Chapter 774: Sudden Change

Qi Xia walked out of Di Gou's field and once again took out the map given to him by Qing Long.

Among the eight Sheng Xiao, four had already been identified, and he had met three of them in person.

One was the clearly suspicious Di Hou, and another was Di Gou, who had ended up on his side by sheer accident, left behind by the previous team member.

As for the third, that was Di Zhu, whom he had encountered briefly.

Qian Wu had once led people to meet that short and arrogant Di Zhu, and Qi Xia himself had faced him directly in front of his field.

At the time, Di Zhu had simply given him a meaningful look without saying anything that raised suspicion.

Thinking back, that short Di Zhu had clashed with Luo Shi Yi right from the moment Qi Xia first saw him, leaving a very poor first impression.

"Wait a minute... a conflict?"

Since Qi Xia still regarded the Di Zhu from back then as a teammate, he unconsciously imagined the other as a clever person.

For a Sheng Xiao to openly clash with a participant in their own game field, even going so far as to push them down—was this common?

Although on the surface, Sheng Xiao and participants were always at odds, over time, everyone had an unspoken understanding to fight only within the games, rarely clashing outside the fields.

After all, in the eyes of the Sheng Xiao, the lives of all participants were merely tools for their own advancement. They would go to great lengths to lure participants into their fields willingly, so many Sheng Xiao made an effort to improve their "service attitude."

In such a context, someone acting against the grain could only mean two possibilities.

First, he had no interest in attracting participants to his game, or perhaps he was controlling the number of people entering his field.

Second, he wanted to convey some information in that situation.

Qi Xia looked at the map and stroked his chin. Although his memories would return eventually, figuring out the answers in advance would save him a lot of time.

That Di Zhu had clashed with Luo Shi Yi and Zhou Liu in front of him... what exactly had he said back then?

Qi Xia slowly closed his eyes to recall the scene, but unfortunately, when he first met him, he had only seen him as an ordinary pig and hadn't paid much attention to his words.

When he pushed Luo Shi Yi down, he had said:"What gives you the right to challenge me? I can't kill you, but that doesn't mean I can't hit you!"

He had also said:"With your mortal bodies challenging the divine, just looking at how fragile you are makes me want to laugh."

Qi Xia's eyes slowly opened. Yes, it was that line.

Thinking carefully, that statement seemed out of place when directed at Luo Shi Yi—it was obviously strange.

Luo Shi Yi had only exchanged a few insults with Di Zhu, so how did it turn into "with your mortal bodies challenging the divine"?

So, that line wasn't meant for Luo Shi Yi at all; it was meant for him.

That pig seemed more like he was complaining to Qi Xia.

"In your expectations... I should have been the 'Di Yang,' not just a participant... right?"

Qi Xia pieced together Di Zhu's mindset at the time. Only from that perspective did Di Zhu's words make complete sense.

All in all, Di Zhu was a very peculiar Sheng Xiao. Di Hu had mentioned that he was just a teenager and had earned Di Hu's trust, but judging by his ruthlessness and depth of scheming, he didn't seem like a teenager at all.

"My former teammates are one more interesting than the last," Qi Xia murmured to himself.

If Di Zhu really was a child, his mindset wouldn't be fully mature, and he might easily believe that "power is everything." After enjoying the benefits of power, he would naturally see Qi Xia, who lacked divine abilities, as a burden, unable to carry out the plan to escape this place.

Putting it all together, if Di Zhu had to choose between Qi Xia and Tian Long to join, there was a high possibility of betrayal, and it was quite likely.

After his conversation with Qing Long, Qi Xia now understood that he couldn't fully trust his former teammates.

Tian Long and Qing Long might be madmen, but they were experts at manipulating human nature, and their offers were very tempting. Over this long period, he couldn't guarantee that these people's loyalties hadn't shifted.

"How strange..." Qi Xia murmured, shaking his head. "When I was planning this, didn't I leave behind a 'needle'? How can I ensure that the eight of them will follow the path I set...?"

He looked down at the map again. The remaining Sheng Xiao he hadn't seen or heard of were just four.

Chou Niu, Chen Long, Si She, and You Ji.

The closest one from here was "Niu."

Qi Xia tied the cake box and the plastic bag of fruit together with a knot, then headed toward the location of Di Niu marked on the map.

If he had a choice, he wouldn't want to deal with Niu or Hu-type Sheng Xiao, since the games they controlled weren't in his area of expertise, and he couldn't threaten them by gambling his life. But since the map specified "Niu," he figured he should at least meet them.

He had just confirmed his direction when Qi Xia felt something off. For some reason, the hairs on his body stood on end.

The atmosphere around here had changed.

He turned back puzzled and glanced at Di Gou's game field, but saw nothing different, then looked at the empty street.

The street was the same as before—quiet and decaying, with the roadside bones and sticky ground showing no changes.

Yet Qi Xia could sense that something had shifted. How to describe this feeling?

It was as if a storm was about to hit, with an unusual pressure hanging over the entire street. But theoretically, Zhong Yan Zhi Di didn't have rain, so where was this odd sensation coming from?

It was a familiar yet somewhat strange feeling, like something he had experienced just a few days ago.

"This... could it be...?"

Qi Xia slowly looked up at the sky and noticed that it had changed.

Countless black particles were drifting out from the direction of the "sun," spreading across the sky like a swarm of locusts or a black rain, instantly staining the entire dark red sky.

Before he could react, the countless black specks began falling like a downpour.

The "rainstorm" had truly arrived.

Qi Xia's face changed, and he was about to rush back to Di Gou's game field to escape this unknown disaster when suddenly, a rough hand grabbed his arm.

"Don't go!"

A hoarse and discordant voice rang in Qi Xia's ear. He whipped his head around and saw someone he never expected to be there.

"Wei Yang...?" Qi Xia was stunned. "You..."

"Don't ask questions! Come with me first!" Wei Yang pulled Qi Xia's arm and shouted. "Survival comes first!"