The atmosphere in the cabin was tense enough to freeze solid.
First, the four of them were positioned with Schiller facing the door. In other words, Schiller was at twelve o'clock, Joker was to his left at three o'clock, Shadowcat Kitty was opposite him at six o'clock, and Carol was to his right at nine o'clock.
According to the rules, if they threw matches clockwise starting from twelve o'clock, Schiller would go first, Joker second, Kitty third, and Carol fourth.
Right after the rules were explained, a small pile of matches abruptly appeared before them. Carol picked them up and found that there were exactly ten—no more, no less.
This was a very simple math problem. If everyone threw three matches each round to secure victory, then after one full round starting with Schiller, each person would have seven matches left. After the second round, each would have four. After the third, each would have only one match left.
From that point on, once Schiller threw in his match, he would have already won. Joker, who threw second, would also avoid the fate of elimination, followed by Kitty. Carol, in fourth place, would inevitably be eliminated.
That meant this was a completely unfair game. The first person to throw would never be eliminated, while the last person was guaranteed to lose.
If the last person did not want to be eliminated, then they had to hope someone failed to throw three matches during the first three rounds. Only then would the final round not be a certain death sentence.
The maximum number of matches that could be thrown was three. If the other three had fewer than three matches left in the final round, Carol would still inevitably be eliminated.
Because they all acted before Carol, as long as they