I don't know if it's because I'm too unsuitable to talk to people, or if Zhang Qiang himself is a person similar to me, the two of us have obviously met many times, but the first serious communication is very difficult.

"Aren't you involved in the game either?" Zhang Qiang asked again.

"Yes." I nodded, "The "human" game is low in difficulty and has little reward, while the "local" game is very strange, even if it doesn't sound like the rules are difficult, it will always cause casualties, and I suspect that there are some hidden rules that need to be known after entering the game, which is also the root cause of the death of the "participant". ”

"Yes." Zhang Qiang agreed, "I'm not a smart person, I can't participate in those "prefecture-level" games single-handedly, but I can't find a suitable teammate, after all, there are too many stupid people in our room." ”

The two of us couldn't help but look at each other after we finished speaking, and I seemed to know what he was thinking.

"Brother Qiang, do you want to team up with me?" I asked, "I don't know if I can earn 3,600 Dao, but it's better than nothing, right?"

"No......" Zhang Qiang thought for a while and said, "If you really want to collect Dao, I suggest trying another method. ”

"How?" I asked.

Zhang Qiang paused and said, "It's been three reincarnations, right......?" Every time we die, we come back here. ”

"Yes."

"You come with me."

Zhang Qiang took me around and around into an alley, where he crouched down in a very private corner, and then reached out and wiped a brick close to the ground.

Somewhat confused, I followed, standing behind him and looking in front of him.

I saw a fresh notch on the brick - "ZQ".

"Look." Zhang Qiang said, "This is the word I carved in the last reincarnation. ”

"Oh......?"

Seeing this scene, I instantly figured out something.

It turns out that people can be reincarnated here, but time in this city is not suspended...... It's always flowing.

It's hard for me to understand this concept, maybe it's like how old cartoons work...... Can a character move on a stationary background?

No...... We are obviously static people, but we move in the passing ground.

We have been misled by "people", and it is not that "people" have started again, and time will start again.

"Zhichun." Zhang Qiang looked at the notches on the wall and said to me in a deep voice, "You are a smart person, you should have thought of it...... We've only just been able to get the Echo and preserve our memories, but that doesn't mean we've just been here, maybe we've been here for a few months. ”

I nodded, "That's right, and...... If time could flow, it might not have been the city what it is now. ”

"It doesn't matter what the city looks like, and we can't interfere with these supernatural things." Zhang Qiang said, "Let me ask you...... If there were other powerful "participants" who had already started collecting the Dao, there was a strange phenomenon in this place, and that was that those who lived to the tenth day would be annihilated anyway...... What will happen to those who have collected the "Dao" powerhouse? How can they ensure that the fruits of their labor do not disappear? ”

I carefully considered Zhang Qiang's question and quickly came up with an answer.

"Will they hide the Tao before it is annihilated?"

"Yes." Zhang Qiang nodded, "You are really smart, that white sheep is right, it is impossible for you and me to disappear from the room." ”

"I see what you mean...... Yan Zhichun said, "so you don't participate in the game all this time......

"That's right, Zhichun." Zhang Qiang turned his head to look at me and said, "Since they are all collecting Dao, since they are all three thousand six hundred...... We can try to be "thieves" instead of participating in the game, don't you think? ”

"Thief......" I listened and slowly lowered my head, "right...... We just need to steal the "way" that those people are hiding...... So you can leave. ”

"It's hard to say if you can leave." Zhang Qiang shook his head, "But this road will be safer, we can not only avoid contact with other people, but also avoid games that can be deadly, so I want to find someone to try it with." ”

After saying that, he stood up, blocked the letters in the corner with a stone, and then turned back to me and said, "Everyone who comes here is guilty, right?" I was a thief, what about you? ”

"I ......," I stared into Zhang Qiang's eyes and thought cautiously for a while, "It's inconvenient for me to speak." ”

"It's okay if it's inconvenient." Zhang Qiang said, "I saw that you are not as gregarious as me, and I guess that you can guess that eight or nine are not far from ten, do you want to cooperate with me?" ”

To be honest, I did underthink it.

Because I know I'm not a bad person, I subconsciously think that no one here is bad.

But I was wrong, Zhang Qiang was a habitual burglar.

I once heard a saying...... All burglary thieves carry murder weapons.

Although they are committing "theft", if the owner of the house suddenly comes home during the theft, they will become murderers.

Each of them is stealing with the intention of murder, and they are not "of the same kind" as me.

But I can't tell them here that I'm not "of the same kind," otherwise the situation would be even more dangerous.

"What's wrong?" Zhang Qiang interrupted my train of thought, "It's okay if you don't want to cooperate, I can do it myself, I just feel that you are a smart person and can take care of each other." ”

I thought for a few seconds, then smiled and said, "I'm willing to cooperate, let's go together." ”

"Did you figure it out?" Zhang Qiang asked.

"Hmm." I nodded, "This is the 'hedgehog theory', hedgehogs will hug each other to keep warm when it's cold, but also keep their distance so as not to hurt each other." We're like these two hedgehogs. ”

"I can't tell you're still a cultured person." Zhang Qiang nodded, "Then so be it." ”

Come to think of it, when did I start to doubt the whole "End Land"?

I guess this is the day.

Twelve years ago, on the day I decided to become "thieves" with Zhang Qiang.

Knowing that it took us a full ten days...... Did you find a few hidden "Dao"?

One.

Since it's the same as in the real world, people go out during the day and rest in the building at night, so we have to move during the day to avoid sight.

The two of us walked through all the hidden corners of the city, we even climbed up buildings that were about to collapse, and we slipped into sewers that had been abandoned for years.

Zhang Qiang, with his professional experience, led me to find one suitable place after another to hide my belongings.

But all the corners are empty, and we can even find anything, but not the Tao.

The only "Dao" fell into the deep crack of the broken ground, and Zhang Qiang used two wooden sticks as chopsticks to clip it out.

It's weird...... This "Tao" does not seem to be hidden here, but rather to fall here.