Chapter 304: To Sit Down?
Before Chen Junnan could finish cursing, the words on the screen had already vanished.
"What the hell..." Chen Junnan quickly reached out and patted the screen. "Hey! Wait a second! Teacher, I haven't finished reading the question!"
In the central circular plaza, Earth Snake listened to Chen Junnan's muffled shout and couldn't help but smile knowingly.
Chen Junnan let out a deep sigh and began stroking his chin in thought.
This weird question was something most people wouldn't know the answer to. Even if he could answer it himself, how was he supposed to pass it along?
"Damn it, whatever." After thinking for a moment, Chen Junnan suddenly laughed. "It's just asking a question anyway. As long as everyone's answer is the same as mine, that's fine."
He reached out and decisively pressed "Yes," then picked up the phone and dialed the next room.
"Hello...?" The man on the other end answered.
"Hey, how are you?" Chen Junnan said with a grin.
"I-I'm doing alright..."
The two fell silent for a moment.
The man on the phone seemed to sense something was off. "Y-Your question...?"
"I already asked it," Chen Junnan said. "I said, 'How are you?'"
"Huh?!" The man was clearly taken aback. "What kind of question is that?!"
"Wasn't it a yes-or-no question?" Chen Junnan rubbed his nose sheepishly. "Anyway, just pass it along. The question is 'How are you?' Right, I'm hanging up now."
After hanging up without hesitation, Chen Junnan leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes to rest. He felt this game was rather strange.
Since it didn't matter whether the answer was right or wrong, what was the point of answering?
If someone with his level of skill could set a question, then what was the purpose of asking questions in the first place?
A few minutes later, everyone had finished answering, and words appeared on the screen again.
「The final answer for this round is—Yes.」
「Clank, clank—」
The sound of a massive chain overhead echoed once more. Chen Junnan looked up, sensing something enormous moving above.
"What the hell is that thing?" Chen Junnan stood up, stepped onto his chair, and knocked on the ceiling. To his surprise, the ceiling was surprisingly thin, as if it were just a flimsy layer of wooden boards.
This thin ceiling stood in stark contrast to the completely soundproofed walls around him.
"This..." Chen Junnan slowly stepped down from the chair, squinting in thought.
But a few seconds later, he gave up.
"Too damn hard..." Chen Junnan shook his head. "Thinking is such a pain. Let's just get the next round started already."
After sitting in his chair for about ten seconds, the screen indicated that the next round had begun. However, Chen Junnan didn't receive a question.
Who was the questioner this time?
The first round was Yun Yao, the second was him. It seemed the participants took turns clockwise to be the "first person." If his guess was correct, the man to his left now had the question.
That meant Chen Junnan would be the last person to receive the question.
Since the questions were passed through the phone, even a simple "Have you eaten?" could end up distorted after so many transmissions.
After waiting about seven or eight minutes, the phone finally rang.
Even though Chen Junnan had prepared himself, he was still startled by the loud ring.
「Brrring—!!」
"Ah, damn..." Chen Junnan jolted and quickly picked up the phone. "Chen Junnan here. Go ahead."
Yun Yao thought for a moment before speaking. "Chen Junnan, I'm not sure if this question is correct... but what I heard was this..."
"Go on."
"The question is, 'To sit down?'"
"Huh?" Chen Junnan was taken aback. "Sit down?"
"Yes..." Yun Yao said hesitantly. "I suspect a participant with a heavy accent somewhere along the line might have changed the question..."
"Hiss—" Chen Junnan slowly drew in a breath.
If we were talking about accents... the phrase "To sit down?" could have countless variations. Too hard to guess.
What's more... maybe it wasn't an "accent" issue at all. Maybe someone, like himself, had deliberately changed the question.
"What did you pick?" Chen Junnan asked.
"Huh? Are we allowed to talk about that?" Yun Yao was surprised.
"Is it not allowed?" Chen Junnan asked, confused. "Did the game rules mention that?"
"Well..." Yun Yao thought for a moment. It seemed there was indeed no such rule. "I chose 'No.'"
"Oh?"
"Since I felt the question had been altered, it probably had nothing to do with 'chairs.' Whatever reason the person before me had for changing the question, it seemed like they wanted us to choose 'Yes.' But I didn't know their motive, so to be safe, I chose 'No.'"
"I think you made the right call." Chen Junnan nodded. "Then I'll choose 'No' too, backing you up."
They hung up, and Chen Junnan sat in his chair, deep in thought.
"Sit down...?"
Although only two questions had been asked so far, at least they had some logic to them. But this "To sit down?" had neither a subject nor a clear direction.
Who was supposed to sit?
Was it really "sit"?
Chen Junnan knew he was the last person to answer this question. Once he made his choice, this round would be over, so he needed to be more cautious.
The previous two rounds had ended so hastily, but this time, Chen Junnan had an ominous feeling.
"Damn it, Old Qi... help me out here." Chen Junnan rubbed his forehead, trying to analyze the situation the way Qiu Xia would.
He mimicked Qiu Xia's gesture of stroking his chin, muttering to himself. According to the rules... first this, then that, and finally...
Ten seconds later, he gave up again.
"Great, what lousy rules. Can't figure them out at all. Screw it."
Chen Junnan shook his head and decisively pressed "No."
Whoever wanted to sit down—let them stand for now.
A few seconds later, the words on the screen flickered.
「The final answer for this round is—Yes.」
"Oh ho..." Chen Junnan chuckled. "Looks like everyone really loves their chairs..."
Before he could finish, a deafening rumble shook the entire room.
「BOOM—!!」
The whole room lurched violently. Chen Junnan tumbled to the floor along with his chair. It felt like a brief, intense earthquake.
"What the hell was that?"
He scrambled to his feet and looked around, sensing that something had changed.
Then, the wall to his left was slammed with tremendous force, and the smell of dust filled the air.
"Hold on..." He looked up in confusion. Unlike after the previous rounds, there was no sound of chains this time.
Instead, there was only this thunderous crash.
"Could it be..."
Chen Junnan furrowed his brow, his heart suddenly racing.
"Screw 'To sit down?'..." He cursed as he stood up and knocked on the wall of the room to his left. "Who's the cunning bastard who started making moves already?"
The sound of chains had been activating some mechanism. Something huge was suspended above everyone's heads, and the question just now had caused that massive thing to fall.
The question wasn't "To sit down?"
It should have been "To fall down?"