Chapter 251

The Strange Competition, a land of the unknown.

Deep within the exhibition hall of the Strange Competition, there lies a place of pitch-black darkness.

This makes the host in the gray suit seem as if he has dissolved into the shadows.

And deep within that darkness, there stands a peculiar telephone booth.

"How truly interesting. Lord Taurus, among the contestants whose self-detonation scores are currently known, the highest has already surpassed seventy thousand points."

"There are currently four competition zones remaining. The one performing the worst right now is Competition Zone One."

"They have only reached the third round, yet in the second round of eliminations, nearly ninety percent of them have died. Damn it, not a single person in the entire zone noticed the butterflies."

"It is a pity; I estimate that this zone will be completely wiped out in half an hour..."

The host waited for a reply over the phone.

The person on the other end of the line merely said:

"A pity indeed, but cannon fodder that doesn't use its brain can only remain cannon fodder for a lifetime."

"Hasn't a single person with decent leadership potential appeared this time? Also, are you certain there is no human interference?"

The host shook his head and said:

"We have detected humans, but they shouldn't be anything to fear; they likely died in the third round."

"The elite species with the highest potential currently should be the Black Liquid in the third zone, that tree in the first zone, and the giant in the fourth zone."

"Its innate ability is comparable to many acquired skills that people dream of."

"However, the big tree in the first zone will likely die. The probability of the first zone being completely wiped out exceeds ninety-seven percent."

The person on the other end of the line just gave a faint 'hmm':

"It seems we haven't recruited any good people this time. You must be careful; if there are humans in the third round, find a way to eliminate them if possible."

"Those who can survive to the third round might just survive to the final round..."

"The humans who can enter here were either brought by my younger brother, or... they are from the bunker, which would expose our plan."

The host patted his chest and guaranteed:

"Great Lord Taurus, please rest assured~ According to historical patterns—humans cannot survive the second round."

Competition Zone One.

Three red butterflies and one white butterfly landed on the statue. Wen Xishu knew very well that this number would not trigger a major disaster.

With the confidence provided by the Strange God Card, they could calmly wait for the results.

The result was that before the fourth-round statue was even lit, the big tree had already begun fighting with dozens of rare species.

Without a doubt, the massive big tree was huge. With its powerful vines, combined with the big tree's Strength Enhancement Card and Speed Enhancement Card, this dual guarantee made it the most powerful existence.

As for the rare species flying in the sky, that aggregate of a lobster and a bat, although it had many points, the quality of its cards was not very good.

Seeing that the situation was not right, it immediately flew high into the sky.

The situation changed; a giant toad took this rare species that was resisting the big tree's tyranny and used it as a gift to curry favor with the big tree.

This giant toad had weak attack capabilities against static targets, but against dynamic targets, it possessed a near-precognitive ability!

The ground began to tremble. An ultra-long tongue coiled around the lobster-bat, and the big tree immediately followed up, waving its vines toward the sky, finally entangling the rebel.

Wen Xishu sighed:

"A bunch of fakes. Old Zheng, this is what happens when you meet on a narrow path. They didn't lose because the big tree was too strong, but because they lacked courage."

Zheng Zai also saw it; this group of rare species tried to resist the big tree, but when the real fighting started...

Only one-third of them took action. Over a hundred rare species fighting one elite species that had lost its skills and items should naturally have been possible.

But as it happened, only a few dozen people took action, while the other several dozen... were hiding.

There would be no surprises in the outcome of the battle—the rebels lost.

The big tree also discovered that it had to divide the rebels, so it split the rebels into several teams.

They supervised each other and managed each other. As for the rules of who would go to light the statue, they were still set by the big tree.

Soon, among the rebels, that aggregate of a bat and a lobster that had threatened a death match—a monster whose initial score was even higher than the big tree's—became the sacrificial lamb forced to light the fourth statue.

The fourth statue was a door.

When the statue was lit and the door shed its rock-gray color...

Counting the sacrificial lamb who lit the statue, a total of twelve people died.

They were all sucked into the world inside the door. People didn't know what was in that world, but without a doubt, the end of that world was death.

After experiencing the sea of flowers of death that killed thousands in the previous round, the fact that only twelve people died this time actually gave the remaining people hope.

The current number of people was already down to just over a hundred.

The fifth round, the sixth round, the seventh round...

Insect plague, blood explosion, hell arms...

Various disasters appeared, and the number of remaining survivors had fallen below thirty.

Other competition zones were not having an easy time either, but some people in other zones had already touched upon some thresholds.

At this very moment, the big tree also noticed those butterflies, but it was too late; certain concepts it held had already destined it to be unable to find the correct answer.

When over five thousand people were reduced to just thirty in just a few rounds, the big tree panicked.

It had tens of thousands of points, but it couldn't take them out.

Interestingly, in the eighth round, which was not occupied by butterflies, no one died.

The statue in the eighth round was a ball of fire, which originally hinted to everyone that they would be burned to death...

But because the eighth round became the correct answer, this ball of fire became warm and harmless.

