Chapter 257: Hidden Lies

Chapter 258: The Remaining Sorrow

But if fifty-one people were participating... why would Di Yang control the number of people next?

This was a dangerous and thrilling conclusion.

The fans distributed in the first round weren’t for fifty people—one hundred and fifty fans—nor for fifty-one people—one hundred and fifty-three fans.

Because including Di Yang, there were fifty-two people on the field, and all fifty-two received fans.

So theoretically, there were one hundred and fifty-six fans in the first round.

Yet, one hundred and fifty-six still wasn't the actual number distributed in the first round.

Before the game started, Di Yang demonstrated for everyone by putting four fans into the "Pei Dui Ji."

Only after adding those four did the game officially begin.

In total, there were one hundred and sixty fans in the first round, with forty of each suit.

That made all the logic flow smoothly.

Di Yang wasn’t killing for "punishment"; he was simply killing based on his own preferences.

He was clearly one of the participants.

After all, the "Pei Dui Ji" displayed Di Yang's photo from the start, indicating he was recorded in the system.

In other words, the rules here didn't care if participants killed each other. This made the situation even more complicated, because Di Yang was a participant too, and he could kill at will.

But his strength was overwhelming; when it came to killing, no one here was a match for him.

It was obvious that if Di Yang was a participant, even if the remaining fifty-one people all banded together, it wouldn't make any difference.

He would just go on a rampage.

This turned the idea of teaming up for the game into a complete joke.

Qi Xia shook his head, thinking to himself, *Di Yang, oh Di Yang... you're such an interesting opponent...*

*Do you always put yourself in the middle of these fraudulent games just to experience them firsthand?*

Qi Xia’s gaze slowly turned hesitant...

He had thought his opponents were fifty ordinary people, and in the worst case, a few "Hui Xiang Zhe," but who could have imagined he'd end up facing Di Yang himself right here?

Di Yang would kill other participants based on his own needs and preferences.

This massive casino... it was basically his slaughterhouse.

But the situation now was a bit strange; he could easily kill everyone on the field, so why was he allowing some to escape?

"Could it be that you want a relatively fair game...? Are you killing that violent person because you don't condone that way of winning?"

Qi Xia looked again at the black sheep-headed figure in the center of the field, and just then, Di Yang turned his head and looked straight at Qi Xia.

Their eyes met at that moment.

After a long while, Di Yang turned his head away, staring straight ahead as if he hadn't seen anything.

Qi Xia snapped back to his senses, walked over to the dead old man's body, and pulled the dagger out of his chest. Then he went over to the burly man killed by Di Yang.

That burly man had died standing up, his head twisted 360 degrees, turning his neck into a bloody, mangled spiral.

His fan had already been "confiscated" by Di Yang, which is why no one had come to check his body.

Qi Xia examined the dagger again and then looked at the "rich man" who had been stabbed through the ribs by the knife-wielding burly man. He went over, rifled through the rich man's pockets for fans, but unfortunately, there wasn't a single "Ai."

"Hey!" Di Yang called out from a distance, "Fans from people who have already escaped can't be taken anymore."

"Can't be taken anymore?" Qi Xia turned back to Di Yang with a puzzled look, unable to tell if the statement was true or false.

"That's right." Di Yang said, "He was supposed to use those fans to exchange for 'Dao,' but since he's dead, the fans are voided."

"Voided...?"

"Yes." Di Yang nodded.

A smirk appeared at the corner of Qi Xia’s mouth as he directly took all the fans from the dead rich man and tore them to pieces one by one.

"Since they're voided... then they shouldn't stay here, to keep the game fair."

Di Yang opened his mouth but didn't say anything.

After tearing up the fans and mixing all the fragments together to ensure they were completely unusable, Qi Xia picked up the dagger and left.

Qi Xia’s actions caught everyone’s attention. Killing was no longer allowed in the field, so why was someone still taking a knife?

And he was clearly provoking Di Yang...

Was this person not afraid of death?

Qi Xia walked to a corner of the field and slowly sat down.

All that was left was to wait.

Wait for the "Ai" in the field to be depleted.

There were forty "Ai" fans issued in the first round, so... how many would remain in the end?

Di Yang used one for the demonstration, and two teams escaped, using two more.

Qi Xia had three, so theoretically, the "Ai" still in circulation was at most thirty-four...

So... how many did Di Yang replenish just now?

After all, he said, "I'll make sure everyone has a chance to get more fans," which meant the second batch he brought out matched the number of people present—fifty-two fans—to give everyone a fair shot.

Fifty-two was divisible by four, so thirteen of each suit.

The only good news was that those thirteen replenished "Ai" were all taken by the "rich men."

That meant all the other suits were replenished with thirteen each, but "Ai" stayed the same and continued to decrease.

Those three teams of "rich men" not only took thirteen "Ai," but also used three more to escape, leaving twenty-eight "Ai."

Before Qin Ding Dong left, she took out another "Ai" for herself, reducing the "Ai" in circulation further.

Now, at most, only thirty "Ai" were circulating, and that was assuming everyone who escaped only used one.

"Wait, that's not right..." Qi Xia suddenly realized. Qin Ding Dong's original hand included "Xi, Nu, Ai."

She took an extra "Ai" when she left.

So the "Ai" on the field now totaled twenty-nine.

If Qin Ding Dong’s case wasn’t unique... that meant the final number of remaining "Ai" could be less than twenty-nine, possibly even approaching twenty.

So... could the "Ai" on the field drop below twenty?

Forty people needed to escape, which theoretically required twenty more "Ai," so would Qi Xia make it to the end?

Would everyone escape first... or would the "Ai" run out first?

Qi Xia realized this bizarre game had no "Nash equilibrium point," and just sitting here was asking for death.

To make his plan foolproof... he needed to deplete a lot of "Ai."

But how to get others to use up their "Ai"?

Qi Xia thought for a moment and couldn't help but smile.

Why think about it?

Just beat the master to death with random punches, like Qin Ding Dong did.

Now he could actively seek out pairings, and the dagger in his hand could serve as the "enforcer."

Qi Xia looked up and saw another three teams escaping, reducing the number by six, leaving thirty-four people.

That decreased the "Ai" by three more, leaving at most twenty-six.