Chapter 266 Just Over One Hundred
By the time Terrestrial Goat reached Qi Xia, the latter’s words had already fallen.
He extended his hand, intent on ending Qi Xia’s life right then and there, but in the end, he hesitated.
Now, in the entire venue, only he and Qi Xia remained. If he killed Qi Xia... how would he ever get out?
Qi Xia tossed all the fans in his hand aside, then lazily sat atop the table. He shot a contemptuous glance at Terrestrial Goat and said, "{Poker Table Theory}... If you can't spot the sucker at the table, then you're the sucker.."
Terrestrial Goat remained silent, his gaze fixed on Qi Xia.
"What an exhausting charade," Qi Xia said softly, disdain curling in his voice. "A few worthless fans passed back and forth—utterly meaningless."
He lifted his chin slightly, eyes glinting. "Wouldn't you say so?"
Terrestrial Goat’s lips pressed tightly together, forming a thin line, his mind a storm of fury and frustration.
Terrestrial Goat gritted his teeth and spat out a few words, "What do you want?"
"What else?" Qi Xia smirked with a look of disdain at Terrestrial Goat. "Now that we have {staked our lives}, we're both passengers on the same sinking ship. Naturally, I wouldn't dare kill you." Though the two were tethered like grasshoppers on a single rope, Qi Xia unmistakably held the advantage.
"Your tricks are quite impressive..." Terrestrial Goat nodded. "You didn’t intend to monopolize {Sorrow}, you just wanted to control the timing of when everyone leaves, right?"
"Exactly," Qi Xia answered simply.
"But there’s still something I don’t understand," the Terrestrial Goat said, his tone almost that of a deferential student. "What did you say to the others? Why are they so willing to follow your lead?"
"It was laughably simple," Qi Xia chuckled. "I told them the Terrestrial Goat would lose control at the final moment, slaughtering indiscriminately to cut his losses. So I offered them a way to buy time—long enough for everyone to escape together. But who would’ve thought? Faced with death, they turned out to be even cleverer than I’d given them credit for. They actually devised the notion of staging a collective conflict."
"I actually lost to such a simple line of words..." Terrestrial Goat’s face turned unsightly.
"No," Qi Xia shook his head. "Terrestrial Goat, you didn’t lose to that one line. You lost to every word I said."
"Hah..." Terrestrial Goat let out a pained, twisted smile. He shifted his position and sat next to Qi Xia, the two of them sitting side by side, like old friends chatting as they gazed ahead.
"What’s your name?" Terrestrial Goat asked.
Terrestrial Goat nodded, then added, "So, at the final moment, you came back to me once more to check if I still had the full set of {Joy}, {Anger}, {Sorrow}, and {Happiness} in my hands."
"Yes," Qi Xia nodded. "We’ll need it to escape together. Best to take good care of them." Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on NoveI~Fire.net
"Qi Xia..." Terrestrial Goat turned to look at him. "Why are you going to such lengths? With your intellect, you could easily make a fortune here... Why tie your life to mine?"
"Because I want to negotiate with you," Qi Xia answered.
"Why do you think you can negotiate with me?"
Qi Xia smiled slightly. "When everyone else was thinking about how to trade their goods for profit, I went straight for the bank. That’s my skill."
"Qi Xia, aren’t you afraid that I’ll make it a fight to the death...?"
"No, no, no..." Qi Xia shook his head. "Terrestrial Goat, it’s not {a fight to the death}. If you want to continue this, it’ll only be {you die, all turns mine}."
Terrestrial Goat fell silent, the atmosphere heavy with tension.
"When I arrived, without {Reverberation} nor a single {Dào} on me," Qi Xia said, his voice calm. "Failing this life-staking gamble just means I’ll become an {indigenous inhabitant}. I’ve only preserved two cycles of memories, and if becoming an {indigenous inhabitant} is my fate, then I’ll accept it. But what about you?"
