Chapter 19

"I……" The man-snake was slightly taken aback. He wanted to choose an answer but found that no matter how he responded, it would be futile.

"Ha ha ha ha ha!"

The man-snake suddenly burst into laughter, laughing so hard that he bent over. After a while, he stopped and said, "You are truly interesting."

"Interesting?" Qi Xia looked at the man-snake coldly, "What's so interesting? Haven't I already won?"

The man-snake slowly walked to the wall and pulled down the lever.

Everyone felt their bodies drop and then began to descend slowly.

Qiao Jiajin, full of confusion, turned to Qi Xia and asked, "Cheater, what do you mean? Why does this count as winning?"

Qi Xia noticed the rope was indeed descending and secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He said, "Think about it. As soon as this question was asked, we were already saved, no matter what."

"If my next question is 'Will you pull the lever?' and your answer is the same as this one..." Qiao Jiajin repeated the question silently, completely unable to understand.

"I see..." Doctor Zhao nodded thoughtfully, "If he answers 'yes,' then the next question can only be answered 'yes,' and we are saved. After all, the next question is 'Will you pull the lever?'"

"But what if he says 'no'?!" Qiao Jiajin felt he had found a loophole, "He could just say 'no,' right?"

"If he says 'no,' the next question can only be answered 'yes.'" Han Yimo said weakly, "The brilliance of this question is that if he answers 'no,' he admits that his answers to the two questions will be different. Remember, this snake-headed man said he doesn't lie."

Qiao Jiajin was taken aback and turned to look at Qi Xia again, asking, "Did you just think of this? What kind of monster are you?"

"Monster? I don't dare to be one." Qi Xia shook his head, "I'm just a wandering cheat."

As they spoke, the group slowly landed on the ground.

Due to the long time hanging, everyone's hands were burning with pain, and the two injured people were in even worse condition.

"Congratulations, you have survived the 'interview.' Open this door, and a new world awaits you." The snake-headed man stood beside the wooden door, his hands behind his back.

"Scumbag..."

Qiao Jiajin walked up angrily, seemingly wanting to vent all his frustration with the "sheep-headed" and "dog-headed" people on the "snake-headed" man.

The man-snake turned coldly, looking at the aggressive Qiao Jiajin but did not move.

"Are you all perverts?!" Qiao Jiajin shouted, grabbing the man-snake's collar, "Wearing these strange masks, trying to kill us time and time again, and now I finally caught you!"

The man-snake sneered and said softly, "While you're still alive, I advise you to let go."

"What did you say?!"

Qiao Jiajin raised his fist, ready to punch the snake-headed man's face, but was held back by Officer Li.

"Hey, have you forgotten about the man whose skull was smashed?" Officer Li whispered, "If they are all the same, how do you plan to defeat them?"

"I..." A look of reluctance appeared on Qiao Jiajin's rugged face. He gritted his teeth and slowly said, "But these bastards..."

"Don't worry, we can leave now, can't we?" Officer Li interrupted, whispering, "As long as we can get out, I will make them pay."

The group fell silent and slowly approached the man-snake.

Up close, they realized how strange he was.

The temperature around the snake-headed man was lower than in other places. His old suit and the mask on his head emitted a strange, pungent odor.

His eyes, visible through the mask, were clearly human. Yet, his smell was like that of a long-dead snake.

"Welcome to the new world."

The muffled voice of the snake-headed man came from the mask, and he turned to open the door.

With a creak, the light from outside flooded in.

Qi Xia frowned, realizing that outside was not the outdoors but a corridor.

"Where is outside?" Qi Xia asked.

"I told you, it's the new world." The snake-headed man slowly raised his hands, "The future 'god' will be among you! It will be born in the new world! How exciting!"

"God again..." Qiao Jiajin asked angrily, "What are you planning?"

Seeing someone ask, the snake-headed man became interested: "An omnipotent god...! He can fulfill any desire!"

"Omnipotent?" Qiao Jiajin's brows furrowed.

Doctor Zhao, standing nearby, waved his hand at Qiao Jiajin and then said to the snake-headed man, "Alright, we understand. Let us out quickly."

The snake-headed man paused, then nodded and stepped aside.

Qi Xia walked forward first, and the others, not wanting to stay any longer, quickened their pace to follow.

As they stepped into the corridor, a peculiar smell filled their nostrils.

How to describe that smell?

Heavy, an extremely heavy smell.

It was as if billions of people in the world had died and were left to rot in the air, attracting countless insects to feast on them.

They reproduced in large numbers and then died, rotting as well.

After this overwhelming smell settled for a while and became less pungent, it turned into the heavy smell they now experienced.

It took Qi Xia a long time to recover, and when he opened his eyes, he saw a scene that filled him with despair.

They were in a long, endless corridor with a low, oppressive ceiling, stretching forward.

On both sides of the corridor, countless wooden doors were slowly opening.

Just like the door behind them.

Soon, figures began to appear in the doors.

Most were blood-covered masked people, and only a few doors revealed normal people.

Those so-called "normal people" looked exhausted and weak.

Like Qi Xia, they had survived.

"What's going on..." Han Yimo asked weakly, "Not just the nine of us were captured?"

Qi Xia's expression was particularly heavy, as the situation far exceeded his imagination.

This organization had captured countless people and then conducted a killing game?

"But... the number of survivors is so few..." Zhang Chenze sighed.

Looking at the thousands of doors, only a few people had come out.

In no room had they seen a situation where everyone survived, like in Qi Xia's room.

"Please, go ahead."

The snake-headed man waved his hand, indicating the direction for the group to proceed, and stood by the door, not planning to leave.

"Let's go."

The group knew they shouldn't stay, so they formed a long line and slowly left.

As they passed by the old wooden doors, they saw the people wearing animal masks up close.

There were cows, horses, dogs.

And the previously seen sheep and snakes.

They all emitted a strange aura, filled with the smell of decay. The scenes inside the doors were mostly filled with corpses, and it was unclear what kind of "game" they had participated in.

After taking a few more steps, the group was startled by two animal masks in front of them.

On the left was a person wearing a huge rat mask, leaning against the wall; on the right was a person wearing a huge rooster mask, with arms crossed.

These masks were clearly not man-made but were actual animal skulls.

But where in the world could there be such huge rats and roosters?

These two, like the others wearing animal masks, only glanced at Qi Xia and the others indifferently, without any other actions.

"What are these animals..." Lin Qin was scared and instinctively moved away from the two.

Qi Xia frowned slightly, as if he had an idea.

Sheep, dogs, snakes, rats, roosters...

"They are the zodiac signs." He moved his lips and whispered a few words.

The group was taken aback and looked around.

Indeed, the animal masks worn by the people in the old suits were all within the twelve zodiac signs.