“What’s going on…?” Yan Zhichun asked in disbelief.
She could hardly imagine that Chu Tianqiu would make seven consecutive wrong guesses on the screen by himself.
But if it wasn’t Chu Tianqiu… then who was it?
Now that they had lost seven points in a row… didn’t that mean most of the “characters” they had guessed were invalid?
A faint smile flashed across Chu Tianqiu’s face as he said, “This is really a long story.”
“A long story…?”
“The game rules state that points can only be scored by the ‘commander,'” Chu Tianqiu turned and said. “But what about losing points?”
“You mean…”
“I thought the other side’s male members were all under control,” Chu Tianqiu continued. “So among the remaining people, no one should be able to smash a display screen barehanded within a minute.”
He then glanced at Yan Zhichun with a self-deprecating smile. “If it were you, could you smash your own TV with your bare hands in under a minute?”
Yan Zhichun thought breaking a TV wasn’t the hard part—the real challenge was the time limit. Doing it in just a minute would indeed be difficult.
“What’s going on…?” Yan Zhichun found it somewhat unbelievable.
She could hardly imagine that Chu Tianqiu would make seven consecutive wrong guesses on the screen by himself.
But if it wasn’t Chu Tianqiu… then who was it?
They had already lost seven points in a row… Didn’t that mean most of the “characters” they had guessed were now invalid?
A faint smile flickered across Chu Tianqiu’s face as he said, “Well, that’s a long story.”
“A long story…?”
“The game rules stated that points can only be scored by the ‘commander,'” Chu Tianqiu turned around and said. “But what about ‘losing points’?”
“You mean…”
“I thought all the male members on the opposing side were under control,” Chu Tianqiu explained. “So among the remaining people, there shouldn’t be anyone who could smash a display screen with their bare hands within a minute.”
He then turned to Yan Zhichun with a self-deprecating smile. “If it were you, could you smash your own TV with your bare hands in under a minute?”
Yan Zhichun felt that smashing a TV wasn’t particularly difficult—the challenge lay in the time constraint. Doing it within a minute would indeed be very hard.
“But I still miscalculated one step,” Chu Tianqiu continued. “When I saw that the character ‘眯’ (mī) on Qi Xia’s screen didn’t earn any points, I should have realized… Would he make such a basic mistake? Could he have miswritten the pronunciation?”
Yan Zhichun tried her best to understand Chu Tianqiu’s meaning and tentatively asked, “So why didn’t the character ‘眯’ earn any points…?”
“Because he guessed wrong in other characters,” Chu Tianqiu replied. “My estimation of Qi Xia was too conservative… His screen even displayed characters like ‘䍒’ and ‘屮.’ Who knows how many bold attempts he made… He also understands better than I do what the consequences of ‘guessing wrong’ are.”
Yan Zhichun’s mind was momentarily thrown into confusion, but she knew they were now on the brink of failure.
“What should we do…?” Chu Tianqiu continued with a bitter smile. “The other side doesn’t even need to shatter our display screen. They just need someone to come here and repeatedly write incorrect ‘homophonic characters’ in the shortest time to deduct our points…”
“I still don’t understand,” Yan Zhichun said. “Weren’t you here the whole time? How could someone still deduct points from us repeatedly?”
“That’s also a long story,” Chu Tianqiu replied. “It’s precisely because I didn’t trust anyone else with certain tasks that I took it upon myself to smash the opponent’s display screen. Based on my judgment at the time, everyone who posed a threat to us would be under control. Even if someone could move, the only one left would be Zhang Chenze, who appeared after the game ended.”
“I…”
“But I never expected…” Chu Tianqiu said. “I assumed Zhang Chenze would definitely lose to you, so she lost her ‘character’ and couldn’t possibly make it to our ‘preparation area’… What’s going on?”
Yan Zhichun thought for a few seconds after hearing this. She had indeed won the character “包” (bāo) from Zhang Chenze, but after that, Qi Xia appeared. The two of them turned away and discussed something quietly. Then, she and Qi Xia entered the room. After that… where did Zhang Chenze go?
Considering this, Yan Zhichun spoke up: “I’ve noticed that Qi Xia has a habit. I wonder if this habit is what led to our defeat this time.”
“What habit?”
“Whenever he moves, he first chooses the safest path and goes straight to the ‘river channel.’ Then, he moves horizontally along the ‘river channel’ to find the room he wants to enter.”
