At the final moment, Xu Liunian broke through the limitations of her subconscious, shed Chen Junnan’s appearance, and made herself into Chu Tianqiu.

Whether it was speaking style, facial expressions, or even thought patterns—she perfectly replicated Chu Tianqiu.

But she still lost.

This feeling of crushing defeat made her experience unprecedented despair.

“To be honest, there was no fatal flaw this time.” Qi Xia said helplessly, “I had no way to confirm you were Xu Liunian. I just felt you might do this, so I bluffed you once.”

The Chu Tianqiu before him transformed into Xu Liunian in an instant. She could only smile bitterly and lower her head.

What a “bluff.” The clever thing about this was that the person saying it was Qi Xia. He looked completely unlike someone “bluffing,” but rather like he had truly confirmed her identity.

Looking at Xu Liunian’s complex expression, Qi Xia continued: “If you had deceived me in your current state the first time, I would never have been able to guess that you and Chu Tianqiu were two different people.”

Xu Liunian knew Qi Xia was already trying to phrase it as tactfully as possible.

“Losing to a bluff… doesn’t that still count as losing?”

Qi Xia sighed: “You don’t need to be too frustrated. If there was any flaw, it’s only one point—when I said it didn’t matter that Jin Yuanxun’s ‘character’ was missing, you immediately agreed with this decision.”

“What…?”

“This problem is no longer within the scope of ‘imitation.’ It should be an issue of big picture perspective. I don’t blame you for not realizing it.” Qi Xia said, “Chu Tianqiu should know how important a ‘pawn’ is, and so do I. Your team is missing a ‘pawn,’ which reduces its appeal to me by half. When I casually said ‘the pawn isn’t important,’ your expression was even more indifferent than mine.”

“Qi Xia, what’s laughable about this problem is…” Xu Liunian sighed, “This game is about to end, and I don’t even know why a ‘pawn’ would be so important.”

“It’s fine. This wasn’t something everyone needed to know anyway.” Qi Xia shook his head, “Go on. Have Chu Tianqiu come see me.”

Qinglong in midair also helplessly shook his head repeatedly. He seemed to have been more eager to see Chu Tianqiu’s scheme work at the final moment, but hadn’t expected that although Xu Liunian had shown no flaws this time, Qi Xia had merely bluffed her once and made her drop her “Transformation” disguise.

“What a pity.” Qinglong said, “Chu Tianqiu doesn’t know what’s waiting ahead for him… This is truly unfortunate.”

Before long, Qi Xia saw Chu Tianqiu in the “Mao” character room. After he entered, the room immediately locked, trapping the two people inside.

It seemed Chu Tianqiu had already prepared himself—he didn’t hesitate for half a second when entering.

Without saying a word, Qi Xia took out all the “characters” on him, then released his grip and let them fall to the ground, as if placing a bet before the final gamble.

Chu Tianqiu frowned and also took out the “characters” on him. Just as he was about to throw them on the ground, he suddenly thought of something.

He lowered his head and carefully examined the “characters” Qi Xia had thrown out. His expression quickly changed.

“Qi Xia… there’s no ‘pawn’ here.”

This was the first sentence Chu Tianqiu said after entering. He pointed out the problem with one sharp remark, which made Qi Xia clearly feel that the person before him was indeed the real one.

“That’s right, there’s no ‘pawn.'” Qi Xia said, “The ‘pawn’ isn’t with me.”

“So what exactly did you do to Jin Yuanxun?” Chu Tianqiu asked, “Why did both he and the ‘character’ disappear together? I still haven’t figured this out.”

“I can’t answer this question.” Qi Xia replied, “After all, this is one of my strategies. Just consider it a riddle I’ve left for you in this game.”

Chu Tianqiu looked at Qi Xia coldly, carefully pondering this bizarre situation.

He had clearly sent Jin Yuanxun to trap the opponent’s members. In theory, Jin Yuanxun’s success rate wasn’t low—he should at least be able to trap two or three people, and these people would regain their freedom after he completed one “game.”

Even if something unexpected happened that caused Jin Yuanxun to be trapped in a game together with the opponent, he should still appear after the game ended. Under no circumstances should he have directly disappeared.

Taking it a step further, if the opponent had killed Jin Yuanxun, or if Jin Yuanxun had died in an “Earth-Level game,” then Qi Xia would definitely have obtained the “character” on him.

But now where was Jin Yuanxun? Where was the “character”?

What method had the opponent used to capture Jin Yuanxun, who had already awakened “Transition”?

“It’s indeed a very difficult riddle.” Chu Tianqiu said, “It has me completely baffled.”

“So are you afraid?” Qi Xia asked, “Do you still dare to enter the game venue with me?”

Chu Tianqiu knew the current situation was full of mysteries. The best approach naturally wasn’t to enter this door, but this game had no timer, and through estimation, both sides knew the time had roughly come to the endgame.

If he didn’t actively enter this “door,” once Tiantian repaired the display screen and the opponent’s score was restored, he would still lose.

Now before Chu Tianqiu lay a bizarre gamble… that was to bet on whether Tiantian could successfully repair it or not.

If he firmly believed Tiantian would fail… he didn’t need to participate in this gamble and only needed to drag it out until the game ended. But what if she could succeed?

Chu Tianqiu kept examining Qi Xia and discovered that the opponent’s eyes were still full of confidence, as if victory was assured.

“I’m indeed afraid.” Chu Tianqiu said, “I’m afraid you’ll have Tiantian set up lethal traps inside—traps that can even pulverize ‘characters.’ As soon as I step in, I’ll be doomed beyond redemption, becoming the next Jin Yuanxun to disappear.”

“Then you can rest assured.” Qi Xia said, “Although that idea sounds good, it’s not my style after all. I can guarantee there are no lethal traps in the venue, and Tiantian’s ability currently can’t create such complex things.”

“Can’t create complex things…?” Chu Tianqiu frowned, “Are you trying to deceive me?”

“I’m not deceiving you.” Qi Xia said, “I can swear that in this game, Tiantian only created something with a very simple structure. Perhaps when I tell you the answer, you’ll only smile knowingly.”

Chu Tianqiu found no flaws in what Qi Xia said. In the information he knew, Tiantian wasn’t a veteran “Echo” user either.

This “Echo” called “Clever Object,” although seemingly omnipotent, was still too difficult for a “novice” like Tiantian.

“In that case…” Chu Tianqiu asked, “Which ‘character’ are you planning to take with you to enter the ‘door’?”