Chapter 36: The Earth Ox

“How can I earn ‘Dao’?” Qi Xia asked again.

“We found a Niu Lei game, according to the rules, you can earn a large amount of ‘Dao’. But it requires twenty people to start, and we are short five. Do you want to join us?”

“Short five?” Qi Xia was surprised. “You’ve already gathered fifteen people?”

It seemed there really were many participants here.

“That’s right.” The man with glasses nodded. He pointed towards the distance, where indeed a crowd had gathered, with plenty of people milling about.

Qi Xia thought for a moment and nodded. “Alright, we’ll go take a look.”

“Great! I’ll head over and wait for you all!” The man with glasses tactfully walked away.

“Hey!” Qiao Jia Jin felt something was off. “We are all going together?! What if it’s some violent gang? Do you want me to show you what I can do?”

“It won’t be.” Qi Xia said, “Each room holds at most nine people. In this environment, forming a group of over ten is too far-fetched. Not to mention strangers, even we who came from the same room don’t fully trust each other.”

After saying that, he glanced at Lin Geng, as if implying something.

Lin Geng looked displeased. She didn’t know why she was being suspected—was it just because she didn’t know that “flyer” person?

They crossed an old, rundown street and arrived in front of a large building.

Just as the man with glasses had said, a man wearing a water buffalo mask stood at the entrance of the large building.

The many participants outside stood in small groups, each keeping their distance from the others.

Though these people were all strangers, seeing so many normal individuals gathered together still gave Qi Xia and his group a sense of long-lost reassurance.

No matter how unlikable they might seem, they were real, living people.

“Not bad, little glasses!” A middle-aged man patted the man with glasses on the shoulder. “You managed to bring four people so quickly!”

Qi Xia looked at the bull-headed figure in front of him and stepped forward to ask, “What are the game rules?”

The bull-headed figure said flatly, “Niu Lei game. Each person pays one ‘Dao’ as the entry fee. It requires twenty people to begin. During the game, players will be eliminated. When the game ends, each player remaining will receive ‘Dao’ equal to the number of survivors.”

“‘Dao’ equal to the number of survivors?!” Qi Xia was startled. “Are you saying that if twenty people end up remaining, each of them will get twenty ‘Dao’?!”

“Yes.”

Qiao Jia Jin’s eyes widened at that. “Whoa! That means we’d hit the jackpot in one go! That’s four hundred ‘Dao’ right there!”

“Can it really be that easy…” Tian Tian felt skeptical. “Hey, Bull Man, you’re not going to welch on the deal, are you?”

The bull-headed figure fell silent for a moment, then shook his head. “Allow me to correct you. I am not ‘Ren Niu’.”

“Not ‘Ren Niu’?” Tian Tian looked puzzled at the burly man in front of her. “But aren’t you all called something with ‘person’?”

“I am ‘Di Niu’.” The bull-headed figure said flatly. “If you mistake me for ‘Ren Niu’, you will regret it.”

Only then did the group notice that this “Di Niu” was indeed different from the animal-masked figures they’d seen before. His mask was spotlessly clean, almost lifelike like a real bull, and his black suit was immaculate, as if freshly ironed. Even when he spoke, it seemed the mask’s mouth moved slightly.

But what was the difference between ‘Ren Niu’ and ‘Di Niu’?

“Di Niu…” Qi Xia scratched his head, unsure of the connection. He looked up and asked again, “Di Niu, what kind of game is this?”

Di Niu paused briefly. “Pay the entry fee, and you’ll learn the details.”

“Pay the entry fee…”

What concerned Qi Xia most was that if all four of them joined the game, their previously discussed strategy would be useless.

They would all be thrown into an unknown game at the same time, which was extremely risky.

But for a game with such high stakes, the risks and rewards seemed to balance out.

“Cheater boy, what do you think the ‘Niu’ game type is?” Qiao Jia Jin asked from the side.

Qi Xia pondered for a moment and replied, “Probably the type I hate the most.”

“Oh? You have game types you hate?” Qiao Jia Jin perked up. “What is it?”

“‘Niu’ are born to toil. If I am right, it should be a ‘physical type’ game.” Qi Xia glanced lightly at Qiao Jia Jin. “It might suit someone like you, a brute.”

“Ha!” Qiao Jia Jin rolled up his sleeves, revealing his muscular, tattooed arms. “Finally, it’s my time to shine… Wait, who are you calling a brute?”

Qi Xia shook his head helplessly. “If it weren’t for the ‘Dao’, I probably wouldn’t enter a ‘Niu’ room.”

“Don’t worry, just call me boss once, and I’ll get you through any Niu Lei game.” Qiao Jia Jin said with a mischievous grin. “Sounds like a good deal, right?”

Qi Xia turned back to look at Qiao Jia Jin. “You and I look about the same age, maybe twenty-six or twenty-seven. Why should I call you boss?”

“If you’re saying that, I might have to set you straight!” Qiao Jia Jin scratched his head. “What year were you born?”

Qi Xia sensed that Qiao Jia Jin had a fearless, devil-may-care attitude, which somehow lightened the oppressive atmosphere around them.

“You’d be better off warming up now.” Qi Xia replied dismissively. “So you don’t cramp up later.”

“Come on.” Qiao Jia Jin was getting excited. “Tell me! If you’re older than me, I can call you boss too!”

“Sigh.” Qi Xia couldn’t argue with him anymore and sighed. “Fine, you go first. What year were you born?”

“1979.” Qiao Jia Jin chuckled.

“1979… Very funny?” Qi Xia frowned. “You’re really going all out to trick me into calling you boss. I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

“Hey? Why not?” Qiao Jia Jin looked at Qi Xia in confusion. “Come on, tell me your birth year! Are you younger than me?”

Tian Tian shook her head with a smile on the side. It seemed sticking with Qiao Jia Jin was the right choice—his personality helped dispel some of the gloom hanging over them.

Qiao Jia Jin called out Qi Xia’s name a few more times, but seeing that he was being ignored, he just shook his head helplessly.

A few minutes passed, and the number of people was still at nineteen.

It appeared that while there were quite a few participants around, they weren’t everywhere. Gathering twenty people quickly was indeed challenging.

“Hasn’t he shown up yet?” the middle-aged man asked the man with glasses beside him. “Did he oversleep?”

“I don’t know, he promised to come this morning.” The man with glasses scratched his head. “Should I go out and grab someone from the street?”

“Forget it…” The middle-aged man waved his hand. “We have nineteen now. Let’s wait for him. I don’t want to die for no reason.”

Their conversation was overheard word for word by Qi Xia nearby.

“Die?” Qi Xia furrowed his brow. “Die? Does that mean this game could be fatal?”

Before he could figure it out, a lazy figure appeared in the distance.

He was shirtless, covered in scars, wearing camouflage pants, yawning as he made his way over.