"He's here!" The little man with glasses exclaimed happily, "He's finally here!"
They saw the big man slowly approach. He was about 1.9 meters tall and had a crew cut.
He yawned as he reached into his pocket, then asked the ox-headed man, "How much?"
"The ticket is one 'Dao'."
The big man took out a small ball from his pocket, flicked it with his thumb to the ox-headed man, who caught it steadily.
"I'm well-rested... Let's start." The big man stretched, then moved his neck, and said in a muffled voice, "Let me see what kind of tricks you've come up with this time."
Qi Xia and the other three looked at this fierce-looking big man and felt that he was not a good person.
Qiao Jiajian didn't pay much attention to the big man. After all, he had seen too many such people on the streets.
These people, relying on their strong bodies, bullied others on the streets, and Qiao Jiajian had even cried a few of them with his own hands.
But he didn't know if the big man in front of him was also a paper tiger?
Once the number reached ten, everyone began to slowly step forward to pay the ticket.
After thinking for a while, Qi Xia also took out four 'Dao'.
This was not a small amount for them. After handing over these four, they were left with only one 'Dao'.
"Are we really going to participate in this game?" Qiao Jiajian asked, "What about our strategy?"
"I'm also torn," Qi Xia said, "Although it's very risky, I feel that a game with twenty people participating together is not something we can easily encounter, it's worth a gamble."
After getting the agreement of the other three, Qi Xia put four 'Dao' into the box in front of the ox-headed man.
"Good," the ox-headed man said, then turned around and opened the door.
Inside, they saw a downward staircase leading to the basement.
"All participants, please enter."
He turned around and slowly walked down the stairs.
The participants also followed him cautiously, heading deep underground.
"This venue looks very large... It's not in the same league as the 'Human Rat'," Tiantian whispered.
"Be careful," Qi Xia replied, "I have an ominous feeling."
The middle-aged man had asserted before the game that this game would lead to 'death,' which made Qi Xia very concerned.
But now, he was not afraid of death, but rather of being buried forever in this strange place.
As a cheater, he had experienced too many life-threatening adventures, but without exception, he had survived them all.
On second thought, this time was no different from the past, it was just another risk.
Soon, everyone arrived at the end of the stairs.
This was a small room filled with an old-fashioned atmosphere under dim lighting, with twenty chairs placed in the center of the room.
There was a door on each side of the room, painted in yellow and green.
"Everyone, please sit down," the ox-headed man said, "Don't worry, the game has not started yet."
After hearing this, everyone sat down dubiously, and Qi Xia and the other three sat down side by side as well.
At this point, they noticed that there was a small light on each side of the chair's armrests, one yellow and one green.
"Since this is a team game, to ensure fairness, we will now conduct a 'random team division'. Please do not move from your seats, or there will be an 'immediate sanction'."
As soon as this was said, everyone's faces became unnatural.
The most reactive were the little man with glasses and the middle-aged man: "Ah?! Team division?!"
Qi Xia stroked his chin and thought for a moment, knowing that this setting was only beneficial to the organizers.
If this was a 'gambling' game, it was necessary to reduce the participants' chances of winning to the lowest, so the best way to do this was to disrupt everyone's teams.
The ox-headed man went to a corner of the room, found a button switch, then turned around and gave a meaningful look to everyone, saying: "The game officially begins."
After speaking, he pressed the button, and the lights on both sides of everyone's chairs started to flash, with yellow and green lights constantly changing, creating an eerie scene in the dark space.
Qi Xia looked at the small light on his armrest and was a bit nervous as well.
If the 'Ox' really represented a physical game, it was not within his area of expertise. This time, the game would have to rely on Qiao Jiajian's brute strength.
But if he could think like this, others would also.
For example, the little man with glasses and the plump middle-aged man, they had called in that big man as a helper.
But everyone's little schemes seemed to be all within the Earth Ox's control. He would try his best to avoid such things from happening, which was why there was this 'random team division'.
Qi Xia knew that if he was extremely unlucky and was assigned to a different team from Qiao Jiajian, the outcome of this game would become unpredictable.
Before Qi Xia could come up with a complete strategy, the two-color lights stopped flashing.
Some people's yellow lights came on, and others' green lights came on.
This seemed to be the random team division.
Qi Xia turned his head to look at the team division of the four people, feeling both happy and worried.
He was happy that he and Qiao Jiajian both had yellow lights on, which meant they were on the same team. But he was worried that the two girls had green lights on, which meant they were on another team. If this was really a physical game, it would be very unfavorable for them.
There were sighs and murmurs among the crowd, and it seemed that apart from Qi Xia's team, the other teams were also not ideal.
"Next, I will announce the game rules," the ox-headed man said in a muffled voice, "Both sides will conduct the game independently, each having their own venue, unrelated to each other. As long as you can persist for ten minutes in the venue without being eliminated, it is considered as passing. In the end, each person can obtain the same number of 'Dao' as the number of people who passed."
After hearing this rule, many people couldn't sit still.
"Hey!" The middle-aged man stood up at once, "This is the same as not saying anything at all! What game are we going to participate in? What will we encounter?"
After hearing this, everyone quietly looked at the Earth Ox, thinking he would explain the game rules again. However, he just glanced at the middle-aged man and then said indifferently: "Please follow me with the team of yellow lights."
"You...!" The middle-aged man gritted his teeth but didn't dare to curse out loud.
He was already furious for not being on the same team as his teammates, and now, with the unclear rules, his emotions were very unstable. The little man with glasses could only keep pulling at his clothes, trying to calm him down.
Qi Xia turned to look at Tiantian and Lin Qin, and said, "No matter what is inside that door, be careful and remember that preserving your life is the main priority."
The two girls nodded nervously.
"Let's go," Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajian walked forward.
The two looked at their 'teammates' and found the situation was also not optimistic. Among these ten people, there were six women. If a 'physical' team game was really held, it would definitely be a tough battle.
In addition to Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajian, the other two men were the little man with glasses and the middle-aged man. The other team only had Tiantian and Lin, two girls.
"Damn..." Qiao Jiajian looked at the figures of those two teammates and couldn't help but curse under his breath, "One skinny guy, one fat man..."
"Stop it," Qi Xia said, "We can only rely on ourselves."
The ten people lined up and stood in front of the yellow door.
The other ten people also lined up in front of the green door under the command of the ox-headed man.
As a low rumble of chains sounded, the door in front of everyone opened, revealing another downward staircase.
Qiao Jiajian went down without a word, and the other members of the team followed him, quickening their pace.
This staircase was not long, but it was a bit steep. It took about dozens of steps for everyone to arrive at an open space, which was about half the size of a basketball court. In the center of the venue, there was a round iron plate the size of a table.
Qi Xia quickly surveyed the environment here. The place was surrounded by high walls, with a large iron door in the front, and above the iron door, there was a countdown electronic clock, with the time fixed at ten minutes.