Countering the Attack

In the fifth round, the Black Faction's invitation was late in coming.

Clearly, something had delayed them.

In any case, they had ten minutes of editing time. After suffering such a mishap, the other side would certainly need time to recover and would not want to finish the round so quickly.

Fortunately, they could use this time to make guesses for the ten newly added NPCs.

They hurriedly taught them the Yin-Yang game, as well as how to handle the various options and their priorities. After all, the invitation tested their tacit understanding, and the more people there were, the harder it was to reach a consensus.

Dongfang Yi leaned against the window, trying to see what was happening on the other side.

But he could not make anything out. He only knew that the two people on the other side were standing on opposite sides of the round table, possibly confronting each other.

"Looks like the remaining two are Sophia and Luis, right? One black and one white! That's great."

Gaoxin shook his head. "What's so great about it? The best-case scenario is for only one of them to survive."

"Having one black and one white left is actually very bad."

"Once they join forces, whether the Black Faction or the White Faction wants to defect, the two of them can block it."

Dongfang Yi smiled. "What's there to fear? They're not from the same faction, so they're bound to fight."

"Even if they can't decide a winner for a while, they still won't be able to win. Without a Glass Person, their defense is zero. If they hold each other back, they might not even dare to fight."

"The situation over there is like raising venomous insects in the same pot. Sooner or later, only one can survive."

The corners of Dongfang Yi's mouth lifted as he spoke with absolute certainty.

But Gaoxin's expression was solemn. "Let's hope so."

"Don't underestimate the two remaining people. Before this, we hid in the dark and caught them off guard."

"Now that they've suffered heavy losses and sensed the danger to their lives, combined with their deep hatred, they may completely join forces and devote all their attention to dealing with us."

"Dongfang Yi, don't let your guard down. We have to consider the worst-case scenario."

Dongfang Yi frowned. "I know what worst-case scenario you mean, but how can they join forces?"

"Take the matter of fighting, for example. Who would dare come out without fearing a backstab?"

Gaoxin said gravely, "If it were me, I wouldn't be afraid. I would do everything possible to protect the other person."

"Because their lives are actually tied together."

"If one dies, the other will have a hard time surviving alone. Control will fall completely into our hands."

Dongfang Yi nodded. "I understand what you mean."

"But do they dare to gamble? This requires both people to trust each other. If either side is even slightly short-sighted, they definitely won't reach an agreement."

"Since you're worried, we'll give them a push."

"Have Xing Shiping contact them now and tell Luis that our White Faction will attack with everything we have. Tell him to kill Sophia, and we'll survive together."

Gaoxin immediately raised his hand. "No. Don't say that. It could have the opposite effect."

"Let them think for themselves. We'll say nothing and do nothing... That will put the greatest pressure on them."

"If Luis really wants to defect, he'll contact us himself."

Time passed second by second.

At last, after everyone had waited nearly ten minutes, they finally received the invitation near the end of the allotted time.

"They really didn't fight?" Dongfang Yi's expression also turned solemn.

Gaoxin waved his hand. "Vote first."

Everyone entered the Voting Room, and they soon saw the invitation's contents.

This time, it was longer than any before it: "Listen up, people at the base over there. Sophia and I will now do our utmost to complete the invitation, and we will not cast another Incite Defection vote."

"No matter how many Black Players or White Players remain among you, let this be the final distribution."

"From now on, we'll engage in a pure test of tacit understanding until one base is drained of blood!"

"When the game ends, one of Sophia and me will definitely be killed, along with every Black Player or every White Player among you."

"So let's fight this bloody battle to the end. In the end, who wins between black and white, who lives and who dies—that's for every individual to decide."

Such a lengthy invitation was practically a declaration of war.

Using Luis's tone, it clearly expressed his attitude.

He would do his utmost to complete the invitation and would absolutely not cast an Incite Defection vote.

This had locked in the "faction distribution."

Thus, if both sides attacked each other until the end of the game, one of Luis and Sophia would indeed die, but many people on this side would die with them.

The White Faction would most likely lose, because it had only two points of health left.

On this side, the people who still had White identities were Gaoxin's entire team, plus the three people from Xing Shiping's group.

Thus, this invitation was a declaration of war in Luis's voice. It was essentially saying, "Even if I die, I'll take all of you with me."

"Well played..."

"They actually... managed to keep their cool."

Gaoxin sighed. The situation had fallen into its worst possible state.

The other side had not killed each other. Instead, they had put themselves in a desperate situation to survive, directly countering them and betting on the fact that their side had too many people with conflicting votes.

He looked at the options again. They were all written in the simplest possible terms.

"I am black. I want to kill everyone."

"I am white. I want to kill everyone."

"I am black. I want to kill all the white players."

"I am white. I want to kill all the black players."

"I am black. I want to kill all the black players."

"I am white. I want to kill all the white players."

The six options directly laid out every combination of the two faction identities.

This was also hinting that the people on their side should carefully consider what identities they had.

