Chapter 848: The Thief

I don’t know if I’m just really bad at talking to people or if Zhang Qiang is actually quite similar to me. Despite having met many times before, our first real conversation was incredibly difficult.

“You don’t join the games either?” Zhang Qiang asked again.

“No,” I nodded. “The ‘Human-level’ games are too easy with too little reward, while the ‘Earth-level’ games are strange. Even if the rules sound simple, they always end with casualties. I suspect there are hidden rules that only become clear after entering, which is the real reason ‘Participants’ die.”

“Right,” Zhang Qiang agreed. “I’m not smart enough to handle ‘Earth-level’ games alone, but I can’t find a suitable teammate either—too many fools in our room.”

After speaking, we both glanced at each other. I seemed to understand what he was thinking.

“Brother Qiang, do you want to team up with me?” I asked. “Even if we can’t collect the full three thousand six hundred ‘Dao,’ it’s better than nothing, right?”

“No…” Zhang Qiang thought for a moment before replying. “If you really want to gather ‘Dao,’ I suggest trying another method.”

“What method?” I asked.

Zhang Qiang hesitated, then said, “It’s been three cycles now, hasn’t it? Every time we die, we come back here.”

“Yes.”

“Follow me.”

Zhang Qiang led me through winding alleys until we reached a secluded corner. He crouched down and wiped a brick near the ground.

Confused, I followed and peered over his shoulder.

On the brick was a fresh engraving—”ZQ.”

“See?” Zhang Qiang said. “I carved this in the last cycle.”

“Oh…?”

The sight of it made something click in my mind.

So, people can be reborn here, but time in this city isn’t paused… it keeps flowing forward.

I struggled to grasp the concept. Maybe it’s like the principle behind old animated films—characters moving against a static background?

No… we’re the static ones, moving through a changing world.

We’ve been misled by the idea of ‘people.’ Just because ‘people’ restart doesn’t mean time does.

“Zhi Chun,” Zhang Qiang said gravely, staring at the engraving. “You’re smart—you must’ve realized. We only just gained ‘Echoes’ and retained our memories, but that doesn’t mean we just arrived. We might’ve been cycling here for months.”

I nodded. “Exactly. And if time flows, then this city might not have always been like this.”

“The city’s appearance doesn’t matter. We can’t interfere with these supernatural things,” Zhang Qiang said. “Let me ask you—if other powerful ‘Participants’ have been collecting ‘Dao’ for a long time, but there’s a strange phenomenon here where anyone who survives ten days inevitably vanishes… then what do those strong collectors do? How do they ensure their efforts don’t disappear?”

I thought carefully and quickly arrived at the answer.

“They hide the ‘Dao’ before vanishing?”

“Exactly,” Zhang Qiang nodded. “You really are smart. That white ram was right—neither of us can disappear from the room.”

“I get what you mean now…” Yan Zhichun murmured. “So that’s why you never joined the games…”

“Right, Zhi Chun,” Zhang Qiang turned to me. “If we both need to collect three thousand six hundred ‘Dao’… why not skip the games and become ‘thieves’ instead? What do you think?”

“Thieves…” I lowered my head slowly. “You’re right. We just need to steal the ‘Dao’ others have hidden… and then we can leave.”

“Whether we can leave or not is uncertain,” Zhang Qiang shook his head. “But this path is safer. We avoid interacting with others and deadly games. That’s why I wanted a partner.”

He stood up, covering the engraved letters with a rock, then turned to me. “Everyone here is guilty of something, right? I was a thief before. What about you?”

“I…” I studied his eyes cautiously before replying, “I’d rather not say.”

“That’s fine,” Zhang Qiang said. “Seeing how you don’t fit in either, I can guess well enough. Want to work together?”

Honestly, I hadn’t thought this through.

Because I knew I wasn’t a bad person, I assumed others here weren’t either.

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

I’d heard something once—all burglars carry weapons.

Though they commit ‘theft,’ if the homeowner returns suddenly, they instantly become murderers.

Every one of them steals with the intent to kill. They weren’t my kind.

But I couldn’t tell them that here. It’d only make things more dangerous.

“What’s wrong?” Zhang Qiang interrupted my thoughts. “If you don’t want to cooperate, that’s fine. I can manage alone. I just thought you were smart—we could watch each other’s backs.”

After a few seconds of thought, I smiled. “I’ll cooperate. Let’s do it together.”

“You’ve made up your mind?” Zhang Qiang asked.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “It’s the ‘hedgehog’s dilemma.’ Hedgehogs huddle for warmth but keep distance to avoid hurting each other. We’re like those hedgehogs.”

“Didn’t take you for the scholarly type,” Zhang Qiang nodded. “Alright, then.”

Looking back, when did I first start doubting the entire ‘Land of the End’?

It was probably this day.

Twelve years ago, the day I decided to become a ‘thief’ with Zhang Qiang.

Do you know how many hidden ‘Dao’ we found after ten whole days?

One.

Since this place mirrored the real world—people went out by day and rested indoors at night—we had to act during the day to avoid being seen.

We scoured every hidden corner of the city. We climbed crumbling buildings and crawled through abandoned sewers.

Zhang Qiang, using his professional expertise, led me to one potential hiding spot after another.

But every place was empty. We could find anything—except ‘Dao.’

The single ‘Dao’ we found was wedged in a deep crack in broken pavement. Zhang Qiang used two sticks like chopsticks to fish it out.

Strange… It didn’t seem hidden there—more like it had been dropped.