Qi Xia gripped his hair tightly, patiently waiting for the headache to subside.


    After about half a minute, he steadied his breathing, slowly let go of his hair, and stood up.


    His expression was as if nothing had happened.


    The pain had come like a fierce wind, intense at first but eventually fading away.


    Lin Qin glanced at Qi Xia and asked, “Are you alright? Do you often get headaches?”


    “No, this is only the second time since I’ve remembered anything,” Qi Xia sighed, saying, “It’s probably related to this damn place.”


    Lin Qin wanted to ask more, but it seemed Qi Xia wasn’t willing to linger on the topic.


    “We’re running out of time. Even if there’s something crawling around in my head, I’m not planning to diagnose myself here,” Qi Xia said, looking up at the dark red sky. He continued, “Thanks to this little girl, we’ve learned a lot of useful information.”


    “Really?” Tian Tian glanced at the dead human rat’s body, her face still sad. “I feel like the only useful information is about the ‘gambling with life’ rule. And this child lost her life because of it.”


    “Not just that,” Qi Xia replied. “I originally thought this place was filled with chaos and madness, but now it seems like it has its own ‘rules.’”


    “‘Rules’…?”


    “Yeah,” Qi Xia nodded. “That guy, Zhuque, was probably one of the administrators of this place.”


    “Administrator? You mean that ‘birdman’?” Jia Jin asked.


    “Yeah, he showed up to ensure the ‘rules’ aren’t broken.”


    “But why is the administrator not wearing any clothes?” Tian Tian was a bit confused. “He’s naked with just a cloak. Looks strange.”


    “Compared to his other bizarre actions, ‘not wearing clothes’ is actually the most normal part,” Qi Xia paused and then continued, “These are just the clues we can see; maybe there are others above the ‘administrator.’”


    Lin Qin seemed to have thought of something. “Right… that guy, Zhuque, said something like ‘If it weren’t for the rules, I’d have killed you.’”


    Jia Jin nodded. “Anyone who can restrain that kind of superpowered lunatic, the people above him must be even scarier.”


    “‘Superpowers’?” Qi Xia frowned. “I haven’t heard that term in a long time.”


    “Isn’t it a superpower? Like a Terminator,” Jia Jin gestured, “That guy was flying in the sky!”


    The three of them paused.


    “What’s a ‘Terminator’?” Lin Qin asked, looking curiously at Jia Jin.


    “You look pretty fashionable, but you’re still such a country bumpkin?” Jia Jin chuckled, “You’ve never seen The Terminator?”


    “F-Fashionable?” Lin Qin awkwardly opened her mouth. Those words were something only older generations would use. Just saying them already felt outdated. And now this guy was calling her uncool.


    Jia Jin nudged Qi Xia with his elbow and asked, “Liar, you’ve definitely seen it, right? Arnold Schwarzenegger, you know, don’t act like you don’t know how cool he is!”


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    “Arnold Schwarzenegger…?” Lin Qin seemed to have heard that name, but wasn’t sure.


    “I don’t care about the ‘Terminator’ or Schwarzenegger, and I don’t care about how amazing that birdman is,” Qi Xia relaxed a little and said, “What I want to know now is the extent of these ‘rules’ and how much they can actually regulate.”


    The three of them didn’t quite understand what Qi Xia was getting at and exchanged puzzled looks.


    “Liar, what are you planning to do?”


    Qi Xia slowly raised his hand, touching his neck, and made a motion. He said to them, “I want to know, is ‘killing and taking someone’s path’ a feasible option?”


    As soon as he said this, Lin Qin and Tian Tian took a step back.


    Only Jia Jin stayed where he was.


    “‘Killing and taking a path’?” Jia Jin frowned, his expression deadly serious. “You mean… if you don’t collect 3,600 ‘paths’ within ten days, you’re going to kill someone for theirs?”


    “Yeah, it’s the most effective method I can think of,” Qi Xia replied. “Now that we’re a team, if we’re going to pull this off, I need your help. So, I’m telling you the plan now to hear your thoughts.”


    “I’m not helping you,” Jia Jin shook his head firmly. “Even if the sky falls, I won’t do anything immoral. Those who have ‘paths’ probably went through just as much hardship to survive as we did. Why would we kill them?”


    “Is that so…” Qi Xia nodded, his expression complex. “But if we’re going to escape this cursed place, this is the only way. 3,600 ‘paths’... Do you really not want to try?”


    “I refuse as well,” Lin Qin spoke up. “I don’t think this plan is good. Even if we do manage to escape, if we kill someone, we’ll never be able to live the same way again.”


    Tian Tian thought for a long while and then said, “Yeah, if it comes to killing others, I’d rather die first.”


    Qi Xia looked at the three of them, contemplating for a long while, before his lips slightly curved up:


    “Good. Now I can safely tell you my real plan.”


    “What…” Jia Jin was stunned. “Wait, you were testing us?”


    Qi Xia nodded and said, “If you three were willing to accept the ‘killing and taking a path’ plan, it would prove we’re not the same kind of people, and I would have abandoned you at any time.”


    “You…” Jia Jin nearly exploded with rage. “I thought you really wanted to kill people!”


    “Logically, the ‘rules’ wouldn’t allow something like ‘killing and taking a path,’” Qi Xia explained. “Although I don’t understand what the rules are here, it seems like they’re maintaining a kind of ‘strange fairness.’ The administrators are more like ‘judges,’ and if they are really ‘judges,’ they would ensure the safety of the participants.”


    He paused for a moment and then added, “In other words… they want us to die in the game, not to kill each other.”


    The others fell silent after hearing this.


    After a while, Lin Qin came to her senses and asked, “So, what is your real plan?”


    “My plan isn’t complicated,” Qi Xia replied. “Since these games don’t involve death, we’ll test them one by one. You all go figure out the rules of the game, gather clues along the way, and when we’re sure of something… I’ll gamble my life. In the end, we’ll split all the ‘paths’ we get, and before we gather 3,600, we can all use this tactic together.”