Chapter 360: Make a Wish
Zhang Chenze nodded. "Green symbolizes peace. I want green."
Lin Qin nodded after hearing that. "I want the orange-yellow room."
"Then there's no choice. I'll go last." Qin Dingdong stretched lazily. "I'll take blue."
The four of them each stood in their respective rooms, in front of their own desks, then turned back one by one to close the doors.
The moment Qin Dingdong closed her door, she suddenly remembered something. She quickly tried moving the door a few times, attempting to open it.
"Damn it..." A trace of unease appeared on her face. She had forgotten to say something extremely important.
Although everyone generally understood the "game rules," she had forgotten to tell Su Shan about the rules of the "Land of the End."
In those ancient memories of hers, this woman was extremely dangerous when she got serious. She would kill anyone without hesitation for the sake of the bigger picture.
But this game absolutely couldn't be played that way. If she guessed correctly, there were only two possible outcomes for the four of them—
Either everyone dies, or everyone survives.
After all, this was a game of the "Earth Dog." It symbolized "unity." Infighting would only hasten their destruction.
Qin Dingdong pushed hard against the door a few more times, but when she found it completely ineffective, she finally gave up.
Su Shan was a smart person, but could she guess these rules that no one had explained?
Unfortunately, none of the games they had participated in during the day involved "dogs," so she hadn't had a chance to explain the "dog" type of game to this clever newcomer.
"Su Shan..." Qin Dingdong looked at her through the glass, then tapped her own wall.
Su Shan caught Qin Dingdong's gaze and turned her head to the right to look at her.
Qin Dingdong pressed against the glass, pointed at the Earth Dog, and then mouthed two words.
"Loyalty."
Su Shan frowned, unsure if she understood.
Qin Dingdong felt something was off, so she changed her mouth shape and said two more words.
"Unity."
Seeing Qin Dingdong's lip movements, Su Shan could only nod ambiguously.
Qin Dingdong's mind eased slightly. With Su Shan's intelligence, as long as she was given a little clue, she should be able to deduce the nature of "dog" type games.
The locks on all the glass rooms clicked shut at the same moment, and the Earth Dog's voice came over the broadcast.
"The game officially begins. Everyone below will now 'draw lots.' Two slips each."
Su Shan looked at the small hole on the desk in front of her. A lot slowly rose up from it. She quickly reached out and took it.
Five characters were written on it—"A Gentle Drizzle Falls."
Below this lot was an arrow pointing to the right.
"This..." Su Shan was trying to understand the meaning of the lot when a second lot emerged from the desk. She took it and saw five more characters.
"Plenty of Land, No Idle Fields."
This lot had an arrow pointing to the left.
Su Shan squinted at the two lots, feeling completely baffled. She was supposed to use these two lots to kill the "Nian Beast"?
"Drizzle... idle fields...?"
Before she could think it through, the Earth Dog's voice rang out again. "Drawing lots is over. Now the rounds officially begin. Each person will receive one more lot during their own turn."
While listening to the Earth Dog's explanation, Su Shan looked at the two lots in her hands. She couldn't imagine what effect using them would have. With only five characters on each lot, the rest had to be deduced by imagination.
Now her turn was coming up soon. She could only wait to see what the next lot's inscription was and decide based on the content of all three lots together.
A new lot slowly emerged from the small hole on the right. Su Shan looked at the text on it and instantly raised her eyebrows.
Yes, this was the right lot!
She reached out and took it. On it were five characters that dealt the most damage to the "Nian Beast"—
"Firecrackers Bid Farewell to the Old Year."
The only difference between this lot and the other two was that instead of an arrow below it, there was a picture of a lion-like monster.
"Number One, please 'make a wish'," the Earth Dog said over the broadcast.
Su Shan nodded and picked up the lot that read "Firecrackers Bid Farewell to the Old Year." In the legend, the common people lit firecrackers specifically to drive away the "Nian Beast." So among these three lots, the one that could damage the "Nian Beast" had to be this one.
But just as she was about to insert this lot into the hole, she had a vague sense that something wasn't right.
Yes, the more straightforward the situation, the more suspicious it was.
Why would the means to damage the "Nian Beast" be so easy?
Everyone needed to extinguish the Nian Beast's three lamps within eight rounds. But this was clearly the first phase of the first round.
Could it be that... whoever drew the "firecrackers" could extinguish one of the Nian Beast's lamps?
If so, what were the remaining lots for?
Su Shan hesitated for a moment but finally decided to insert "Firecrackers Bid Farewell to the Old Year." After all, this lot seemed the most effective. As for the other lots, it was best not to use them rashly until she figured out what they meant.
Su Shan inserted "Firecrackers Bid Farewell to the Old Year" into the hole on the right and watched as it was slowly swallowed.
The next moment, colorful lights flashed inside the Earth Dog's glass cylinder. Accompanied by a cheap firecracker sound effect, the flickering lights continued for a full ten seconds before gradually stopping.
But what puzzled Su Shan was that after the lights flickered, the three incandescent lamps above the Earth Dog's head were still on. None of them had gone out.
"What...?" She was slightly stunned, feeling she had still overlooked something.
Were "firecrackers" ineffective against the "Nian Beast"?
Suddenly, Su Shan thought of something—in the legend, the purpose of "firecrackers" was to scare away the "Nian Beast." Since it was only "scaring away," it couldn't actually cause any damage?
Or... were all damages only tallied at the end of the round?
"Number One's action is over," the Earth Dog announced. "Now Number Two will 'draw lots'."
Before Su Shan could recover, her phase had already passed, and the next phase was given to the person on her left—Zhang Chenze, who was sitting in the light green glass room.
Su Shan looked at Zhang Chenze, who had a very troubled expression. Due to the distance, she couldn't clearly see the characters on her lots.
When a new lot emerged in front of her, her expression became even stranger.
She seemed completely clueless about the function of these three lots. After a moment, she threw one of the lots onto the table, as if abandoning it. Then, holding one lot in each hand, she looked left and right, thinking for a few seconds before inserting the abandoned lot on the table into the hole.
This time, the situation was even more bizarre.
After Zhang Chenze inserted that lot, nothing happened on the field. It was as if the inscription on that lot was blank.