Chapter 256: The Invisible Wall

In the moment Qi Xia was momentarily distracted, the old man in the distance had already lifted his foot and kicked Qin Dingdong hard in the abdomen.

Qi Xia pondered for a while, then walked straight up. "Hey..."

The old man turned his head, glaring at Qi Xia with a face full of anger.

At that point, Qi Xia recognized the old man as the first "victim" of the deception. He looked extremely furious.

Qin Dingdong was now facing the consequences of her own actions.

Earlier, Qin Dingdong had assured him, "Wait another hour, and after we get the two fans, we'll leave." But it seemed that every half-hour "resupply of fans" required spending "Dao" to purchase.

At that moment, the old man had neither fans nor "Dao," so he was absolutely going to die there.

That's why he had completely broken down.

Qi Xia stared at the old man, wondering whether he should try to calm him down or just abandon Qin Dingdong right away.

"What are you doing?!" the old man snapped irritably. "I'm going to beat this wretched woman to death today, and no one can stop me!"

The old man's voice was incredibly loud, drawing a crowd of onlookers. An honest person's temper is like a volcano—it builds up and can lead to devastating consequences. The past half-hour had been enough for him to accumulate his rage.

"This is getting troublesome..."

Qi Xia sensed the danger.

He felt that this old man was about to break through an invisible "wall." Once that wall collapsed, the "bestial nature" of everyone present would erupt.

"Uncle..." Qi Xia swallowed hard and said, "Listen to me... I can give you a fan, but if you kill someone here..."

"Get lost!!!" the old man shouted wildly. "What's it to you?! I'm not living anymore! I'm going to kill her!!"

More and more participants gathered to watch.

They had all noticed the fans in Qin Dingdong's and the Chuan Yu man's pockets.

Though the two trying to escape weren't "rich people," they were definitely "middle-class."

For the many participants, it would be ideal if these two died there—their fans would become unowned, and many could get a share.

But no one wanted to be the first to stain their hands with blood.

Qi Xia furrowed his brow, quickly thinking of a strategy.

The uncle in front of him was ready to go down fighting; he had no hope left. Although Qin Dingdong was at fault, Qi Xia, for his own interests, needed to prevent any deaths.

But even more despairing events followed.

The "rich person" who had bought all the "Ai" and another "rich person" had already paired up and were trying to escape via the stairs, but they were blocked by a group of onlookers.

At that point, aside from the two "rich people" who had escaped at the beginning, all the others were blocked.

The side effects of the "wealth gap" in this game were starting to show.

Before Qi Xia could react, a burly man with a knife stood directly on the escape stairs.

It seemed that the earlier pair of "rich people" had indeed given him the knife. The situation had shifted dramatically, and the "Fraud Game" might enter its second phase.

That is, the "Violence Phase."

It was no longer about who was more cunning, but who had the harder fists or the knife in hand.

"Hey!" The man with the knife stopped the old man who was beating Qin Dingdong. "What's the point of just hitting her?! Take her fan!"

"Fan... fan...?" The old man glanced at the fan in Qin Dingdong's pocket and swallowed hard. "You're right! My fan was stolen from me..."

With that, he bent down and started grabbing for Qin Dingdong's fan.

"You wretched woman... Hand over the fan!!"

Qin Dingdong clutched her pocket tightly. "No! I won't give it!"

"If you don't give it, I'll kill you!!"

Qi Xia couldn't stand by any longer and rushed forward to pull the old man away.

"Huh?!"

"Everyone!" Qi Xia called out loudly, "Think carefully... If someone dies here, it will spiral out of control, and anyone could die in the next part of the game... Are you all really prepared for that?"

The crowd stared at Qi Xia with expressionless faces, as if it were none of their concern.

Of course, it made sense—they were the ones about to die, not the "rich people" in front of them.

At that moment, Qi Xia had only one thought: Who could stand with him? Even a single ally would help; a lone tree can't form a forest.

In the group, a man in a leather jacket seemed about to step forward and say something, but another man in a leather jacket held him back.

Seeing the standoff, one "rich person" seized the chaos, grabbed his briefcase, and dashed toward the exit.

Qi Xia first looked at the "rich person" in panic, then showed a look of relief.

The one fleeing wasn't the man who had bought all the "Ai," but his partner.

"Damn it!"

Under everyone's gaze, the man with the knife caught up in a few strides and plunged the knife into his ribs.

The whole thing happened in seconds, and no one had time to react.

The man with the knife seemed stunned for a moment, but quickly composed himself and growled, "Who told you to run?!"

He viciously pulled out the blood-red knife, and the other man collapsed.

The "rich person" lay on the ground, gasping and trembling, his face turning pale rapidly.

Blood gushed from beneath him—the first life was about to end.

Regardless of whether the man with the knife had killed before, he had crossed that line now, and he wouldn't hesitate next time.

The crowd finally grew restless, murmuring in shock at the loss of a life.

But in the "Zhong Yan Zhi Di," people's tolerance for death was clearly higher. Many among them began calculating whether to snatch the fans.

Qi Xia watched the "rich person" on the ground, barely breathing, and slowly furrowed his brow.

Though a death was bad news, it seemed like Qi Xia had overlooked something important...

What was it?

Qi Xia turned his head to look at the distant Earth Ram, which showed no reaction at all.

So, killing was indeed being allowed?

The "rich person" who had bought all the "Ai" witnessed this and looked at Qi Xia in terror.

Qi Xia thought for a moment and mouthed the word: "Run."

The "rich person" snapped out of it, took advantage of the confusion, turned, and bolted up the stairs, opening the door and escaping.

The man with the knife never expected that right after establishing his dominance, someone would defy him.

The escape was incredibly swift. The man with the knife, furious, wanted to chase after him but stopped about five or six meters from the door.

He hadn't successfully "paired up" yet, so escaping would violate the rules.

Before the crowd could settle down, the old man pushed Qi Xia aside and went back to Qin Dingdong.

"I'm taking your fan today no matter what!"

He reached out, grabbed the fan in Qin Dingdong's pocket, and tore it to shreds. The old man didn't care and went on to tear the others.

Qi Xia reached out to speak, but the man with the knife turned back first. "Hey!! Old man! Who told you to destroy the fan!"

"I don't care!!" the old man snarled with a twisted expression. "Even if I tear up her fans, I won't let her get away easy!!"

Seeing this, Qi Xia knew he couldn't stop it anymore. He had to escape to a safe corner with his own fan. If he stayed in the eye of the storm, he'd become the next target.

Qin Dingdong's chances of survival were extremely high now, and the "rich person" with her was likely to die here too.

But before Qi Xia could take a few steps, the man with the knife came over to Qin Dingdong and blocked the old man.

"I'm telling you not to destroy the fan! Don't you understand?!" the man with the knife shouted angrily.

The old man got fired up too. "This woman tricked me! I have to make sure she can't leave!"

"Then kill her, why don't you?!" the man with the knife yelled, as if losing his mind.

"Yeah... Then give me the knife!" The old man, spurred on, got angry as well. "Give me the knife, and I'll kill her!"

With that, he reached for the man with the knife's weapon. But how could the man let go?

The two started wrestling.

"What's your problem taking my knife?!"

"Give it to me! I want to kill someone!!"