TDU Chapter 311
Chapter 311 Overdue Gift
It wasn’t the designated trivia period, yet Xu Qian still received a call from Chen Junnan.
"Qian jie!" Chen Junnan greeted her with unrestrained enthusiasm. "Well? Did you hear it?"
Xu Qian’s voice dropped, growing steadily more somber. "You… can really control when someone dies?"
"Something like that," Chen Junnan replied with a shrug. "Didn’t I say I’d show you a death within three rounds? Well, this is round two."
For the first time, Xu Qian sensed something dangerous beneath the man’s usual flippancy; he wasn’t just playing games.
"You’re just going around killing people like that… aren’t you afraid someone might come for you next?"
"Huh? Qian jie, what’s with the threats all of a sudden?" Chen Junnan sounded genuinely confused. "Whether someone’s gonna kill me or not—what’s that got to do with you? All this young master asked was for you to help call up Terrestrial Snake. Why’s that so hard?"
Only then did Xu Qian realize; Chen Junnan’s intention from the very beginning had been to summon Terrestrial Snake. It was only her refusal to cooperate that had gradually escalated things into a threat.
"This was my fault…" Xu Qian murmured. "I–I’ll call Terrestrial Snake over right away."
"Attagirl." Chen Junnan gave a satisfied nod. "Counting on you, Qian jie."
Just as Xu Qian was about to hang up, Chen Junnan stopped her.
"Don’t hang up."
"Huh?"
"Keep the phone up. It’s the only way I can guarantee you’ll be safe."
"I…" Xu Qian hesitated, then slowly rose to her feet, still holding the phone, and walked to her room’s door. She lifted her hand and gave it a soft knock.
"Umpire! Terrestrial Snake!" Xu Qian called out, "Please come here, I need a word with you!"
Terrestrial Snake paused for a moment, then turned his gaze toward Xu Qian’s door.
"Hurry!" she urged again, louder this time.
"Oh…?" Terrestrial Snake let out a cold chuckle, then shuffled toward the door with his hunched frame. "The ladies are already calling for help this early in the game, eh?"
A few dragging steps later, he arrived outside her door and said through it, "What is it, lassie? Getting scared already?"
With just a single door between them, Xu Qian could already catch a whiff of that foul stench clinging to Terrestrial Snake’s body.
She turned her head away slightly and whispered into the phone, "Hey… that old man is right outside my door now. What do I even say to him?"
"Tell him to open the door," Chen Junnan replied calmly.
"O–Open the door?" Xu Qian gulped. "You’re sure he won’t just kill me the moment he opens it?"
"He won’t," Chen Junnan shook his head. "If he did, he’d be breaking the rules. After all, in this game, he’s not allowed to kill participants as he pleases."
"O–Okay... I’ll give it a try," Xu Qian slowly lifted her head. "Terrestrial Snake, can you open the door?"
"Oh...?" Terrestrial Snake pressed up against the door, letting his greasy, lecherous voice seep through. "Lassie, getting impatient already?"
Those few words alone gave Xu Qian goosebumps. His coy tone made her skin crawl.
Impatient?
No, she wished Terrestrial Snake would just drop dead.
"An–Anyway, just open the door," Xu Qian forced herself to say, summoning all her courage. "There’s something I want to tell you."
Hearing that, Terrestrial Snake pressed his deeply wrinkled face against the door once more, and said in a warped voice, "Lassie, if you try anything funny, even if I don’t kill you… I’ll make sure you regret it, got it?"
"I–I got it…" Xu Qian replied softly, then immediately lowered her voice to a whisper. "Honestly, I feel like I’m digging my own grave here… Are you really certain this will work?"
"Absolutely." Chen Junnan chuckled lightly. "This young master may meddle in many things, but bullying women isn’t one of them. Just get him to open the door."
Xu Qian knew there was no turning back now. Terrestrial Snake in front of her was dangerous, but then again—so was Chen Junnan.
He had already uncovered the rhythm of the game, and could perceive the moments when killings occurred; whether she cooperated or not, she was already entangled in danger.
If she absolutely had to choose between Terrestrial Snake and Chen Junnan, she would rather bet on the latter. Usually, {umpires} were more disciplined than {participants}, but Terrestrial Snake was an exception—he was too repulsive.
He reminded her of certain self-important male veterans at the workplace; eyes leering obscenely, words cloaked in false kindness, all while scheming through his authority to fulfill his private lusts.
"Terrestrial Snake… please open the door first," Xu Qian said with a wry smile. "You’re a {Terrestrial-grade}, I wouldn’t dare pull anything…"
"Heh heh... as long as you understand." Terrestrial Snake chuckled as he twisted the doorknob from outside, unfastened the lock, and slowly pulled the door open.
What lay beyond was a mildly baffling scene.
The young woman was still holding her phone.
"You…" Terrestrial Snake froze for a moment, then slowly furrowed his brows. "What are you doing?"
"Oh my god…" Standing this close to Terrestrial Snake, Xu Qian felt every hair on her body stand on end. She could only hold up the phone stiffly and mutter, "What exactly are you planning…"
"Have him take the call," Chen Junnan said.
"Huh?" Xu Qian’s eyes widened.
"Give it to him."
Left with no choice, Xu Qian hesitantly extended her hand and softly said, "It’s for you…"
Terrestrial Snake eyed the device in her hand, a flicker of caution flashing across his face.
"Who’s on the other end of that line?" he asked, his tone suddenly guarded.
"I…" Xu Qian shook her head with a helpless look. "I can only receive calls from my upstream."
"Upstream…?" Terrestrial Snake turned to glance at the door to Xu Qian’s right. If he remembered correctly, that was the room of that {troublemaker}.
His sickly yellow eyes rotated as he looked Xu Qian up and down, suspicion in his voice. "If he has something to say to me… why are you the one calling to open the door?"
"I don’t know either," Xu Qian replied honestly. "My life was threatened, so I had no choice but to call you over."
Terrestrial Snake’s expression shifted in an instant. "Oh no…!" he gasped, immediately reaching to slam the door shut—
But before he could, a voice rang out sharply from the phone, cutting through the air with crystal clarity:
"Stake my life!"
Terrestrial Snake’s hand froze midair, his body locking into rigid stillness.
A sly smile curled at Chen Junnan’s lips as he added smoothly, "...I mean, I want to stake my life against yours."
The cunning twist in that sentence sent a slow, shuddering tremor through Terrestrial Snake’s frame.
What kind of reckless declaration was this?
He had unwittingly allowed someone else to deliver the challenge, making it utterly impossible to silence that troublemaker’s voice!
What comes next?
Death...?
"Ahhhhhh!" Terrestrial Snake suddenly gripped his head, his voice cracking with panic. "This is terrifying… utterly terrifying!"
Why would anyone dare to stake their life against his?
He could have been reigning like a king here!
What right did that troublemaker have to shatter his reign?
"Ahhhhhh!" Terrestrial Snake howled, as if tormented by a restless ghost, his nails digging desperately into his own face.
"Good grief…" Chen Junnan muttered through the phone. "What’s wrong with that old geezer? Swear on my honor. I didn't lay a finger on him, so don’t go twisting the truth."
Xu Qian was taken aback by Terrestrial Snake’s reaction, but even more so by Chen Junnan’s methods.
"You said you’d keep me safe… and this is your grand plan?" Her voice wavered with a mix of disbelief and fear. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
"Killed?" Chen Junnan shook his head. "No, no. I might not die at all. On the contrary, I might just slay a Terrestrial-grade here; call it a long-overdue gift for Ole Qi."
TL Note: Rant goes here ( •̯́ ₃ •̯̀)
