Instantly, the kid said, "Ha ha ha ha. You, come."
Instantly, the ancient world disappeared.
Everything disappeared.
Nothing was actually there.
After everything disappeared, there was a big white wall around them.
The kid was sitting on a white throne.
The kid slowly began to say, "Welcome to my game. You are forced to play it. First, my game. Let me explain it here."
"My game is called Letters of Prediction."
"So basically, here is how to play this game. And you cannot escape. You are forced to play it."
"There will be no reward. Even if you win, you will move to the next floor, meaning the next round after you complete this. You will get one point."
"Let me clear the explanation."
"First, a guy is using a letter from A to Z. A is used like one. B is two. Like that, the numbers can give you points in the end."
"First, if the other guy writes a prediction on the page given and predicts what letter you did, how much your letter is, he will count how big your letter is, then he will get the points by me."
"Then he gets to use the letter, then again A to Z."
"And if the enemy predicts it, that is it."
"So, first, second, third, points will come afterwards."
"And you have... whoever has the most points will win, even if it is only one more than the opponent."
"And you are just having one more point. It does not matter."
"You win the first match, then you will repeat this till it is seventeen matches."
"First, you see those fifteen guys here. This fight will be between our main character and the new opponent. Because you guys were just fighting, you are doing it."
"Just as known, the new opponent and the others. First, the opponent, walk. Hide your page. You will be taken one page. Others, get out of this room. You will go in another room and wait for your turn."
Po Jun Zing moved over there.
He was the first one doing the letter.
At the start, he did C.
Then it was over for him.
He said it was over.
The kid said, "Our main character came in."
Gu Yanshu opened the door and came into the room.
Gu Yanshu came right of him and said, "If your letter is less than B or bigger than D..."
Po Jun Zing could have said the lie, but he did not.
He became serious and thought he would not believe him.
He said, "My letter is lower than B. You are right."
Gu Yanshu took the pencil from Po Jun Zing.
He also took a page that had fallen onto the ground.
Then he put the page on the wall.
It stuck there.
He remarked that Po Jun Zing was looking overconfident and was shaking.
Shaking was a good sign.
It could be A or B or C.
He was faking and pretending like he had said the truth, and now he was about to regret what he had just done.
His expression was also like that.
Smiling.
Not looking good.
Gu Yanshu could only think of one possible outcome.
He was saying the truth.
Gu Yanshu thought for a second.
A and B were too risky because it would be common for people who did not want to get into that point and not instantly go for Z or X.
And it was also lower than D, meaning it was C.
Gu Yanshu showed an expressionless face.
Below his prediction word, he wrote C.
Then, instantly, Po Jun Zing started shaking in fear.
Then he took his page from his pocket and showed it.
He had written C on the page.
Gu Yanshu gave both pages.
Then the kid said, "Round one winner is Gu Yanshu. Gu Yanshu wins three points. Three points. The next round will be started soon. Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
Po Jun Zing said, "Did it. No reason to laugh at that. Just clearly say I won and this guy was cheating."
The kid said, "Cheating? The room is so closed. There is not even a small gap that can reveal this room. That room is like that and you are saying he cheated. If he did, would I not be able to see it? He was sitting at a white chair. I saw him the entire time sitting at a white chair. When you write that, I made them and yes, he did predict your letter. He did not cheat."
Bao Yuan and Qu Yaoyang and Lan Wege and Qiu Weiran and He Mulin and the dragon opened their eyes.
They found themselves in a white room.
There were white chairs around them.
The dragon had nothing to say for a moment.Bao Yuan said, "Ah, where was I?"
"Shut up!"
He looked around.
He was in a white room with many chairs around him.
The dragon said, "Shut up."
Then it kicked Bao Yuan in the face.
Bao Yuan was about to fight back by punching the dragon.
Then Qu Yaoyang jumped upward and grabbed his hand while falling.
He twisted it slowly.
Bao Yuan screamed in pain.
