Chapter 63 Extraordinary Luck
Qi Xia licked his dry lips as he picked up a stone piece.
Lin Qin’s pupils widened in horror as she caught sight of the piece—it was white.
‘Qi Xia... I can only tell lies... Don’t believe me!’ Lin Qin screamed internally, desperately hoping for a miracle, willing Qi Xia to somehow hear her silent plea.
Fear gripped her now, the thought that Qi Xia’s trust in her could lead to his demise gnawed at her insides.
"Don’t believe me... Please, don’t.." Lin Qin pleaded silently, her heart racing as she repeated the thought over and over again.
Qi Xia contemplated for a moment, then silently picked up the black piece instead of the white one. His movements were deliberate and slow.
Lin Qin’s heart raced, her brow furrowing in agony. She understood all too well the trap she was caught in—whether it was black or white, she could only offer the opposite answer.
Raising the black piece before her, Qi Xia began, "Lin Qin, tell me..."
Qi Xia seemed to sense her unease, so he addressed Lin Qin with a composed yet reassuring, “Don’t be perturbed, Lin Qin. Maintain your focus; the situation is far from over.”
At these words, Lin Qin nodded despondently, though hope seemed faint.
Once he was assured that Lin Qin's emotional state had steadied, Qi Xia continued with his inquiry. “Lin Qin, can you tell me what color Ole Lu would say this chess piece is?”
Both Lin Qin and Ole Lu appeared momentarily taken aback, while Mortal Pig rolled his eyes in exasperation.
“Listen carefully to my question, Lin Qin. I’ll repeat it,” Qi Xia said clearly. “What color would Ole Lu say this chess piece is?”
Lin Qin glanced at Ole Lu, her mind racing.
The coldness of her glasses reminded her that she was bound to deceive. Mortal Pig had never uttered a lie, which implied that his rules were absolute, so Ole Lu must be truthful.
Given this, Ole Lu would describe the chess piece as {black}.
As Lin Qin was about to utter {black}, a sudden realization struck her—
She could only tell lies, so answering Qi Xia with {black} was not an option.
Even if Ole Lu would say {black}, she had to say {white}.
In this way, wouldn’t everything return to square one?
The true challenge of the game wasn’t Ole Lu, but her own predicament.
Lin Qin bit her lip, struggling to speak the word, “White.”
At that moment, she felt as if every ounce of {truth} was being choked and tangled in her throat. No matter the reality, every truth that passed through her lips was inevitably transformed into a lie.
Ole Lu, frustrated, covered his forehead, sensing that the situation was beyond salvage.
“White, is it…” Qi Xia murmured, turning his gaze to the chess piece in his hand. With a slight, knowing smile, he said, “I see.”
Mortal Pig contemplated silently, pondering, ‘What will you do now? Qi Xia, the person you trust implicitly, claims that the chess piece in your hand is white. What will be your decision?’
He observed as Qi Xia deliberately set the black piece aside and picked up a white piece instead.
With a measured hand, Qi Xia extended the white piece toward Mortal Pig.
“Oh? Have you made your choice?” Mortal Pig inquired.
This time, Mortal Pig, having learned from his previous faux pas, kept his tone deliberately neutral.
In this manner, Qi Xia was left unable to discern the color of the chess piece in his hand based on Mortal Pig’s words.
“Yes, I have made my choice,” Qi Xia affirmed with a nod. “However, it isn’t the piece in your hand. I am merely returning that white piece to you.”
Without responding directly, Qi Xia held up the black piece in his hand and declared, “The black piece in my possession represents {life}, while the white piece in your hand symbolizes {death}. The game is concluded.”
As everyone remained stunned, Qi Xia methodically removed his eye mask.
Everything had unfolded precisely as he had anticipated.
The only discomfort he felt was a sensitivity to the light, a consequence of having worn the eye mask for an extended period.
“You…” Mortal Pig stammered, his anxiety palpable, “What sort of joke is this...?”
Qi Xia met Mortal Pig's gaze with calm assurance. “I’ve wagered my own life on this. How can it be a joke?”
He then gestured toward Lin Qin and Ole Lu, adding, “Release them. In any gamble, there must be a loser.”
Mortal Pig stared in disbelief, his eyes wide with shock. After a long pause, he sighed heavily and, still disoriented, retrieved a remote control from a drawer and pressed a button.
With a distinct {click}, the mechanism of the glasses disengaged.
Ole Lu and Lin Qin swiftly removed the dangerous devices and cast them aside, relieved.
“Qi Xia, you punk! You’re fucking incredible, you really pulled it off!” Ole Lu exclaimed, his excitement palpable as he approached and gave Qi Xia a hearty slap on the back. “Have you ever won the lottery? What kind of luck is this?!”
“Luck…?” Qi Xia shook his head. “I didn’t rely on luck at all. It was simply that Mortal Pig underestimated his opponent.”
Mortal Pig turned away silently, his mind reeling. “I underestimated my opponent…?”
“Indeed,” Qi Xia replied, adjusting his clothes and rising slowly. “I’ve told you before—truly intelligent individuals don’t depend on luck. But you chose not to heed that advice.”
“So, you’re saying…” Mortal Pig stood up in disbelief, “Everything that just happened was part of your plan?”
“Exactly,” Qi Xia confirmed with a nod. “My strategy was straightforward: as long as you chose one black piece and one white piece for me, victory was guaranteed. There was no room for error.”
Mortal Pig's eyes widened in astonishment, his pupils dilating in shock.
This was the first time he had been so thoroughly defeated since becoming a {pig}.
“To ensure you chose one black and one white piece for me, I deliberately said, {It would be easier for me to choose after you’ve made your selection}." Qi Xia explained, picking up two black pieces and two white pieces from the table, holding them up as if to illustrate the internal conflict Mortal Pig had faced.
“You must have struggled mentally for a while, ultimately deciding that giving me one black and one white was the safest choice.”
A voice filled with incredulous shock came from behind Mortal Pig’s mask. “You even calculated this…”
“Should I commend you for your caution or criticize you for your oversight?” Qi Xia mused, weighing the two white pieces in his hand. “Had you trusted your initial impulse and given me two white pieces from the start, I would be dead now.”
Mortal Pig fell silent, staring at Qi Xia with a look of bitter resignation.
Qi Xia added, “As long as I hold two differently colored pieces and ask the same question I did earlier, I can ascertain the color of the pieces in my hand. That’s undeniable.”
Lin Qin quickly processed this information, her eyes widening in realization.
After a moment, she gasped in awe.
The question Qi Xia had posed was extraordinarily clever.
By asking, {What would the other person say the color of this piece is?}, Qi Xia cleverly ensured that regardless of whether the respondent was truthful or deceptive, if he was holding a black piece, the answer would invariably be {white}.
When Qi Xia posed the question to Lin Qin, she knew Ole Lu’s response would be {black}, but due to her nature of always lying, she had to say {white}.
Had Qi Xia asked Ole Lu, Ole Lu would have directly reported Lin Qin’s answer, which was {white}.
Thus, if Qi Xia received an answer of {black}, he would immediately deduce that the other piece in his hand must be the correct color.