Chapter 319: The Controller
What followed next didn't surprise Chen Junnan.
The iron ball above his head thundered left like an out-of-control train, coming to a halt above Yun Yao.
Using this opportunity to speak, Chen Junnan told Yun Yao his deduction—that the Earth Snake was hiding among the "even numbers," with the coordinates most likely being "-2." But both Chen Junnan and Yun Yao knew they probably couldn't change the current situation.
Chen Junnan also shared another theory with Yun Yao: be wary of "The Quiet Man." This man, who kept a low profile, was likely the one who had impersonated the Earth Snake earlier.
After all, in the round where someone impersonated the Earth Snake, only he could change the question. This meant that without knowing the full picture, he had already completely predicted how events would unfold—definitely not an insignificant player.
In the rounds that followed, he had also successfully killed "1."
Looking back, "3" had always been an empty room. "The Quiet Man" pretended to have received a call from "3," thereby changing the question. But he hadn't anticipated that the "death match initiator" was just ahead of him, which exposed his scheme.
And ahead of "The Quiet Man" was "Triangle."
This "Triangle" had also killed someone—the previous "3."
The two men ahead of Yun Yao were no ordinary people. Her situation was extremely dangerous.
In the fourteenth round, a strange line of text appeared on Chen Junnan's screen. It looked like a question but was completely meaningless.
"A flower collapses among the snowflakes."
After reading the question, Chen Junnan picked up the phone and dialed Xu Qian. This round was just like the ones before—even though they had come full circle to the fourteenth question, the situation remained unchanged.
The iron ball finally came to a halt above Chen Junnan's head. The next round's question would determine whether he lived or died.
Just as Yun Yao had said, the iron ball after killing was completely different from the one at the beginning.
It hung there, reeking of blood. He could faintly sense its enormous, icy outline, as if it could fill the entire room.
"Can't stop it at all," Chen Junnan said with a smile. "Earth Snake... why are you so impatient?"
As the fifteenth round began, with Xu Qian as the "first person," Chen Junnan finally received a call from Yun Yao.
But Yun Yao's tone was strange—it sounded like she was asking him to deliver his final words.
"Chen... Chen Junnan..." Yun Yao said. "I... I've already chosen 'No.' Please choose 'No' too, and maybe you'll survive the next round..."
"Alright, I understand," Chen Junnan said calmly. "I'll choose 'No.'"
"You... aren't you afraid of dying?" Yun Yao asked nervously. "The iron ball is already above your head now..."
"To be honest..." Chen Junnan sighed. "My feelings toward 'death' have become very dull. Even knowing that I might actually die, there's not a ripple in my heart. After all these years, I've only ever worried about my friends dying—never about myself."
"But you—"
"Besides, I see things differently than you do." Chen Junnan held the phone, slowly raising his head to look at the ceiling. "I have a strange premonition... that I won't die in this round."
"Why...?"
"Because I've figured something out." Chen Junnan squinted. "In the first few rounds of this game, I was leading the way. But at some point... the dominant force on the field changed."
"You mean... someone has taken control of this game?"
"Yes, superstar. There's a very clever person on the field right now. If I'm not mistaken, he's on par with Old Qi." Chen Junnan reached out a hand and touched the layout map on the wall. "This person should have controlled a large area opposite us—roughly from '2' to '6' is all his territory. And from the very beginning, he deduced that 'the Earth Snake joined the game' and pinpointed 'the Earth Snake's exact location.' From that moment on, he started trying to seize the initiative."
Chen Junnan's words shocked Yun Yao.
Could there really be someone so formidable in this world?
"So...?" Yun Yao asked.
"So he's been continuously steering the iron ball toward '-2.' If all my guesses above are correct, then in this round, he'll have everyone choose 'No' to switch between 'even' and 'odd' numbers. That means I probably won't die."
"That's too bold an assumption." Yun Yao frowned. "If even one guess is wrong, you'll disappear forever."
"Precisely because I've teamed up with Old Qi, I know how high human potential can go... When dealing with clever people, you need to fully trust their methods." Chen Junnan smiled. "Superstar, guess whether that person figured out that I'm the 'death match initiator'?"
"Even if he guessed you're the death match initiator, so what?"
"Then he should know that once I die, the 'death match' ends. The Earth Snake might be released from the room and become the 'judge' again. At that point, who knows whether he'd seek revenge or repay a favor? So the best course of action is to keep me here."
Yun Yao swallowed hard. She felt like Chen Junnan was perhaps too trusting of clever people. Could there really be someone sitting alone in an empty room, seeing the entire game laid out before them?
"Superstar, you know that man named Zhong Zhen. Is he that clever?" Chen Junnan asked.
"He's not stupid, but he's nowhere near as clever as you describe." Yun Yao said cautiously. "His biggest trait is his cold-bloodedness. I've participated in several games with him. He's killed quite a few teammates, and he even killed me once. Chu Tianqiu once said that it was precisely because of this trait that he brought Zhong Zhen into 'Heaven's Gate.'"
Chen Junnan nodded. "So the one controlling the overall situation probably isn't him, but someone else."
Yun Yao began to think. They had seen all the participants just now—who could possibly possess such skill?
"Superstar, let's talk later." Chen Junnan said. "After all, I'll soon find out whether my theory is correct."
He hung up the phone, pressed 'No' with great caution, then murmured to himself:
"Let me see what you're capable of."
In the span of just over ten seconds, Chen Junnan felt like he had lived through an entire century. He watched the words on the screen dim, then gradually brighten again.
The verdict that would declare him alive or dead had been delivered.
"The final answer for this question is—'No.'"
"I bet right..." Chen Junnan's brows immediately lifted. Then the sound of enormous chains—clank, clank—rang out, pulling the giant iron ball above his head away from him.
From that moment on, the iron ball was like a tank slowly rotating its turret, turning to aim at the Earth Snake.
Chen Junnan also felt, at that moment, that a hidden bridge had connected him to someone on the opposite side.