Chapter 32: Gambling with Life

With that one remark, everyone was stunned.

Even Ren Shu was slightly taken aback.

"You want... to bet your life?" Ren Shu confirmed.

"That's right," Qi Xia nodded. "I'm betting my life."

Ren Shu's throat bobbed as she swallowed, then she said, "No, there's no need for that, right?"

Her reaction was beyond Qi Xia's expectations.

He had thought these animal-masked figures would be willing to bet their lives, so why was she panicking?

"I-I'm just running a simple 'find' game. You... betting your life is way too extreme... And my entry fee is just one 'Dao'—you don't need to bet your life for this..."

Lin Jian and Qiao Jia Jin were also confused.

"This game... can you really bet your life on it?" Qiao Jia Jin frowned and asked. "But why would you do that, Deceiver? Don't we have enough 'Dao'?"

"I remembered what that withered old man said, and I want to try it here," Qi Xia said quietly. "From the way she's acting, she seems really afraid of me betting my life."

"I know you really want to win," Lin Jian interjected. "But if you bet your life to open the can, what if something goes wrong? What if the 'Dao' isn't inside?"

"I'll win." Qi Xia finished speaking and looked up at Ren Shu. "I've placed my bet. Can we start now?"

Ren Shu was silent for a long time before finally saying, trembling, "If you really want to bet your life, then don't regret it... The game begins now."

Qi Xia walked into the room.

As Ren Shu was about to leave the room and close the door, Qi Xia grabbed her arm.

The action made Ren Shu's whole body stiffen.

With a blank expression, Qi Xia slowly reached out and pulled a "Dao" from the pocket of Ren Shu's jacket.

"I found it."

The three people at the door all widened their mouths in surprise.

Was this allowed?

Finding the "Dao" on the referee's body the instant the game started.

Was that really not breaking the rules?

Ren Shu was shaking nonstop, looking extremely afraid.

"If I guessed right, as soon as you close the door, there won't be any 'Dao' left in this room, right?" Qi Xia pressed aggressively.

"How did you know..."

"It's simple," Qi Xia said softly. "Every time you explain the game rules, you have to stand in the room and tell us that 'right now' there's a 'Dao' in this room. What you said is true, but it's a huge trap."

Seeing that Ren Shu didn't respond, Qi Xia continued, "Right now, there really is a 'Dao' in the room, but unfortunately, it's about to disappear."

The eyes under Ren Shu's mask began to dart around wildly. After holding back for a while, she finally asked, "You're betting your life on this bold assumption?"

"Assumption? Of course not." Qi Xia went on. "What really convinced me was when you declared Tian Tian's game a failure."

"What?!"

"At the time, she had the door closed, so logically, none of us knew what was inside. But the moment you opened the door, you told Tian Tian she had failed." Qi Xia shook his head helplessly. "How did you know she hadn't found it?"

"I..."

"The answer's obvious—you knew there was no 'Dao' in the room."

Ren Shu's body shivered slightly.

"And the 'rodent' game was another trap. We all thought rodents like to be active at night and search in the dark, which is what Tian Tian was thinking too—she wasn't wrong. But there are other kinds of rodents in the world; they hide important things in their mouths, right?"

Ren Shu stared at Qi Xia for a long time, knowing she had truly lost.

She paused, then suddenly mustered all her strength to push Qi Xia down and bolted away.

"Darn it!" Qiao Jia Jin reached out to grab Ren Shu, but she dodged like a real mouse with a quick turn.

She ran fast, dashing down the street and disappearing.

The group was at a loss; they had never imagined these animal-masked figures would run away.

"What's going on... Deceiver?" Qiao Jia Jin helped Qi Xia up from the ground, looking puzzled. "Why did she run off?"

"I don't know." Qi Xia shook his head, but his expression suggested he was thinking of something.

Could "betting your life" mean...

He glanced in the direction Ren Shu had gone, trying to confirm his idea, but his eyes widened in shock.

"What is it?"

Qi Xia pointed shakily toward the distance.

The three turned their heads and froze on the spot.

A floating figure appeared in the air, blocking Ren Shu's path.

"Darn it... Is that the Terminator...?" Qiao Jia Jin's voice trembled; the scene was completely beyond his imagination.

The figure in the air waved a hand lightly, and Ren Shu collapsed, as if she had lost all strength.

Then, the two vanished in the distance and reappeared the next second in front of Qi Xia and the others.

The sight, like a god descending, left the four speechless for a moment.

The floating figure was a tall, slender man, naked from the waist up, draped in a cloak made of blood-red feathers. A few feathers were also tucked into his messy long hair. He moved up and down in the air like a bird.

The four were terrified by the spectacle and didn't dare speak.

Ren Shu was shaking even more, and from under her mask came what sounded like sobs.

"Ren Shu, what were you trying to do?" the man asked softly. "Were you trying to run away?"

"I... I..." Ren Shu trembled uncontrollably, her voice distorted.

"Running away won't do." The man slowly landed and gently stroked Ren Shu's head. "You need to be good. 'Betting your life' means 'betting your life'."

"Zhu Que, sir...!" Ren Shu cried out. "Please spare me...!"

"That won't do, oh." The one called Zhu Que extended his long fingers, tracing them over Ren Shu's mask. "If you make a bet, you have to honor it. The other side wanted to bet their life against you, and I can't interfere."

Qi Xia felt a sense of foreboding. He gathered his courage and spoke to the man. "I... I don't want her life. I bet my life just to get more 'Dao'."

"Oh?" Zhu Que lifted his eyes to look at Qi Xia, but his hand slowly moved down to Ren Shu's pale neck, gripping it as if holding a real mouse.

Ren Shu stiffened and trembled, not daring to say a word.

"Is that necessary?" Qi Xia frowned. "I'm the one who initiated the 'bet your life,' and now I don't want her life anymore. I just want the 'Dao'—killing her doesn't benefit me at all."

Hearing Qi Xia seemingly pleading for her, Ren Shu slowly lifted her head to look at him, her eyes full of tears.

Zhu Que listened to Qi Xia's words and slowly withdrew his hand, then burst out laughing. "How interesting... Ren Shu, get up. He's sparing you." He patted her on the back.