Chapter 846: Chasing Time

I felt like you were crazy.

Sha Pi Quan completely ignored me and Zhang Qiang, and started arguing heatedly with Bai Yang.

"Bai Yang, do you even know where we are? This is the 'Lie Che'!" Sha Pi Quan said. "We're not far from those higher-ups... What you're doing is way too risky!"

"It's fine," Bai Yang replied. "I don't need you to understand. I just don't want to be stuck here forever, so I'm going to take some action."

Mian Yang pondered for a moment before asking, "What if we insist on stopping you? What would you do then?"

Bai Yang glanced sideways at the clock on the table and said gravely, "It's twelve oh one right now. Let's use the next four minutes for a vote among everyone here. All of us have the right to vote, including for ourselves. I'll make a bet with you two: by twelve oh five, the person with the most votes dies."

Sha Pi Quan thought for a few seconds, his eyes filling with anger. "Explain this to me—what do you mean by 'the person with the most votes dies'?"

"Just what it sounds like," Bai Yang said. "We all agree to the wager and accept the loss. The loser can commit suicide, or someone else can do it for them, as long as the goal is achieved. We're treating the 'Can Yu Zhe' the same as us—no exceptions."

"Are you out of your mind?" Sha Pi Quan asked. "Dying or being killed over some spur-of-the-moment game... That's not in the contract at all. If we die, we're gone for good—no coming back!"

"So what?" Bai Yang asked. "Even if only one 'Sheng Xiao' is left here... It wouldn't make any difference."

"So what...?" Sha Pi Quan looked furious. "Every room needs three 'Sheng Xiao' to oversee it—no exceptions! If one of us three dies... How are we supposed to carry on?!"

"That's hard to say," Bai Yang shook his head. "I feel like you two aren't much use. I specifically asked 'that person' to assign me the strongest teammates, but your performance has been disappointing."

"What?"

Bai Yang turned his face toward Sha Pi Quan. "Sha Pi Quan, your game 'Yu Hou Chun Sun' has a good idea, but the hint is just 'one hundred.' Are you really expecting the participants to figure out 'turn the table one hundred circles to the right' from that? Isn't that a bit of a stretch?"

"Then what's your suggestion?" Sha Pi Quan asked.

"The game tests human nature," Bai Yang said seriously. "Why not hide the message 'turn one hundred circles to the right' in everyone's life experiences or the stroke count of their surnames? That way, some would still lie, and some wouldn't believe each other, leading to the possibility of a second death. Even if no one dies, it would still leave them in despair. Wouldn't that be perfect?"

"How could it be that easy..." Sha Pi Quan replied, lacking confidence. "My game is already tough... If you do it your way, the game would..."

"But I'm ahead of you," Bai Yang said. "If any 'Can Yu Zhe' can organize the remaining eight to crack my game, there's no way they couldn't crack yours."

After saying that, he turned to look at Mian Yang.

"And you," Bai Yang continued. "Mian Yang, if anyone can get through mine and Sha Pi Quan's games, how could they possibly lose to your 'Tian Jiang Si Wang'? Making the floor crack... Would that really kill anyone?"

Mian Yang paused slightly before saying, "How do you know I'd make the 'floor crack'? I never told you about my game. By the time mine starts, you should already be dead. Even Sha Pi Quan doesn't know the details..."

"I guessed," Bai Yang said. "This room has no door. If you need to give the 'Can Yu Zhe' a way out to the hallway, you'd either break through the ceiling or smash the floor. But breaking the ceiling wouldn't easily cause casualties, so I figured you'd smash the floor and make them fall to the level below. That way, they could die from the fall, but the reinforced you wouldn't."

"You..." Mian Yang didn't argue with Bai Yang; instead, he fell into a state of disbelief.

"Let me guess some more," Bai Yang went on. "When you're hosting your game, you're afraid everyone might die in this final stage and waste all the previous efforts, so you'd tell them to stay in the center of the room and wait for a chance to survive. Your game might be grand, but it leaves plenty of ways out—as long as they follow your instructions, they won't be in danger."

Mian Yang nodded after hearing this. "Yes, so in your view...?"

"In my view, I'd change the rules to keep everyone away from the center," Bai Yang said quietly. "I'd tell them that danger still falls from the center, so they should stay close to the walls. Don't forget, we're 'Sheep'—'Sheep' can lie in the rules."

"But how could that work... There are so few smart people in the world..." Mian Yang said hesitantly. "If the most important rule is a lie... They'd follow it and end up dying here."

"Then that just means that's as far as they go," Bai Yang interrupted. "After all, our room is a bit different from the others. Our 'start' and 'end' are both 'Sheep,' so they could figure out from my game that 'rules can lie' and use that to crack yours."

After hearing Bai Yang's words, Mian Yang clearly fell into deep thought.

Seeing that he had convinced Mian Yang, Bai Yang asked, "You two don't think sending these 'Can Yu Zhe' out is enough to complete the task, do you? Do you want to keep dying in every cycle for nothing?"

Sha Pi Quan still wanted to argue, but Mian Yang stopped him.

"Bai Yang... What exactly are you trying to do?" Mian Yang asked.

"I'm paving the way for myself," Bai Yang said. "I plan to boost the strength of the 'Can Yu Zhe' in this room as much as possible, so they enter 'Tao Yuan' in the strongest state with the most desperate mindset. That way, it's possible to trigger everyone's 'Hui Xiang.' And once they retain their memories, they'll gradually get involved in even more dangerous games. That's how we can advance to 'Di Ji' in the shortest time."

At the mention of "advancing to Di Ji," both Sha Pi Quan and Mian Yang's expressions changed.

"Isn't it fast enough...?" Mian Yang asked. "Our room already has the fastest disappearance rate of 'Can Yu Zhe' among all the trial rooms... What more do you want...?"

"It's not fast enough..." Bai Yang said. "I have limited time... I can't afford any delays."