Chapter 1026: Let Me Guess

“Look! Foreign trade bag brought back a scarf, so it’s like opening the Silk Road, right?”

Qi Xia stared at the character “字” (character) in Chen Junnan’s hand and fell into a brief silence again.

Lawyer Zhang and Zheng Yingxiong, standing behind, also stepped forward to examine this “jin” (scarf), their minds gradually growing perplexed.

Because they vaguely remembered that at the very beginning, the character in Chen Junnan’s hand was originally “handsome.”

Now, it’s not only not “handsome,” but also missing half of the character. Why was Chen Junnan so happy after losing half of it…?

“Being able to retrieve half a character is already a rare occurrence,” Qi Xia said. “But retrieving half a character twice in a row can no longer be described as ‘rare.'”

“No… What are you talking about!” Chen Junnan said. “Hey, these two characters I got weren’t even taken by force! They were given to me voluntarily!”

“Fine.” Qi Xia nodded helplessly. “That’s exactly the kind of thing you’d do.”

“Old Qi, guess how I got this character just now?”

Qi Xia sighed after hearing this. “I guess you impersonated Xu Liunian.”

“Eh…” Chen Junnan blinked and said, “No fun. I’m not playing anymore. Here, take it.”

He handed the “jin” (scarf) in his hand to Qi Xia, watching him gain another point on the screen.

“This tactic isn’t bad,” Qi Xia said. “I suspect you can use it for a while longer.”

“Use it for a while longer?” Chen Junnan didn’t quite understand. “As soon as the real Xu Liunian returns, they’ll realize they’ve been tricked.”

“No, I estimate that even before Xu Liunian returns, Chu Tianqiu will discover you’re fake,” Qi Xia said. “But the current problem lies with Xu Liunian herself.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve all mentioned that the ‘Echo’ in this place is faint and extremely difficult to use,” Qi Xia explained. “Suddenly, I thought of a similar example. I wonder if it might be applicable here.”

“Oh…?” Chen Junnan seemed to have thought of something too. “Now that you mention it…”

“Exactly,” Qi Xia confirmed. “What the White Snake said about ‘Echo’… by the same token, Xu Liunian, who finally managed to obtain ‘Echo,’ would find it difficult to perform any actions related to ‘Echo’ since this place ‘has extremely difficult Echoes.’ In other words, she might very well have a certain chance of being unable to escape her ‘Echo,’ causing her appearance to remain stuck as yours.”

“Haha…” After hearing this, Chen Junnan’s mind flashed with countless amusing possibilities. “Then I know exactly what to do.”

Qi Xia nodded and said, “From now on, ‘Xu Liunian’ can be anyone, and anyone can be ‘Xu Liunian.’ Chu Tianqiu has already lost the first move.”

Chen Junnan watched as Qi Xia wrote the homophone of “巾” (scarf)—”金” (gold) on the screen and then stopped, slightly puzzled.

“Keep going, Old Qi,” Chen Junnan urged. “Come on, form more characters. There are so many characters out there.”

After hearing this, Qi Xia looked at his own “丘” (hill) and “八” (eight) and shook his head.

“I think that’s all,” Qi Xia said. “Among all the ‘left-right structured’ characters, ‘handsome’ (帅) has the least usefulness. I’ve calculated it. In this game, it can hardly form other characters.”

“What?” Chen Junnan was stunned. “Damn it… I thought I had accomplished something great again, but why is there only a ‘Jin’ (scarf)?! Was all this for nothing?!”

“For nothing?” Qi Xia replied. “Of course not. You’ve dealt a devastating blow to Chu Tianqiu. The value of that far exceeds a mere ‘scarf.'”

“You’re kidding me?” Chen Junnan took a few steps forward and looked at the characters stuck on the ‘Phoenix Holding a Scroll Platform.’ “I’m definitely going to get you a second character today. Only then will it not feel like a waste…”

After hearing this, Qi Xia did not object. Instead, he also drew out his “hill” and “eight,” as if asking Chen Junnan whether he had any unique ideas.

Unexpectedly, Chen Junnan didn’t even glance at the characters in Qi Xia’s hand. He simply stared at the character “巾” (scarf) for a long time, then slowly extended one finger and moved it toward the character.

“Wait a second…” Qi Xia felt a sense of déjà vu. Previously, a reckless teammate had pushed a character slightly with his finger, causing the team to lose a point. This wasn’t a good omen.

But Chen Junnan acted quickly. Before Qi Xia could finish speaking, he directly pushed the “jin” (scarf) and rotated it one hundred and eighty degrees.

The screen flickered once, then lit up again with familiar text.

“Character prototype ‘Ce’ received. Please write a homophone.”

“…?”

Qi Xia, Zhang Chenze, and Zheng Yingxiong standing beside him all fell silent simultaneously.

“Does this even count?” Zhang Chenze looked at the screen in confusion. “Isn’t this just a radical…?”

“How could it be a radical? It’s definitely a character!” Chen Junnan grinned at everyone, as if waiting for their praise. However, Qi Xia was somewhat uncertain.

The last incorrect guess had already cost one point. This time might cost two points. As the game progressed, scoring would become increasingly difficult, and losing two points would have a significant impact.

“What do you think, Old Qi?” Chen Junnan patted Qi Xia’s shoulder. “I told you there must be another character. Even you can’t think of everything, kid.”

“Alright…” Qi Xia nodded after hearing this and pointed at the screen. “Tell me how to pronounce this character.”

“This…” Chen Junnan blinked. “This really stumps me. I don’t have as much knowledge as you, Old Man.”

Qi Xia sighed and said, “Chen Junnan, let me reiterate: all my knowledge comes from books. Even if rare characters occasionally appear in books, I can’t know their pronunciation out of thin air. Therefore, rare characters and ‘knowledge’ aren’t directly connected.”

“Eh…” Qi Xia’s words left Chen Junnan speechless. “What do you mean… Old Qi, are we going to guess randomly?”

“I suggest we remove the character and abandon this guess,” Qi Xia replied. “Taking risks now might cost us two points.”

Chen Junnan reluctantly nodded but still looked somewhat unwilling.

“Why?” Qi Xia asked.

“Old Qi… How about letting me guess once?” Chen Junnan said. “If we really lose two points, I’ll work my ass off to earn them back for you.”

After hearing this, Qi Xia frowned. “Let me clarify two things… First, I don’t need you to risk your life. You don’t owe me anything. Everyone in this team is equal. Second, if you insist on guessing despite knowing the consequences of failure, I’ll take responsibility for the outcome.”

“That’s not how it works, man!” Chen Junnan said. “You reap what you sow. I’ll take the blame.”

After hearing this, Qi Xia sighed and asked, “Then what’s your guess?”

After hearing this, Chen Junnan grinned and slowly raised his middle finger.

This action stunned the people around him again.

“Old Qi… Don’t you think this character looks like this gesture?”

“…?”

“Hey, I think this character resembles both an insult and a plant. How about writing ‘grass’ (Cǎo)!”