TDU Chapter 370
Chapter 370 Consecutive Mishaps
They had four rounds left to extinguish the last light above Terrestrial Dog’s head.
Qin Dingdong knew time was running out. Judging from the situation, {Toxic Miasma} was likely even more dangerous than {Cold Wave}.
Many poisons could cause devastating harm to the human body; touch it, and death might follow.
‘I originally wanted to enter this game as an ordinary person, but it seems that’s impossible now,’ Qin Dingdong covered her nose and mouth as she glanced at Terrestrial Dog. ‘Dog tóngxué, you started this, so don’t say I bullied you, okay…’
Su Shan noticed something unusual about the glimmer clusters around Qin Dingdong and quickly turned to look.
The two clusters of light gathered beside Qin Dingdong began to move in unison, arranged in flawless order before striking one another with unerring precision.
In an instant, two words materialized, sharp and unmistakable:
{False Commodity}.
‘This jiejie here… is quite a famous swindler, you know.’ Qin Dingdong slowly closed her eyes, gently stroking her {Autumn Wind Clears the Leaves} fortune stick before carefully placing it back down. She never imagined she’d have to resort to the tactic she’d used back in Terrestrial Goat’s {Fourfold Emotion}.
‘Unfortunately… this {fortune stick} is a fake…’ she mused. ‘So where is the real {Autumn Wind Clears the Leaves}?’
After mouthing these words, Qin Dingdong remained motionless, quietly standing there as she tried to slow her breathing and covered her mouth and nose against the toxic miasma.
She knew death was a possibility, but there was still a chance she might be saved.
After the brief collision, the glimmers of light quietly retreated, hovering once again in their original spots—just as if nothing had occurred.
Though puzzled, Su Shan had no time to dwell on it and instead glanced down at the {fortune stick} she had just drawn: {No Land Shall Lie Fallow}.
However, given the current situation, playing {No Land Shall Lie Fallow} would not be a wise move. Everyone was still in danger; the presence of {Cold Wave} and {Poison Miasma} carried an extremely high risk of death. So even if they managed to defeat Terrestrial Dog this round by playing {No Land Shall Lie Fallow}, a far more pressing problem remained—
Would Terrestrial Dog open the room door once the game ended?
Prior to the start of the game, Terrestrial Dog had stated that they had eight rounds to defeat the {Nian Beast}. But now, they were about to extinguish the {Nian Beast}’s last light in the fifth round. The rules never mentioned anything about {opening the door} after the game ends; the only unambiguous rule was that {Calamity will not cease until it is resolved}.
On further reflection, it became obvious: Terrestrial Dog was fully committed to his task. He wasn’t trying to finish the game, he was trying to kill.
From this, it was inferred that if the {Calamities} remained unresolved when the game ended, the teammates would almost certainly die within the game.
It all came down to a gamble now: if luck was on their side this round, and everyone managed to resolve each other’s {Calamity}, then all four of them could survive.
“We have to slow down the pace…” Su Shan took a deep breath and said, “{Victory} is already in our hands… what matters now is surviving…”
The best plan now was to drag the game to end at the eighth round—after all, Terrestrial Dog had said before that {the game will conclude regardless of what happens during the eighth round}.
"As expected of the umpire... hiding such a crucial secret," Su Shan acknowledged with a nod. "This so-called {intentional gap in siege*} was a deception. It seems you left us a {chance to survive}, but if we charge in blindly, you’ll mercilessly slaughter us. Even if we manage to extinguish your three lights and {win}, there’s no guarantee we’ll survive the aftermath."
(TLN: “围师必阙” is from ‘The Art of War’. It’s the deliberate tactic of leaving an escape route when surrounding the enemy. This prevents them from feeling trapped and desperate, which often leads to fierce resistance. By providing a way out, it lowers the enemy’s morale and increases the chance of victory.)
Su Shan looked at the {fortune sticks} in her hand: {Default}, {Default}, and {No Land Shall Lie Fallow}.
Just as she had suspected, from this point on, all they would draw were {Defaults} and {Firecrackers}.
But… were there really any {Firecrackers} left?
So far in the game, two {Firecrackers Close Out the Year} had already been used. Could there really be a third?
‘No… that’s impossible,’ Su Shan shook her head. “If this game included three {Firecrackers Close Out the Year}, then there’d be no need for any {cooperation} at all. Everyone could simply sit back and wait for the {Firecrackers} to appear, and all the challenges in the game would resolve themselves. But if the game is designed to emphasize collaboration, then the players must be forced to complete at least one full {No Land Shall Lie Fallow}. Which means there are only two {Firecrackers Close Out the Year}.”
Now that one {Firecracker} had been wasted, the only thing they’d be drawing going forward was {Defaults}.
Her deductions had brought her one step closer to the truth. To win, they needed to complete another full cycle of {No Land Shall Lie Fallow}. But before that, she had to save her teammates.
With her strategy now firm, Su Shan placed a {Default} into the slot.
“Round five, Player One {wish} completed. Player Two, kindly {draw}.”
At that moment, a {Default} appeared in Zhang Chenze’s room.
Because {Spring} took no action, {Summer} was forced to pass without any progress.
Zhang Chenze had already killed a large number of locusts in her room; her face was smeared with yellowish-brown muck, and she cut a sorry figure.
Now that the number of locusts clinging to the glass had significantly decreased, she could finally see her surroundings more clearly.
Whether she had grown used to the insects or had been affected by her {Reverberation}, she no longer seemed as distressed. Although she still felt a twinge of guilt at the mountain of insect corpses beneath her feet, she consoled herself with the thought that she had had no other choice.
Zhang Chenze stood up, brushed away the insects clinging to the glass wall with her hand, and looked toward Lin Qin’s room.
Lin Qin’s glass walls were already thick with frost, the temperature inside clearly plummeting. The {Cold Wave} Terrestrial Dog had mentioned earlier must have taken effect in Lin Qin’s room.
‘…Oh no.’ A flicker of panic crossed Zhang Chenze’s face as she remembered the {fortune stick} that had fled earlier.
{Radiant Sun Embraces the Earth}.
It seemed only that {fortune stick} could save Lin Qin, but it had already burrowed deep into the mound of corpses on the floor, slithering away with its flattened body, completely untraceable.
Zhang Chenze clutched {Torrential Rain Pelts Down Fiercely} in her hand as she crouched down and began digging through the pile of locust corpses.
There was no denying that {insects} were truly terrifying creatures. Even after their abdomens had been crushed or their heads smashed in, many of them continued to twitch and squirm on their own. Some locusts, their bellies flattened beneath a foot, were now lying on the floor, ravenously devouring the innards that had been squeezed out of their fellow insects.
If {End Point} was hell for humans, then this glass room within it was hell for locusts—just one glance was enough to make one's skin crawl.
Zhang Chenze tried her best not to let the grotesque sight distract her and kept her head lowered, searching intently for {Radiant Sun Embraces the Earth}.
But only a few seconds later, the {Torrential Rain Pelts Down Fiercely} in her hand suddenly stirred, then slipped through her fingers and fled.
TL Note: Rant goes here ( •̯́ ₃ •̯̀)
