Chapter 367: Offensive Tactics

Su Shan furrowed her brows and pondered for a moment, but she couldn't make any sense of it.

"Why am I seeing text...?"

She lowered her head and looked again at Lin Geng's table, suddenly freezing in place.

Although they were quite far apart, Su Shan could now clearly see the words on Lin Geng's *qian*.

It seemed her eyes had truly changed. Not only were those *qian* sticks a great distance away, but they were also facing away from her.

Yet, Su Shan felt as if she had gained x-ray vision, able to clearly make out every word on them.

"'Chun nuan hua kai ri' and 'ping qian'..."

After reading the words on the *qian*, Su Shan turned her head to look at Qin Dingdong.

Qin Dingdong met Su Shan's gaze at that moment.

She saw that Su Shan's eyes had become dazzlingly bright, but they seemed strained from overuse, now red and bloodshot.

"This is really troublesome..." Qin Dingdong shook her head. "Did you just get this ability and start messing around with it? What if you go blind?"

Su Shan had no idea what Qin Dingdong was muttering about. She simply lowered her head to look at the *qian* in front of Qin Dingdong: "'Qiu feng sao luo ye' and 'Shui luo le wu hen'".

"I see..."

Now, Su Shan was certain she wanted to know the words on Zhang Lüshi's *qian*.

After all, she represented "Chun", and if she couldn't plan for the entire year, there was no way they could win this game.

She stared intensely at the gray-green swarm of insects. Because each locust was surrounded by faint lights, Su Shan had to strain her eyes hard, until they began to feel hot, to vaguely make out Zhang Chenze's outline.

Zhang Chenze seemed to have calmed down a bit and was no longer flailing her arms, but her whole body was still trembling.

Su Shan peered through the lights from each locust toward the table.

With locusts crawling all over each *qian*, the words were extremely hard to discern.

Su Shan stepped forward and forced her eyes open wider, as if only by exerting all her strength could her gaze penetrate through those insects.

She clearly felt her eyes growing hotter and hotter. After a wave of blood-red dizziness, she finally made out the words on the *qian*.

"'Bao yu gun piao po' and 'Yan yang fu da di'."

Now, the *qian* in everyone's hands were all clear.

In the previous rounds, Zhang Chenze had played "ping qian" for the first two turns and her own passed "Wan min qi zhen zai" for the third.

Lin Geng had played "ping qian" for all three rounds.

Qin Dingdong's hand was more abundant; she had played one unknown "Nong yan", one "ping qian", and one "Bian pao ci jiu sui".

Excluding the "ping qian", and adding up all the *xu yuan qian* that had been used, there were now eleven *xu yuan qian* in total.

Among them, "Bian pao ci jiu sui" appeared twice.

That meant there were nine types of *xu yuan qian* with words.

"Something's off..." Su Shan frowned, delving deeper into her thoughts. "If each *qian* can counter one type of *zai e*, why are there nine *qian* with words? After all, Di Gou's *zai e* only has eight kinds. So, what is that extra *qian* for?"

Su Shan looked at the only *xu yuan qian* left in her hand—"Si hai wu xian tian".

If she was right, this was the extra one.

Her earlier guess was probably correct: "Si hai wu xian tian" wouldn't counter any *zai e*; instead, it was a form of "accumulation". Since it had no defensive function, it must be an "attack" tool.

From another angle, the other eight *qian* had all appeared, so from now on, everyone could only draw "ping qian" or "bian pao".

Whether this was sheer bad luck or Di Gou's arrangement, both the *Si Ji* and *Nian Shou* sides had now drawn all the useful *qian*. What followed would depend entirely on strategy.

Su Shan slowly closed her eyes, feeling her eyes dry and painful, with a cool sensation on her face as if tears were flowing. She didn't pay much attention and inserted "Si hai wu xian tian" into the hole in the table.

Now, no one could save Zhang Chenze. The only way was for her to overcome the swarm of locusts and continue the game in the room.

It was difficult, but it was the only option.

In Zhang Chenze's room,

she was trembling all over with her eyes shut tight, listening to the deafening buzz echoing in her ears and feeling the hard, cold insects crawling all over her body, making every pore contract rapidly.

The touch of the locusts was peculiar; to cling to any crop, their feet were equipped with sharp barbs.

Now, tens of thousands of those barbs were hooked into Zhang Chenze's skin. It should have been excruciating pain, but she felt nothing.

She was on the brink of collapse, not daring to breathe, open her mouth, or even blink.

She had barely managed to spit out the few locusts from her mouth earlier, and now it still left a bitter taste; she never wanted to experience that again.

Di Gou lifted his head and glanced at Su Shan's eyes, as if he had something to say, but he cleared his throat and said quietly,

"The first person's *xu yuan* is complete. Please proceed with the second person's *chou qian*."

Zhang Chenze was slightly startled by the voice. Although she was surrounded by these disgusting locusts, she absolutely couldn't stop now. If this was truly a game about the *Si Ji*, she couldn't fall here.

If her inability to act led to the others' demise, that would be unfair.

From a broader perspective, it made sense for her to be the one to die this time. After all, she wasn't a *hui xiang zhe* like Lin Geng and Qin Dingdong, and her mind wasn't as sharp as Su Shan's. If one death was needed to win the game, hers would be the optimal choice.

"Yes, that's fair."

With that thought, she slowly opened one eye, confirmed there were no locusts on her eyelid, and bravely waved her arm.

Things couldn't get any worse than this.

"It's just insects crawling all over me..." Zhang Chenze took a slow step forward, feeling as if she were stepping on countless dry leaves that crackled underfoot. "Too bad I have experience... This won't stop me..."

She tried hard to shoo the locusts off the table, wanting to clear the blocked hole, but no matter how she drove them away, they stayed put on the table.

Zhang Chenze gritted her teeth, then pressed her palm down on the table and forcefully swept the insects away.

The *qian* for this round finally came into view.

She vaguely saw five words on the *qian*, but before she could make them out clearly, her vision was filled with the chaotic swarm. She quickly shielded her eyes, grabbed the *qian*, and carefully squatted down. After clearing away a few locusts in front of her, she lowered her head and examined the five words on the *qian*—

"'Han di he xia tu'."