Chapter 430: The Commander

After that remark, Zhou Liu, Luo Shi Yi, and Qiu Shi Liu also cast strange glances at Qi Xia.

If it were someone else, Qi Xia's words would have been enough for them to retort. But Wang Ba was an exception. All of the Mao people couldn't be bullied by outsiders, yet no one wanted to speak up for Wang Ba.

"Am I stirring up discord...?"

Qi Xia nodded. "Alright, even if I follow your line of thinking, I have a few questions for you."

"What questions?"

"First, every time we send out teammates, even if they bring back the most 'food,' it's only three pieces. How can we ensure that our five people's 'satiety value' is met?"

"I..." Wang Ba's eyes darted around. "This is just my initial plan. Later, we'll send out two people each time!"

"Two people?"

"Yeah, if both succeed, we'll get six pieces of fruit per round. Even if one fails, we'll still have three." Wang Ba emphasized, "I don't believe our luck will be that bad—both Shu getting caught by the Mao."

"But from what we just saw, each room only has four pieces of fruit." Qi Xia narrowed his eyes and said, "The first time a Shu can take three pieces, but starting from the second visit to that room, they can only take one. Even if we don't consider the failure risk, if two people go and bring back fruit, that's at most two pieces. We still have five people, so who do you decide to let 'starve to death'?"

"Moreover..." Qi Xia changed tack and continued, "We can't even confirm that the remaining rooms all have four pieces of fruit."

After hearing this, Wang Ba scratched his head and thought it over, realizing it was indeed a problem.

"I... this is just a plan I came up with on the spot! It's not perfect, so we're discussing it!" Wang Ba said, then looked at the others, hoping someone would back him up. "I'm just trying to keep our teammates alive as much as possible. Isn't that the right direction?"

"That's exactly the second issue I wanted to raise." Qi Xia said, "If we send out a single Shu and they don't come back, where do you plan to rescue them?"

"The Mao Wu, of course!" Wang Ba replied. "Is there a problem?"

"No problem, but what if they're controlled by the Bu Shu Jia?"

"This..."

Wang Ba suddenly recalled that a Shu controlled by the Bu Shu Jia would be locked in the room until a teammate rescued them or they were taken by the Mao.

"Based on the current situation, when the Mao is active, we'll be locked in various rooms. How can you be sure our teammate was taken by the Mao, or if they're just trapped in the room they were searching?" Qi Xia held up five fingers and said, "There's a fifty percent chance of being wrong—relying on guesswork? If we guess wrong, it could trigger a chain reaction, and we might lose more teammates. Then we'd have to choose to rescue again, and each rescue has only a fifty percent success rate. Do you dare to gamble on that?"

Hearing Qi Xia lay out all this analysis in such a short time, Wang Ba's face gradually darkened.

"Fine... even if... you're thinking ahead..." Wang Ba gritted his teeth and said, "Even if you're better than me... then tell me, what should we do?"

"Since you all can't handle it, we'll have to follow my command." Qi Xia said, "In the first round, we'll directly send out four people to 'search,' targeting any four rooms."

"Four people...?" Zhou Liu felt a bit confused. "Tsk, I can understand one person or five, but what's the point of four?"

"We Shu need a 'commander'..." Qi Xia explained, "This game has a typical blind spot due to the Qiu Tu Kun Nan. Once each Shu enters a room, we'll lose contact with the others, so we won't know what happens in their rooms. That makes it hard for us to decide from the second round onward."

"What, tsk...?" Zhou Liu paused. "Qiu Tu Kun Nan?"

"Yes, if a Shu doesn't return the next day, we won't know where to 'rescue' them. The game designer thought of this, so they want us to 'rescue each other.' They know that whether we succeed or fail in a rescue, it's not good for us." Qi Xia said, "Luckily, you all are a mature team. If we were strangers, there might be situations where 'some want to rescue and some don't,' making it even more complicated."

Luo Shi Yi fell silent for a moment before asking, "So, what do you mean by this 'commander'?"

"We need a Shu who doesn't take any action to coordinate everything." Qi Xia said, "This Shu will be the eyes for all of us and the central control, responsible for watching the Mao's every move."

"Ah?" The group was startled at once, finding the idea a bit odd but unable to pinpoint why.

"W-wait a minute..." Wang Ba spoke up first. "That doesn't make sense... How would they watch the Mao's movements? Based on what you're saying, to know all the Mao's actions, they'd have to stand in the outside corridor and see which room they enter. But our Shu options don't include standing in the corridor."

Qi Xia acted as if he hadn't heard Wang Ba at all, turning his gaze away and asking the others, "Does anyone have a smarter question?"

"You..." Wang Ba glared at Qi Xia angrily. "Answer me!"

"That... um..." Qiu Shi Liu also felt it didn't quite add up. "Suppose we really could stand in the corridor to watch the Mao... but how would this Shu act as the 'commander'?"

"That's easy to explain." Qi Xia replied, "For other teams, they could exchange information back at the Shu Wu on the second night, but we have a more convenient method..."

Qi Xia turned to Zhou Liu and said, "As long as we have Zhou Liu, we should get the Mao's whereabouts right away."

"Tsk, using Chuán Yīn...?" Zhou Liu frowned. "I've never used Chuán Yīn in a game before... I don't know if there'll be issues..."

"Issues...? I want to know the specific limitations of your Chuán Yīn." Qi Xia said, "Can you talk to all four of us from anywhere?"

"Tsk, well... yeah, you could say that." Zhou Liu nodded. "So, am I the one to be the 'commander'?"

"No." Qi Xia shook his head. "Anyone can be, as long as you can talk to the 'commander,' we can theoretically spread the message to everyone."

Zhou Liu nodded, seeming to understand vaguely.

"Each night, we'll choose one person to stand in the corridor as the 'commander,' and the other four will all go out to search for food." Qi Xia continued, "The 'commander's' task is to determine which room the Mao entered and who they took from that room. Then, the remaining Shu can rescue them in the next round."