Ten Day Ultimatum

Chapter 362 362

Yet Su Shan's {fortune stick} this round was even stranger than before. It still bore five words: {Masses Unite in Disaster Relief}.

Beneath these words was a left-pointing arrow.

'Disaster Relief…?" Su Shan examined the {fortune stick}, feeling it resembled the two she previously held. She understood the words, but not their true meaning in this context.

What would happen if she {wished} for {Disaster Relief}…?

"Wait a moment…" she suddenly realized. "Disaster Relief… means {to relieve disaster and aid the afflicted}, doesn't it?"

Could this be a way to counter the {calamities}?

She suspected this {fortune stick} might be a {life-saving talisman}. If Terrestrial Dog aimed his disaster at her, the meaning inscribed on this {fortune stick} could very well save her life.

Su Shan set {Masses Unite in Disaster Relief} aside, then picked up the other two {fortune sticks} to examine them more closely.

One bore a right-pointing arrow, the other a left-pointing arrow.

A full round had passed, leaving only seven rounds remaining. If they couldn't extinguish the three lights within these seven rounds, the game would end; and Qin Dingdong's sacrifice would be in vain.

At the thought of Qin Dingdong… Su Shan glanced back at her. The fine sand had already passed her thighs, likely to completely engulf her within minutes.

Her face was smeared with sand dust, and a look of utter despair shadowed her features. Her lips moved continuously, as if trying to convey a single word, but the swirling dust inside the glass room made it impossible for Su Shan to make out the words.

"Apologies…" Su Shan whispered, "Saving you might be beyond me."

She picked up the {No Land Shall Lie Fallow} stick and hovered it over the slot. Having already tried {Firecrackers Close Out the Year}, it was time to test {No Land Shall Lie Fallow}.

But her hand froze mid-air.

Before the game began, Qin Dingdong had mouthed two words that now replayed in Su Shan's mind.

At first, she hadn't paid them much heed, but now she realized the two words Qin Dingdong was mouthing now seemed identical to that earlier message.

Frowning, Su Shan strained through the dust and carefully watched Qin Dingdong's lips.

If Su Shan guessed right, she was trying to convey the word {cooperation}.

'Cooperation?'Su Shan was momentarily stunned, then lowered her head to ponder. "Could it be that this game requires cooperation?"

But they were each trapped in their own glass rooms; how could they possibly cooperate?

A few seconds later, Su Shan recalled the fierce wind in Lin Qin's room.

"Wait… these {fortune sticks}…" She glanced at the {sticks} in her hand, each marked with an arrow, "Could it be…"

The arrows indicate the {direction of effect}?

A left-pointing arrow means the {fortune stick's} effect activates in the room to the left; a right-pointing arrow means the effect hits the room on the right.

"This is what {cooperation} means…"

Su Shan seemed to have grasped a fragile clue. The {Gentle and Endless Pattering Rain} in her hand bore a right-pointing arrow, meaning if played, its effect would immediately apply to Qin Dingdong's room on her right.

But the {fortune sticks} were painfully few; each person had at most three.

What must be weighed now is… which holds greater value, Qin Dingdong's {life} or this {stick}?

Su Shan pondered for several seconds, feeling her thoughts grow muddled.

How could she, like Qi Xia, decisively gamble her own and her teammates' lives to win this game?

"My understanding is still incomplete…" she slowly closed her eyes, trying to reconstruct the entire game in her mind.

Supposing she grasped the meaning of the {fortune sticks}, what parts of the game still eluded her?

What other {rules} might be hidden in plain sight, still unrecognized by her?

Looking at it this way… there was indeed one obvious {rule} she hadn't yet comprehended.

That was the significance behind the colors of each person's glass room.

In turn order, their four rooms were pink, green, orange, and blue.

While the {Nianbeast}'s room was red.

If she used the color of the {Nianbeast}'s room as a clue to infer the others' meanings, then {red} most likely symbolized {firecrackers}.

So what did her own room's {pink} represent?

Su Shan closed her eyes slightly, quickly brainstorming in her mind.

When thinking of {pink}, the first thing that came to her was {flowers}.

"Flowers…?" Su Shan's lips moved softly. "Bloom…? So that's it…?"

She suddenly opened her eyes and inserted the {Gentle and Endless Pattering Rain} into the hole on the table.

The next moment, the sand stopped falling in Qin Dingdong's room, replaced by tiny droplets of water descending from above.

Before she fully understood, the layer beneath the iron grid floor beneath her shifted, revealing openings through which fine sand slowly trickled through, resembling water draining away.

Qin Dingdong slowly lifted her head, watching the water droplets shower down like rain, her expression full of confusion.

After a moment's thought, she cupped some water in her hands to wipe the sand from her face, then turned to look at Su Shan.

Su Shan nodded at her, and after a momentary daze, Qin Dingdong returned the gesture with a grateful look in her eyes.

"So it really is effective..." Su Shan's lips curled into a slow smile. "This game truly demands a grander perspective… After all, the {sandstorm} in {Winter} can only be dispelled by the {gentle rain} of {Spring}."

The four colors represent the {four seasons}.

Pink symbolizes {Spring}, green for {Summer}, orange for {Autumn}, and blue for {Winter}.

Just as its name {Year of Calamity} implies, this was a game that spanned {eight years}, with each year beset by a {calamity}.

The only way to overcome it is for the four seasons to support each other, peacefully passing through Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, and finally greeting the {NianBeast} with abundance and safety.

Su Shan glanced down at the {No Land Shall Lie Fallow} in her hand and now roughly understood its meaning.

Since she represents {Spring}, she should play this slip during her turn, and as its arrow points left, its effect will fall on Zhang Chenze's room, which corresponds to {Summer}.

Spring's seeding ushers in Summer's toil and Autumn's bountiful harvest, thus equipping Winter to resist the {NianBeast}.

In other words, although there are four people present, only {Winter} can truly inflict damage on the {NianBeast}.

For if no food was saved by year's end, how shall the Winter be survived?