"Xiao Gao Robot."
As soon as Ming Po's words fell, the cards in front of Gao Fan and Gao Song simultaneously turned white.
Without anyone touching them, they flipped over on their own.
The contents written on the two cards were identical.
Both read: "Xiao Gao Robot".
However, Gao Fan and Gao Song held entirely different views on it.
Gao Fan had no idea how it functioned. In his eyes, it was a product of paradox technology, an "exquisitely crafted, portable Artificial Intelligence," making it a powerful, high-tech tool.
But to Gao Song—the man who had created it with his own hands—it was nothing more than a toy.
He had spent over a decade crushing novices and slaughtering weaklings. Every chip he earned from those victories had been converted into his own knowledge.
That knowledge was now fully mastered.
To him, creating the Xiao Gao Robot was fundantally just making a plaything.
He had indeed sampled Gao Fan's voice, but it was not a "Little Gao Fan" modeled after Gao Fan himself.
It was a simulated toy of his "own biological son".
Gao Song had already beco a Deceiver of the World; it was no longer possible for him to truly have a child of his own.
He utterly despised the old man's "plan," so he would never try to create a pureblood Deceiver like Gao Feng and his wife did. Yet, if he attempted to quit the ga and regain his identity as a living human, he would inevitably "lose his mories as a Deceiver of the World."
To Gao Song, losing his mories was tantamount to killing himself.
And then, it would no longer be "his" child, either.
Under such circumstances, an Artificial Intelligence that he had coded, trained, and nurtured himself felt more like his son... felt more like his own child. It was completely created by him alone, untainted by the interference, influence, or manipulation of the old man in his family. It carried no stench of the Ga of Deception's copper coins, and held no underlying conspiracies or exploitation...
A true child.
For Gao Song, achieving all of this was incredibly easy.
It was effortless; he barely even had to use his brain.
Furthermore, Gao Song understood Gao Fan perfectly... He knew that Gao Fan would definitely choose this term.
Gao Fan had always believed it was a treasure left behind by his parents. In this kind of ga, his instinct would drive him to select the word that gave him the greatest sense of security as his "talisman".
In a sense, he wasn't wrong... It truly was sothing left to him by his father.
This was also the reason why Gao Song had insisted on bypassing the obviously easier target, Gao Fan, to strike first at Ming Po, the far stronger enemy.
Because he couldn't eliminate Gao Fan first.
Because... he and Gao Fan shared the exact sa word.
Therefore, the more he tried to lock onto Gao Fan, the more he would unconsciously lock onto himself.
And if he revealed Gao Fan's answer and eliminated him from the ga... it would an Ming Po would imdiately know his answer as well. The next round would be Ming Po's turn to answer, and Gao Song would definitely die.
Gao Song had no choice; he could only target Ming Po.
Choosing this term, however, was not a mistake.
It was confidence.
Because there were two possibilities here.
If Gao Fan had never shown the Xiao Gao Robot to Ming Po, then Ming Po could never guess the word, no matter what.
But if Ming Po knew of the Xiao Gao Robot's existence, he would easily guess that Gao Fan's trump card was this very term; however, he wouldn't be certain if Gao Song shared the sa term. At best, he could only "guess".
Yet if Ming Po directly answered with this term but failed to hit the truth—that would an he had personally killed Gao Fan.
This was the moral dilemma Gao Song had set up, fundantally identical to his previous two layers of traps.
The reverse was also true...
It was even more impossible for Gao Fan to proactively guess "his own answer".
That would be tantamount to killing himself in exchange for a bullet that might not even hit its mark.
Not to ntion, the flashing of Gao Fan and Gao Song's cards had been deliberately staggered for many questions. In Gao Fan's subconscious, he had long ruled out the possibility that he and Gao Song shared the sa word.
"When one's own card is targeted by the opponent to consu a turn, and is correctly guessed using a guess: the card flips over and counts as a loss..." Ming Po's leisurely voice rang out. "This is a victory condition specifically outlined in the rules. But it didn't state... what would happen if a teammate guessed it. Since the rules explicitly ntioned it, that ant if a teammate guessed correctly, it definitely wouldn't be a 'card flips over and counts as a loss' situation... I initially thought it would turn white, but I didn't expect it to actually flip. It makes sense, though, this is more direct, making it impossible... for anyone to deny."
Ming Po's smile carried a mix of ease and mockery. "Of course, regardless of the outco, the answer remains the sa.
