Chapter 395: The Cat's Past

Qi Xia felt a deep sorrow after listening.

From a broad perspective, the path they were taking now was not much different from ten years ago.

To be precise, their progress was slower than before.

The "Huixiangzhe" that appeared now were few and far between, and neither Zhang Lvshi, Zhao Yisheng, nor Tian Tian had any clear "Huixiang".

Even though everyone knew they couldn't repeat the same mistakes, who could avoid such a situation?

Out of the nine rooms, fully seven had "Huixiangzhe".

Even though Xiao Ran hadn't been able to help back then, Qi Xia knew he hadn't held the team back at all.

But on second thought, the current team composition seemed a bit better than before.

The nine people in the room now were all "Huixiangzhe". Lin Geng had excluded Xiao Ran and brought in "Jifa".

Add to that his own "Shengsheng Buxi"... Could this team succeed?

“It's such a pity you left...” Chen Jun Nan said with a heavy expression, “We met countless comrades in the Zhongyan Zhidi, but you ended up leaving.”

In Chen Jun Nan's description, the "Zhongyan Zhidi" at that time had no "Jidao", no "Mao", no "Tianguangkou", or any other factions. Only the team led by Qi Xia were the "heroes" of that city.

Numerous powerful "Huixiangzhe" from Chu Tianqiu's room, Zhang Shan's room, Qian Duoduo's room, and even Su Shan's room came flocking, creating a rare era of unity in the entire "Zhongyan Zhidi".

The "Shengxiao Game" back then was very different from now. Usually, as long as Qi Xia stepped in, most games were easily resolved.

This situation forced the "Shengxiao" to collectively reduce the rewards of "Dao" to slow down everyone's collection efficiency. Typically, an entire team would have to complete a "Diji" game just to barely get one or two "Dao".

Just as they were about to collect 3,600 "Dao", the leader of this massive team, Qi Xia, disappeared overnight.

He only mentioned to his confidants Chen Jun Nan and Qiao Jia Jin that "I found a way out," and then vanished forever from the interview room.

“Lao Qi, from that day on, I took over the huge team in your place amid the crisis.” Chen Jun Nan's face grew increasingly grim, as if he were recalling something extremely painful.

“But damn, I really found it strange...” He shook his head and said slowly, word by word, “After you disappeared, those 'Shengxiao' games started to change... Once we bet everything on the original 'Diji', the new 'Diji' would bring even more powerful games... Games I could barely handle before now require racking my brains every time... It's like they got a full upgrade, completely on a different level from before.”

In Chen Jun Nan's description, the original "Diji" games only led to participants' deaths, but overall, they weren't too difficult.

As long as you were careful, not only would you avoid death, but you'd even return with a full haul.

But after Qi Xia disappeared, that situation was gone forever.

Hearing this, Qi Xia slowly furrowed his brow.

If he guessed right, this was probably related to him.

“So our team fell apart quickly...”

Due to the rapid increase in accidental deaths, most people were forced to leave the team, and Chen Jun Nan couldn't track them all down. In just five or six cycles, all the progress they'd accumulated before went up in smoke.

“Even the people in our own rooms started to forget... I, Lao Qiao, Lao Li, and Xiao Han became the last hopes in the room...” Chen Jun Nan covered his forehead and said, “But Xiao Han gradually went mad. Because his 'Huixiang' was too dangerous, I had no choice but to abandon him and act alone with Lao Qiao and Lao Li...”

The problem was that these three were all impulsive types, with obvious weaknesses, leading to countless failures in a row.

“Lao Qiao... You really pulled through...” Chen Jun Nan looked up at Qiao Jia Jin, “In a crisis, I gave you 'Tizuixin', but you broke my rules... Who taught you to use 'Huixiang' like that?”

“Oh...?” Qiao Jia Jin listened and gave a dazed laugh, “Was I that sharp before?”

“Lao Qiao died alone so many times during that period...” Chen Jun Nan turned to Qi Xia again, “This is all because of you... Lao Qi, you abandoned him.”

Qi Xia's expression also turned melancholic, as if all that awaited them in this place was despair.

“So I gave up.” Chen Jun Nan said, “I didn't want to get out anymore. I wanted to find a few like-minded people and do something for our families here.”

“What...?”

At that moment, a figure in a leather jacket silently arrived outside the room, but she didn't show herself, just leaned against the door and lit a cigarette.

“Back then, I took two teammates from the rooms and went to find Qian Duoduo and Zhoumo. They were people I remembered who had no reason to leave.” Chen Jun Nan seemed to notice the figure at the door, but he didn't point it out, just continued, “We came to this prison, ready to achieve something big.”

“Your so-called big thing...” Qi Xia asked, “Is becoming 'Gongyingbing' to earn money for your family...”

“Lao Qi, that's just the first layer of meaning.” Chen Jun Nan interrupted, “As I said, 'Shengxiao' has fully grown, but the 'Canyuzhe' are declining overall. We've fallen far behind 'Shengxiao'. We need to lie low, not act rashly until we gather enough intelligence. I need to gather a group of people who won't forget, to serve as 'Xinhao Ta' here.”

Chen Jun Nan then looked at Qi Xia: “At the time, I thought... Suppose... I mean, suppose one day that bastard Qi Xia could come back... We'd be a professional team tempered in the 'Zhongyan Zhidi', or the hidden thirteenth 'Shengxiao'. Too bad we're all 'Huixiangzhe', so we don't qualify to be 'Shengxiao'.”

“So it's 'Mao'...” Qi Xia murmured.

“Exactly, I didn't really want to call it 'Mao' at first...” Chen Jun Nan gave a bitter laugh, “I'm 'Da Wa', Lao Qiao is 'Er Wa'...”

“So that's how it is...” Qi Xia narrowed his eyes and asked, “What about the others?”

“The rest: a Miss Zhang who’s 'San' as in an escort, a Mr. Li who’s 'Sir' as in 'Si', Qian Duoduo who’s only 'Wu' chi tall, and Zhoumo who only wants to live for 'Zhou Liu'... Add me as Chen Da Wa and Qiao Er Wa, and we six are the 'Hulu Seven Brothers'.”

“Wait... Wait a minute...” Qi Xia clearly didn't understand, “You’re only six people, so what 'Hulu Seven Brothers'?”

“You idiot... Haven't you seen 'Huluwa'?” Chen Jun Nan sighed and said, “Among the seven brothers, one is the invisible one, so we six can play the seven brothers.”