“I suppose so.” Chu Tianqiu nodded.
“How is that possible…?” Yan Zhichun couldn’t comprehend it. “You’re saying that after I won against Chen Junnan, I sent the ‘character’ over, and he then pretended to be Xu Liunian and followed along?”
“That’s why I called it ‘absurd.'” Chu Tianqiu smiled. “This tactic doesn’t seem like Qi Xia’s style—it’s more like Chen Junnan’s own doing.”
Yan Zhichun felt an overwhelming sense of disbelief about the whole thing.
So Chen Junnan, pretending to be Xu Liunian pretending to be himself, just waltzed right over like that…?
“Little Nian is still a bit inexperienced compared to them,” Chu Tianqiu said. “Playing Chen Junnan might be tough for her, but for Chen Junnan to play her? That’s way too easy…”
“This is trouble.” Yan Zhichun frowned. “It seems like Qi Xia chose ‘Transformation’ for you, but in reality, ‘Transformation’ exists in both our teams… Xu Liunian impersonates others, while others impersonate her…”
“Qi Xia played this move well,” Chu Tianqiu said. “He took up one of our team’s slots, benefiting both sides at once.”
“Now we can’t trust anyone…” Yan Zhichun hesitated again.
“No worries. I said from the start—I don’t need you all to work together. I just need you to perform at your individual best.”
“Wait, but this still doesn’t add up…” Yan Zhichun suddenly thought of something. “Chen Junnan only had one ‘bag.’ Did he cross the river with it? Isn’t that against the rules?”
“The rule about ‘not crossing the river’ is just speculation,” Chu Tianqiu said. “If someone can move around the opponent’s side with half a ‘character,’ then the rule probably isn’t ‘can’t cross the river’ but more like ‘something happens after crossing.'”
“But it looks like nothing happened to Chen Junnan…” Yan Zhichun frowned, glancing in the direction Chen Junnan had left.
“Not only that, but he also had the damn luck to avoid every single one of our people along the way.” Chu Tianqiu sighed. “All I could do was send him away. You go find Zhang Shan and Jin Yuanxun—they’re easy to fool, and they need to be updated on this.”
Yan Zhichun found that a bit odd.
“Chu Tianqiu… isn’t this your leadership failure?” she said. “Should I call it hindsight or—”
“What?”
“You clearly knew he was Chen Junnan, yet you still gave him a ‘character’?” Yan Zhichun furrowed her brow and sighed deeply. “The ‘character’ I barely managed to get from the opponent was handed over so easily—and to him, no less. That contradicts what you said earlier. Didn’t you see through his identity before giving him the ‘character’?”
Chu Tianqiu wasn’t angered by her words. Instead, he smiled faintly and calmly asked, “Yan Zhichun, do you know the biggest hidden danger in this game?”
“The biggest hidden danger…?”
Without waiting for her answer, Chu Tianqiu reached out and tapped the screen behind him, producing a crisp sound.
“It’s this fragile screen.”
Yan Zhichun stared at the display behind Chu Tianqiu, as if realizing something.
“When Chen Junnan asked me why I wasn’t gathering everyone here earlier, I knew something was off—he was testing me,” Chu Tianqiu said. “So I had to send him away immediately. I originally wanted to squeeze some intel out of him, but now we’ll just have to roll with it and give him the least useful ‘towel’ character. After all, this is his first time making such a bold move. He was nervous—once he got the ‘character,’ he’d leave in a hurry.”
“You mean…” Yan Zhichun nodded thoughtfully. “If the entire opposing team rushed into our ‘preparation zone,’ they wouldn’t even need to steal ‘characters.’ Just one person smashing the screen would guarantee our loss. If you’d kept him here any longer… he might’ve suddenly punched the display and shattered it.”
“Chen Junnan was testing whether I’d considered the ‘screen’ factor,” Chu Tianqiu said. “The real Xu Liunian wouldn’t keep staring at it—she doesn’t care about winning or losing this game, nor would she care what ‘characters’ I’ve assembled. Only Chen Junnan, as the opponent, would do that.”
“No wonder.” Yan Zhichun nodded, piecing it all together in her mind. “No wonder neither you nor Qi Xia immediately gathered everyone in the room to assemble ‘characters’… Instead, you both scattered your forces as much as possible. I didn’t get it at first…”
“Exactly.” Chu Tianqiu said. “There’s a subtle trap in this game’s rules: ‘The preparation zone can’t store characters.’ In other words, to use all the ‘characters’ you have to create something, you need enough people staying in the ‘preparation zone.’ But that would leave the ‘frontline’ undefended, wide open—it might even allow the enemy to invade our territory and attack the screen. So the first thing Qi Xia and I thought of was ‘defense.’ Secure our own territory first, then call teammates back one by one to ‘assemble characters.’ Even if we lose ‘characters’ in the process, we can’t retreat.”
“In this game, even the ‘generals’ can be sacrificed,” Yan Zhichun said. “The only thing we can’t afford is letting the enemy break into the ‘preparation zone’… The ‘screen’ is like the head of both teams.”
Chu Tianqiu nodded, then glanced at Yan Zhichun. “Right now, it seems our invading teams have had mixed results. How’s Wen Qiaoyun doing?”
“Wen Qiaoyun… I don’t know.” Yan Zhichun shook her head. “All the doors are closed—there’s no way to see through them at a glance.”
“Fine. Go find Zhang Shan and Jin Yuanxun for me first.”
……
Qiao Jiajin stood by the riverbank doing stretches when he suddenly saw Chen Junnan dart across from their side to the enemy’s.
“Hey! Pretty Boy! Where you goin’?!” Qiao Jiajin called out, but the other didn’t respond. “Damn… isn’t that the other side? You ‘crossed the river’—get back here!”
He stood frozen for three seconds before hearing a door open behind him. Chen Junnan hurried back from the enemy’s side, crossing the river again to return.
“Huh…?” Qiao Jiajin blinked, feeling the situation was downright eerie.
After stepping inside, Chen Junnan seemed to remember something and turned back to open the door. “Old Qiao, the young master scored again! Watch yourself—don’t you dare trust me, got it?!”
“Ah…?” Qiao Jiajin hadn’t expected so many incomprehensible things to happen in just a few seconds. “Pretty Boy, weren’t you just… now you’re…”
Chen Junnan grinned and winked at him. “No big deal. The young master’s ‘echo’ is freakin’ ‘phasing.’ Later!”
“Pretty Boy… you can actually ‘phase through walls’?!”
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage