Chapter 1014: A Sound

Qiao Jiajin stared at the door in silence for a moment, then turned and returned to the "Bei Zhan Qu."

He felt that he needed to quickly report the situation to Qi Xia. Not only was Han Yimo engaged in a "one-on-one" with Wen Qiaoyun, but their rightmost "path" was also blocked. After all, the doors in all four directions were closed and would only open once a winner was determined.

Qi Xia was writing on the wall, having already calculated over a dozen possible combinations.

"Deceiver," Qiao Jiajin called out.

Qi Xia turned around and saw Qiao Jiajin alone, but acted as if he hadn't noticed anything and continued writing, asking softly, "Did you run into Yan Zhichun or Wen Qiaoyun?"

"Wen Qiaoyun," Qiao Jiajin replied. "How did you know?"

Qi Xia nodded. "Fist, earlier when I came to the game area with Chu Tianqiu and Di Long, you all were standing in groups chatting. Do you remember who was talking to Han Yimo back then?"

"Hmm...?" Qiao Jiajin thought for a moment. "If you put it that way... it seems it was Zhao Yisheng."

"That figures," Qi Xia said, one hand on the wall and the other stroking his chin. "Han Yimo isn't one of us, so it doesn't matter if he wins or loses."

"Not one of us...?"

"Han Yimo was fine before he came in," Qi Xia explained. "But after the game started, he suddenly got nervous. I feel like he must have received some hidden task that no one knows about, like 'kill Qi Xia' or something..."

"Oh, I see..." Qiao Jiajin nodded. "No wonder his expression looked so odd—it was just like the face of a lackey betraying the boss."

"In any war, there are always 'spies'," Qi Xia said with a laugh. "I just forgot who Chen Junnan was talking to at the time."

"He..." Qiao Jiajin hesitated. "Jun Nan Zi seems to be with..."

"Never mind, let's treat it as a surprise for me," Qi Xia said. "Now it looks like Han Yimo is on the other side, but he's fighting Wen Qiaoyun. It seems neither Chu Tianqiu nor Wen Qiaoyun knows about this, so we're not at a loss."

"Are we really not at a loss...?" Qiao Jiajin said, a bit puzzled. "I feel like the writer will definitely lose to that beauty. Even if he's a spy, he's still carrying one of our 'zi'."

"That's why I gave him 'ma'," Qi Xia replied. "Having Han Yimo carry 'ma' is the best option right now. I calculated it—'ma' can only form very few 'zi', maybe just some obscure ones that I can't even read. If we lose it, it's not a big loss."

"Is that so..." Qiao Jiajin looked at the wall. "Deceiver... are you about to figure out all the 'zi'?"

"That's right... but I find it strange," Qi Xia said, furrowing his brow. "If my calculations are correct, forming twenty-eight of them should be difficult, but there are so many possibilities that it needs more time."

"Oh..."

"Hand over the one you have first."

Qiao Jiajin nodded and took out the "zi" from his pocket—it was "xiang."

Qi Xia took "xiang" from his hand, split the pendant in two, and placed the halves on the "Feng Huang Xian Shu Tai."

He obtained "mu" and "mu" in sequence, then combined the two radicals to form "xiang."

So far, Qi Xia's team had assembled four "zi": "bing," "mu," "mu," and "xiang."

After thinking for a while, he picked up two radicals and tried again: "mu" and "bing."

"I can't believe it..." Qiao Jiajin said, slightly stunned. "Deceiver... can this form a 'zi'?"

"I'm not sure..."

Unfortunately, he had never looked through a complete dictionary; he just vaguely felt that the "mu zi pang" and "bing" should form a "zi," though the pronunciation was debatable.

With no tools or internet at hand, if these two radicals really could form a "zi," he would have to guess.

The "Feng Huang Xian Shu Tai" absorbed the two radicals, and the screen below trembled slightly, finally displaying:

"Text prototype 'bin' received. Please write the homophone."

"It really has this 'zi'..." Qiao Jiajin said, eyes wide as he stared at the screen, then turned to Qi Xia. "This character is so weird..."

Qi Xia stroked his chin, carefully considering the situation.

If the rule of "write the homophone" was meant to prevent random guessing, then the homophone couldn't be wrong. Even if there were a few accidental mistakes, they probably wouldn't allow too many errors.

However, characters with "bing" in them often have varying pronunciations.

For example, "bang" is pronounced as "bāng," "bin" as "bīn," and some are directly "bīng."

So, how should "bin" be pronounced?

Qi Xia racked his brain through all the books he had read, but this character never appeared, leaving him hesitant.

If he guessed the pronunciation correctly, they could create another "zi" and earn five points for the team. But if not... what would happen?

Would the "zi" be confiscated?

Qi Xia grew more uncertain and regretted not taking the time to finish a dictionary.

"Deceiver, are you okay?" Qiao Jiajin asked, seeing Qi Xia deep in thought. "Doesn't this character have just one pronunciation?"

"Just one pronunciation...?" Qi Xia frowned. "Are you sure...?"

"Yeah." Qiao Jiajin nodded.

Qi Xia was about to speak but suddenly thought of something, then sighed helplessly. "Fist, say 'xiao bing' and 'lai bin' for me."

"Xiao bin, lai bin." Qiao Jiajin said. "Is there a problem?"

The air went silent for three seconds.

Qi Xia slowly raised his hand to his forehead, thinking that no wonder Qiao Jiajin believed this character had only one pronunciation.

He didn't recognize "bang" from "Sha Jia Bang," couldn't distinguish between front and back nasal sounds, and jumbled three pronunciations into one.

If he were in charge of this round as the "commander," they might as well surrender now.

Wait... although Qiao Jiajin was guessing, maybe luck was part of it?

"Fist..." Qi Xia turned and said, "I've always felt you have good luck, at least better than mine."

"I have good luck...?"

"Yes, so I'll go with your approach this time."

Qi Xia pondered for a few seconds, then wrote "bin" on the screen.

He stared at it nervously, hoping not to start off on the wrong foot. What mattered wasn't what words "bin" could form, but that it had to be pronounced as "bin."

A few seconds later, the screen flashed, and four words clearly appeared:

"Creation successful."