Bai Youwei thought the short-haired woman had used a very interesting word. “You said ‘manipulate’……”

“Wasn’t that what it was?” The short-haired woman gave a helpless shrug. “That bunch of yellow-eyes — all of them completely under his thumb. It’s hard to imagine. This is a qualifying match. How can there be so many people with their heads screwed on backwards?”

Then she said thoughtfully: “Though I once heard a theory — humans have an innate tendency toward role-playing. For example, when you spend time with a doctor, you unconsciously start identifying yourself as the patient. And a patient is naturally in a position of vulnerability and dependence, making it very hard to refuse the doctor’s requests.”

Bai Youwei said lightly: “In this world, everyone is already playing various roles — some can only play that one role, with no choice in the matter. Very few people ever get to be truly themselves.”

The short-haired woman, hearing this, also sighed: “That’s true. If a person could be truly themselves, what a great fortune that would be……”

She seemed to think of something, stared blankly for a moment, then abruptly ended the conversation —

“It’s getting late. Let’s go rest.”

The short-haired woman gave Bai Youwei’s shoulder a gentle pat and teased:

“We’ve got to get up in the middle of the night to vote, you know. Don’t sleep through it.”

Bai Youwei asked: “Have you figured out which number you’re voting for?”

The short-haired woman blinked: “You’ve already figured it out?”

“Mm.” Bai Youwei nodded.

The short-haired woman’s eyes went wide. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?!”

“Just thought of it.” She gave a calm smile, took the short-haired woman’s hand, and wrote a number in her palm……

……

Two in the morning.

Voting time again.

The nine people gathered once more in the plaza. Bai Youwei was first, as always.

The others, seeing her waiting at the door of the voting booth, all wore expressions of contempt, thinking Bai Youwei utterly shameless.

Her rabbit blocked her number completely — even if they wanted to vote for her, they couldn’t!

And most infuriatingly, the inspector showed no sign of stopping this obviously cheating behavior whatsoever!

If they couldn’t eliminate the X-Guest, they were going to lose either way. In that case, they might as well just vote randomly!

Nearly everyone was thinking exactly this.

After Bai Youwei came out, the short-haired woman was second to vote.

Then came the pale-skinned man from the red-eyes.

After him, the suited man — number 14.

When it was Yu Chaohui’s turn, the glasses-wearing man called out to stop him, saying tactfully: “Please wait a moment… I, I have something I want to say to you both.”

Yu Chaohui and Fang Yu exchanged a glance, both puzzled.

They followed the glasses-wearing man to one side and asked: “What is it?”

The glasses-wearing man nervously adjusted his frames and said haltingly: “Well… what I want to say is… actually everyone already knows that the X-Guest… is that woman in the wheelchair. As long as we eliminate her, the rest of us can win this game……”

Yu Chaohui shook his head: “That’s impossible. We can’t even touch her number.”

Fang Yu’s brow creased. “Tell us your plan. You came to us — you must have already thought of a way, right?”

Yu Chaohui glanced at Fang Yu. “Forget it, Fang Yu. If she wants to win, let her win……”

“I want to win,” Fang Yu said.

Yu Chaohui was taken aback. “You… what are you saying? She and Commander Shen……”

“I want to win,” Fang Yu repeated.

His expression was taut, his eyes resolute. “The world has already turned into this. What commander? Has he helped us in all this time? Looked for us? Saved us?! Chaohui, I want to save everyone — the teammates who died in the game! I want to save them! The only way to do that is to become King. Do you understand?!”

Yu Chaohui stared at Fang Yu blankly and said nothing.

Fang Yu stopped paying him any attention and turned back to the glasses-wearing man: “Speak. What’s your plan?”

The glasses-wearing man gave a flattering smile and pulled a white porcelain cup from inside his coat. “Actually it’s quite simple… use the insulated object to shield your hand, quickly swipe the rabbit away, then press number 11 as fast as you can……”

—