While he was screaming, the dragon kicked him again in the face and said, "Stop shouting. It might be dangerous."
Soon enough, Bao Yuan understood what the dragon meant.
Then Lan Wege said, "Do you sense something dangerous?"
The dragon replied, "Not quite. But I do sense something dangerous. It is not like a red flag."
Lan Wege said, "That is oddly—"
The kid said, "This game is all going through because I mentioned it. Haha. And I am actually the leader of the new opponent's team."
"I do not believe that," the kid said.
"So do not believe it."
The new opponent's team had come.
He did not say anything after that.
The kid said, "Yup, we need the second match right now. Now the first one will win, win, win. Be! Gu Yanshu."
"So first, pick something. What is it going to be?"
Po Jun Zing said, "What do you mean by that?"
The kid said, "None of your business."
Po Jun Zing said, "If it is not mine, then whose business is it?"
The kid replied, "Gu Yanshu."
Then he opened the door and said, "Shut up, I am getting out of here."
Po Jun Zing opened the door and saw the dragon and the others.
Meanwhile, Gu Yanshu came to the place where he had made that paper stick.
He wrote the letter.
Below it, he wrote G.
Because G was another thing here.
G was softer than anything else.
Gu Yanshu could not just go to a hard place and get instantly caught by going for higher letters.
Whatever Gu Yanshu chose, it was soft play.
G.
And it was also a good play because it could give him points, about seven.
And after that, Gu Yanshu would have ten points.Gu Yanshu called out.
The door opened.
Po Jun Zing came in and looked around.
Gu Yanshu hid his page.
Po Jun Zing glanced around, then pulled his own page from his pocket.
He thought for a moment.
It must be X.
It was a high letter.
Risky.
But what he did not know was that he was overestimating Gu Yanshu.
So he wrote X.
Then he came forward and showed the paper to Gu Yanshu.
Gu Yanshu showed his own paper to Po Jun Zing.
Po Jun Zing instantly jumped up and tried to fight.
Gu Yanshu dodged the attack.
Meanwhile, Lala Zi kept walking.
Kuou Shen Yin thought for a second.
He had brought several strong people here.
First, his plan was to make someone rule Area 917.
No one was ruling Area 917.
And Kuou Shen Yin ruled the east and west, meaning the entire world.
There were no more emperors of countries.
So he wanted to give them advantage, but everything they did had to go through his permission first.
That was why Kuou Shen Yin brought several leaders of towns.
Some could destroy countries.
Some could destroy towns.
He brought them all in.
First came Kai Yunga.
He was not a normal one.
He could destroy countries.
And Area 917 was the biggest town in the world.
Because it was the biggest town in the world, there was also something special hidden in it.
Now Kai Yunga would be the fusion of the country owner.
Kuou Shen Yin came into the room and said, "I want someone to be chosen. I am bored of making people not chosen of something. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Hey, you, you will be the country owner."
Kuou Shen Yin disappeared like it was nothing.
Kai Yunga's first wish was to destroy many places at once.
Kai Yunga moved the clouds.
Then he dropped the clouds from the air.
The sunlight became hotter.
The clouds were not there to stop the sunlight.
Then the clouds came down to the ground.
Then, instantly, when the lightning dropped, a huge light came down.
Instantly, the whole town was in hell.
There was only one guy who survived and was barely walking.
His name was Lala Zi.
Kai Yunga instantly placed nineteen billion bounty on Lala Zi.
Po Jun Zing lost it.
He thought it was the axis, but in reality, it was the G.
He got struck once.
He tried to control his anger, but he could not.
The kid said, "Ten points of Gu Yanshu."
Gu Yanshu did not celebrate.
He just stood there watching.
The dragon opened his eyes again.
He saw a door half open.
The dragon saw the kid, Po Jun Zing, and finally Gu Yanshu in another room.
The dragon thought they were giving the aura.
Only Po Jun Zing was giving the aura, but in reality, it was the kid.
