Chapter 848: Thief
I don't know if it's because I'm simply not suited for conversation, or if Zhang Qiang is just someone similar to me. We'd clearly seen each other many times, but our first proper communication was incredibly difficult.
"You don't participate in games either?" Zhang Qiang asked again.
"Yes." I nodded. "The 'Human-level' games have low difficulty and low rewards, while the 'Earth-level' games are strange. Even if the rules sound simple, there are always casualties. I suspect there are hidden rules that can only be learned after entering the game, and that's the root cause of participants' deaths."
"Right," Zhang Qiang responded. "I'm not a clever person. There's no way I can participate in those 'Earth-level' games alone, but I can't find suitable teammates either. After all, there are too many fools in our room."
After speaking, we couldn't help but look at each other. I seemed to understand what he was thinking.
"Brother Qiang, would you like to team up with me?" I asked. "I don't know if we can earn three thousand six hundred 'Dao,' but it's better than nothing, right?"
"No..." Zhang Qiang thought for a moment before speaking. "If you really want to collect 'Dao,' I suggest trying another method."
"What method?" I asked.
Zhang Qiang paused and said, "It's been three cycles now, hasn't it...? Every time we die, we come back here."
"Yes."
"Follow me."
Zhang Qiang led me through twists and turns into a small alley. He crouched down by a very hidden corner of a wall, then reached out and wiped at a brick near the ground.
Somewhat confused, I followed and stood behind him, looking over his shoulder.
On that brick was a fresh carving—"ZQ."
"Look," Zhang Qiang said. "This is a character I carved in my last cycle."
"Oh...?"
Seeing this scene, something suddenly clicked in my mind.
So people could be reborn here in cycles, but the time in this city wasn't paused... It had always been flowing forward.
I found this concept hard to grasp. Perhaps it was like the production principle of old animated films... Characters could move across a static background?
No... We were the static ones, moving across a flowing setting.
We'd been misled by "people." Just because "people" started over didn't mean time started over.
"Zhichun." Zhang Qiang looked at the mark on the wall and spoke to me in a low voice. "You're a clever person. You should understand... We've only just obtained the 'Echo' and retained our memories, but that doesn't mean we've only just arrived here. For all we know, we've already been cycling for months."
I nodded: "That's right, and... if time can flow, it means this city might not have always looked like this."
"The city's appearance doesn't matter, nor can we interfere with these supernatural matters." Zhang Qiang said. "Let me ask you... Suppose there are other powerful 'participants' who started collecting 'Dao' long ago. But there's a strange phenomenon here—everyone who survives to the tenth day gets annihilated. In that case... what do those strong ones who've collected 'Dao' do? How do they ensure their hard-earned results don't disappear?"
I considered Zhang Qiang's question carefully and soon arrived at an answer.
"They hide their 'Dao' before annihilation?"
"Yes." Zhang Qiang nodded. "You really are clever. That white sheep was right—neither you nor I can disappear from the room."
"I understand what you mean..." Yan Zhichun said. "So that's why you never participate in games..."
"That's right, Zhichun." Zhang Qiang turned to look at me and said, "Since we're both collecting 'Dao,' since it's still three thousand six hundred pieces... we could simply not participate in games and instead try to become 'thieves.' What do you think?"
"Thieves..." I slowly lowered my head after hearing this. "You're right... We just need to steal the 'Dao' those people have hidden away... Then we can leave."
"I can't say for sure if we can leave." Zhang Qiang shook his head. "But this path is safer. Not only can we avoid contact with others, we can also avoid the deadly games. That's why I wanted to find someone to try it with."
After speaking, he stood up, covered the letters on the wall corner with a stone, then turned back to me and said: "Everyone who comes here is guilty, right? I used to be a thief. What about you?"
"I..." I stared into Zhang Qiang's eyes, thinking cautiously for a long time, then said, "It's not convenient for me to say."
"Not convenient is fine too." Zhang Qiang said. "I can see you're not very sociable like me, so I can probably guess. Do you want to work with me?"
To be honest, I really hadn't thought things through.
Because I knew I wasn't a bad person myself, I subconsciously assumed everyone here wasn't bad either.
But I was wrong. Zhang Qiang was a habitual burglar.
I'd once heard a saying... All burglars carry weapons.
Though they were engaged in "theft," if the homeowner suddenly returned during a burglary, they would instantly transform into murderers.
Every single one of them committed theft with murder in mind. They weren't the "same kind" as me.
But I couldn't tell them I wasn't the "same kind" here, otherwise the situation would become even more dangerous.
"What's wrong?" Zhang Qiang interrupted my train of thought. "It's fine if you don't want to cooperate. I can do it alone. I just thought you were clever, and we could look out for each other."
After a few seconds of thought, I smiled and said, "I'm willing to cooperate. Let's do it together."
"You've made up your mind?" Zhang Qiang asked.
"Mm." I nodded. "This is the 'Hedgehog Theory.' Hedgehogs huddle together for warmth when it's cold, but they also keep their distance to avoid hurting each other. We're like those two hedgehogs."
"Didn't know you were an educated man." Zhang Qiang nodded. "Then it's settled."
Thinking back carefully... when exactly did I start doubting this entire "Land of Finality"?
It should have been on this day.
Twelve years ago, on the day I decided to become a "thief" with Zhang Qiang.
Do you know how many hidden pieces of "Dao" we managed to find after spending an entire ten days?
One.
Since this place was no different from the real world—people went out during the day and rested inside buildings at night—we could only choose daytime to move without being seen.
We two walked through every hidden corner of this city. We even climbed onto buildings about to collapse and crawled into sewers abandoned for years.
With his professional experience, Zhang Qiang led me to one suitable hiding spot after another.
But every corner was empty. We could find anything—anything except "Dao."
The single piece of "Dao" we found was in a deep crack in the broken ground. Zhang Qiang used two wooden sticks like chopsticks to fish it out.
It was strange... This "Dao" didn't seem deliberately hidden there—it looked more like it had fallen there by accident.