"I..." The Snake Man hesitated for a moment, trying to choose an answer, but found that no matter how he responded, it would be futile.
"Hahahaha!"
Suddenly, the Snake Man burst into laughter, laughing heartily for a while before calming down and saying, "You're quite interesting."
"Interesting?" Qixia looked at the Snake Man coldly. "Where's the interest? Haven't I already won?"
The Snake Man slowly approached the wall and reached out to pull down the lever.
Everyone felt a sudden drop, and then they began to descend slowly.
Qiao Jiajin looked puzzled, turning to Qixia. "Scammer, what's going on? How does this count as winning?"
Qixia noticed that the rope was indeed descending and sighed in relief. "Think about it. As long as this question is asked, we're saved no matter what."
"If my next question is 'Will you pull down the lever?' would your answer be the same as to this question..." Qiao Jiajin repeated the question silently, unable to understand.
"I see..." Dr. Zhao nodded thoughtfully. "If he answers 'yes,' then the next question also has to be 'yes,' so we're saved. After all, the next question is 'Will you pull down the lever?'"
"But what if he says 'no'?" Qiao Jiajin felt like he had found a loophole. "Couldn't he just say 'no'?"
"If he says 'no,' the next question will have to be 'yes,'" Han Yimo said weakly. "The cleverness of this lies in the fact that if he answers 'no,' he admits that he would give different answers to two questions, remember? This Snake Man said he wouldn't lie."
Qiao Jiajin was stunned, turning to Qixia again. "Did you just think of this? What kind of monster are you?"
"I wouldn't dare call myself a monster," Qixia shook his head. "I'm just a wandering scammer."
As they spoke, they slowly landed on the ground.
Due to the long hanging, everyone's palms were burning with pain, and the condition of the two injured was even more worrisome.
"Congratulations to all of you for surviving the 'interview.' Push open this door, and a new world awaits you," the Snake Man said, standing next to the wooden door with his hands behind his back.
"Damn you..." Qiao Jiajin walked up aggressively, seemingly wanting to vent all his dissatisfaction with the "Snake Man" in front of him.
The Snake Man turned cold eyes and watched Qiao Jiajin's imposing figure without moving.
"Are you all freaks?!" Qiao Jiajin yelled loudly, grabbing the Snake Man's collar. "Wearing these weird masks, repeatedly trying to kill us, and now finally caught by me!"
The Snake Man smirked and said in a low voice, "While you're still alive, I advise you to let go."
"What did you say?!"
Qiao Jiajin raised his fist forcefully, about to punch the Snake Man in the face, but his arm was stopped by Officer Li.
"Hey, have you forgotten the man with the smashed head?" Officer Li said in a low voice, "If they're all the same kind of people, how are you going to defeat them?"
"I..." A look of unwillingness appeared on Qiao Jiajin's tough face. He clenched his teeth and slowly uttered a few words, "But these damn..."
"Don't worry, aren't we about to get out?" Officer Li interrupted him, saying softly, "As long as we can leave, I will make sure they pay for it."
After hearing this, everyone fell silent, just slowly approaching the Snake Man.
Looking closely at this person, they realized how eerie he was.
The temperature around the Snake Man was lower than elsewhere, and his old suit and the mask on his head emitted a strange stench.
His eyes were shining through the mask, obviously human. But the smell on his body was like that of a snake dead for a long time.
"Welcome to the new world, everyone," the Snake Man's muffled voice came from the mask, then he turned and opened the door.
With a creaking sound, the light from outside streamed in.
Qixia frowned. He found that it wasn't the outdoors outside the door, but a corridor.
"Where is this?" Qixia asked.
"I've said it before, it's the new world," the Snake Man raised his hands behind him. "The future 'God' will emerge among you! It will emerge in the new world! How exciting!"
"Another god..." Qiao Jiajin asked fiercely, "What exactly are you planning?"
Seeing someone asking, the Snake Man seemed interested. "An all-powerful god...! He can make any idea come true!"
"All-powerful?" Qiao Jiajin's brows furrowed into a rope.
Dr. Zhao, standing aside, motioned to Qiao Jiajin silently, then said to the Snake Man, "Alright, we understand. Please let us out quickly."
The Snake Man paused, then nodded and stepped aside.
Qixia took the lead to walk forward, and the others seemed unwilling to stay here longer, so they hastened their steps to follow.
As they stepped into the corridor, a special smell filled their noses.
How to describe that smell?
Heavy, a very heavy smell.
It was like billions of people in the world had died, and their bodies had rotted in the air, attracting countless insects to feast on them.
They reproduced in large numbers, died in large numbers, and then rotted.
After this overwhelming smell of decay settled for a while and no longer stung the nose, it became the heavy smell it was now.
It took Qixia a long time to recover, then he opened his eyes and saw another desperate scene before him.
They were in a corridor that seemed endless, with a low and oppressive ceiling, extending forward along the corridor.
On both sides of the corridor, countless wooden doors were slowly opening.
Just like the wooden door behind them.
Soon, figures began to emerge from the wooden doors.
Most of them were people wearing bloody animal masks. From afar, only a few doors had normal people coming out.
And even those so-called "normal people" looked exhausted and shaky.
Like Qixia's room, where there was no one who "survived."
"Everyone, please," the Snake Man waved to the side, indicating the direction for everyone to go, then stood beside the door with his hands behind his back, seemingly not planning to leave.
"Let's go," the others knew it wasn't safe to stay here for long, so they lined up and left slowly.
As they passed through one dilapidated wooden door after another, they saw the people wearing animal masks up close.
Among them were oxen, horses, and dogs.
There were also sheep and snakes they had seen before.
Without exception, they all emitted a strange aura and the smell of decay. And most of the scenes inside the doors were full of corpses. They didn't know what "game" they had participated in.
After walking a dozen steps, they were startled by two people wearing animal masks.
The person on the left wore a huge rat mask and leaned against the wall, while the person on the right wore a huge rooster mask and crossed his arms over his chest.
These two masks were obviously not artificial products but real animal heads.
But where in the world would there be such huge rats and roosters?
These two, like the others with animal masks, just glanced lightly at Qixia and the others, without any other movement.
"What are all these animals..." Ringo was somewhat frightened and subconsciously moved away from the two.
Qixia furrowed his brows slightly, as if he had thought of something.
Sheep, dogs, snakes, rats, roosters...
"They're the Chinese zodiac." His lips moved slightly as he uttered a few words.
Everyone was startled and looked over.
Sure enough, the animal masks worn by the people in tattered suits were all within the twelve zodiac signs.