Chapter 639: Clarity
"Ha." Di Hou let out a dry laugh, then slowly turned his head to look at Qi Xia.
"Anything you want to know—secrets I hold—you can ask," Qi Xia said coldly. "I swear I'll tell you everything, without a single lie."
"Oh…?" Di Hou nodded. "For you, I have only one question… a question that's been weighing on me for a long time."
"I'm all ears."
"You… do you really want to get out?"
The brief question instantly plunged into Qi Xia's mind, making him feel as if he had once again been surrounded by thick, impenetrable fog.
"What…?"
"Do you truly want to get out?" Di Hou asked again, his tone seeming less friendly now, more like an interrogation.
"How could I… not want to get out?"
Di Hou slowly stood up, his eyes filled with the weariness of ages. He stared at Qi Xia and asked, word by word, "Tell me—do you want to get out or not?"
Qi Xia looked into Di Hou's eyes. After a long pause, he finally let out one word: "Yes."
Hearing this answer, Di Hou's dim, aged eyes flickered, betraying no hint of what he was thinking.
He waited a long time before slowly speaking: "For now, I'll believe… that you're telling the truth."
"Of course…" Qi Xia narrowed his eyes and nodded. "How could I possibly lie about something like this…?"
Di Hou sat down on the chair and let out a deep sigh, then said, "Your turn. What do you want to ask me?"
Everyone's gaze turned to Qi Xia, but just as he was about to speak, he froze.
Fog.
His mind was filled with nothing but fog.
The question he had just thought of had already been lost in that mist.
"Wait… hold on…" Qi Xia clutched his forehead, experiencing a panic he had never felt before.
It was an unprecedented terror. Once his mind was shrouded in fog, it meant he had lost the only thing he could rely on.
Flesh and blood, powerless strength, plus a foggy mind to challenge this chaotic city—this was the most helpless he had ever been.
"What? No question?" Di Hou looked at Qi Xia with some confusion.
Qi Xia didn't respond. Instead, he kept tapping his forehead with his hand, trying to clear his mind.
"If he has no questions… do any of you have questions?" Di Hou glanced at the remaining few.
Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiajin both looked at Qi Xia with concern. This round was clearly meant to give Qi Xia a chance to ask a question, but they could both see his body trembling.
He seemed to be afraid.
"If no one has any questions, then…"
Before Di Hou could finish, Zheng Yingxiong's small nose twitched slightly, and his eyes flew open. "Uncle, I have a question."
Hearing this, Qi Xia quickly turned his head, as if he had spotted a lifeline.
"You…" Di Hou frowned slightly, looking at this child who appeared only seven or eight years old. "You have a question?"
"Mm!" Zheng Yingxiong nodded, then turned to the others beside him. "Brothers and sisters, can I ask?"
"Well…" Tiantian looked at a loss, seeking help from the others with her eyes.
"Ask," Qi Xia said decisively. "Say whatever question you want to ask."
"Okay!" Zheng Yingxiong agreed, then sniffed the air and picked up his own revealed card, "Shuangjiang," turning to Di Hou. "Uncle, may I ask what day 'Shuangjiang' falls on?"
Tiantian and Xiao Cheng, who were nearby, couldn't help but gasp when they heard this. They felt that Zheng Yingxiong had just messed things up.
Wouldn't it have been more appropriate to ask Di Hou what his hand card was?
"You want to know what day 'Shuangjiang' is…?" Di Hou confirmed.
"That's right."
Di Hou thought for a few seconds, then said, "The twenty-third day of the ninth lunar month."
Qi Xia slowly widened his eyes. He felt that Zheng Yingxiong had just done him a huge favor. This was exactly the question he had wanted to ask, but he just couldn't remember it.
And Di Hou's simple four words instantly sparked his thinking.
Twenty-third day of the ninth lunar month—that sounded like an expression of the lunar calendar…
Comparing the lunar dates of each festival to determine which is larger?
No…
Qi Xia eventually furrowed his brow again. Something felt off, but with his current mind…
He slowly raised his head, glanced around, and his eyes landed on the wooden box on the table.
He had reached his limit with this state of his.
That wooden box had originally been used to hold the "Shuowangyue" set, which was now empty. But Di Hou hadn't taken it away; it had been sitting in the middle of the table all along.
Qi Xia stood up and grabbed the box with one hand. This action made Di Hou's expression darken, and he also stood up.
It was unclear whether he thought Qi Xia was about to start a fight or planned to destroy the game props, but he kept his eyes fixed on Qi Xia.
Without paying any attention to Di Hou, Qi Xia turned the box in his hand, aimed one of its bottom corners at his own forehead, and then—to the shock of everyone—smashed the wooden box hard against his head.
A dull *thump* sounded. A visible patch of skin was torn from Qi Xia's forehead, and half a second later, bright red blood surged like a runaway horse, streaming down his face until it covered half of it.
"Lying… lying bastard! What the hell are you doing…!"
Qiao Jiajin also stood up, feeling that things had taken an unexpected turn. He wished he had foreseen this; otherwise, he might have been able to stop him.
He was sitting on Qi Xia's right side and could clearly feel that Qi Xia had used tremendous force with that blow—it even sent a gust of wind past his face.
"Still not enough…" Qi Xia didn't even bother with the blood covering his face. He just squinted, deep in thought. Soon, he came up with a new idea.
He sat down, placed his right palm flat on the table, spread his long fingers in five directions, then picked up the wooden box and slammed it down hard on his right little finger.
Qiao Jiajin immediately reached out to block him, but Qi Xia's hand moved too fast. Before he could intercept, the box had already landed solidly on his finger.
A muffled sound exploded in the room. Both Qi Xia's and Di Hou's expressions changed simultaneously.
Di Hou kept staring at Qi Xia, but his expression seemed less concerned about Qi Xia and more about the wooden box in his hand.
Qi Xia gritted his teeth and slowly lifted the box, revealing his little finger, which had already turned red.
Blood was starting to seep out from under the fingernail, and the entire finger was rapidly turning from red to purple. It looked like the blow had been extremely heavy.
"Good…" Qi Xia let out a bitter laugh, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with his hand, and said, "It seems I can understand a lot of things now."
He slowly raised his head, and this time his eyes had become sharp. Fragments of scattered memories were gathering in his mind. But before he could fully collect them, he was drawn to the wooden box in his hand.
It was strange.
This wooden box was very strange.
It was lighter than he had imagined.
Although it was made of wood, it didn't feel solid in his hand. The wooden boards that made up the box were most likely hollow.