Chapter 371: You shut off—I

"You cheated!"

"Explain the cheating principle..."

The outcome of the fourth round of strategy was decided.

You Ai suppressed his rage, gripping the card tightly in his palm, its patterns now scorched by the rising heat of his energy body.

Again this.

Before the game had even officially begun, the opponent had already known which rules he had modified, winning by "explaining the cheating principle."

This shattered You Ai’s composure completely.

He stood up, glaring at Ming Hou, his crystal-bright eyes churning with fury.

He refused to believe the opponent could perceive the rule logic of the "game space."

The rules formed a self-contained system; even beings who claimed to be gods found it difficult to penetrate them, let alone a mortal like this opponent.

The opponent must have used a power similar to "mind reading."

He perceived You Ai’s intent the instant it formed, not by analyzing the game space’s rule logic after the thought was input.

Even so, the opponent’s actions filled him with unbearable rage.

Since his birth, he had never encountered such a vexing adversary.

You Ai’s chilling voice echoed directly into Ming Hou’s mind via spiritual communication.

"What despicable trick did you use?"

In response, Ming Hou leaned back lazily in his chair, calmly watching You Ai’s furious expression, a flicker of mockery glinting in his silver pupils:

"Despicable? You’ve got quite the nerve. Cheating’s justified now? Let’s move on to the next round."

Hearing this, You Ai sat down slowly, his anger simmering.

The game had already started; he could do nothing to the opponent now. Killing a participant prematurely would trigger backlash from the game space.

With a wave of his hand, he dispelled the cards on the gambling table and presented the prize.

Ming Hou took it without hesitation, storing it in his space satchel.

Watching the opponent’s murderous glare, Ming Hou felt more exhilarated than ever in his life.

This was the confidence of being a player.

The right to infinite trial and error, the capital to break rule restrictions, the ability to shred every predetermined framework in the most flamboyant way.

No matter what rules you wielded, even a god-tier powerhouse—what of it?

I’ll curse if I want to, I’ll sneer if I feel like it—no one dares cage me with your rules.

With a high-dimensional god backing me, I can resurrect after death, replay after defeat.

This infinite tolerance for error is the player’s ultimate leverage.

This was a joy he had never experienced in his "previous life."

Once a half-god, though he had more confidence than ordinary beings, he still lived bound by the chains of survival.

One wrong decision could plunge him into an irreversible abyss of death.

But now he was a player—finally free from his once-tiptoe existence.

He could charge recklessly, effortlessly shattering what the Youlu Council members deemed "inevitable" using abilities granted by Guide Brother and the Soul Core Repository.

This joy burned hotter than winning ten fate duels.

Watching You Ai’s stifled frustration, Ming Hou laughed triumphantly inside.

So good! So damn good!

The joy of cheating, the joy of breaking rules, the joy of being a player.

Combined, it was millions of times more exhilarating than the wildest fantasies of his childhood.

Even his boldest childhood dreams were still limited by environmental constraints.

Now, as a player, this unrestrained freedom was true liberation from every chain.

This joy was like a long-overdue storm, washing clean every obedient, rule-bound day of his past.

It was the kind of exhilaration no amount of imagining could have conjured when, as a boy, he sketched partial maps of the Monster World for the Fate Clan.

He felt even a brand-new player in this game was more exhilarated, more free than his former half-god self.

"Still dawdling?" Sha Feng circled Ming Hou, his eyes reflecting You Ai’s suppressed rage—only finding it laughable.

"Delaying won’t solve anything. Let’s start the next round?"

These words stabbed You Ai’s most fragile pride—he snapped his head up, glaring venomously at Ming Hou.

Then he slammed his hand down, and instantly a scroll appeared on the gambling table.

Light and shadow swirled, and a three-dimensional terrain map emerged from the scroll.

Gray-blue mountain ranges stretched like slumbering dragons across the center, their peaks capped with snow, while pale blue rivers wound along the valleys, converging into a shimmering Firefly Lake on the plains.

Scattered around the Firefly Lake were tiny villages, their wisps of smoke rising slowly as energy-light, every crop in the fields clearly visible.

Golden-threaded wheat fields swayed with the flow of the map’s energy.

Purple mist curled along the map’s edges, within which dark, writhing shadows could be faintly seen.

