Chapter 773: Desperate People

"Yang Ge, your arrival today has pretty much cut off all my options."

Di Gou said, "Before, Pei Qian Hu also told me that you couldn't leave this place, or that this place could never become 'Tian'. But I never believed him."

"So, do you believe me now?"

"Yes." Di Gou nodded. "Your words are different from Pei Qian Hu's; they have a power that convinces me."

"In that case, has your thinking changed?" Qi Xia looked at him with a hint of pity. "Like a frog in slowly boiling water, are you just going to wait here to die?"

"What else can I do?" Di Gou said, "Over these years... I've probably been the most conflicted one among all the 'Sheng Xiao'."

"How so?"

"I don't want to be 'Di', but I gained Laoshi's favor and inherited her game arena. Among all her 'disciples', I became the one with the most expectations." Di Gou smiled bitterly and shook his head. "Later, I thought about just slacking off for the rest of my life, but then I accidentally took on a bunch of diligent 'disciples'. So every day, I'm torn between whether to slack off, whether to repay her kindness, whether to leave, whether to keep living—I feel like I'm about to split apart."

"Do you believe that you became 'Di Ji' because of your strong abilities?" Qi Xia suddenly changed the topic and asked.

"I don't." Di Gou answered firmly. "I could have been promoted for any reason, but absolutely not because of my strong abilities."

"Then that's right." Qi Xia said, "Use your brain and tell me why your 'Laoshi' chose you among so many disciples."

"What...?" Di Gou was stunned, feeling that Qi Xia had raised a question he'd never considered before.

"People naturally seek benefits and avoid harm." Qi Xia frowned and said, "Usually, when making a choice, someone will try to make it as advantageous for themselves as possible. If your abilities aren't outstanding, yet Laoshi still chose you, you should think about what made her pass over the others and pick you."

"If you put it that way..." Di Gou felt this was a rather sad question. "Yang Ge, to be honest with you, from childhood to now, I haven't had any exceptional qualities. I'm no different from the millions of people in this world."

"It doesn't have to be an 'advantage'." Qi Xia shook his head. "Maybe it's just a trait that appears in you but not in others."

Hearing Qi Xia say this, Di Gou felt his mind starting to open up.

"I see..." He paused. "Now that you mention it, I really remember... Laoshi used to say that among all her students, I was the most likely to slack off..."

"Slack off..."

Qi Xia stroked his chin after hearing this, clearly realizing the answer.

"So that's it..." Qi Xia said, "Your 'Laoshi' knew that if she passed this position to you, you'd keep slacking off and never become 'Tian'."

"Ah...?"

"So she told you, 'You must become Tian'." Qi Xia nodded. "That way, you'd have a bit of motivation, but you'd still choose to slack off, achieving a delicate balance."

"Yang Ge, I still don't quite understand." Di Gou said, "Is my tendency to 'slack off' the reason Laoshi chose me? That sounds a bit hurtful..."

"No." Qi Xia interrupted. "Maybe you don't realize how lucky you are to have become 'Dog'."

"What's so good about becoming 'Dog'?"

"In 'Zhong Yan Zhi Di', the 'Dog' game is very special because it represents 'cooperation'." Qi Xia explained, "In this godforsaken place, even people in the same interview room can't fully trust each other. How can they win in a life-or-death game that requires cooperation? So the kill rate for 'Dog'-type games is very stable, even higher than 'Sheep'. Usually, a simple rule can make a group of already suspicious people turn on each other and slaughter themselves."

After hearing this, Di Gou suddenly understood something: "Yang Ge... I think I get it."

"That's right." Qi Xia replied, "Your 'Laoshi' passed this position to you because only by doing so would the promotion not happen too quickly."

In that moment, Di Gou's thoughts suddenly cleared, though it didn't feel like good news.

"Because you don't like working." Qi Xia continued, "That coin in your pocket is worn shiny. Based on my basic understanding of you, even if four 'Can Yu Zhe' really showed up, you'd probably suggest flipping the coin with them first. If they agreed, you could just use a 'Dao' to send them away, right?"

"Th-this you know too..." Di Gou touched his head, a bit embarrassed. "I do often do that..."

"So you're special among the 'Di Ji Sheng Xiao'. You frequently refuse to kill because of your slacking off, and that's probably the answer Laoshi thought about carefully." Qi Xia looked at Di Gou with his gray eyes. "She knew that if you got promoted too fast, you might get eliminated—just like she did. So she had to leave someone here waiting for me."

The countless doubts lingering in Di Gou's mind slowly unraveled in front of Qi Xia.

What was even more frightening was that Qi Xia didn't seem to remember who his teacher was or what had happened between them, yet he had pieced together the whole truth from mere clues.

"So Laoshi chose me... because I was the most useless among all her disciples." Di Gou let out a bitter laugh, then shook his head as if he'd come to terms with it.

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"No." Qi Xia also chuckled lightly. "Don't belittle yourself. There are plenty of useless people in this world; if she just wanted to pick a useless one, it might not have been you."

"Hmm?"

"Your personality is one of keeping quiet until you make a big splash." Qi Xia said, "I'm starting to understand your 'Laoshi's' idea more and more. Although you slack off normally, once you get serious, you're extremely capable—it's the perfect choice."

Di Gou fell silent after hearing this, pondering for a long time before finally asking, "So whether it's you or 'Laoshi', you're all the same... Even in such a desperate situation, you're still trying to change this place..."

"You're wrong." Qi Xia said, "There are no desperate situations in this world, only people who despair over their situations."

"What...?"

"So think it over yourself." Qi Xia reached out and pushed the door open. "If your mind changes, you don't need to tell me—just tell Di Hu."

Without waiting for Di Gou's response, Qi Xia walked straight out the door, leaving Di Gou standing there in astonishment.

Qi Xia knew that this slack-off-loving Di Gou was now under his command.

After walking three steps, Qi Xia stopped and turned back to look at Di Gou.

"What...?" Di Gou was puzzled.

"The little cakes and fruit." Qi Xia said, "Can I take them with me?"

"Ah?" Di Gou quickly stepped out of the glass room. "Of course, of course... I brought them over yesterday since I didn't know when you'd arrive. Just a moment, I'll get them for you."

"Good."

(My brothers, I'm really not doing well—the fever hasn't gone away, and I'm feeling completely dizzy. I'll take a day off tomorrow, sorry.)