Chapter 57

"Hmm?"

Qixia was taken aback; he hadn't expected Lin'e's motivation to be this.

"Are you overthinking it?" Qixia shook his head and said, "I hold Xiao An every day until she falls asleep, then I sit by the desk myself."

"Oh..." Lin'e nodded as if suddenly feeling relieved, "Isn't that very tiring for you?"

"I..." Qixia wanted to say something but was momentarily at a loss for words, "Lin'e, you might not understand my profession. If I let my guard down at any moment, I might fall into an abyss."

"Is that so?" Lin'e responded with a half-understanding, then murmured, "Actually, I'm really curious about you. You seem like a very smart person, yet you make a living by deceiving others..."

Hearing these words, Qixia silently lowered his head.

"I don't want to," he said, "but it's the only thing I can do."

The second night was even longer than the first.

The dark night lingered in the sky, like an old friend who was reluctant to leave.

Although Qixia and Lin'e had slept a bit, they still felt sore and uncomfortable when dawn came.

Doctor Zhao and Xiao Ran seemed to have been awake all night, staring at the door and Qixia. At this moment, both looked exhausted, with heavy dark circles under their eyes.

They were not only afraid that the "bugs" outside would rush in, but also feared that Qixia would raise a black giant sword at dawn to murder them.

Fortunately, neither of these things happened by the time it was light.

"Let's go," Qixia stretched and said to Lin'e, "It's time to start today's journey."

One day had passed, and Qixia's earnings were zero.

The original goal of collecting 360 "Dao" per day had now become 400.

Based on yesterday's situation, many game rewards would increase with the difficulty. To quickly achieve the goal, today they would have to play several extremely dangerous games.

The two people did not say goodbye to Xiao Ran and Doctor Zhao, but stood up, picked up the aluminum pot, and went out the door.

There was no sign of the "bugs" outside, and it was unknown where the numerous monsters hid during the day.

Could they all be hiding in nearby buildings?

The air was still murky, but Qixia had gradually gotten used to the smell of decay and foulness.

After leaving with Lin'e, they passed the restaurant across the street and turned right.

The buildings here were different from where Qixia had encountered the "rat-man"; most were shops.

They walked down the street to the end without finding any signs of human activity.

Now standing at a T-junction, Qixia looked to both sides.

If they had come here, did they go left or right?

Qixia admitted he didn't really understand Lawyer Zhang and Officer Li, and couldn't predict their decisions.

At this moment, Lin'e noticed something near the right wall.

"Qixia, look," she pointed to a corner of the wall, where there were some whitish marks.

Qixia leaned over and saw two wobbly symbols, which looked like the numbers "5" and "2" or the letters "S" and "Z."

"Could these be left by them?" Lin'e asked, looking at the symbols with some doubt.

"Probably," Qixia nodded, "The 'Z' might represent Lawyer Zhang."

"What about the 'S'?" Lin'e asked again, "If it's Officer Li, shouldn't it be 'L'?"

"I can't understand it either..." After a pause, he asked, "Lin'e, do you remember Officer Li's real name?"

"Real name...?" Lin'e thought for a moment, then suddenly remembered something, "Ah, he said in the first game that his name is 'Li Shangwu'!"

She then looked at the symbol that looked like both "S" and "5."

"Could this really be left by them?" Lin'e said, "But how did they know we would come?"

Qixia was also puzzled. If they really wanted to leave a message, the content should be more specific. The only possibility now was that they were afraid they would get lost, so they left these symbols that only they could understand.

"Anyway, there must be someone in this direction. Let's go check it out."

The two determined the direction and set off again.

Following the dilapidated street, they indeed heard noisy voices in a building within twenty minutes.

"Damn it! This doesn't count! Let's do it again!" a man shouted, "If you have the guts, let's go again!"

As he spoke, he was pushed out of the door by a huge force and fell heavily to the ground.

"Ouch... my mother..." the man rubbed his buttocks and cursed, "I'll get you for this..."

Qixia glanced at him, his face darkening.

The man who was pushed out was none other than the short, fat middle-aged man, Lao Lu.

Qixia's city seemed to be of considerable size, yet he had encountered the same person for two consecutive days, which was quite a coincidence.

Lao Lu also noticed Qixia: "Hey? You kid...?"

After saying this, he seemed to remember something, shook his head, stood up, and looked annoyed as he was about to leave.

"Wait..." Qixia called out to him, "Have you seen anyone else here?"

Lao Lu turned around, glanced at Qixia with a look of disdain, and said, "Hey? Isn't this the Lord of the Underworld? The life you sold me hasn't run out yet, and you're here to collect again?"

Qixia shook his head helplessly and said, "I don't want to argue about the past. I'm looking for my companions now. If you can help, I'll find a way to repay you."

"Repay?" Lao Lu's eyes darted around, then he walked over with a fake smile, "Alright, since you put it that way, help me with something. If you satisfy me, I'll tell you where the two people I saw earlier are."

"Two people...? Fine, what do you want me to do?" Qixia asked coldly.

He pointed to the room in front of them, which was a Go club.

"Help me go in and win against that pig," Lao Lu said with a smile, "I want him to lose everything."

"Pig?" Qixia turned his head and saw a dirty pig-headed man sitting in the Go club.

In front of him were black and white Go stones, and two empty bowls beside them.

Qixia touched his nose and turned to Lao Lu, "Lao Lu, I'll help you, but you have to tell me first, did you really see anyone else?"

Lao Lu paused and said, "Yes, I did."

Qixia took a step forward, getting closer to the fat man, and asked again, "I'll ask you one more time, did you see anyone else?"

Lao Lu looked scared, staring at Qixia's eyes, "I really did..."

"Two people?"

"Yes."

"One man, one woman?"

"Yes..."

"What were their features?"

"Ah?" Lao Lu quickly recalled, "The man was serious, and the woman didn't talk much..."

Lao Lu kept backing away, clearly still afraid of Qixia.

He knew that this man had once pinned Zhang Shan to the ground and beaten him, making him very difficult to provoke.

Qixia, through several consecutive questions, found that the other party was not lying, so he said, "Alright, I'll do it."

Lin'e's lips slightly curled up, and she whispered, "Qixia, you know psychology?"