Chapter 438: Hidden Rules

"Is that so?" Zhou Liu frowned, about to say something, but then he noticed the Shi Liu in Qi Xia's hand. "Tsk, then why did you bring the fruit out from the Shu Wu?"

"I..." Qi Xia furrowed his brow and glanced toward the Mao Wu, feeling that some things weren't suitable to discuss right now. "Zhou Liu, you go into Room Two. Luo Shiyi, you go into Room Four."

"Ah? What about our fruit then?" Luo Shiyi asked.

No sooner had he spoken than Wang Ba's door opened, and he walked over holding an orange.

"You all..." Wang Ba looked at the three of them in confusion, "What are you doing here?"

"We..." Zhou Liu and Luo Shiyi both gave a bitter smile, "We really don't know what we're doing. Basically, we're just following Qi Xia and listening to his arrangements..."

"Hmph..." Wang Ba snorted coldly, "Fine, then. Let's all listen to him. From now on, he's Qi Ba."

Qi Xia almost laughed at Wang Ba's remark and could only sigh. "I'm not interested in your Ba Hao position, and I've told you before, I was just deliberately provoking you earlier. You can't keep holding grudges like that."

"I know, but I just can't get over it." Wang Ba pouted. "Here, take the orange. I'm going back to rest."

"Don't give it to me." Qi Xia shook his head. "Keep your own orange, and take their Huo Long Guo and Shi Liu as well—three fruits in total—back to the Shu Wu."

"Can it really be like that?" Wang Ba was stunned and thought carefully about the rules, which seemed to confirm that as long as one person triggered the 'Ban Yun', they could directly move all the found 'fruits'.

Luo Shiyi and Zhou Liu handed their fruits to Wang Ba, then looked toward the Shu Wu, where Qiu Shiliu was peering out curiously.

"I—I don't need to do anything this round?" Qiu Shiliu asked.

"No need." Qi Xia shook his head. "This round doesn't require a 'Zhi Dao Zhe'; just three 'Sou Xun' rats will do."

Zhou Liu thought for a moment and asked, "Tsk, now that the three of us are in the rooms... based on your guess, what's the probability we'll get caught next round?"

Qi Xia stroked his chin and said, "Probably zero."

"Zero?" Luo Shiyi was startled. "Whose probability of getting caught is zero?"

"If I'm not wrong, the probability of all three of us getting caught is zero." Qi Xia replied.

Seeing that the others still didn't understand, Qi Xia just shook his head and had everyone proceed with their plans.

As soon as Qi Xia entered the third room, he raised the corners of his mouth slightly.

"As expected, it's Mu Gua."

Right in the center of the table sat four bright yellow Mu Gua. The room seemed like a secluded paradise, untouched from the start.

"Everything matches my prediction." Qi Xia walked to the wall and pressed the 'Sou Xun' button.

The room didn't light up with a red light.

"The 'Mao' didn't place a trap..." Qi Xia thought for a moment, "Then you can only 'Xun Luo'. Now, except for Rooms One and Five, all have 'Lao Shu'..."

Thinking of this, Qi Xia reached out and took all the Mu Gua from the plate, then placed a Shi Liu on it.

As the Shi Liu was set on the plate, Qi Xia clearly felt it sink, as if the weight had just activated some mechanism.

The plate sank to its lowest point, flipped over instantly, and when it returned, the fruit on top had vanished.

"So it's 'Xiang Ke' after all." Qi Xia said, "But what exactly does 'Xiang Ke' do?"

In the first room, the deep green door represents Mu, and since Mu Sheng Huo, the room contains 'Huo Long Guo'.

In the second room, the deep yellow door represents Jin, and since Jin Sheng Shui, the room contains 'Shui Mi Tao'.

In the third room, the deep blue door represents Shui, and since Shui Sheng Mu, the room contains 'Mu Gua'.

In the fourth room, the deep red door represents Huo, and since Huo Sheng Tu, the room contains 'Shi Liu'.

In the fifth room, the deep brown door represents Tu, and since Tu Sheng Jin, the room contains 'Jin Ju'.

"What a clever person you are, Di Shu." Qi Xia nodded in satisfaction. "If people just treat this game as an ordinary 'Mao Shu You Xi', the many 'Lao Shu' will gradually notice the food shortage in the later stages and choose to give up rescuing others to survive themselves. That way, you can effortlessly take several participants' lives. Although you lose five 'Dao' and fresh fruits each game, you can steadily kill participants, or even..."

Qi Xia knew that if the 'Lao Shu' had bad luck, there was a high probability they'd all be wiped out.

After all, when only two or three 'Lao Shu' are left, the 'Mao' can 'Xun Luo' every round, searching two rooms at once and greatly increasing the chances of catching 'Lao Shu'.

"And you've hidden the most important thing..." Qi Xia frowned and said, "The 'Mao' can do more than one thing per round... as long as you have 'Bao Fu Zhi', you can keep acting."

The biggest issue was the single Shi Liu left in the Mao Wu.

If the 'Mao' and 'Lao Shu' moved the same way, he should have brought back three Shi Liu. What about the other two?

The answer was that in the same round, he set up a 'Buo Shu Jia' once and performed a 'Sou Xun' once. Those two actions consumed two points of his satiety, so for safety, he had to eat two fruits to ensure actions in the next round. After all, when the 'Mao' explained the rules, he said, "I'll choose my action each round," without mentioning it could only be one action.

"That means your 'Bao Shi Du' limit is at least three points, allowing you to boldly act twice without worry..." Qi Xia thought and nodded again. "Such an excellent game, yet you claim not to kill 'Lao Shu' immediately... I think I misunderstood you, Di Shu. Were you going easy? If I were you... no one would leave this game alive."

Click!

A muffled sound came from the room, and the altar by the wall shook before moving aside.

A few seconds later, a dark passageway behind the altar came into Qi Xia's view.

"So that's it..." Qi Xia nodded. "When fruit 'Xiang Ke's the room, the room loses its 'Shang Suo' ability and can't block the 'Lao Shu' inside. In other words... if the 'Lao Shu' is smart enough, they can dig tunnels to escape."

But where did this secret passage lead?

Qi Xia picked up all the Mu Gua from the table, then bent down and entered the passageway.

Now, for him, there was no need to worry about the "only three can be transported" limit, because this round, he wasn't choosing 'Ban Yun' at all.