Chapter 1000: A Just and Honorable Act

"Everyone," Di Long picked up the walkie-talkie from his waist and said, "Time's up, the 'zi' distribution is finished."

Both teams looked up at that moment, gazing at Qing Long and Di Long in the sky above.

"Next, please enter the 'Battlefield Area'," Di Long continued. "The entire area has twenty 'Battlefields.' We've carefully prepared twenty 'Referees' for you. If two 'Participants' enter the same battlefield at the same time, the room door will be forced shut, and it will only open once the 'Referee's game is completed."

"Only twenty Referees...?" Qi Xia quickly thought through the entire map, feeling like he had already figured out the layout.

"What's up, Liar Boy?" Qiao Jiajin asked.

"Nothing... I need to make a temporary change to the plan," Qi Xia said.

After a brief explanation, "Cangjie Qi" officially began.

Both sides glanced at the doors in front of them before entering the rooms separately.

The "Preparation Area" had five doors, and Qi Xia's team, besides himself, had six teammates.

Among them, Zheng Yingxiong and Tiantian chose to enter the same door, while the others went their separate ways.

Qiao Jiajin reached out and pushed the middle door, surprised to find another door standing in the center of the room, with the character "You" written on it.

This was a room of about a hundred square feet, with doors on all four walls, apparently leading to other rooms.

What caught attention, however, was that besides the single door in the center, the room was completely empty.

"How strange..."

Qiao Jiajin furrowed his brow slightly but said nothing, continuing to push open the next door.

The next room was also about a hundred square feet, with another solitary door standing in the center.

This door had the character "Yin" written on it.

"Damn..." Qiao Jiajin walked up and touched the wooden door. "Where's the 'Referee'?"

He thought to himself that the entire area was empty, with just a door in each room. Could the "door" be the "Referee"?

He stepped forward and touched the door again, feeling it was just a very ordinary structure. So, in this vast game area, were there twenty such "doors"?

He steadied himself and continued toward the next door.

After all, in the initial phase, Qi Xia's plan was for everyone to fully understand the layout of the area. Now, with the team splitting into five groups to scout the ten rooms ahead, they needed to hurry back to the "Preparation Area" to report the situation.

When Qiao Jiajin pushed open the door, he found that instead of another room, there was a long corridor ahead, with five doors at the far end.

This corridor was clearly the "Chu He Han Jie" that Qi Xia had mentioned earlier.

As Qiao Jiajin was observing the five doors opposite, he noticed the central one opening.

The tall and burly Zhang Shan ducked his head and slowly walked out.

The two locked eyes for a moment, then both broke into smiles.

"Damn..." Zhang Shan laughed, "I should have guessed you'd be the 'vanguard' for your side."

"Hey, big guy, ready for action?" Qiao Jiajin replied with a laugh.

"I'm in charge of scouting, same as you, right?" Zhang Shan asked. "Didn't expect you to be faster than me. Don't you need to check out what's in the rooms?"

"My brain doesn't work that way," Qiao Jiajin said. "I just note down what I see along the way, not why it's there."

"Oh...?" Zhang Shan nodded. "Tattoo Boy, we're both straight shooters. What's your 'zi'?"

"Mine? Let me confirm."

Qiao Jiajin turned around, fiddling with something on his back. After a moment, he turned back and said,"Big guy, my 'zi' is 'Heaven and Earth are vast, but the narrow-minded make them small.'"

"Hmm...?" Zhang Shan paused. "You kid... you're not a bad person, but you sure are asking for a beating."

"How about it? Want to spar sometime?" Qiao Jiajin stepped forward with a smile, completely unfazed by Zhang Shan's challenge. "This seems like a great opportunity for us to have a proper fight."

"Damn..." Zhang Shan frowned. "A straight-up one-on-one... what a luxury."

"Luxury?" Qiao Jiajin didn't understand.

"Tattoo Boy, you're in a similar situation to me, right?" Zhang Shan said. "Whenever there's a fight, our heads are like 'battle merits.' We'd get swarmed by the enemy. We both want a fair one-on-one, but chances like that are rare."

"You're right," Qiao Jiajin nodded. "Every time I fight, I have to take on a whole group. I've never seen anyone who could beat me one-on-one."

"Damn... you're arrogant," Zhang Shan nodded with a laugh. "So, how tough are you, really?"

"Me...?" Qiao Jiajin asked. "Big guy, what's the most people you've fought at once?"

"About a dozen," Zhang Shan replied. "You?"

"Thirty-seven."

"Damn, are you kidding?" Zhang Shan said incredulously. "You took on thirty-seven people by yourself?"

"Yeah," Qiao Jiajin nodded. "Back then, my boss only brought me along. He lost a bet and couldn't pay up, so we got chased by thirty-seven guys with knives."

Zhang Shan smirked: "I ended up with minor injuries after fighting a dozen. What about you?"

"I nearly died after mine."

"Hmm...?" Zhang Shan blinked in surprise. "Wait... you're not even pretending?"

"I really almost died, okay?" Qiao Jiajin protested. "Big guy, do you think I'm some terminator? That was thirty-seven people with knives! I did well just to win, and you expect me to be bulletproof?"

"Damn... true," Zhang Shan nodded. "So, how about it? Want to spar now?"

"Now?" Qiao Jiajin hesitated visibly, then asked, "Don't we need a 'Battlefield' for that?"

"You mean going through those doors?" Zhang Shan chuckled. "Damn, do we really need to find a Referee inside?"

"So, what do you mean?"

"We just have a straight-up duel with our 'zi's on the line," Zhang Shan said. "The winner takes the 'zi.' No backing out. Deal?"

Qiao Jiajin looked around the corridor, noticing that neither his teammates nor the opponent's had shown up, which puzzled him.

Although it was a perfect moment for a duel, he still had unfinished business.

"Big guy, not this time," Qiao Jiajin waved his hand. "I need to go back and find Liar Boy to explain the situation here."