Chu Tianqiu found this somewhat strange… This habit suggested that even if Qi Xia wanted to enter their game area, he would always come in through the ‘river channel.’ With the ability to ‘shape-shift,’ wouldn’t this arouse suspicion among his teammates?
But on the other hand… Qi Xia’s approach would perfectly bypass all ‘defensive lines.’ Those setting up the ‘defensive lines’ would never expect the enemy commander to stroll boldly behind their backs.
“After I finished the game with Zhang Chenze… Qi Xia opened the ‘door’ from the ‘river channel,'” Yan Zhichun added. “So Zhang Chenze should have retreated back to her own ‘preparation area,’ but instead, she unconsciously went to the ‘river channel’ and spoke with Qi Xia. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but now it seems like everything was part of Qi Xia’s plan.”
“So it must have been Zhang Chenze who came here earlier,” Chu Tianqiu concluded. “Her goal from the beginning wasn’t to shatter the display screen.”
Chu Tianqiu still found Qi Xia’s strategy hard to decipher. If this were an actual battle, both sides could be said to have executed a ‘decisive move’ aimed directly at the opponent’s base. But the peculiar thing was that the condition for Qi Xia’s ‘decisive move’ was his own execution of a ‘decisive move.’
In other words, if he had stayed in the ‘preparation area’ without leaving, Zhang Chenze would have simply come in and handed over her ‘character’ for nothing.
“Things seem to have taken a passive turn…” Chu Tianqiu said. “Right now, we have less than ten points, while Qi Xia has nearly twenty. It’s unclear whether a ‘shattered display screen’ counts as points. If we let time run out in this state, it’s impossible to determine who the final winner will be.”
“So what should we do…?” Yan Zhichun asked. “Try to seize the opponent’s ‘character’ at the cost of death?”
“That’s too naive,” Chu Tianqiu replied. “From now on, the other side could even rest in their ‘preparation area.’ Their display screen has already been destroyed by me, so now their entire team has no ‘weakness’ left.”
“This…” Yan Zhichun fell silent for a moment, feeling that the current situation was almost exactly as Qi Xia had predicted. She could only say, “Qi Xia mentioned… if you’re willing, you can take all your ‘characters’ to the ‘river channel’ to meet him. He’ll personally hand you a defeat.”
“Personally hand me a defeat…? In the ‘river channel’?” Chu Tianqiu seemed to have discovered a key point. “Now that both sides have suffered heavy losses, if we do nothing, it’s still uncertain who will win… Yet he wants to hand me a defeat?”
Yan Zhichun felt that Chu Tianqiu made sense, but she still had no idea what Qi Xia was plotting.
“Maybe…” Yan Zhichun asked softly, “the shattered screen can’t display the score, so Qi Xia would be ruled as the ‘loser’?”
Chu Tianqiu lowered his head and pondered this idea, feeling that it could also make sense from certain perspectives.
The opponent’s display screen, used for counting, could no longer show anything. Could they still determine the winner based on the opponent’s previous score?
Did the ‘previous score’ count as the final score? This clearly didn’t align with the logic of Qinglong’s game design.
“It seems Qi Xia has thought of this…” Chu Tianqiu said. “He doesn’t believe he’ll win, so he must gamble against me at the last moment.”
“Is it really necessary to go…?” Yan Zhichun asked again. “If we’re certain he’ll lose, it’s better not to show ourselves. We should just stay in the ‘preparation area’ and wait for victory, especially since there’s not much time left.”
“But we’ve all overlooked one thing,” Chu Tianqiu said. “The other side has Tian Tian. That’s the biggest variable.”
“Tian Tian…?” Yan Zhichun had little interaction with others and wasn’t familiar with Tian Tian’s abilities.
“It’s ‘Crafting,'” Chu Tianqiu explained. “Since she rarely uses her ability, I don’t even know the upper limits of ‘Crafting.’ If she can do something like ‘repairing the display screen,’ then for us… Qi Xia’s team would have gained seven points from us without any loss, as if they’d gotten something for nothing.”
“‘Crafting’… to repair the display screen?” Yan Zhichun frowned, feeling that this idea was somewhat far-fetched.
“What’s going on…?” Yan Zhichun found it hard to believe.
She could hardly imagine that Chu Tianqiu would make seven consecutive wrong guesses on the screen by himself.
But if it wasn’t Chu Tianqiu… then who was it?
They had already lost seven points in a row… Did this mean that most of the “characters” they had guessed were now invalid?
A faint smile flickered across Chu Tianqiu’s face as he said, “Well, that’s a long story.”
