Chapter 772: The Knock
Qi Xia kept pressing his hand against his forehead, that familiar sensation washing over him once again.
"Earth Dog... you're saying that person was an Earth Dog...?" Qi Xia murmured to himself.
"Brother Goat... what's wrong with you?" Earth Dog was taken aback. "Right, when you were 'Goat,' you should have seen her too... but not long after you became 'Earth-level,' she broke the rules..."
"She broke the rules not long after I became 'Earth-level'?" Qi Xia felt like he'd finally latched onto something important.
"Yeah..." Earth Dog nodded with a touch of sadness. "It's really such a shame... I still can't accept it."
"Do you know what rule she broke?" Qi Xia pressed further.
"I don't know." Earth Dog shook his head. "After hearing what you said, I'm even starting to think... maybe she didn't break any rules at all. Maybe the two dragons just didn't need her anymore. That's all."
"Is that so...?"
"My teacher was exactly the kind of person who's hardest to deal with," Earth Dog said. "She always followed the rules, but she could never win 'Heavenly Dragon's' favor. So it was only a matter of time before she was punished."
That might be true, but Qi Xia still felt that the timing of Earth Dog's teacher being punished was too coincidental. No matter how he looked at it, it had to be connected to him somehow.
He reached out and touched the table inside the glass room. This was the table Earth Dog had used during games to draw lots. Though it looked a bit worn, it was still polished clean.
As Qi Xia's fingers brushed across the surface, he inexplicably tapped it.
The moment he knocked on the table, fragmented memories began surfacing in his mind. The owner of that voice seemed to awaken within his thoughts, her voice echoing deep in his consciousness.
*"Xiao Qi, if you don't unite with everyone and work together against outsiders, I'll beat you to death right now."*
*"Xiao Qi, can your plan really work? We're on the same side here."*
*"Xiao Qi, our teammates are everything."*
*"Stop arguing, Xiao Qi. I believe in you."*
*"Xiao Qi, it's me... Don't you recognize me like this?"*
*"White Goat, are you Xiao Qi?"*
*"White Goat, why won't you answer me?"*
A jolt, like an electric current, shot through Qi Xia's brain, and his whole body trembled slightly.
The figure of that woman, cigarette dangling from her lips, flashed through his mind like an illusory dream. Before he could even make out her face, the memory was already gone.
Qi Xia narrowed his eyes at the table, then looked down at the fingers that had just knocked on its surface.
He felt like he'd grasped something crucial. Once again, he reached out and knocked on the table.
*Knock, knock, knock.*
Sure enough, the moment he knocked, the woman's figure flickered in his mind once more—though this time, it lasted even shorter than before.
"So that's it..." Qi Xia's eyes widened slowly as he ran his hand over the table. "'Yu Nian'an said knock, knock, knock.' It was a code I set for myself..."
His mind suddenly flashed with memories of every time he had knocked on a table before. He couldn't remember exactly when it started, but somewhere along the way, he had developed a habit of tapping the table at critical moments.
It seemed to be a trained *subconscious*—trained specifically to record something.
In the same way, when he needed to retrieve those memories, this small action could trigger the hints he had stored back then.
"This is the 'anchor point' I set for myself..."
*Knock, knock, knock.*
Qi Xia knocked three more times, but no more memories surfaced. What was going on?
If knocking on the table was supposed to trigger memories, then theoretically, every knock should bring up at least some fragments. But that wasn't happening.
Was there a specific condition to when the table was knocked?
"Earth Dog." Qi Xia turned to ask, "Did you design this game yourself?"
"Well..." Earth Dog shook his head. "Brother Goat, you might not know me well. I work harder than most people on the job, but once work is over, I slack off more than anyone. So I wouldn't design a game that takes so long to clean up afterward... That would mean overtime every day. It'd kill me."
"Oh?" Qi Xia nodded. "So you inherited this game venue from someone else?"
"Exactly. You always get what I'm trying to say right away," Earth Dog replied. "This venue was left to me by my 'teacher.' So I've been maintaining it for her. Every pane of glass in this glass shop, I wipe down carefully. Not even a fingerprint is allowed."
"So this table..." Qi Xia slowly ran his finger across its surface.
"My 'teacher' used it too," Earth Dog said. "Is there something strange about this table?"
"So that's how it is..." Qi Xia didn't answer. Instead, he was rapidly piecing together the logic behind the 'knock, knock, knock.'
It seemed that reading the data stored in his 'anchor point' had a limitation—he had to knock on the specific table.
"Brother Goat... What's wrong with you?"
Hearing this, Qi Xia turned around, composed himself, and said to Earth Dog, "If I'm not mistaken, your 'teacher' and I had a cooperative relationship. But now, she can no longer fulfill the promises she made to me."
"What...?"
"So what did she tell you back then?"
Earth Dog thought for a moment, then said, "I'm not sure what you're driving at... But my 'teacher' did tell me that if one day she was gone, I had to inherit her game venue and become a 'Heavenly-level.'"
Qi Xia nodded upon hearing this. It seemed the plan he had set in motion was still progressing as intended.
Even though there had been casualties—some people thrown off the fast-moving car—this road still had to be traveled.
"One last question," Qi Xia said. "How close were you and your 'teacher'? How much are you willing to give up for her?"
Earth Dog's nostrils flared slightly, and a hint of wariness crept into his eyes. "Brother Goat... I'm grateful to my 'teacher,' but I won't necessarily die for her. After all, you said it yourself—there's no way out of this place. Now that Lose Money Tiger has started making moves, if I keep following you guys, I might end up with nothing."
"I completely understand," Qi Xia replied. "I like people who don't hide their true intentions."
"Right. So I might give Lose Money Tiger some help, but I won't pay any real price."
Qi Xia thought for a moment, then said, "Earth Dog, you should also know that if you stay a 'Zodiac' forever, death is only a matter of time."
Earth Dog slowly lowered his head. He knew Qi Xia's words made sense, but if death was inevitable no matter what he chose, he'd rather die a little later.