483: The game officially begins

Zhou Ming continued, "Then in the third round, the remaining 6 people (3 red, 3 blue) see that both Black and White have correctly spoken and left. They see 2 reds and 2 blues remaining before them (assuming one is red, they see 2 reds and 3 blues; if blue, they see 3 reds and 2 blues). They know only red and blue are left. At this point, if I am red and see 2 reds, I would think: 'If I weren't red, then there would only be 2 reds. Those two reds should have realized in the second round—since no one spoke in the first round, it meant there were no single colors; if they saw only 2 reds in the second round after Black/White had spoken, they should have been able to deduce they were red. But the reds didn't speak in the second round, which means there are more than 2 reds, so I must be red!'"

"Therefore, in the third round, all the reds and blues speak at the same time, and everyone passes!"

Lin Xiao, who had been trembling all along, widened her eyes and murmured, "So... silence can also convey information?"

"Exactly!" Chen Mo nodded. "The brilliance of this game lies in using the 'silence' of each round as public information to gradually eliminate impossible distributions. As long as everyone strictly follows the strategy, doesn't rush to answer, and doesn't make wild guesses—only speaking when the logic is completely certain—everyone can survive within four rounds at most."

Zhang Yong took a deep breath. "Then what we need to do now is uniformly execute this 'Round-by-round Elimination Method,' and—absolutely trust each other, not speaking out of turn due to fear."

"But what if someone can't help themselves?" Liu Fang asked worriedly.

"Then we all lose." Chen Mo's gaze swept over everyone. "So, we must not speak until the logic is fully established."

Just then—

"Ding!"

Ten semi-transparent halos suddenly lit up, their colors manifesting!

Four colors—red, blue, black, and white—shone quietly above the ten people's heads.

Lu Chen's voice echoed over the entire island. "The game officially begins. From now on, no one is allowed to give any hints; you can only answer with the color above your own head!! The first round begins. You have 30 seconds to decide whether to answer!!"

The teahouse owner, Lin Xiao, sat at the very edge, her hands tightly clutching the hem of her clothes, her face deathly pale. Although she had barely understood the logic of the game, her mind went blank once it actually started.

Trembling, she raised her head and scanned the other nine people one by one:

Red: Four people (Chen Mo, Zhang Yong, Wang Qiang, Wu Ting)

Blue: Three people (Zhou Ming, Li Na, Liu Fang)

Black: Two people (Rock Dragon, Zhao Feng)

White: ...Not a single one!

She was suddenly stunned, her heart nearly stopping.

She didn't see any white!

The rules were already etched into her bones: there was at least one of every color. Since she couldn't see white, the only possibility was—she herself was white!

"I... I am white!" Lin Xiao almost cried out, her voice trembling as if it were tearing apart.

As soon as she finished speaking, the white halo above her head suddenly burst into a soft light, then turned into a pillar of light that rose into the sky and vanished—this was the sign of a correct answer!

Lu Chen's voice echoed, "Congratulations to Lin Xiao. Correct answer. You have passed."

"I lived! Haha! I lived!!" Lin Xiao jumped up in excitement, tears streaming from her eyes. She slumped into her chair, laughing and crying at the same time.

The remaining nine people all looked at her, their expressions complex—some with envy, some with jealousy.

"Such good luck..." Wang Qiang thought to himself. "As long as you don't see a certain color, you can directly confirm your identity... This doesn't even require reasoning; she's purely the chosen one."

At this moment, the distribution of colors on the field had become clear:

White: 1 person (Lin Xiao, confirmed)

Remaining 9 people: There were three possibilities: 5-2-2, 4-3-2, or 3-3-3.

"Second round begins! 30-second countdown!"

Lu Chen's voice rang out again, cold as a blade.

According to Chen Mo's "Round-by-round Elimination Method," the second round should be for those who see a certain color appearing only once.

Because only Lin Xiao (white) had spoken in the first round and the others remained silent, this conveyed a key piece of public information: except for white, there were at least two of every other color.

Therefore, if you saw only one person of a certain color in the second round, you must be the second person of that color!

Zhao Feng saw that there were four reds, three blues, and only one black. He instantly understood that he must be black.

Because if he were red or blue, the black one would have definitely said they were black in the first round. Although the black-colored Rock Dragon seemed a bit dim-witted, he couldn't be that stupid!!

Zhao Feng steeled himself and suddenly raised his hand. "I am black!!"

The moment his words fell, a rich black light descended from mid-air, accurately enveloping Zhao Feng.

The light was heavy but not oppressive; after swirling twice, it slowly dissipated.

Zhao Feng could clearly feel a gentle power surging into his body, and his previously tensed nerves instantly relaxed by more than half.

Lu Chen's voice echoed, "Not bad. Correct answer. You have passed!"

Zhao Feng let out a long sigh of relief and slumped in his chair. His back was already soaked with cold sweat, but his face showed the relief of having survived a disaster.

Beside him, Rock Dragon suddenly seemed to snap awake and jerked his head up. He remembered Chen Mo saying something like: "If a color is missing from the field, then that is your color."

Rock Dragon noticed there was no white on the field, and since he had just seen black, he had to take a gamble!

He took a deep breath and summoned his courage. "I, I am white!!"

Everyone was dumbfounded. They turned to look at Rock Dragon, their eyes filled with unbelievable shock and undisguised absurdity.

"Is he stupid?" Zhou Ming complained internally. "Zhao Feng dared to say he was black because he only saw one black. Other than Rock Dragon, who else is black? Does he even need to think about it?"

Zhang Yong's face was also dark. He really couldn't understand how Rock Dragon could make such a low-level mistake with such simple logic.

Even Lin Xiao, who had been trembling, stopped crying and looked at Rock Dragon in a daze—she was clearly the white one and had already passed. How could Rock Dragon still say he was white?

Lu Chen's smile vanished instantly, replaced by a frigid sneer. "Wrong answer!"

"Bang!"

A dull, heart-stopping explosion rang out. Rock Dragon's body, enveloped in black light, instantly burst apart.

Blood, shredded meat, and bone fragments flew everywhere. Some splashed onto the black wooden surface of the long table, flowing slowly along the smooth tabletop.

Some splashed onto Zhou Ming and Li Na nearby, causing them to let out terrified screams.

"Ah—!" Li Na's scream was the sharpest. She jumped up from her seat, frantically swatting at the bloodstains on her body, her face full of terror and disgust. "Help! So disgusting! I don't want to stay here anymore!"

Lin Xiao's body went limp as she collapsed into her chair, her face as pale as paper.

Seeing this, Liu Fang quickly got up to support her. She reached out to check her breathing and, finding she was just over-shocked, breathed a small sigh of relief. She took a clean handkerchief from her pocket and gently wiped the tear stains from Lin Xiao's face.

Everyone was intimidated by this sudden, bloody scene. The last trace of wishful thinking they had was completely shattered—they finally understood that this game was no joke. The price of a wrong answer was being blown to pieces.

Lu Chen's voice rang out again, cold and devoid of any emotion. "Third round begins!"