“A long story…?”
“The game rules stated that points can only be scored by the ‘commander,'” Chu Tianqiu turned around and said. “But what about ‘losing points’?”
“You mean…”
“I thought all the male members on the opposing side were under control,” Chu Tianqiu explained. “So among the remaining players, no one could smash a display screen bare-handed within a minute.”
He then turned to Yan Zhichun with a self-mocking tone: “If it were you, could you smash your own TV with your bare hands in under a minute?”
Yan Zhichun felt that breaking a TV wasn’t particularly difficult—the challenge lay in the time constraint. Doing it within a minute would indeed be very hard.
“But I still miscalculated one step,” Chu Tianqiu said. “When I saw that the character ‘眯’ (mī) on Qi Xia’s screen didn’t earn any points, I should have realized… Would he make such a basic mistake? Did he miswrite the pronunciation?”
Yan Zhichun tried her best to understand Chu Tianqiu’s meaning and tentatively asked, “So why didn’t the character ‘眯’ earn any points…?”
“Because he guessed wrong in other characters,” Chu Tianqiu replied. “My estimation of Qi Xia was too conservative… His screen even had characters like ‘䍒’ and ‘屮.’ Who knows how many bold attempts he made… He also understands better than I do what the consequences of ‘guessing wrong’ are.”
Yan Zhichun’s mind was in chaos for a moment, but she knew they were now on the brink of failure.
“What should we do…?” Chu Tianqiu continued with a bitter smile. “The other side doesn’t even need to break our display screen. They just need someone to come here and repeatedly write wrong ‘homophonic characters’ in the shortest time to deduct our points…”
“I still don’t understand,” Yan Zhichun said. “Weren’t you here the whole time? How could someone still deduct points repeatedly?”
“That’s also a long story,” Chu Tianqiu replied. “It’s precisely because I didn’t trust anyone else with certain tasks that I took it upon myself to break the opponent’s display screen. Based on my judgment at the time, anyone who posed a threat to us would be under control. Even if someone could move, the only one left would be Zhang Chenze, who appeared after the game ended.”
“I…”
“But I never expected…” Chu Tianqiu said. “I assumed Zhang Chenze would definitely lose to you, so she lost her ‘character’ and couldn’t possibly enter our ‘preparation area’… What’s going on?”
Yan Zhichun thought for a few seconds after hearing this. She had indeed won the character “包” (bāo) from Zhang Chenze, but after that, Qi Xia appeared. The two of them turned away and discussed something quietly. Then, she and Qi Xia entered the room. After that… where did Zhang Chenze go?
After pondering this, Yan Zhichun spoke up: “I’ve noticed that Qi Xia has a habit. I wonder if this habit led to our defeat this time.”
“What habit?”
“Whenever he moves, he first chooses the safest path and goes straight to the ‘river channel.’ Then, he moves horizontally along the ‘river channel’ to find the room he wants to enter.”
Chu Tianqiu found this somewhat strange… This habit suggested that even if Qi Xia wanted to enter their game area, he would always come through the ‘river channel.’ Wouldn’t such behavior raise suspicions among his teammates, especially with the presence of ‘shapeshifting’?
But on the other hand… Qi Xia’s approach would perfectly bypass all ‘defensive lines.’ Those setting up the defenses would never expect the enemy commander to stroll boldly behind their backs.
“After I finished the game with Zhang Chenze… Qi Xia opened the ‘door’ from the ‘river channel,'” Yan Zhichun added. “So Zhang Chenze should have retreated back to her own ‘preparation area,’ but instead, she unconsciously went to the ‘river channel’ and spoke with Qi Xia. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but now it seems like everything was part of Qi Xia’s plan.”
“So it must have been Zhang Chenze who came here earlier,” Chu Tianqiu concluded. “Her goal from the beginning wasn’t to break the display screen.”
Chu Tianqiu still found Qi Xia’s strategy hard to decipher. If this were an actual battle, both sides had executed a ‘decisive move’ aimed directly at the opponent’s base. But the peculiar thing was that the condition for Qi Xia’s ‘decisive move’ was his own execution of a ‘decisive move.’
In other words, if he had stayed in the ‘preparation area’ without leaving, Zhang Chenze would have merely come in and pointlessly handed over her ‘character.’
“Things seem to have taken a passive turn…” Chu Tianqiu said. “Right now, we have less than ten points, while Qi Xia has nearly twenty. It’s unclear whether a ‘broken display screen’ counts as points. If we let time run out in this state, it’s impossible to determine who the final winner will be.”
