# Chapter 1028: Che
"Surrounding that kid Jin Yuanxun..." Chen Junnan seemed puzzled by this statement. "Lao Qi... you might not know, but that kid can't be surrounded..."
"He can be surrounded now," Qi Xia said. "Xu Liunian has already obtained the 'Echo'. If she returns to the 'Preparation Area' and shares this method, the others can gradually obtain 'Echo' as well. By then, Jin Yuanxun holding the 'Pawn' will be unstoppable. There's no way we can catch him."
"Damn... is it that urgent?" Chen Junnan said. "When I came back, I saw Lao Qiao standing by the river channel sunbathing. I'll call him along."
"He has his own battle to fight," Qi Xia said. "You go to 'Attack the Heart' first."
"Alright..." Chen Junnan nodded.
"Oh, right." Qi Xia asked again, "When you crossed the river with the 'Bundle' earlier, did anything strange happen?"
"Strange things...?" Chen Junnan naturally knew what Qi Xia wanted to ask. "Young Master might be a foreign trade bag, but on this trip, no one prompted me of a 'foul'. Those two kids watching the show up there didn't make a move either. I guess this rule doesn't exist?"
"If it doesn't exist, that would be best," Qi Xia said. "Fist is the 'Minister'. Once he and Zhang Shan settle their victory or defeat, he can go with you to 'Attack the People'. It's just..."
"Is there another concern...?" Chen Junnan asked. "Young Master already scouted ahead. I was carrying a 'Bundle' and wandered around on the other side for a while, and nothing happened at all. Can the 'Bundle' really cross the river?"
Qi Xia still felt something was off.
"Crossing the river" — such an obvious trap. The pit was dug, the vegetation was laid over, and people had even fallen into it, yet there were no spikes placed inside.
This didn't seem like Azure Dragon's style at all.
He and Chu Tianqiu were both on guard against this apparently non-existent rule, yet Azure Dragon and Earth Dragon acted as if they had completely forgotten about it.
Looking at it from another angle, if "illegally crossing the river" really had some "consequence", how would it be manifested in this game?
Typically, all "Earth Grade Referees" might conceal some rules, but they would still explain the conditions for triggering "sanctions" before the game began. Otherwise, letting people die without knowing why would be no different from one-sided slaughter.
Since Earth Dragon hadn't explicitly stated at the beginning that "illegally crossing the river" would be "sanctioned", it meant that even if there were consequences, they wouldn't be death.
"Wait..." Qi Xia suddenly thought of something.
This game seemed to have such a vast arena, but in the end, the players mostly only had access to two game props.
One was "Character", the other was "Door".
Since the "Character" hadn't changed when "illegally crossing the river", the problem could only lie with the "Door".
"I see... so that's how it is," Qi Xia said. "Simply 'crossing the river' won't cause any problems..."
"Huh? Then where's the problem?"
Qi Xia organized his thoughts and continued, "Chen Junnan, if you plan to continue 'illegally crossing the river' later, go investigate inside the 'Door'."
"Inside the 'Door'?"
"I suspect the 'Door' will change..." Qi Xia's expression gradually turned serious. "Earlier, when both sides opened the 'Door' to investigate, we all checked our own territories. That made us mistakenly believe that inside the 'Door' were all Human Grade 'Zodiacs'. But we overlooked one thing — the other side of the 'Door' can change. These 'Doors' don't always lead to fixed rooms."
"Damn..." Chen Junnan's eyes widened after hearing this. "You're saying 'the person opening the door' affects 'what's inside the door'?"
"That's just my speculation," Qi Xia said. "Other than that, there should be no other 'penalty'. Once a 'chess piece' that shouldn't cross the river does cross, and triggers the 'game inside the door', the contents of the door will change."
"Alright... I understand!" Chen Junnan said. "Then I'll go investigate alone first."
Qi Xia nodded, taking the "Chariot" character from Zheng Yingxiong.
"Lao Qi," Chen Junnan said again. "The other side didn't use the 'Chariot' to score. You write first, and I'll find a way to hide the 'Character' in my mouth so they can never find it."
Qi Xia looked at the "Chariot" for a moment, unable to understand why Chu Tianqiu hadn't used it to score.
But after a moment, he figured out the problem.
The difficulty wasn't with the "Chariot" itself, but with its homophone.
"Chu Tianqiu, I recall you were a biology PhD. How could you not think of this?"
Qi Xia placed the "Chariot" on the "Phoenix Bearing the Writing Platform", then reached out and wrote a homophone:
"Che".
"What character is this?" Chen Junnan stared at what Qi Xia had written for a while. "Does it also read 'Che'?"
"It's the 'Che' in 'Chequ' — a fairly common type of clam," Qi Xia said. "As long as this 'Character' can form a word, I'd probably still recognize it."
"Only you would think of that..." Chen Junnan said.
"Lawyer Zhang, give me your 'Fire' as well," Qi Xia said. "The 'Bundle' has already been used. Now I need your 'Fire'."
Zhang Chenze nodded upon hearing this, pulling the "Cannon" from his shirt pocket.
"This game is a bit too unfair," Zhang Chenze said. "The other side has two 'Characters' that can be split into three parts. Not only can they score more points than us from the start, but their personnel arrangement is also more flexible."
"Oh?" Qi Xia casually asked while disassembling the "Cannon" in his hand, "How so?"
"If Chen Junnan could move with a 'Bundle' and a 'Scarf' earlier, then I don't need to carry the 'Fire' either. After all, 'Fire' is too dangerous," Zhang Chenze said. "Just keep it with you. I'll only take a 'Bundle'."
"I see, that makes sense too." Qi Xia nodded.
"We're way too passive now," Zhang Chenze continued. "This game seems designed from the start to not let us win."
"No," Qi Xia said. "I think it's the opposite."
"What?"
"Although it seems they have two 'Characters' that can be split into three parts, they're also more afraid of having them stolen," Qi Xia said. "On the other hand, with our 'Characters' — whether it's the 'Cannon' or the 'Commander' — even if they're stolen, we wouldn't suffer too much loss. It also gives us a higher margin for error."
Chen Junnan thought about it and realized that was true. After his own "Commander" was taken by the other side, it could only form "Commander" and "Scarf", with no other possibilities.
But if their side could seize the other side's "Pawn" or "General", it could instantly widen the score gap.