“What’s going on…?” Yan Zhichun asked somewhat incredulously.

She found it hard to imagine that Chu Tianqiu would make seven consecutive incorrect guesses in front of the screen himself.

But if it wasn’t Chu Tianqiu… then who was it?

They had now been deducted seven points in a row… Didn’t this mean that more than half of the “characters” they had guessed were invalidated?

A hint of a smile flashed across Chu Tianqiu’s face as he said, “This matter is quite a long story.”

“A long story…?”

“The game rules stated that points can only be earned through the ‘Commander-in-Chief.'” Chu Tianqiu turned back and said, “But what about ‘point deductions’?”

“You mean…”

“I thought all the males on the opposing side were under control.” Chu Tianqiu said, “So among the remaining people, no one would be able to smash a display screen with their bare hands within one minute.”

After saying this, he turned back to look at Yan Zhichun with a hint of self-mockery: “If it were you, could you smash your own television with your bare hands within one minute?”

Yan Zhichun felt that smashing a television wasn’t difficult—the difficulty lay in the time constraint. If there was only one minute, it would indeed be very hard to accomplish.

“But I still miscalculated by one step.” Chu Tianqiu said, “When I saw that the character ‘mi’ on Qi Xia’s screen didn’t earn any points, I should have thought of it… Would he make such a basic mistake? Did he write the wrong pronunciation?”

Yan Zhichun tried her best to understand what Chu Tianqiu meant, then tentatively asked, “So why didn’t that character ‘mi’ earn any points…?”

“Because he guessed wrong among other characters.” Chu Tianqiu said, “My estimation of Qi Xia was still too conservative… His screen even had characters like ‘?’ and ‘屮’, who knows how many bold attempts he made… He also understood more clearly than I did what the consequences of ‘guessing wrong’ would be.”

Yan Zhichun’s mind was somewhat chaotic for a moment, but she now knew they were already on the edge of failure.

“I still don’t understand.” Yan Zhichun said, “Haven’t you been here all along? Why would we still be deducted points continuously?”

“This matter is equally a long story.” Chu Tianqiu said, “It’s precisely because there were tasks I couldn’t trust to anyone else that I personally went out to smash the opposing side’s display screen. Based on my judgment at the time, all the people who posed a threat to us would be under control. Even if someone could move, only Zhang Chenze, who appeared after the game ended, would remain.”

“I…”

“But I didn’t expect…” Chu Tianqiu said, “I guessed that Zhang Chenze would definitely lose to you, so she had lost her ‘characters’ and couldn’t possibly go to our ‘Preparation Zone’… What’s going on?”

After hearing this, Yan Zhichun thought for a few seconds. She had indeed won the “bag” from Zhang Chenze’s hands, but after that, Qi Xia appeared, and the two of them quietly discussed something with their backs to her. Then she and Qi Xia entered the room, and after that… where did Zhang Chenze go?

Thinking of this, Yan Zhichun said, “I discovered that Qi Xia has a habit. I don’t know if this habit led to our failure this time.”

“What habit?”

“Every time he moves, he first chooses the safest path to reach the ‘River Road,’ then moves horizontally along the ‘River Road’ to find the room he wants to enter.”

After hearing this, Chu Tianqiu felt something was odd… This habit meant that even if Qi Xia wanted to enter their game field, he would definitely enter from the “River Road.” With “Transformation” available, wouldn’t this approach make his teammates suspicious?

But from another perspective… Qi Xia’s action would perfectly bypass all “defense lines,” and those who established the “defense lines” wouldn’t expect the enemy’s main commander would swagger past behind their backs.

“After I finished the game with Zhang Chenze… Qi Xia opened the ‘door’ from the ‘River Road.'” Yan Zhichun continued, “So Zhang Chenze, who should have returned to their ‘Preparation Zone’ the way she came, unconsciously walked to the ‘River Road’ and started talking with Qi Xia. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but now thinking about it, everything seems to have been planned by Qi Xia.”

“So it should have been Zhang Chenze who came here just now.” Chu Tianqiu said, “Her goal from the beginning was never to smash the display screen.”

Chu Tianqiu still felt that Qi Xia’s strategy was difficult for him to fathom. If this were truly leading troops in battle, both sides could be said to have made a “killing move” to directly strike the opponent’s main camp, but the strange thing about the problem was that the activation condition for Qi Xia’s “killing move” was that he himself had launched a “killing move.”

In other words, if he had stayed in the “Preparation Zone” all along without leaving, Zhang Chenze coming in would only be giving away “characters” for nothing.

“It feels like the situation has become somewhat passive…” Chu Tianqiu said, “Now our score is less than ten points, while Qi Xia has nearly twenty points. I don’t know if the ‘shattered display screen’ counts for points or not. If we maintain the current state until time runs out, it’s impossible to judge who the final victor will be.”

“So what do we do…?” Yan Zhichun asked, “Try to seize the opponent’s ‘characters’ at the cost of death?”

“Too naive.” Chu Tianqiu said, “For the remaining time, the opposing side could even rest in the ‘Preparation Zone.’ Their display screen has already been destroyed by me, so now the entire team has no ‘weakness.'”

“This…” Yan Zhichun was at a loss for words for a moment. She felt that the current situation was about what Qi Xia had predicted, so she could only say, “Qi Xia said… if you want, you can bring all the ‘characters’ to meet him at the ‘River Road,’ and he will personally give you a defeat.”

“Personally give me a defeat…? At the ‘River Road’?” Chu Tianqiu seemed to have discovered some key point. “Now both our sides have been severely damaged. If we leave it alone, it’s still uncertain who will win… yet he wants to give me a defeat?”

Yan Zhichun felt what Chu Tianqiu said made sense, but she ultimately didn’t know what Qi Xia was calculating.

“Perhaps…” Yan Zhichun asked softly, “The broken screen can’t show the score, so Qi Xia will be judged as having ‘failed’?”

Chu Tianqiu lowered his head and pondered this explanation for a moment, feeling it made sense from certain angles.

The display screen the opposing side used for counting could no longer show anything. Could the winner still be determined based on the opponent’s previous score?

“Previous score” also counted as the final score? This explanation clearly didn’t quite fit Qinglong’s logic for setting questions.

“It seems Qi Xia thought of this point…” Chu Tianqiu said, “He doesn’t think he will win, so he must gamble with me one last time at the final moment.”

“Is it really necessary to go…?” Yan Zhichun asked again, “If we determine that he will lose, it’s better not to show up. For the remaining time, we’ll just stay in the ‘Preparation Zone’ and wait for victory. After all, there isn’t much time left.”

“But we’ve both overlooked one point.” Chu Tianqiu said, “The opposing side has Tiantian—that’s the biggest variable.”

“Tiantian…?” Yan Zhichun had always rarely interacted with people and wasn’t clear about Tiantian’s abilities.

“It’s ‘Clever Object.'” Chu Tianqiu said, “Since she rarely activates her ability, I don’t even know what the upper limit of ‘Clever Object’ is. If she can accomplish something like ‘repairing the display screen,’ for us… Qi Xia’s camp would be getting something for nothing, making us lose seven points without any loss on their part.”

“‘Clever Object’… used to repair the display screen?” Yan Zhichun frowned, feeling this explanation was somewhat far-fetched.