“So what should we do…?” Yan Zhichun asked. “Try to seize the opponent’s ‘characters’ at the cost of death?”
“That’s too naive,” Chu Tianqiu replied. “From now on, the other side can even rest in their ‘preparation area.’ Their display screen has been destroyed by me, and now their entire team has no ‘weakness’ left.”
“This…” Yan Zhichun fell silent for a moment, feeling that the current situation was almost exactly as Qi Xia had predicted. She could only say, “Qi Xia mentioned… if you’re willing, you can take all your ‘characters’ to the ‘river channel’ to meet him. He’ll personally hand you a defeat.”
“Personally hand me a defeat…? In the ‘river channel’?” Chu Tianqiu seemed to have discovered a key point. “Now that both sides have suffered heavy losses, if we leave things as they are, it’s still uncertain who will win… Yet he wants to hand me a defeat?”
Yan Zhichun felt that Chu Tianqiu made sense, but she still had no idea what Qi Xia was plotting.
“Maybe…” she whispered, “a broken screen can’t display the score, so Qi Xia would be ruled as the ‘loser’?”
Chu Tianqiu lowered his head and pondered this idea, feeling that it could be plausible from certain perspectives.
The opponent’s display screen, used for counting points, could no longer show anything. Could they really determine the outcome based on the opponent’s previous score?
Did ‘previous points’ count as the final score? This clearly didn’t align with the logic of Qing Long’s game design.
“It seems Qi Xia has thought of this…” Chu Tianqiu said. “He doesn’t believe he’ll win, so he must gamble against me at the last moment.”
“Is it really necessary to go…?” Yan Zhichun asked again. “If we’re convinced he’ll lose, it’s better not to show ourselves. We should just stay in the ‘preparation area’ and wait for victory. There isn’t much time left anyway.”
“But we’ve all overlooked one thing,” Chu Tianqiu said. “The other side has Tian Tian—that’s the biggest variable.”
“Tian Tian…?” Yan Zhichun had little interaction with others and wasn’t familiar with Tian Tian’s abilities.
“It’s ‘Crafting,'” Chu Tianqiu explained. “Since she rarely uses her ability, I don’t even know the upper limits of ‘Crafting.’ If she can do something like ‘repairing the display screen,’ then for us… Qi Xia’s team would have gained seven points from us without any loss, as if they’d gotten something for nothing.”
“‘Crafting’… to repair a display screen?” Yan Zhichun frowned, feeling that this idea was somewhat far-fetched.
“What’s going on…?” Yan Zhichun found it somewhat unbelievable.
She could hardly imagine that Chu Tianqiu would make seven consecutive wrong guesses on the screen by himself.
But if it wasn’t Chu Tianqiu… then who was it?
They had already lost seven points in a row… didn’t that mean most of the “characters” they had guessed were now invalid?
A faint smile flickered across Chu Tianqiu’s face as he said, “This is quite a long story.”
“A long story…?”
“The game rules stated that points can only be scored by the ‘commander,'” Chu Tianqiu turned around and said. “But what about ‘losing points’?”
“You mean…”
“I thought all the male members on the opposing side were under control,” Chu Tianqiu said. “So among the remaining people, no one could smash a display screen with their bare hands within a minute.”
After saying this, he glanced back at Yan Zhichun with a hint of self-mockery. “If it were you, could you smash your own TV with your bare hands in under a minute?”
Yan Zhichun felt that breaking a TV wasn’t particularly difficult—the challenge lay in the time constraint. Doing it within a minute would indeed be very hard.
“But I still miscalculated one step,” Chu Tianqiu said. “I should have realized it when I saw that the character ‘眯’ (mī) on Qi Xia’s screen didn’t earn any points… Would he make such a basic mistake? Did he miswrite the pronunciation?”
Yan Zhichun tried her best to understand Chu Tianqiu’s meaning and tentatively asked, “So why didn’t the character ‘眯’ earn any points…?”
“Because he guessed wrong in other characters,” Chu Tianqiu said. “My estimation of Qi Xia was too conservative… His screen even had characters like ‘䍒’ and ‘屮.’ Who knows how many bold attempts he made… He also understands better than I do what the consequences of ‘guessing wrong’ are.”
Yan Zhichun’s mind was momentarily in chaos, but she knew they were already on the brink of failure.
