TDU Chapter 326
Chapter 326 Risk-Bearer
"What exactly is it?" Yun Yao inquired. "What’s so strange about that iron ball?"
"Superstar, that damn snake exploited nearly every human instinct for survival," Chen Junnan said. "When you know there’s an iron ball about to fall from above, where would you try to hide?"
Yun Yao thought for a moment. The first choice would naturally be a corner. But if hiding in the corner isn’t possible, then staying as close to the wall as possible would be the next best option.
But according to Chen Junnan… why weren’t the displays damaged?
"I really have no clue," Yun Yao shook her head.
"Then let this young master enlighten you…" Chen Junnan grinned mischievously. "Among participants there, I’m probably the only one who knows. The thing above looks like a ball, but it’s actually a {wōwōtóu[1]} covered with spikes."
"Huh?" Yun Yao paused. "Wō–Wōwōtóu?"
Though the answer surprised her, it immediately gave her a vivid mental image.
"Exactly," Chen Junnan acknowledged, "the thing falling from above has a hollowed-out section at the bottom, precisely where the display screen sits."
"How preposterous…" Though she muttered this, Yun Yao felt it made a certain kind of sense. With Terrestrial-grade games happening multiple times daily, repeatedly fixing the equipment would be a nuisance. The safest approach was to avoid any damage to the room’s devices during kills.
"Superstar, even if someone wanted to dodge the iron ball, hardly anyone would think to remove the display screen and then crouch in the center of the room."
Chen Junnan’s reasoning was sound. Knowing the iron ball was descending, how many would voluntarily crouch in the center of the room?
This also explained why Terrestrial Snake used the ceiling to block the iron ball, so no one could see its true form.
"So you took apart the display screen?"
"Yeah, that screen was held up by an iron pipe on the floor. This young master brought it down using a chair. But now there’s a new problem: without the screen, I can’t cast my vote, which definitely breaks the rules."
"W–Wait a moment," Yun Yao interrupted Chen Junnan. "Even if the bottom of that iron ball really looks like a {wōwōtóu}, it has to fall with some margin of error, no? A small display screen might escape serious damage, but a human body is much larger than that screen. How did you—"
"Which is why this young master sustained some minor injuries," Chen Junnan declared proudly, unable to hide his boastfulness. "But that doesn’t matter! Luckily, this young master is a f*cking genius! I figured out I could just switch rooms—cough cough…"
Before he could finish, Chen Junnan erupted into a harsh cough, one that seemed to wrench his very chest apart.
"Minor injuries? Y–You should just stop talking for now," Yun Yao sighed. "Chen Junnan, hold on a bit longer. The game will be over in just a few more questions."
"No…" Chen Junnan steadied his breathing and said to Yun Yao, "The game can’t end unless either that old creep or I die here. Even if you can end it, I won’t."
Yun Yao fell silent, unsure how to persuade him. Chen Junnan sounded badly injured, yet he seemed more intent on boasting about his exploits than lamenting his condition.
"All right then…" Yun Yao ultimately relented. "So… hurry up and tell me, how exactly did you get into another room?"
"Heh!" Chen Junnan sounded ecstatic. "You should’ve asked sooner! Come on, this young master will tell you all about it."
No matter how much Yun Yao thought about it, she couldn’t have imagined that although Chen Junnan was injured when the iron ball fell, he actually grabbed onto the spikes and rose up with the iron ball to the ceiling.
He deduced that for the massive iron ball to travel along chains on the ceiling, the space above must be quite spacious—large enough to accommodate a person walking.
"Next comes this young master’s moment to shine…" Chen Junnan chuckled. "At first, I tried jumping randomly into a ceilingless room, then activated {Penalty Proxy}. And just like I predicted, the iron ball followed."
"So that’s what you meant by ‘disregard all rules and make the iron ball land wherever you please’?" Yun Yao said, incredulous. "You’re not controlling where it lands; you’re forcing it to constantly pursue you—"
"Just give it to me straight, did I control it or not?"
"Well…" Yun Yao knew that if their roles were reversed, she would never have dared to use such a reckless strategy.
Each descent of the iron ball involved some deviation; it could potentially crush Chen Junnan’s head, yet he repeatedly called it to hover over him.
"Later, this young master became more daring," Chen Junnan coughed a few times. "If the iron ball can fall in any room I stand in, why not stand on the ceiling and kill whoever is below?"
"You’re absolutely insane…" Yun Yao couldn’t help but rebuke. "Do you always use this type of approach in games?"
"Yeah," Chen Junnan nodded. "With a mind a hundred times sharper than Ole Qiao’s, a prowess ten thousand times better than Ole Qi’s, and my motto {We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it}, what game in this world can’t I win?"
"You–You’re taking it to an unnecessary extreme!" Yun Yao exclaimed. "You’re literally gambling your life away!"
"Aren’t I already staking my life?" Chen Junnan chuckled. "Superstar, now that you know everything, I need you to do me a favor."
"What favor…?"
After some thought, Chen Junnan replied, "There are forty-eight questions in all, and thirty have passed, so the iron ball will fall no more than six times."
"Precisely."
"I want you to help me. Make that iron ball hit that old creep ten thousand times during those six falls," Chen Junnan said.
"What do you take me for?" Yun Yao felt that frequent interaction with Chen Junnan was driving her to the brink. "My {Reverberation} is {Potent Luck}, not {Woodpecker}! There’s no possible way to pelt him ten thousand times."
"But I’m at a mental dead end…" Chen Junnan admitted. "My plan has hit a wall. That old creep’s room doesn’t have a ceiling, so he’ll definitely spot me. Once he does, he’ll figure out my strategy."
"I see…" Yun Yao nodded. "To survive, he has several options: either use both hands to hold up the iron ball, or like you, dismantle the display and hide in the center of the room."
"Exactly. So, what do you think we should do next?" Chen Junnan asked.
Yun Yao slowly closed her eyes. Indeed, now was not the time to praise Chen Junnan as the most crucial step had yet to come.
Terrestrial Snake was still alive.
With only a few obstacles remaining, the question now was how to make the most of six attempts to utterly and mercilessly obliterate Terrestrial Snake.
TL Note: Rant goes here ( •̯́ ₃ •̯̀)
Footnote:
[1] Wōwōtóu (窝窝头) is a type of steamed bread made from cornmeal in Northern China. "Wotou" literally translates to "nest thing", since the wotou resembles a bird's nest with its hollow cone shape. The hollow part is for the filling/stuffing.
This youtuber added sweet potato to the dough, which is not usually used, but it’s the only video I found with subs lol