Meanwhile, Lala Zi did not know that he had a bounty of nineteen billion on his head.
His bounty was nineteen billion.
Lala Zi did not mean that.
Then the clouds came back to where they were, including Lala Zi.
The house was destroyed.
Before the lightning struck Lala Zi, he saw it with his own eyes.
Then he started running.
Then he stopped.
The chains that had grabbed him were completely destroyed.
Then he started walking forward suddenly.
Lala Zi looked once at his knife.
His eyes narrowed, then returned to normal.
Lala Zi continued.
Then he saw a branded house that had already been destroyed.
Lala Zi started thinking.
It was an abandoned house.
There had just been many lightnings happening, which meant whoever had been in that abandoned house should already be dead or had run away.
So it was best for Lala Zi to move on without getting into danger.
Lala Zi did not leave his footsteps normally.
He left them on purpose.
He left the footsteps because if the homeless guy saw them, he would get scared, thinking someone was already there.
So he would run if he was still in the house.The white room stayed still.
The dragon looked around once, then twice.
White chairs stood in rows around him, silent and clean, as if the room had never known dust, blood, or footsteps at all.
It did not feel real.
It felt like a place made to remove direction from people.
The dragon's tail moved once behind him.
Bao Yuan was the first to break the silence.
He looked left, then right, then up at the white walls.
"Why does this place feel worse than the underground?"
Qu Yaoyang answered without turning his head.
"Because it is pretending to be simple."
Lan Wege glanced at him.
"That is a strange answer."
Qu Yaoyang shrugged a little.
"It is still correct."
He Mulin looked at the chairs.
"There are too many."
Bao Yuan blinked.
"You are counting chairs now?"
He Mulin replied, "I am counting exits."
Qiu Weiran finally spoke after a short pause.
"There are none."
Bao Yuan immediately turned to look at him.
"That is not comforting."
The dragon stayed quiet and kept watching the room.
There were no doors in sight.
No windows.
Only white walls that curved too evenly, and chairs that looked like they had been placed by someone who liked order too much.
The dragon narrowed its eyes.
This room was not empty.
It was only waiting.
That was worse.
Bao Yuan walked two steps forward and then stopped.
He looked down at the floor.
"Even the ground is white."
Qu Yaoyang glanced at him.
"Did you expect black?"
"I expected something that looks less like a hospital."
Lan Wege gave a small breath through her nose.
"That would be helpful."
The dragon said, "Stop looking at the floor."
Bao Yuan looked up at it.
"Why?"
The dragon's eyes stayed on the far end of the room.
"Because this kind of place wants you to look down."
Bao Yuan frowned.
"That sounds like nonsense."
The dragon answered, "It is not nonsense if the room is built for control."
He Mulin turned toward the dragon.
"You can feel that?"
The dragon did not answer immediately.
It looked at the chairs again.
Some were turned slightly.
Some were perfectly straight.
Some looked too close together, like someone had arranged them by hand and then checked them again.
The dragon finally said, "Yes."
Qiu Weiran's voice was low.
"Then this place is watching."
The dragon's tail flicked once.
"Of course it is."
Bao Yuan scratched the back of his head.
"That is becoming a horrible habit. Every time something feels weird, someone says it is watching."
Qu Yaoyang looked at him.
"Do you have a better explanation?"
Bao Yuan opened his mouth, then closed it again.
He did not.
The dragon moved forward one small step.
The white floor gave no sound.
No echo.
No creak.
Nothing.
That absence of sound was its own sound.
The dragon looked back at them.
"Sit down if you want to know the shape of the room."
Bao Yuan frowned.
"That sounds like a trap."
"It is."
"So why are you telling us to do it?"
"Because if you refuse, you still learn nothing."
Qu Yaoyang gave a small, amused glance.
"That does sound like you."
The dragon looked toward one of the chairs near the center.
It was angled very slightly toward the others.
