Qi Xia took Lawyer Zhang’s “火” (huo, fire) and scored a point on the screen, then asked her for “包” (bao) and formed “炮” (pao, cannon).

So far, thirteen points total.

Qi Xia lowered his head to study the character “包,” discovering that like the character “八,” although theoretically it could be separated, in this game it was firmly welded together—even slight force couldn’t budge it in the slightest.

“It seems the ‘characters’ in this game have been calculated,” Qi Xia said. “Not every ‘character’ can be separated without restrictions.”

“Isn’t that right?” Chen Junnan said. “That old guy Qinglong doesn’t want us to win too quickly, but also doesn’t want us to win too hard.”

Qi Xia tried combining the available “characters” at hand again, discovering he could no longer form any other possibilities.

Aside from his own “兵” (bing, soldier) and Qiao Jiajin’s “相” (xiang, minister), even if the remaining “characters” could be seized, they would yield very few points.

The urgent priority was to take down the “仕” (shi, scholar) on Zhang Shan and the “卒” (zu, pawn) on Jin Yuanxun.

“So did you see the character ‘人’ (ren, person) on Chu Tianqiu’s screen?” Qi Xia suddenly changed topics and asked again.

“Uh…”

Chen Junnan felt Qi Xia was making things a bit difficult for him. Although he had seen the other side’s screen, at most he’d only glanced at it.

He wasn’t even certain he could successfully reach the other side’s “Preparation Area”—how could he have thought to memorize the characters on the other side’s screen in advance?

“It seems like there wasn’t… but it also seems like there was…” Chen Junnan was somewhat uncertain. “If I’d known, I would’ve asked Little Chu to move aside and let Master Chen take a good look.”

“It’s fine,” Qi Xia said. “The fact that you could bring back a ‘巾’ shows you acted well enough. Just find another opportunity to look again.”

“Ha… Master Chen was thinking the same thing.” Chen Junnan nodded with a smile.

“It’s probably unavoidable. Master Chen not running into anyone from the other side just now was good luck,” Chen Junnan said. “But the other side will definitely use this move to test whether Master Chen is the real Xu Liunian or a fake one. What they didn’t expect is that once they’re in the same room with me and discover I’m fake, they’ll have no choice but to enter that ‘different door’ with me. Master Chen’s move is essentially a suicide attack—it’ll definitely throw the other side into chaos.”

“‘Suicide’ is unnecessary,” Qi Xia said. “Just the ‘attack’ part is fine.”

“That works too,” Chen Junnan nodded. “First the ‘attack,’ we can discuss the suicide part later.”

“Good.” Qi Xia looked at Zhang Chenze and Zheng Yingxiong again. “Now there are fewer people on the ‘front line.’ You two continue blocking the others—don’t give them any chance to enter our ‘Preparation Area.'”

Chen Junnan naturally understood Qi Xia’s meaning. In this game, once you could enter the other side’s “Preparation Area,” you didn’t even need to shatter their screen—just looking at the “characters” on their screen would absolutely count as valuable intelligence.

For example, the “米” (mi, rice) on Qi Xia’s screen—Chen Junnan still didn’t know how it had been assembled.

But once Little Chu saw this character, he would definitely be able to figure out how to imitate it.

“Leave ‘火’ here with me. ‘車’ will continue to be carried by Zheng Yingxiong,” Qi Xia said. “The ‘Preparation Area’ can’t store ‘characters.’ Currently I’m carrying three parts on me—’丘’ (qiu), ‘八’ (ba), and ‘火’ (huo). A ‘character’ can be composed of three parts, so storing three parts shouldn’t count as a violation.”

“Are you certain?” Chen Junnan said. “Do you want me to help you split up ‘火’?”

“You and Zheng Yingxiong both now have two characters on you. You have ‘包’ and ‘巾,’ he has two ‘車.’ Logically speaking, neither is safe,” Qi Xia said. “But you should always keep your guard up. If you really gamble against the other side, don’t pull out all your ‘characters’ at once. Find a way to make them believe you only have one ‘character’ on you.”

The three people each nodded, while Qi Xia kept the three radicals “丘,” “八,” and “火.”

Now the “characters” on the other side could be guessed with eighty or ninety percent certainty.

What could be confirmed was that Jin Yuanxun had “卒,” and Chu Tianqiu held “將” (jiang, general)—these two most useful “characters” were held by the two people least likely to have them stolen.

Xu Liunian impersonated Chen Junnan but was seen through by Zheng Yingxiong who stole her “character,” so she had “車.”

Yan Zhichun gave Chen Junnan a “包,” so she had “砲” (pao, cannon). Now she had a “石” (shi, stone) remaining.

By the same logic, among the first batch of people who crossed the river was also Wen Qiaoyun. She entered the “door” with Han Yimo to start a match. Now the only chess piece that could cross the river was “馬” (ma, horse), so Wen Qiaoyun had “馬.”

This unimportant “character” meant it didn’t matter whether she or Han Yimo won or lost.

“As for the remaining people…” Qi Xia squinted as he pondered, feeling the situation wasn’t difficult to analyze.

The only “characters” the other side hadn’t revealed were “象” (xiang, elephant) and “仕” (shi, scholar).

And the only people on the other side whose identities weren’t confirmed were Doctor Zhao and Zhang Shan.

Doctor Zhao absolutely couldn’t be carrying “仕” on him, because he was too timid and weak—he might directly lose this “character.”

So the “character” on him was the useless “象.”

And the remaining “仕”… was held by that insurmountable mountain.

At this very moment, someone was preparing to topple that mountain.

……

Qiao Jiajin had already finished his warm-up activities. Turning his head, he saw a Chen Junnan open their side’s door and come to the “River Path.”

“Junnan Boy, phasing through walls again?” Qiao Jiajin asked.

“Old Qiao, this time it’s not as simple as ‘phasing through walls,'” Chen Junnan said. “This time I’m preparing to phase through their hearts.”

“Mm? How fierce.”

“Was there any movement from the other side just now?” Chen Junnan asked.

“Specifically what?”

“Can you determine which room has people in it?” Chen Junnan said. “Master Chen needs to go wander around over there now. It’ll be troublesome if I open a door and see someone.”

“I can’t tell from standing in the ‘River Path,'” Qiao Jiajin answered. “I only know that Qiaoyun Girl is in the room behind me, playing a game with Writing Boy.”

“Little Han has an eighty percent chance of losing,” Chen Junnan said. “They entered ‘Hai’—it’s fundamentally a ‘luck’ game. Wen Qiaoyun is clever—even if it’s rock-paper-scissors, she can use her brain to win.”

“I don’t know either…” Qiao Jiajin shook his head. “But doesn’t Writing Boy still have his ‘Echo’?”

“That broken ‘Echo’ of his… if he doesn’t activate it, there’s still a possibility he could win. Once he activates it, it basically announces his defeat,” Chen Junnan said. “In games, the only ‘disaster’ he can summon is ‘failure,’ since the more he fears ‘failure,’ the more easily he ‘fails.'”

As the two were talking, a door on the opposite side slowly opened. Zhang Shan and Yan Zhichun were standing inside.