It Ended Before It Began

Feeling Qin Jishi's gaze, the Masked Man inexplicably felt a chill creep over him.

What?

Had Qin Jishi seen through his rules?

Impossible!

The Masked Man shook his head. "Even if Qin Jishi is brilliant beyond measure, there's no way he could see through my rules. He's just putting on an air of profundity."

"Yes!"

"That had to be it." ...

With that in mind, the Masked Man steadied himself and looked calmly at Qin Jishi.

Something was wrong!

Although the Masked Man had quickly composed himself, a strange glint flashed deep within his eyes.

That glint was so subtle that it would have been easy to miss, yet it did not escape Qin Jishi's notice.

In truth, Qin Jishi had suspected from the very beginning that something was wrong with the Masked Man.

Given his personality, would the game he devised truly be ordinary?

To put it another way, Qin Jishi had made the Masked Man repeat the rules precisely because he wanted to find even the slightest irregularity in them.

Qin Jishi had found it!

He thought back carefully. Every time the Masked Man repeated the rules, he would enter the palace, then walk back out only after announcing them.

That was the problem.

But as for where the problem lay, Qin Jishi could not figure it out for the moment.

"Say," Qin Jishi spoke again after some thought.

"Before the game begins, may I ask you one more question?"

"Qin Jishi, Qin Jishi!" The Masked Man was amused by him. "Caution should have its limits, shouldn't it? Too much caution strips a game of its very essence and fun."

Unaffected, Qin Jishi repeated, "Can I ask you a question?" ...

Seeing how resolute Qin Jishi was, the Masked Man nodded.

"Fine, but you must promise that this