After explaining the rules, Twenty Faces folded her hands in front of her and looked at them with a smile.

She even considerately left them time to process and understand the rules.

It had to be said... different hosts certainly had their own distinct styles.

However...

Ming Po took a deep breath, a dim yellow light flickering in the depths of his eyes.

Defeat meant death.

The rules of this game were completely different from "Passing the Flower Drum," the Confrontation game he had participated in with Lin Ya. It was even harsher than his very first game, "Death of the Minority," where only three people had survived.

It was a bloody game where the rules themselves dictated that "at least one side must entirely perish" before it could end.

Even if a teammate died halfway through, defeating Gao Song, the Palace Master, in the end wouldn't bring the dead back to life.

Was it because the Palace Master would die upon failing the game anyway, so he simply established these rules?

As the saying went, those with nothing to lose fear not those with something to lose... Doing this would at least apply pressure to the opposition. It avoided a situation where one side could lose without dying while the other faced certain death upon defeat.

The rule established by Gao Song actually dragged the match into a relatively fair state.

Ming Po still remembered that a Game of Deception could only be established when the rules were "fair." The only difference was that Ming Po and Gao Fan needed to brainstorm on the spot and get used to this logic... whereas their opponent had played it many, many times. At the same time, waiting in leisure for exhausted challengers, Gao Song's understanding of the rules would be much deeper, and he could come up with more obscure words that were difficult to guess.

In other words... even though the rules were fair, he had left himself a considerable amount of room to maneuver.

...This guy was not simple.

Thinking this, Ming Po raised his head and looked earnestly at Gao Song.

Although he was merely a Zhou's Azure Lead rank Deceiver of the World, he seemed quite familiar with the underlying logic of the Game of Deception.

And on top of that... the rules specifically stated that Title abilities were permitted. That meant his Title or Treasure definitely provided an advantage in this game.

Ming Po also noticed a specific detail—why would he purposely create a game rule that pitted one against many?

He remembered that the prototype for this, "Twenty Questions," was a one-on-one game.

One person would ask questions and the other would answer; if the answer wasn't guessed after twenty questions, it was a loss. Moreover, the lights wouldn't only shine for "yes" and "yes and no," but clear answers like "yes," "no," and "uncertain" had to be provided.

There was a web browser version of this game, a "magical genie that could guess what you were thinking," and its accuracy was exceptionally high... This meant that a mature one-on-one version of the game already existed.

But as the rule-maker and game designer, Gao Song had intentionally modified the rules to create a one-versus-many mode...

Ming Po frowned, his mind racing.

Gao Fan, on the other hand, had been silent for a long time.

Right now, he looked incredibly nervous and somewhat hesitant. Although Gao Fan claimed to have "saved his family's company through struggle," seemingly having crossed paths with his uncle Gao Song before, looking at it now... the pressure Gao Song placed on Little Fan was massive.

"Everyone, the break is over."

Twenty Faces spoke up. "Now, please pick up your cards."

The three of them looked at each other once more and picked up the black cards in front of them.

"Please visualize an object and silently recite its name in Mandarin Chinese. Please note, the card can hold a maximum of five characters. Once the card heats up, it confirms that the word selection is successful and cannot be withdrawn. You must immediately place the card face down on the table. Please carefully choose your answers."

...So it has to be five characters or less?

Thinking this, Ming Po decided to test the game rules first.

—Ai Shiping.

He naturally thought of this name first.

The card in his hand did not heat up; there was no reaction whatsoever.

—Aiwass.

This was an important story character he had personally designed for a game he wrote. The character was extremely popular and was also Ming Po's absolute favorite.

Clearly, Mr. Gao Song did not play video games. He didn't know this name either.

At that moment, Gao Song had already finalized his word.

He calmly placed his card face down on the table, interlaced his fingers, leaned back in his chair, and looked at them with a smile.

Even Ming Po felt the pressure... let alone Gao Fan.

In this game, as soon as your word was guessed, you would die instantly. And since there was only one round... the necessity of making a choice that "absolutely wouldn't be guessed" would naturally make a person paranoid and anxious.

If only I had a television.

Ming Po thought to himself.

That way, he could observe Gao Song's playstyle and figure out how to evade it.

But today, they hadn't entered the game through the "main doors." Instead, they had been dragged directly into a personal game by the Palace Master, completely nullifying Ming Po's information advantage.

However...

A sudden flash of inspiration struck Ming Po.

He knew exactly what word to use.

Bacchus Shrine.

Ming Po silently recited the name.

He felt the card vibrate slightly—much like a phone set to vibrate—followed by a comforting warmth like a heating pad. On the pure black card, golden text surfaced spelling out the word [Bacchus Shrine].

Ming Po placed his card face down on the table and leaned back to signal he was ready.

Only Gao Fan was still preparing.

Gao Song wasn't in a rush at all.

He simply leaned back in his chair with a smile, staring at Gao Fan without moving a muscle.

Sweat was already seeping from Gao Fan's forehead, and his face was redder than usual.

...This state wasn't right.

He seemed far too terrified... Was it because he was so used to running away, and now there was absolutely no escape?

"Don't be nervous."

Ming Po comforted him softly.

But even he didn't have many options in the face of these game rules.

Once Gao Fan's word was guessed, Ming Po wouldn't be able to help him. Perhaps Ming Po could take the lead on the offensive, but everyone was solely responsible for their own defensive strategy.

Hearing Ming Po's words, Gao Fan took a few deep breaths and finally managed to calm down.

At last, he finalized his word and solemnly placed his card face down on the table.

"The game is about to begin."

The host, Twenty Faces, announced: "We will start with the Escapee, followed by the Madman, then Mistletoe, and after that, it will loop back to the Escapee.

"Once the game begins, I will not provide any further prompts unless there is a timeout, a rule violation, or a death.

"First round, preparation time is ten seconds—

"Begin now!"

"Is it a living creature?"

Almost instantly, Gao Fan asked his first question.

None of the three cards emitted any light.

—This meant the answer was no.

"...Is it a building or a natural landscape?"

Ming Po stayed silent for a moment before asking.

This was a test—he wanted to see if he could incorporate multiple elements into a single question.

Although this might make the question a bit vague, it would help determine the general direction much faster.

Since their combined total was only twenty questions, if they couldn't narrow down a relatively precise scope... then once all twenty questions were used up, they would be forced to start guessing.

And since the game started from the "challengers" side... that meant if all twenty questions were used up and no one was certain of anyone else's answer, then after three rounds of "guessing" ended, the challengers would definitely be the first to die.

However.

After Ming Po's question dropped, there was still no light.

This meant it was still a no.

Not a living creature, nor a building, nor a natural landscape...

With just two questions, the scope of possibilities had already been narrowed down by more than half.

"Is it... fictional?"

Gao Song asked slowly, a teasing smile quite similar to Twenty Faces' hanging on his lips.

There was still no light on the table.

This meant that it wasn't anything fictional either.

Ming Po's heart suddenly sank.

He had just realized a problem...

A very serious problem.

It seemed like they were "teaming up" against Gao Song, but since they didn't know each other's answers, that meant... the questions they asked could potentially cause "friendly fire" on each other!

Because the questions they posed took effect on all cards simultaneously. That meant they were also effective on their teammate's card. This meant they might actually be unable to use overly broad defining terms!

Sure enough.

Gao Fan's next question caused Ming Po's expression to drastically change.

Even Gao Fan himself suddenly widened his eyes.

Because what he asked was:

—"Does it have anything to do with the Game of Deception?"

And so...

Only the black card in front of Ming Po suddenly turned white.