Chapter 1041: Scared Pig

Han Yi Mo took out his "Ma" from his pocket and, after a moment of hesitation, handed it to Wen Qiao Yun.

"Good," Wen Qiao Yun said. "This 'Zi' is the key to gaining my trust. To fully earn our trust, you'll still need your second 'Zi'."

"Okay... but there's another issue..." Han Yi Mo said. "Qiao Yun Jie... you should know that if we lose this game, the losing side will all be eliminated."

"Yes," Wen Qiao Yun nodded. "There's no need to worry about that. Both teams have an undercover agent in the other's group, so maybe the undercover can survive."

"Is that so...?"

Han Yi Mo didn't seem afraid of death, because he knew that a new life awaited him every time he died.

After all, this situation had been going on for many years, and compared to those times, this cycle had lasted quite long, even giving him a vague sense of having lived enough.

What he needed now wasn't survival or death, but an opportunity to fully showcase his protagonist abilities.

"Don't worry," Wen Qiao Yun said. "Didn't I mention earlier? Your team also has an undercover in ours. If the undercover couldn't survive... how could both 'Zhu Shuai' possibly make such a strategy at the same time?"

Han Yi Mo's mind couldn't quite process it, so he just nodded blankly. He even forgot that his undercover identity wasn't arranged by Chu Tian Qiu, but by Zhao Yi Sheng.

At that moment, the person wearing the wild boar mask, Ren Zhu, turned back with a look of surprise and asked in a strange voice, "I wanted to butt in earlier... are you two just going to end the game like this?"

"How so?" Wen Qiao Yun asked Ren Zhu in confusion. "Is there something else we need to confirm with you?"

"No... not really... I mean..." Ren Zhu said, "I don't know if this is okay... but we have our own procedures here!"

Wen Qiao Yun found this amusing and asked, "Then tell me, what's your procedure?"

"Uh, well..." Ren Zhu clearly hadn't expected her to ask that and hesitated before replying, "Logically, this is a game, right? I'm the referee, and I haven't announced the end of the match, but you've already completed your deal privately... that doesn't seem right, does it?"

After hearing this, Han Yi Mo felt like Ren Zhu was about to ruin his plans and quickly said, "Big Brother Zhu, can you not cause trouble? I'm really scared right now... please just end this game and let me go."

"Damn, I'm scared too!" Ren Zhu shouted. "Am I the only one who's scared?!"

"Ah?!" Han Yi Mo grew even more anxious. "You're the referee of this crappy game, the villain... why would a villain be scared?"

"Who the hell is the villain?!" Ren Zhu felt like he'd heard something utterly ridiculous. "We've all got our necks on the line because of you people showing up! Who exactly is the villain here?! I'm already unwilling as can be, so you two stop messing around and let the game end properly!"

Wen Qiao Yun furrowed her brow slightly. If the referee really insisted on voiding the deal between them now, how could she refuse?

After all, she couldn't win in the time that followed, and this was already the best outcome.

Fortunately, Han Yi Mo's usually dim-witted brain came through at that moment.

Before Wen Qiao Yun could speak, he jumped in and said to Ren Zhu, "End it properly? End what properly?! I don't even have my 'Chou Ma' anymore—I've already given it to the other side. If we end it now, what am I supposed to lose with? My life?"

"This... this..." Ren Zhu seemed at a loss for such a situation. "But this is really tricky for me... what if the higher-ups blame me..."

Wen Qiao Yun found Ren Zhu's reaction odd. She glanced around the room where the three of them were—the first time she could remember entering a game venue.

So she really wanted to ask: Were all the "Sheng Xiao" game venues this shabby?

It was just a dark room with wooden walls all around, blocking out the light well. In the center was a wooden table, and overhead hung a lamp that had just been installed.

In other words, the "props" used in this game were only the "lamp" and the "coin"—things that could be brought in or taken away at any time.

So, was this really a game venue?

"Something's not right..."

Wen Qiao Yun lowered her head and looked at the only "Chong Pao Ka" left in her hand. These brand-new cards were also props.

The strangeness of this game lay in the fact that all the props were new.

The smooth side of the coin didn't even have a scratch, and for a coin tossed around daily, having no scratches at all... was that normal?

Wen Qiao Yun looked up at the lamp again—a bright white bulb that looked extremely clean, without a speck of dust.

It seemed there were many things to figure out in this game... not just those "Zi", but also these strange referees.

"Mr. Ren Zhu..." Wen Qiao Yun called out.

"It's Ren Zhu," Ren Zhu corrected.

"Alright, Mr. Ren Zhu," Wen Qiao Yun said. "You must encounter all sorts of game participants every day... but you seem like you've never seen anything like this before. Is it because you've just become a 'Sheng Xiao'?"

"What nonsense are you talking about..." Ren Zhu said. "Everyone you see today is a 'veteran Sheng Xiao'. It's just that our peaceful lives have been disrupted by you people! You're the ones who deserve to die for your crimes!"

"We... disrupted your lives?" Wen Qiao Yun felt Ren Zhu had it backward. "Even if we didn't show up, you'd still have to receive 'participants' every day, right?"

"Bullshit!" Ren Zhu frowned and said, "We're supposed to have the most carefree jobs in all of 'Tao Yuan', but because of this game of yours... the higher-ups had to transfer a bunch of people to act as temporary referees. Not only do we have to come up with games on the spot, but we also have to risk our lives at any moment."

Now Wen Qiao Yun finally understood what Ren Zhu meant, but she still knew too little about this place... from the literal sense, it seemed that Ren Zhu wasn't originally a game referee—he'd only become one temporarily for this "Cang Jie Qi".

Not a game referee, but a "Sheng Xiao"?

"Mr. Ren Zhu, what were you originally responsible for...?" Wen Qiao Yun asked.

"We're just 'assistants'!!" Ren Zhu said with a grievance. "In each cycle, we only have to work once... that's opening the door and letting the participants out of the room. Who knew we'd get dragged into this mess?!"

"Ah...?" Han Yi Mo was stunned.