The display panel inside the voting booth had only 8 numbers lit up. Number 11 was pressed down by the rabbit and couldn’t be seen.

Yu Chaohui stood before the screen, his expression lost. He never could have imagined that in a game, he and Fang Yu would end up in direct opposition to Bai Youwei.

Bai Youwei and Shen Mo clearly had a close relationship. And their original intention had been to seek out Shen Mo. Now they were turning around to go after Bai Youwei — no matter how he thought about it, this felt deeply wrong.

But……

The glasses-wearing man’s point had merit too. This was a game, and games inevitably produced winners and losers. There was no need to concern himself with personal ties.

If only Bai Youwei weren’t the X-Guest……

His gaze swept across each number on the panel.

The suspicious ones weren’t limited to Bai Youwei alone. That blue-eyed man in the suit was quite suspicious too, wasn’t he? After so many rounds of voting, the suited man should have long since realized that his eye color was actually blue — and yet he was still staying in the red-eyes group. Why?

Yu Chaohui turned this over in his mind. The more he thought about it, the more suspicious the suited man seemed.

If he were honest, it wasn’t so much that he found the suited man suspicious — it was that he wanted the suited man to be suspicious. Because if the suited man was the X-Guest, then this game could end in a perfect resolution for everyone!

No need to go after Bai Youwei. No need to feel like he’d betrayed Commander Shen. No need to keep trying to talk Fang Yu out of it.

Yu Chaohui held his breath and cast his vote on number 14.

……

Fang Yu and the glasses-wearing man were the only ones who hadn’t voted yet.

The glasses-wearing man watched Yu Chaohui walk out completely unscathed and knew he’d certainly never gone near number 11. He couldn’t help but let his contempt show.

Such a hesitant, timid man — how had he ever made it into the qualifying match?

The glasses-wearing man swept a disdainful glance his way, then looked back toward Fang Yu.

Compared to Yu Chaohui, he much preferred the expression on Fang Yu’s face — resolute, iron-willed, and relentlessly determined to see things through to the end.

Truly a pleasure to behold……

The glasses-wearing man curled his lips into a smile and said aloud: “Is it my turn? I’ll vote for number 11.”

His voice wasn’t quiet. Both Bai Youwei and the short-haired woman heard it clearly, and they looked over with strange expressions.

“See her face?” The glasses-wearing man lowered his voice, leaning close to Fang Yu’s ear. “She’s nervous. Nervous that her toy rabbit is about to be exposed for a fraud…… She must be the X-Guest.”

Fang Yu’s face was rigidly set.

The glasses-wearing man smiled, took the porcelain cup in hand, deliberately let everyone see it, then stepped into the voting booth.

The fluffy rabbit was still atop the display panel, motionless. The moment anyone came close, it would crackle and spit electric sparks, looking ready to launch an attack at any second.

The glasses-wearing man smiled softly.

He wasn’t foolish enough to use himself as a test subject.

At this point in the proceedings, it didn’t matter much who was eliminated. Either way…… the winner was going to be him.

If he had to pick someone, he might as well choose that short-haired woman — fierce as a man, terrifying to look at. The sooner she was eliminated, the better. He never wanted to run into her again.

The short-haired woman… she’d be number 3 or number 7, probably?

The glasses-wearing man deliberated a moment and pressed number 7, then turned to leave the voting booth —

Just as he reached the door, he slid his right hand into the porcelain cup and gripped his right hand tightly with his left, his face carrying the expression of someone enduring pain as he slowly walked out.

The people in the plaza watched him.

The glasses-wearing man swept his gaze across the whole group. Then, with a smile at Fang Yu, he raised his voice and declared:

“I’m fine! Just like we thought — that rabbit’s charge is limited. It can’t actually kill anyone!”

Bai Youwei’s brow furrowed slightly. A bad feeling rose in her heart.

The glasses-wearing man performed convincingly as he walked over to Fang Yu’s side, shook out his hand, and passed him the porcelain cup, saying: “Just move fast enough and you’ll be fine…… Getting shocked really is unpleasant. My hand is still numb.”

—