Yes-or-no questions

The nine of them swung back and forth like chandeliers, clinging to their handles.

Lin Qin looked down, and her heart sank.

A hollow roughly ten meters deep yawned beneath them.

If they hadn't grabbed the handles, they would already have fallen to their deaths.

"Hey, writer, hold on tight!" Qiao Jiajin noticed Han Yimo's grip slipping and grew anxious. "Why are you so weak when it matters?"

"I..." Every muscle in Han Yimo's face strained, but his body kept sliding downward.

Qiao Jiajin was close to Han Yimo. He immediately let go with one hand, grabbed Han Yimo's trousers, and hauled him upward. Qiao Jiajin was so strong that Han Yimo felt as though someone had lifted him from below. He quickly reached up and secured his grip again. Officer Li also reached over to help. Using one hand each, the two men supported Han Yimo before he could fall.

Just as everyone was about to breathe a sigh of relief, they heard a muffled groan.

They turned to see Tiantian cry out despite herself. Only then did they remember that her hand was injured too.

The young woman seemed remarkably good at enduring pain. She hadn't made a sound until her blood had coated the handle.

She released her right hand, leaving only her left gripping the handle. But a woman's strength was limited to begin with, and supporting her entire weight with one hand was even harder. She suddenly slid downward.

Qi Xia's expression changed, and he immediately reached out to seize her injured wrist.

That brief contact told him that Tiantian's thin body had been trembling all along. Her wrist was icy cold too.

"Well, well, swindler. You're not such a bad guy," Qiao Jiajin said.

Qi Xia sighed helplessly. "I just don't want to see any more corpses. Don't read too much into it."

Time ticked by, and everyone's arms began to ache.

Hanging there for so long was no easy feat for anyone. Even Officer Li's forehead began to bead with sweat.

"How long do we have to hang here?" Lin Qin asked Qi Xia beside her.

"I don't know," Qi Xia answered grimly.

He knew there were no more clues to the "next game" now, yet they still couldn't see any hope.

If the organizers were cruel enough to simply leave them hanging, their deaths would only be a matter of time.

But...

Were there really no more clues to the next game?

Doubt stirred in Qi Xia's heart.

Could there be some unknown clue hidden somewhere out of sight?

He lowered his head and looked toward the ground below. If there was a clue, it had to be somewhere down there.

"Hmm?"

He scanned the space. The collapsed floor had exposed new walls below, and there seemed to be a door in the farthest corner.

But that door was utterly out of their reach.

They were still nearly ten meters above the floor below. There was no way they could jump from that height and emerge unscathed.

Lin Qin followed Qi Xia's gaze for a while and noticed it too.

"Is that a door?"

Everyone looked down at her words and spotted the shabby wooden door at the bottom.

As they stared in stunned despair, the door slowly opened.

A dark figure stepped out of the shadows. Qi Xia looked closely. This man wore a black suit too, but his mask was completely different from the Goat-Headed Man's.

He wore an enormous, dark green snake's head.

"It's been a while, everyone. I'm Man-Snake," he said slowly.

"Man my ass!" Qiao Jiajin roared. "First a goat, then a dog, and now a snake? You think I won't kill you right now?"

"Please don't get agitated." Man-Snake's voice was steady. He looked up at them, then said, "You're playing the final round. There's a lever beside me. If I pull it, your ceiling will slowly descend, and no one will get hurt."

Everyone looked where he indicated. Sure enough, an inconspicuous lever stood beside the wooden door. None of them had noticed it in the dim light.

"Then... could you pull it now?" Xiao Ran asked timidly.

"I..." Man-Snake gave an almost imperceptible smile. "I'll play a game with you. Whether you survive depends on your own performance."

"Another game..." Doctor Zhao's hair was disheveled. He gritted his teeth viciously, looking as though he wanted to bite someone.

"Listen carefully, everyone. This game is called 'Yes and no.'" Man-Snake stepped forward slightly and addressed the people swaying overhead. "You may ask me a total of three questions between you, and my answers will only be 'yes' or 'no.' Bear in mind that I won't lie. Once you've asked all three questions, if I've agreed to save you, I'll pull the lever. If I haven't, I'll lock this door and leave you to your fate."

Qi Xia frowned.

Three questions?

He could only answer "yes" or "no"?

This game was far too tricky.

Their goal was to make the snake-headed man lower them down, so their questions had to revolve around that. But would he agree?

While everyone was thinking, Xiao Ran, the kindergarten teacher, made a snap decision and spoke. "Hey, can you let us down?!"

"Don't!" Startled, Qi Xia hurriedly reached out to cover Xiao Ran's mouth, but she spoke too quickly. Her question had already reached Man-Snake's ears, loud and clear.

Man-Snake sneered. "No."

"Hey! Pretty lady!" Qiao Jiajin shouted. "We only get three questions! Don't waste them!"

"I..."

Xiao Ran lowered her head awkwardly, looking deeply upset.

"Two questions left." Without any change in his expression, Man-Snake stepped backward, bringing himself closer to the wooden door.

It looked as though he had already given up on them.

Xiao Ran's careless question had turned the game into a nightmare.

Of course Man-Snake wouldn't let them down so easily.

If he intended to save them, why set up this game at all?

But then again, if he didn't want to save them, how could they make him agree to pull the lever?

Even if they changed the question to "Won't you let us down?" his answer would merely become "yes."

"Swindler, have you got a plan?" Qiao Jiajin turned toward Qi Xia.

Qi Xia closed his eyes slightly, his thoughts in turmoil.

A plan. A plan.

He was only human. How could he have so many answers?

Every step since entering this room had required a solution from him. Why should he have to shoulder so many people's lives?

Yet despair followed that thought.

If he gave up, would any of them have a way to survive?

"I can't die here..." A faint light returned to Qi Xia's eyes. "She's still waiting for me..."

A gentle woman's voice sounded in Qi Xia's mind. "Xia, do you know? There are many paths in this world, and everyone has one of their own."

He opened his eyes slightly, his thoughts suddenly much clearer.

That was it. His mistake had been following the other man's path the entire time.

"Snake-head," Qi Xia called softly.

Officer Li paused, then turned to ask, "Hey, what are you going to ask? Let's discuss it first so we don't repeat what just happened."

"It's all right. I've already figured out how to survive." Qi Xia lowered his head with absolute confidence and looked down at Man-Snake. "Don't say anything. This will all be over soon."

"Do you really have a plan?" Zhang Chenze asked.

"I think so." Qi Xia took a deep breath and carefully considered the next two questions he would ask.

No, one question, to be precise.

Just one question, and this game would be over.

From the beginning, he shouldn't have fixated on how to make the other man pull the lever. All he needed to consider was the logic of "yes" and "no."

Man-Snake seemed very interested in Qi Xia. His eyes peered out through the holes in his snakeskin mask.

Qi Xia paused, then asked, "Man-Snake, if my next question were 'Will you pull the lever?' would your answer be the same as your answer to this question?"