With the "faction lock" in place, no one's identity would change. Ending the game this way would inevitably result in a group of people being killed.

They should think carefully about how to play and whether to let all the black players die or all the white players die.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk..." Gaoxin sighed.

Then he selected, "I am white. I want to kill all the white players."

He ignored everything the invitation said and voted according to the agreed-upon concept of Yin and Yang.

White represented Yang. This option contained white twice, making it the most Yang-aligned of all the options. Of course he chose it.

"The voting results are inconsistent. Select the gladiator within three minutes. Only Glass People are eligible." The system prompt rang out.

Gaoxin's expression grew solemn.

They could not afford to make a mistake this round.

And they should not make one! He had already taught them how to distinguish Yin and Yang.

They had made all the necessary guesses. If the other side had come up with some tricky option, that would have been one thing, but color was a question they absolutely had to get right!

There was no reason to choose incorrectly. White was also the color that best represented Yang!

He walked out of the Voting Room, and the others filed out soon after.

Dongfang Yi, Qiao Long, and Xing Shiping also looked grim.

Sule shouted, "How could we get that wrong? We should have picked double white!"

"Wasn't that exactly what we guessed?"

Everyone looked at one another. There was no doubt about it—someone had deliberately chosen the wrong answer this round!

"Who was it? Who didn't choose double white?" Dongfang Yi stared hard at the rescued NPCs.

"There was no way to get that wrong just now. Someone definitely deliberately wants the White Faction dead!"

"So whoever chose incorrectly must be someone with a Black identity!"

Xing Shiping and the square-faced man both had Black identities.

In addition, the ten NPCs were all black.

The NPCs panicked and hurriedly waved their hands. "Abba abba!"

Xing Shiping and the others also said that they had all voted double white and had not betrayed them.

Gaoxin stared hard at every person's eyes and expression. In the end, he locked onto two NPCs.

His gaze moved back and forth over their eyes, making them panic.

Gaoxin could almost be certain that those two had chosen incorrectly.

The NPCs would obey every command only because they wanted to survive. Whoever could help them live, they would follow.

That was why, after Gaoxin rescued them, they were overflowing with gratitude and would certainly obey him—because Gaoxin would lead them to survive.

But now that the "factions were locked," and Luis, as a White Player, had made such a declaration...

The situation had changed.

For the NPCs, survival had become a matter of personal choice.

The White Faction had only two drops of health left. As black players, if they voted incorrectly twice, they would win and be able to survive.

If anyone lost their head and thought that way, they would deliberately vote incorrectly.

Meimei hurriedly asked the square-faced man, "Was it you? Did you vote incorrectly and refuse to admit it?"

The square-faced man's face flushed red. "No! I chose double white!"

Several people argued, all of them looking wronged. No one could tell who had betrayed them.

For a moment, their once-unbreakable alliance was suddenly filled with suspicion.

"The other side managed to keep their cool."

"Those two Radiation Users realized that we must have kept some Black Players, because we definitely prefer to win with Black identities."

"Then they deliberately said this to tear our alliance apart and make us suspicious of one another... and produce a traitor."

When Gaoxin said the word "traitor," he stared directly at the two NPCs.

His stare made their scalps numb and their skin break out in goosebumps. They could barely keep themselves from kneeling.

Dongfang Yi said murderously, "They're forcing us to kill all of you black players."

"Actually, the safest choice would have been to kill all the NPCs after bringing them back."

"We kept you alive because we wanted all of you to survive... But you refuse to obey, so go die."

Gaoxin grabbed him. "Shut up! Don't say things that harm unity."

"Killing all of them is just avoiding the problem, not solving it."

Dongfang Yi narrowed his eyes. Indeed, there was still Xing Shiping's team.

There were two Black Players among them. If he kept talking about killing all the black players, it would be extremely divisive.

If they really killed all the NPCs, or even just one of them, everyone else would panic as well, creating a hidden danger.

From a rational perspective, killing one was no different from killing ten. Either they killed none of them, or they had to leave no one alive.

Dongfang Yi said solemnly, "It seems that only Xing Shiping, the square-faced man, and that curly-haired boy from their group have undergone enhancement and are Superior Glass People..."

The meaning was clear. He was suggesting that they should go all the way and cut down Xing Shiping's entire team as well.

Then only the five of them would remain, guaranteeing that they would work together wholeheartedly.

"Kill them all. It's better than having an insider."

Gaoxin shoved Dongfang Yi to the ground and roared furiously, "I told you to shut up! Didn't you hear me?"

"I'll say it again. Don't say things that harm unity."

"You call me Boss Gao, so are you going to listen to me or not?"

Dongfang Yi stared at Gaoxin in astonishment, but still gritted his teeth and said, "I'll listen!"

Gaoxin released him and swept his gaze across everyone, his eyes resolute.

"I'll make this clear to all of you now. From the moment the White Faction lost its first drop of blood in this game..."

"I've had only one goal, and that's to win as the Black Faction!"

"If I can't do that, I'd rather die!"

P.S.: Sorry.