“What should we do now…?” Chu Tianqiu continued with a bitter smile. “The other side doesn’t even need to break our display screen. They just need someone to come here and repeatedly write wrong ‘homophonic characters’ in the shortest time to deduct our points…”
“I still don’t understand,” Yan Zhichun said. “Weren’t you here the whole time? How could someone still deduct points repeatedly?”
“That’s also a long story,” Chu Tianqiu said. “It’s precisely because I didn’t trust anyone else with certain tasks that I took it upon myself to smash the opponent’s display screen. Based on my judgment at the time, everyone who posed a threat to us would be under control. Even if someone could move, the only one left would be Zhang Chenze, who appeared after the game ended.”
“I…”
“But I never expected…” Chu Tianqiu said. “I thought Zhang Chenze would definitely lose to you, so she lost her ‘character’ and couldn’t possibly go to our ‘preparation area’… What’s going on?”
Yan Zhichun thought for a few seconds after hearing this. She had indeed won the “包” (bāo) from Zhang Chenze, but after that, Qi Xia appeared. The two of them turned away and discussed something quietly. Then, she and Qi Xia entered the room. After that… where did Zhang Chenze go?
Considering this, Yan Zhichun spoke up: “I’ve noticed that Qi Xia has a habit. I wonder if this habit is what led to our loss this time.”
“What habit?”
“Whenever he moves, he first chooses the safest path and goes straight to the ‘river channel.’ Then, he moves horizontally along the ‘river channel’ to find the room he wants to enter.”
Chu Tianqiu found this somewhat strange… This habit suggested that even if Qi Xia wanted to enter their game area, he would always come from the ‘river channel.’ Wouldn’t such behavior raise suspicions among his teammates, especially with the presence of ‘shapeshifting’?
But on the other hand… Qi Xia’s action would perfectly bypass all ‘defensive lines.’ Those setting up the ‘defensive lines’ would never expect the enemy commander to casually walk right behind them.
“After I finished the game with Zhang Chenze… Qi Xia opened the ‘door’ from the ‘river channel,'” Yan Zhichun added. “So Zhang Chenze should have retreated back to her own ‘preparation area,’ but instead, she unconsciously went to the ‘river channel’ and spoke with Qi Xia. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but now it seems like everything was part of Qi Xia’s plan.”
“So it must have been Zhang Chenze who came here just now,” Chu Tianqiu said. “Her goal from the beginning wasn’t to break the display screen.”
Chu Tianqiu still found Qi Xia’s strategy hard to decipher. If this were an actual battle, both sides could be said to have launched a ‘decisive strike’ aimed directly at the opponent’s base. But the strange part was that the condition for Qi Xia’s ‘decisive strike’ was his own ‘decisive strike.’
In other words, if he had stayed in the ‘preparation area’ without leaving, Zhang Chenze would have simply come in and handed over her ‘character’ for nothing.
“Things seem to have taken a passive turn…” Chu Tianqiu said. “Right now, we have less than ten points, while Qi Xia has nearly twenty. It’s unclear whether a ‘broken display screen’ counts as points. If we let time run out in this state, it’s impossible to say who the final winner will be.”
“So what should we do…?” Yan Zhichun asked. “Try to seize the opponent’s ‘character’ at the cost of death?”
“That’s too naive,” Chu Tianqiu said. “From now on, the other side could even rest in their ‘preparation area.’ Their display screen has been destroyed by me, so now their entire team has no ‘weakness’ left.”
“This…” Yan Zhichun fell silent for a moment, feeling that the current situation was almost exactly as Qi Xia had predicted. She could only say, “Qi Xia mentioned… if you’re willing, you can take all your ‘characters’ to the ‘river channel’ to meet him. He’ll personally hand you a defeat.”
“Personally hand me a defeat…? In the ‘river channel’?” Chu Tianqiu seemed to have discovered a key point. “Now that both sides have suffered heavy losses, if we leave things as they are, it’s still uncertain who will win… Yet he wants to hand me a defeat?”
Yan Zhichun felt that Chu Tianqiu made sense, but she still had no idea what Qi Xia was plotting.
“Maybe…” Yan Zhichun asked softly, “the broken screen can’t display the score, so Qi Xia will be judged as the ‘loser’?”
Chu Tianqiu lowered his head and pondered this idea, feeling that it made sense from certain perspectives.
The opponent’s display screen, used for counting, could no longer show anything. Could they really determine the outcome based on the opponent’s previous score?
Did the ‘previous score’ count as the final score? This clearly didn’t align with the logic of Qinglong’s game design.
