Chapter 809: Number 20

Where did this No. 20 come from...?

Really... seeing ghosts!

Their saliva dried from swallowing, they were terrified.

Including Luo En, Lin An's side's Awakened Ones, even after hearing the system prompt, they still looked around in bewilderment.

The Meeting Room for voting was that big; one glance could see the whole place.

Not to mention extra people, they didn't even notice extra bricks.

"No need to look, it's hiding."

"Plop"

The sound of a heavy object falling came from upstairs.

As if echoing Lin An's words, everyone finally came to their senses, stunned, and looked up.

The mutant is hiding on the rooftop!

"What the hell does that mean!!"

"What happened?"

In Li Shouyi's team, that young woman couldn't suppress the surge of shock in her heart, and instinctively asked.

For a moment, she couldn't understand why Andre would hide his manpower.

Being short a vote by nature, and still giving a vote—this isn't courting death!?

Her pretty face was filled with terror.

The feeling of shock, the sense of confusion, indescribable.

Those who didn't know even thought their mutant had been found.

"Nothing, just to ensure victory."

Lin An's expression unchanged, he lightly tapped his fingertip.

Andre hiding the mutant itself isn't complicated.

Logically speaking, hiding the mutant can avoid our side being eliminated early.

It's a simple logic.

But the implications behind it are extraordinarily complex.

Li Shouyi reacted extremely quickly; after coming to his senses, his heart jumped, and he hurriedly asked:

"Then, did we win!!"

"We can kill them in a draw!!"

He realized the key point.

As the voting process progressed to the later stage, the side that first found the mutant held absolute initiative.

Even if Andre could precisely find Lin An's side's mutant among the remaining five in the next round, they would still be unable to vote due to a tie.

Just thinking about the points Andre had accumulated, the youth felt his heart about to jump out of his chest.

"Not necessarily."

After lightly uttering those two words, Lin An slowly shook his head, merely gazing at Andre.

Contrary to everyone's expectations, Andre, who already looked doomed, only briefly showed surprise before quickly regaining composure.

Even with 30 seconds left on the countdown, he still showed no trace of panic.

On the contrary, his expression remained calm as he slowly spoke:

"How did you discover it?"

"By logical deduction, even if you considered hiding the mutant as half of the optimal solution, you would actually realize."

"Hiding the mutant is actually a foolish act, because in the final stage, my team would lose due to lacking that mutant's vote."

"I don't believe.. you would think I couldn't think of this."

"Moreover, how dare you assume I definitely hid someone?"

The system rules are written very clearly.

In a 1v1, if it's a tie, the mutant wins.

As his words fell, everyone present stared fixedly at Lin An.

Even though they were on the same team, they still wanted to know what was going on.

"Simple."

"Signature opening."

Lin An, unexpectedly shocked, slowly opened his mouth:

"In the voting session, your so-called abstention guarantee of no tie to show sincerity has already betrayed you."

"19:0... 0:19...."

"But, clearly 19 to 1 to 10 doesn't matter."

"A few people voting randomly doesn't affect anything, but you keep emphasizing abstention."

"I think the system must have hidden, not.. hinted at a rule."

"That is, if one side finds the mutant early, or if neither side finds the mutant, once there are multiple ties, it directly triggers mutual or unilateral eradication."

"After all, the system won't tolerate endless ties between both sides."

"Once a tie occurs unintentionally, it could lead to everyone's death. You wouldn't allow this to happen! So simply, when mutually voting, don't vote!"

With a solemn gaze, Lin An stared at the silver crown atop Andre's head.

"I have to say, you're bold. You disguised your weakness as a gift to me."

He lowered his head, then raised it, and laughed again.

Andre didn't care in the slightest about being seen through his layout; he looked at Lin An with appreciation:

"Not enough."

"This can only be considered a guess, after all the rules indeed don't state it clearly, even if it looks strange."

"Besides, you haven't answered my question. How can you be sure I will definitely hide someone?"

Countdown: twenty seconds.

The most critical question.

Li Shouyi swallowed dryly, staring fixedly at Lin An; as someone who likes logical thinking, he really wanted to know the truth.

"That's right, this point alone isn't enough to prove you hid our side's mutant."

"But, the key lies in.."

"The number of people in the first round, and the madman."

Lin An spoke unhurriedly; anyway, the advantage is with him.

Although he had roughly guessed as well, Andre probably still had a trump card, which is why he remained so calm.

"Actually, I didn't realize this at first."

"After all, there were no related clues for me to think about."

"Until I encountered this mission, and your attitude toward farming points."

He gave a light chuckle.

"You're too eager to farm points, or rather we're 'of the same kind.' Moreover, this mission is unusually suitable for harvesting points."

"A mission that can harvest points from other Awakened Ones is the most special kind in the whole trial."

"Combined, you certainly won't give up farming points—this you spoke the truth about."

"Then the question arises: how can you guarantee you'll definitely be able to harvest other teams' points?"

Pricking up their ears to listen.

Having been partially informed by Lin An, Fiona was like struck by lightning and suddenly spoke:

"While hiding our side's mutant, ensure you can definitely find the opposing side's mutant!"

"On this basis, deceive the opposing side into maintaining peaceful point‑farming before the 'decisive battle'! Maximize the point rewards!"

Having said that, Fiona looked at Andre with some astonishment.

But a moment later, she frowned slightly and unconsciously glanced at Lin An:

"But... hiding the mutant is easy to solve, but how can we be certain to find the opposing side's mutant?"

"After all..."

Her face suddenly flushed slightly.

She recalled the foolish things she had done to find the mutant in her team.

They hadn't found it; what does Andre rely on to find it?

"That's right."

His fingertips stopped tapping; Lin An's face showed a hint of a smile, as if similarly sighing at Andre's true hidden thought:

"The hardest part is indeed how to precisely locate the opposing side's mutant."

"The answer is..."

"Send 'our side's' mutant over to the opposite side!"

"Andre..."

"If I'm not mistaken, you've stayed in this round mission all along, continually killing any teams you encounter."

"Are you exploiting the time‑sync loophole? (At the start of the trial, the system notified everyone of a time‑sync reset. As long as someone returns to the first round, the mission refreshes.)"

"While wiping out other teams."

"You left the mutants from their teams, then had them return to the first round."

"For this, you made two preparations."

"One, let the mutants kill the first‑round trial participants, buying time, interfering with other teams' mission progress, breaking their will."

"Two, if the opposing team can clear the round, you let the mutants hide among them, or simply detach early and follow them."

"Once that team enters this mission, the system will automatically judge 'it' as that team's mutant."

"This way, you can guarantee a hundred percent win in every mission!"

"Right?"

Countdown: 1 second.

Across the table, beneath the silver crown, Andre's smile grew ever gentler.

He lightly snapped his fingers, elegant as an ancient noble.

"Vote number 20."

"Plop‑thud"

Outside the meeting room, an Awakened One who had silently walked to the door at some point collapsed instantly after casting his vote.

Everyone instinctively turned to look.

That face was none other than the middle‑aged man who had fled the old house due to a mental breakdown during the first‑round trial.

And the vote tally remained at 5:14.

"Mission over, please proceed to the Final Trial. The Final Trial is solo mode."

Looking at his points column, which had already broken the 8000‑point barrier, Lin An wasn't overly pleased.

On the contrary, he merely gazed thoughtfully at the information Andre had left behind.

"See you in the death match.. Lin An."

You're smarter than I imagined; seriously consider whether to join the North American War Zone—my conditions still stand.

However, I did indeed send you a gift.

At the end of the message is a list of four Awakened Ones who secretly contacted Andre, attempting to betray Lin An.