Chapter 321: The Girl in White
After the answering time ended, Chen Junnan's screen lit up.
"The final answer to this question is—'Yes.'"
Sure enough, the other party's thinking had aligned with his own. Now the iron ball was hovering above Chen Junnan's head.
The next seventeen rounds were equally predictable. Everyone worked together to choose 'Yes,' and Earth Serpent did not answer the phone. At this point, there was no need for him to answer anymore.
His individual strength was far too limited. The best course of action was still to conceal his position. By now, Xu Qian had most likely received his call and would probably inform those behind her.
The only problem was that those behind her might not trust Xu Qian one hundred percent.
For the eighteenth question, as expected, the answer leaned toward 'Yes.'
The sound of chains rang out, and the massive iron ball landed on '-2.'
But Chen Junnan felt a slight confusion—the sound this time was different from before.
After all, the iron ball had landed on '-2' once already. Yet this time, the noise it made was far less than before. There was just a slight tremor in the ground, and almost none of the other unusual sounds.
Does that make sense...?
Chen Junnan lowered his head in thought. Since Earth Serpent's body had been strengthened, there was a high chance he could actually catch the iron ball and prevent it from touching the ground, thus greatly reducing the noise.
But it still felt like something was missing...
What about the earlier roar and the sound of rubble...?
He suddenly remembered something and immediately looked up at the ceiling.
Yes... the problem lay in the pure wooden ceiling.
When the iron ball first landed on '-2,' it smashed through the ceiling. But this time, it didn't. Every previous time, the huge sound came from the ball breaking through the ceiling. This was the first time the ball had landed on a spot it had already hit before, so the sound was much quieter.
"The iron ball is right next door to me, but it doesn't sound very loud..." Chen Junnan rubbed his chin, deep in thought. "Then for people farther away, wouldn't they not hear it at all...?"
A few seconds later, a look of excitement spread across Chen Junnan's face.
"Hah! That's hilarious!" He clapped his hands and exclaimed, "Your little master is a fucking genius! I just thought of a brilliant idea!"
Sure, he had bet his life first and thought of a plan later, but at least he came up with something.
As always, the life motto 'There is always a way when you reach the mountain's foot' was spot on!
"If that old bastard can actually catch that iron ball, then I'll have to use this trick."
Round nineteen began. Chen Junnan symbolically answered Yun Yao's call, then dialed the person to his left.
He expected that Earth Serpent, dragging his half-dead body, would answer the phone, and then he could exchange a few fake pleasantries. But to his surprise, the person who answered was Xu Qian.
"It's you...?" Xu Qian was taken aback.
"Yeah, it's me. What, not welcome?"
"Ugh... did you hear that just now?"
"You mean 'Rise of the Snake-Slayers'?" Chen Junnan nodded. "I guess I heard it."
"He... is he dead?"
"Good question." Chen Junnan chuckled. "I'll step out and check for you later, no rush."
Hearing him say that, Xu Qian could only sigh. "He called me last round. I already told the people behind me where he is, but I don't know if they believe me... And now that we finally managed to hit Earth Serpent, we don't even know if he's dead. This feeling is so frustrating!"
"What's the rush?" Chen Junnan grinned. "If that old snake Earth Serpent is still alive, he'll call you to report his safety in a couple of rounds."
Xu Qian paused in thought. "True."
"Sister Qian, from now on, let's follow the rhythm of 'Yes, No, Smash' and grind Earth Serpent into snake meat patties."
The two hung up and waited for a moment. The answer to the nineteenth question surfaced.
"The final answer to this question is—'Yes.'"
For the twentieth question, Earth Serpent still didn't answer. Chen Junnan made a symbolic call to Xu Qian to brief her, then continued waiting.
But when the answer appeared, he was caught off guard again.
This time, the answer was also 'Yes.'
The direction of the cannon had changed. The wind on the field had turned.
The iron ball didn't return to above Earth Serpent's head; instead, it moved away.
Chen Junnan glanced at the layout he had drawn on the wall. If this round chose 'Yes,' the iron ball would hover above the 'Nervous Man.'
What did he ever do to deserve that?
Moreover, in the previous question, he, Yun Yao, and Xu Qian had all chosen 'No.' Why did the final answer turn out to be 'Yes'?
The sound of giant chains rang out, and the iron ball, without a doubt, moved away from Earth Serpent.
What had caused this change?
What was different about this round compared to the previous ones?
If he had to say... it was that Xu Qian had told the people behind her about Earth Serpent's location.
"Shit..." Chen Junnan stood up, as if he had figured it out.
That so-called 'smart person' didn't seem to believe Earth Serpent's actual position... Did he want the iron ball to smash all the way from '-2' back to '3'?
That way, while killing as many participants as possible, it could also severely injure Earth Serpent.
Sure enough, just as he had anticipated, with a huge crash, that nervous man was voted out by the group.
The whole process took less than three minutes—clean and swift, no delays.
Things were getting strange again. No matter what Chen Junnan chose, it seemed he had no control over the iron ball's trajectory.
For the next rounds, twenty-two and twenty-three, the answer remained 'Yes.' The situation was heading in a bizarre direction.
Chen Junnan quickly re-examined the layout on the wall, mentally simulating the next few rounds.
"You tricked everyone... You want to start a massacre...?"
He carved a '死' (death) at the spot of the 'Nervous Man.' Then, skipping the man who wouldn't cooperate with him, he carved another '死' at the third man's spot. If he wasn't mistaken, that man would die in round twenty-four.
Then he skipped the 'Girl in White' and carved a '死' at the position of the man behind her.
Following this rhythm of killing every other person...
"Wait a minute..."
Chen Junnan frowned. Among the two people on either side of the 'Girl in White,' one of them was Zhong Zhen. Did that mean both of them would die next...?
He had thought that one of these two men was the one in control of the overall situation, but now it seemed they were being controlled by the situation, completely unable to escape.
They had been deceived.
"I should have realized it sooner..." Chen Junnan gave a bitter smile. "I originally thought there was a smart person among the 'Even Numbers,' leading the entire 'Even Number' group in slaughtering the 'Odd Numbers.' But the questions the 'Even Numbers' get all come from the 'Odd Numbers'..."
He extended a finger and used his nail to heavily circle the four characters 'Girl in White.'
"So you're that terrifying, huh...?" Chen Junnan curled his lips. "Now I really want to introduce you to Old Qi. If you two started dating, it would probably be pretty damn interesting, wouldn't it?"