TDU Chapter 256
Chapter 256 The Invisible Barrier
Before Qi Xia could react, the middle-aged man in the distance had already raised his foot and struck Qin Dingdong hard in the abdomen.
Qi Xia paused for a moment, then strode forward and called out, “Hey…”
The middle-aged man turned, his face contorted with rage as he glared at Qi Xia.
It was only then that Qi Xia recognized the middle-aged man before him as the first {victim}, and he appeared furious.
The consequences of Qin Dingdong’s own actions had now caught up with her.
Not long ago, Qin Dingdong had tried to placate him, {promising that if he waited another hour, he would obtain two supplementary fans and be able to leave}, but as things stood, it seemed that every half hour of {fan replenishment} required {Dào} for purchase.
At this moment, the middle-aged man had neither fan nor {Dào}, and it was certain that he would meet his end here.
And so, he completely broke down.
Qi Xia stared at the middle-aged man, pondering whether he should try to calm him down or simply abandon Qin Dingdong altogether.
"What are you doing?!" the middle-aged man snapped, his voice seething with anger. "I’m gonna kill this vile woman today, and no one can stop me!"
The middle-aged man’s booming voice drew the attention of the crowd, who quickly gathered to watch. The temperament of a good-natured person was like a dormant volcano—once it had accumulated enough pressure, it would erupt with catastrophic results. Half an hour was more than enough time for him to amass his fury.
‘This is troublesome…’
Qi Xia sensed the danger.
He could feel that the middle-aged man was on the verge of breaking through an invisible {barrier}, and once that barrier collapsed, the {beastly} instincts of the crowd would be unleashed.
"Mister…" Qi Xia swallowed and spoke, his voice steady but cautious, "Listen to me… I can give you a fan, but if you resort to killing here…"
"Get lost!!!" The middle-aged man bellowed in a frenzy, as though losing all reason, "What concern is it of yours?! I don’t care if I live or die! I’m going to kill her today!!"
The crowd of onlookers continued to swell. They had all noticed the fans in the pockets of Qin Dingdong and the Sichuan-Chongqing man.
Although the two fleeing individuals weren’t {rich individuals}, they were definitely {petite bourgeois}.
For many in the crowd, it would be a perfect outcome if these two met their end here. Their fans would become unclaimed possessions, and that would allow many of the onlookers to claim a share of the spoils.
Ultimately, everyone hesitated because they didn’t want to be the first to soil their hands with blood.
Qi Xia furrowed his brow, quickly formulating a strategy.
The middle-aged man before him would undoubtedly go down in a blaze of fury, having lost all hope. While the blame for this incident lay with Qin Dingdong, Qi Xia, ever mindful of his own interests, knew he had to prevent a death from occurring at all costs.
But what plunged Qi Xia deeper into despair was the series of misfortunes that followed.
The {rich individual} who had previously bought up all the {Sorrow} fans, along with the other {rich individual}, had completed their pairing. They had intended to leave via the stairs, but now they were blocked by the crowd of onlookers.
At this point, aside from the two {rich individuals} who had managed to escape earlier, all others were trapped.
The aftermath of the {wealth gap} in this game had begun to reveal itself.
Before Qi Xia could react, a burly man wielding a knife stepped directly onto the escape route, standing firmly at the top of the stairs.
It seemed that the previous pair of {rich individuals} had indeed handed him the knife when they escaped. The situation had taken a sharp turn, and the {game of deception} was about to enter its second stage.
That stage was the {violence stage}.
It was no longer a matter of strategy—it was about whose fists were stronger, and who held a knife in their hand.
"Hey!" The man with the knife shouted, stopping the middle-aged man who was beating Qin Dingdong. "What’s the point of just hitting her?! Snatch her fan!"
"Fa—Fan?" The middle-aged man glanced at the fan in Qin Dingdong’s pocket, swallowing hard. "You're right! My fans were stolen..."
Without another word, he immediately bent down to snatch the fan from her pocket.
"You vile woman... give me the fans!!"
Qin Dingdong clutched her pocket tightly, her voice shaking with defiance. "No! I won’t give it to you!!"
"If you don’t give it to me, I’ll kill you!!"
At this moment, Qi Xia could no longer stand by. He rushed forward and pulled the middle-aged man away.
"Hey?!"
"Everyone!" Qi Xia called out loudly. "Think carefully... If someone dies here, things will spiral completely out of control, and each of you could end up dead in the next phase of this game... Are you all truly ready for that?"
