Chapter 374: Hidden Killing Move
"If a single 'lot' can save Old Qin…" Lin Qin decisively picked up "Water Leaves No Trace."
As long as she could eliminate the standing water in Qin Dingdong's room, it would be difficult for her to die.
The current situation was rather complicated. The combination of flooding and hail had dramatically increased the probability of Qin Dingdong's death.
Swift currents mixed with low temperatures could drain a person's body heat faster than a "cold snap." Moreover, with foreign objects pouring into the room from two directions, the time it took for it to fill up had been cut in half.
Now, if they could just drain the water from Qin Dingdong's room, the situation would improve significantly.
After all, crushed ice alone rarely causes suffocation. Even if they intended to drown someone, it would take a certain amount of time for the ice to melt.
"That should be it, right?" Lin Qin held a "lot" in each hand. She knew the game had entered its final stage, and every decision impacted everyone's life or death. Raising her head to look at Su Shan, she slowly lifted "Water Leaves No Trace," as if waiting for Su Shan's opinion.
Su Shan looked at the "lot," stroking her chin. She was about to nod in agreement, but then she hesitated.
A faint, almost imperceptible thought flickered through her mind.
"Wait a moment…" She raised her hand to stop Lin Qin's action, then squinted her eyes in thought.
The current situation… was a bit strange.
Would the Earth Dog be this foolish?
This was now the last two rounds. For him, it was no different from a final showdown. That meant the "killing move" he had just unleashed was his most ferocious one.
But after setting up the "calamity" in Qin Dingdong's room, he had clearly left an entire round's worth of time for the remaining "Four Seasons" to react.
Under normal circumstances, all the "rescues" would be sent from the various seasons to "Winter" one after another.
Since the "Year Beast" launched the "calamity" before Qin Dingdong made her "wish," even Qin Dingdong's own "wish lot" had enough time to complete a full rotation and save herself.
In other words, even though it seemed like the "Year Beast" had pulled out all the stops this round, he had intentionally left openings everywhere.
It was the "encircle the city, but leave one gate open" tactic again.
"This is just too abnormal…" Su Shan rubbed her nose with a finger. "Do you have any special plan?"
Right now, using "Water Leaves No Trace" seemed like it would solve all the immediate problems. Qin Dingdong would survive, and everyone could smoothly enter the final round.
Then, regardless of what the "calamity" was, everyone just needed to complete one rotation of "No Wasteland Anywhere Under Heaven" to extinguish the "Year Beast's" lantern and win the game.
"So you want us to use this 'Water Leaves No Trace'?" Su Shan felt a sense of déjà vu.
Last time, Qi Xia had quietly led her into hell in the same way.
But Su Shan knew that this time, she was calmer than the last.
Looking at it from a macro perspective, why would the Earth Dog guide them to use "Water Leaves No Trace"?
Now, with only one round left, the Earth Dog only had one "calamity lot" left in his hand.
No matter what the face of that "calamity lot" was, it could be solved by "Torrential Rain Pouring Down."
Now that "Torrential Rain Pouring Down" was in the hands of "Summer," which was the center of the year, it was more than enough to handle any situation that might arise during the year.
Even in the worst-case scenario, if the final round's calamity fell upon "Spring" or "Summer," and even if that "calamity" couldn't be solved, as long as they acted quickly enough, they could still complete "No Wasteland Anywhere Under Heaven."
Wasn't this a sure-win situation…?
"Ah!"
Su Shan's eyes flew wide open. She could feel hot tears streaming down her face. Her vision was blurring. Hurriedly wiping her tears away, her eyes shone with a sharp light.
"I understand!"
Without time to elaborate, she quickly raised her head and made a gesture to Lin Qin.
She tried to convey with simple hand signals that Lin Qin should not use "Water Leaves No Trace," but should instead use "The Day Spring Blossoms."
Lin Qin felt like she must have misunderstood Su Shan's meaning. Several times she held up "Water Leaves No Trace" and waved it in front of Su Shan, but Su Shan shook her head each time.
"What are you doing…? Are you sure about this?" Lin Qin muttered to herself in disbelief. "We need to deal with the 'hail' first…?"
She simply turned the "lot" over to show Su Shan the characters on it. Su Shan looked at it carefully but still shook her head.
"Have you lost your mind…?" Lin Qin was in a difficult position. She glanced over at Qin Dingdong next door. The mixture of water and crushed ice had already reached her waist.
And now she was supposed to stop the "hail"?!
Wouldn't Qin Dingdong drown very quickly then?
"This… this…" Lin Qin knew she wasn't stupid, but she couldn't guess what Su Shan was thinking at all. "Fine… I'll trust you on this…"
As she inserted the "lot" into the hole, everyone present, including the Earth Dog, fixed their gaze on Qin Dingdong's room.
Su Shan watched the Earth Dog's expression without a sound, knowing she had guessed correctly.
This was an incredibly risky move.
The crushed ice on the roof trembled and then stopped. The entire room was left with only the gradually rising water level.
Seeing this, the Earth Dog's brow furrowed. He turned his face to look at Su Shan.
"As expected of you…" The Earth Dog's low voice came from the broadcast. "This is too unscientific. How did you figure it out?"
Su Shan couldn't answer the Earth Dog. She just slightly raised the corners of her mouth.
Now, the odds of winning this game had finally increased.
The Earth Dog silently lowered his head and said, "The third person's 'wish' is complete. Now, the fourth person will 'draw the lots'…"
His tone was no longer as calm as before. After all, even he hadn't expected that the carefully crafted scheme he had devised would be seen through.
Qin Dingdong was confused. She had thought her remaining teammates would deal with her "flooding," but they had gone and dealt with the "hail" instead.
Her room was now a mess. Her two "plain lots" were floating on the water with the crushed ice, while the table had sunk to the bottom.
How was she supposed to "draw the lots"?
Before she could figure it out, a "lot" floated up from the table's surface. It quickly left the table and drifted onto the water.
"You guys are messing with me, right…?" Qin Dingdong frowned. "Your big sister's makeup is going to be ruined."
Floating on the water, Qin Dingdong endured the bone-chilling cold, took a deep breath, grabbed the "lot," and plunged her head underwater to steadily insert it into the hole on the table.
"Round Eight… begins." The Earth Dog let out a deep sigh.
Seeing the Earth Dog's reaction, Su Shan finally relaxed a little. Putting all the pieces together, she deduced that the last "lot" in the Earth Dog's hand wasn't "Drought" at all.
Because while using "Torrential Rain Pouring Down" to solve "Drought" was theoretically correct, it wasn't a one hundred percent perfect fit.
Since the Earth Dog had saved this "lot" for the very last round, it meant his final "lot" was a "calamity" even more powerful than "Drought," one strong enough to kill a person in an extremely short amount of time. However, it was afraid of water.
For example—
"Wildfire."