“Qiaoyun.” Chu Tianqiu said with an unchanged expression, “I don’t know how Qi Xia gave you this kind of impression, but I’ve been in contact with him many times, and he truly is not that kind of person.”

“Is that so…?” Wen Qiaoyun knew she didn’t really understand Qi Xia, so she could only nod in bewilderment.

“I once arranged for him to participate in a Man-Dragon’s game called ‘Seesaw.'” Chu Tianqiu said, “In that game I came to know just how ruthless the current Qi Xia is—he has completely lost his humanity and is essentially a monster. It’s only been a few days since then, so how could he possibly have become an emotional person?”

“Alright…” Wen Qiaoyun nodded. After pausing for a few seconds, she took out a “character” from her pocket—”Ma” (horse).

“This is the ‘character’ from that writer’s body.” Wen Qiaoyun said, “Just like the ‘character’ on me, both are ‘Ma.'”

“Good.”

Chu Tianqiu nodded and took the “Ma,” piecing it together on the screen for a while—separately forming “Ma” (馬, horse) and “Ma” (碼, code).

The two characters swapped with each other and each served as the other’s homophone, earning two points.

Now on Chu Tianqiu’s screen there were a total of fourteen points, which were:

“Shi” (十, ten), “Cun” (寸, inch), “Xi” (夕, evening), “Cong” (從, follow), “Shi” (士, warrior), “Zhuang” (壯, strong), “Xiang” (象, elephant), “Shi” (石, stone), “Bao” (包, wrap), “Pao” (砲, cannon), “Gui” (矽, silicon), “Gan” (矸, waste rock), “Ma” (馬, horse), “Ma” (碼, code).

Although they didn’t know how many points the other side had scored, their own team was now very close to victory.

“Tianqiu.” Wen Qiaoyun called out.

“What?”

“This might not be entirely appropriate to say, but right now if you could go on the offensive, our chances of winning would be much greater.”

“Me go on the offensive…?” Chu Tianqiu furrowed his brow.

Chu Tianqiu nodded: “And then?”

“Furthermore, your level of strategic thinking is stronger than most people here.” Wen Qiaoyun continued, “If you firmly believe that Qi Xia will be waiting in the opponent’s ‘Reserve Zone,’ then we can actually do the opposite—have you, me, and Yan Zhichun separately engage the other side in contests. Before they can react, we control three people, then collect the ‘characters.’ By the time they notice… we can win by stalling for time.”

“The ‘Commander-in-Chief’ personally engaging in contests…” Chu Tianqiu pondered for a few seconds and said, “But Qiaoyun, you should also know… I can’t guarantee I’ll win one hundred percent of the time.”

“I know, but right now the problem is…” Wen Qiaoyun continued, “Those ‘Referees’ don’t seem to have much experience either. If you step forward, besides being able to unilaterally suppress the people on the other side… you can also suppress the referees. The probability of winning the games will be higher than usual.”

Chu Tianqiu knew his own thinking tended to be somewhat biased, and many times Wen Qiaoyun’s suggestions could make up for these biases precisely.

But was this time the same?

Leading with his “General” piece to attack and defeat the opponent’s people one by one?

“Not yet. I need to think about it.” Chu Tianqiu said, “At least before we have ‘Echo,’ doing this is too risky.”

“Speaking of which…” Xu Liunian beside them said, “Speaking of ‘Echo,’ I already have some leads. This time I came back specifically to tell you all about how to master ‘Echo.'”

“Oh?” Chu Tianqiu nodded, “Let’s hear it.”

Xu Liunian took a breath, as if organizing her words, then slowly said: “First of all, I only know how to obtain ‘Echo’ here, but I have no way to get rid of this ‘Echo.'”

“Fine.” Chu Tianqiu agreed.

“Actually, the principle is very simple.” Xu Liunian continued, “When ordinary ‘Echo’ releases an ability, you need to believe that you will definitely release this ability. This increases the success rate of the ‘Echo.'”

Although Wen Qiaoyun couldn’t quite understand this explanation, Chu Tianqiu and Doctor Zhao still nodded beside her.

When activating an ‘Echo’ ability, one must firmly believe that the ability will definitely take effect—this was common knowledge for every ‘Echoer.’

Seeing that Chu Tianqiu and Doctor Zhao agreed with her explanation, Xu Liunian continued: “To activate ‘Echo’ in this strange space, you need to take one step before this step, which is to ‘firmly believe that you are an Echoer at this very moment.'”

After hearing this, Chu Tianqiu glanced at Doctor Zhao, then slowly furrowed his brow.

This explanation was even more abstract than ‘Echo’ itself.

First, firmly believe that you yourself are an ‘Echoer,’ then firmly believe that the ability released by ‘Echo’ can succeed.

At this moment, Chu Tianqiu also understood why Xu Liunian had been unable to return to her original appearance all along.

According to her explanation, to become an ‘Echoer’ one must firmly believe they are an ‘Echoer,’ so logically, to cancel this ‘Echo,’ one would similarly need to firmly believe they are not an ‘Echoer.’

But Xu Liunian was currently sporting Chen Junnan’s face—how could she possibly believe one hundred percent that she was not an ‘Echoer’?

“This space is very strange…” Xu Liunian said, “We can’t even hear the ‘Bell Sound’ coming from outside, so ‘whether or not we Echo’ depends entirely on ourselves, not on anything outside ourselves.”

After hearing this, Chu Tianqiu felt something was not quite right. This matter should not be heard by so many people at once, because after hearing this principle, their difficulty in ‘Echoing’ would increase even further.

Doctor Zhao was stunned after hearing this: “Miss Xu… how do you know so much?”

“This might be the only thing the most experienced ‘Echoer’ can do…” Xu Liunian said, “Here we don’t need any ‘trigger.’ As long as you believe you are one, then you are.”

“Belief creates reality.” Chu Tianqiu nodded and said, “So this place will make the strong stronger and the weak weaker.”

After saying this, he looked at the several people before him and said: “I’m guessing no one on Qi Xia’s team has obtained ‘Echo’ yet. This is also our only advantage right now. Before that happens, you all should adjust your mindset, obtain ‘Echo’ as much as possible, and try to find a way to go inform our teammates on the ‘front line.'”

“But how do we explain something so abstract…?” Xu Liunian asked.

“It’s not that difficult actually.” Chu Tianqiu said, “Just directly tell them ‘you are already Echoers now.'”

After hearing this, Xu Liunian felt this approach could work. Once you explain the principle clearly to them, it would actually produce the opposite effect.

“This way, even if Qi Xia learns of these words, he still won’t be clear about the underlying principle.” Chu Tianqiu said, “Let each and every one of us bring out our own abilities and have a proper battle with him here.”