Chapter 987: Nine and One

"Qiang Yun and Hua Xing—these two individuals' abilities are extremely troublesome."

"No matter who joins the Qi Xia camp, I need to devise a detailed strategy to counter them."

"Now that Xu Liunian and Yun Yao have basically gone their separate ways from me, trying to recruit them from my perspective carries a certain risk."

"Besides, a trick like Hua Xing is hard to deceive a team led by Qi Xia, so choosing it would be risky for me."

At that moment, Qi Xia reached up and stroked his chin, with many names swirling in his mind.

The challenge of this 'Dian Jiang' lies in not knowing what kind of game will come next; the information that it's a 'team confrontation' is far from sufficient.

In this state of uncertainty, they could only try to assemble as versatile a team as possible to handle any situation.

Chu Tianqiu probed, "What do you say...? Have you decided who it is?"

"Of course." Qi Xia took a deep breath, then stepped forward and wrote a character. "Yun."

As Chu Tianqiu furrowed his brow, Qi Xia paused his hand. He turned his face expressionlessly, as if observing Chu Tianqiu's reaction.

Chu Tianqiu asked, "What is it? Can't write 'Yao'?"

"Ha..." Qi Xia laughed, "Chu Tianqiu, you should know... I never believe in 'luck'."

"Oh?" Chu Tianqiu thought for a few seconds and nodded, "That does sound like something only you would say."

"If you choose to stop me, I would unhesitatingly write 'Yun Yao', but why aren't you stopping me?" Qi Xia asked.

Chu Tianqiu sighed softly after hearing this: "Qi Xia... I know my chances of winning aren't great; I just want to get as strong as possible in this game."

"Good idea."

"So having 'Yun Yao' on your side would make my situation even tougher." Chu Tianqiu said, "After all, we two have something in common... that is, on the path to getting stronger, we won't make things too easy for ourselves."

Qi Xia smiled at that but still didn't continue writing.

The "Yun" on the screen slowly faded away after Qi Xia remained inactive for a long time.

"Chu Tianqiu... I'm thinking the same as you." Qi Xia said, "'Yun Yao' only makes this game meaningful to me if she's with you."

"You..."

Chu Tianqiu paused, then continued, "If it's not Yun Yao, then that only leaves Xu Liunian."

"Xu Liunian?" Qi Xia shook his head, "Deceiving through changing appearances isn't my style."

After hearing that, Chu Tianqiu was a bit confused.

"You haven't met many people in my room, and if it's neither Yun Yao nor Xu Liunian, how do you plan to choose?"

"Maybe it's not someone from the 'current room'." Qi Xia laughed, "For example..."

Qi Xia extended his hand and wrote three characters on the screen: "Zhang Chenze."

Chu Tianqiu's eyes widened instantly upon seeing the name.

Qi Xia asked, "What...? Forgotten who she is?"

"You..."

Chu Tianqiu hadn't expected that just one short day later, Qi Xia's memory had recovered somewhat. But Wen Qiao Yun hadn't activated "Hui Xiang"—how had Qi Xia regained his memory?

"Chu Tianqiu... you're hiding things pretty deep." Qi Xia interrupted Chu Tianqiu's thoughts and said, "Even though Zhang Chenze is already in my room, you're still acting like nothing happened?"

"Not to mention, I only remembered this after saying goodbye to Zhang Chenze that day." Chu Tianqiu laughed, "You took her from my room and kept her with you... but what use is such a niche ability as 'Hun Qian' to you?"

Di Long frowned slightly at those words and turned to look at Qi Xia, but remained silent.

"I owe her." Qi Xia replied, "She helped me once; this is my way of repaying her."

"That's fine." Chu Tianqiu said, "Zhang Chenze helped me too, but I don't know how to repay her."

Di Long turned back, opened the wooden door, and outside stood Zhang Chenze with her cool face.

"Hmm...?" She was sitting alone in the classroom of "Tian Tang Kou," her face full of bewilderment.

"The main general 'Qi Xia' has selected 'Zhang Chenze' to assist in 'Cang Jie Qi'; please enter the door if accepting, or step back five paces if declining."

"Assist...?" Zhang Chenze slowly stood up, walked to the door, stared at it for a long time, and asked, "What is 'Cang Jie Qi'?"

"It's my game." Di Long answered from inside the door, "I'm 'Di Long'."

Zhang Chenze nodded after hearing that, then carefully examined the black light door in front of her, and asked again, "Is this Qi Xia himself requesting my participation?"

Di Long felt that the girl in front of him was a bit special; compared to others, she seemed exceptionally calm.

"Yes." Di Long said.

Zhang Chenze pondered for a while, then finally looked up and said, "One last question... how many people are with me?"

Di Long glanced back at Qi Xia, then turned and said, "Six."

"Good."

Zhang Chenze nodded and stepped through the light door, her figure disappearing.

"What a calm and rational person..." Chu Tianqiu said, "Such a teammate would put any team at ease, right?"

"Absolute rationality isn't always a good thing." Qi Xia said, "What I value is her 'overall perspective.' If Lawyer Zhang thinks that dying is the optimal solution to the problem, she'll do it without hesitation. In that sense, she's a lot like us two."

"No..." Chu Tianqiu shook his head, "Qi Xia, we're completely different. You became absolutely rational in the 'Zhong Yan Zhi Di,' and she was already fully rational before coming here."

"Oh?" Qi Xia nodded after hearing that, "What about you?"

"I've had only rationality in my brain since birth." Chu Tianqiu laughed, "The difference is, in the 'Zhong Yan Zhi Di,' I gained a touch of emotion, which makes the three of us appear similar—each with nine parts rationality and one part emotion."

"Are you planning to discard that 'rationality'?" Qi Xia asked tentatively.

"I will." Chu Tianqiu replied.

"Do you need my help?" Qi Xia asked again.

"Qi Xia, the only way you can help me is by letting me see the gap between us." Chu Tianqiu said, "If you can predict my every move, then do you know who I'm going to choose next?"

"Of course." Qi Xia said, "She's right outside."

"You... you're truly a monster." Chu Tianqiu said, "You don't even need to rely on your 'Hui Xiang' to get this far."

Qi Xia didn't speak; he just watched as Chu Tianqiu reached out and began writing on the electronic screen.

Three elegant characters gradually appeared.

The next person he selected was "Yan Zhichun."