“Look! The foreign trade bag brought back a silk scarf—doesn’t that count as opening up the Silk Road?”

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

Behind him, Lawyer Zhang and Zheng Yingxiong also stepped forward to look at this “巾” (jin), and their minds gradually began to grow chaotic.

Because they vaguely remembered that Chen Junnan’s “character” had been “帥” (shuai) at the very beginning.

Now not only was it no longer “帥,” but he’d even lost half of it. Why would Chen Junnan be so happy about losing half a “character”…?

“Being able to snatch back half a ‘character’ is already a rare occurrence,” Qi Xia said. “Snatching back half a ‘character’ twice in a row can no longer be described as merely ‘rare.'”

“What do you mean, ‘where’s the connection’?!” Chen Junnan exclaimed. “Master Chen here hasn’t snatched back either of these two ‘characters’—people actively gave them to me!”

“Fine.” Qi Xia nodded helplessly. “Sounds like something you’d do.”

“Old Qi, guess how Master Chen just obtained this ‘character’?”

After hearing this, Qi Xia sighed: “I’m guessing you impersonated Xu Liunian.”

“Uh…” Chen Junnan blinked and said, “No fun, I’m not playing anymore. Here, here, here.”

He handed the “巾” to Qi Xia and watched as he scored another point on the screen.

“This tactic is pretty good,” Qi Xia said. “I suspect you can keep using it for a while longer.”

“Keep using it for a while?” Chen Junnan was somewhat puzzled. “Once the real Xu Liunian goes back, they’ll know they’ve been tricked.”

“No, I estimate we won’t need to wait for Xu Liunian to return—Chu Tianqiu will be able to discover you’re fake,” Qi Xia said. “But right now the problem lies with Xu Liunian herself.”

“You’ve all mentioned that the ‘Echo’ in this place is faint and elusive, extremely difficult to activate,” Qi Xia said. “I suddenly recalled a similar example—I wonder if it applies here.”

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

“Exactly…” Qi Xia said. “The part about ‘Echo’ that White Snake mentioned… By the same logic, Xu Liunian finally obtained an ‘Echo,’ but this place makes ‘Echoing extremely difficult,’ so it’s very hard for her to perform actions related to ‘Echo.’ In other words, there’s a certain possibility she can’t break free from her own ‘Echo,’ resulting in her appearance continuously being your face.”

“Ha…” After hearing this, countless interesting tactics flashed through Chen Junnan’s mind. “Then Master Chen knows 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 lost the first move.”

After watching Qi Xia write down the homophone of “巾”—”金” (jin, meaning gold)—on the screen with no further movement, Chen Junnan was somewhat confused.

“Keep going, Old Qi,” Chen Junnan said. “Keep forming characters—there are so many possibilities.”

After hearing this, Qi Xia looked at the “丘” (qiu) and “八” (ba) in his hand and shook his head.

“There probably aren’t any more,” Qi Xia said. “Among all the ‘left-right structured’ characters, ‘帥’ has the smallest utility. I’ve calculated it—it can barely form any other characters in this game.”

“What?” Chen Junnan was stunned after hearing this. “Damn it… Master Chen thought he’d made another great contribution, but it turns out there’s only one ‘巾’?! Doesn’t that mean I worked for nothing?!”

“Worked for nothing?” Qi Xia said. “Of course not. You dealt a devastating blow to Chu Tianqiu—that value isn’t comparable to a single ‘巾.'”

“Really?” Chen Junnan walked forward a few steps and looked at the “characters” absorbed on the “Phoenix Book-Bearing Platform.” “Master Chen is determined to piece together a second ‘character’ for you today—only then will it not be a loss…”

After hearing this, Qi Xia didn’t object. He merely took out his own “丘” and “八,” as if asking Chen Junnan what unique ideas he had.

But unexpectedly, Chen Junnan didn’t look at the “characters” in Qi Xia’s hand at all. He just stared at “巾” for quite a while, then extended a single finger and slowly moved it forward.

“Wait a moment…” Qi Xia felt this scene was oddly familiar. Earlier, a reckless teammate had pushed with his finger once and caused the team to lose a point—this wasn’t a good omen.

But Chen Junnan’s movements were extremely fast. Before Qi Xia could finish speaking, he directly pushed “巾” and rotated it one hundred and eighty degrees.

The screen flickered and once again displayed familiar text.

“Character prototype ‘屮’ (cao) received. Please write down a homophone.”

“…?”

Qi Xia, Zhang Chenze, and Zheng Yingxiong, who were standing to the side, all fell silent at the same time.

“This counts too?” Zhang Chenze looked at the screen in confusion. “Isn’t this thing a radical component…?”

“How could it possibly be a radical? It’s definitely a ‘character’!” Chen Junnan stared at everyone with a face full of smiles, as if waiting for their praise, but Qi Xia really couldn’t be certain.

Last time, a failed guess had already deducted one point. This time it might deduct two points. As scoring becomes increasingly difficult going forward, losing two points would have an enormous impact.

“How about it, Old Qi?” Chen Junnan patted Qi Xia’s shoulder. “I told you there were definitely more ‘characters,’ right? Even you have moments you can’t anticipate.”

“Alright…” After hearing this, Qi Xia nodded and pointed at the screen, saying, “Tell me how to read this character.”

“This…” Chen Junnan blinked. “This is really putting Master Chen in a difficult spot—I don’t have as much knowledge as you.”

Qi Xia sighed and said: “Chen Junnan, let me reiterate—my knowledge comes from books. Even if obscure characters occasionally appear in books, it’s very difficult for me to know their pronunciation out of thin air. So ‘obscure characters’ and ‘knowledge’ can’t be directly equated.”

“Uh…” Qi Xia’s single sentence left Chen Junnan speechless. “What do you mean… Old Qi, are we just going to guess blindly?”

“I suggest we take the ‘character’ down and give up on this guess,” Qi Xia replied. “If we take a risk now, we might lose two points.”

After hearing this, Chen Junnan nodded somewhat reluctantly, but his eyes still showed some unwillingness.

“What is it?” Qi Xia asked.

“Old Qi… why don’t you let me guess once,” Chen Junnan said. “If we really do lose two points, Master Chen will risk his life to earn back two points for you.”

After hearing this, Qi Xia frowned: “I need to 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 know the consequences of failure but still insist on guessing, I’ll help you bear those consequences.”

“How the hell could that work?!” Chen Junnan said. “Everyone takes responsibility for their own actions.”

After hearing this, Qi Xia sighed and asked: “Then what’s your direction for guessing?”

After hearing this, Chen Junnan grinned with a “hehe” and slowly raised his middle finger.

This gesture left the several people beside him stunned.

“Old Qi… don’t you think this ‘character’ looks like this hand gesture?”

“…?”

“Master Chen thinks this character looks like both a curse word and a plant—why don’t we just write ‘草’ (cao, meaning grass)!”