Chapter 57: Old Lü

"Hmm?"

Qi Xia was startled; he hadn't expected Lin Geng's motivation to be this.

"Are you overthinking it?" Qi Xia shook his head and said, "I hold Xiao An every day until she falls asleep, then I sit at the desk myself."

"Oh…" Lin Geng nodded as if suddenly relieved, "Then isn't that really tiring for you?"

"I…" Qi Xia wanted to say something, but he was momentarily at a loss for words, "Lin Geng, you might not understand my line of work. If I let my guard down for even a moment, what awaits me could be a bottomless abyss."

"Is that so?" Lin Geng replied with a vague understanding, then muttered to herself, "Actually, I'm really curious about you. You seem like a very smart person, yet you make a living by deceiving others…"

Hearing this, Qi Xia silently lowered his head.

"I don't want to," he said, "but it's the only thing I can do."

The second night was even longer than the first.

The pitch-black darkness hung in the sky, like an old friend who hadn't been seen in ages and was reluctant to leave.

Although Qi Xia and Lin Geng had managed to sleep a little, by dawn, their bodies ached unbearably.

Doctor Zhao and Xiao Ran appeared to have stayed up all night; they had been watching the door and Qi Xia the whole time. Now, both of them looked exhausted, with dark circles under their eyes.

They were not only afraid that the Chongzi outside the door would burst in, but also terrified that Qi Xia might suddenly raise a massive black sword and kill them at dawn.

Fortunately, neither of these things happened by the time dawn arrived.

"Let's go." Qi Xia stretched and said to Lin Geng, "It's time to start today's journey."

After a day had passed, Qi Xia's earnings were zero.

The original target of collecting 360 Dao per day had now increased to 400.

Based on yesterday's situation, many game rewards would rise with increasing difficulty. To quickly meet the goal, they would have to play several extremely dangerous games today.

Without bidding farewell to Xiao Ran and Doctor Zhao, the two got up, picked up the aluminum pot, and went out the door.

There was no sign of the Chongzi outside anymore—who knew where those countless monsters hid during the day?

Were they all inside nearby buildings?

The air was still murky, but Qi Xia had gradually grown accustomed to the stench of decay mixed with foul odors.

After leaving with Lin Geng, they passed the restaurant across the street and headed down the road to the right.

The buildings here were different from where Qi Xia had encountered the Ren Shu; most were shops.

As the two walked along the street to the end, they found no traces of anyone having been there.

Now standing at the T-junction, Qi Xia looked left and right.

If they had come this way, had they gone left or right?

Qi Xia didn't really know Lawyer Zhang or Officer Li well, so he couldn't guess their decisions.

Just then, Lin Geng spotted something near the wall on the right side.

"Qi Xia, look." She pointed to a corner by the wall, where there were some faded marks.

Qi Xia bent down to examine it and saw two crooked symbols that looked like the numbers "5" and "2", or perhaps the letters "S" and "Z".

"Could this be left by them?" Lin Geng asked, eyeing the symbols with doubt.

"Most likely." Qi Xia nodded, "'Z' might stand for Lawyer Zhang."

"What about 'S'?" Lin Geng asked again, "If it's Officer Li, shouldn't it be 'L'?"

"I can't understand it either…" After saying that, he paused and asked, "Lin Geng, do you remember Officer Li's full name?"

"Full name…?" Lin Geng thought for a moment, then suddenly recalled, "Ah, in the first game, he mentioned that his name is Li Shangwu!"

As she spoke, she glanced at the symbol that looked like "S" or "5".

"Could this really be from them?" Lin Geng said, "But how would they know we were coming?"

Qi Xia was also puzzled. If they had wanted to leave information for them, it should have been more explicit. The only possibility now was that they were afraid of getting lost themselves, so they left these symbols that only they could understand.

"Anyway, this direction must have people in it. Let's go check it out first."

The two confirmed their direction and set off again.

Walking along the ruined street, sure enough, in less than twenty minutes, Qi Xia heard noisy commotion from inside a building.

"Damn it! That doesn't count! Again!" a man roared, "Come on if you've got the guts!"

No sooner had he spoken than a massive force flung him out the door, sending him crashing heavily to the ground.

"Ouch… my goodness…" The man rubbed his backside and grumbled, "You just wait…"

Qi Xia looked at him, his expression turning serious.

The man who had been thrown out was no other than the short, stout middle-aged man they had met before—Lao Lü.

The city where Qi Xia was seemed fairly large, yet it was quite a coincidence to run into the same person two days in a row.

Lao Lü also noticed Qi Xia: "Hey? You kid…?"

As he spoke, he seemed to remember something, shook his head, got up, and started to leave with a frustrated look.

"Wait a minute…" Qi Xia called out to him, "Have you seen anyone else here?"

Lao Lü turned back, glanced at Qi Xia with contempt: "Oh? If it isn't the great Yanluo Wang? I haven't used up the life I bought from you yet, and here you are to collect more?"

Qi Xia shook his head helplessly and said, "I don't want to argue about what happened before. I'm looking for my companions right now. If you can help, I'll find a way to repay you."

"Repay?" Lao Lü's eyes darted around, then he approached with a phony smile, "Alright, since you put it that way, you help me out first. If you satisfy me, I'll immediately tell you where those two people are."

"Two people…? Fine, what do you need me to do?" Qi Xia asked coldly.

He pointed to the room in front: it was a Weiqi club.

"Help me go in and beat that pig at the game." Lao Lü said with a laugh, "I want to strip him of everything, down to his underwear."

"Pig?" Qi Xia turned to look, and sure enough, inside the Weiqi club sat a filthy pig-headed creature.

In front of it were black and white stones, with two empty bowls beside them.

Qi Xia touched his nose, then turned back to Lao Lü: "Alright, I'll help you, but you have to answer me first—did you really see other people just now?"

Lao Lü hesitated and said, "Yeah, I did."

Qi Xia stepped closer to the stout man and asked again: "I'm asking you once more, did you see other people?"

Lao Lü grew a bit fearful; he kept staring into Qi Xia's eyes: "I really did see them…"

"Two people?"

"Yes."

"One man and one woman?"

"Yeah…"

"What did they look like?"

"Huh?" Lao Lü quickly recalled, "The man was all serious, and the woman didn't talk much…"

Lao Lü kept backing away, clearly still intimidated by Qi Xia.

He knew this man had once pinned Zhang Shan to the ground and beaten him badly, so he wasn't someone to mess with.

Through this series of insistent questions, Qi Xia could tell the other wasn't lying, so he said, "Alright, I agree."

The corners of Lin Geng's mouth curved up slightly as she whispered, "Qi Xia, you know psychology too?"