Shen Mo gave his usual, unchanging answer: “Let me think about it a little more.”

Bai Youwei could only glare at him, emphasizing, “In any case, I’m not surrendering!”

Shen Mo: “……”

He truly couldn’t argue with her.

……

……

Arriving at the rest hall again, the number of people had grown considerably compared to before.

Originally there had been 26 kings and 141 subjects, but now Bai Youwei felt that the rest hall had nearly 200 people in it.

This wasn’t hard to understand — a large portion of these subjects were kings who had been eliminated in the qualifying rounds, and the current kings, when recruiting subjects, preferred to choose their close friends and family rather than the fierce rivals they had once faced in the game.

In addition to more people, there were also more inspectors.

The Jester, the Ball, the Comic Man, and the Grey-Robed Elder — four inspectors were lined up in a row along one side of the rest hall, each with a large, glowing square standing behind them, which were presumably the entrances to the “battlefields.”

Tu Shenshi was there as well.

He stood directly in front of the four inspectors and addressed the assembled crowd with warm politeness:

“Please have the 23 kings lead their respective subjects into the battlefields.”

Bai Youwei tugged at Shen Mo’s hand. “Did you hear that? It said 23 kings.”

When the qualifying rounds had ended, there had clearly been 26.

The three missing — they had probably died in the labyrinth.

Shen Mo also gazed toward the entrances, slowly saying, “Entering the labyrinth can offer a physical advantage, but it also carries the risk of early elimination. It seems Du Lai and Fu Miaoxue made the right choice in not entering. If the labyrinth is opened again after each battle, we’ll need to give it careful consideration next time.”

“Right — not every game requires physical strength,” Bai Youwei murmured softly. “Basically, having gone through the enhancement twice is enough to handle unexpected situations. What you need to improve beyond that isn’t physical ability, but skill, technique, and that sort of thing. Blindly charging through the labyrinth just for a physical edge simply isn’t worth it.”

As the two of them spoke, the kings began entering the battlefields one by one.

Tu Shenshi slowly and methodically repeated the rules:

“There are four battles available for selection. Each battle requires a corresponding number of puzzle pieces to be pledged as collateral.

“Victory in a battle returns all pledged pieces in full and awards the opponent’s pledged pieces.

“Defeat results in the forfeiture of pledged pieces.

“Battle 1: 1 puzzle piece pledged. No limit on participants.

“Battle 5: 5 puzzle pieces pledged. 5 participants.

“Battle 10: 10 puzzle pieces pledged. 8 participants.

“Battle 20: 20 puzzle pieces pledged. 10 or more participants.

“Please note — each battle may only be selected once. After all four battles have concluded, the final championship round will commence.”

More and more people streamed through the glowing entrances.

Some chose the Jester, some chose the Comic Man, others chose the Ball.

But the glowing square behind the Grey-Robed Elder remained entirely untouched. That was the entrance to Battle 20.

Battle 20 required pledging 20 puzzle pieces and fielding 10 or more participants. Assuming each subject held 2 pieces, a king entering this battle would need to produce at least 40 pieces.

Among all 23 kings present, aside from Bai Youwei and Shen Mo, probably no one could produce that many pieces in one go.

And even if someone could, there was no reason to take such a risk in the very first battle.

Bai Youwei and Shen Mo waited — waited until every single king had entered the battlefields before they confirmed the final numbers.

10 kings had chosen “Battle 1,” 8 kings had chosen “Battle 5,” 3 kings had chosen “Battle 10.” That left two kings —

Her and him, choosing “Battle 20.”

—