Chapter 163: A Battle of Wits and Courage

The game had begun.

As a “Struggle” game, Di Ji pushed the concept of “Struggle” to its extreme.

One side would battle with wit, the other with courage.

If either side made a single mistake, both would inevitably perish.

In the tense atmosphere, the girl sitting opposite finally spoke.

“You draw the card first, or shall I?”

“Whatever,” Qi Xia replied indifferently. “You go first.”

The girl nodded and picked up a card, but she didn’t look at it. Instead, she placed it face-down in front of herself.

Qi Xia did the same, picking up a card and placing it face-down before him.

Neither of them glanced at their drawn cards during the draw phase, their eyes locked in a steady gaze.

This card game was now a matter of life and death, so the battle of wits had already begun from the drawing phase.

They took turns placing cards face-down in front of themselves, revealing no hint of weakness.

Inside the glass room, Doctor Zhao and the tall boy watching the scene gulped nervously.

After each had drawn five cards, Qi Xia picked up his five cards and slowly opened them for a glance.

The situation looked grim.

Shield, Stone, Rope, Rope, Rope.

They were supposed to be “Weapon Cards,” but looking at the faces, they seemed more like something from the Stone Age.

He slowly closed the cards together again, lifting his gaze to look at the girl before him.

The girl remained calm, glancing briefly at her hand before lifting her eyes to meet Qi Xia’s.

“My name is Qi Xia. And yours?”

“Su Shan,” the girl replied.

“Shan?” Qi Xia found the name interesting. “Like the ‘Shan’ in ‘Shan Liang’ (Brilliant)?”

“Yes,” she replied.

“Pleased to meet you,” Qi Xia nodded casually, then turned his gaze to the card pile on the table.

Now he held one Stone and three Ropes. Perhaps it was because the deck contained more Stones and Ropes.

If that were the case, then naturally, the more powerful “Weapon Cards” would be rarer.

The “Stick” should be less common than the “Stone,” and the “Knife” the rarest of all.

Of course, there was another possibility—that all cards were equally numerous, and it was simply his terrible luck.

So then… what cards had this girl named Su Shan drawn?

Was she in the “Age of Cold Weapons”?

Did she have a “Knife”?

Did she have two “Life Cards” and one “Death Card”?

“Both of you, if you’ve made your decisions, please play your cards!” Di Ji interrupted their thoughts, knocking on the table.

Qi Xia thought for a moment, then silently took a card from his hand and placed it face-down on the table. He then lifted his head and asked, “Su Shan, do you think there’s a possibility…”

“What?”

“That we play through all our cards, the game ends without a winner, and we call it a draw?”

“Would that happen?” Su Shan replied dismissively, then drew a card and placed it face-down. “A draw… that would be best, wouldn’t it?”

“So let’s both be gentle. There’s no need to kill each other,” Qi Xia said.

“Sure,” Su Shan nodded, pushing the face-down card forward.

Qi Xia also nodded and pushed the card in front of him forward.

The cards were played.

Doctor Zhao and the boy named Zi Chen were already holding their breath in tension. Seeing the two in the distance calmly selecting their cards, they immediately rushed under the ceiling to watch the opening above.

This was where their first “Weapon” would drop.

“Please reveal your cards,” Di Ji announced.

As soon as the words were spoken, Qi Xia and Su Shan simultaneously flipped over their cards.

At that exact moment, the two openings above Doctor Zhao and Zi Chen opened, and dark objects dropped down.

In a panic, the two rushed forward to grab their “Weapons,” but Doctor Zhao was immediately stunned.

What dropped was a “Rope.”

He quickly picked it up and immediately turned his head, only to see the 1.9-meter-tall boy slowly picking up a cleaver that had fallen to the ground ten paces away.

“Ahh!” Doctor Zhao screamed in agony. “What the hell is this junk?! Qi Xia, are you screwing with me?!”

Without hesitation, he rushed to the glass wall, repeatedly slapping it with the rope in hand. “Qi Xia! Are you screwing with me?!”

Fortunately, the glass wall appeared custom-made, extremely sturdy, and showed no signs of cracking no matter how hard Doctor Zhao hit it.

Qi Xia slowly furrowed his brows.

The opponent indeed had drawn the “Knife.”

She must have anticipated that he wouldn’t play the “Shield” in the first round, so she boldly bet on the “Knife,” didn’t she?

Qi Xia took a deep breath and said, “It’s not wrong to play this game with the logic of Rock-Paper-Scissors, but there are other factors to consider.”

“Such as?”

“People’s hearts.”

At this moment, Di Ji picked up a nearby walkie-talkie and spoke: “Round One, ‘Fighters’ may begin.”

A broadcast sounded in the room where Doctor Zhao and Zi Chen were.

A ten-second countdown also began beside them.

“S-start?” Upon hearing this, Doctor Zhao quickly took several steps back.

“Ahhhh!” Zi Chen shouted to boost his courage, taking one step forward with the cleaver in hand.

Doctor Zhao clutched the rope with both hands, his whole body trembling.

He knew he wasn’t Wong Fei-hung, capable of snatching the knife from the opponent’s hand with a rope.

The opponent’s height and weight were clearly superior to his, and now he had a better “Weapon” than himself. How could he possibly fight?

“I… I!” Zi Chen, holding the knife, kept trembling. He didn’t seem much better off than Doctor Zhao.

“D-don’t do anything rash!” Doctor Zhao shouted with a sob. “You’re killing someone!!”

“I know!! Even if I kill you… I still… I still…” Zi Chen gritted his teeth, continuing to walk forward.

But he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Imagine suddenly locking an ordinary person in a glass room, handing him a knife, and telling him he would die if he didn’t kill.

Would an average person manage to strike several times within ten seconds?

The answer is not even one strike.

Qi Xia watched the tall man impassively through the glass wall.

Ten seconds was simply too short.

Due to “Disaster Bias,” he hadn’t mentally prepared himself adequately, always thinking the situation wouldn’t be this bad.

But Su Shan had already planned everything out. She had passed through the “Disaster Bias” phase and devised a complete strategy, ready to unleash her full strength at the beginning to win the game decisively.

Their opponent’s cooperative thinking had a gap.

Or rather, their intellects weren’t on the same level.

Playing the “Knife” in the first round was an excellent tactical move for the “battle of wits.” This card would eliminate the opponent’s reaction time. If the two people inside the glass room were merely mindless virtual characters, Qi Xia would have already lost.

Unfortunately, human hearts are complex.

The ten seconds passed in an instant, and the action time ended.

In those ten seconds, all the boy named Zi Chen did was take three steps forward.

That was all a normal person could manage.

“Please discard your props into the opening,” Di Ji said through the walkie-talkie.

“Zi Chen… you!” The girl angrily slammed the table, clearly very frustrated. “How could you be so stupid!!”

Qi Xia helplessly shook his head. Even if the person inside wasn’t a boy who looked no older than twenty, but a seasoned warrior like Zhang Shan, it was unlikely he could decisively kill the opponent in the first round.

Zi Chen, filled with regret, slowly tossed the cleaver into the opening, then angrily slapped himself several times.

Doctor Zhao, as if having narrowly escaped death, trembled all over as he threw the rope away.