Approaching the fire, one would even feel the recovery of wounds on the body.

The number eight. It was actually a correct answer.

Wen Xishu smiled:

"They are lucky enough to live a little longer, but that's about it."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief; they had finally found the first correct answer!

But a single number eight could not allow the big tree and the others to deduce any results. From this number alone, no pattern could be found.

Thus, the big tree could only continue the cruel elimination, arranging for people to light the number nine.

Due to the scarcity of people, the big tree could no longer willfully arrange for nine people to go and light it.

The atmosphere in the arena at this time was one of despair. Facing ten correct answers, they had only found one.

The statue numbered nine was a guillotine, a fine thing as famous as Louis XVI.

Wen Xishu didn't even need to think to know the method of death this thing brought—it must be decapitation.

Six red butterflies, three purple butterflies, six blue butterflies. Two white butterflies.

Relatively speaking, it was quite attractive to butterflies.

Wen Xishu said:

"After this round ends, only we will be left. I don't know about other competition zones, but in our zone, Old Zheng, only you and I will be able to survive to the end."

The statue was lit. The light shone, yet countless lights dimmed.

Not long after the rock-gray color of the guillotine faded, it reappeared.

As the blade fell—countless vines full of vitality became lifeless shortly after.

Wen Xishu and Zheng Zai, who had been hiding for a long time, finally ended their concealment.

When the two appeared in the battle again, the vast battlefield contained only the two of them.

The big tree, which possessed nearly fifty thousand points, was already dead.

No matter how close it was to winning, if the points couldn't be brought to the next round's card-drawing period, it was all vanity.

Zheng Zai felt a bit emotional:

"Little brother... over five thousand people, just like that, all dead. But this is only the ninth round."

Wen Xishu said:

"In other competition zones, it's not certain that no one noticed the butterfly variable, and it's not certain that the third numbered statue was also a flower."

"So it's just that our competition zone was relatively unlucky."

At this moment, Wen Xishu didn't really care about the big tree's fifty thousand points, after all—

He had hundreds of thousands of points in his hands.

Wen Xishu silently stepped over the corpses of countless monsters and came to the first statue.

That lamp would be lit once again.

Zheng Zai exclaimed:

"Little brother, that's the wrong answer!"

Yes, numbers one through eight had all been lit. The results seemed to prove that one through eight were all wrong answers.

But Wen Xishu said:

"Old Zheng, now let's interpret this sentence: The strong can command the weak to light the statue, letting the weak become the steps you look out from, but you will not be taller than these steps, nor will you be shorter than these steps."

"What does this explain?"

Zheng Zai shook his head:

"I... I don't understand."

Wen Xishu said:

"It means you are as tall as these steps. The strong are stronger than the weak. Assuming you are the strong, you represent a certain larger number, then, the large number will be larger than the small number, but facing the steps formed by numbers weaker than you, you will not be larger than this number, nor will you be smaller than this number."

"This means... you are the same as the number formed by the small numbers."

"You are equal to the sum of the two preceding numbers."

"So the answer is like this: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89."

"In fact, the big tree chose to start from one, which could have been guessed correctly; this round is very simple."

"Between one and eight, there are a full five correct answers."

Zheng Zai caught on.

It really was, 1+2 equals 3, 2+3 equals 5, 3+5 equals 8...

He understood; it turned out that the host's sentence was the key to unlocking everything.

You will not stand taller than these steps, nor will you stand shorter than these steps. This can only mean that you are the same as them.

But the numbers of the one hundred statues were not repeated.

Zheng Zai realized:

"So the butterflies... are the variables?"

Wen Xishu said:

"After several rounds of verification, blue butterflies represent addition, how many blue butterflies there are represents adding that much; purple butterflies represent subtraction, how many purple butterflies there are represents subtracting that much; red butterflies represent multiplication, white butterflies represent division. The rules are all the same."

As Wen Xishu spoke, he drove away the three red butterflies on the first statue.

Then, taking advantage of the fact that other butterflies hadn't flown here, he quickly lit the first statue.

The light shone, and that lamp that made people melt changed color at this moment, making Wen Xishu and Zheng Zai feel completely comfortable.

Zheng Zai understood; one had to drive the butterflies away.

He also understood why the host said that there might be more deaths, or there might be fewer deaths.

Because there were also butterflies representing subtraction and division.

It's just that the innate number of purple butterflies and white butterflies was lower than that of blue and red ones.

So, in terms of probability, although there were cases where the actual number of deaths was less than the numbered number, this probability was very low.

Clearly, the people in the first competition zone were unlucky.

Zheng Zai said:

"Little brother, if the ninth round... were to kill thirty-two people, what would you do?"

The ninth round only killed thirty people, which was a bit of a coincidence, but whether it was a coincidence or not didn't matter anymore.

Wen Xishu said:

"I would kill them all before they lit the lamp."

Thinking of that terrifying big tree, Zheng Zai had lingering fears:

"You... can kill that many people?"

After asking this, Zheng Zai felt he was a bit stupid. Why was I questioning the gold content of five hundred and thirty thousand?