At either end of the map, stone platforms hovered before Ming Hou and You Ai, the left one bearing a stack of cards.

You Ai’s cold voice rang out:

"This round, we rely solely on our own skill."

As You Ai spoke, Ming Hou’s mind immediately filled with the specific details of this round’s game.

Compared to previous modes, the gameplay had become vastly more complex.

The duel unfolded primarily as a simulated war; each turn, both sides could draw five cards from their deck.

Card types included: combat units (1–10 stars), natural disasters, engineering structures, event cards, trap cards—28 types total.

Each turn, both sides had 1000 action points; using any card consumed action points.

Natural disaster cards could be used only once per turn.

Their effect: alter natural terrain or inflict damage that ignores faction alignment.

For example, flood disasters could wash away bridges, sandstorms could obscure vision, meteor strikes could obliterate everything within their radius.

Furthermore, the map contained numerous resource nodes, usable to upgrade units, enhance engineering structures, or unlock technologies—for instance, spending 10,000 resource points could upgrade tech to draw one extra card per turn.

Each resource node was guarded by wild monsters, requiring both sides to deploy units strategically to claim them.

The specific gameplay: after drawing cards, both sides must decide within their turn where to place their units on unoccupied map areas, avoiding enemy-controlled resource nodes and functional buildings. If friendly units are adjacent to enemy units, combat triggers automatically in the next turn—the side with higher combined troop strength wins.

The losing side’s unit cards are immediately discarded; the winning side’s units sustain partial damage but can be restored via functional buildings.

The rule for capturing resource nodes is straightforward: simply place your units near the node. If no wild monsters or enemy units occupy the area, you gain the corresponding resources at turn’s end.

Victory condition: lead your army to capture the opponent’s base crystal.

After understanding the rules, Ming Hou asked Guide for the cheating principle You Ai had used in this round.

But the reply was: You Ai had not cheated at all this round.

Realizing You Ai had completely abandoned cheating as a strategy, Ming Hou remained utterly calm.

He immediately activated the fifth Star Vein Slot’s brain overclocking trait.

Instantly, the war map slowed to a crawl in his vision.

The flowing energy trails became crystal clear; every beam of light, every map node, was decomposed into countless data points assembling in his mind.

His senses could keenly detect You Ai’s energy fluctuation frequency, even deducing his current emotional state from subtle shifts.

His cognitive logic surged, at the cost of frantic mental energy depletion per second.

But Ming Hou didn’t care.

You shut off—then I’ll turn on.

The game began: five cards automatically appeared in each player’s deck, Iron Face-down to the opponent.

At this moment, Ming Hou activated the Eagle-Head Demon trait.

Instantly, You Ai’s five Iron Face-down cards appeared clearly in his mind.

They were: Shadow Stab (3-star unit card), Rotting Marsh Trap (natural disaster card), Siege Ram (6-star unit card), Arrow Tower (1-star functional building card), Etherealization (group buff card).

With the analysis scan, he knew precisely what each card did.

The duel commenced.

This was destined to be an unfair duel.

You Ai had abandoned cheating—but Ming Hou chose to cheat in response to this round’s challenge.

With Eagle-Head Demon and the analysis function aiding him, You Ai played with all cards exposed—every move visible to Ming Hou.

As the duel progressed, Ming Hou steadily claimed resource nodes across the map.

After another draw, You Ai’s energy-formed fingers hovered above his cards, paralyzed by indecision over his next move.

His meticulously planned tactics, under Ming Hou’s near-precognitive suppression, posed no threat whatsoever.

Every time he attempted to mobilize troops, Ming Hou’s forces had already cut off his advance—or even laid ambushes in advance.

When he tried to unleash a natural disaster to turn the Black Tide, Ming Hou’s units had already predicted it and retreated swiftly.

When he attempted a surprise attack with an event card, Ming Hou’s engineering structures had already erected defenses at the targeted locations, turning You Ai’s ambush into a costly failure.

To You Ai, the battlefield situation resembled a slowly tightening net.

Every struggle only made Ming Hou’s encirclement tighter.

Resource nodes on the map were steadily eroded each turn, while Ming Hou’s offensive advanced like an unrelenting Black Tide—no openings, no chance for counterattack.

He had tried every method—none worked.

A chill crept into You Ai’s heart.

It also confirmed the earlier hypothesis.

