Step by step, Lin Sanjiu approached the pool.
Normally, a pool in a garden was no deeper than a calf, but this pool was huge and deep. Aside from the fountain, it was empty. It was big enough to be a swimming pool.
The fountain stood high up in the air, forming a black circular shadow under the blue sky. The water fell into the sunlight, sparkling and splashing onto Lin Sanjiu's body as well as the head that looked like a small hill not far away.
The fishtail man was too big. Even if the water fell on him, it could only wet half of his head.
Ever since the beginning of the game of hide-and-seek, Lin Sanjiu had lost seven rounds in a row. After losing 35% of her stamina, she could already feel a dark cloud of exhaustion looming over her. It was waiting for her body to feel drained.
Lin Sanjiu was not smart enough to figure out such an obvious problem until the fifth round.
However, even though she figured it out, it didn't mean that she had the chance to take action. Her targets in the sixth and seventh round were, unfortunately, the female statue with the flower basket and the child statue respectively. Lin Sanjiu had no choice but to resist the urge to take action. She watched helplessly as another 10% of her stamina was deducted.
It was not until the eighth round that Lin Sanjiu's target changed to the fishtail man statue again. Lin Sanjiu knew that her chance had finally come.
"Got it."
Lin Sanjiu stopped a few steps away from her target. She stared at the gigantic face in front of her and said in a low voice, "Behind the pool."
Just like in the previous seven rounds of hide-and-seek, when Lin Sanjiu said that, the statue of the mermaid and the statue of the woman with the kettle on her head shattered into pieces. The courtyard was completely flooded by the sea of rubble and plaster. The broken pieces of plaster dodged Lin Sanjiu's feet and flew past her as if they were mocking her.
"I got it wrong!" As the statue reformed itself, the child statue shouted, "You … Huh?"
Lin Sanjiu turned her body slightly and looked at it with a smile. "I didn't get it wrong, did I? The one I caught is indeed my target, the one with the fishtail, isn't it? There's nothing in the rules of hide-and-seek that says I can't hold down my target with my own hands, right? "
Beneath her feet, the plaster pieces were struggling, rolling, flipping, and colliding with each other. It was as if each piece was desperately trying to return to its owner's body. Unfortunately, under the fishing net formed by her Higher Consciousness, no matter how hard they struggled, they were still pinned to the spot.
Lin Sanjiu turned her head around and saw the male statue with a thick beard and a fishtail standing where the female statue used to be. His fishtail was still there, but his beard and cheeks were dented as if they had been gnawed by a dog.
"I've been feeling strange since just now. They were all dungeon creatures, so if they could make expressions on their faces, they could also change their facial features, right? Why does it have to be broken into plaster blocks? "
Lin Sanjiu pressed down on the plaster pieces under her Higher Consciousness and stared at the child statue, "Asking the question is actually the most difficult step. Once you have the question, the answer is obvious. The reason why you have to break into plaster blocks, swap positions, and reassemble is simple. It's because you have different sizes, so the amount of plaster you need is naturally different. "
A sigh came from the white plaster face of the child statue, as if it was regretful that it had finally figured it out.
From the other side of the bridge, the instructor let out an "ah" and said, "Truly worthy of being my student! I see! "
"If I was misled by you and thought that the two statues had swapped positions, I would try to compete with you in speed, just like I did before … I would lose every time I competed. But, what if you guys just swapped the appearance of the two statues? "
If that was the case, the larger statue would have to distribute the excess plaster to the smaller statue so that the smaller statue could turn into the larger statue. That was why they had to break into plaster blocks first, and the plaster blocks had to roll across the courtyard. The second point only reinforced the misconception of "swapping positions".
With that in mind, Lin Sanjiu was ready to act. First, she walked to the target and made sure that she could grab a piece of plaster the moment it broke.
"Oh, very smart," the child statue said half-heartedly, "Alright, you got the right target, so I won't deduct your Stamina Points. Let's continue."
As expected.
Lin Sanjiu was already prepared for this. Before the game of hide-and-seek began, the child statue said, "I've waited for you for so long. How can I let you leave after a few rounds?" From this sentence, it seemed that there were two ways to end the Pocket Dimension. One was to satisfy the statues, and the other was to stop the statues from enjoying hide-and-seek.
"You guys have played eight rounds in one go. Are you done?" Lin Sanjiu asked tentatively. "Now that I've mastered the way to win the game, you guys will only lose if you continue to play. What's the point? Why don't we end it here and let the next person come in and play with you? "
Seeing that the child statue did not speak, Lin Sanjiu added, "If you promise me now, you guys can still take the plaster blocks back and recover your bodies. Otherwise, who knows what will happen to the plaster blocks I catch next time? "
She was bluffing. The moment she pressed the plaster blocks down, she had secretly opened her [Planar World]. However, as expected, the plaster blocks were also part of the Pocket Dimension, so she couldn't keep them.
"Is that really the case?" The child statue suddenly spoke. It was as if every word was uttered after suppressing his laughter, "Are we really going to keep losing?"
Lin Sanjiu's heart sank.
"Why didn't you use this clever method in the sixth and seventh round?" the child statue asked with a grin, "Did you not think of it? It's okay. If you didn't think of it, I'll explain it to you. After all, you only have a one in five chance of catching the right target. "
Lin Sanjiu bit her lip and did not say anything.
She had indeed found a way to catch the right target, but it had a high requirement for the target statue.
Only when the target was the larger statue and she needed to swap places with the smaller statue would she have a chance to catch the right plaster block. Even so, she had to be fast, sharp eyes, and Higher Consciousness in order to catch the right plaster block.
After the statue was broken, all the plaster blocks would be thrown into a frenzy, so much so that the human eye couldn't see them clearly. Furthermore, Lin Sanjiu couldn't predict which statue she would swap places with in advance. When her target needed to "receive the plaster block" or "maintain the same amount of plaster block", it would be very difficult for her to distinguish which piece of plaster block was her target.
In other words, the smaller the target statue, the lower her chances of success.
"Even if we play the game fairly and every statue has an equal chance of becoming your target," the child statue continued to laugh, "You will still lose more than you win. Do you know how many posthumans have played hide-and-seek with us since the day we were born? Of course, you are not the first person to come up with this idea. However, most of the people who came up with this idea ended up losing all their Stamina Points in this courtyard … "
It announced with a sharp voice, "The ninth round of hide-and-seek begins now!"
(End of chapter)
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