Wen Qiaoyun told Chu Tianqiu everything that had happened between her and Han Yimo inside the “door.”

There was a very nervous “pig” there whose voice even trembled when speaking.

Moreover, that “pig” had mentioned “collaborator” and “gambling with life.” Although Wen Qiaoyun herself didn’t fully understand these meanings, she still conveyed them word for word to Chu Tianqiu.

Before Chu Tianqiu could respond after hearing this, Doctor Zhao and Chen Junnan burst through the door in a flurry.

“Hmm…?” Chu Tianqiu looked toward Chen Junnan with his usual expression. “Doctor Zhao, what’s this?”

“This is a fake Chen Junnan…” Doctor Zhao said. “When I was with him, we didn’t trigger a game.”

“I’m Xu Liunian…” Chen Junnan said. “It was too dangerous just now… Chen Junnan disguised himself as me and came to attack. Now he has Jin Yuanxun trapped in a game venue.”

Upon hearing this, Chu Tianqiu’s eyes flickered rarely for half a second, then he said with displeasure in his tone: “This is absurd… you let Chen Junnan and Jin Yuanxun go one-on-one…?”

“I had no better option at the time!” Xu Liunian said. “If we didn’t hurry and find a way to distinguish who was fake, I would have died there!”

“You…” Chu Tianqiu slowly frowned.

Some words were indeed hurtful to say, but for the “Chariot” on Xu Liunian, the “Pawn” on Jin Yuanxun was more important.

In this situation, to ensure the “Pawn” on Jin Yuanxun wasn’t affected, what did it matter if Xu Liunian died?

“What game did the two of them enter?” Chu Tianqiu asked.

“It seems to be ‘Si,'” Doctor Zhao explained. “At first we were all in that room marked with ‘Si,’ then Doctor Zhao and I went to another room, so they locked the door.”

Chu Tianqiu knew the situation had become even worse.

The game type of the “Si Snake” represented what…?

It was “cunning” or “Q&A.” Whichever of these two aspects it was, Jin Yuanxun couldn’t possibly be Chen Junnan’s match.

“Oh right… there’s something else…” Wen Qiaoyun suddenly thought of something and spoke with a troubled expression. “Just now I passed by the ‘River Path’… and saw Zhang Shan lying there…”

“‘Lying’…?” Chu Tianqiu’s expression darkened again, as if he didn’t understand the meaning of this word. “By himself?”

“Yes,” Wen Qiaoyun nodded. “I didn’t see anyone else in the ‘River Path’… but the entire ‘River Path’ was covered with blood splatters.”

After hearing this, Chu Tianqiu naturally became suspicious. Zhang Shan collapsed there alone?

How many people in this place could take down Zhang Shan without using “Echo”?

The answer was three.

Qiao Jiajin, Qinglong, Earth-Dragon.

Zhang Shan naturally couldn’t have violated rules. Everyone had just seen Earth-Dragon descend from the sky, but she had landed in their own area to handle the “real and fake Chen Junnan” incident, not to punish Zhang Shan.

In other words, Zhang Shan had been taken down by Qiao Jiajin.

But where was Qiao Jiajin?

“Did you see any traces of blood being dragged across the ground…?” Chu Tianqiu asked again.

After hearing this, Wen Qiaoyun carefully recalled and said: “There were no drag marks on the ground, only countless blood spots.”

“How very strange…” Chu Tianqiu said, lowering his head. “If there are no drag marks on the ground… it can only mean that Qiao Jiajin left on his own, or was carried away on someone’s back or in their arms.”

Upon careful consideration, the latter was basically impossible.

On the opposing side were five males and two females.

But among these five males, excluding Qiao Jiajin himself, Zheng Yingxiong was a child, Chen Junnan was causing trouble on their side, Han Yimo was also in a game with Wen Qiaoyun during that time period—how could the remaining two females carry away or hold over a hundred pounds of Qiao Jiajin without leaving a trace?

Not to mention the two of them—even with Han Yimo’s build, if he wanted to take Qiao Jiajin away, he would definitely choose to drag him across the ground, thus leaving drag marks.

But if the ground was very clean…

“Qiao Jiajin should still be mobile…” Chu Tianqiu said. “It’s possible that after taking down Zhang Shan, he left on his own.”

Only now did Chu Tianqiu realize how critical the situation was. Zhang Shan’s condition was unclear and he’d most likely lost consciousness. If they now also lost Xu Liunian, their team could basically declare defeat.

“Still mobile…?” Wen Qiaoyun frowned at this point, turned to look across the distance toward Qi Xia’s camp, and spoke softly: “Tianqiu… I think with that amount of blood loss, even if he can still move, he must be severely injured.”

“That’s still a soldier who can carry ‘characters,'” Chu Tianqiu said. “We now only have six people, but they have seven.”

After hearing this, Wen Qiaoyun thought for a few seconds and said: “Tianqiu… do you think it’s possible… that Qiao Jiajin actually also collapsed, and Qi Xia came out himself to take him away?”

After hearing this, Chu Tianqiu’s brow furrowed slightly, then he carefully considered Wen Qiaoyun’s statement.

Qi Xia… crossed through the “battle zone” where he might encounter Wen Qiaoyun and Yan Zhichun to reach the “River Path” and personally took Qiao Jiajin away?

“I don’t think so,” Chu Tianqiu said.

“Why…?” Wen Qiaoyun didn’t understand.

“You might not understand Qi Xia… what an extremely rational person he is,” Chu Tianqiu said. “When you send out a chess piece to attack the opponent’s piece, regardless of victory or defeat, the ‘Commander’ should never personally enter the field. Qi Xia himself knows this principle. He knows how to win the match, so he won’t act impulsively in this matter.”

“Really…?” Wen Qiaoyun’s eyes seemed somewhat sad. “Even if the one fighting is someone he cares about deeply… he absolutely wouldn’t go check whether they’re dead or alive?”

“This isn’t a question of caring or not caring,” Chu Tianqiu said. “For example… suppose when Qi Xia arrived at the scene, it was Qiao Jiajin who had been taken down. Then Zhang Shan might press his advantage and continue to take down Qi Xia. This game can only be scored by the ‘Commander.’ Once Qi Xia falls, the entire team will die. So from an absolutely rational perspective, he needs to preserve the entire team’s lives, not just Qiao Jiajin’s life alone… so Qi Xia won’t do something so out of line.”

Although Chu Tianqiu kept saying that Qi Xia was an absolutely rational person, Wen Qiaoyun felt that Chu Tianqiu was even more rational than him.

Because at this moment Zhang Shan was still lying in the “River Path,” and his “Commander” was true to his word—he hadn’t thought about going to see him, and hadn’t even asked whether he was dead or alive.

“Is it possible…” Wen Qiaoyun seemed to still have questions and said in a low voice, “that Qi Xia believed Qiao Jiajin would definitely win the fight… so he went?”