Yun Yao was slightly taken aback and let out a bitter chuckle. “What you just said sounds a bit like something Qi Xia would say… but on second thought, it’s not quite the same.”
“Anyway, I don’t think you’ll die,” Chen Junnan said with a grin. “Relax, superstar. I haven’t even been to one of your concerts yet.”
“Guess I’ll… take that as a blessing…”
Yun Yao was about to hang up when Chen Junnan suddenly stopped her.
“Hold on.”
“Hmm?”
“Superstar, who’s on your right?” Chen Junnan asked.
“My right?” Yun Yao paused. “A girl who’s always in a hurry.”
“A girl in a hurry?” Chen Junnan thought for a moment. “Next time you answer the phone, ask her who’s on *her* right.”
Yun Yao fell silent for a few seconds. “You think there’s something off about her?”
“I have a feeling there’s someone with ill intentions ahead of you, but I’m not sure who,” Chen Junnan mused. “If we get the chance, let’s figure out everyone’s positions. That might help us pinpoint who’s causing trouble.”
Yun Yao nodded. “Alright… If I survive, I’ll try to find out who’s in front of me.”
“Good. Leave the rest to me.” Chen Junnan stretched lazily before hanging up. “This damn game’s pretty dangerous. Guess I’ll have to take it seriously now.”
After pressing the dial button, it took a long time before the next room answered.
“Hello?” came a girl’s voice.
Chen Junnan was about to speak when something suddenly occurred to him. “Hey, during that round with the dead guy… what question did you get?”
“Huh?” The girl sounded confused.
“You were the second one to get the question, right? The corpse between us was the ‘first person.’ What question did he pass to you?”
The girl on the other end sounded cautious. “What are you trying to do?”
“I want to survive,” Chen Junnan said bluntly. “Right now, we’re close enough that we can watch each other’s backs. So, wanna team up?”
“Uh…” The girl hesitated. “But as my ‘upper link,’ you’re the person most likely to get me killed. Most of my questions come from you, after all.”
“Tch…” Chen Junnan shook his head. “Fine, fine, let me rephrase—if you don’t cooperate with me, I’ll just hang up every time we connect from now on. You can figure out the damn questions yourself.”
“You—!” The girl let out an angry curse, but after a moment, she realized he had her cornered.
After a long silence, she finally spoke. “Fine… The question I heard was, ‘Should we drop it here?'”
“Wait… what?” Chen Junnan hadn’t expected the question to be so clear.
*Should we drop it here?*
Somehow, after being passed through over a dozen people, it had morphed into *Should we drop it?* and then *Should we sit down?*
A sudden thought struck Chen Junnan.
*Was the first person who received the question the one who’d get crushed by the giant ball if it fell?*
In other words, every other participant’s “yes” or “no” was essentially deciding the first person’s fate.
The idea made a twisted kind of sense. If the question *Should we drop it now?* appeared every two rounds, then in a game with 48 questions, the iron ball would drop 16 times.
But there were only 12 people in the room—meaning everyone would eventually face the ball. And life or death wasn’t in their own hands, but in the hands of others.
“Still, something doesn’t add up…” Chen Junnan frowned. *If everyone has to face the ball 16 times, how could anyone survive?*
*Wouldn’t that make the game way too hard?*
He glanced at the wall to his right. *If the first person to get a question is the one at risk, why is Yun Yao so tense?*
*It’s not even her turn right now. Why does she feel like she’s in danger?*
After a moment of thought, he asked the girl on the phone, “Who’s behind you?”
“Behind me?” she replied. “I don’t know him. Just some guy who sounds nervous.”
“Got it…”
“What about this round’s question?” the girl asked.
“‘Do you want to die?'”
“…What?”
“That’s it. Bye.”
After hanging up, Chen Junnan took advantage of the remaining time to idly file his fingernail before carving the current situation into the wall.
He started by writing the character for *Yun*, then carved *Jun* to her left and *Hasty Girl* to her right.
*Three identities confirmed.*
He blew the dust off his nail and carved *Dead* to the left of *Jun*, followed by *Cautious Girl* and *Nervous Man* further left.
*Six identities confirmed.*
Then, directly across from *Jun*, he carved *Girl in White*.
Out of the twelve people in the game, seven were now accounted for. Among the remaining five lurked the “dangerous man” Zhong Zhen, as mentioned by Yun Yao, plus three other men and one woman.
“Damn it… What’s the way out of this?” Chen Junnan rubbed his temples in frustration. “I’m actually using my brain now, and I *still* can’t figure it out.”
Just then, the screen flickered—the answer to this round’s question had been decided.
“The final answer for this round is—’No.'”
Chen Junnan smirked. “Don’t know if that so-called ‘effect’ worked, but *my* effect sure did.”
The sound of chains rattled overhead again. If he wasn’t mistaken, the massive iron ball was shifting positions.
*Where is it now?*
After a few seconds of thought, Chen Junnan slumped back into his chair and let out a slow yawn.
*This is ridiculous.*
The game hadn’t been going on for long, but he was already losing his sense of tension.
That feeling of *whatever, who cares if I die* was creeping in, making him drowsy. He’d died countless times in games because of this exact apathy.
“I really wasn’t cut out for Lao Qi’s approach,” he muttered, standing up and stretching. “Lao Qiao’s methods don’t work here either. Guess I’ll just have to do things *my* way.”
Chen Junnan had no idea who’d received the question this time, and his own screen remained dark. Without hesitation, he grabbed the phone and dialed the next person.
The recipient clearly hadn’t expected a call at this moment—it rang nearly twenty times before they picked up.
“You—”
“Yep, it’s me.”
“Are you insane?!” the woman snapped. “What if calling now breaks the rules? What if we can’t call later because of this?”
“Relax,” Chen Junnan said cheerfully. “I was just too bored. If I don’t talk to someone, I might fall asleep.”
“Then call someone else! Why me?!”
“Well… maybe because you’re the only person I *can* call?”
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