Chapter 83: Psychological Warfare

"Hell level."

Hearing this, Chen Ran nodded.

However, both of them shared a tacit understanding and were in no rush to sit in the chairs.

The Young Inheritor said, "The door to the Secret Room was wide open just now, so you could hear our conversation. To be honest, among this batch of Players, you are probably the smartest one. I will give you time to refute my Deceiver's Tongue."

Chen Ran did not fall into his verbal trap. He chuckled lightly and replied, "Refute is a strong word, but I can certainly deduce a few things."

However, Chen Ran's next words filled the Young Inheritor with dread.

"If I am not mistaken, from a certain perspective, a second Successor does not exist at all."

The Young Inheritor's pupils constricted, but he quickly regained his composure.

"What do you mean?"

"Therefore, I made a bold deduction. When you were alive, if the first Successor lived, the second Successor lived. If the first Successor left the Basement, the second Successor could escape the Basement."

"Back in the First Secret Room, I found it strange. Why would the Instance design an Hourglass where half the Glass Beads retained their numbers while the other half lost theirs?"

"Stop talking!" The Young Inheritor's face grew incredibly dark.

Chen Ran ignored him, casually tossing away his cigarette butt with a pointed look. "You see, I've smoked all the tobacco in this Cigarette. If I wanted to keep smoking, I'd just be puffing on the filter, which burns the mouth. So, I have no choice but to throw it away like trash."

"After all, to me, the filter holds far less value than the tobacco."

The Young Inheritor stared blankly at the discarded cigarette butt on the ground, a wave of profound sorrow washing over him. Just as he was about to retort...

A refreshing coolness spread through his mind, instantly snapping him back to his senses.

"Did it lose its effect? That must be the power of your Liar Hunter Skill, right?" Chen Ran remarked with mock pity when he saw the clarity return to the young man's eyes.

While speaking.

He withdrew the hand that had reached for his waist, thinking it was a pity. If The Youth had resorted to an Emotional Lie, even though he couldn't kill him yet, he could have shattered his Three Flowers Converging at the Peak.

"However."

Chen Ran abruptly shifted the conversation. "Your Skill might keep you clear-headed, but does your sister possess it as well? If not, you better tell her to be careful. After all, there's a chance she might end up joining me to play the Escape Room Game here."

It was a textbook example of kicking a man where it hurts the most.

Seeing his silence, Chen Ran pressed the attack. "If my deduction is correct, people in your condition must have suffered inhuman abuse or some other form of torment during childhood, right?"

Despite those words, the Young Inheritor's eyes remained completely lucid.

'It seems that Three Flowers Converging at the Peak doesn't just keep him clear-headed; it also grants him immunity to emotional interference for its duration.'

Realizing this, Chen Ran lost interest in rubbing salt in the wound. He walked over to the chair and sat down, then raised an eyebrow at The Youth.

To his surprise, the Young Inheritor also pulled out a Cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and said, "If I am not mistaken, you desperately want to kill me. But you also need to lose this Escape Room Game to ensure your teammate isn't forced into an endless losing streak by me constantly choosing her faction, which would cause her to lose all her Poker Chips and get killed by a Gun."

"You want to kill me, yet you can't allow me to lose the Escape Room Game. The best approach would be to trick me into telling a lie before sitting in the chair or right when the game ends, so you can immediately subject me to Judgment upon the game's conclusion."

"So right now, you must be like a cat on a hot tin roof—extremely anxious."

"I imagine you are praying hard that this isn't a time-limited Secret Room. If it has a time limit, and I wait until the final second to clear it, you would have to be slower than me to intentionally lose the game, meaning you'd completely run out of time."

"This is where it gets interesting. Do you know why I activated my Skill early?"

"If a time-limited Secret Room appears, there's a high probability you'd create a situation forcing me to clear the room early."

"That's why I used Three Flowers Converging at the Peak ahead of time. It keeps my mind clear and prevents my emotions from being swayed by you. I am quite curious—what will you do next?"

Chen Ran shrugged nonchalantly. "I will probably just pray that this Escape Room Game doesn't have a time limit."

Hearing this, The Youth smiled faintly and asked out of the blue, "Do you like to gamble?"

When Chen Ran didn't answer, he continued:

"Third-rate gamblers rely on cheating, second-rate gamblers rely on psychological warfare, but first-rate gamblers rely on pure momentum and presence."

"Obviously, my momentum is far above yours right now. That means this Escape Room Game is highly likely to be a time-limited one."

"Tell me, if I wait until the final second to clear it and intentionally lose the Escape Room Game, your teammate will likely lose two Poker Chips. Given this lesson, Geng Hao and Liu Xing might learn from you and enter the game early as well. They will keep winning, and I will keep losing. Eventually, your teammate will lose all her Poker Chips and get killed by a Gun. And since you've previously uttered a Future Lie..."

"You'll die too. Wouldn't that be a single misstep ruining the entire board?"

The minds of the two men clashed fiercely within the Secret Room, both trying to shatter the other's Psychological Defense Line and set the stage for the Escape Room Game.

However, because the fourth rule had been hidden earlier, Chen Ran and Qiu Yinong were at a natural disadvantage.

This triggered a chain reaction, practically holding Chen Ran's feet to the fire right now.

Chen Ran pulled out his Cigarette Case and extracted a Cigarette. Just as he was about to light it, he heard:

"Look at you, anxious again."

The Young Inheritor's words made Chen Ran's hand involuntarily tighten its grip around the Cigarette Case.

'Damn it, stealing my lines!'

Seeing him like this, The Youth added, "Oh, I just remembered. You need me to walk out of this Escape Room Game alive, yet you also need to lose the game. Does that mean I can lie as much as I want during the Escape Room Game without any consequences?"

Chen Ran, who had been in the middle of pulling out a Cigarette, froze. A faint, almost imperceptible smirk graced his lips, but a second later, he furiously smashed the Cigarette Case onto the ground.

"Are you done talking? Are we going to play this Escape Room Game or not?"

Seeing him fly into a rage out of humiliation, the Young Inheritor said coolly, "There's no rush."

The Youth's intention was obvious; he wanted to let Chen Ran's frustration build and compound his emotional instability.

As long as his emotional state was compromised, the probability of making mistakes during the Escape Room Game would increase.

At this moment, staying silent was the best choice. The Youth smoked quietly, while Chen Ran appeared somewhat restless and agitated.

After a long and agonizing wait, The Youth finally flicked his cigarette butt away. Just as Chen Ran thought he was going to sit down in the chair...

The Youth pulled out another Cigarette.

He lit it.

Looking at Chen Ran, he said, "It's still early. Allow me to smoke one more."

Chen Ran: "..."