Not enough for a normal person to notice.
Enough for the dragon.
He Mulin noticed where it was looking.
"That one?"
The dragon nodded.
"Yes."
Lan Wege looked at the chair and then at the others.
"What is wrong with it?"
The dragon said, "It is the kind of chair that waits to be used."
Bao Yuan looked at the chair and immediately stepped away from it.
"That is a terrible sentence."
The dragon replied, "Then do not sit there."
Qiu Weiran crossed his arms.
"This room feels too deliberate."
Qu Yaoyang nodded.
"It does."
The dragon looked at him.
"You noticed too?"
Qu Yaoyang answered, "I am not blind."
Bao Yuan muttered, "That is debatable."
Qu Yaoyang gave him a flat stare.
"Keep testing me and I will make you sit on the strange chair."
Bao Yuan immediately shut up.
The dragon almost smiled.
Almost.
Instead it kept looking around.
The room was too clean.
Too white.
Too neatly arranged.
That meant someone had already expected them to be here.
The dragon's eyes narrowed.
Maybe not someone.
Something.
It could feel it now.
Not a presence exactly.
A rule.
A place with rules had a shape even before it revealed itself.
This room had one too.
He Mulin leaned forward slightly and asked, "If we sit, what happens?"
The dragon answered, "We find out."
Bao Yuan crossed his arms.
"That is not a good answer."
"It is the only real one."
Qiu Weiran looked at the chairs again.
"Then it wants a decision."
Lan Wege glanced at him.
"Or a mistake."
The dragon said, "Probably both."
Bao Yuan looked at the dragon.
"You are really annoying when you are right."
The dragon replied, "I know."
The room remained silent.
Then Qu Yaoyang stepped toward the chair in the middle.
He did not rush.
The dragon watched him carefully.
Qu Yaoyang looked strong in the way that made room feel smaller.
Not because of size.
Because he did not hesitate.
He reached out and touched the back of the chair.
Nothing happened.
He looked back at the others.
"Normal."
Bao Yuan frowned.
"That is suspicious."
Qu Yaoyang sat down anyway.
The chair did not break.
It did not move.
It simply accepted him.
Lan Wege looked at him.
"You always do that."
Qu Yaoyang answered, "Do what?"
"Act before being sure."
Qu Yaoyang leaned back slightly.
"I am usually sure enough."
The dragon watched the chair beneath him.
Still nothing.
No trap.
No pulse.
No hidden arm.
That made it worse.
Because quiet things in places like this always had a second stage.
He Mulin chose a chair near the right wall and sat down carefully.
Then Lan Wege sat a chair away from her.
Qiu Weiran did not sit yet.
He stood and looked around one more time before finally taking a seat near the edge.
Bao Yuan hesitated longest.
The dragon watched him stand in place and mutter to himself.
"Why do I always have to be the one testing weird chairs?"
Qu Yaoyang looked at him.
"You are good at panicking."
Bao Yuan glared at him.
"That is not a useful skill."
"It is in this room."
Bao Yuan stared at the chair.
Then sat quickly, as if he expected it to bite.
It did not.
The dragon remained standing.
It looked at them all seated in the white room and then at the empty space ahead.
The room seemed larger now.
Not physically.
Psychologically.
With everyone seated, the place had changed shape.
The dragon could feel the tension organizing itself.
Qu Yaoyang rested an elbow on the chair arm and looked toward the dragon.
"You are not sitting."
The dragon answered, "I do not trust this place."
He Mulin said, "Reasonable."
The dragon said, "It is not about reason."
Lan Wege looked at it.
"Then what is it about?"
The dragon's eyes tracked along the floor.
"A room like this wants balance."
Qiu Weiran frowned.
"Balance?"
The dragon nodded.
"Yes. Sitters. Standing. Silence. Waiting. It wants to see how people divide themselves."
Bao Yuan's face changed a little.
"That is creepy."
Qu Yaoyang said, "Everything here is creepy."
