Chapter 368: Power of Fairness

“This is a line from the poem ‘Min Nong’…” Zhang Chenze murmured softly.

In ancient poetry, “Han Di He Xia Tu” refers to farmers sweating profusely in the fields during the busy farming season, symbolizing the hardship of farm work and the sweltering weather.

“Farm work…?”

Zhang Chenze tried to ignore the buzzing in her ears and carefully considered the current situation. Since she represented “Xia,” she should play this stick that stands for the busy farming season. After all, “summer” was too far removed from the “Nian Shou,” and if she wanted to contribute, the best way was to engage in “Nong Mang.” Zhang Chenze stood up, took a few steps forward, bravely cleared the locusts off the table, and then placed the “Han Di He Xia Tu” stick inside.

Now, she couldn’t see what was happening in the other rooms and could only hope she had done the right thing; otherwise, it would be unfair to the others. Just as she let out a sigh of relief, Zhang Chenze stepped back, preparing to endure more torment in the room, when suddenly she felt a small tear in the back of her clothes. In an instant, the locusts swarmed in like invaders claiming territory, tearing at every inch of her skin.

Yes, locusts don’t eat people, but they covered her like a substitute for clothes, hanging all over her body. Zhang Chenze, who had just gotten used to sharing the room with the swarm, collapsed once again. She could clearly feel every inch of her skin moving, as if she had merged with the locusts. The locusts wriggled, making her skin wriggle along with them.

Next door, Su Shan suddenly sensed something odd. She turned her head and saw a massive surge of light flowing toward Zhang Chenze’s room, causing repeated collisions. Each collision made two extremely clear characters rise into the air.

“Hun Qian!”

“Could it be…” Su Shan roughly understood the meaning of these characters; they must be the “Hui Xiang” that people talked about, and her ability allowed her to see the names of the “Hui Xiang” directly. Although this extraordinary power was a bit different from what she had imagined, if she could master it skillfully, it should bring huge benefits to the team.

After a full ten seconds or so, the distant bell finally rang, announcing to everyone in the “Zhong Yan Zhi Di” that Zhang Chenze had experienced “Hui Xiang.”

“‘Zhong’… slower than me?” Su Shan furrowed her brow, feeling like she had grasped a clue. But this wasn’t the time to think about that; she needed to win the game as soon as possible. Based on the current situation, the four people in the room were all “Hui Xiang Zhe.” If they could win this game, great; if not, it wouldn’t lead to catastrophic consequences—probably thanks to this round’s “locusts.”

“But… what does ‘Hun Qian’ mean?”

Zhang Chenze felt a ringing in her ears, and her mind cleared up a bit. The fear from the insects pressing on her body lessened slightly. But she had no idea what was happening outside, as all she could hear besides the buzzing bell was the chirping of the insects. She stepped forward, picked up the two remaining sticks from the table, and held them in her right hand. These were “Bao Yu Gun Piao Po” and “Yan Yang Fu Da Di,” which should come in handy at some future moment.

If she didn’t protect these “Qian” well, they might get covered in insects again. Zhang Chenze crouched down again, carefully feeling the sensation of locusts crawling all over her. The next second, a locust flew onto her face. In a panic, she grabbed it with her left hand, thought for a moment, and then crushed it in her palm.

“Although this isn’t fair to you… I really don’t want to be touched by you anymore.”

It felt like smashing a raw quail egg—the not-so-hard shell cracked, and the sticky stuff got all over her hand. Zhang Chenze gagged and quickly wiped her hand on her pants, but at that moment, a thought occurred to her:

If she wanted to move freely in this room, was the only solution to kill as many locusts as possible? After all, the locusts were just part of the game, not a real natural disaster—they were merely symbolic, so their numbers couldn’t be endless. Kill one, and there’s one less.

Before she could come up with a strategy to kill the locusts, she suddenly felt one of the “Qian” in her right hand start to move. It was a strange sensation; it was clearly just a wooden stick, but that “Qian” seemed to have a pulse, jumping in her hand like she was holding a worm. In a fluster, she threw the “Qian” away, and the next second, something bizarre happened.

The “Qian” inscribed with “Yan Yang Fu Da Di” bent on the ground, used the rebound to jump away, and kept going.

“What…?”

Zhang Chenze stared blankly at the “Qian.” It was as if it had come alive, bending and jumping repeatedly on the ground, just like…

A locust. She felt like she was probably going mad. Had she been in contact with the locusts for so long and in such numbers that now she was seeing the “Qian” in her hand as one of them? As the “Qian” bounced and jumped toward her, Zhang Chenze snapped back to reality and reached out to grab it, but unexpectedly, it leaped up again, straight toward her face.

Since she was already squatting, in the chaos, she closed her eyes and dodged backward, nearly falling over. The “Qian” then completely disappeared into the swarm on the ground, nowhere to be seen.

“Oh no…”

Although she didn’t know what had happened, she felt it was probably the “Di Gou” messing around. Maybe each person’s “Qian” had some special mechanism, and if she didn’t catch them, the game would get even harder.

Su Shan witnessed the whole scene from the side. Amid the flickering lights of the insect swarm, she saw the glowing Zhang Chenze chasing after a “Qian” with writing on it.

Was this caused by “Hui Xiang”? But based on this strange sight alone, Su Shan had no idea what Zhang Chenze’s ability actually did. She realized she knew too little about “Hui Xiang”; if she could remember the abilities of a few “Hui Xiang Zhe,” she might be able to figure out the general principle behind Zhang Chenze’s power.

“The second person’s ‘Xu Yuan’ is complete. Now, the third person’s ‘Chou Qian.’”

Lin Geng held her injured forehead and looked at the table, where a “Qian” slowly floated up—“Dao Hua Piao Feng Nian.”

At that moment, Su Shan forced her eyes open, enduring the slight sting, and looked at the “Qian.” Now, she fully understood the game’s rules. If she could wish for “Si Hai Wu Xian Tian,” then “Xia Ji” would draw “Han Di He Xia Tu.” If “Xia Ji” successfully used that “Han Di He Xia Tu,” then “Qiu Ji” would draw “Dao Hua Piao Feng Nian.”

Whether “Xia,” “Qiu,” and “Dong” could draw these “Qian” depended entirely on whether “Chun Tian” played “Si Hai Wu Xian Tian”—it was a coordinated attack involving everyone. Just like in the real world, if spring doesn’t involve labor, the following seasons can’t yield harvests out of nowhere, and in the end, it would just be a “flat Qian.”