. "But right now, I have no reason to let you die. So in the game, you need to follow my orders completely. I'm helping you only to give Qiwu a satisfactory answer. Don't think you're that important to me."
"You—"
"Heheheheh!" Wang Ba walked over and gave Qiu Shiliu's butt a hard slap. "Shiliu! We're comrades this time. Let's cooperate well!"
Qiu Shiliu was startled by Wang Ba's action. She came to her senses and immediately kicked him to the ground.
"You…" Qiu Shiliu said angrily. "Are you fucking crazy?!"
"Oh… I forgot, I forgot…" Wang Ba rolled on the ground and stood up with a wronged expression. "I almost forgot! Shiliu, you're such a manly woman, I keep thinking you're a guy. Sorry, sorry! Hehe!"
Qiu Shiliu's expression changed colors as if she wanted to scold him, but she couldn't find a reason.
Zhou Liu swung her iron rod and slowly placed it on Wang Ba's shoulder, saying coldly: "Tsk. If you pull any more stunts, I'll make sure you don't have a single tooth left by the time you go back today."
"Heh! Got it, got it!"
Qi Xia ignored them and instead looked at Qiu Shiliu. So she was a woman?
She had short, neat hair, sharp facial features, and dark, slightly rough skin. She did look more masculine.
"It's fine, Sixth Sister," Qiu Shiliu said. "If he does that again, I'll break his fingers myself."
"Hehe… Do you want to hold my hand…?" Wang Ba extended his chubby palm forward. "If it's Shiliu, I'll let you break it right now."
"You motherfu—"
Qi Xia looked at the short, fat man and felt a slight headache.
His trigger for "Echo" was "humiliation." But if a person's skin was this thick, what method could possibly humiliate him?
He suspected that Qiwu had given him the code name "Eight" precisely to trigger his Echo from a different angle. But he never expected this guy to be so unconventional—completely unaffected by anything.
"Stop arguing…" Qi Xia said in a low voice. "Our time is tight. We need to participate in as many games as possible today."
The others slowly stopped quarreling and turned to look at him.
Luo Shiyi, who had been silent for a long time, stepped forward: "Hey… I ask again, what game are we actually going to play?"
Qi Xia looked at the distant street and pointed a finger at the end of the road: "We'll walk straight down this road. The first 'Earth-level' zodiac we see will be our target. How about that?"
The others looked down the road. They had been active near the prison for a long time and were familiar with this area. If they went forward, they should encounter a "Rat."
"Tsk. A 'hide and seek' category… alright." Zhou Liu nodded. "Qi Xia, Fifth Brother said you're a very clever man. This is your chance to show us."
"So you all know that game?" Qi Xia asked.
"We've seen that 'Rat,' but we've never played his game," Luo Shiyi said. "Do you have the confidence to keep all of us alive in that game?"
"No," Qi Xia said bluntly. "Are you expecting me to handle everything on my own?"
"Aren't you the leader?" Luo Shiyi said mockingly.
"Oh?" Qi Xia turned to him. "I am the leader, but there are five of us. You once tried to trade your life for another and still lost an 'Earth Tiger' game. With teammates like you, how am I supposed to win?"
"You—"
Luo Shiyi hadn't interacted much with Qi Xia before. The only thing in his mind was the tattooed man who had lifted his "Forgetfulness." But now it seemed that this man named Qi Xia was no pushover either.
He was immune to both flattery and intimidation, and he had a strong will of his own.
"Qi Xia, right?" Luo Shiyi said. "The reason we have such a problem with you is that I heard you only kept memories from two cycles. Do you know how long we've kept ours?"
"I know," Qi Xia said.
"It's already giving Fifth Brother plenty of face for us to form a team and move with you," Luo Shiyi said. "Fifth Brother has lived and died with us for years. That's not something someone with only twenty days of memories can compare to. No matter how strong you think you are, don't expect me to be impressed by you after just one day."
"I never expected that," Qi Xia said. "I'm just repaying a favor to Qiwu by triggering your Echoes."
"Good," Luo Shiyi nodded. "Your team might be strong, but to us, you're still an outsider."
"Yes," Qi Xia nodded. "And you're outsiders to me too."
The atmosphere was tense for a while. Then they fell silent and started walking toward the depths of the road.