The dragon looked at him.
"You are learning to speak like this place."
Qu Yaoyang gave a dry look.
"I hate that."
"I know."
The room stayed still for a while after that.
Too still.
Bao Yuan shifted in his seat.
He could not help it.
He looked over at the dragon.
"What do you think the leader is doing now?"
Qu Yaoyang gave him a brief look.
"Which leader?"
Bao Yuan grimaced.
"Any of them."
The dragon answered before anyone else could.
"Planning."
That made everyone look at it.
The dragon kept its gaze steady.
"If this is a place that separates people like this, then whoever made it will be somewhere nearby or somewhere very far away."
He Mulin asked, "That is not very specific."
The dragon said, "It does not need to be."
Lan Wege folded her hands together.
"Then what is our best choice?"
The dragon answered, "Listen."
Bao Yuan blinked.
"That is all?"
"For now."
Qiu Weiran looked at the walls.
"No sound."
The dragon said, "That is also a kind of sound."
Qu Yaoyang leaned back slightly.
"You are getting philosophical."
The dragon replied, "I am getting old enough to dislike stupid rooms."
That got a few short reactions.
Bao Yuan huffed a breath that almost became a laugh.
He Mulin's mouth twitched once.
Lan Wege gave the faintest nod.
Qiu Weiran remained serious, but even he seemed less tense for a second.
Then the room changed.
Very slightly.
The white walls brightened.
Not enough to hurt the eyes.
Enough to make the shadows between chairs disappear.
The dragon's ears lifted.
Qu Yaoyang noticed first among the seated ones.
"What is that?"
The dragon answered, "Something opening."
Bao Yuan looked around sharply.
"I did not hear anything."
"That is why it worries me."
He Mulin sat a little straighter.
The air in the room had shifted.
Not colder.
Not hotter.
Just more aware.
Lan Wege's eyes moved toward the far side of the room.
"There."
A line appeared on the wall.
Very thin at first.
Then wider.
A seam.
A door that had not been there before.
Bao Yuan froze.
"That was hidden."
The dragon said, "Yes."
Qu Yaoyang's hand moved slightly.
He had not drawn a weapon, but the motion was there.
A habit.
A readiness.
Qiu Weiran looked at the seam and then at the dragon.
"If that opens, do we move?"
The dragon thought for a second.
Then said, "Not first."
That got everyone to look at it again.
The seam widened.
A soft white light came through.
Then a figure stepped out.
Not fully stepping.
Appearing, then completing the motion.
The dragon's eyes narrowed.
The newcomer wore a calm expression and carried the weight of someone who had already made up his mind before he arrived.
He was not smiling.
He was not scowling.
That made him harder to read.
Bao Yuan stared.
"Who is that?"
The dragon did not answer right away.
Because the room had changed again.
The air around the newcomer was not loud, but it was heavy.
A pressure that did not need sound.
Qu Yaoyang looked at him and said, "That is not the kid."
The dragon replied, "No."
Lan Wege's eyes sharpened.
"He is not here by accident."
He Mulin nodded slowly.
"No."
The newcomer stopped inside the room and looked at the seated group.
Then his gaze settled on the dragon.
The dragon stayed still.
The newcomer spoke first.
"You can feel the room."
The dragon answered, "Yes."
"You did not sit."
The dragon said, "Neither did you."
A tiny pause.
Then the newcomer gave a slight nod.
"Good."
Bao Yuan looked at the two of them and whispered, "This is already getting worse."
Qu Yaoyang glanced at him.
"You keep saying that."
Bao Yuan whispered back, "Because it keeps happening."
The newcomer stepped forward one pace.
The room seemed to accept him.
That was unsettling.
He looked at the seated disciples, then back at the dragon.
"Your group is noisy."
Bao Yuan immediately looked offended.
"Excuse me?"
The newcomer looked at him.
"You are excused."
Bao Yuan stared.
