Lin Ya did not speak.

Evidently, her silence was a tacit admission to Ming Po's inquiry.

Which meant she confirmed that the information she had provided earlier was entirely accurate.

"Haha."

Ming Po chuckled.

But Lin Ya felt that his smile was somehow chilling.

She subconsciously clenched her fists, feeling her fingertips go cold and numb.

She squeezed her hands tighter, intending to use the warmth of her palms to thaw her stiff fingers so they wouldn't lock up later. Her manicured nails scraped against the heels of her hands, feeling like a scratching cat.

Ming Po, however, did not say anything more to her.

"Mr. Protector." Ming Po's demeanor was calm and mild, exuding a highly reliable aura. "Could I trouble you with a small matter?"

"—What is it?" Protector sounded somewhat hesitant.

"Could you please push my glasses up?" Ming Po's voice carried a hint of apology. "They are starting to slip, and I don't have a free hand to adjust them."

Although he was wearing a mask, he had still placed his glasses over the fleshy disguise.

"Ah—alright." Protector readily agreed to the trivial request.

While he adjusted Ming Po's glasses, Ming Po softly murmured something.

Hearing his words, visible astonishment flashed across Protector's face, but he nodded anyway.

Because they were so close to each other, Lin Ya did not catch what Ming Po said.

This made her uneasy.

'What does this mean?'

Lin Ya's heart skipped a beat.

'What is the Wolf secretly saying to Protector?'

'Is he planning to switch sides and ally with Monkey?'

'That... isn't impossible...'

After all, Protector had successfully extricated himself and could move freely. This meant that whether Ming Po or Lin Ya acted as the dealer, they had essentially lost the ability to blow Monkey up directly.

By the same logic, if they could see the exact timer, they could also use Protector's help to run down the clock as much as possible.

Following normal logic, the two teams should each send the next player in their respective turn orders to assist.

But clearly, the Wolf did not seem to trust her.

'In that case...'

Lin Ya's mind began to race with wild thoughts.

But before she could figure it out, and before Protector could return to say anything, the Host's voice rang out again. "Since Protector has exited the stage, the dealer for the third round remains Monkey."

The Host then announced, "The third round is about to begin. Monkey, please set your timer within five seconds. 5, 4, 3..."

The lethal countdown echoed once more.

Monkey took in the silent atmosphere between Ming Po and Lin Ya, realizing something.

'But... is it necessary?'

Monkey had consumed fifteen seconds in the first round and five seconds in the second round. The time he gained from pressing the Terminate button was fifty-five seconds—his own timer was set to twenty seconds, meaning his original time was eighty seconds.

Therefore, the timer Monkey could set this round ranged from 20 to 115 seconds!

Monkey knew he was not very smart.

He could not perform precise calculations, nor did he understand mathematics or game theory.

He had two advantages.

One was that he didn't have to worry about blowing up his teammate, and the other was that he wouldn't pay any price even if he lost.

So, he had just come up with a decent plan—

Whenever someone else's Sunflower turned to him, he would immediately choose [Terminate]; whenever it was his turn as the dealer, he would strictly choose the [Maximum Number].

That way, it wouldn't be so easy for the others to calculate exactly how much time he had left!

And as long as 'Frankenstein' or 'Diplomat' chose [Terminate] within a short enough window just once, he could dump all his excess time onto them in one go!

It was a plan with a very slim chance of winning.

But at the same time, it was a plan that guaranteed he would not die!

Thinking of this plan, Monkey felt a surge of satisfaction. He understood this too well!

—This was exactly the Chaos Strategy!

Abandon fierce competition and wait for the ELO mechanism to kick in.

As long as you aren't obsessed with winning, it's actually very hard to lose!

So he cheerfully inputted 115 seconds and clicked confirm!

"Input error. Please re-enter." The Host's voice rang out. "Three consecutive input errors will result in immediate defeat."

—?

Monkey froze, genuinely thinking for a split second that he had pressed the wrong number.

Right then, Protector lowered his head and whispered something to him.

He looked at Ming Po and Lin Ya in astonishment, a flash of realization passing through his eyes.

Then, Monkey entered another number.

He clicked confirm, and it passed!

With a loud hum, the Sunflower swiveled toward Ming Po.

Amidst the beeping, Ming Po looked at Lin Ya.

"—Do, do you need me to time it for you?" Lin Ya's smile was somewhat forced.

She felt the unease in her heart growing stronger. She still didn't know what Ming Po had just said to Protector.

All she could do was smile sweetly, stare intently at the numbers on Ming Po's forehead, and count earnestly. "Ten seconds have passed now."

"I have a plan, Xiao Ya." Ming Po said mildly, "Can you trust me?"

"—Of course I can." Lin Ya hesitated for a fraction of a second before saying without hesitation, "I have always trusted you! That's how I survived the first game, isn't it?"

"Actually, my real timer is not fifty seconds. My timer is very, very short." Ming Po said gently, "Next, I will be the dealer. Then I will set the lowest time I possibly can."

"You silently count one second in your heart, then choose to pass. We'll blow up Monkey, how about that?"

He had just laid out his plan completely out in the open!

How could he say something like this straight out loud?!

In that instant, an overwhelming sense of wrongness almost made Lin Ya lose her voice.

'A very short timer?'

'Count silently for one second?'

'Does that mean his initial bet was only two seconds?'

'No, that's not right—'

'If that were the case, he wouldn't have had any safe time during the first round at all!'

'How could he have calmly held the bomb for over a dozen seconds?!'

Thinking this, Lin Ya couldn't help but voice the question. "Then how did you—pass the first round?"

"That's too simple." Ming Po merely smiled. "Because that was the bomb you set, and you can see the time on our foreheads."

"When you realized that the changing numbers on everyone's foreheads revealed how much time we had used, you kept staring at them."

"If the time was about to run out when it was my turn, you would definitely get excited and nervous. Because at that time, you didn't know I was your teammate yet. To you, I was a wealthy high-level player, while you were practically penniless. That would have been a perfect opportunity—wouldn't it?"

Ming Po didn't care at all about how much time he was using.

While they chatted, thirty seconds slipped by just like that.

The previously steady beeping suddenly grew frantic.

And the very next moment after it turned frantic, Ming Po pressed the [Terminate] button.

"The dealer is Frankenstein." The Host announced, "Please enter the time within five seconds. 5, 4—"

The Host had only counted down two numbers before Ming Po directly inputted his timer and immediately hit the send button.

In that split second, the hairs on the back of Lin Ya's neck stood on end! Her heart thumped, beating harder and faster!

She hadn't completely processed Ming Po's words yet!

'He clearly should still have time—should I press it?'

'Should I press pass?'

In that moment, Lin Ya once again felt time slow down.

'—No, wait.'

Lin Ya realized something was wrong.

The instant the Sunflower turned toward her, she caught a clear glimpse of Monkey's expression. Although he looked surprised, he was neither stunned nor terrified.

The 'Wolf' had just secretly communicated with Protector—they had very likely already formed an alliance.

If the Wolf immediately did something to betray that alliance, Monkey should have been in utter disbelief!

Then there was only one possibility.

—This was a trap!