Shen Mo nodded. “When someone is completely spent, the most dangerous opponent they can face is exactly this type — explosive power and lightning speed. If we can’t pull him over to our side, he’ll be a real headache in the later stages.”

“Then just finish him on the stage! One and done!” the big-bearded man said impatiently. “Who knows if that little brat will betray us? What if he pockets the points and refuses to return them? The reason I was willing to cooperate with you is because I could see you’re genuinely looking out for your teammates, trying to clear the game together — that tells me something about your character. But that little brat? What reason do I have to trust him?”

Shen Mo listened calmly, sat in silence for a moment, then spoke: “If I can help it, I’d rather find more people to cooperate with — the more the better. This game’s mechanics are specifically designed to drain every player’s stamina. If we want to win, we have to break the cycle.”

The big-bearded man frowned. “…Break… the cycle?”

Shen Mo looked toward the stage and said: “Don’t you find that this game’s rules are very unkind to whoever’s winning? After winning you can’t leave the stage, and a high score brings high risk. Once you fall — the winning player repeats the same process: can’t leave the stage, keeps accumulating points, and when the score approaches 30, they lose points again; the loser leaves, the winner continues…”

“How do you know they’ll definitely lose?” the big-bearded man disagreed. “Maybe they’ll keep winning.”

“That possibility isn’t very high,” Shen Mo said. “The longer time goes on, the greater the stamina drain, so eventually everyone will tend to challenge the high-score player — because winning once for 1 point versus winning once for 5 or 10 points is a completely different value proposition.

“Also: people in the spectator seats can conserve their energy, but the person on the stage gets no rest. As the score climbs, whoever’s on the stage gets more and more exhausted… If this boy understands the logic, he should voluntarily lose the next round.”

Just as Shen Mo finished speaking, someone in the front rows of the spectator area stood up and headed toward the stage.

The big-bearded man said coolly: “If he thinks he can preserve his strength by sacrificing just 1 point, that’s naive. Anyone who made it into this qualifying round isn’t a fool.”

The two on stage had already begun fighting!

Just as Shen Mo had predicted, the young boy was far more restrained than before — retreating step by step, defending but not attacking.

His opponent, by contrast, attacked fiercely and relentlessly!

The boy’s face fell. He dodged to the side, rolled across the ground, and tried to simply lie flat and wait for the countdown.

He had already conceded, yet his opponent still pursued him mercilessly — one hand grabbed the boy’s arm and wrenched it backward!

Crack——

The crisp sound of snapping bone hung in the air.

The boy let out a scream of pain!

The big-bearded man seemed to have anticipated it all. Completely unsurprised, he said: “See that? Sometimes you can’t lose just because you want to. He punches fast, so someone will want to break his hands — that way even if they meet him again later, he won’t be a threat. And it earns them easy points. Two birds, one stone.”

Shen Mo watched the boy walk off the stage nursing his injury. He felt a twinge of regret.

“Find it cruel?” The big-bearded man gave an indifferent laugh. “If not for the fact that they can still earn points from him, his opponent probably wouldn’t have stopped at just breaking his hand. Taking his life outright wouldn’t be unheard of.”

Su Man hesitated and looked at Shen Mo: “If his hand is truly broken… do we still need to bring him into the partnership?”

“Don’t rush to conclusions. Keep watching.” Shen Mo kept his gaze on the distant figure.

Everyone looked over skeptically — only to see the defeated boy pull a handkerchief from his breast pocket and wrap it tightly around the injured area. A few seconds later he uncovered it again, and his arm looked completely unharmed?!

“An item!” Tan Xiao got excited. “What a useful item!”

“No one who made it into this qualifying round is simple.” Shen Mo smiled faintly and looked at the big-bearded man. “Without stamina on his side, he’ll desperately need this alliance.”

The big-bearded man grunted. “Do as you like.”

—