Qu Yaoyang's mouth tightened like he was trying not to react.
The dragon noticed and said, "Do not start."
Bao Yuan muttered, "I was not starting."
The newcomer's gaze shifted to Qu Yaoyang.
"You sit like a fighter."
Qu Yaoyang answered, "I am one."
The newcomer nodded once.
"That is obvious."
Then he looked at Lan Wege.
"You watch things before they move."
Lan Wege said nothing for a moment.
Then, "Yes."
He looked at He Mulin.
"You are already planning exits."
He Mulin replied, "Of course."
He looked at Qiu Weiran.
"You are waiting for someone else to act."
Qiu Weiran did not deny it.
Then the newcomer looked back at the dragon.
"You are the one who knows the room."
The dragon said, "Maybe."
The newcomer's expression did not change.
"That is enough."
Bao Yuan frowned.
"That is a weird way to talk."
The newcomer glanced at him.
"It is a weird room."
The dragon watched him carefully.
This was not random.
This was a check.
The room had sent someone, or perhaps the room had merely allowed someone in.
Either way, he was being tested too.
That made him more interesting.
The dragon asked, "What do you want?"
The newcomer answered, "To see whether you would speak first."
The dragon said, "You already know I did."
The newcomer replied, "Yes."
Bao Yuan looked between them.
"And if he did not?"
The newcomer turned to him.
"Then I would have known less."
Bao Yuan frowned.
"That is not an answer."
"It is exactly an answer."
Qu Yaoyang leaned forward a little.
"Then why are you here?"
The newcomer looked at him.
"Because this room is not for sitting forever."
That made the group go quiet again.
The dragon stared at him.
The newcomer did not seem in a hurry.
He simply stood in the white room like he belonged to the silence.
Then he said, "You are all waiting for the wrong thing."
He Mulin asked, "What thing should we be waiting for?"
The newcomer looked toward the white wall.
Then he said, "The one who placed the first rule."
That made the room feel even smaller.
Bao Yuan swallowed.
"The first rule?"
The newcomer's eyes moved back to the dragon.
"You know what I mean."
The dragon said nothing for a moment.
Qu Yaoyang looked at it.
"What does he mean?"
The dragon answered quietly, "Someone above the room."
Lan Wege asked, "A leader?"
The dragon replied, "Maybe."
The newcomer tilted his head.
"Maybe is a dangerous answer in here."
The dragon said, "So is certainty."
The newcomer's mouth moved almost like it might become a smile, but it never fully did.
Instead he turned slightly and looked at the door he had come through.
"You will hear from the room soon."
Bao Yuan said, "Hear what?"
The newcomer looked at him.
"Your next mistake."
He turned back to the dragon.
"Or your next advantage."
Then he stepped aside.
The white seam in the wall remained open behind him.
The dragon looked at it.
The room still felt too clean.
Too quiet.
Too controlled.
But now there was movement in it.
That made it worse, and better at the same time.
Qu Yaoyang finally asked the question everyone had been circling around.
"Who are you?"
The newcomer was silent for one second.
Then he answered.
"The one who stays when the others only arrive."
That was not a full answer.
But it was enough to make the room feel like it had gained another layer.
The dragon kept watching him.
The newcomer looked at the dragon one more time and then said, "You will understand soon enough."
Then the white room shifted.
Not visibly.
The kind of shift that happens when a place decides it has shown enough and wants the next thing to begin.
Bao Yuan noticed it first in the way the air pressed a little lower.
He looked at Qu Yaoyang.
Qu Yaoyang looked at Lan Wege.
Lan Wege looked at He Mulin.
He Mulin looked at Qiu Weiran.
Qiu Weiran looked at the dragon.
And the dragon looked at the open seam in the wall.
Something was still coming.
Maybe from the room.
Maybe from the newcomer.
Maybe from somewhere even further away.
But everyone in the white room felt it now.
And this time, the silence was no longer empty.
It was waiting for the next voice to speak.