When dawn broke, Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajin walked outside.
Earth-Tiger wasn’t there—he probably hadn’t started work yet.
The ant wasn’t there either—probably finished work already.
The earthy yellow sun climbed into the sky against the morning’s stench, heralding the official start of the first day of this cycle.
Qiao Jiajin stretched and turned his head to ask: “Liar boy, are we going to keep waiting here?”
“Mm, let’s wait a bit.”
The two didn’t know what time it was now. They only knew that after waiting about an hour, when Qiao Jiajin had already gotten so bored he was crouching on the ground digging in the sand, Earth-Tiger finally appeared lazily from a nearby portal.
He spotted the two at a glance.
“Yo, pretty early.” Earth-Tiger walked over casually and found a step to slowly sit down on.
“Not early. We’ve been waiting an hour.” Qi Xia said.
“Mm.” Earth-Tiger nodded, then lifted his eyelids and asked, “Did you deliver the item?”
After hearing this, Qi Xia pulled out that bag of snacks from his pocket and tossed it to Earth-Tiger.
“We couldn’t deliver the item.”
This statement made Qiao Jiajin swallow nervously. He hadn’t expected Qi Xia would actually tell the truth.
He was a bit afraid the tiger-headed person before them would suddenly become enraged, and then the two would certainly be unable to escape calamity.
“Why couldn’t you deliver it?” Earth-Tiger asked.
“That child died.”
“Oh…?” Earth-Tiger’s expression was a bit strange. “You say she died?”
“Mm.” Qi Xia nodded.
“Heh…” After hearing this, Earth-Tiger slowly stood up and said meaningfully, “Kid, count yourself clever. If you dared tell me the item was delivered, I would make you regret it.”
After hearing this, Qi Xia slowly breathed a sigh of relief: “You already knew she was dead?”
A trace of sorrow passed over Earth-Tiger’s face.
“It’s been almost a month… every day after work, I don’t see her come to meet up…”
The two didn’t know what relationship Earth-Tiger and Man-Mouse had, so naturally they couldn’t speak up and could only quietly watch him grieve.
“I really do miss her a bit…” Earth-Tiger slowly lifted his head and asked, “She’s been dead a long time, right?”
“Mm, about twenty days?” Qiao Jiajin nodded, but Qi Xia felt something wasn’t quite right.
Earth-Tiger’s complexion instantly darkened.
“Then… for a corpse that’s been rotting for over twenty days, why did you determine she was a ‘child’?” Earth-Tiger asked Qi Xia with ice-cold eyes.
Qi Xia knew this matter absolutely couldn’t be concealed.
“I killed her.” Qi Xia said. “I gambled her to death.”
“Gambled to death…?” Earth-Tiger was slightly stunned.
“Yes… I gambled my life against hers…”
“You mother…”
Earth-Tiger slowly stood up, looking extremely angry, making Qiao Jiajin instantly nervous.
But just a few seconds later, Earth-Tiger deflated like a punctured balloon, his expression gradually becoming dejected.
“You said ‘gambled to death’… then when she died… she didn’t suffer, right?” Earth-Tiger seemed to have tears in his eyes.
Qi Xia thought for a moment, then nodded and said: “No. She committed suicide. A single shot from a handgun killed her instantly.”
“Then… then that’s good…” Earth-Tiger nodded, continuously kneading the wrinkled bag of snacks in his hands. “Little Mouse, you’ve been liberated.”
Hearing the four words “you’ve been liberated,” Qi Xia’s head flashed with an electric shock, and inexplicably hurt a bit again.
He quickly interrupted his own train of thought and asked Earth-Tiger: “So what about our ‘transaction’?”
“I’ll help you safeguard your ‘Dao.’ If one day you can let me see that person… all the ‘Dao’ will be returned in full, not one less.” After Earth-Tiger finished speaking, he paused, then said again, “If you dare deceive me…”
“I won’t.” Qi Xia shook his head. “Those ‘Dao’ are my everything. I have no need to use them to deceive you.”
After hearing this, Earth-Tiger gently nodded.
“Then next I… just need to help you find ‘Heavenly-Sheep,’ right?”
“What the hell are you thinking?” Earth-Tiger laughed angrily. “I asked you to help me deliver snacks, but you didn’t deliver them. By rights, shouldn’t I change the condition?”
After hearing this, Qi Xia wasn’t surprised. He just nodded: “That’s right. You speak. I’m listening.”
Earth-Tiger slowly extended his hand and pointed in a direction, saying: “From here, walk forward for half an hour, and you’ll see a bar. Below that bar is a casino, precisely the game venue of ‘Earth-Sheep.’ I want his life.”
“What…?” Qi Xia was startled. “Want his life?”
“You go kill him for me, and then I’ll agree to all your next requests.”
Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajin looked at each other. This condition was too harsh.