“It seems Qi Xia has thought of this…” Chu Tianqiu said. “He doesn’t believe he’ll win, so he must gamble against me at the last moment.”
“Is it really necessary to go…?” Yan Zhichun asked again. “If we’re certain he’ll lose, it’s better not to show ourselves. We should just stay in the ‘preparation area’ and wait for victory. There isn’t much time left anyway.”
“But we’ve all overlooked one thing,” Chu Tianqiu said. “The other side has Tian Tian. That’s the biggest variable.”
“Tian Tian…?” Yan Zhichun rarely interacted with others and wasn’t familiar with Tian Tian’s abilities.
“It’s ‘Crafting,'” Chu Tianqiu said. “Since she rarely uses her ability, I don’t even know the upper limits of ‘Crafting.’ If she can do something like ‘repairing the display screen,’ then for us… Qi Xia’s team would have gained seven points from us without any loss, as if they’d gotten something for nothing.”
“‘Crafting’… to repair the display screen?” Yan Zhichun frowned, feeling that this idea was somewhat far-fetched.
Yan Zhichun’s mind was momentarily thrown into chaos, but she now realized they were teetering on the brink of defeat.
“What can we do now…?” Chu Tianqiu continued with a bitter smile. “The other side doesn’t even need to break our display—they just need someone to come here and deliberately write wrong ‘homophones’ in the shortest possible time to deduct our points…”
“I still don’t get it,” Yan Zhichun said. “Weren’t you here the whole time? How could someone still deduct our points repeatedly?”
“That’s also a long story,” Chu Tianqiu replied. “Because I didn’t trust anyone else with certain tasks, I took it upon myself to smash the opposing team’s display. At the time, I assumed anyone who posed a threat would be controlled. Even if someone could move, the only one left would be Zhang Chenze, who only appeared after the game ended.”
“But…”
“But I never expected…” Chu Tianqiu sighed. “I thought Zhang Chenze would lose to you, so she would lose her ‘character’ and couldn’t possibly reach our ‘preparation zone’… So what happened?”
“What’s going on…?” Yan Zhichun found it hard to believe.
She could hardly imagine that Chu Tianqiu would make seven consecutive wrong guesses on the screen himself.
But if it wasn’t Chu Tianqiu… then who was it?
They had already lost seven points in a row… Didn’t that mean most of the “characters” they had guessed were now invalid?
A faint smile flickered across Chu Tianqiu’s face as he said, “Well, that’s a long story.”
“A long story…?”
“The game rules stated that points can only be scored by the ‘commander,'” Chu Tianqiu turned around and said. “But what about ‘losing points’?”
“You mean…”
“I thought all the male members on the opposing side were under control,” Chu Tianqiu explained. “So among the remaining people, no one could smash a display screen bare-handed within a minute.”
He then turned to Yan Zhichun with a self-mocking tone: “If it were you, could you smash your own TV with your bare hands in under a minute?”
Yan Zhichun felt that breaking a TV wasn’t particularly difficult—the challenge lay in the time constraint. Doing it within a minute would indeed be very hard.
“But I still miscalculated one step,” Chu Tianqiu said. “When I saw that the character ‘眯’ on Qi Xia’s screen didn’t earn any points, I should have realized… Would he make such a basic mistake? Did he miswrite the pronunciation?”
Yan Zhichun tried her best to understand Chu Tianqiu’s meaning and tentatively asked, “So why didn’t the character ‘眯’ earn any points…?”
“Because he guessed wrong in other characters,” Chu Tianqiu replied. “My estimation of Qi Xia was too conservative… His screen even had characters like ‘䍒’ and ‘屮.’ Who knows how many bold attempts he made… He also understands better than I do what the consequences of ‘guessing wrong’ are.”
Yan Zhichun’s mind was in chaos for a moment, but she knew they were now on the brink of failure.
“What should we do…?” Chu Tianqiu continued with a bitter smile. “The other side doesn’t even need to break our display screen. They just need someone to come here and repeatedly write wrong ‘homophonic characters’ in the shortest time to deduct our points…”
“I still don’t understand,” Yan Zhichun said. “Weren’t you here the whole time? How could someone still deduct points repeatedly?”
“That’s also a long story,” Chu Tianqiu replied. “It’s precisely because I didn’t trust anyone else with certain tasks that I took it upon myself to smash the opponent’s display screen. Based on my judgment at the time, everyone who posed a threat to us would be under control. Even if someone could move, the only one left would be Zhang Chenze, who appeared after the game ended.”
