"Hmm?" Qi Xia was momentarily taken aback, not expecting Lin Qin's concern to stem from this.
"Aren’t you overthinking it?" Qi Xia shook his head. "Every night, I hold Xiao An until she falls asleep, then I move to sit by the desk."
"Oh..." Lin Qin nodded, as if a weight had been lifted from her mind. "But isn't that exhausting for you?"
"I..." Qi Xia began, but then hesitated, searching for the right words. "Lin Qin, you might not fully grasp the nature of the industry I work in. If I ever let my guard down, even for a moment, what awaits me could very well be a bottomless abyss."
"Is that so?" Lin Qin nodded, her understanding still somewhat nebulous. Then, almost as if speaking to herself, she murmured, "I’m truly curious about you. You seem like an intelligent person, yet you make a living by deceiving others..."
Qi Xia lowered his head, a heavy silence falling between them. "I don’t want to do this either," he confessed quietly, "but it’s the only thing I’m capable of."
The long night dragged on, even more interminable than the previous one. The darkness lingered like an old friend who refused to part, enveloping them in its oppressive stillness. Although Qi Xia and Lin Qin slept for a while, they still felt sore all over when dawn came.
Doctor Zhao and Xiao Ran appeared to have been awake all night, their eyes red-rimmed with fatigue and fear. They had spent the hours nervously watching the door and occasionally casting wary glances at Qi Xia. The exhaustion showed clearly in their haggard expressions, and dark circles marred their faces. They hadn’t only been afraid of the {insects} outside crashing through the door but also harbored a constant fear that Qi Xia might turn on them with a large black sword when dawn broke.
"Let’s go," Qi Xia said, stretching as he rose to his feet. He glanced over at Lin Qin. "It’s time to begin today's journey."
A day had passed, yet Qi Xia’s earnings remained at zero. The original goal of collecting three hundred {Dào} per day had been revised to four hundred. Based on what he observed yesterday, the rewards from many of the games increased with their difficulty. If he wanted to reach his target quickly, he knew he would have to engage in several extremely dangerous games today.
Without exchanging farewells with Xiao Ran and Doctor Zhao, Qi Xia and Lin Qin silently rose, picked up the aluminum pot, and stepped outside. The street was eerily quiet, with no trace of the {insects} they had encountered the night before. It was baffling to think where such a staggering number of creatures could hide during the day. Where could they be? Hidden within the nearby buildings, perhaps?
The air remained thick and foul, but Qi Xia had gradually adapted to the stench of decay that lingered in the atmosphere.
As he and Lin Qin stepped outside, they passed by the restaurant across the street and headed to the right. The buildings in this area were different from where Qi Xia had encountered the {Mortal Mouse}; most were shops, their displays long abandoned.
The two of them walked along the street until they reached its end, finding no signs of human activity. Now standing at a T-junction, Qi Xia paused to survey both directions. If Officer Li and Lawyer Zhang had come this way, did they continue to the left or the right? Qi Xia pondered this and realized he had little insight into their preferences or decisions, making it difficult to deduce their path.
At this moment, Lin Qin noticed something in the corner near the right side of the wall. "Qi Xia, look at this," she said, pointing to a corner where fading whitish markings were visible.
Qi Xia approached and discerned two crooked symbols that might represent either the numbers {5} and {2} or the letters {S} and {Z}.
"Could this be left by them?" Lin Qin inquired, scrutinizing the symbols with a hint of doubt.
"Most likely," Qi Xia replied, nodding. "{Z} may represent Lawyer Zhang."
"And {S}?" Lin Qin continued. "If it were Officer Li, wouldn't it be {L}?"
"I don't understand it either," Qi Xia admitted thoughtfully. He then asked, "Lin Qin, do you recall Officer Li's given name?"
"His given name..." Lin Qin lowered her head in contemplation, and then her eyes lit up. "Ah, he mentioned during the first game that his full name is {Li Shangwu}!"
She turned her gaze back to the symbol that resembled both {S} and {5}. "Could this truly be a message from them?" Lin Qin pondered aloud. "But how could they have anticipated our arrival?"
Qi Xia was equally puzzled. If they intended to leave a message for them, it should have been clearer. The symbols seemed to indicate that they were concerned about becoming lost and thus left a form of cryptic notation meant only for themselves.
"Regardless, this direction appears to hold promise. Let us proceed and investigate," Qi Xia concluded.
With their course set, the two resumed their journey.
As they traversed the crumbling street, within twenty minutes, Qi Xia's ears caught the sound of a commotion emanating from a nearby building.
"God damn it! That doesn’t count! Again!" a voice roared with frustration. "Do it again if you have the guts!"
Before the echo of his words had even faded, a figure was forcefully ejected from the building and landed heavily on the ground. "Ow… Motherfu..." the man muttered as he rubbed his posterior, cursing under his breath, "You’ll regret this..."
Qi Xia’s expression darkened as he recognized the man—none other than Ole Lu, the short and portly middle-aged man he had encountered the day before. Given the size of the city they were in, running into the same person twice in such a short span seemed highly improbable…
Ole Lu, too, noticed Qi Xia and paused. “Huh? You’re that punk...” His annoyance momentarily shifted into recognition, but then, as if recalling something unpleasant, he shook his head and began to walk away, his frustration still evident in his heavy steps.
"Wait a moment," Qi Xia called out, halting him. "Have you encountered anyone else here?"
Ole Lu turned back, his eyes full of disdain. "Oh? Well, if it isn't the King Yama lord himself? I haven't used up the life I bought from you and now you’re here to collect payment again?"
Qi Xia sighed in resignation, shaking his head. "I’m not here to rehash the past. I'm looking for my companions now. If you can assist me, I’ll find a way to repay you."
"Repay?" Ole Lu’s eyes gleamed as he quickly calculated. Approaching with a sly grin, he said, "Alright, since you're offering, do me a favor. Satisfy my request, and I'll tell you where the two people I just saw went."
"Two people...?" Qi Xia's tone remained cold as he asked, "Alright, what do you need me to do?"
He pointed to the building in front of him—an old Go (wéiqí) Association Club. "Go in for me and win against that pig." Ole Lu said with a smile, "I want him to lose so badly he’s left without a scrap of cloth on his body!"
"Pig?" Qi Xia turned his gaze to the interior of the club, where a grotesque figure with a pig's head sat hunched over a Go board. The black and white stones were laid out before it, with two empty bowls resting nearby, as though waiting for the next game to begin.
Qi Xia touched his nose thoughtfully before turning back to face Ole Lu. "Ole Lu, I can handle this task for you," he began, his tone deceptively casual. "But first, I need a clear answer. Did you truly see other people just now?"
Ole Lu hesitated, a flicker of unease crossing his face. "Yes," he replied.
Qi Xia stepped closer, his gaze sharp and unyielding. "I'll ask you once more—did you see other people?"
This time, Ole Lu couldn’t mask his nervousness. He met Qi Xia's eyes while stammering, "I—I really saw them..."
"One man and one woman?"
"What were their distinctive features?"
"Ah?" Ole Lu scrambled to recall. "The man was expressionless, and the woman wasn’t very talkative..."
Ole Lu continued to back away, his fear of Qi Xia palpable. He remembered vividly how Qi Xia had beaten Zhang Shan to the ground; he knew better than to provoke him further.
After a series of probing questions, Qi Xia was convinced that Ole Lu was speaking the truth. "Very well," he said finally, "I agree to help."
Lin Qin, observing the exchange, couldn't suppress a small smile. Leaning in, she whispered to Qi Xia, "Qi Xia, do you also have a knack for psychology?"