If there was only one King in a battle — what would happen?

Bai Youwei looked toward the Rabbit-Headed Gentleman, bewildered.

“You are fortunate.” The monitor smiled at her from nearby. “Congratulations — you have advanced. When the fourth battle concludes, you will proceed directly to the final battle.”

“Directly?” Bai Youwei was taken aback again. “There’s no one-month preparation period?”

“Once the fourth battle’s game settlement is complete, the final battle will be initiated. Time to initiation: twenty-four hours.”

“What are the rules of the final battle? How many subjects need to participate?” Bai Youwei couldn’t help furrowing her brows. “We don’t know anything at all — what are we supposed to do to prepare in twenty-four hours?”

“To ensure fairness, the rules will not be revealed in advance until the winner of Battle 20 has been determined. But you can take some comfort in this…” The Rabbit-Headed Gentleman smiled. “The final battle has no participant limit.”

The tension in Bai Youwei’s chest eased slightly.

With no participant minimum, she would at least not be eliminated for having too few subjects. But then again…

With no participant ceiling either, she would still be at a disadvantage — unless the opposing King had even fewer people than her!

The anxiety that had just settled came rushing back!

Bai Youwei bit her lower lip and looked at Shen Mo beside her.

They needed to keep recruiting subjects — never mind compatibility, never mind coordination. Before the fourth battle ended, the more the better!

—

The drifting white mist gradually dispersed. Fu Miaoxue looked around and finally spotted Du Lai.

She walked quickly to his side, muttering, “What on earth is this place? Where’s the monitor?”

“Easy, let’s look around first.” Du Lai surveyed the surroundings with caution.

An expanse of wasteland.

Beneath their feet was yellow-brown sandy soil. Nearby were several small earthen mounds, and beyond them, something like smog or haze obscured the distance, forming a triangular barrier on all sides that made it impossible to see clearly.

Several young people emerged one by one from behind the mounds — Fu Miaoxue’s subjects, all of them carefully studying the environment.

“Is everyone here?” Fu Miaoxue asked.

Du Lai counted, then nodded. “All ten are accounted for. No sign of the enemy King — can’t confirm whether they’re in a different location.”

Yan Qingwen waved them over. “There’s something over here.”

Everyone gathered, and found beside Yan Qingwen a white cylindrical structure, about waist-height, with a glowing light at the top. Above the light hovered a miniature three-dimensional projection of Fu Miaoxue.

“What is that?” one of the subjects asked.

No one could answer.

“Welcome, all of you.”

An aged, raspy voice sounded from behind them. Everyone startled and spun around.

A monitor wearing a pure white mask and a gray-brown robe stood in the distance. His voice carried over with no inflection whatsoever:

“Welcome to this battle. I am the monitor for this game, and I will now explain the rules.

This battle’s theme is ‘Three Kingdoms Conflict.’

Participants consist of three Kings, each occupying one triangular territory with sides of three hundred meters — the land you are standing on now. Identical territories like this one total thirty-six across the entire map.

At the center of each territory is a sensor. Touch it with your wristwatch to change the territory’s ownership.

After thirty-six hours, the King with the most territories wins.

Do you have any questions?”

The gray-robed elder stood still, waiting for the Kings to speak.

Fu Miaoxue’s brow was tightly creased. The game rules were not her preferred type, and rather than a one-on-one confrontation, there were two enemies simultaneously — which meant that while she was dealing with one enemy, she also had to guard against being outmaneuvered by the other.

Du Lai asked, “Are there no restrictions on changing ownership? So the moment I claim a territory, someone could turn around and steal it back?”

The monitor: “Each change grants a ten-minute safety window. No one can operate the sensor during those ten minutes.”

Du Lai’s brow furrowed.

Just ten minutes…

—