Chapter 69

Pain.

Deep, bone-penetrating pain.

Qi Xia clenched his teeth and squatted on the ground, groaning in pain.

He felt as if he really had some serious psychological issue.

Every time someone died near him, he would suffer excruciating headaches.

What was causing this? Could it be that he would always react this way whenever he saw a dead body?

No, Qi Xia had seen people die several times in the game.

Not everyone's death would cause him to have a headache.

After a full half-minute, Qi Xia finally took a deep breath and stood up again, his face expressionless.

The three people outside the door finally noticed the situation inside.

They rushed into the room to check and found that Officer Li had already died with a cigarette in his mouth.

Zhang Chenze covered her mouth, wanting to cry but not daring to make a sound.

"Damn..." She slowly walked to the corner, grabbing her hair and squatting down. Her previously perfect Mandarin had now turned into a dialect, "What the hell is going on... What are they doing..."

Her emotions seemed very unstable, as if she had been greatly shocked.

Before Qi Xia could speak, the bell rang again from a distance.

"Clang"!!

Lin Qin and Old Lü were startled and looked in the direction of the sound.

Although they didn't know what the bell represented, they had heard it many times when someone died.

Lin Qin calmed herself and went to Zhang Lüshi's side, gently patting her shoulder and saying, "Lawyer Zhang, you need to pull yourself together."

"How can I pull myself together..." Lawyer Zhang raised her head, looking haggard with despair in her eyes, "Officer Li... He died for me... To save me..."

"What exactly happened?" Lin Qin held Lawyer Zhang's cold hand, "Don't keep it bottled up, tell me."

She seemed to know how to talk to someone who was emotionally out of control, and in just a few words, Lawyer Zhang relaxed her guard.

"It was all because of that rabbit..." Lawyer Zhang shook her head, "That crazy rabbit... She wanted to kill both of us... If it weren't for Officer Li, we would both be dead... They are all crazy... They have no respect for the law..."

Lawyer Zhang slowly recounted what happened after Qi Xia and the others left.

Their experience was different from what Qi Xia had deduced. It wasn't Officer Li who discovered the game's rules, but Lawyer Zhang.

After Qi Xia and the others left, Lawyer Zhang decisively started talking to the minotaur across the convenience store.

As she had said, she needed to gather enough information to make the right judgment.

Upon learning that the game in this place wouldn't cost lives but could win "Dao" instead, she explained the situation to Officer Li, Xiao Ran, and Doctor Zhao. However, only Officer Li supported her view and decided to bet their last "Dao."

This decision was strongly opposed by Xiao Ran. She knew that "Dao" was the "chip" for participating in the game, but she insisted on keeping it with her, preferring to waste the slim chance rather than risk it in a gamble.

Officer Li, considering that she was a weak woman, had been trying to persuade her gently, but Lawyer Zhang didn't indulge her.

After a few logically clear and sharp arguments, she left Xiao Ran speechless.

After all, how could a kindergarten teacher argue with a lawyer?

The game designed by the minotaur across the convenience store was extremely simple—

An obstacle race.

There were many old tires and wooden walls set up in the restaurant. As long as they could complete the course within the specified time, they would win two "Dao."

This game seemed tailor-made for Officer Li. He had graduated from a police academy and had frequently practiced obstacle races in his student days. Although it had been many years and he was a bit rusty, he could still easily complete the course within the specified time.

One "Dao" for entry, two "Dao" for winning.

Officer Li seemed to have found a loophole. He participated three times in a row, and their "Dao" increased to four.

Only when he was too exhausted did they leave the game area.

This experience greatly boosted their confidence. They believed they could collect enough "Dao" before meeting Qi Xia.

Later, they stumbled upon the game area of the "rabbit."

It was an "escape" type game. They thought this game wouldn't be too difficult either.

In a small room, the two were trapped in different corners.

Lawyer Zhang was tied inside a large transparent fish tank, which was being filled with water.

Officer Li was handcuffed to the wall on the other side of the room.

He had only a wooden stick in his hand.

The key to Officer Li's handcuffs was in Lawyer Zhang's fish tank.

The switch to control the water flow was near Officer Li.

Both had a way to save the other.

But Lawyer Zhang was bound with wire and couldn't untie the ropes or throw the key out of the fish tank.

Officer Li, though close to the water valve, was handcuffed to his right hand, always two steps away from the valve.

Neither could save the other immediately.

How cruel was this game?

It wasn't an "escape" game at all, but a thorough test of human nature.

It seemed that both were trapped and needed to escape, but upon closer inspection, Officer Li's situation was fundamentally different from Lawyer Zhang's.

As time passed, Lawyer Zhang would certainly drown, but Officer Li would not.

He would be safe even if he stayed there for a day.

Lawyer Zhang said without hesitation, "At that moment, I thought I was going to die."

Next, Officer Li tried many methods to break free from the handcuffs.

For him, ordinary handcuffs weren't hard to open, but he had no lock-picking tools, and the only thing he could use was a wooden stick.

"Officer Li was so foolish..." Lawyer Zhang sobbed, lowering her head, "Why didn't he throw the stick to break the fish tank... Instead, he broke his own..."

Qi Xia sighed helplessly, "He had a mental struggle."

"What?" Lawyer Zhang raised her lifeless eyes, "You mean this was his considered decision?"

"Yes," Qi Xia nodded, "He must have known that using the stick to break the glass wasn't a wise choice."

"But he didn't even try..." Lawyer Zhang cried again, "He could have at least tried..."

"What if he had tried?" Qi Xia said, "If the stick hadn't broken the glass and instead fell beside the fish tank, what would you have done?"

Lawyer Zhang was speechless. Qi Xia's question was to the point.

If the stick hadn't broken the fish tank and instead fell far away, they would have lost all hope of escaping.

In Lawyer Zhang's shocked expression, Officer Li used the stick to break his own hand.