Subsequently, Wen Xishu lit the second statue, the third statue, the fifth statue, the thirteenth statue...

When the final statue, number eighty-nine, was lit—

Wen Xishu and Zheng Zai heard a sound of 'eh'.

The surrounding scene began to change, which meant that Wen Xishu and Zheng Zai had advanced.

And at the same time, the host of the Strange Competition, far away in the observation area, showed a look of shock:

"How is this possible!"

"I just reported to Lord... that no human could survive to the third round of the competition, and that Zone One would be wiped out. How did it suddenly... suddenly become like this?"

Zone One was not wiped out, and two humans had survived to the third round of the competition.

The host was shocked to the core.

The first competition zone, which was originally said to be the first to be wiped out, had now become the first to clear the level.

And the survivors after clearing the level were only two humans.

This was truly too abnormal, so much so that he felt he had seen it wrong.

"They are not humans! How could humans survive?"

Countless thoughts flashed through his mind.

He certainly wouldn't forget the instructions of Lord Taurus.

"I must arrange that competition in advance! I can't see the points of these two humans! Damn it, I can't see them!"

"They have God Cards on them!"

A thought that even the host found unbelievable appeared.

Yes, previously he couldn't detect their aura, and afterwards he couldn't view the other party's information...

This meant that these two people were protected by special rules.

The source of these special rules could only be cards. And only God Cards could block the host's investigation.

Damn it, two humans... humans without any sequences, items, or even attributes, were able to survive in an environment full of monsters?

And they could draw God Cards?

This is the Strange Competition, not a science fiction competition!

"Must! Must arrange that competition! I must also induce them, must make people from other competition zones eliminate them! No problem, no problem!"

Although it was unfair, in the Strange Competition, everything could be blamed on the strange.

At this moment, the host firmly believed that he had a way to change the situation; after all, they were just two humans.

"They are just humans. Having God Cards is just good luck. They can't be full of God Cards, right?"

Wen Xishu and Zheng Zai had already arrived at the lounge.

The two checked; in the first round of victory, Zheng Zai only got two hundred points, while Wen Xishu got two hundred and ten points.

But in the second round, Zheng Zai and Wen Xishu both got one thousand two hundred points.

For Wen Xishu, this was roughly equivalent to nothing, but for Zheng Zai, this was truly becoming rich.

At the same time, Wen Xishu discovered that after passing the second round of eliminations, there was one more card slot.

This was good; he could draw a new God Card again.

However, the competitions in other zones had not yet ended, which also led to... not seeing any other contestants in the entire lounge.

Wen Xishu and the others could only choose to wait.

"Congratulations to you both. Wow, these are truly rare faces. You know, it's not easy for humans to receive an invitation in the first place."

"You both not only received an invitation but also successfully passed two challenges with extremely high elimination rates. I am truly impressed."

"Next, I will tell you both about the challenge for the next round."

Giving information in advance? Wen Xishu didn't think the host was that kind, but listening wouldn't hurt.

"Thank you," Wen Xishu said.

The host said:

"Next, you both will participate in an asymmetric elimination tournament. Hehe, this is a very interesting competition. Simply put, a very small number of lucky ones will be responsible for playing the Demon King."

"The rest will play the Brave, and the Braves have different skills. If they combine together and cooperate well, they can defeat the Demon King."

"But if they don't cooperate well, the person playing the Demon King will win, and everyone else will be eliminated."

Wen Xishu said:

"How is the identity of the Demon King and the Brave decided?"

The host said:

"Naturally, I will arrange the draw. The probability of drawing the Demon King is very, very low. If you draw the Demon King, winning won't give you extra points, but if you draw the Brave and defeat the Demon King, you will get unimaginable points to challenge the final ultimate level."

Generally speaking, as long as a Demon King doesn't make a mistake, he can beat hundreds of Braves.

And thirty Braves must not make any mistakes... and cooperate tacitly, to possibly defeat one Demon King.

The host had already decided to move his hands and feet next, making the number of Demon Kings one extra.

In this way, the two humans who were Braves—would surely die.

Wen Xishu, however, seemed to have guessed something:

"In other words, the number of Demon Kings and Braves is determined by probability?"

The host nodded:

"Yes."

Wen Xishu became interested:

"Generally speaking, is it dozens of Braves defeating one Demon King to get excess points?"

The host was very happy to see that Wen Xishu didn't suspect anything:

"Of course. You must cooperate tacitly. I believe that the identity of you two humans is enough to act as the brains of the team. I believe you two will definitely be able to make the team cooperate tacitly and finally achieve victory."

The host certainly wouldn't let Wen Xishu get the Demon King role. He could indeed control the number of Demon Kings and Braves to a certain extent, creating a dead end where the Braves couldn't clear the level at all.

But the sentence Wen Xishu said next made the host suddenly a bit confused, suspecting that this human had a problem with his brain.

"Then is there any way to participate in the hell difficulty... letting two Braves challenge dozens of Demon Kings? To get more points?"

Host: Ah?

(End of chapter)