"You lose, Mr. Gao Song."
The three-minute ti limit was up.
The dim yellow glow deep within Ming Po's pupils faded away, imdiately followed by the punitive side effect—an increase in his ntal Anomaly level. Twenty Faces did not announce the end of the ga right away. Instead, she kept her hands folded gracefully in front of her, smiling like a beautiful doll as she watched Ming Po... allowing him to vent the joy of his victory.
Gao Song, however, reacted differently than she had anticipated.
She had originally thought that, given Gao Song's usual temperant, he might frantically and desperately try to flip the card back over, or perhaps attempt to leave his seat and directly attack Mr. Madman...
But unexpectedly, facing his own end, Gao Song took a deep breath instead.
He closed his weary eyes.
"It's finally... over."
He remained silent for a good while, and the others generously gave him the ti to savor his defeat.
Opening his eyes, he looked at Ming Po. "I truly didn't expect you to be this bold.
"...Ah, but it makes sense. It was my mistake.
"I shouldn't have simultaneously deployed the moral kidnapping of 'you wouldn't dare expose Little Fan's trump card' alongside the self-proving trap of 'the teammate only has one last chance'. With only one chance left, you no longer needed to worry about 'what if I reveal Gao Fan's trump card but fail to kill you'... Sigh, I've grown too accustod to dealing with other Deceivers of the World.
"It's rare for Little Fan to co here, so I added an extra layer of moral blackmail that I had prepared for him long ago, but instead, it ended up collapsing my own logical structure..." After his defeat, Gao Song actually cald down and began analyzing the match seriously.
Even though it was completely aningless now.
But after calming down, Gao Song finally exuded the aura of a "true elite".
"If you had faced with this attitude from the very beginning, I might have actually lost,"
Ming Po praised.
But soon, he flashed a wicked grin. "Just kidding."
He lifted his chin, looking at Gao Song. "Did you think I didn't know? Maybe your creation of 'Xiao Gao' really stemd from a father's love...
"But you transplanted the trained Xiao Gao into the music box and deliberately left it in Gao Fan's stronghold, forging evidence that his parents left it behind... Wasn't that just so you could play this ga with him when he eventually broke into your palace in the future? You laid this trap long ago. Gao Fan's answer was bound to be those five characters.
"And the rules you set—whether it was 'judging a word prioritizes personal subjective impression', or 'the answer must be in Chinese and under five characters', as well as the underlying rule favoring a one-versus-many setup... plus all the moral kidnappings and self-proving traps you designed specifically against weak-willed people...
"Admit it, Uncle Song. From the very beginning, this entire ga was an execution ground you prepared for Gao Fan.
"Your intentions were too obvious. And the more obvious the intention, the more it has nowhere to hide in my eyes."
"...Not necessarily."
Gao Song remained silent for a mont, not denying Ming Po's accusation.
He simply added, "There is... another possibility."
"You an, Gao Fan personally killing you, right?"
Ming Po said slowly, "If Gao Fan truly had the resolve to risk suicide by blurting out that term—or if he could proactively sell out a teammate and choose to collude with you... then you wouldn't need to kill him."
"Because if that happened, he would truly be my heir."
Gao Song looked at Gao Fan, his tone calm. "He would... truly beco my son."
Hearing this, Gao Fan closed his eyes in agony.
He didn't utter a single word, clutching his chest as if he couldn't catch his breath.
Gao Song then looked at Ming Po. "My only miscalculation was simply not expecting... that my son, who is as dense as Gao Feng, could actually et such a powerful and cold-blooded assistant.
"I saw you use Frankenstein's power, and I saw that your current Title is Madman. I thought you were just a brainless brute..." Gao Song sighed as well. "I accept my loss."
His body began to disintegrate piece by piece, turning into nothingness.
When the cracks spread to his elbows, he pulled the bloodstained dagger from his pocket and tossed it back to Ming Po.
The blade was sheathed, but blood still stained it.
"I'm taking it with as I die. I have been completely warped by my Title, so... it should be able to turn into a Treasure now." Gao Song said softly. "It's a gift for you."
The cracks crept up his neck.
He took one last look at Gao Fan, who had turned his head away and tightly shut his eyes, refusing to look at him.
Gao Song sighed. His pupils lost the glow of a Deceiver of the World, reverting to a tired and hollow black.
"Take good care of Little..."
Before he could finish his sentence, his entire being shattered completely.
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