When Xu Fang He finished speaking, everyone expressed their agreement, feeling this was the most reliable and secure approach.

True, crossing out numbers would expose their own numbers — but their exposure would be matched by the blue team’s exposure. This gave the process a somewhat equal-trade quality.

Unless their luck was particularly bad and the blue team handed over numbers that were all yellow-eyes, forcing them to cross out three numbers on their own.

But the probability of that was genuinely low.

Bai Youwei listened to their discussion in silence.

As a red-eyed player herself, she naturally didn’t want the red-eyed faction to be caught in a pincer attack from both sides.

The reason she had voted for Number 1 in the previous round was that she didn’t want the numerical gap between factions to become too large. If the red-eyes used their numerical advantage to easily wipe out the yellow-eyes and then the blue-eyes — and yet the X-Guest happened to be hiding among the red-eyes — what then?

That would be the worst possible outcome.

Within the same faction, order would collapse, trust would shatter, and whoever held the power of speech could effortlessly crush the remaining players.

Yes — the three leaders who held the power of speech.

One of those three leaders was definitely the X-Guest.

Because for the X-Guest to win this game, they would need to demonstrate an overwhelming desire for control to ensure their own survival through every round of voting. Going with the flow or simply following the crowd’s votes would absolutely not work.

Xu Fang He could be the X-Guest. The Black man from the blue-eyed faction could also be the X-Guest. Then there was the white companion beside the Black man, and the short-haired woman leading the red-eyed team…

Bai Youwei clearly remembered the overseer’s exact words:

“After five rounds of voting, five players will remain. If these five players all share the same eye color, then congratulations — you have cleared the game and earned your registration qualification!

“But if the five players’ eye colors are not all the same… then it’s a loss — and only the X-Guest wins the game!”

So frantically eliminating the other colors right now was not a wise move. Finding out who the X-Guest was — that was the most pressing task.

Bai Youwei lowered her gaze, unhurriedly stroking the plush rabbit in her arms. Not being able to use violence was truly such a pity…

Otherwise, she could just shock them one by one. Sooner or later she’d find the X-Guest — and she wouldn’t need to rack her brain like this.

……

After some deliberation, Xu Fang He took the bespectacled man with him and went out to negotiate cooperation with the blue-eyed players. He also sent the silk-scarf woman and some others to keep watch on the red-eyed faction, preventing any sudden moves on their part.

Bai Youwei had no assigned task and idled in place, playing with her rabbit.

She couldn’t possibly have a task, of course — she was a red-eyed player, and the yellow-eyes would instinctively remain on guard against her.

About an hour later, Xu Fang He returned with the bespectacled man.

And brought back three numbers with him:

17, 22, 26.

One person’s face immediately changed color. They hesitated and said, “Dr. Xu Fang… my number is 22…”

Xu Fang He drew a line through Number 22, then asked the others: “Do either of the remaining two numbers belong to any of you?”

Everyone looked around at one another. No one spoke.

Xu Fang He folded the paper and handed it to the bespectacled man. “In that case, we can confirm that Numbers 17 and 26 belong to red-eyes. Please deliver this to the other side.”

The bespectacled man nodded, conscientiously tucked the paper into his inner breast pocket, then slipped out under the cover of the now-dark sky.

When he returned again, he brought back a new set of numbers:

17, 23, 26.

Xu Fang He made the final call: “For Round Two voting, we vote for these three numbers.”

Bai Youwei quietly looked at the paper.

Of the three numbers the yellow-eyed faction had provided — 2, 23, and 25 — Numbers 2 and 25 had both been crossed out. This meant both of those numbers belonged to blue-eyes.

—