Ten Day Ultimatum

"Hmm?" Qi Xia was momentarily taken aback, not expecting Lin Qin's concern to come 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 vague. 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 hanging 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 clung to them like an unwelcome guest who refused to leave, enveloping everything in oppressive stillness. Although Qi Xia and Lin Qin managed to sleep for a while, they still woke up sore and aching when dawn arrived.
Doctor Zhao and Xiao Ran appeared to have been awake all night, their eyes rimmed with red from fatigue and fear. They had spent the hours nervously watching the door, occasionally casting wary glances at Qi Xia. Their exhaustion was written across their haggard faces, with dark circles shadowing their eyes. They hadn’t only been afraid of the {insects} outside crashing through the door, but also harbored a constant dread that Qi Xia might turn on them with that large black sword when dawn broke.
Fortunately, neither of those fears materialized as the first light of day crept in.

"Let’s go," Qi Xia said, stretching as he rose to his feet. He glanced over at Lin Qin. "It’s time to start today’s journey."
A full 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 hit his target quickly, he knew he’d have to take on several extremely dangerous games today.
Without exchanging farewells with Xiao Ran and Doctor Zhao, Qi Xia and Lin Qin silently gathered their things, 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 unsettling to think where such a staggering number of creatures could vanish during the day. Hidden in the nearby buildings, perhaps?

The air remained thick and foul, but Qi Xia had gradually adapted to the ever-present stench of decay that clung to the atmosphere.
As he and Lin Qin stepped outside, they passed the restaurant across the street and headed to the right. The buildings in this area differed 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, realizing he knew little about their thought process, making it difficult to deduce their path.

At that moment, Lin Qin noticed something near the wall to the right. "Qi Xia, look at this," she said, pointing to a corner where faint 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 have been left by them?" Lin Qin asked, studying the symbols with a hint of doubt.

"Most likely," Qi Xia replied, nodding. "{Z} could stand for Lawyer Zhang."
"And {S}?" Lin Qin pressed. "If it were Officer Li, wouldn’t it be {L}?"
"I don’t get it either," Qi Xia admitted thoughtfully. Then he asked, "Lin Qin, do you remember Officer Li’s full name?"
"His full name..." Lin Qin lowered her head in thought, then her eyes lit up. "Ah, he mentioned during the first game that his name is {Li Shangwu}!"

She turned back to the mark resembling both {S} and {5}. "Could this really be a message from them?" Lin Qin wondered aloud. "But how could they have known we’d come this way?"
Qi Xia was equally puzzled. If they intended to leave a message, it should’ve been clearer. The symbols seemed more like a cryptic code left for their own reference in case they got lost.
"Either way, this direction seems promising. Let’s check it out," Qi Xia concluded.

With their course set, the two resumed their journey.
As they walked along the crumbling street, Qi Xia’s ears caught the sound of a commotion coming from a nearby building.
"God damn it! That doesn’t count! Again!" a voice roared in frustration. "Do it again if you’ve got the guts!"

Before the echo faded, a figure was forcefully ejected from the building, landing heavily on the ground. "Ow… Motherfu..." the man muttered, rubbing his backside, cursing under his breath, "You’ll regret this..."
Qi Xia’s expression darkened as he recognized the man—Ole Lu, the short, portly middle-aged man he had encountered the day before. Considering the size of the city, running into the same person twice in such a short span seemed highly improbable...
Ole Lu also spotted Qi Xia and froze. "Huh? You’re that punk..." His annoyance momentarily shifted to recognition, but then, as if recalling something unpleasant, he shook his head and stomped away, frustration heavy in his steps.

"Wait a moment," Qi Xia called, stopping him. "Have you seen anyone else around here?"
Ole Lu turned back, eyes filled with disdain. "Oh? The King Yama himself? I haven’t used up the life I bought from you, and now you’re here to collect again?"
Qi Xia sighed, shaking his head. "I’m not here to settle old scores. I’m looking for my companions. If you help me, I’ll find a way to repay you."

"Repay?" Ole Lu’s eyes gleamed as he quickly calculated his options. 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 voice remained cold. "Alright, what do you want me to do?"
Ole Lu pointed to the building in front of him—an old Go (wéiqí) Association Club. "Go in there and win against that pig," Ole Lu said with a smirk. "I want him to lose so badly he’s left without a scrap of cloth on him!"

"Pig?" Qi Xia glanced into the club, spotting a grotesque figure with a pig’s head hunched over a Go board. The black and white stones were laid out before it, with two empty bowls nearby, as if waiting for the next game to begin.
Qi Xia touched his nose thoughtfully, then turned back to Ole Lu. "Ole Lu, I can handle this for you," he said, his tone deceptively casual. "But first, I need a clear answer. Did you really see other people just now?"
Ole Lu hesitated, unease flickering across 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, stammering, "I—I really saw them..."
"Two people?"

"Yes."
"One man and one woman?"
"Yes..."

"What did they look like?"
"Uh?" Ole Lu scrambled to recall. "The man was expressionless, the woman wasn’t very talkative..."
Ole Lu kept backing away, his fear of Qi Xia palpable. He vividly remembered how Qi Xia had beaten Zhang Shan to the ground; he knew better than to push his luck.

After a series of probing questions, Qi Xia was convinced Ole Lu was telling the truth. "Very well," he said finally. ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) "I’ll help you."
Lin Qin, observing the exchange, couldn’t suppress a small smile. Leaning in, she whispered to Qi Xia, "Qi Xia, are you secretly good at psychology too?"