Chapter 359: Rules of Calamity
"Year of Calamity?"
"That's right. In this game, I play the role of the final hurdle of the year—the 'Nian Beast.' And you four must do everything in your power to defeat me."
After saying this, the Earth Dog pulled a small remote control from his pocket and pressed a button on it.
Three incandescent lights suddenly lit up inside the central cylindrical glass tube. These three lights were arranged in a row, hanging in mid-air.
"These three lights are my 'health,'" the Earth Dog said, turning his head. "After each of you four has used one 'lot,' that counts as the end of a round. The game will last a total of eight rounds."
"Wait a minute..." Su Shan felt that the Earth Dog was about to finish explaining the rules, but the most important part hadn't been mentioned yet. "If these three lights are your 'health,' how are we supposed to extinguish them?"
"Use your 'lots,'" the Earth Dog said. "Some 'lots' will deal 'damage' to me, meaning they can put out the lights above my head. As long as you can extinguish all three lights above my head within eight rounds, all of you will be considered victorious. After eight rounds, regardless of what happens, the game will end."
The four girls fell silent after hearing this. The 'rules' seemed to have been mostly explained, but they still felt like something was missing.
"That's not right..." Qin Dingdong said. "I think I generally understand the rules, which seem similar to a card game. But aren't you participating?"
"What?"
"You don't need to use 'lots'?" Qin Dingdong asked. "The four of us just surround you and attack? You just sit in the middle and take the beating?"
"Of course I participate," the Earth Dog said. "As I said before, after all four of you have used a 'lot,' that marks the end of a round. I can also use one 'lot' per round. Sounds fair, doesn't it?"
Su Shan immediately latched onto the key point of this statement. "Then do you use your 'lot' before us or after us?"
"That depends on my strategy," the Earth Dog said. "I can use my 'lot' at any time during a round, but only one per round."
Lin Qin noticed that this Earth Dog was indeed different from the other 'Zodiacs.' He seemed willing to answer any question they asked.
With this in mind, Lin Qin stepped forward and asked, "Then I want to know, how do you plan to kill us in this game?"
This question hit the nail on the head, causing the Earth Dog's expression to change slightly.
"I..." The Earth Dog thought for a moment, then said, "Well, since I'm going to take my work seriously, I might as well tell you everything. The 'lots' I hold are slightly different from yours. I have a total of eight 'lots,' each representing one of eight 'calamities.'"
Su Shan nodded after hearing this. "So you're the Nian Beast that brings 'calamity'?"
"Correct," the Earth Dog said. "My 'calamities' have the potential to kill people, so you'd better be careful."
The four girls fell silent again. Once the game officially started, they would be unable to communicate with each other, so they could only try to think of any questions they needed to ask.
"And these four glass houses..." Su Shan pointed to the four square glass enclosures. "What's the order for 'playing the lots'?"
Upon hearing this, the Earth Dog frowned. "Aren't you asking a bit too many questions?"
"I—"
Just as Su Shan was about to say something, Qin Dingdong stepped forward first and said to the Earth Dog, "Didn't you fail to clarify the rules in the first place? If we go in like this without even knowing the order, how are we supposed to avoid chaos?"
"I always work meticulously. How could I forget to mention the rules?" the Earth Dog said with a frown. "I think what I've said is enough for you to participate in the game."
"Meticulously?" Qin Dingdong laughed. "Doggy, there's something I really don't know if I should say."
"You can question my personality, but you cannot question my work ability," the Earth Dog replied grumpily.
Qin Dingdong snorted coldly, then turned and pointed at a nearby pane of glass. There was a dirty handprint on it.
"You talk about being meticulous, but after switching to a new batch of participants, you couldn't even be bothered to wipe the glass?"
"Huh?" The Earth Dog was taken aback, and his canine ears twitched. "I didn't wipe the glass?"
"See for yourself." Qin Dingdong pointed at the handprint. "You've given us such a poor game experience. We don't really care anymore; we just want to ask a few more questions about the rules. Is that too much to ask?"
The Earth Dog walked over, looked at the handprint on the glass, and slowly furrowed his brow.
"Am I wrong?" Qin Dingdong patted the Earth Dog on the back. "Answer one more question for us, and we'll call it even."
The Earth Dog looked at Su Shan and Qin Dingdong, then finally nodded. "Fine, go ahead."
"We already asked: what's the order for the glass houses to act?"
Upon hearing this, the Earth Dog raised his finger and pointed at the pink glass house. "The person in the pink glass room acts first each round. Then it goes clockwise: green, orange, and blue."
"What do the colors represent?" Su Shan asked again.
"I don't know." The Earth Dog cut Su Shan off with a cold expression. "That's all I have to say. I should have explained all the rules. The rest of the game is up to your own luck."
The Earth Dog slowly walked toward the central glass cylinder in the middle of the room, then turned to them from inside the door and said, "Please choose your rooms as quickly as possible. The game will begin in five minutes."
After saying this, he closed the door on his own. An extremely complex lock on the glass door clicked shut at the same time.
"This damn dog..." Qin Dingdong shot him an annoyed look. "He really is carefree. He can't hear a word of what we're discussing now. Perfect chance to scheme against him."
"I'm not so sure..." Su Shan looked worriedly in the direction of the Earth Dog. "The fact that he locked his own door so confidently can only mean he's absolutely certain of himself. He believes he has a high probability of killing us in the upcoming game."
"Then what should we do?" Qin Dingdong looked at the others. Based on the few 'Human-level' games they had played during the day, this group of four was quite smart. If they could really unite, fighting against an 'Earth Dog' should be manageable.
"Let's pick our positions first," Su Shan said. "I plan to go first. If possible, I'll figure out all the rules of the game first, then find a way to relay them to you."
"Relay them..."
"Even though we won't be able to hear each other's voices, we should still be able to communicate simple things using hand gestures and lip movements," Su Shan emphasized. "After all, we'll be in glass houses and can see each other's every move."
Zhang Chenze, who had been silent for a while, paused, then looked up and said, "The Earth Dog could have put us in sealed rooms, but instead he built glass houses. I think that's suspicious."
"Even if it's suspicious, we can't figure it out now," Su Shan said. "The priority right now is to choose our rooms and start the game. From here on out, everyone will have to rely on their own abilities."