“I…”
“But I never expected…” Chu Tianqiu said. “I assumed Zhang Chenze would definitely lose to you, so she lost her ‘character’ and couldn’t possibly enter our ‘preparation area’… What’s going on?”
Yan Zhichun thought for a few seconds after hearing this. She had indeed won the character “包” from Zhang Chenze, but after that, Qi Xia appeared. The two of them turned away and discussed something quietly. Then, she and Qi Xia entered the room. After that… where did Zhang Chenze go?
Considering this, Yan Zhichun spoke up: “I’ve noticed a habit of Qi Xia’s. I wonder if this habit led to our defeat this time.”
“What habit?”
“Every time he moves, he first chooses the safest path and goes straight to the ‘river channel,’ then moves horizontally along the ‘river channel’ to find the room he wants to enter.”
Chu Tianqiu found this somewhat strange… This habit suggested that even if Qi Xia were to enter their game area, he would always come through the ‘river channel.’ With the ability to ‘shape-shift,’ wouldn’t this raise suspicions among his teammates?
But on the other hand… Qi Xia’s approach would perfectly bypass all ‘defensive lines.’ Those setting up the defenses would never expect the enemy commander to stroll boldly behind their backs.
“After I finished the game with Zhang Chenze… Qi Xia opened the ‘door’ from the ‘river channel,'” Yan Zhichun added. “So Zhang Chenze should have retreated to her own ‘preparation area’ along the original path but unconsciously ended up in the ‘river channel’ to talk with Qi Xia. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but now it seems like everything was part of Qi Xia’s plan.”
“So it must have been Zhang Chenze who came here just now,” Chu Tianqiu concluded. “Her goal from the beginning wasn’t to break the display screen.”
Chu Tianqiu still found Qi Xia’s strategy hard to decipher. If this were an actual battle, both sides could be said to have launched a ‘decisive strike’ aimed directly at the opponent’s base. But the eerie part was that the condition for Qi Xia’s ‘decisive strike’ was his own ‘decisive strike.’
In other words, if he had stayed in the ‘preparation area’ without leaving, Zhang Chenze would have simply come in and handed over her ‘character’ for nothing.
“Things seem to have taken a passive turn…” Chu Tianqiu said. “Right now, we have less than ten points, while Qi Xia has nearly twenty. It’s unclear whether a ‘shattered display screen’ counts as points. If we let time run out in this state, it’s impossible to determine who the final winner will be.”
“So what should we do…?” Yan Zhichun asked. “Try to seize the opponent’s ‘character’ at the cost of death?”
“That’s too naive,” Chu Tianqiu replied. “From now on, the other side could even rest in their ‘preparation area.’ Their display screen has been destroyed by me, and now their entire team has no ‘weakness’ left.”
“This…” Yan Zhichun fell silent for a moment, feeling that the current situation was almost exactly as Qi Xia had predicted. She could only say, “Qi Xia mentioned… if you’re willing, you can take all your ‘characters’ to the ‘river channel’ to meet him. He’ll personally hand you a defeat.”
“Personally hand me a defeat…? In the ‘river channel’?” Chu Tianqiu seemed to have discovered a key point. “Now that both sides have suffered heavy losses, if we leave things as they are, it’s still uncertain who will win… Yet he wants to hand me a defeat?”
Yan Zhichun felt that Chu Tianqiu made sense, but she still had no idea what Qi Xia was plotting.
“Maybe…” Yan Zhichun asked softly, “the shattered screen can’t display the score, so Qi Xia would be ruled as the ‘loser’?”
Chu Tianqiu lowered his head and pondered this idea, feeling that it could be justified from certain perspectives.
The opponent’s display screen, used for counting points, could no longer show anything. Could they still determine the winner based on the opponent’s previous score?
Did the ‘previous score’ count as the final score? This clearly didn’t align with the logic of Qing Long’s game design.
“It seems Qi Xia has thought of this…” Chu Tianqiu said. “He doesn’t believe he’ll win, so he must gamble against me at the last moment.”
“Is it really necessary to go…?” Yan Zhichun asked again. “If we’re convinced he’ll lose, it’s better not to show ourselves. We should just stay in the ‘preparation area’ and wait for victory. There isn’t much time left anyway.”
“But we’ve all overlooked one thing,” Chu Tianqiu said. “The other side has Tian Tian. That’s the biggest variable.”
“Tian Tian…?” Yan Zhichun had little interaction with others and wasn’t familiar with Tian Tian’s abilities.
