Gu Yi crossed his arms above his head, successfully blocking the coach's dagger.
The coach's eyes widened as he realized what Gu Yi was actually holding. It wasn't a USB drive at all, but a silver lighter!
"Your next line is — 'You little brat, you were playing all along!'"
"You little brat, you were playing all along!"
"Heh, so what if I was?" Gu Yi grinned. "Idiot, take a look outside."
"Huh?"
The coach looked up, just in ti to make eye contact with the police outside the window.
The police, surprised to see the coach attempting violence right before them, quickly drew their guns, aiming at him.
"Freeze!"
Bang, bang!
The police fired their weapons.
The coach, already cowering and covering his head, scrambled out of the resting room, rolling and crawling away.
Gu Yi hurriedly followed, shouting at the coach, "You scoundrel, you won't get away!"
"F*ck you!"
As the coach ran, he grabbed a trash can from the side of the road and hurled it at Gu Yi.
Gu Yi swiftly dodged out of the way.
Suddenly, the coach slipped, falling hard onto the ground with a loud crash. He cried out in pain as his ankle swelled up.
"Why?"
Narrowing his eyes, the coach saw a banana peel near his feet. If he rembered correctly...
Before the match, Gu Yi had eaten a banana and carelessly thrown the peel into a trash can.
Trembling, the coach pointed a shaky finger at Gu Yi. "You... you monster, was this also part of your plan?"
"Huh?"
Gu Yi paused, clearly not understanding what the coach was talking about.
However, he didn't miss the chance to further intimidate the coach. "Of course, everything was in my calculations!"
"Aah!"
The coach scread, struggling to his feet and leaning against the wall to escape. Unfortunately, his twisted ankle slowed him down considerably.
At this mont, the police finally climbed through the window and rushed in. They sward over the coach and pinned him to the ground.
"Don't move!"
"Put your hands up!"
Click!
During the struggle, the coach's phone fell out of his pocket.
Beep, beep, beep—
The phone started ringing.
The police glanced at the incoming call, which didn't show any saved contact na.
"Whose call is this?"
The officer handed the phone to the coach.
The coach cursed under his breath, recognizing the call as the sa unfamiliar number from earlier.
"I don't know."
"Answer it." The officer pulled the coach up from the ground. "Don't try any tricks, we're listening."
"Alright."
The coach, with a bitter smile, shook his head and answered the phone, following the officer's instructions.
"Hello, is this Mr. Zhang?"
"Yes, it is."
"I'm calling from PA Insurance. Your car insurance is due for renewal soon..."
"I've already bought insurance!"
The coach instinctively hung up the phone.
Two police officers glared at the coach.
"Hey, what's with that look? It was just a call from an insurance salesperson."
"You're suspicious."
"Very suspicious."
"That must be so kind of code you've arranged with your accomplices, right?"
"Co on, don't overinterpret it."
"Co with us!"
"Damn it!"
The coach cursed loudly as he was escorted away by the officers, one on each side.
"Ha-"
Gu Yi exhaled deeply and sat down against the wall. He pulled out a fountain pen from his pocket, its ink now completely used up.
"Exam ti is over!" the invigilator's voice echoed in his ear. "Was this also in your calculations? Rationality: 7 points, Emotionality: 7 points."
A total of 14 points.
No one else was injured besides the coach.
Gu Yi's consciousness returned to his body, sitting at his desk, staring at the densely packed answers on his exam paper, deep in thought.
...
At the Dark Moon Circus.
Gu Yi once again scored high, and all the agents cheered exuberantly, almost lifting the tent roof.
"Gu Yi is truly remarkable," said Dark Moon with a smile. "He seems to be getting more proficient. While other players chose to compromise, even the defiant Chris bowed under oppression, but Gu Yi still found that sliver of hope."
"Yeah, I didn't expect Gu Yi to be so impressive."
Qu Kangping said this but felt sothing was amiss in his heart.
The entire dungeon spoke of compromise, sacrifice, and the ugliness of human nature. Yet Gu Yi never compromised, always striving for a perfect outco.
In the first exam, the outco was death.
In the second exam, it was a death sentence.
In the third exam, the result seed perfect, but the final score was only 14 points, only 2 points higher than the compromise route.
"I think the reason for not scoring higher is that he didn't successfully expose the coach's cris."
"Yeah, and the ending was abrupt. The fate of his parents wasn't clarified. His pen ran out of ink, so he couldn't continue the exam."
"Logically, the parents should have had a good outco. The team won the championship, the prize money should be enough for the surgery."
"The problem is, although the coach was arrested by the police, it was for attempted murder. The evidence of his involvent in organized cri, gambling, extortion, and confinent of players was sothing Gu Yi never really obtained. He was only bluffing the coach."
The agents engaged in a heated discussion, but Qu Kangping shook his head, disagreeing with everyone's speculation.
"You're all wrong. The only reason Gu Yi didn't score higher is that he chose not to die in this exam."
...
The invigilator collected the papers and instructed all students to wait in the waiting room.
Gu Yi sat at his desk, deep in thought. In one of his deductions, he had chosen to commit suicide to expose the coach's cris, ending up with the sa 14 points as now.
What an ironic scoring standard.
He speculated that if he had stuck to the earlier thod — vindicating himself through death and arranging for his family's safety and collecting evidence against the coach beforehand — maybe his score would have been 2-4 points higher.
"So, to score high, to achieve the best of both worlds, I have to die?"
"That's right, you're correct." Chen Zeyu sat next to Gu Yi, smiling at him. "Heard you scored 14 points this ti?"
"Yeah."
"I got 16 points."
"How did you do that?"
"Just like you said, by dying. I found out the coach's company address, jumped from their building, and left decisive evidence of his cris before dying, thus scoring higher. Actually, I was entirely inspired by you."
"Heh, you're really sothing."
"Why did you only score 14 points this ti? I thought soone of your caliber would score higher than ."
Gu Yi rely smiled, not responding.
Chen Zeyu's revelation confird Gu Yi's suspicion: the most dangerous aspect of this dungeon was its subtle persuasion towards a twisted logic — that suicide could solve everything, that only by sacrificing oneself could one achieve the best of both worlds.
But...
Gu Yi instinctively felt that this was all a trap. If he followed the dungeon's implied logic, he was certain he wouldn't achieve a perfect clearance.
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