Chapter 1000: Fair and Square
"Everyone." The Earth Dragon picked up the walkie-talkie at his waist and said, "Time's up. The distribution of 'Characters' is complete."
Both teams looked up at the Azure Dragon and Earth Dragon high in the sky.
"Now, please enter the 'Battle Zone,'" the Earth Dragon continued. "The entire venue has a total of twenty 'Battlefields.' We have carefully prepared twenty 'Referees' for everyone. If two 'Participants' enter the same battlefield simultaneously, the room door will be forcibly closed. Only after completing the 'Referee's' game will the door unlock."
"Only twenty referees...?" Qi Xia quickly calculated the layout of the entire map, feeling like he had already figured out the distribution.
"What's up, Con Man?" Qiao Jiajin asked.
"Nothing... I need to temporarily revise the plan," Qi Xia said.
After a brief explanation, the game of 'Cangjie Chess' officially began.
Both teams looked at the doors before them and entered their respective rooms.
The 'Preparation Zone' had five 'Doors,' and besides Qi Xia himself, his team had six other members.
Zheng Yingxiong and Tian Tian chose to enter the same door, while the rest split up.
Qiao Jiajin pushed open the door in the very center and was surprised to find another door erected in the middle of the room. On it was written the character 'You.'
This was a room of about ten square meters, with doors on all four walls, seemingly leading to other rooms.
But what caught his attention was that aside from the door in the center, the room was completely empty, with nothing else.
"Weird..."
Qiao Jiajin frowned slightly but said nothing. He continued to push open the next door.
The next room was also about ten square meters, and similarly had a solitary door standing in the middle.
This door bore the character 'Yin.'
"Damn..." Qiao Jiajin walked up and touched the wooden door. "Where's the 'Referee'?"
He thought to himself that the venue was completely empty, with each room containing only a door. Could the 'Door' itself be the 'Referee'?
He stepped forward and touched the door again, finding it to be a very ordinary structure. If that was the case, the entire massive game venue was just twenty 'Doors' standing around?
He steadied his nerves and continued to the next door.
According to Qi Xia's initial plan, the team was supposed to fully understand the venue's layout within the first period of time. Now, with the team splitting into five groups, they needed to explore the ten rooms ahead and then return to the 'Preparation Zone' as quickly as possible to report their findings.
When Qiao Jiajin pushed open a door, he found that this time it was no longer a room but a long corridor. At the opposite end of the corridor were five 'Doors.'
This corridor must be the 'Chu River and Han Border' that Qi Xia had mentioned earlier.
Just as Qiao Jiajin was observing the five doors on the other side, he noticed the middle door opening.
The tall and burly Zhang Shan ducked his head and walked out slowly.
Their eyes met for a moment, and then both broke into smiles.
"Damn..." Zhang Shan grinned. "I should've guessed you'd be the 'vanguard' from your side."
"Yo, big guy, you working too?" Qiao Jiajin also smiled.
"I'm scouting the path. Same for you?" Zhang Shan asked. "Didn't think you'd be faster than me. Don't you need to study the stuff in the rooms at all?"
"I'm not good with my head," Qiao Jiajin said. "I just remember what I see along the way. I don't bother with why it's there."
"Oh...?" Zhang Shan nodded. "Tattoo boy, we're both straightforward guys. What's your 'Character'?"
"My character? Let me check."
Qiao Jiajin turned around and fumbled with something behind his back. After a moment, he turned back and said, "Big guy, my 'Character' is 'Heaven and Earth are spacious, but the narrow-minded confine themselves.'"
"Huh...?" Zhang Shan was stunned for a second. "Kid... you're not a bad guy, but man, you really deserve a beating."
"What do you mean? You want to find a chance to spar?" Qiao Jiajin didn't mind Zhang Shan's provocation at all. He took a step forward with a grin. "I feel like this is a really good opportunity. We can have a fair fight, square and proper."
"Damn..." Zhang Shan frowned. "A fair one-on-one... what a luxury that is?"
"Luxury?" Qiao Jiajin didn't understand.
"Tattoo boy, you're probably in the same boat as me, right?" Zhang Shan said. "Whenever there's a fight, your head and mine are 'battle merits.' The enemy will always gang up on us. We both want a fair one-on-one, but we rarely get the chance."
"True enough." Qiao Jiajin nodded. "Every time I fight, I have to take on a whole crowd. I've never met anyone who could beat me one-on-one."
"Damn... that's arrogant." Zhang Shan nodded with a smile. "So just how tough are you?"
"Me?" Qiao Jiajin asked. "Big guy, what's the most people you've ever fought at once?"
"About a dozen or so," Zhang Shan replied. "You?"
"Thirty-seven."
"Damn, you're full of shit!" Zhang Shan said incredulously. "You took on thirty-seven people alone?"
"Yeah," Qiao Jiajin nodded. "Back then, my boss only brought me along. He lost gambling and couldn't pay up, so thirty-seven guys came after us with knives."
Zhang Shan pursed his lips. "I fought about a dozen and got minor injuries. What about you?"
"I almost died afterward."
"Huh...?" Zhang Shan blinked in surprise. "Not... not even pretending to be humble anymore?"
"I really was almost dead!" Qiao Jiajin looked a bit offended. "Big guy, you think I'm the Terminator? Those were thirty-seven guys with knives! Winning was already impressive enough. You expected me to be invulnerable?"
"Damn... fair point." Zhang Shan nodded. "So? Want to have a go right now?"
"Right now?" Qiao Jiajin hesitated visibly, then asked, "Don't we need to find a 'Venue'?"
"You mean go through those 'Doors'?" Zhang Shan chuckled lightly. "Damn, do we really need to go find a referee inside some door?"
"Then what are you suggesting?"
"Let's just have a fair fight and bring out our 'Characters' properly. Whoever wins takes the other's 'Character'." Zhang Shan said. "No cheating. How about it?"
Qiao Jiajin glanced left and right down the corridor. He was surprised to find that neither his own people nor the enemy had come out yet. He couldn't help but feel suspicious.
Although this was an excellent opportunity for a duel, he still had unfinished business.
"Big guy, not this time." Qiao Jiajin waved his hand. "I need to go back and find Con Man first to report the situation here."