On the ninth floor of the tower, with five seconds left on the countdown, Qi Si sat up from the water.
He made a [Rock] gesture. The water faithfully reflected his image, its right hand likewise curled into a rock.
The two large words [Draw] appeared in the upper-left corner of his vision, concluding the first round.
It was the expected result. The countdown refreshed in time, still set to one hour.
Qi Si lay back down in the water. His body overlapped with its reflection, and once submerged, the two merged seamlessly into one.
Something invisible and icy wrapped around him, seeping through his clothes and forming an evenly clinging weight that dragged his body coldly toward greater depths.
Qi Si lay there for a while, then tilted his head back slightly and said, "I've realized that I still have no way of understanding the connection between desire and soaking in water. On the contrary, I find this quite interesting. It counts as a novel experience."
"You can free yourself from this situation at any time, so naturally you won't feel fear because of it." The voice in his mind replied, seeming both near and far. "You have never truly lost a game. Once victory becomes the norm, no amount of winning or losing will make you cherish it in the slightest."
The voice coaxed him along, like a firefly in the darkness luring a lost traveler toward a cliff, telling him that the ultimate answer lay at the farthest edge of danger, and that only by being smashed to pieces could he obtain it.
When one had always possessed something, it felt ordinary; only after losing it would one desire it.
Qi Si sat up and grinned, showing his teeth. "Is that so? I think that's quite good.