Qi Xia clutched his hair tightly, patiently waiting for the headache to subside.
After about half a minute, he steadied his breathing, slowly let go, and stood up.
His expression was as if nothing had happened.
The headache was like a gust of wind that passed by, fierce when it came but always fading away at some point.
Lin looked at Qi Xia and asked, "Are you alright? Do you often have headaches?"
"No, this is only the second time since I can remember," Qi Xia sighed and said, "I think it's related to this damned place."
Lin wanted to ask more, but it seemed that Qi Xia didn't want to dwell on the issue.
"Our time is tight. Even if there are worms in my head, I'm not planning to diagnose them here," Qi Xia said, looking up at the dark red sky, and continued, "Thanks to this little girl, we now know a lot of useful information."
"Do we?" Tiantian looked at the body of the Rat Person on the ground, her expression still a bit sad, "The only useful information I feel is about the rules of 'Life Gambling.' And this child lost her life because of it."
"Not just that," Qi Xia said, "I originally thought this was a land full of chaos and madness, but now it seems that this place also has its own 'rules.'"
"Rules...?"
"That's right," Qi Xia nodded, "The man named 'Zhuque' we just saw should be one of the administrators here."
"Administrators? You mean that 'bird man'?" Qiao Jiajian asked.
"Yes, his appearance was to ensure that the 'rules' are not broken."
"But why doesn't the administrator wear clothes..." Tiantian was a bit confused, "He's naked with just a cape, it looks so strange."
"Compared to his various strange behaviors, 'not wearing clothes' is the most normal one," Qi Xia paused and then said,
"This is just the clues within our sight. Perhaps there are others above the 'administrators.'"
Lin Qin seemed to think of something: "By the way... that person named Zhuque once said something like 'If it weren't for the rules, I would have killed you'."
Qiao Jiajian also nodded: "To be able to restrain a madman with special powers, I believe the people above him would be even more terrifying."
"'Special powers'?" Qi Xia frowned, "I haven't heard this term for a long time."
"Isn't it special powers? Like the Terminator." Qiao Jiajian gestured, "That guy was flying in the sky!"
Hearing this, the three of them paused for a moment.
"'Terminator'? What does that mean?" Lin looked at Qiao Jiajian with curiosity.
"Looking at you, you're quite fashionable, but you're actually such an old-fashioned person?" Qiao Jiajian chuckled, "You haven't even seen the Terminator?"
"Fashionable, fashionable?" Lin was embarrassed, these two words could only be heard from the older generation now, and just saying them was already considered outdated. But he was looked down upon by this kind of person.
Qiao Jiajian nudged Qi Xia with his elbow and asked, "Cheater, you must have seen it, right? Arnold Schwarzenegger, just too handsome!"
"Arnold Schwarzenegger...?" Lin Qin seemed to have heard this name before, but it was also as if he hadn't.
"I don't care about the 'Terminator' or Schwarzenegger, and I don't care how incredible that bird man is," Qi Xia said after a moment, "What I want to know now is how extensive the 'rules' are and to what degree they can regulate."
The three of them didn't understand what Qi Xia meant and looked at each other in confusion.
"Cheater, what are you going to do?"
Qi Xia slowly extended his hand and gestured on his neck, saying to the three of them, "I want to know if 'killing to take the Dao' is really feasible."
As soon as he said this, Lin and Tiantian each took a step back.
Only Qiao Jiajian remained in place.
"Killing to take the 'Dao'?" Qiao Jiajian frowned, his expression extremely serious, "Are you saying... if you don't gather three thousand six hundred 'Dao' within ten days, you're going to rob others?"
"Yes, this is the most effective method I can think of," Qi Xia said, "Now that we are also a team, to accomplish such a great task, we must have your help. So now I am stating our plan to hear your opinions."
"I will not help you," Qiao Jiajian decisively shook his head, "Even if the sky falls here, I will not do unjust things. Those who have 'Dao' are probably like us, having gone through hardships to survive. What reason do we have to kill them?"
"Is that so..." Qi Xia nodded with a complicated expression, "But if we want to escape from this damned place, we can only use this method. That's three thousand six hundred 'Dao'... Are you really not going to try?"
"I also refuse," Lin also said, "I think this idea is not good. If we really kill someone, even if we can get out of here, we will not be able to live the same life as before."
Tiantian thought for a long time and said, "Yes, if it comes to killing others, I would rather die myself first."
Qi Xia looked into the eyes of the three people, thought for a while, and then a slight smile appeared at the corner of his mouth:
"Very well, now I can confidently tell you my real plan."
"What..." Qiao Jiajian was taken aback, "I'll be damned, Cheater, you were testing us?!"
Qi Xia nodded and said, "If the three of you could accept a plan like 'killing to take the Dao,' it would only prove that we are not the same kind of people, and I would abandon you at any time."
"You..." Qiao Jiajian was almost choked to death by Qi Xia, "I thought you were really going to kill someone."
"Logically speaking, the 'rules' should not allow a situation like 'killing to take the Dao' to happen," Qi Xia explained, "Although I'm not clear about what the rules here are, they seem to always maintain a 'strange fairness,' and those administrators are more like 'referees.' If they are really 'referees,' then they will definitely ensure the safety of the participants."
He paused and continued, "In other words, they want us to die in the game, not to kill each other."
After hearing Qi Xia's words, everyone was silent for a while.
After a moment, Lin came to his senses and asked, "So, what is your real plan?"
"My plan is not complicated," Qi Xia replied, "Since these games are not life-threatening, we will go one by one to 'probe,' you guys first figure out the game rules and collect clues. When we are confident, I will 'gamble my life.' All the 'Dao' we get in the end, we will share equally. Before reaching three thousand six hundred, we can keep using this tactic."