Both the Black man’s words and the short-haired woman’s words carried their own logic, and the suited man was torn once more. He clutched his head, his expression contorted in absolute anguish.

Bai Youwei watched the entire scene and was inwardly impressed — she found Xu Fang He to be remarkably cunning.

Without offending either camp, he had cleverly used a delay and a glance to mislead the suited man.

And yet — he had, in fact, given the truthful answer: Blue!

Whether the suited man chose to believe it was none of his concern.

Xu Fang He’s reasoning was also easy enough to understand. The more chaotic the situation, the more it benefited the yellow-eyed faction, which was the smallest in number. The ideal outcome would be to make the blue-eyed camp despise the red-eyed camp so thoroughly that every single one of their votes went to the red-eyes.

“Bastard!” The Black man seethed through gritted teeth, glaring furiously at the suited man. “Right now, both the blue-eyed side and the yellow-eyed side are saying your eyes are blue. Even so — you still refuse to believe it?!”

“Of course you can’t trust them.” Without waiting for the suited man to respond, the short-haired woman cut in contemptuously. “Our red-eyed faction has the most members. You two teams have fewer people — obviously you’re preparing to cooperate, so naturally you’re speaking with one voice.”

“You foul woman!” The Black man burst out in a string of curses. “I’m going to rip your head off!”

His companion pulled him back, gestured subtly in Bai Youwei’s direction, and whispered something in his ear.

The powerfully built Black man startled, looked over at Bai Youwei, and the rage on his face immediately dissipated.

Noticing the change in the Black man’s demeanor, the short-haired woman also cast a suspicious glance over. When she spotted Bai Youwei standing within Xu Fang He’s faction, her expression shifted immediately.

The short-haired woman led a group of red-eyed players over and planted herself in front of Bai Youwei without ceremony, looking down at her from above: “Hey — what’s going on with you? You’re clearly red-eyed. Why are you here?”

Bai Youwei looked bewildered. “…Are you talking about me?… I’m red-eyed?”

The Black man laughed loudly from not far away: “Ha! Stole one of our blue-eyes, and now you can’t wait to poach from the yellow-eyes too? Aren’t you being a little too greedy?!”

Xu Fang He remained perfectly composed. He said to Bai Youwei: “Even if I told you right now that you’re yellow-eyed, you probably wouldn’t believe me. Why not ask the people on the blue-eyed side?”

“Ask them? They’d tell the truth when pigs fly!” The short-haired woman glared daggers at Xu Fang He, her eyes full of venom. “They failed to poach from our side and ended up worse off for it — they’re still furious about that. They’d love nothing more than to see our red-eyed numbers dwindle!”

“Then what do you suggest?” Xu Fang He asked, his tone gentle. “I say she is yellow-eyed; you say she is red-eyed. This argument leads nowhere. Why not let her make her own decision?”

The bespectacled man beside Xu Fang He couldn’t hold back any longer and stepped forward: “You, there — you’re incredibly vicious! Bad enough that you deceived the blue-eyed player, and now you want to deceive our yellow-eyed player as well! Hey! That person just now — Allen, was it? Your eyes are blue! Dr. Xu Fang never deceives anyone! You’ve been taken in by that woman!”

The suited man looked over with an expression of confusion.

The tall short-haired woman couldn’t help but grit her teeth. If the standoff continued, she might not only fail to recruit Bai Youwei but also cause the suited man to start wavering again.

She was still hesitating when Bai Youwei suddenly spoke up on her own initiative: “May I ask the people on the blue-eyed side?”

Xu Fang He maintained his unruffled smile: “Of course.”

The powerfully built Black man wore the expression of someone enjoying the spectacle.

But Bai Youwei didn’t ask him. Instead, she turned her gaze toward two men in combat fatigues within the blue-eyed team, and asked in a serious tone:

“My eyes — what color are they?”

These two men — Fang Yu and Yu Chaohui — were former subordinates of Shen Mo and members of the special intelligence unit.

Yu Chaohui lowered his head, his expression troubled and opaque.

Fang Yu replied: “Your eyes… are yellow.”

—