Chapter 264: Anti-Monopoly

The old man's teammate felt uneasy upon hearing this:"Two?! Hey... you only have one extra fan..."

"Give him yours too!" the old man said. "If we don't have this fan, we're really going to be done for here!"

Qi Xia knew he had achieved his goal.

To maximize the wealth from these people, he couldn't take them down one by one; he had to find a way to make them voluntarily form groups. That way, their total capital would increase.

At this point, every individual in the group would voluntarily or forcibly contribute effort for the group's gains and losses.

After all, leeks can't be cut one by one; they have to be cut in bundles.

"In that case... I'm very sorry..." Qi Xia sighed helplessly. "Everyone is trying to get out, so I can only go with 'highest bidder wins'."

The four words "highest bidder wins" settled like a conventional market rule among the crowd.

"We bid three!"

Another team spoke up. This team clearly had a "small capitalist"; the two of them together had nearly seven fans.

Qi Xia didn't agree right away; he just scanned the crowd again.

This action undoubtedly shattered the last wall of the crowd's disaster bias. He was using his gaze to tell them that "three" wasn't the highest bid, and the final price would only go higher.

After a moment of silence in the crowd, a team finally spoke up: "Four."

Everyone turned to look at that team. The two of them appeared to have four fans each, and if they each handed over two to buy the "Ai", they would be left with nothing.

The rules here were already shrouded in layers of lies. For the crowd, exchanging fans was better than outright robbery, but after Di Yang's seemingly fair yet selfish killing, no one dared to act rashly.

Yes, Di Yang would eventually go on a killing spree.

The people who truly understood the rules had probably left early. Those who remained were only two kinds: fools, and madmen like Qi Xia.

Qi Xia nodded slightly and said: "Is there anyone bidding higher than four?"

Everyone exchanged glances, but no one responded.

Some teams present could afford four fans, but no one could offer more than that.

"In that case... I'll have to give it to this team..."

Qi Xia took the four fans from them and tossed an "Ai" to them in return.

The two felt a pang of regret, but time was running out. In half an hour, Di Yang would start the massacre, and if they didn't escape before then, their losses would be even greater.

The two escaped.

The others who didn't escape now wore expressions of regret, as if they sensed their own doom approaching.

Once the two were out of sight, Qi Xia slowly pulled out another "Ai".

"Everyone, I still have one 'Ai'." Qi Xia said.

This statement was like a ray of sunlight piercing into their hearts, bringing a faint hope, yet also like an invisible knife, cutting open doubts in each of them.

"You... you have another one?"

"That's right." Qi Xia nodded. "This one, I'll exchange with you all just the same."

An auntie in the group couldn't stand it anymore: "Young man, are you trying to trick us? You acted like you only had one 'Ai' earlier! If you'd said you had a second one, those two wouldn't have bid four fans!"

Qi Xia thought he'd heard plenty of jokes that day.

"Auntie, have you ever done business?" Qi Xia said. "I'm not a savior; I'm just a participant like the rest of you."

The auntie turned her head away, seemingly not wanting to talk to Qi Xia any further.

After a few minutes, someone finally couldn't hold back. They went up to Di Yang's stall and inquired about the "Ai" with the negotiable price.

Seeing that Qi Xia had exchanged one "Ai" for four fans, Di Yang was naturally calculating the value of his own "Ai".

After a while, he said quietly: "Three. Just three fans, and it's a deal."

Hearing this price, the crowd grew restless. After all, if they continued with "highest bidder wins," the fans they bought from Qi Xia might cost another four.

When one team's two members glanced at each other and were about to go buy it, Qi Xia spoke up again.

"Everyone, does anyone here only have 'Xi' and 'Nu' fans?"

After a moment, one person raised their hand.

It was a slender woman.

Qi Xia looked at her and nodded. "You don't need to team up with anyone else. I'll arrange a place for you."

"A place?"

"That's right." Qi Xia nodded and pointed to a square-faced man in the corner of the room. "You can go over and 'pair up' right now. That man has already put in 'Ai' and 'Le', so if you go now, you can leave."

"Ah?" The slender woman was stunned. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, really." Qi Xia said. "Go quickly."

The crowd had no idea what he meant, but they saw the slender woman go to the corner of the room, talk briefly with the square-faced man, and then add her "Xi" and "Nu".

In no time, the screen displayed "Pairing successful."

The two escaped.

"Everyone." Qi Xia sighed, his voice calm as he said, "From now on, I'll lower the price again and exchange with you all at discounts you never imagined."

"What?"

The crowd stopped in their tracks, fell silent, and turned to look at him.

Di Yang felt something was off; he left his stall and came over to Qi Xia: "Are you really trying to get yourself killed?"

"Oh? Getting anxious?" Qi Xia said. "Are you going to kill me right here?"

Di Yang narrowed his eyes slowly; he found Qi Xia increasingly familiar.

"What exactly are you up to?"

Qi Xia smirked: "Di Yang, your reaction is way too slow... I've already set up my 'monopoly' right in front of your face."

"What?"

"When you think I'm establishing a 'monopoly', you've already lost."

"I've... lost?" Di Yang looked at Qi Xia in confusion.

"Are you going to kill me? If not... then I'll keep talking to everyone." Qi Xia swallowed slowly; he didn't quite understand why Di Yang was tolerating him to this extent.

He had originally planned to use "Di Hu" as leverage at a key moment, but now it seemed unnecessary.

"What's this 'discount' you're talking about?" someone asked.

Qi Xia paused and said: "Hasn't anyone noticed that the number of people here doesn't add up?"

The crowd looked around; there were seventeen people left, excluding him.

With seventeen people, escaping would leave one person unpaired.

"From now on, all my 'Ai' will be one-for-one exchanges." Qi Xia pressed his advantage. "There are sixteen people besides me, and I have seven 'Ai'. Now, I need someone to take Di Yang's 'Ai'. Once someone gets that fan, I'll immediately exchange the rest with you all."