Chapter 1289: Ji Shanqing at the Center of the Universe
As soon as Ji Shanqing finished speaking, a hand shot out like lightning from the crowd surrounding him. Before Lin Sanjiu could react, the hand had already grabbed the grand prize by the collar. Lin Sanjiu exclaimed in surprise, but a powerful force pulled her out of the crowd.
The plate with the four grilled skewers flew into the night sky.
Lin Sanjiu had already streaked through the air like a missile, heading straight for the person holding the grand prize. A high sandstorm instantly showered everyone like torrential rain as she slammed her feet into the sandy ground. The sand blinded their eyes, stinging so much that they couldn't see anything clearly—except for Lin Sanjiu, who had closed her eyes the moment she landed. The memory of that split-second before closing her eyes was vivid, like a navigation map, clearly marking the positions of the two individuals in front of her.
Amidst the fine sand rain, she suddenly extended a snake-like arm from one side and slapped it towards the person's head.
The man's arm circled around Ji Shanqing's neck, fixing his head within a certain range. He reacted quickly when he heard the sharp wind sound coming towards his ears. He quickly let go of Ji Shanqing's neck and tried to dodge backward, but he was facing Lin Sanjiu.
The speed and strength of Lin Sanjiu's attack, fueled by her anger, caused the ground to tremble. She forgot to hold back as she did in the past, and her entire body's blood rushed into that one arm. When her palm finally landed on the man's rapidly retreating cheek, his bones and skin fibers broke together, and blood droplets splashed into the air.
Fortunately, he managed to retreat in time, preventing his head from being slapped away. The grand prize coughed and pounced towards Lin Sanjiu as if he were returning her sanity back. Lin Sanjiu opened her eyes and caught the grand prize in her arms. She wiped her face and finally saw who was on the ground.
Half of his face was covered in flesh, revealing white bone fragments. On the other half, his face was gray and gloomy, and one eye stared fixedly at Ji Shanqing.
"It's you?" Lin Sanjiu was stunned. She didn't expect that the person who attacked her would be from her own side.
The gray-faced man opened his mouth and twitched the deformed half of his face, showing a painful expression. He clutched his bloody face and slowly got up from the ground.
Some people walked over from behind, while others looked at the grill. For the next half-minute, until the next piece of meat was grilled, everyone was at a loss.
The grand prize curled up in Lin Sanjiu's arms, his thin shoulders trembling. He asked the gray-faced man, "You... knew I was a Special Item from the beginning?"
The man's eyes stared fixedly amidst the bloody mess, seemingly never blinking as he looked at Ji Shanqing. It was as if Ji Shanqing was the only tangible, audible, and colorful thing on the entire beach, while others were nothing but illusory beings in the universe.
"Tell me, how can you come to me?" He stared at Ji Shanqing and asked, "Forget about the beach barbecue, the villa owner, and everything else... I can snatch the villa a second time since I could do it once. I just want you."
The grand prize frowned and looked at Lin Sanjiu. "Sis," he said, tilting his head as if regretful, holding onto her clothes tightly. "I was careless."
"How so?"
"Just by our appearance, none of the people here could tell I was a Special Item, and you were human. He must have known my true identity early on. This means he saw the nameplate at our villa entrance and knows the owner's surname is Lin, not Ji. That's right, he lives in the very last villa, so he probably deliberately passed by each villa on his way here."
The gray-faced man's eyes seemed to light up a bit more, as if he wanted to nod, but stopped because of the pain. However, Lin Sanjiu couldn't tell which was more painful for him: the physical injury or the fact that he couldn't get the grand prize.
"Anything, anything is fine," the gray-faced man gasped, his burning gaze fixed on the grand prize. "What are your conditions? I'll meet all your demands... You are self-aware, and you definitely have your own goals and desires that you couldn't achieve... Give them to me. The Great Deluge is already on the horizon, so why limit yourself to one person? Think more about yourself. Isn't that better?"
One must say, he knows exactly where to start. If someone else heard his words, they might be tempted.
"It's grilled! Come and take it," the chef suddenly shouted.
Everyone subconsciously turned their heads and saw that Senping had already stepped onto the yellow marker when their attention was distracted. He handed the plate over and received a chicken sausage.
"Hey? Did you guess it was a chicken sausage?" Greene asked.
Senping looked at the marker under his feet and then glanced at Ji Shanqing in the distance, seeming to understand something. Lin Sanjiu had not covered the marker's Higher Consciousness while she was so focused on reclaiming the grand prize.
"I didn't say anything. I just stood on the marker and got the chicken sausage," the white-haired man said, thinking slowly. "We... we were all deceived by him."
The grand prize was startled by the curious gazes from all sides, so Lin Sanjiu held him tighter. Now that she had fulfilled all four types of grilled meat, her abilities and items had almost fully recovered. With a confident look in her eyes, she stared back at them like steel plates. However, it seemed that others also realized this point, and no one spoke for a while.
