Yan Qingwen said in a low, steady voice: “In any case, Song Mingchuan must have noticed something through this data. He likely concluded that the King is certain to lose, and so he directed Chu Huaijin to make these unusual moves — all to push both Kings into voluntarily withdrawing from the competition.”

“Why does it have to be this roundabout?” Li Li asked. “Why not just tell them directly?”

Yan Qingwen thought about it and raised his wrist. “Perhaps because of this.”

On his wrist was a light-sensitive wristwatch. It had once displayed the King’s mark, but ever since he surrendered, that mark had vanished.

Zhu Shu and Su Man had been demoted to commoners, so they wore no watches.

Yan Qingwen lowered his wrist and said, “There’s a theory circulating at the base — it may not be accurate, but it’s widely believed — that the game system and the monitors can track the status of every King and their subjects through these watches. Do you think Professor Song might have hesitated to speak directly to the King out of exactly this kind of concern?”

“It’s also possible…” Li Li said, his expression dazed, “…that Professor Song has already come to see the King as an enemy. I… I just remembered something. Not long ago, I went to visit Professor Song at the hospital and overheard a conversation between him and Chu Huaijin. They believed the game had descended to Earth before — possibly more than once — and they said… the reason the game keeps descending again and again might be that no King has ever survived the final battle. So where did the Kings of the past go? Those people either died, or… they’ve already become part of the game itself.”

“What happened after that?” Yan Qingwen asked, his brow creasing. “Try to remember carefully — what else did they talk about?”

Li Li shook his head blankly. “I heard them say that if the data were more detailed, there might be new discoveries. After that, I walked into the ward and the conversation stopped. Everyone’s always discussing theories and guesses about the game, so I didn’t think much of it at the time.”

“It seems Professor Song really has gotten hold of some intelligence.” Lu Yuwen looked at Yan Qingwen. “What do we do now? Should we notify Fu Miaoxue and Bai Youwei?”

Fu Miaoxue was Yan Qingwen’s King, and both Bai Youwei and Shen Mo were people Yan Qingwen was close to — by every measure of duty and personal feeling, they ought to be told.

Yan Qingwen gave a single nod. “Yes, they should be warned. Whether to continue is a decision they make themselves.”

He lowered his eyes, his gaze returning to the papers on the table.

“Bring these along too…”

—

Since the Kings had stopped staying in the headquarters building, finding them took some effort. Yan Qingwen went to the places where Shen Mo and Bai Youwei had previously lived, then went to the Shen family home, only to be told they had already left the base.

Yan Qingwen had anticipated they would go, but hadn’t expected them to leave so quickly.

He had no choice but to contact Fu Miaoxue.

Fu Miaoxue and Du Lai were still gathering supplies for their journey north. When she learned that Bai Youwei had left ahead of them, she was genuinely taken aback.

“How could she not even wait for me?” Fu Miaoxue exclaimed. “We were all supposed to go to Beijng together.”

Yan Qingwen asked, “Had you arranged that with her?”

“Oh… not exactly.” Fu Miaoxue said. “I’d just… let her know about it.”

She finished speaking and pouted with irritation: “She went ahead without me, just like that. How rude! And after I was so considerate, warning her that she could go to Beijing to recruit subjects…”

Beside her, Du Lai asked Yan Qingwen, “We’re leaving tomorrow. Is there anything you need to prepare?”

Yan Qingwen considered for a moment, then briefly filled the two of them in on the situation from Li Li.

After listening, Fu Miaoxue said with an air of indifference, “It doesn’t really matter to us — we were never planning on entering the final battle anyway. You should take that to Bai Youwei instead. From the way you’re talking, it sounds like a certain death sentence? Tsk tsk tsk… looks like Bai Youwei’s good days are coming to an end~”

Du Lai, on the other hand, was skeptical. “Those researchers spend every day analyzing things from the outside — do they really understand the game better than those of us who’ve actually been inside? The final battle is definitely dangerous, but whether it’s an unwinnable death trap? I’m not convinced.”

—