The opponent possesses a similar mind-reading ability, capable of knowing its inner thoughts.

This is precisely why the war’s rhythm was completely controlled by the opponent.

For instance, when it prepared for a desperate last stand, the opponent’s troop types suddenly retreated, with every maneuver designed to lure it into wasting precious action points.

This was not a game of strategy—it was one-sided suppression.

During this time, the energy fluctuations emanating from You Ai’s body became violent; it had never experienced such suffocating pressure in strategic gameplay.

Every intention of its own was anticipated in advance, while the opponent stood as if on a higher dimension, effortlessly deciding the direction of every move it made.

The light and shadow of the sand table reflected on its blurred Iron Face; You Ai could not make its next move.

The countdown ended at this moment.

Under intense frustration, You Ai wasted a turn’s positioning.

Ming Hou, however, remained calm, placing card after card, and after exhausting all action points, smiled at it, then turned its gaze toward the floating camp crystal before it.

At this moment, You Ai’s mindset completely shattered.

It knew it had already lost this match; further struggle would be futile.

Most of the resource production points on the map had already been seized by the opponent; at this stage, the opponent could simply use the acquired resources to effortlessly crush its defenses and win.

Continuing further held no meaning whatsoever.

“Don’t give up—what if you win?”

Ming Hou encouraged at this moment.

Faced with Ming Hou’s provocation, You Ai’s heart burned with rage, yet had no outlet.

Meanwhile, Ming Hou’s army had already advanced to the vicinity of the camp crystal; the end of this round effectively sealed its defeat.

A new turn began.

Facing You Ai’s near-total surrender, Ming Hou suddenly smiled, reaching out to lightly slide a fingertip across the card pile.

After the next draw phase, five cards lay before him—among them, unmistakably, a large-scale disaster card: Meteor Fall.

But what stunned You Ai was that Ming Hou deliberately showed it this card, then casually tossed it into the discard pile.

You Ai’s gaze sharply contracted.

Ming Hou ignored its astonishment, slowly playing a one-star “Scout,” placing it on a barren wasteland far from any resource point.

That position was nowhere near any village or town—neither could it hold a key passage nor claim a resource; it was purely a foolish waste of action points.

Immediately after, Ming Hou used his remaining action points to play a “Raging Hurricane” disaster card—this card was meant to clear enemy troops, yet he deliberately targeted it at his own newly captured iron mine, effectively cutting off his own supply line.

The situation on the sand table suddenly developed a flaw.

You Ai stared at the iron mine engulfed by the hurricane, then at the lone scout on the wasteland; the crushing frustration in its chest gave way to confusion.

“Your turn.”

To You Ai, Ming Hou’s behavior was an outright humiliation.

Yet it still suppressed its anger and began positioning according to the game’s rules.

As the game progressed, even more unexpected developments continued.

In the next turn, Ming Hou deliberately skipped the optimal choice during the draw phase, ignoring the “Tech Breakthrough” card that could upgrade troops, and instead played a useless card: “Pastoral Migration,” causing two armies on the map’s edge to vanish without reason, losing two potential resource points for nothing.

Every subsequent action was self-sabotage.

It was surrendering its overwhelming advantage.

It watched Ming Hou continuously “commit” low-level mistakes, watched its own consumed resource points slowly reclaimed, watched the opponent’s front lines gradually retreat due to supply disruption, and saw the once impenetrable encirclement gradually crack open due to the opponent’s deliberate retreat.

When it finally mustered the courage to mobilize its remaining forces and charge toward Ming Hou’s camp crystal, the anticipated interception never came.

This made You Ai realize the opponent seemed to be giving it a chance to start over.

Only to humiliate it again by winning once more.

But You Ai did not let this opportunity slip away.

Yet the process did not unfold as it expected—when the situation became evenly matched, Ming Hou continued to hold back, continually ceding resource territories.

Until the moment it slammed its siege hammer hard against Ming Hou’s camp crystal, accompanied by a crisp cracking sound, the game ended.

“Not easy—you finally won a round,” Ming Hou grinned, its mockery unmistakable in its eyes.

You Ai stood frozen, watching the camp crystal dissolve into shimmering light, yet felt not a shred of triumph.

The opponent could have easily won this round, yet like a predator toy with its prey, it slowly pushed victory right into its grasp.