Chapter 538

Chapter 538 I’m Working On It

Qi Xia ran on, his mind filled with more than a few soft profanities.

Something about these black threads felt deeply wrong. At the prison gates, they had fallen directly among the crowd, then began pursuing everyone from all directions. And because of that, he had been separated from Qiao Jiajin, Chen Junnan, as well as the members of {Cats}.

Now he was alone, sprinting down the road. From time to time, he caught sight of other participants fleeing for their lives as well. Panic was everywhere. Some were splattered with blood, as though they had already lost their companions.

Fresh corpses littered the streets.

Their deaths were grotesquely unnatural. Save for the skull still connected, their bodies had been cleanly split apart, neat as clamps snapped open.

As Qi Xia passed an intersection, he ran while glancing back over his shoulder. The black thread chasing him stretched along the road behind, hovering about a meter and a half above the ground. No matter how far he ran, the traces of where it had passed remained suspended in the air forever.

Qi Xia stared at the floating thread behind him. It was not fast, yet it made him realize something.

The danger of {Celestial Horse’s Hour} was not merely the pursuit of these black threads.

The thought had only just surfaced when he saw, in the distance, a young man being driven forward by a thread, bursting out from the other side of the crossroads.

Perhaps he was too frantic to notice what lay across his path, was the body of the black thread pursuing Qi Xia.

Or perhaps it was because the threads were no thicker than a strand of hair, impossible for an ordinary person to catch with the naked eye.

No matter which it was, the young man charged straight toward the black thread stretched across his path.

Qi Xia had no time to shout a warning.

After only a couple steps, the man’s head drifted slowly down to the ground, while his body, still carried forward by inertia, stumbled on for several more paces before collapsing at the roadside like a puppet with its strings cut.

At that same moment, the thread pursuing him intersected with the one behind Qi Xia, crossing at a perfect angle.

The two lines joined together like strands of a spiderweb being woven, sealing off both roads, vertical and horizontal alike.

Witnessing this, Qi Xia could easily foresee the aftermath of {Celestial Horse’s Hour} an hour later.

Now it was no longer enough to simply keep distance from the thread behind him, he also had to beware the paths others had taken. Missing even one thread suspended in midair made it frighteningly easy to die without cause or warning.

Any path someone had already escaped along could no longer be taken; this was a death race with no road back.

The more participants who survived, the more perilous everyone’s situation became.

Every route others had run through was filled with hidden slaughter. Worse still, not everyone was sprinting along the main streets. Some, desperate to live, would have cut through narrow, shadowed alleyways.

And with the slightest misstep, one could become nothing more than another person’s unwitting burial offering.

Qi Xia continued glancing back at the black thread that belonged to him. Its speed truly was not fast. An ordinary person could likely avoid it with a steady jog.

The only question was how long he could endure such a pace.

This game was unlike anything Qi Xia had ever experienced before. {Intellect} was no longer of any use. All of his focus was devoted to regulating his breathing, keeping his body from collapsing.

Qi Xia let out a deep sigh. After all, there was no need to worry about the entire {Cats}, nor was there any need to worry about Qiao Jiajin and Chen Junnan.

No matter how he considered it, their chances of survival were higher than his.

‘I need to run toward open ground…’

Qi Xia fixed his direction. If he continued weaving through the city’s tangled streets, his odds of dying would become absurdly high.

So he deliberately chose a path that led outward, drawing his black thread with him as he fled toward the outskirts.

{Celestial Horse’s Hour} had been underway for nearly ten minutes now. Unceasing bells were beginning to toll throughout the surroundings.

Whether these people had triggered their {Reverberation} through near death, through injury, or through witnessing the deaths of their companions, they were being forced into awakening their abilities.

And they would remember, with perfect clarity, this {Celestial Horse’s Hour}, and the state of terror in which they had died.

After turning several corners, Qi Xia spotted a five- or six-story building ahead.

He did not slow his steps, yet from afar he saw Terrestrial Tiger standing before the entrance of his game venue.

“You…” Terrestrial Tiger stood at his own grounds, and quickly spotted Qi Xia from a distance.

Their gazes met for a brief instant.

Qi Xia realized that Terrestrial Tiger was wounded. His white fur was stained with dark, vivid blood, and even one of his fangs had been snapped clean off.

“My {mole}…” Qi Xia glimpsed Terrestrial Tiger and immediately confirmed what had been stirring in his mind.

He had suspected that he had planted his {mole} within the {Earthly Branches}. He had not been entirely certain, not until now. Seeing Terrestrial Tiger’s battered state gave him a surge of confidence.

His {mole} was in motion, though clearly not without difficulty.

However, there was no time to discuss matters further with Terrestrial Tiger. They could be monitored at any moment, and {Celestial Horse’s Hour} loomed dangerously close.

Terrestrial Tiger scratched at the wound on his face, then glanced at the black thread trailing behind Qi Xia. Only then did he realize why business had been so dismal today.

“F*ck, so it’s Celestial Hour?” he muttered, looking up at the sun, a wry, almost teasing smile tugging at his lips. “I thought this hellhole was finally gonna get a cloudy day… but damn, they really went all in.”

“Terrestrial Tiger…” Qi Xia opened his mouth, but the words almost broke the steady rhythm of his breathing. He hurriedly quickened his pace, widening the distance between himself and the black thread, until he reached Terrestrial Tiger. He panted heavily, drawing long, gasping breaths.

“Goat…” Terrestrial Tiger started but realised his words weren't appropriate. He pressed his lips together and ultimately asked, “Can you do this?”

“I’m not certain…” Qi Xia struggled to steady his breathing. “A game with consequences that reach everyone strikes me as somewhat unreasonable.”

“I…” Terrestrial Tiger hesitated, unsure of how to regard the man before him. This was his {Goat ge}, yet now he appeared as any other {participant}, someone whose life could be claimed by the game at any moment. He paused, weighed his words, and finally said with deliberate care, “I’m working on it.”

“Working on what?” Qi Xia’s gaze sharpened, cold and unwavering.

“What you wanted me to do,” Terrestrial Tiger replied.

That single, concise sentence dispelled all doubt lingering in Qi Xia’s mind.

The identities of his other {moles} remained uncertain, yet Terrestrial Tiger had once been the one he had trusted above all else.

“But you seem reckless…” Qi Xia’s eyes lingered on the wounds streaking Terrestrial Tiger’s face. “Is this more difficult than you anticipated?”

“Yes… it is challenging, but—-” Terrestrial Tiger began, but the black thread trailing behind Qi Xia had already crept dangerously close. “Let’s chat next time. Don’t die yet. I’ll wait here for your return.”

Qi Xia understood immediately. He glanced back. The black thread he had momentarily outrun was now less than ten meters away.

“What a nuisance…” He frowned and muttered under his breath. Then, exchanging a subtle glance with Terrestrial Tiger, the two acknowledged one another without words.

Qi Xia surged forward once more, breaking into a full sprint, guiding his black thread farther into the distance.