After the brief collision, the glimrs of light quietly retreated, hovering once again in their original spots—just as if nothing had occurred.
Though puzzled, Su Shan had no ti to dwell on it and instead glanced down at the {fortune stick} she had just drawn: {No Land Shall Lie Fallow}.
However, given the current situation, playing {No Land Shall Lie Fallow} would not be a wise move. Everyone was still in danger; the presence of {Cold Wave} and {Poison Miasma} carried an extrely high risk of death. So even if they managed to defeat Terrestrial Dog this round by playing {No Land Shall Lie Fallow}, a far more pressing problem remained—
Would Terrestrial Dog open the room door once the ga ended?
Prior to the start of the ga, Terrestrial Dog had stated that they had eight rounds to defeat the {Nian Beast}. But now, they were about to extinguish the {Nian Beast}’s last light in the fifth round. The rules never ntioned anything about {opening the door} after the ga ends; the only unambiguous rule was that {Calamity will not cease until it is resolved}.
On further reflection, it beca obvious: Terrestrial Dog was fully committed to his task. He wasn’t trying to finish the ga, he was trying to kill.
From this, it was inferred that if the {Calamities} remained unresolved when the ga ended, the teammates would almost certainly die within the ga.
It all ca down to a gamble now: if luck was on their side this round, and everyone managed to resolve each other’s {Calamity}, then all four of them could survive.
“We have to slow down the pace…” Su Shan took a deep breath and said, “{Victory} is already in our hands… what matters now is surviving…”
The best plan now was to drag the ga to end at the eighth round—after all, Terrestrial Dog had said before that {the ga will conclude regardless of what happens during the eighth round}.
"As expected of the umpire... hiding such a crucial secret," Su Shan acknowledged with a nod. "This so-called {intentional gap in siege*} was a deception. It seems you left us a {chance to survive}, but if we charge in blindly, you’ll rcilessly slaughter us. Even if we manage to extinguish your three lights and {win}, there’s no guarantee we’ll survive the aftermath."
(TLN: “围师必阙” is from ‘The Art of War’. It’s the deliberate tactic of leaving an escape route when surrounding the enemy. This prevents them from feeling trapped and desperate, which often leads to fierce resistance. By providing a way out, it lowers the enemy’s morale and increases the chance of victory.)
Su Shan looked at the {fortune sticks} in her hand: {Default}, {Default}, and {No Land Shall Lie Fallow}.
Just as she had suspected, from this point on, all they would draw were {Defaults} and {Firecrackers}.
But… were there really any {Firecrackers} left?
So far in the ga, two {Firecrackers Close Out the Year} had already been used. Could there really be a third?
‘No… that’s impossible,’ Su Shan shook her head. “If this ga included three {Firecrackers Close Out the Year}, then there’d be no need for any {cooperation} at all. Everyone could simply sit back and wait for the {Firecrackers} to appear, and all the challenges in the ga would resolve themselves. But if the ga is designed to emphasize collaboration, then the players must be forced to complete at least one full {No Land Shall Lie Fallow}. Which ans there are only two {Firecrackers Close Out the Year}.”
Now that one {Firecracker} had been wasted, the only thing they’d be drawing going forward was {Defaults}.
Her deductions had brought her one step closer to the truth. To win, they needed to complete another full cycle of {No Land Shall Lie Fallow}. But before that, she had to save her teammates.
With her strategy now firm, Su Shan placed a {Default} into the slot.
“Round five, Player One {wish} completed. Player Two, kindly {draw}.”
At that mont, a {Default} appeared in Zhang Chenze’s room.
Because {Spring} took no action, {Sumr} was forced to pass without any progress.
Zhang Chenze had already killed a large number of locusts in her room; her face was sared with yellowish-brown muck, and she cut a sorry figure.
Now that the number of locusts clinging to the glass had significantly decreased, she could finally see her surroundings more clearly.
Whether she had grown used to the insects or had been affected by her {Reverberation}, she no longer seed as distressed. Although she still felt a twinge of guilt at the mountain of insect corpses beneath her feet, she consoled herself with the thought that she had had no other choice.
Zhang Chenze stood up, brushed away the insects clinging to the glass wall with her hand, and looked toward Lin Qin’s room.
Lin Qin’s glass walls were already thick with frost, the temperature inside clearly plumting. The {Cold Wave} Terrestrial Dog had ntioned earlier must have taken effect in Lin Qin’s room.
‘…Oh no.’ A flicker of panic crossed Zhang Chenze’s face as she rembered the {fortune stick} that had fled earlier.
{Radiant Sun Embraces the Earth}.
It seed only that {fortune stick} could save Lin Qin, but it had already burrowed deep into the mound of corpses on the floor, slithering away with its flattened body, completely untraceable.
Zhang Chenze clutched {Torrential Rain Pelts Down Fiercely} in her hand as she crouched down and began digging through the pile of locust corpses.
There was no denying that {insects} were truly terrifying creatures. Even after their abdons had been crushed or their heads smashed in, many of them continued to twitch and squirm on their own. So locusts, their bellies flattened beneath a foot, were now lying on the floor, ravenously devouring the innards that had been squeezed out of their fellow insects.
If {End Point} was hell for humans, then this glass room within it was hell for locusts—just one glance was enough to make one's skin crawl.
Zhang Chenze tried her best not to let the grotesque sight distract her and kept her head lowered, searching intently for {Radiant Sun Embraces the Earth}.
But only a few seconds later, the {Torrential Rain Pelts Down Fiercely} in her hand suddenly stirred, then slipped through her fingers and fled.
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