Chapter 1024: The Defense

"I guess so," Chu Tianqiu nodded.

"How is that possible...?" Yan Zhichun couldn't make sense of it. "Are you saying that after I beat Chen Junnan, I sent the 'zi' over, and then he pretended to be Xu Liunian and followed along?"

"Otherwise, why would I call it absurd?" Chu Tianqiu smiled. "This kind of tactic doesn't seem like Qi Xia's style at all—it's more like Chen Junnan's own."

Yan Zhichun still felt an air of incredulity about the whole thing.

Was Chen Junnan really just playing the role of Xu Liunian, striding over so boldly...?

"Xu Liunian is still a bit inexperienced compared to them," Chu Tianqiu said. "She might struggle to impersonate Chen Junnan, but for him to impersonate her would be a piece of cake..."

"This is getting complicated," Yan Zhichun frowned. "It looks like Qi Xia chose 'huaxing' for you, but actually, 'huaxing' exists in both our teams... Xu Liunian impersonating others, and others impersonating her..."

"Qi Xia played this move well," Chu Tianqiu said. "He took one of our spots and made it work for both teams at once."

"Now we can't trust anyone..." Yan Zhichun hesitated again.

"It's fine. I said from the start that I don't need you all to be united—just play to your individual strengths."

"Hold on, but that doesn't add up..." Yan Zhichun suddenly thought of something. "Chen Junnan only has one 'bao'. Did he cross the river with it? Isn't that against the rules?"

"The rule about 'not crossing the river' is just a guess anyway," Chu Tianqiu said. "Since a person can move around the opponent's area with half a 'zi', it just means the rule isn't 'no crossing the river'—it's more like 'something happens after crossing'."

"But Chen Junnan seems totally fine..." Yan Zhichun frowned, gazing in the direction where Chen Junnan had left.

"Not only that, he dodged all our people like he had lady luck on his side," Chu Tianqiu said. "All I could do was send him away. You go and find Zhang Shan and Jin Yuanxun for me—they're easy to fool. We need to brief them on this right away."

Yan Zhichun felt a bit odd after hearing that.

"Chu Tianqiu... Isn't this a leadership mistake on your part?" she said. "Would you call it too little too late, or...?"

"What do you mean?"

"You knew full well that the other guy was Chen Junnan himself, but you still gave him a 'zi'?" Yan Zhichun furrowed her brow and sighed deeply. "I worked so hard to get that 'zi' from the opponent, and you just handed it over so easily—even to him directly. That contradicts what you said earlier. Didn't you see through his identity before giving it to him?"

Chu Tianqiu didn't get angry; he just smiled and calmly asked, "Yan Zhichun, do you know what the biggest vulnerability in this game is?"

"The biggest vulnerability...?"

Without waiting for her answer, Chu Tianqiu reached back and tapped the screen behind him, producing a sharp, clear sound.

"It's right on this fragile screen."

Yan Zhichun stared at the display screen behind Chu Tianqiu, as if something had clicked.

"When Chen Junnan asked me earlier why I didn't gather everyone here, I realized something was off—he was testing me," Chu Tianqiu said. "So I had to send him away quickly. I was originally planning to pry some intel out of him, but now I had to go with the flow and give him the least useful 'jin' character. After all, it was his first time making such a bold move, so he was probably nervous and would leave fast once he got the 'zi'."

"So that's what you mean..." Yan Zhichun pondered and nodded. "If the whole enemy team rushed into our 'beizhan qu', they wouldn't even need to steal the 'zi'—anyone could just smash the screen, and we'd be done for. If you'd let him stick around... he might have suddenly punched the display screen."

"Chen Junnan was testing whether I'd thought about the 'display screen'," Chu Tianqiu said. "After all, the real Xu Liunian wouldn't be fixated on the screen like that. She doesn't care that much about winning or losing, or about what 'zi' I've formed. Only their Chen Junnan would be so focused."

"I see," Yan Zhichun nodded, piecing everything together in her mind. "No wonder neither you nor Qi Xia rushed to gather everyone in the room to form 'zi' right away... Instead, you both spread your people out as much as possible. I didn't get it at first..."

"Exactly," Chu Tianqiu said. "There's a subtle trap in this game's rules: the 'beizhan qu' can't store 'zi'. In other words, to create with all the 'zi' you have, you need enough people staying in the 'beizhan qu'. That leaves the 'front line' undefended and the door wide open, potentially letting the enemy invade our area and attack the screen. So, the first thing both Qi Xia and I thought of was 'defense'—secure our territory first, then call teammates back to form 'zi'. Even if we lose some 'zi' in the process, we can't back down."

"In this game, you can afford to lose the 'jiangshuai'," Yan Zhichun said. "But you absolutely can't let the enemy break into the 'beizhan qu'... The 'display screen' is like the head of both teams."

Chu Tianqiu nodded and glanced at Yan Zhichun. "Now it seems our infiltration teams have had mixed results. What about Wen Qiaoyun's side?"

"Wen Qiaoyun... I have no idea," Yan Zhichun shook her head. "All the doors are closed, so there's no way to see everything at a glance."

"Oh well, you go ahead and find Zhang Shan and Jin Yuanxun for me first," Chu Tianqiu said.

...

Qiao Jijia was standing by the river doing some exercises when he soon spotted Chen Junnan hurrying across the river from their side to the opposite one.

"Hey! Jun Nanzi! Where are you going?!" Qiao Jijia called out, but the other didn't respond. "Oh man... That's the enemy side! You've 'crossed the river'! Come back quick!"

He stood there stunned for three seconds, then heard the door open behind him as Chen Junnan rushed back from the enemy area across the river to their own.

"Huh...?" Qiao Jijia blinked, sensing something strange.

After Chen Junnan entered the door, he seemed to remember something and turned back to open it again, saying:

"Lao Qiao, I've scored another point for myself! Watch out for yourself—whatever you do, don't freaking believe me!"

"Ah...?" Qiao Jijia was baffled by all the incomprehensible events in such a short time. "Jun Nanzi, you were just... and now you're..."

Chen Junnan smiled and raised an eyebrow at Qiao Jijia: "Nothing strange about it—my 'huixiang' is 'through walls', man. I'm off!"

"Jun Nanzi... You can really 'through walls'?!"

(Dear brothers and family, I'll take a day off tomorrow to go to the hospital. I'm not feeling well, please understand...)