Chapter 63: Fortunate Luck

Qi Xia licked his dry lips and picked up a chess piece.

Lin Jian saw this and her pupils instantly dilated.

It was a white piece.

"Qi Xia... I can only tell lies... you mustn't believe me..." Lin Jian desperately shouted in her heart, hoping for a miracle so Qi Xia could hear her.

She was terrified that Qi Xia's trust in her would lead to his death.

"Don't believe me..." Lin Jian repeated over and over in her mind.

Qi Xia thought for a moment but didn't ask any questions. Instead, he picked up a black piece.

Lin Jian furrowed her brows, knowing that regardless of whether it was a black piece or a white piece, she could only give the opposite answer.

Qi Xia slowly held up the black piece and brought it close to Lin Jian's face, saying, "Lin Jian, tell me..."

Lin Jian covered her mouth with her hand, feeling like she was on the verge of collapsing.

She didn't want to tell Qi Xia that "this is a white piece," but if she didn't lie, the mechanism on her glasses would activate.

Qi Xia seemed to sense something and said calmly, "Don't be nervous, Lin Jian. Keep your mind working; everything isn't over yet."

After hearing this, Lin Jian nodded desperately.

Once he confirmed that her emotions had somewhat stabilized, Qi Xia asked, "Lin Jian, tell me, what color would Lao Lv say this chess piece is?"

"Huh?"

Lin Jian and Lao Lv were both stunned, and Ren Zhu's eyes shifted slightly.

"Listen carefully to my question, Lin Jian. I'll ask again." Qi Xia repeated, "What color would Lao Lv say this chess piece is?"

Lao Lv...?

Lin Jian glanced back at Lao Lv, her mind racing.

Her glasses felt cool, confirming she had to lie. Meanwhile, Ren Zhu had never lied so far, indicating his rules were absolute, so Lao Lv would tell the truth.

In that case, Lao Lv would say the chess piece was "black."

Just as Lin Jian was about to say "black," she suddenly realized something—

She had to lie, so she couldn't tell Qi Xia it was "black."

Even if Lao Lv said "black," she had to say "white."

This brought everything back to square one, didn't it?! The key to this game was with her, not Lao Lv.

Lin Jian bit her lip and finally forced out the two words: "White."

At that moment, she felt like she was the one strangling the truth; any truth that passed through her mouth turned into a lie.

Lao Lv frustratingly covered his forehead, feeling that everything was over.

"White, huh..." Qi Xia turned his head, as if looking at the chess piece in his hand, then smiled slightly and said, "I see."

Ren Zhu pondered for a moment and thought to himself, "What will you do? Qi Xia, the person you trust most has told you the chess piece in your hand is white. What choice will you make?"

Qi Xia slowly placed the black piece aside and picked up another white piece.

He handed the white piece forward, giving it to Ren Zhu.

"Oh? You've made your choice?" Ren Zhu asked.

This time, Ren Zhu deliberately kept his tone completely neutral, learning from his previous mistake, so Qi Xia couldn't judge the color of the chess piece based on his words.

"Yes, I've made my choice," Qi Xia nodded and said, "But it's not the one in your hand. That white piece is yours."

"What?"

Qi Xia ignored Ren Zhu and gripped the black piece in his hand, saying, "The black piece in my hand is 'life,' and the white piece in your hand is 'death.' The game is over."

As everyone stared in stunned silence, Qi Xia slowly removed his eye cover.

Everything was exactly as he had anticipated.

For him, the only awkward thing now was that wearing the eye cover for so long had made him sensitive to the light.

"You..." Ren Zhu trembled with agitation, "What kind of joke are you playing...?"

Qi Xia opened his eyes and looked at Ren Zhu, saying, "I've already 'gambled my life' with you, so how could it be a joke?"

He then pointed at Lin Jian and Lao Lv, saying, "Let them go. A bet's a bet, and you have to honor it."

Ren Zhu stared wide-eyed for a long time before sighing in frustration. He took a remote control from the drawer and pressed it aimlessly.

Lao Lv and Lin Jian heard a click, and the mechanism on their glasses was released.

The two quickly took off the deadly devices and tossed them aside.

"Qi Xia! You're something else, you little rascal!!!" Lao Lv shouted excitedly and slapped Qi Xia on the back. "Did you win the lottery or what?! What kind of luck is this?!"

"Luck...?" Qi Xia shook his head. "In this life-or-death gamble, I didn't rely on luck at all. It was just that Ren Zhu underestimated me."

Ren Zhu turned away silently and said, "I underestimated you...?"

"That's right." Qi Xia straightened his clothes and slowly stood up. "I told you long ago that smart people don't depend on luck, but you didn't take it to heart."

"So you're saying..." Ren Zhu stood up in disbelief, "Everything just now... was all part of your plan?"

"Yes." Qi Xia nodded. "My strategy was very simple. As long as you gave me one black piece and one white piece, I would win, and it would be a one hundred percent victory with no surprises."

Ren Zhu widened his eyes, his pupils dilating.

This was the first time he had lost so completely since becoming "Ren Zhu."

"To make sure you smoothly gave me one black and one white piece, I even specifically told you, 'You pick first, and then I can choose better.'" Qi Xia reached out, picked up two black pieces and two white pieces from the table, and held them in his hands, as if simulating Ren Zhu's mental process at the time.

"You must have struggled with it for a bit, right? In the end, you realized that giving me one black and one white was the safest option."

From behind the mask, Ren Zhu's voice sounded incredible: "You even calculated that..."

"Was it that you were too cautious, or too careless?" Qi Xia weighed the two white pieces in his hand. "If you'd trusted your first instinct and just given me two white pieces, I'd be dead by now."

Ren Zhu said nothing, only glaring at Qi Xia with resentment.

Qi Xia continued, "When I had chess pieces of both colors in my hand, asking a question like I did earlier guaranteed I'd know the color of the chess piece in my hand."

Lin Jian quickly thought it over after hearing this.

A moment later, her mouth dropped open.

Qi Xia's question had been incredibly clever.

By asking "what color would the other person say it is," no matter if the person answered truthfully or lied, as long as Qi Xia held the black piece, they would both say "white."

When he asked Lin Jian, she knew Lao Lv's answer was "black," but due to her habit of lying, she changed it to "white."

If he had asked Lao Lv, Lao Lv would have directly said "white" as Lin Jian's answer.

Even if Qi Xia had received "black" as the answer, he would immediately know that the other piece in his hand was the correct one.