Terrestrial Goat hadn’t expected this man to have thought even this far ahead. If he wasn’t lying, he must have had an extremely strong sense of confidence.
He pressed his lips together, exhaled a sigh, and then slowly said, "Then... let’s talk terms."
Qi Xia nodded. "Alright. I don’t need any of the fans on the ground. I want all the {Dào} you have in your possession."
"Impossible," Terrestrial Goat declared, his voice firm.
"No, it’s possible," Qi Xia replied. "Terrestrial Goat, I have only this one condition. If you can’t fulfill it, we’ll both wait to die here."
Terrestrial Goat stretched his legs and stood up, turning to face Qi Xia with a furious expression. "Do you even f*cking know what {negotiating terms} means?!" he yelled. "Who negotiates like that? Who asks for everything from the other person right off the bat?!"
"This is {negotiating terms}," Qi Xia replied calmly. "I have only one condition. If you don’t agree, I’ll die here with you."
Terrestrial Goat realized the optimal result now would be for the two of them to walk out together as a pair—neither having killed the other—thus leading to a {staked-life failure}.
"Don’t get too greedy," the Terrestrial Goat snapped, his voice seething with frustration. "If I give you all the {Dào}, how am I supposed to trade for fans when I get out? I’ll be {breaking the rules}!"
"Oh?" Qi Xia raised an eyebrow. "Breaking the rules?"
"If they can’t exchange their fans for {Dào}, my game loses all meaning! I’ll be penalized too!" Terrestrial Goat roared. "If we’re both going to die anyway, I won’t spare you!"
"Is this really that difficult?" Qi Xia asked.
"You just need to give them {Dào}, right?" Qi Xia asked, tapping his chin.
"Of course! The rewards must be fulfilled!"
"Then just write an IOU."
"IOU...?!" Terrestrial Goat nearly dropped his jaw in shock.
"Have everyone come back tomorrow at this time to collect their {Dào}. Until then, just leave it on credit."
"Are you f*cking out of your mind?" Terrestrial Goat said, his frustration boiling over. "I’ve been here this long and never heard of {writing an IOU}... And with so much {Dào}, even if it's tomorrow, I can't just—"
"Go borrow from Terrestrial Tiger," Qi Xia interrupted. "The daily interest is ten percent. If you’re willing, you can go borrow it tonight."
"Terrestrial Tiger...?" Terrestrial Goat widened his eyes, his voice trembling. "You...were sent by Terrestrial Tiger to deal with me?!"
"Don’t overthink it," Qi Xia shook his head. "Even if there’s no Terrestrial Tiger, I still wanted to find you."
"Why...?" Terrestrial Goat asked, bewildered.
"Because you are {Goat}."
Hearing those words, Terrestrial Goat finally deflated, his anger ebbing away.
"Qi Xia, that’s eleven hundred {Dào}. Do you really think you can take it all?"
"Wrong," Qi Xia shook his head. "It’s not eleven hundred, it’s one thousand four hundred seventy-six."
"What?!" The Terrestrial Goat was taken aback, feeling that Qi Xia was overstepping. "In the first round, I distributed 160 fans, the second round 52 fans, the third round 4 fans, and the fourth round 4 fans—220 fans in total. Each fan is worth 5 {Dào}. I had a total of 1,100 {Dào} prepared. So where did this extra 300 come from?"
Qi Xia answered with a composed tone, "It’s the admission charge for our fifty-one participants. Five {Dào} per person, for a total of 255 {Dào}."
"That still adds up to 1,355 {Dào}..."
"Additionally, the 52 fans purchased during the first replenishment, at 3 {Dào} apiece, bringing the grand total to 1,476 {Dào}."
Terrestrial Goat realized, with a sinking feeling, that he was utterly ensnared.
"Qi Xia...!" Terrestrial Goat seethed. "Your greed knows no bounds! {End Point} has never witnessed someone amass such an extraordinary amount of {Dào} in a single game! Do you understand the consequences of strolling down the street with all these {Dào}?"