Chapter 226: Threat

What should we do next?

The group exchanged uneasy glances. Zhang Lvshi and Tian Tian, who were nearby, looked utterly terrified.

What on earth was going on? What were these people up to?

"I give up..." Qiao Jiajin was completely at a loss. "What do we say now? Are we just going to sit here and wait to die?"

Lin Geng and Li Jingguan both turned their eyes toward Qi Xia.

Things had gotten so complicated that they could only hope Qi Xia had a plan.

But at that moment, Qi Xia had a somewhat dazed expression as he held Yu Nian'an's hand, quietly gazing at her.

"An... your hand is so cold. Are you feeling cold?"

"No."

"Yu Nian'an..." Lin Geng furrowed her brow, sensing that the root of all this trouble lay with the Yu Nian'an right in front of them.

"Give me the gun." She turned to Li Jingguan and said, "There's only one way left..."

Qiao Jiajin saw the look in Lin Geng's eyes and instantly felt something was wrong.

"Psychologist... are you playing with fire?" he whispered with concern. "If you kill that girl... Ren Yang won't let you off the hook. I feel like the aftermath will be even harder to handle than now..."

"But he's losing it!" Lin Geng said. "I don't care if he'll hate me or not—the priority is to snap him out of it! Otherwise, he'll end up living here forever with this Yu Nian'an, turning into one of the locals!"

Li Jingguan and Han Yi Mo exchanged a glance, both realizing the severity of the situation.

Han Yi Mo and Zhao Yisheng tossed the gun body and magazine back to Li Jingguan. He reassembled it quickly, flipped off the safety, and handed it to Lin Geng.

Lin Geng took a deep breath, slowly raising the gun and aiming it at Yu Nian'an, who was not far away.

Whatever Yu Nian'an was, she at least appeared to be a normal person.

If a normal person was killed, she would naturally revive in the next cycle.

"I'm sorry, Yu Nian'an..."

Just as Lin Geng was about to pull the trigger, a voice slowly rang out beside Yu Nian'an.

"Lin Geng, put the gun down."

Everyone was stunned to realize the speaker was Qi Xia.

"What?"

Qi Xia turned his head, fixing Lin Geng with a pair of cold eyes.

"I told you to put the gun down."

"You..."

The others also noticed something off about Qi Xia. Normally, everything he did followed his logic, but now he seemed driven by emotion.

"Qi Xia, if we don't kill her, you will..."

"Killing my Yu Nian'an won't do any good." Qi Xia coldly glanced at the Ren Yang on the ground and continued, "You're pointing the gun at Yu Nian'an just to force an idea out of me, right?"

Lin Geng knew Qi Xia was right.

She was resorting to killing the person most important to him just to tap into his mind.

"You selfish people." Qi Xia scanned the room with a displeased expression. "To get an idea from me, you're actually using Yu Nian'an to threaten me, aren't you?"

Qiao Jiajin felt uncomfortable after hearing that: "Qi Xia, how could you think of us that way?"

"You're right, that's exactly the situation." Lin Geng said without hiding it. "If pointing the gun at Yu Nian'an gets us the strategy, it'd be easier to communicate with you."

Qi Xia stared into Lin Geng's eyes for a moment before saying slowly, "Don't point at Yu Nian'an. Put the gun down, and I'll tell you the strategy."

Lin Geng listened and gradually lowered the gun she was holding.

"Good." Qi Xia nodded. "As I said, killing my An won't help at all. The priority is to let Ren Yang die."

"What?" Lin Geng was stunned.

"Throw the gun to Ren Yang." Qi Xia said, "Like he mentioned earlier, the contract states that if his suicide fails, a higher-level figure will appear and kill him personally. Then we'd be in real danger."

This statement gave the group a new perspective.

Qi Xia explained further: "Yu Nian'an has appeared in the room, so our room might be seen as a 'violation.' If a higher-level figure kills us here, the loss for us would be even greater."

After hearing this strategy, the group looked at each other again. They knew Qi Xia was cunning, and while it sounded logical, they couldn't tell if it was true or false.

"I'm not trying to deceive you." Qi Xia said. "Every time Ren Yang dies, we can move freely. If you use the last bullet to kill Yu Nian'an, we'll still be stuck in these chairs, just waiting for the harpoons to come."

Though his eyes were still somewhat vacant, his words were logically sound, making it hard not to believe him.

"He's right." Li Jingguan nodded. "I've seen that contract..."

Although the group didn't know what Li Jingguan meant by "contract," it seemed Ren Yang was acting according to its rules.

After thinking it over, Lin Geng decided to go with Qi Xia's plan. Under everyone's watchful eyes, she threw the gun to Ren Yang.

Ren Yang, though unable to hear or see, clearly felt a heavy object land in his arms.

He reached down and felt it—it was the gun.

"Gr-Great!!" Ren Yang lifted his head, his eyes streaming with bloody tears as he shouted excitedly, "I can die!! I can finally die!!"

In the next second, he raised the gun to his heart and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

The massive gunshot echoed repeatedly in the sealed room, fading away along with Ren Yang's screams.

At that point, the group could stand up.

Zhang Lvshi quickly got to his feet, stumbled back a few steps, and collapsed heavily on the ground.

Tian Tian rushed over to help him up.

"Are you okay?" Tian Tian asked.

"What... what is this place?" Zhang Lvshi looked around at the group in a panic. "What are you all doing?! Do you know each other? Aren't you shocked that someone just killed themselves right in front of you?!"

Li Jingguan slowly walked over to Zhang Lvshi and said, "Zhang Lvshi, calm down for a moment. I'll explain everything to you later."

"How do you know my name...?"

Qiao Jiajin came to Tian Tian's side and said gently, "Girl, stay behind me if things get dangerous later. Once we're out of the room, I'll tell you everything."

Tian Tian eyed Qiao Jiajin warily. The man looked rough and tattooed, and his first words to her were "girl"—it was hard to trust he wasn't trouble.

Lin Geng walked over to Ren Yang's body, rummaged through his pockets, and found a stack of A4 paper and a few pens. Soon after, she also pulled out an "identity card."

She thought for a moment, then turned back and distributed the identity cards and paper to everyone, saying, "Even though this is our first time in this situation, to be safe, let's all write down Ren Yang's name first."

Each person received a "Liar" card and wrote "Ren Yang" on their piece of paper.

At that time, Han Yi Mo nervously watched the "tenth person" in the room until he saw him write "Ren Yang," then finally relaxed.

In the next moment, the room began to change.

Holes appeared in the walls and ceiling as the second round of the game started.