Chapter 165: Wisdom and Courage

"What?" Su Shan stood up abruptly. "You clearly..."

Qi Xia extended a finger, pointing to his forehead, and then it twitched almost imperceptibly.

"You mean this?" Qi Xia asked. "Did you notice it?"

Su Shan stared at Qi Xia, pondered for a moment, and then slowly sat down again.

She had to admit she had underestimated him.

She and Zi Chen had been wandering in this eerie place for over a day, encountering many opponents. This was the first time they had faced a situation where someone could die in the game, and also the first time they met someone as clever as Qi Xia.

He was actually using micro-expressions to control his opponent's train of thought.

Why was this game different from the ones they had encountered before?

Why were the opponents this time so much stronger?

The situation was now extremely tricky.

Based on the "struggle" attribute, "dun pai" were certainly very rare. If the deck had enough "dun pai," it could easily result in neither side getting hurt.

So, using "dun pai" cleverly had become the main strategy to protect their own "fighters."

What lay before her was the worst-case scenario.

"Sheng zi" was up against "dun pai."

It was like using her own "xian ma" against the opponent's "xia deng ma."

"Now things are getting interesting." Qi Xia held all his cards in his hand and asked, "Based on my expression, guess if I have a 'dao zi' in my hand right now?"

Su Shan slowly furrowed her brow. She knew that to beat the person in front of her, she had to think even more thoroughly.

No matter what, she couldn't follow his line of thinking.

Regardless of whether he had a "dao zi" or not, she had to think further ahead than he did.

Inside the glass house, props fell from above once more.

In front of Zi Chen, there was a loud clang as a round shield dropped.

It was a wooden shield with metal edging, about a meter in diameter.

He quickly picked up the shield and held it in front of his face, then nervously glanced at Zhao Yisheng on the other side.

Zhao Yisheng looked down at the rope on the ground, his expression incredibly complex.

This was the third time a rope had dropped.

"Qi Xia... are you giving me all these ropes just so I can weave a net for you?!"

He angrily picked up the hemp rope and stared at the man holding the wooden shield in front of him.

He had finally gotten a precious chance to attack, but it turned out to be using a rope to strike a wooden shield.

The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. He turned his head toward Qi Xia outside the glass house.

"How bad is your luck, kid...?"

Outside the glass house, Qi Xia shrugged helplessly at Zhao Yisheng, then moved his lips to say with lip reading:

"Hit him."

"Hit him...?"

Zhao Yisheng had just been hit in the thigh by that brick and was full of pent-up anger. Seeing the man opposite him hiding behind a large iron shield like a coward, he got even more furious.

"Damn it, fine, I'll hit him..."

He took a few steps forward, swung the rope in his hand, circled it in the air a few times, and then whipped it hard toward the opponent's wooden shield.

Unfortunately, Zhao Yisheng had never experienced swinging a hemp rope at someone in his thirty years of life. Although the swing created a loud whooshing sound, the angle was way off.

He gripped one end of the rope and swung it down from above. When the middle part hit the shield, the end of the rope suddenly changed direction and, by some fluke, struck the opponent on the head.

"Ah!!"

Zi Chen immediately cried out in pain, and the shield dropped from his hands to the ground.

Zhao Yisheng stared in disbelief at the other man. He had clearly heard a sound like a slap when the rope hit.

Qi Xia turned his head and slowly looked at Su Shan, noticing that the girl was stunned.

What was the probability of hitting the person behind the shield with a rope? It was quite a coincidence, really. For this effect to trigger, there were only two prerequisites.

First, the person holding the shield had to stay completely still.

Second, the distance between them had to be far enough.

This was a scenario that could only happen when both sides were utter cowards.

At that moment, Su Shan's brow was deeply furrowed.

Having the person with "sheng zi" injure the one with "dun pai" was like using "xian ma" in battle and still losing to "xia deng ma."

Zi Chen covered his eye and slowly lifted his head, his expression already verging on madness.

He gradually lowered his hand, and Zhao Yisheng saw that the entire left side of his eyeball had turned red, as if there was some internal bleeding.

"Huh?"

Zhao Yisheng was stunned. Had that rope just hit him right in the eye?

"You... you..." Zi Chen pointed at Zhao Yisheng. "Are you trying to kill me?!"

"N-no, I didn't..." Zhao Yisheng quickly waved his hands, then stepped forward and carefully examined the other's eye. "Buddy, you probably have a mild rupture in your eyeball. You need to close your eyes and rest immediately, or the wound could worsen, and you might lose your eye..."

"Bullshit!!" Zi Chen shouted, cutting him off. "You... you just wait!!"

Under Di Ji's direction, the two threw away the props again.

Qi Xia's mouth curved into a smile, finding the scene quite entertaining.

He had only intended for Zhao Yisheng to give the opponent a warning, but ending up injuring his eye wasn't a bad thing.

Crickets in a jar rarely fight each other without outside interference.

However, Qi Xia's original strategy was now ineffective. The opponent's state was like a mad dog, making ordinary tactics useless.

"Please draw a card," Di Ji said.

After hearing this, Su Shan reached out and drew a card, and Qi Xia followed suit.

She looked at the card in her hand.

It was a "gun zi."

Now, Qi Xia's hand was perfect.

Dao zi, gun zi, shi tou, shi tou, dun pai.

These five cards could both attack and defend.

They had survived the most difficult "sheng zi" phase in the early game. As long as Qi Xia kept his hand steady and played any "sheng zi" he drew in time, he would have complete control.

From the "dou zhi" perspective, Qi Xia had already set up his early layout and was gradually gaining the upper hand.

If he guessed right, Su Shan should have accumulated a lot of "sheng zi" in her hand. The only thing she could blame was her overly aggressive early attacks, which wasted her chance to build up.

It seemed she hadn't read any military strategy and didn't understand the principle of accumulating strength before striking. Next, she would enter a brief period of weakness, full of killing intent but lacking the means to kill.

But this game wasn't won solely through "dou zhi."

From the "dou yong" perspective, Zhao Yisheng was already at a complete disadvantage.

Zi Chen looked extremely angry now and could probably turn a "shi tou" into something as effective as a "dao zi."

The only question was whether the opponent still had any "shi tou" in his hand.

"For the fourth round, please play your cards!" Di Ji waved his hand again.

Qi Xia thought for a moment, drew out a "shi tou," and placed it facedown in front of him.

"Now Zhao Yisheng doesn't have enough killing intent, so this is the only way..." he muttered to himself, pushing the card forward.

After a brief thought, Su Shan also played a card.

The two flipped their cards at the same time.

Both were "shi tou."