Chu Tianqiu slowly stood up, no longer looking at the chessboard on the table. Instead, he walked over to a dining table and stopped.
There, a meticulously prepared breakfast awaited him.
*Knock, knock, knock—*
A faint knocking sound came from the door. Chu Tianqiu paused mid-motion.
“What is it?” he asked.
“If someone dies, will it be hard to explain?” the voice outside replied.
“It doesn’t matter if everyone here dies—as long as that smug Qi Xia remains alive, that’s enough,” Chu Tianqiu said with a twisted smile. “Right now, he’s both clever and arrogant. We need to deliver the most agonizing *regret* to him.”
“I understand.” The person outside fell silent for a moment before slowly walking away.
……
Qi Xia and the other three pressed tightly against the wall, their breaths heavy with tension.
The seesaw had once again entered an eerie state of equilibrium.
“Our luck is too good…” Yun Yao murmured. “The weight of both rooms is *exactly* the same…”
“Rather than calling it luck, I’d say ‘Ren Long’ designed it this way,” Qi Xia gritted his teeth. “This stalemate is the best outcome for now. If we can hold out until we find a solution…”
No sooner had he spoken than their room began to slowly descend again.
Qi Xia wanted a *stalemate*—but their opponents clearly didn’t.
“If you insist on dying…” Qi Xia clenched his jaw. “Don’t blame me.”
“What should we do?” Qiao Jiajin pressed against the wall, sweat trickling down his face. “How do we make ourselves lighter than them?”
Tian Tian glanced at the long knife in Qiao Jiajin’s hand and swallowed hard. “Do we… need to cut off a hand?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Qi Xia cut her off. “Even if you chop off a hand, you can’t throw it out of this sealed room. Our weight won’t change.”
“Then…” Tian Tian lowered her head, her expression crestfallen.
“Hey, girl, that’s too extreme,” Qiao Jiajin hid the knife behind his back. “I’m vetoing that idea too. Think of something else.”
Without a word, Yun Yao walked over to the tennis-ball-sized window and began pulling “Dao” from her backpack, tossing them out one by one like coins.
“You—”
Qi Xia was momentarily stunned, but he knew there was no better option. Every bit of weight loss mattered.
“Let’s do it together.”
The others quickly followed, emptying their pockets of “Dao.” This wasn’t the time to be frugal—if they sank here, this cycle would end.
Qiao Jiajin and Tian Tian threw out their entire “savings” in one go.
Qi Xia tossed out a few as well but kept one in his pocket—a lucky charm given to him by Officer Li. He had used it to defeat Ren Hou, and now he hoped it would bring them fortune once more.
Yet even after discarding nearly all their “Dao,” the room remained unmoved.
Their opponents were clearly lightening their load too.
“Seems there’s a clever one on their team as well,” Qi Xia muttered. “What else can we throw out?”
Yun Yao bit her lip, reluctantly pulling a tube of lipstick from her backpack.
In “The End,” cosmetics were even rarer than “Dao.” She hesitated for a few seconds before tossing it out, followed by foundation, concealer, eyeliner, lip gloss…
A small rain of beauty products clattered downward.
Even Tian Tian, another girl, couldn’t help but wince at the sight.
Finally, the four felt their room slowly rise, the flames below growing more distant.
“Good…” Qi Xia pressed against the wall, peering down. “Just keep this up… Even a pound or two can decide the outcome.”
But their ascent lasted less than a minute before the balance shifted again.
Whatever the opposing room was doing, they were also shedding weight.
The metal beam connecting the two rooms groaned under the strain.
Qi Xia could feel their room descending once more.
Though they had never seen the other team, both sides were fighting tooth and nail to survive.
“We’ve thrown out the ‘Dao’—what about the knife?” Qiao Jiajin examined the blade in his hand. “This thing weighs at least a couple of pounds. Should we toss it?”
“No,” Qi Xia said. “Qiao Jiajin, I have a difficult task for you.”
“A difficult task?” Qiao Jiajin stiffened. “What is it?”
“You’re the only one who can do this.” Qi Xia pointed to a small stool in the corner. “Chop it into pieces.”
The stool had been in the room from the start—likely placed there for a reason.
Qiao Jiajin understood immediately. He picked it up, testing its weight. Solid wood. Definitely heavy.
“In terms of strength, only you can break it quickly. But be careful—keep your movements small, or we’ll lose our balance.”
“Got it.”
Qiao Jiajin nodded, took a deep breath, and swung the knife down, splitting the stool with a crack.
Instead of continuing with the blade, he wedged his fingers into the split and wrenched it apart, snapping the wood along its grain.
He shook out his hand and attacked the remaining pieces.
Given the tiny window, the stool had to be chopped into fine fragments before they could be discarded.
So he adopted a wood-splitting technique.
He propped one of the stool’s legs upright, cleaved it with a single strike, then snapped off a slender strip of wood.
“Start throwing these out!” he ordered.
The four fell into an efficient rhythm: Qiao Jiajin chopped, Tian Tian passed the pieces to Qi Xia, who handed them to Yun Yao to toss out the window.
This minimized unnecessary movement.
In just two or three minutes, all four legs had been dismantled and discarded, leaving only the seat.
“Strange…” Yun Yao kept glancing out the window. “Why are we still level? What are they doing?”
Then she spotted wooden fragments being tossed from the opposing room.
“Damn it, they’re breaking their stool too!” she cried. “We have to move faster!”
Qi Xia knew it was inevitable—both rooms were likely identical.
Meaning both had one stool and one knife.
In this situation, *anyone* would choose to dismantle the stool.
The sooner they did, the farther they stayed from death.
Qiao Jiajin picked up the pace.
His technique was impressive—despite the confined space, every cut followed the wood’s grain precisely. The stool was soon reduced to splinters.
Tian Tian kept passing strips to the others, but Qiao Jiajin, sensing urgency, began tossing smaller pieces through the floor’s iron grating.
Six minutes passed. With only four minutes left on the countdown, their room was completely stool-free.
Now, their room began to rise noticeably, far lighter than their opponents’.
“Steady…” Qi Xia gathered everyone close, minimizing their weight further.
Yun Yao suddenly snatched the knife from Qiao Jiajin and sliced her leather bag into shreds, tossing them out the opening.
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