TDU Chapter 265
Chapter 265 Final Maneuver
Qi Xia's words left everyone thoroughly perplexed.
At first glance, his statement seemed full of holes—so much so that even Terrestrial Goat couldn’t grasp what Qi Xia was plotting.
"You mean... you're not leaving?" an auntie asked.
"I’ll be the last to go," Qi Xia replied. "I have a few questions for Terrestrial Goat."
The crowd exchanged uneasy glances. The last to leave... wouldn’t that mean being left alone?
Was this man an idiot?
And... one fan in exchange for one {Sorrow}?
"Can we trade with you right now?" a woman asked.
"No, not now." Qi Xia shook his head. "As I said, someone needs to acquire the {Sorrow} from Terrestrial Goat first. My exchange will only begin after that happens."
"That..." The crowd hesitated. Terrestrial Goat's {Sorrow} required three fans to trade, and no one was willing to pay that price.
"Listen, all of you are in this together now," Qi Xia said firmly. "The moment someone secures Terrestrial Goat's fan, I'll immediately hand over all the {Sorrow} to you. Then, you all can escape. But if you fail to do this, I won't give out a single one."
His words fell like a hammer, leaving everyone momentarily stunned.
After a moment of silence, an elderly participant spoke up, "How about... we pool our resources?"
"With sixteen of us, gathering three fans shouldn't be too difficult... right?" Others in the crowd began to murmur in agreement.
Qi Xia paid no attention to how they collected the fans, simply closing his eyes and waiting silently.
In just a few minutes, they had gathered the three fans and exchanged them with Terrestrial Goat for one {Sorrow}.
All eyes now turned to Qi Xia.
He nodded. "Good. Now, I need all of you to choose a leader."
"A... leader?"
"I don't want to deal with each of you individually—that would be too troublesome." Qi Xia shook his head. "I need a middleman. This person will collect the fans from each group and trade with me, and I'll hand over all the {Sorrow} to them at once."
None of the participants had expected that, under Qi Xia's subtle influence, they would gradually begin to unite.
"How about we make this da ge our leader?" a young woman suggested. "He was the one who traded the fans with Terrestrial Goat."
"Yeah, let him be the leader!"
An introverted da ge was pushed to the front of the crowd, looking almost embarrassed by the attention.
"Well... since everyone's nominating me as {leader}, I won't stand on ceremony," the da ge said with a nod. "Please pair up—each team give me one fan, and I'll handle the trade with this xiōngdì on everyone's behalf."
The crowd hesitated no longer. After a brief discussion, each team handed over one fan. Without delay, Qi Xia pulled out all his remaining {Sorrow} from his pocket in one decisive motion.
He displayed each one to the crowd, confirming there were indeed seven {Sorrow}.
"Xiōngdì... shall we make the exchange?" The da ge looked somewhat awkwardly at Qi Xia—after all, nearly all the remaining fans in his hands were {Joy} and {Happiness}.
"Exactly. We'll exchange {payment} for {goods} directly," Qi Xia said. "But not here. We need to move to another spot."
"Another spot?"
"That's right." Qi Xia nodded. "Everyone, please come with me."
Though puzzled, the participants had already handed over their fans and chosen their {leader}—they could only follow the group.
Terrestrial Goat watched as the crowd gradually moved to the far side of the room, his expression growing wary.
He couldn't fathom what benefit Qi Xia could possibly gain from exchanging his long-hoarded {Sorrow} one-for-one like this. This was supposed to be a monopoly—he could have made a killing, trading for at least twenty fans. Yet now he was giving them away at face value?
Qi Xia gathered the crowd around him and spoke a few quiet words.
Strange expressions crossed their faces as they listened.
"Young man... have you lost your mind?" the auntie asked, her voice trembling.
"Of course not." Qi Xia nodded calmly, then turned to the {leader}. "Let's make the exchange."
The leader hesitated for a long moment before finally giving a grave nod. He handed over seven fans to Qi Xia, who in turn distributed all his {Sorrow} to the leader.
Once the {leader} had passed out the {Sorrow}, the participants exchanged glances—then immediately scattered in their respective teams.
Terrestrial Goat's brow furrowed slightly as an uneasy feeling crept over him. Yet at that moment, Qi Xia began walking toward him.
"Terrestrial Goat," Qi Xia called out.
Terrestrial Goat remained silent, his cold gaze fixed on the man.
"You still have a complete set of {Joy, Anger, Sorrow, Happiness}, don't you?" Qi Xia asked.
"Can't you see?" Terrestrial Goat replied icily. "What's on the table is all I have left."
"No." Qi Xia shook his head. "You began with three fans, then claimed five more after your kill. Meaning aside from the six on the table, you still have eight more."
Terrestrial Goat said nothing, his expression unreadable.
"To ensure you could escape no matter who you paired with at the last moment, I don't believe you'd leave yourself without a single {Sorrow}," Qi Xia continued. "So you absolutely have a complete set of {Joy, Anger, Sorrow, Happiness} in your possession—after all, you never know what kind of teammate you might end up with."
"So what?"
"So today, you've fallen right into my hands," Qi Xia said.
Before Terrestrial Goat could react, a sudden commotion erupted from the crowd attempting to {pair up} in the distance.
"Pairing failed?! You fucking lied to me?!"
"What the hell?! Ours failed too!"
"What's going on?! Our fans just got swallowed up!!"
Terrestrial Goat furrowed his brow as he observed the distant commotion but remained motionless. He knew all too well that deception was commonplace in his arena.
When only a dozen or so participants remained, humanity's ugliest instincts would inevitably surface. Even without weapons, these people would gladly beat each other to death over a single fan.
In previous games, the final stages had always left the floor littered with corpses.
Yet now, the crowd was in complete chaos—shouting, converging at the center of the hall, seemingly on the verge of violence.
Gradually, Terrestrial Goat realized something was off. All seven teams appeared to be turning on each other simultaneously.
Even accounting for deception... was it possible for every single group to betray one another at once?
Before he could process this, all the participants suddenly broke into a frenzied sprint—straight for the exit.
It seemed as though they had been carefully inching their positions from the very beginning, waiting for this moment to escape.
Terrestrial Goat's eyes flew wide with alarm. Without hesitation, he rushed toward the crowd, flipping over the table in his frantic dash.
But he was too late. The seven teams, akin to seeing a ghost, bolted for the door.
Only then did Terrestrial Goat, in disbelief, glance at the {Paring Machines} nearby. Each machine displayed {Pairing Successful}.
He stared blankly at the exit, his pupils dilating with dread. In that instant, he understood—he had been ensnared in a trap.
There was no time to lose. He had to stop that man—now.
He whirled around and sprinted toward Qi Xia.
But once again, he was a step too late.
"Terrestrial Goat, I want to stake my life," Qi Xia said, smiling.
TL Note: Rant goes here ( •̯́ ₃ •̯̀)
