In another room.

“Let’s run too! I’m about to die!!”

Chen Junnan reached out to grab Jin Yuanxun and rushed toward the door.

But the door was locked.

Seeing this, Earth-Dragon shook her head, flipped her body, and after a few steps, leaped onto the wall. Then she suddenly jumped up, and Qinglong caught her from mid-air, lifting her like a plastic bag and placing her beside himself.

After returning to the “stands,” Earth-Dragon patted the dust off herself and sat down next to Qinglong.

“Jin Yuanxun! Run! Go find Tianqiu!” Chen Junnan shouted.

“Bro… have you noticed that we’re both locked in?” Jin Yuanxun asked.

“Why am I being locked up?!” Chen Junnan frantically slapped the door with a terrified expression. “I’m fucking Xu Liunian!”

“Stop acting.”

“Let me out! I really am Xu Liunian! The real fucking deal!”

“Stop acting.”

“Ahhhhh! Help! I’m dying ahhhhh!”

“Really, stop acting, bro. It’s gotten a bit fake.”

“Fine.”

Earth-Dragon couldn’t hide her smile on the stands and turned to Qinglong, saying, “Very interesting person, isn’t he?”

Qinglong’s expression had been somewhat hesitant since earlier, and it took several calls from Earth-Dragon before he snapped out of it.

“What?” he asked.

“I’m talking about the one pretending to have ‘Shape-Shifting.'” Earth-Dragon smiled. “When did ‘Taoyuan’ get such an interesting person?”

“That personality isn’t the type I like,” Qinglong replied.

“Oh?” After hearing this, Earth-Dragon pondered for a few seconds. “You mean… he’s not the type you ‘Rulers’ like because he has too much rebellious spirit, right?”

“It’s not just him,” Qinglong said. “There are many people here I don’t like.”

“Now that’s very interesting.” Earth-Dragon chuckled a few times, her gaze shifting toward Qi Xia’s direction. “How did he do it? Bringing together all the people you don’t like.”

Earth-Dragon’s words aroused Qinglong’s vigilance.

What a strange feeling this was?

These people gathering here at this moment… was it a coincidence?

A sense of dissonance began spreading in Qinglong’s heart. Although he hadn’t participated in the first half of this game… wasn’t there a “Selecting Generals” phase?

Both sides could not only take the opponent’s people but also seize the opportunity to kill those who refused.

Under such a game of strategy, how did they select these twelve teammates who irritated him just by looking at them?

Qinglong felt this matter revealed some kind of conspiracy, yet he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was wrong.

“Cangjie Chess” was something he had randomly thought of one day and designed. Its rules and gameplay had never been revealed to anyone except Earth-Dragon before.

But Earth-Dragon was also only half-knowledgeable about this game before hosting it, at most knowing the game’s name and partial rules.

How could she possibly have found a way to leak the game’s content in advance?

Strange… this was truly too strange… could everything really be a coincidence?

The person who attracts disaster, the person who substitutes guilt, the person who leaps dimensions, the person who causes separation, the person who shape-shifts.

The person with Spirit Scent, the person who stores energy, the person with Clever Objects, the person who transfers souls.

The person with Heaven’s Vigorous Movement, the person who breaks ten thousand laws.

The Mad Person, the person with Endless Life.

Qinglong felt something wasn’t quite right… but his brain felt chaotic, unable to grasp any thread.

“Why haven’t they bet their lives with me yet?” Earth-Dragon suddenly asked.

Hearing this, Qinglong turned his head suspiciously to look at Earth-Dragon.

That’s right… how could Qi Xia have anticipated such a thing in advance?

There were even people below who wanted to bet their lives with Earth-Dragon. As soon as those words were spoken, he would surely lose one of his teammates.

“Qinglong.”

“Mm?”

“You made a bet with me, and I’ll make a bet with you too.” Earth-Dragon smiled.

Earlier, Qinglong had asked her who the victor of this game would be, and Earth-Dragon had firmly stated it would be “all participants.” Now she was ready to bet with Qinglong again.

“Let’s hear it.”

“Let’s bet on how I’ll die,” Earth-Dragon said. “Do you guess I’ll ultimately be killed by you or gambled to death by them?”

After hearing this, Qinglong’s expression darkened, and he said nothing.

“If you guess wrong, then you’ll agree to one request from me,” Earth-Dragon added.

Qinglong said, “Tell me the ‘request’ first.”

“I haven’t thought of it yet. I just want to ask if you dare to bet.”

After pondering for a while, Qinglong felt the current situation was becoming increasingly irritating.

From the beginning until now, this game had been filled with a bizarre atmosphere. This feeling of an uncertain future made him agitated.

“I have no reason to be afraid,” Qinglong said. “I’ll bet with you. I bet you’ll be gambled to death by the participants.”

“Good! It’s a deal!” Earth-Dragon said with a smile.

……

Chen Junnan and Jin Yuanxun stood in the room, staring at each other wide-eyed.

“Damn…” Jin Yuanxun cursed with his hands on his hips. “Bro, what the hell are you doing? Huh?”

“A piercing arrow to the heart, of course.” Chen Junnan smiled. “Your bro single-handedly hard-controlled three of you for three minutes, that’s nine minutes total. Are you impressed or not?”

“What good does it do if I’m impressed?!” Jin Yuanxun was completely speechless. “Aren’t you just causing trouble?”

“You should ask your bro when he’s ever not caused trouble.”

Chen Junnan stepped forward, wrapped his arm around Jin Yuanxun’s shoulder, and pulled him toward the door.

“Little Jin, don’t waste time. Let’s hurry and enter the bridal chamber.”

“…?”

“I mean, let’s enter the game room,” Chen Junnan corrected himself.

“Hey, bro,” Jin Yuanxun said. “Entering the room is fine, but there’s one thing I must confirm with you.”

“Speak.”

“Where’s your ‘character’?” Jin Yuanxun said. “Just now I searched you thoroughly, very carefully. You don’t have any ‘character’ hidden on you. Where did you put it?”

“I don’t have a ‘character,'” Chen Junnan said. “Didn’t I tell you to hurry up? Do you know why you need to hurry?”

“Huh?”

“If you don’t hurry, that little dragon lady will discover this and come down to kill me again,” Chen Junnan said. “I can only hold out a bit longer than Xu Liunian, so give your bro a way to survive and enter the door with me.”

“Ah?!” Jin Yuanxun’s mouth dropped open.

Not bringing a “character,” intruding into the opponent’s territory, and triggering a game with the opponent… was this really not against the rules?!

“Ref—Referee!!” Jin Yuanxun looked up and shouted. “This… this person, on him…”

Chen Junnan immediately reached out to cover Jin Yuanxun’s mouth. “Little Jin! You’re being rude! How can a child interrupt when adults are talking…”

He practically dragged Jin Yuanxun through the door.

This was a very simple venue with only a table and a “Zodiac.” It looked like there were no game props at all.

That “Zodiac” was a “Snake.”

As soon as Chen Junnan entered, he immediately rushed forward and said to Man-Snake, “Quick, quick, quick, we’re not out of time yet, right? Quickly give me back my ‘character’!”

“Huh…?” Jin Yuanxun froze.

But the next second, he saw Man-Snake pull out two “characters” from his chest and hand them to Chen Junnan.

So it wasn’t that he didn’t bring the “characters”—he had simply entered this door earlier and handed the “characters” to the referee.