Heaven's Gate

"How could he be dead?!" Qi Xia said in disbelief, "He was fine when we parted yesterday."

"I also find it very strange," Old Lu said, "Perhaps it was due to excessive blood loss?"

He was talking and laughing before going to sleep at night, but he didn't wake up in the morning.

Qi Xia's pupils shrank slightly, feeling that there was something unspeakably strange about this matter.

Although Zhang Shan was injured, it was clearly not fatal. From Lin Qin and Tian Tian's description, the black bear only caused some minor injuries to him and did not cause any internal damage.

But how could he have died in his sleep?

"Did he suffer any other injuries?" Lin asked, "Like being stabbed with a sword or something in the morning..."

"No." Old Lu shook his head with some sadness, "But I can't say for sure, after all, we are not forensic doctors. We only know that Zhang Shan was motionless, not breathing, and his chest was no longer moving."

Qi Xia stroked his chin, feeling that this incident was most likely related to 'Xiaoxiao.'

In the game of the Earth Bull, Qiao Jia Jin and Zhang Shan were undoubtedly the two most outstanding individuals. Without them, it would not have been possible for so many people to survive in the two games.

But in just one night, both of them had perished.

If it wasn't Xiaoxiao who did it, then it must have been the Earth Bull.

"Are you cheating...?" Qi Xia muttered through gritted teeth, a coldness in his eyes.

"Who? Me?" Old Lu was taken aback.

"No..." Qi Xia felt a sense of foreboding in his heart. Following this trend, the number of people with a hope of clearing the game would continue to decrease.

Thinking of this, he turned to Old Lu and said, "Old Lu, since your 'organization' is no more, can you tell me about escaping?"

"No more?" Old Lu scratched his head awkwardly, "It can't be said that it's gone... It's just that with Zhang Shan dead, I can't stay there anymore..."

"Hmm?" Qi Xia didn't understand, "Isn't Zhang Shan your leader?"

"He's not exactly the leader," Old Lu clarified, "He's the third-ranking figure in the organization."

"Third-ranking figure?"

"Yes." Old Lu continued, "Our organization is called 'Heaven's Gate,' consisting of about twenty people. The leader is named 'Chu Tianqiu,' a very intelligent man. The second-ranking figure is named 'Yun Yao,' a woman with exceptionally good luck who often wins when gambling. She's also very beautiful and, I heard, was a celebrity before coming here. As for Zhang Shan, due to his past as a soldier, he mostly chose 'bull-type'..."

"Wait, wait a moment..." Qi Xia felt as if he had discovered a loophole and quickly interrupted Old Lu, "You said your organization has twenty people?!"

"Now it's probably less than twenty. With Zhang Shan's death, we 'useless ones' were expelled..."

"It's not about that!" Qi Xia said with a puzzled expression, "Old Lu, when did you arrive at this place?"

"Two days ago," Old Lu replied without hesitation, "Aren't you?"

"We did indeed come here two days ago, but I still don't understand... How could you have established an organization in just two days? And even appointed three leaders? Can you trust each other?"

After saying this, Qi Xia shook his head again, "No... That's not right. You already had an organization yesterday, in other words, you established this thing called 'Heaven's Gate' on the first day?!"

"Yes." Old Lu nodded solemnly, "It was all Chu Tianqiu's idea. He didn't participate in the game on the first day but instead rushed to every corner of the city to find strong individuals. Since I, Little Glasses, and Zhang Shan came out of the same room, we joined him together. But now that Zhang Shan is dead, I..."

"Hold on..." Qi Xia reached out to interrupt Old Lu again, "You're saying that man named Chu Tianqiu gathered twenty people in one day?"

"Yes." Old Lu looked at Qi Xia earnestly, "That's why I said Chu Tianqiu is very smart."

"But why did you believe him?" Qi Xia asked in confusion, "When encountering strangers who want to form a team, shouldn't you be skeptical?"

"Because Zhang Shan trusted him." Old Lu explained, "I don't know what he quietly told Zhang Shan, but after thinking for a few minutes, Zhang Shan took me and Little Glasses and joined 'Heaven's Gate.' However, I have to say, the people there are not bad. Compared to them, I am the most useless one."

Qi Xia looked at Old Lu in disbelief, as if trying to judge whether what he was saying was true or false.

If there really was a 'Heaven's Gate' and a person as formidable as 'Chu Tianqiu,' why was he still unharmed?

If the 'Zodiac' really wanted to eliminate strong participants, then the first one to be eliminated should be the leader, Chu Tianqiu.

"Isn't Little Glasses with you?" Qi Xia asked again.

"No." Old Lu looked a bit dejected, "Little Glasses is stronger than me, so he stayed with 'Heaven's Gate.' He has been studying well since he was young, unlike me, who has only been selling socks at a stall for over twenty years."

Qi Xia nodded, realizing that although Zhang Shan was dead, everything else remained unchanged.

This organization called 'Heaven's Gate' still held the method to escape from here.

The 'notes on escaping from here' that Zhang Shan had mentioned before should be with the leader. It was impossible for someone with Old Lu's status to know the detailed content.

Qi Xia also gradually clarified his goals.

After finding Officer Li this time, he should try to team up with him, as he was one of the few people Qi Xia could trust.

Then they could go to 'Heaven's Gate' and offer their services. On one hand, they could seek the method of 'escape,' and on the other hand, if there were indeed a group of formidable individuals there, Qi Xia wouldn't mind participating in these life-threatening games with them.

As Qi Xia was thinking, the three of them passed by the intersection marked with 'S' and 'Z.'

Lin Qin was taken aback and turned to Qi Xia, saying, "Did we take the wrong direction? Were those 'S' and 'Z' not left by them?"

"I don't know." Qi Xia shook his head.

Old Lu overheard their conversation and glanced from a distance at the two symbols that looked like both letters and numbers.

"'S' and 'Z'?" Old Lu hesitated, "Isn't that '52'?"

"Do you know what this means?" Qi Xia asked again.

"I don't know the meaning myself, but I've seen such numbers in many places," Old Lu said, "Perhaps they are numbers to help people remember the way. For example, this place could be called '52nd Street' or something like that."

When Qi Xia realized that these two symbols were not related to Officer Li, he no longer cared about their meaning.

After all, there were too many puzzling things here, and there was no time to investigate each one.

"We're almost there, just up ahead," Old Lu quickened his pace.