“Kid,” the Man-Snake said. “Although you say in words that you’re establishing a central organization that both sides can trust… what about the actual situation?”

“Oh?” Jin Yuanxun blinked. “What actual situation?”

“That so-called ‘Tiantang Kou’—were you in it?” the Man-Snake asked.

“Yes.”

“Now looking back… did you gain the trust of the ‘Zodiac,’ or did you gain the trust of the ‘Participants’?” the Man-Snake asked again.

That short sentence stabbed into Jin Yuanxun like a sharp sword, leaving him speechless.

Although ‘Tiantang Kou’ had indeed worked hard toward that goal in the beginning, with leader Chu Tianqiu going so far as to trade corpses’ eyeballs with the ‘Zodiac’ to obtain food for the ‘Participants.’

But the ‘Participants’ didn’t trust him, and neither did the ‘Zodiac.’

“So the answer has basically been confirmed…” the Man-Snake said with a hint of regret. “Even if this answer seems reasonable, it’s wrong in practice. Not only is it difficult for both sides to trust this organization, even the enemy army would find it hard to trust it.”

Chen Junnan looked at the Earth-Snake: “Are you certain…?”

“This answer is similar to your theory—it might sound feasible, but it’s extremely difficult to implement in practice,” the Man-Snake said. “You say both sides each send one person to the central area to establish a central organization, but how can we confirm that the person sent by the other side is truly from the other mountaintop…? If we send someone to verify, we’ll fall back into the original dilemma.”

“Uh…”

“Moreover, the people in this organization are dressed in enemy army clothing all day long. When our own people go to deliver messages, how can they be certain this organization hasn’t been infiltrated by the enemy army? If such an organization could truly be established, no one would trust it completely.”

Jin Yuanxun had thought he’d given a fairly decent answer, but now it seemed ridiculously wrong.

Not only was the answer wrong, even ‘Tiantang Kou’ itself was wrong.

But Chu Tianqiu never dared tell the ‘Participants’ that he was making deals with the ‘Zodiac,’ nor dared tell the ‘Zodiac’ that their goal was to gamble the lives of all ‘Zodiac’ members.

Called an intermediary organization, it was more like a double agent.

No side thought Chu Tianqiu was a good person, and no one was grateful to ‘Tiantang Kou’ from the bottom of their hearts.

“Let me ask you both again,” the Man-Snake continued. “If we compare Chu Tianqiu and Qi Xia to two generals, knowing full well that someone above is listening in, how would they launch an attack at the same time?”

“…?”

The two hadn’t expected the Man-Snake to suddenly change the topic to ask about this matter, and couldn’t help but freeze for a moment.

“Wait a minute,” Chen Junnan said. “You don’t even know about ‘Tiantang Kou,’ yet you know little Chu?”

“I have a lot of time to move around on the ‘Train,'” the Man-Snake said. “And enough time to chat with anyone. There are probably very few ‘Zodiac’ members who don’t know Chu Tianqiu’s famous name.”

Chen Junnan still felt something was off: “But aren’t you afraid that what you’re saying now will be overheard…”

“Qinglong is on the other side of the ‘door,’ right?” the Earth-Snake said. “He’s far too far away from me, so he probably can’t hear what I’m saying.”

“‘Far’…?” Chen Junnan turned to look at that ‘door,’ not knowing how the Man-Snake defined ‘far’—he and Qinglong were only separated by a simple, shabby door.

“If I’m not mistaken, the method Qi Xia used was suggestion,” the Man-Snake said. “Through countless suggestions, he made Chu Tianqiu subconsciously initiate action, striving to make this time point completely consistent with his own planning.”

“Huh…?” Chen Junnan felt the Man-Snake was about to say something he couldn’t understand at all.

“During this period, Chu Tianqiu didn’t know the plan, and Qi Xia himself didn’t know the plan either,” the Man-Snake continued. “So no enemy army could intercept the ‘messenger’ midway to thwart this breakthrough, and they couldn’t even capture anyone to inquire about this matter. Even if the enemy army could storm the mountaintop and capture Qi Xia or Chu Tianqiu alone, they still couldn’t determine the full picture of this affair.”

“Wait a minute… what exactly are you?” Chen Junnan asked. “Why am I getting a bit confused? Aren’t you one of the ‘enemy army’?”

“No, I’m a messenger,” the Man-Snake said. “I was sent out a very long time ago, but unfortunately I haven’t reached the other mountaintop yet.”

Chen Junnan and Jin Yuanxun looked at each other, somewhat unable to grasp the current situation.

“Can you two speak with authority in your respective teams?” the Man-Snake asked again.

“Uh… more or less,” Chen Junnan said. “I’m number two or three, and Little Jin he…”

Chen Junnan paused, realizing that Jin Yuanxun’s status might be similar to his own.

“I need you to tell Qi Xia and Chu Tianqiu, without letting Qinglong notice…” the Man-Snake leaned forward and said in a low voice, “The ‘Cangjie Chess’ area they’re in is the ‘Train.'”

“Huh…?”

The Man-Snake’s voice was very soft, echoing lightly in the game venue for half a second before disappearing.

“Wait… hold on…” Chen Junnan said. “Are you pulling our leg…”

“Remember, the area they’re in is the ‘Train,'” the Man-Snake repeated.

The two stared quietly at the Man-Snake, momentarily at a loss for words.

“We’ve gone off topic,” the Man-Snake said. “Kid, your answer this time can’t be considered correct, so the victor is Chen Junnan.”

“Ah?” Jin Yuanxun only then snapped back to reality, then nodded hesitantly.

At this moment, he simply had no energy to argue, only feeling that everything he’d done over these many years had all been futile.

Fortunately, his memories weren’t preserved for long—most of that hardship had already been forgotten.

Chen Junnan changed from his previous cynical attitude, only feeling that the Man-Snake before him was truly no simple character. When he was in the interview room earlier, he had never imagined he would have so many ideas.

After returning, he must have Qi Xia come chat with him. After all, according to what he said, at this moment Qinglong had already gone deaf, and now everyone could discuss anything.

Moreover, every question this Man-Snake had raised after the two entered seemed to have implied meaning.

Survivorship bias, the coordinated attack problem.

It seemed to allude to everyone, yet also seemed to refer to Qi Xia and Chu Tianqiu.

Those who didn’t want to resist had already resigned themselves to their fate, while only a minority were resisting.

So could these few who were resisting… turn this place completely upside down for the sake of their own will?

If they could, then how would Qi Xia and Chu Tianqiu join forces under these circumstances where they were monitored and surveilled twenty-four hours a day?