Shen Mo didn’t even look at her. Instead, he turned to the youngest among them — Pan Xiaoxin. “Are you scared?”

Pan Xiaoxin’s young face was taut.

He was young, and had never entered a game alone. To say he wasn’t scared would be a lie — but he shook his head firmly and tried to reason through it as clearly as he could:

“If we don’t go after the swords, Weiwei Jie is going to die! As long as the game type isn’t physical combat, even if I’m on my own… I’ll give everything I’ve got!”

“I’m not scared either!” Tan Xiao said, then faltered slightly, his voice dropping a notch. “…As long as it’s not a battle of wits…”

Shen Mo felt a measure of steadiness return to him. He was right — the number of people on each side mattered less than whether the game type worked in their favor.

He looked up at the inspector. “These six remaining games you mentioned — what types are they?”

“The specific types cannot be revealed, but you will be able to see the characteristic dimensions of each game.” Tu Shenshi gave a light wave of its hand, and small clusters of light appeared on each column, displaying simplified dimension charts.

They fell broadly into three categories: physical, intellectual, and mental.

Shen Mo was disappointed to find that all six games placed heavy demands on both physical ability and intelligence. No wonder the inspector had been so willing to let them view the dimension charts — by any measure, these were six considerably difficult games.

Pan Xiaoxin chose the game with the lowest physical demand.

The remaining five were not significantly different from one another. Shen Mo wasn’t sure what kind of challenge the “mental” category would pose, so he let Tan Xiao pick the one with the lowest mental requirement.

After that, he and Teacher Cheng made their own choices quickly.

Bai Youwei watched them choose their games, and a profound sadness welled up inside her. Her nose stung, and her eyes grew red.

She didn’t want to see them like this.

The inspector turned to Villard. “And your side — how do you intend to allocate your people among the six remaining games?”

Villard smiled carelessly. “Games with no opponents obviously don’t need to waste manpower — two people will be more than enough. The old man and the child don’t need too much attention either, so assign three people there. As for the young and able-bodied…”

His gaze drifted back and forth between Shen Mo and Tan Xiao, a smile in his eyes that held no goodwill. “Ten people. Twenty-five people. If they can’t beat a single opponent, they deserve to die.”

The last sentence was clearly directed at his own subjects.

Tan Xiao pointed at Villard. “I’ll take that as a compliment — you clearly know how capable I am, assigning ten people to deal with me.”

Villard gave a cold, dismissive snort and addressed the inspector as if Tan Xiao hadn’t spoken. “The assignments are set. Can we begin now?”

His lips curved upward. “I, for one… can barely wait.”

Tu Shenshi: “If both parties are in agreement, the decisive battle may commence immediately.”

Bai Youwei lowered her head and finally couldn’t hold back the tears.

She hated this beginning.

She hated herself!

Why was she using the lives of the people she cared about most as chips in a gamble for victory?!

The tears kept falling, her vision blurring completely.

Shen Mo cradled her face in his hands and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

His forehead pressed against hers. Warm breath intertwined between them. After a long moment, he said only one thing:

“Wait for us to come back.”

“Don’t…” Bai Youwei choked, clutching his arm, tears still falling. “Let’s just… let’s just forget it…”

She was afraid. She was backing down.

She could not bear the thought of the worst possible outcome.

“We can’t forget it.” Shen Mo held her hand. “Weiwei, I want you to win. We all want you to win. Do you understand?”

Bai Youwei closed her eyes and nodded hard.

“Good… As long as you understand.” Shen Mo’s voice was pained too. He bent down and kissed her gently. “Don’t make me say any words of farewell — because I will absolutely come back. So don’t you say them either. Understood?”

She drew a deep breath and pressed back against the wave of tears threatening to break through. “All right. I won’t say them… Neither of us will.”

…

—