The crowd looked at him blankly, all wearing expressions that clearly showed they were indifferent, as if the situation didn’t concern them.
It made sense, after all. It was clear that the ones who were about to die were the few {rich individuals} in front of them, not themselves.
At this moment, Qi Xia had only one thought... Who could stand by my side? A single tree cannot make a forest, but even one ally would be enough.
A man in a leather jacket seemed to want to step forward and say something, but he was stopped by another man in a leather jacket.
Seeing the standoff, one {rich individual} grabbed his handbag and, taking advantage of the confusion, rushed toward the exit.
Qi Xia first glanced nervously at the {rich individual}, then his expression shifted to one of cautious hope.
The {rich individual} who fled wasn’t the man who had bought up all the {Sorrow} fans, but rather the one who had teamed up with him.
"F*ck!"
In full view of everyone, the man with the knife closed the distance in just a few steps and swiftly drove the blade into his side.
The whole event unfolded in mere seconds, leaving no time for anyone to react.
The knife-wielding man seemed momentarily stunned, but quickly regained his composure. He forced himself to appear calm as he sneered, "Who told you to run?!"
With a vicious jerk, he pulled the bloodied knife from the {rich individual}'s side, and the man collapsed to the ground.
The {rich individual} lay trembling on the ground, his breath shallow and quick, his face rapidly paling. Blood gushed from his wound, pooling beneath him. The first life was about to be claimed.
Whether the burly man with the knife had killed before or not, it no longer mattered—he had crossed the line, and from now on, he would show no hesitation when he struck again.
The crowd finally erupted into chaos. A life had been taken, and murmurs of disbelief rippled through the onlookers.
Yet, in {End Point}, people had become far more desensitized to death. Many in the crowd were already calculating whether they should seize the fans now.
Qi Xia watched the {rich individual} lying on the ground, barely clinging to life, and his brow furrowed slowly.
Though {a life had been lost}, which was undeniably problematic, there seemed to be something far more pressing he had overlooked…
What was it?
Qi Xia turned his gaze toward the distant figure of the Terrestrial Goat, who remained completely still.
So, it seemed...was killing tacitly permitted?
The {rich individual} who had bought all the {Sorrow} fans, seeing the scene unfold, was now anxiously looking toward Qi Xia.
After a brief moment of thought, Qi Xia silently mouthed the word, "Run."
The {rich individual} snapped out of his panic and, taking advantage of the confusion, swiftly turned and dashed up the stairs, opening the door to escape.
The man with the knife hadn’t expected that, after he had {asserted his dominance}, someone would attempt {mutiny} so quickly.
The escape was executed with lightning speed, and seeing this, the knife-wielding man became immediately flustered. He wanted to rush to the door himself, but he stopped just five away.
He hadn’t yet {paired up}, and escaping now would definitely be against the rules.
Before the crowd had even settled down, the middle-aged man shoved past Qi Xia and made his way back to Qin Dingdong.
“I’m taking your fans today, no matter what!” He reached out and tightly grabbed the fans in Qin Dingdong’s pocket, pulling hard until one of them was torn apart. The middle-aged man appeared completely unfazed, and immediately went for another fan to tear.
Qi Xia reached out, about to speak, but the man with the knife turned and spoke first. "Hey!! Old geezer! Who told you to tear up the fan?!"
"I don’t care!!" the middle-aged man snarled, his face twisted in fury. "Even if I tear up her fans, I won’t let her off the hook!!"
Seeing this, Qi Xia realized he was powerless to stop the situation now. The best course of action was to retreat to a safer corner. Staying in the eye of the storm any longer would make him the next target.
The chances of Qin Dingdong dying at this point were extremely high, and her {rich individual} teammate was likely to meet the same fate.
But before he could take more than a few steps, the man with the knife appeared beside Qin Dingdong and blocked the middle-aged man.
"Laozi told you not to destroy the fan! Can't you understand?!"
The middle-aged man, now enraged, retorted, "This woman deceived me! I need to make sure she doesn't get away!"
"Then just kill her!" The burly man shouted, losing his composure.
"Right... then give me the knife!" The middle-aged man, provoked by the burly man's words, snapped back, his own anger flaring. "Give me the knife, and I'll kill her!"
With that, he reached out to grab the knife from the burly man’s hand. But the burly man wasn’t about to let go.
The two of them actually started to struggle, pulling and tugging at the weapon.
"What do you want with laozi’s knife?!"
"Give it to me! I’m going to kill her!!"
