“What?” Su Shan suddenly stood up. “But you clearly—”
Qi Xia extended a finger, pointed at his brow, and then gave a barely perceptible twitch.
“You mean this?” Qi Xia asked. “You noticed?”
Su Shan stared at Qi Xia, pondered for a moment, and then slowly sat back down.
She had to admit she had underestimated him.
She and Zi Chen had been wandering this godforsaken place for over a day, facing many opponents, but this was the first time they’d encountered a game where lives were at stake—and the first time they’d met someone as sharp as Qi Xia.
He was actually using microexpressions to manipulate his opponent’s thoughts.
Why was this game different from the ones before?
Why was this opponent so much more formidable?
The situation had become extremely tricky.
Given the nature of “conflict,” the “shield” must be exceedingly rare. If the deck contained too many shields, it could easily result in neither side suffering any harm.
Thus, the key strategy lay in how to cleverly deploy the “shield” to protect one’s own “fighter.”
And now, the worst-case scenario had unfolded before her.
“Rope” against “shield.”
Su Shan felt as if she had sent her “best horse” against the opponent’s “weakest horse.”
“Now things are getting interesting,” Qi Xia said, gathering all the cards into his hand. “Based on my expression, can you guess whether I have a ‘knife’ in my hand?”
Su Shan frowned slightly. She knew that to defeat this man, she had to think even more meticulously.
She couldn’t afford to follow his lead now.
Regardless of whether he had a “knife” or not, she had to outthink him.
Inside the glass room, another round of props descended from above.
With a loud *clang*, a round shield dropped in front of Zi Chen.
It was a wooden shield with metal edging, roughly a meter in diameter.
He quickly picked it up and raised it in front of him, then nervously glanced at Dr. Zhao across the room.
Dr. Zhao looked down at the rope on the floor, his expression twisting with frustration.
This was the third time a rope had appeared.
“Qi Xia… what the hell is this?! You giving me all these ropes so I can weave you a net?!”
Fuming, he snatched up the rope and glared at the man holding the wooden shield.
After finally getting a precious chance to attack, all he had was a damn rope to whip against a shield.
The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He turned his head and shot a furious look at Qi Xia outside the glass room.
“How the hell is your luck so bad…?”
Qi Xia shrugged helplessly from outside, then silently mouthed, “Hit him.”
“Hit him…?”
Dr. Zhao had already taken a brick to the thigh earlier, and his rage had nowhere to go. Seeing the man across from him cowering behind his shield like a coward only stoked his fury.
“Fine, I’ll hit him…”
He took a few steps forward, swung the rope in the air a few times, and then lashed it viciously toward the wooden shield.
Unfortunately, in his thirty years of life, Dr. Zhao had never once whipped someone with a rope. Though the swing generated an impressive *whoosh*, his aim was disastrously off.
As he swung downward, the middle of the rope struck the shield—but the tail end suddenly twisted mid-air and, as if guided by some unseen force, snapped directly across the man’s face.
“AAAHH!!”
Zi Chen howled in pain, dropping the shield instantly.
Dr. Zhao stared in disbelief. He had distinctly heard a sharp *slap* when the rope connected.
Had it struck the man’s face?
Qi Xia turned his head slightly, studying Su Shan. The girl looked utterly stunned.
What were the odds that a rope meant for a shield would instead hit the person behind it?
Truthfully, this outcome required two very specific conditions:
First, the shield-bearer had to remain completely still.
Second, the distance between them had to be just right.
It was a scenario that could only happen when two cowards faced off.
Su Shan’s brow furrowed deeply.
A “rope” had injured a “shield”—wasn’t this the equivalent of sending out a “best horse” only to lose to a “weakest horse”?
Zi Chen slowly raised his head, clutching his eye, his expression bordering on deranged.
When he lowered his hand, Dr. Zhao saw that the entire left eyeball had turned blood-red, as if bleeding internally.
“Huh?”
Dr. Zhao was taken aback. Had the rope actually struck the man’s eye?
“You—you…” Zi Chen pointed a trembling finger at him. “Are you trying to kill me?!”
“N-no, I didn’t mean to—” Dr. Zhao waved his hands frantically, stepping closer to inspect the injury. “Listen, man, you’ve got a mild ocular rupture. You need to close your eye and rest immediately, or the damage could worsen. If you don’t—”
“Bullshit!!” Zi Chen screamed, cutting him off. “You… you just wait!!”
Under Di Ji’s command, both men discarded their props again.
Qi Xia smirked, finding the situation darkly amusing.
He had only meant for Dr. Zhao to intimidate the other side, but instead, the man had actually injured his opponent’s eye. Not a bad outcome.
Without outside interference, crickets in a jar wouldn’t fight to the death.
But now, Qi Xia’s original strategy had backfired. His opponent’s state of mind had shifted—no longer a man, but a rabid dog. Conventional tactics wouldn’t work anymore.
“Draw your cards,” Di Ji announced.
Su Shan reached for a card, and Qi Xia followed suit.
He glanced at his hand.
A “stick.”
His current hand was nearly perfect.
Knife, stick, stone, stone, shield.
Five cards that balanced offense and defense.
The most precarious phase—the “rope stage”—was over. From here, as long as Qi Xia managed his hand well and played any “ropes” he drew at the right time, he’d seize full control.
In terms of “strategy,” Qi Xia had already laid the groundwork and was gaining the upper hand.
If he guessed right, Su Shan’s hand was likely clogged with “ropes.” Her earlier aggressive plays had backfired, leaving her without room to build momentum.
She clearly hadn’t studied military tactics—she didn’t understand the concept of biding one’s time. Now, she’d enter a temporary weak phase, all “killer instinct” but no “killer move.”
But this game wasn’t won by strategy alone.
In terms of “ferocity,” Dr. Zhao was at a severe disadvantage.
Zi Chen was seething—he’d probably turn a “stone” into a “knife” with sheer rage.
The only question was… did he even have any “stones” left?
“Round Four—play your cards!” Di Ji waved her hand again.
Qi Xia hesitated briefly before placing a “stone” face-down in front of him.
“Dr. Zhao’s not aggressive enough right now… this is the best I can do,” he muttered, pushing the card forward.
After a brief deliberation, Su Shan also played a card.
They flipped them simultaneously.
Both were “stones.”
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage