Chapter 47

As the crowd watched in panic, Earth Ox slowly walked over.

"Stop it, both of you," he said calmly. "It doesn't matter if you kill each other, but please take it outside this house."

The two men, completely ignoring Earth Ox, continued to struggle with each other, gritting their teeth.

Earth Ox looked at the two men who were wrestling and decided not to persuade them anymore. Instead, he bent down, effortlessly removed Qiao Jiajin's arm from Zhang Shan's neck, then grabbed Zhang Shan's collar with his left hand and Qiao Jiajin's arm with his right hand. With a light toss, the two men flew out like small stones, knocking over all the chairs.

"Damn..." Qiao Jiajin felt his bones almost break.

On the other side, Zhang Shan wasn't doing much better. He was rolling on the ground in pain, his wounds bleeding profusely.

"Damn... old ox, one day I'll skin you alive..."

At this moment, the crowd hurriedly came forward to check on the two men.

"Hey, Qiao Jiajin, are you still alive?"

Qiao Jiajin laughed bitterly in response: "What do you think..."

Tiantian and Lin Guo also came over, and the three of them helped Qiao Jiajin stand up.

On the other side, Zhang Shan was also helped up by Xiaoyanjing and Lao Lu.

"Are you okay, Zhang Shan?" Xiaoyanjing asked.

"I'm fine," Zhang Shan scratched his head, feeling the pain from his wounds, but he regained his composure and said to Xiaoyanjing, "Looks like you were right, those two are interesting."

"Right!" Xiaoyanjing seemed to be pleased with the praise and smiled happily, "The tattooed guy is very strong, and the one called 'Conman' is very smart. They are definitely qualified."

Lao Lu, however, kept shaking his head, seemingly disagreeing with Xiaoyanjing.

"Let's go, let's chat a bit more." Zhang Shan laughed heartily and led the two forward again.

Before they had taken three steps, Earth Ox extended a black hand and placed it on Zhang Shan's shoulder.

"Still planning to cause trouble?"

Zhang Shan looked at Earth Ox and said, "Don't worry, it's just a simple talk."

Earth Ox thought for a moment and withdrew his hand.

"Be careful, I'm watching you."

In a few steps, Zhang Shan, Qi Xia, and Qiao Jiajin faced each other again.

Qiao Jiajin stepped forward, blocking Qi Xia: "Big guy, are you ready to settle the score after we leave?"

"Forget it." Zhang Shan scratched the shocking wound on his chest and said, "I have no strength today, let's settle it next time."

"Haha." Qiao Jiajin was amused, "Since you're not here to fight, what do you want from us?"

"That's not fair." Zhang Shan shook his head helplessly, "I never came here to fight you, it was your friend who suddenly attacked me."

Qiao Jiajin thought for a moment and realized it was true.

"Not here to fight us?" Qi Xia found this person a bit strange, "Then why are you here?"

Zhang Shan turned around and waved to Xiaoyanjing and Lao Lu, who then took out two cloth bags from their waists and handed them to him. Although Lao Lu looked reluctant, he seemed to be wary of Zhang Shan and followed his instructions.

Zhang Shan weighed the two cloth bags in his hands and then threw them to Qi Xia.

"Thirty-eight 'Dao,' here you go."

Qi Xia, in disbelief, took the two cloth bags and opened them to find golden balls inside.

"What does this mean?" Qiao Jiajin looked at Zhang Shan suspiciously, "We haven't settled the score yet, why are you giving us the 'Dao'?"

"Because we agreed in the game, you win, you get the prize." Zhang Shan looked back at Xiaoyanjing and continued, "Besides, Xiaoyanjing kept praising you two, saying you're very good."

"Very good?" Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajin looked at each other, unsure of what he was up to.

"I didn't come here to cause trouble either." Zhang Shan tapped his temple and said to Qi Xia, "Xiaoyanjing told me you defeated that black bear with your mind, is that true?"

Qi Xia didn't answer, still looking at Zhang Shan cautiously.

"Don't overthink it." Zhang Shan said, "We are gathering a group of strong people to leave this place together. Are you two interested in joining us?"

"No." Qi Xia replied.

"Don't be so quick to refuse..." Zhang Shan smiled and patted Qi Xia's shoulder, "You can think about it more."

"Right!" Xiaoyanjing also stepped forward and said to Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajin, "Mr. Qiao, Mr. Conman, both of you have outstanding abilities. We have a good chance of getting out of here."

"Mr. Conman?" Qi Xia thought he heard wrong, "You're calling me?"

"Yes..." Xiaoyanjing thought he might have said something wrong, "Didn't Mr. Qiao always call you 'Conman'...?"

Qi Xia shook his head helplessly and said, "Forget it, a name is just a title, you can call me whatever you want, but I won't join you."

"Why so firm?" Xiaoyanjing was confused, "As the saying goes, strength lies in numbers. And I've played the game with you, I know you're a reliable teammate. If we work together..."

"But I don't trust you." Qi Xia interrupted, "Besides, only one person can leave this place. No matter how many people you gather, won't they just end up as cannon fodder in the end?"

"Only one person can leave?" Xiaoyanjing was taken aback, "What are you talking about? Why can only one person leave here?"

"Isn't that the case?" Qi Xia countered, "The animal masks said..."

Qi Xia was about to say something but suddenly paused.

Wait a minute.

Why did he think only one person could leave?

Did someone say something like that?

No, they didn't.

The goat-man had told Qi Xia that if they won the game, one of them would become a "god."

At the time, Qiao Jiajin had clearly asked the goat-man, "What if we don't win the game?"

The goat-man's response was, "If you don't win, it would be a great pity."

He never mentioned anything about escaping.

"Did I misunderstand...?"

The word "pity" was ambiguous.

Whose "pity" was the goat-man expressing?

His own... or the participants'?

Qi Xia blinked, feeling like he understood something.

In this hellish place, besides becoming a "god" or being destroyed, could there be another option to escape...

"Why do you think you can escape together?" Qi Xia asked.

"Of course, because we've seen people escape from here." Zhang Shan replied.