“Old dog, you’re quite clever after all,” A’Mu’s expression instantly darkened.

“Of course… I’m very smart at critical moments,” Old Lu revealed an ugly smile on his face.

“I really wish your teammates could see this face of yours,” A’Mu pulled out five “Dao” from his chest and scattered them on the ground as if feeding pigeons.

Old Lu hurriedly crawled on the ground to pick up the “Dao” one by one, then stuffed them into his pocket.

“Hehe… my teammates will understand me,” Old Lu patted the dust off his hands. “I warned them long ago that ‘I’m very smart at critical moments.’ If they didn’t anticipate that I would betray them, there’s nothing I can do about it.”

A’Mu revealed an expression of forced laughter without genuine amusement, handing the locked box along with the golden key to Old Lu.

“Then I’ll leave the rest to you.”

On the other side, in the “Recipient” room.

Qi Xia was sitting in a chair with his eyes closed, resting.

“The ‘Prisoner’s Dilemma’?” he muttered to himself. “No, it should be the ‘Bucket Theory’…”

“The weakest member of a team determines the team’s overall strength…” Qi Xia’s fingers tapped the table slightly as he counted time in his mind. “But which ‘plank’ exactly belongs to our bucket…”

“Both sides’ ‘traitors’ should have already met with the ‘Sender,'” he continued with his eyes still closed, simulating the scenario of both sides meeting as much as possible in his mind.

“About ten minutes have passed, and our ‘traitor’ still hasn’t delivered the letter, which means Lin Qin’s persuasion failed. After all, a woman in love has no reason to personally kill her own lover.”

“As for the other side…”

Qi Xia opened his eyes and reached out to play with the silver key on the table.

“Old Lu has most likely already betrayed us.”

His expression gradually grew cold as he spoke: “From now on, the other side will have the help of two ‘traitors’ simultaneously. Things are developing in the worst possible direction.”

“The good news is that the ‘Bucket Theory’ has officially become invalid. There are no longer any weak points in our team.” Qi Xia slowly revealed a cold smile. “Next comes the ‘MiG-25 Effect.'”

Just then, a voice suddenly came from the doorway: “When the former Soviet Union was building the MiG-25 fighter jet, even though all of its components were inferior to America’s, they could still make it a world-class fighter by improving its overall performance. That’s the ‘MiG-25 Effect,’ right?”

Qi Xia turned to look. The ‘traitor’ Jiang Ruoxue was standing outside the door, looking at him expressionlessly.

In her hands, she was holding a box. The box was locked.

“Do you think the ‘MiG-25 Effect’ is correct?” Jiang Ruoxue asked.

“I’m not entirely sure,” Qi Xia said, equally expressionless. “I’m not sure whether the ‘parts’ that currently belong to me are useful, but the moment you appeared, all my doubts disappeared.”

“My appearance gave you an epiphany? Then you must be a genius that comes along once in a century,” Jiang Ruoxue said with slight mockery as she placed the box on the table in front of Qi Xia. “Now please use your ‘MiG-25 Effect’ to open this box.”

Qi Xia carefully examined the box. A golden lock securely fastened it.

He tried it with the silver key at hand, but it wouldn’t open at all.

He then lifted the box and gently shook it, and sure enough, he heard a “rustling” sound from inside.

There was a letter.

“What should I call you?” Qi Xia asked.

“Jiang Ruoxue.”

“Jiang Ruoxue, did you destroy a key earlier?” Qi Xia asked.

“Do you think your teammate would give me the key?” Jiang Ruoxue crossed her arms, as if watching a good show. “For someone like you who thinks you’re so clever, can you not open a box without a key?”

“She didn’t give you the key? That’s excellent,” Qi Xia’s lips curved upward as he said to Jiang Ruoxue, “Did you hear it just now?”

“Hear? Hear what?”

“Footsteps,” Qi Xia said. “The soundproofing in this old hotel isn’t very good. Before you took action, you should have heard footsteps, right?”

“So what?” Jiang Ruoxue curled her lip. “The only people who can move around in this entire building are me and that old man. Having footsteps isn’t surprising.”

“But why did he set out earlier than you?” Qi Xia tapped the table, looking at Jiang Ruoxue with meaningful intent. “Why did our ‘traitor’ set out first?”

“You…” Jiang Ruoxue’s expression froze, as if she had thought of something.

“What do you think your chances of survival are in this game?” Qi Xia continued tapping the table, trying to use words to break through her psychological defenses. “If your team cooperated with our ‘traitor,’ do you still have a chance of winning?”

“I understand now,” Jiang Ruoxue’s gaze gradually turned cold. “You can’t open the box, so you’ve turned your target to me? Isn’t that a bit too childish?”

Qi Xia nodded and said, “You saw through this too?”

“Don’t even think about bewitching me,” Jiang Ruoxue took a step back. “I will absolutely never believe you.”

Qi Xia stopped speaking and instead looked at his fingers tapping the table.

“Time’s about up…” his expression turned cold as he muttered to himself, “Let me verify whether the ‘parts’ are useful…”

Before Jiang Ruoxue could understand what this meant, noisy shouting suddenly came from the other corridor.

It sounded like someone was fighting.

Unfortunately, it was a bit far away, and she couldn’t make out the specific content.

“Very good, ‘superior parts,'” Qi Xia’s fingers stopped tapping the table. Instead, he slowly stood up and said, “Miss Jiang, if you had agreed to cooperate with us just now, the outcome would have been completely different, but now there’s no longer a chance. You’re just a ‘spare part.'”

“Ha, how interesting,” Jiang Ruoxue shook her head helplessly. “Then I’d like to see how you can get the letter.”

Qi Xia didn’t even think about finding a way to open the lock.

Instead, he picked up his silver lock and locked it onto the box as well.

The box now had two locks on it simultaneously.

“Have you lost your mind?” Jiang Ruoxue asked. “Adding another lock—do you think ‘two negatives make a positive’?”

“Have I lost my mind? That’s certainly possible,” Qi Xia picked up the box and stuffed it into Jiang Ruoxue’s hands. “Could you please help me deliver this back to the ‘Sender’?”

“What?!” Jiang Ruoxue was stunned.

Deliver this box with two locks back to the “Sender”?

“So that’s how it is…” she was instantly shocked, immediately understanding Qi Xia’s strategy. “You, you wait…”

Qi Xia didn’t wait for her to finish speaking. He directly pushed her out of the room and then locked the door.

As soon as Jiang Ruoxue stepped into the corridor, the countdown on the wall lit up. Three minutes.

She now held the box with a complicated expression on her face.

If she had known earlier that this person was this type of character, she should have pretended to agree just now…

Walking into the corridor, the sounds from the other corridor also became clearly audible.

Jiang Ruoxue snapped back to attention and slowly pressed herself against the wall to listen.

Before long, her expression became grave.

A’Mu sounded very angry. He kept shouting: “You old dog actually destroyed the key?”