Zheng Yingxiong’s nose twitched slightly. He actually caught a faint whiff of “hesitation” coming from Qixia’s direction.
But that scent vanished within moments, replaced only by caution.
Zheng Yingxiong couldn’t help but glance at Qixia in confusion. Could it really be that the phrase “the one with the largest area wins” had made Qixia hesitate again…?
Could it be that he still had no confidence in winning this game…?
Zheng Yingxiong recalled the previous “Lunar Month” game he had played with Qixia. According to Zheng’s understanding of Qixia, if the same rules were applied repeatedly, Qixia should figure out the game’s mechanics in the first round, uncover its solution in the second, and break the game in the third.
Now, this third round would be the decisive one. So where exactly had this “hesitation” come from?
Zheng turned his head toward Xuanwu, knowing the problem must lie with the referee.
After all, the more common knowledge was involved, the stranger Xuanwu’s judgments tended to become.
“Qinglong, these rules are getting more abstract,” Chen Junnan said, pointing at the slip of paper in Xuanwu’s hand. “How do you even calculate area? Do we have to factor in shared spaces?”
The others carefully considered this rule too, and felt it was still as vague as the second round. Since both players could only provide a single “character,” the concept of “area” remained inherently ambiguous.
For example, if one person chose “hill” and the other “forest,” although both characters represented large areas, there was no way to accurately determine the exact size of the area each represented, nor could one definitively prove that their area was larger than the opponent’s.
Therefore, the round would likely devolve into the same kind of debate as the second round, with the final decision resting entirely on Xuanwu’s interpretation—whichever she deemed larger would win the round.
Thus, this “Cangjie Chess” match involved far more than just following the rules. One also had to include the element of “soldier,” then anticipate Xuanwu’s perception. Only by meeting all these conditions could one hope to win.
Chen Junnan thought it through and concluded that this time, the two players would probably only choose “hill” or “forest.” After all, Qixia could find a way to form two “trees,” but Qinglong could not. Therefore, these two characters were likely the final answers.
Qinglong would choose “hill,” and Qixia would choose “forest”—this was the largest concept Chen Junnan could imagine at the moment.
As for whether a hill or a forest was larger… no one could predict how Xuanwu would judge it. So Chen Junnan immediately signaled to Qiao Jiajin. The two of them began organizing their arguments, preparing to launch a full psychological attack at the final moment.
Qinglong stepped forward, hesitated briefly, then said, “I’ll go first again this time.”
“Figured as much,” Chen Junnan replied. “You’re not one to let anyone get the better of you.”
Qinglong completely ignored Chen Junnan and turned to Qixia instead. “You game?”
“Sure,” Qixia nodded. “I’ve already let you go twice. Not letting you this time would make it meaningless.”
“What do you mean by ‘meaningful’?”
“I already told you—I’m holding back,” Qixia answered.
“But I don’t think so,” Qinglong shook his head. “In the second round, the character ‘father’ was clearly something you came up with on the spot. Even though you claim to be ‘holding back,’ you still weren’t confident you could win, were you? I’ve never seen anyone hold back when they weren’t sure of victory.”
“I admit I’m not confident, but I still choose to hold back,” Qixia said. “Isn’t that exactly what you want—to defeat me fairly in a single game? If I let you go three times in a row and you still can’t win, then what will you do?”
“Hmph…,” a vein on Qinglong’s forehead twitched slightly. “What a nice way to put it—’letting me go three times in a row.'”
“That’s exactly how it looks,” Qixia nodded.
“But many things in this world aren’t remembered by process, only by result,” Qinglong said. “You may see it as letting me go for three rounds, but if you lose, all that holding back will become a joke. People will only remember that I won, not how it happened.”
“So this is also a gamble,” Qixia said. “Holding back is just my raise. If I win, these stakes will make your defeat even more humiliating. Everyone will know that even after I let you go three times in a row, you still lost to me, the mighty Qinglong.”
“Holding back as a raise…?”
“Exactly as you said,” Qixia continued. “No one remembers the process. Even if I really lose, no one will care that I lost because I held back. To the world, you’ll just have won an ordinary match. After all, you’re Qinglong—you were always supposed to win.”
“But if I win, I get a better reward. That’s my stake.”
Qixia left the second half unsaid—Xuanwu herself was also part of his bet.
Qinglong paused after hearing this. “No wonder it’s you… For ordinary people, the moment to decide the outcome of a bet is usually at the end. But for you… the game starts with the bet itself.”
“Perhaps even earlier,” Qixia replied. “I can start laying the groundwork even before placing the bet.”
“Is that so…” Qinglong understood Qixia’s implication and said, “I know you’re always scheming behind the scenes. It doesn’t matter how early you set things up this time. Just make sure you kill Tianlong. I might even forgive all your past disrespect for that.”
“I’m working on it,” Qixia replied.
“I’ve reminded you countless times,” Qinglong said with a bitter smile. “Before killing Tianlong, you must inform me first. I don’t want this deal to fall apart at the last moment.”
“But right now, you’re trying to kill me,” Qixia said. “If I die…”
“Based on what I know now, even if you die, the plan won’t stop,” Qinglong replied. “As long as the remaining people follow the instructions, you and I both want Tianlong dead. That’s the only link between us.”
“We’re both using others’ blades to kill,” Qixia said. “Let’s see who gets to keep the blade in the end.”
After a moment of silence, Qinglong turned and walked behind the massive wall.
Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiajin raised their heads and stared intently at the screen, but Qinglong remained motionless for a long time without displaying his character.
Qinglong lowered his head with a heavy expression, holding the character “hill” in his hand.
His mood was turbulent. He had planned for every possible scenario when designing the life-or-death rules, but why hadn’t he foreseen that the referee would be Xuanwu?
How could one expect fair judgment from a referee who didn’t even understand the meaning of “father”?
Winning with “hill” would be difficult, as Qinglong couldn’t predict what Qixia might create.
“It has to start from Xuanwu’s background…” Qinglong muttered to himself, eyes narrowing. “To her… what is the biggest thing in her memory?”
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