"Um, we..." the boy finally said softly. "Can you help us complete the activity? We... made a deal before."
They had just cooperated with her, and Lin Sanjiu had not intended to break the agreement. She was about to say, "Let me deal with him first," but before she could speak, the gray-faced man took advantage of the opportunity to turn and escape. He seemed to have some special technique, gliding away like a slide made of sand. Lin Sanjiu saw his shadow flashing past, but when she turned her head, the gray-faced man had already run far into the edge of the woods.
She could catch up with him if she wanted, but she didn't want to leave the grand prize alone. Besides, chasing him now would be meaningless; he seemed very fixated on the grand prize and would probably continue to appear around them.
"Oh, someone has decided to forfeit?" The chef stretched his neck and said, flipping the meat, "Okay, Villa F11 is now available for tonight."
Lin Sanjiu held the grand prize tightly, afraid that he might disappear again, and whispered, "You should help them. If you see anyone unhappy about it, just forget it. But people like Mr. Ito and that boy greatly helped us earlier."
"I knew it. Even if you clear the level, you would still stay behind to save others," the grand prize muttered, but it didn't sound like a genuine complaint. Although he was almost taken away just now, he couldn't help but smile brightly and walk back to the barbecue grill with Lin Sanjiu.
"The next one is a lamb leg," he said after just glancing at the grill.
As Ji Shanqing finished speaking, the woman who hadn't gotten the meat from Greene rushed towards the yellow marker. However, Ge only needed one more lamb leg to safely make it to the shore, so he didn't care about being polite and courteous. He swung his arm like a windmill and fiercely hit the woman. She was clever this time, knowing she couldn't match his strength, so she bent down and rolled away. Although she was far from him, she quickly tapped her toes on the marker.
She timed it just right, and the chef looked up and said, "It's a lamb leg! Come and take it!"
"What's next?" someone asked. "How did you know this one was a lamb leg?"
Ji Shanqing lazily opened his mouth.
"Because three 2s were thrown away just now, and the next one starts with a 4... Among the combinations starting with 4, only 4231 and 4132 haven't been used. If it's 4132 now, then there would only be two 2s in the ten pieces of meat counted earlier. To meet the condition of having three 2s among the ten pieces, it must be 4231. 2, which is beef ribs, has been discarded, so naturally, the next one will be 3, the lamb leg, followed by 1, the skewer."
Apart from Senping, anyone listening would find these words incomprehensible.
While others were still pondering, the man with white hair had already jumped straight up and rushed to the yellow marker. His face turned red and white alternately as if he was so overly excited that he was about to short-circuit: "It is indeed a sequential combination! I was right! But... I don't understand..."
As he spoke, he suddenly realized he already had four grilled meats on his plate. He couldn't get a skewer even if he stood on the marker. He didn't even have time to finish his confusion when he quickly stuffed half of a chicken sausage into his mouth.
"You guessed the sequential combination correctly but only understood half of it," Ji Shanqing said, showing a bit more patience with the intelligent man. "If you carefully consider the situation we are facing, you will realize that the chef is not just a machine constantly providing grilled meat... he is our opponent."
The chef raised his head at these words and smiled at the crowd with plump cheeks.
"Why?" Senping obviously didn't realize this point and asked with a mouth full of chicken sausage, his voice unclear.
"In the beach barbecue activity, there has always been a force against us, misleading us and preventing us from seeing the pattern clearly. Initially, I also thought that the four types of grilled meat appeared randomly one hundred times, with each type having a 25% probability..."
He glanced at the chef. "Until we ate the first lamb leg, I suddenly realized that the chef fundamentally differs from us."
Everyone held their breath. Only the sound of the waves, the wind, and the sizzling of the grilled meat filled the air.
"When he explained the rules, he said, 'We have to wait until the meat is grilled to know what it is.' For us, Villa Owners, that is indeed true... but for him, it's different." Ji Shanqing looked at the crowd and reminded them, "Do you remember what happened after you and I ate the lamb leg in the ninth round, sis?"
Senping took a sharp breath.
"We triggered an effect that allowed us to decide the next piece of meat. The meat was still on the grill, and the chef awaited our answer. After we made our decision, he shouted, 'This one is a chicken sausage,' and sure enough, there was an additional chicken sausage on the grill. It took 42 seconds for that chicken sausage to form, and we decided at the 40-second mark, with a two-second time difference in between."
"The meat on the grill didn't turn into a chicken sausage the moment we decided..." Ji Shanqing smiled slightly, explaining, "Isn't it clear enough now? The chef has the power to decide the type of grilled meat—at least, for some time. Think again, when did he use the word 'random' when explaining the rules?"
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