Chapter 302: The Earth Snake's Game
Chen Junnan and Yun Yao waited for about two hours before the scattered participants began to trickle in.
Scanning the crowd, Chen Junnan felt that a few faces looked familiar, but it had been so many years since he'd seen them that he couldn't recall a single name.
Yun Yao counted the people present. There were eleven of them now. Only one more was needed to start the game, but as always, the closer they got, the longer the wait felt.
"Damn it..." Chen Junnan muttered under his breath. "If I'd known, I would've dragged Old Qi over here."
Hearing this, Yun Yao looked at him curiously. "Have you known Qi Xia for a long time?"
"Yeah." Chen Junnan nodded. "Getting to know that guy was exhausting. Had to introduce myself every single time."
"What...?" Yun Yao was taken aback. "You... are you saying he—"
"I didn't say anything." Chen Junnan caught the micro-expression on Yun Yao's face. "Big star... you seem to know something?"
Yun Yao wasn't sure where Chen Junnan stood, nor did she know if she should tell him about the "endless surging" she had witnessed that night. After a moment of thought, she simply shook her head.
The last person to arrive was a man in a suit. Yun Yao frowned slightly when she saw him.
He was a familiar teammate—a man from the same room as Li Xiangling, named Zhong Zhen. He nodded to Yun Yao and then walked up to the Earth Snake to hand over his "Tao."
"Zhong Zhen... why are you here?" Yun Yao asked.
"I was going to ask you the same thing, Yun Yao." Zhong Zhen smiled. "I felt that the 'Snake' games suited me, so I've been looking for one."
"Oh... I see..." Yun Yao gave a bitter smile. "What a coincidence."
Zhong Zhen smiled back. "Yeah, yeah. Such a coincidence. Yun Yao, have you 'Echoed' yet?"
"I... not yet," Yun Yao replied.
"What a problem..." Zhong Zhen gave a troubled smile. "You haven't managed to 'Echo' yet. If this game has rules that involve screwing each other over... I'm afraid I might not be able to bring myself to go after you."
"Heh..." Yun Yao let out a light laugh. "Can't bring yourself to do it? That doesn't sound like you."
"True, haha." Zhong Zhen grinned a forced smile.
Chen Junnan noticed Yun Yao's expression seemed a bit off. He leaned in and whispered, "You okay, big star?"
"I'm fine." Yun Yao turned back and whispered, "I don't know what skills you have, but you need to be careful of that man."
"Hmm? The guy in the suit?" Chen Junnan glanced at him dismissively. "What's his deal?"
"He's ruthless," Yun Yao said bluntly. "To win a game, he wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone—teammate or friend."
"Isn't that good?" Chen Junnan chuckled. "Means he's easy to read."
"Is that so..." Yun Yao smiled faintly, a bit lost. She could only pray that she would gain her "Echo" quickly in this game, or else things might get dangerous.
Chen Junnan took another look at the man, found he had no memory of him, and stood up to walk over to the Earth Snake.
"Old man, we're all here. Let's get this started."
The Earth Snake surveyed the male-to-female ratio of the participants. Seeing more men, his disappointment was barely concealed. But at least this time there was one exceptionally pretty girl—she alone could make up for four or five others. Reinvigorated, he spoke up. "Alright, follow me."
The twelve of them followed the Earth Snake into the massive building behind him.
Inside was a modest circular arena. In the center sat a table that resembled a lecturer's podium, with an old computer on it. Surrounding the arena was a full circular wall, with wooden doors every few meters, suggesting there were twelve rooms behind the walls.
"Everyone, my game is called 'Minority vs. Majority.' It's a simple question-and-answer game." The Earth Snake clasped his hands behind his back as he addressed the group. "Each of you will have a room. When the game is in session, I will lock the doors, and you will answer questions from within your rooms."
Seeing that some people looked confused, he walked over to one of the doors and opened it.
It was a small square room with a chair in the center and a small display screen. In a corner hung a very old telephone. To ensure the old phone fit snugly in the corner, the builders had even thoughtfully added a tiny shelf for it.
The Earth Snake led everyone into the room. Chen Junnan and Yun Yao stepped forward to inspect the screen. It seemed custom-made, supported by an iron pipe and positioned in front of the chair.
On the screen were two buttons on the left and right—one green, one red.
"The questions in this game are extremely simple, with only two answers: 'Yes' and 'No,'" the Earth Snake said. "You just press the button according to the actual situation. The green button is 'Yes,' the red button is 'No.' For the sake of fairness, the answers in this game will follow the principle of 'the minority yields to the majority,' meaning the answer chosen by more people will be accepted."
After speaking, the Earth Snake walked to the corner and picked up the old telephone.
"In addition, this is a specially made phone," he said. "Your twelve rooms are arranged in a ring, connected head to tail. At any time, this phone can only connect to the next room on your left, aside from receiving calls."
He thought for a moment and then added, "If someone is eliminated from their room, the phone will ring ten times before skipping to the next alive person's room."
Zhong Zhen pondered this for a moment before asking, "How does someone get eliminated in this game?"
"You'll find out naturally as the game progresses." The Earth Snake smiled. "If a female participant feels she's about to die, she can directly beg me for help. If she pleases me enough, I might spare her life."
"And the male participants?" Zhong Zhen asked again.
"Men can just go die," the Earth Snake said coldly.
"Old man..." Chen Junnan spoke up. "What's the phone for? What do you mean by 'connect to the next room on your left'? Can we get outside help during the Q&A?"
The Earth Snake shook his head. "It's not 'outside help.' Every round, I will give the question to one of the participants. After that person answers for themselves, they must pass the question to the person on their left by phone. Once all twelve have received the question and answered it, that round ends."
Chen Junnan looked at the phone in the Earth Snake's hand and had a bad feeling.
This was a "Q&A" game, but the "questions" the participants heard might not necessarily come from the "referee"—they could come from other participants. And "Snake" games usually came in two flavors: "questioning" and "deception." This one was likely a blend of both, leading to an unpredictable outcome.
"I have a total of forty-eight questions, meaning forty-eight rounds," the Earth Snake said. "After all forty-eight questions are finished, the survivors can split the forty-eight 'Tao' equally."