TDU Chapter 327
Chapter 327 Brains of the Operation
About a minute later, Yun Yao slowly lifted her head.
“I got it!” She widened her eyes and carefully considered the feasibility of the whole plan. “This scheme may just work… I have a way!”
“What way?” Chen Junnan asked.
“Well…” Yun Yao hesitated, then said, “I—I can’t say.”
Suddenly, Chen Junnan understood and nodded with a smile. “I see! Superstar, you’re right. That’s not a {scheme}, but a {truth} that will inevitably happen.”
“Precisely!” Yun Yao nodded solemnly. “It’s bound to happen, so it’s not my scheme, everything is just a sudden {stroke of luck}.”
Hearing this, Chen Junnan asked, “What do I need to do… to bring about this stroke of luck?”
“Target him,” Yun Yao said. “Let that spiked {wōwotóu} drop as usual, and everything will unfold.”
“Understood!”
Chen Junnan hung up the phone, then stepped on a chair in the room and jumped up to grab the massive iron chain moving along the ceiling.
The rules never said participants couldn’t appear in other participants’ rooms, nor that they couldn’t be on the ceiling.
“I really am a genius.”
For the next two rounds, Yun Yao remained seated in her room, steadying her mind and trying to strengthen her belief.
What is meant to happen will happen… yet beads of sweat trickled down her forehead.
Though her {Luck} was strong, making this {future} truly come to pass seemed exceedingly difficult.
“It will happen… it absolutely will happen…” Yun Yao kept reassuring herself.
…
During the thirty-third round, Chen Junnan had already approached Terrestrial Snake’s ceiling, hanging midair as he grasped the iron chain. Hidden in the shadows, he focused intently on Terrestrial Snake’s screen. The moment the verdict for this round appeared as {True}, he would immediately shift his position to guide the iron ball’s fall.
But to his surprise, the verdict this time was not {True}, but {False}.
“What…?” Chen Junnan hesitated briefly before quickly understanding.
He had pushed things a little too far earlier.
From everyone’s perspective, the iron ball now struck with near-indiscriminate force; wherever it landed, death was certain. So no one dared choose {True} this time. To ensure their own safety, everyone except Yun Yao unanimously chose {False}.
“If you all start protecting yourselves now… this will make things difficult for this young master…”
Chen Junnan’s plan was once again foiled. The six people remaining on the field were no ordinary contenders. How could he possibly unite them all to choose {True}?
The time ahead was precious. Only fifteen rounds remained, and within that span, the iron ball would drop just five more times…
“No, wait—”
A sudden flash of insight struck Chen Junnan’s mind as he began to understand Yun Yao’s strategy.
If Yun Yao’s plan was as he suspected, their remaining time would be even shorter—rather than fifteen rounds, there would only be nine.
The iron ball had to fall in Terrestrial Snake’s room within three drops to guarantee a one hundred percent kill.
“Motherfu…” Chen Junnan wiped the sweat pouring down his forehead as he hung from the ceiling. “Ole Qi, ole Qi, I really wish I could call you for help… How the hell can I get these people to all listen to me?”
A few seconds later, a thought suddenly dawned on him.
“Wait a minute, why should this young master be doing all the mental heavy lifting?” A smile slowly spread across his face. “Plans like this… are best left to the brains of the operation.”
…
The white-clad young woman sat quietly inside her room, contemplating possible outcomes when a faint knock suddenly broke the stillness.
{Knock knock knock}.
The knock made her jump, but not a word escaped her lips. She rose and walked to the door in complete silence.
Leaning in, she placed her ear against the door and listened closely. The knock came again, but it wasn’t at the door. It echoed from the ceiling.
{Knock knock knock}.
She dragged a chair in front of her, stepped up onto it, and listened closely. The sound really was coming from the ceiling.
Someone was on the ceiling?
Who in their right mind would do that?
The white-clad young woman thought for a moment, then reached out and knocked on the ceiling.
{Knock knock knock}.
“Hehe!” a muffled voice came from above. “Good mornin! Can you hear me?”
The young woman slowly furrowed her brows. “Who are you?”
“I’m just a law-abiding participant, really. Thought I’d run a little deal by you.”
“Law-abiding...?” She looked up at the ceiling with interest and replied, “Go on, I’m listening.”
“Haa, this young master went all-in against that old creep, but found myself in a bit of a pickle…Any chance you’ve got a fix?"
Upon hearing this, the white-clad young woman crossed her arms slowly, a knowing smile spreading across her face.
“Ha?” she laughed. “So you’re the one who staked your life against Terrestrial Snake? Funny, you seem more terrifying than him at the moment. What are you doing sneaking around above a single girl’s ceiling?”
“Haa! You’re absolutely right!” Chen Junnan sighed with a hint of frustration. “But this young master’s really backed into a corner here, so I have to lie here for a while. Don’t worry though, this young master’s an upright gentleman, never done any peeping.”
“Hearing you say that puts me at ease,” the white-clad young woman laughed and nodded. “So, what does this {gentleman on the roof beam*} want me to help with?”
(TLN: While the literal translation for the idiom 梁上君子 is ‘the gentleman on the roof beam’, it actually is referring to ‘a thief’. Basically, it's a euphemistic term for a burglar or someone sneaking around in the shadows.)
“I want you all to choose {True},” Chen Junnan said. “I know you’re a formidable figure. If you can convince the people on both sides to pick {True} together in the next round, we’re sure to win.”
“Aren’t you missing something?” the white-clad young woman looked up toward the ceiling and said. “If we all choose {True}, only you stand to win, not us. The iron ball could fall into any room, but never on the ceiling.”
“Boop-boop, nope,” Chen Junnan shook his head. “The iron ball’s fall isn’t left to chance, this young master can control where it lands.”
“Oh...?” The white-clad young woman listened carefully to his confident words and quickly pieced it together in her mind. “I understand now... You’re {Penalty Proxy}, aren’t you?”
“Hehe…” Chen Junnan shook his head in resignation. “You and Ole Qi are honestly the two most troublesome people I’ve encountered across the entire {End Point}. I didn’t expect you to figure it out so quickly.”
The white-clad young woman was further perplexed at Chen Junnan's implicit confirmation.
“Since you’re {Penalty Proxy}…the iron ball has been dropping on you all along, hasn’t it?” She began analyzing Chen Junnan’s {Reverberation}. “And now you’re on my ceiling—is this a deliberate attempt on my life?”
“Well…” Chen Junnan felt his cover slipping. “Honestly, miss, I bear you no ill intent. But if I die now, things will get even more complicated, so I have no choice but to threaten you.”
“Oh? Is that so…” The white-clad woman looked up once more. Blood was oozing from the ceiling, revealing the man’s serious injury and his desperate bluff.
Chen Junnan was unsure if his plan had succeeded and was about to say more when suddenly he felt a hand clamp fiercely around his neck, forcing him to the ground.
He frantically looked around, only to realize that the hand choking him was his own right hand.
The white-clad young woman’s voice echoed from inside the room, “It’s clear there’s something wrong with you if you believe you can threaten me.”
TL Note: Rant goes here ( •̯́ ₃ •̯̀)
