Chapter 802: One for One

Qi Xia had been walking for a long time before he looked up at the pearl floating above his head.

If he didn't hurry and find Di Niu, the pearl would likely disappear soon, as the so-called Tian She Shi Ke would last at most two hours.

Without a watch or clock, there was no way to tell the exact time, but Qi Xia had a strong feeling that the hour of Si was about to end.

He shook his head and absorbed the memories flooding his mind.

"Although it's risky... it also confirms that this method works." Qi Xia looked up at the pearl above his head again. "By using Sheng Sheng Bu Xi to Hui Su Shi Jian, Qing Long, have you seen it? 'Time' doesn't exist; we can only see traces of 'time' on each person. As long as we can trace back a 'person', theoretically, we've traced back 'time'."

He glanced down at his own hands, growing even more convinced of the underlying logic of the Zhongyan Zhidi.

This was a strange place that operated on the overwhelming power of Sheng Sheng Bu Xi, where people kept looping back in place while time surged forward on this land. This bizarre paradox had emerged many years ago.

Was it the people who were stuck in place, or the world?

Following the map in his hand, Qi Xia walked for about ten more minutes and finally arrived at the Sheng Xiao game area.

The game area was much larger than Qi Xia had imagined; it turned out to be an abandoned outdoor soccer field that had been neglected for years.

The only thing that puzzled Qi Xia was how rundown the soccer field was. If not for the map clearly marking the location, even he wouldn't have been sure this was Di Niu's game area.

He had visited many Sheng Xiao before, and this soccer field was clearly the most dilapidated one—dilapidated to an unnatural degree.

Was it because it was outdoors? Or did the Sheng Xiao working here never bother to maintain their space?

Qi Xia approached the front of the area and saw no Sheng Xiao there, but he could faintly hear distant shouts coming from inside. So, he put away the map and entered the outdoor soccer field through the main gate.

With the open view, Qi Xia immediately noticed the field, which had turned into barren yellow earth with not a blade of grass in sight. Then, his eyes fell on the group of people in the center.

A remarkably thin Di Niu was holding a black rope, with six participants clustered at the other end.

It seemed like a tug-of-war game that appeared fair at first glance but was unreasonably unfair upon closer inspection.

The six men were gripping the rope with veins bulging in their arms, their bodies leaning back as far as possible. Each one was gritting their teeth, exerting all their strength as if trying to kill someone. They had clear roles: some were calling out slogans, while others had tied the rope around their waists.

Meanwhile, the skinny Di Niu stood firmly in place, steadily holding the rope with both hands. The black rope stretched taut in the air without budging an inch.

Qi Xia watched the one-sided game quietly from a distance, and a question quickly formed in his mind.

Di Niu seemed to have plenty of strength left and could end the game in an instant, yet she wasn't letting the participants lose. She was just holding the rope without using her full power, as if toying with them.

What was the point of this?

In contrast, the six participants' expressions grew increasingly pained, their hands gripping the rope turning red, until their whole bodies began to tremble. Then, Di Niu suddenly planted her feet and pulled hard, tightening the rope and sending all the participants crashing to the ground.

Witnessing this, Qi Xia furrowed his brow slightly. This game seemed a bit too strange.

Although the format of each prefectural-level game varied, they all shared a core element: "killing".

No matter how he looked at it, this tug-of-war game couldn't lead to the participants' deaths. So, what was Di Niu's intention here?

Qi Xia recalled how Di Niu had been holding the rope and draining the participants' energy, and suddenly he understood: "Wait... the game isn't over."

Sure enough, as all the participants lay on the ground panting heavily, Di Niu slowly stepped forward and addressed them: "The first round is over. Now, you can choose whether to proceed to the second round."

Only then did Qi Xia realize that the skinny Di Niu was a woman.

"Second... round?" A burly man lying on the ground looked up at Di Niu. "What second round?"

Di Niu reached into the pocket on her chest and pulled out a dagger, tossing it onto the ground.

The dagger spun in the air before embedding itself in the earth.

"One life for one of my limbs," Di Niu said. "You can choose which teammate to offer up. For each person you contribute, I'll use one less limb, up to four. If you can win the tug-of-war with fewer people, the rewards double for each loss. Or, you can choose to leave now, but it's voluntary."

"What do you mean by 'use one less limb'?" a lanky man asked.

"Isn't that obvious?" Di Niu put one hand behind her back and said to the group, "I could pull with just one hand, or not use my hands at all and tie the rope around my waist. Or I could stand on one foot. Basically, which limbs I don't use is up to you. Does that make sense?"

At that moment, Qi Xia smirked slightly. The situation was pretty much as he had expected, except for the part about "rewards doubling for each loss." The participants now faced a tough dilemma.

Should they give up all their "tickets" and leave, or invest more to gain greater returns?

Perhaps anywhere else, people could rationally decide that trading lives for anything was a loss, but in the Zhongyan Zhidi, it wasn't that simple.

"I suggest we offer up Wang Ge," one man said. "Wang Ge has echoed already. We can earn some Dao and share it with him next time. Otherwise, leaving now would be a huge loss."

"What...?" Another man widened his eyes in shock; he was clearly the one called Wang Ge. "What kind of nonsense is that? What if we don't win and I die? I'd be dead for nothing!"

"I have a suggestion...!" a bespectacled, overweight man said.

"What suggestion? Spit it out!" Wang Ge asked urgently, as if grasping at a lifeline.

The overweight man adjusted his glasses and said seriously, "People only have four limbs, and the Sheng Xiao said one life for one limb! If we offer up four lives, it's a guaranteed win."