Chapter 70: New Teammates

If the roles were reversed, Zhang Chenze knew he absolutely wouldn't break his own hand to save the other person's life.

Yet, Li Jingguan really did it.

His initial idea was very simple: just dislocate his palm, and it would be easy to slip out of the handcuffs.

But he made a mistake.

Qi Xia remembered that when Li Jingguan saved Han Yi Mo from the Yu Cha, the situation was also extremely urgent, yet he hadn't erred back then.

Perhaps this time, he was truly panicking.

When he struck his palm with the wooden stick, he accidentally hit the handcuffs.

The mechanism of handcuffs is such that any external force only makes them tighten more.

He realized that even if he shattered all the bones in his palm, he couldn't pull free.

Seeing that the water in the fish tank had already risen above Zhang Chenze's neck, Li Jingguan quickly decided to abandon the plan of breaking his palm and instead targeted his forearm.

This time, he used even greater force, so much so that he nearly fainted several times.

Zhang Chenze could only tilt her head back, constantly searching for air at the water's surface.

Just as her consciousness was about to fade, that man arrived.

He first turned off the water valve and then smashed the fish tank with the wooden stick.

Next, he used his remaining left hand to untie the iron wire binding Zhang Chenze.

In just one or two minutes, blood was pouring wildly from the break in Li Jingguan's right arm.

Zhang Chenze hurriedly snapped off a piece of iron wire and tied it tightly around his arm.

Only then did the two of them escape from that dreadful place.

Zhang Chenze looked sadly at Li Jingguan's body and said,

"Just as he said... he was a police officer, so he couldn't stand by and watch someone die."

"No..." Qi Xia slowly shook his head. "Perhaps he was just making up for the mistakes he once made."

"Mistakes?" The others looked at Qi Xia in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Qi Xia was about to say something but swallowed his words. The things Li Jingguan had shared earlier probably weren't meant for too many people to know. Since he was dead, let that secret be buried with him.

Lin Geng took off his own jacket and draped it over Zhang Chenze.

"Zhang Chenze, you're completely soaked. Be careful not to catch a cold."

Lao Lü, standing nearby, felt a bit out of place. After fumbling awkwardly for a while, he picked up the aluminum pot and said to Zhang Chenze,

"Ah, young lady, my condolences. Would you like something to eat?"

Zhang Chenze was slightly taken aback and asked,

"Who are you?"

"I'm Lü... you can just call me Lao Lü." Lao Lü gave a simple, honest laugh. "People are like iron, and food is like steel—one meal skipped and you're starving."

"He's someone we met while playing the game," Lin Geng explained. "Zhang Chenze, you must be hungry, right? Qi Xia specially brought this pot of meat to find you."

"Meat..."

Zhang Chenze was indeed hungry.

From the moment she arrived here, she hadn't eaten anything for a full two days.

She quickly took the pot, grabbed the now-cold, greasy chunks of meat inside, and devoured them voraciously.

Watching her drenched, disheveled, and eating like a wild animal, no one would guess she had once been a haughty lawyer.

After wolfing down a few pieces, Zhang Chenze said unclearly,

"Qi Xia, thank you..."

Qi Xia didn't respond.

After all, the pot of meat was meant for Li Jingguan, but now that he was dead, giving it to Zhang Chenze wasn't inappropriate.

At least she seemed more reliable than Xiao Ran and Zhao Yisheng.

"Qi Xia, I had some reservations about you at first," Zhang Chenze continued. "But you not only brought us food, you also brought cigarettes for Li Jingguan. You're really thoughtful."

She pointed to the cigarette in Li Jingguan's mouth and said,

"He spent a long time finding two moldy cigarettes..."

Qi Xia thought for a moment, stepped forward, and took the cigarette from Li Jingguan's mouth.

Qi Xia had never seen this brand before. On the filter, it said "Dong Chong Xia Cao." When he sniffed it, there was a strong milky scent mixed with the aroma of Chinese herbal medicine.

"That's right, it's the cigarette I brought," Qi Xia said with a complex expression. "Too bad Li Jingguan died before he could even smoke it."

Lin Geng felt puzzled. He had been almost constantly with Qi Xia and didn't remember him finding any cigarettes.

Qi Xia then took the metal lighter from Li Jingguan's hand. "This lighter was also something I brought to give to Li Jingguan. Now, it looks like I'll have to use it myself."

No one objected, though Lin Geng was still a bit confused.

Qi Xia walked aside and examined the lighter and cigarette closely.

He felt that something about this was strangely off. Could it all be connected to that bell?

Thinking of that, he picked up the old cigarette pack from the ground and inspected it carefully, but found no hidden mechanisms.

"What's wrong?" Lin Geng came over and asked softly. "Is something off?"

Qi Xia furrowed his brow, unable to answer.

How could he explain it to Lin Geng?

That Li Jingguan had taken a cigarette from a pack?

Or that Li Jingguan had pulled out a lighter from his own pocket?

These ordinary things didn't sound strange at all, yet they left Qi Xia baffled.

"Maybe I just misunderstood," Qi Xia said as he put the cigarette and lighter back into the pack. He turned and asked, "How's Zhang Chenze doing?"

"She's stabilized emotionally. What should we do next?"

Qi Xia nodded and said,

"Our goal has always been just one thing, hasn't it?"

With that, he slowly approached Zhang Chenze and said,

"Zhang Chenze, I'll get straight to the point... could I borrow a 'Dao' from you?"

"Borrow... a 'Dao'?" Zhang Chenze raised her eyebrows, puzzled.

"That's right." Qi Xia nodded. "To be honest, our 'Dao' was destroyed by fire, and now we have none left."

Zhang Chenze lowered her head slowly, seemingly deep in thought.

"Qi Xia..." She looked up, her face serious. "I can give you all the 'Dao'."

Qi Xia pursed his lips and said,

"It's not that I don't want to team up with you... it's just that being around me seems dangerous..."

He briefly told her about what happened to Qiao Jiajin and Tiantian, then added,

"I'm being targeted now—they'll kill the people around me to stop me."

"Did Qiao Jiajin and Tiantian dying affect you?" Zhang Chenze asked.

"Well..."

"You weren't affected at all." Zhang Chenze said. "That means killing people around you to threaten you won't work."

"Theoretically, yes."

"Then I'll be safe." Zhang Chenze slowly stood up. "Let's make a deal. I'll give you all my 'Dao' and help you from now on, but in exchange, you have to help me escape."

Zhang Chenze pondered for a moment and then replied,

"Alright, I agree."