“It’s ‘Crafting,'” Chu Tianqiu explained. “Since she rarely uses her ability, I don’t even know the upper limits of ‘Crafting.’ If she can do something like ‘repairing the display screen,’ then for us… Qi Xia’s team would have gained seven points from us without any loss, as if they’d gotten something for nothing.”
“‘Crafting’… to repair the display screen?” Yan Zhichun frowned, feeling that this explanation was a bit far-fetched.
At this point, Yan Zhichun spoke up: “I noticed Qi Xia has a habit—I wonder if it’s why we’re losing now.”
“What habit?”
“Whenever he moves, he first takes the safest route straight to the ‘river,’ then travels horizontally along it to find the room he wants to enter.”
Chu Tianqiu found this behavior odd… If Qi Xia intended to enter their side’s game area, he would always approach from the “river.” Wouldn’t this make his teammates suspicious if he had “shapeshifting” abilities?
But on the other hand… this tactic allowed Qi Xia to bypass all “defensive lines” effortlessly. Those guarding the perimeter would never expect the enemy commander to stroll right past them.
“After my game with Zhang Chenze ended… Qi Xia opened the ‘door’ from the ‘river,'” Yan Zhichun added. “So Zhang Chenze should have retreated to her own ‘preparation zone,’ but instead, she ended up talking to Qi Xia in the ‘river.’ At the time, I didn’t think much of it, but now it seems like everything was part of Qi Xia’s plan.”
“So it must have been Zhang Chenze who came here just now,” Chu Tianqiu concluded. “Her goal from the start wasn’t to smash the display.”
Chu Tianqiu still found Qi Xia’s strategy baffling. If this were an actual battle, both sides had executed a “killing move” to strike at the opponent’s base. But the eerie part was that Qi Xia’s “killing move” was only triggered after Chu Tianqiu made his move.
In other words, if Chu Tianqiu had stayed in the “preparation zone” the whole time, Zhang Chenze’s arrival would have just handed them free “characters.”
“This is getting precarious…” Chu Tianqiu muttered. “Right now, we have fewer than ten points, while Qi Xia has almost twenty. It’s unclear whether ‘breaking the display’ counts as scoring. If we just wait for time to run out, we can’t be sure who the winner will be.”
“So what should we do…?” Yan Zhichun asked. “Try to take their ‘characters’ at the cost of death?”
“That’s naive,” Chu Tianqiu dismissed. “From now on, the other side could just rest in their ‘preparation zone.’ Their display is already destroyed, so their team has no ‘weak point’ left.”
“Then…” Yan Zhichun hesitated, realizing the situation aligned with Qi Xia’s earlier prediction. She finally said, “Qi Xia mentioned… If you’re willing, you can bring all your ‘characters’ to the ‘river’ to meet him. He’ll personally hand you a defeat.”
“Personally hand me a defeat…? In the ‘river’?” Chu Tianqiu seemed to catch onto something crucial. “Right now, both sides are heavily damaged. If we do nothing, the winner is still uncertain… Yet he wants to ‘give me a defeat’?”
Yan Zhichun thought Chu Tianqiu had a point, but she still couldn’t fathom Qi Xia’s true intentions.
“Maybe…” she ventured softly, “since the broken screen can’t display the score, Qi Xia will be judged as the ‘loser’?”
Chu Tianqiu considered this possibility. From certain angles, it did make sense.
If the opposing team’s scoring display was unreadable, could their earlier points still determine the outcome?
Would “past points” count as the final score? That didn’t seem to fit the logic of Qinglong’s game design.
“So Qi Xia anticipated this…” Chu Tianqiu mused. “He doesn’t believe he’ll win, so he has to gamble against me at the last moment.”
“Is it really necessary to go…?” Yan Zhichun asked again. “If we’re sure he’ll lose, it’s better not to show ourselves. We can just stay in the ‘preparation zone’ and wait for victory—there’s not much time left anyway.”
“But we’re overlooking one thing,” Chu Tianqiu said. “The other side has Tian Tian—that’s the biggest wild card.”
“Tian Tian…?” Yan Zhichun, who rarely interacted with others, wasn’t familiar with Tian Tian’s abilities.
“She has ‘Craft,'” Chu Tianqiu explained. “Since she rarely uses it, I don’t even know the upper limits of ‘Craft.’ If she can ‘repair the display,’ then from our perspective… Qi Xia’s team would have gained seven points from us without any real cost.”
“‘Craft’… to fix the display?” Yan Zhichun frowned, finding the idea a bit far-fetched.
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