Chapter 238: Life-or-Death Maze (16)
These men, suggesting rock-paper-scissors or arm wrestling—why not compete on memory or intelligence?
Yan Qiao said coldly, "Your methods are all too sloppy. Why not let her decide for herself?"
The moment Yan Qiao spoke, the men's gazes all turned to him.
This brat who had tormented Ji Ning so relentlessly in the last instance was dangerous, arrogant, nothing like a good person, and not the least bit likable.
Now, while they were all fighting for an opportunity, he was playing the retreat-to-advance game. It was a bit unsportsmanlike.
"Yan Qiao, Ning-Ning already followed you for an entire day in the last instance. You can afford not to rush this time, right?" Sheng Churan said with a smile.
Jiang Ting nodded. "Churan has a point."
"Mm." Even Qin Yanshu voiced his agreement.
"Right, right, right." Song Weiyang nodded repeatedly.
When it came to Yan Qiao, he was always the first to fan the flames of opposition.
Facing the "targeting and exclusion" from four men, Yan Qiao's expression was blank, as if not only did he not care, but even if they said something far harsher, it wouldn't matter to him.
His heart seemed forged from iron, impervious to any slander.
Perhaps only when facing the person he liked would a crack appear.
At this moment, only Xing Ye remained silent. Ji Ning looked at him.
Ever since the teams were assigned, Xing Ye had not spoken. No matter what anyone said, he simply listened, his expression calm and unruffled, impossible to read.
Noticing Ji Ning looking at him, Xing Ye's gaze shifted to her. The deep, sculpted contours of his brows and eyes made his look feel heavy.
She knew that Xing Ye was definitely the one who wanted to be in her group the most. If he didn't say it aloud, there must be a reason.
Ji Ning also very much wanted to be in a group with her Brother Xing Ye, wanted it very, very much.
But this time, she had other considerations.
"How about I do 'eeny, meeny, miny, moe'? Whichever group it lands on, that's the one. Anyway, every one of you is very strong, so it's all the same to me who I'm with." Ji Ning finally spoke, proposing a random selection method to decide the accompanying knight squad.
When she hadn't spoken, the men's suggestions were all self-serving. Now that she had a solution, they naturally all deferred to her, accepting whatever she said.
Seeing no objections, Ji Ning said to Qin Yanshu, "Yanshu, put me down."
Qin Yanshu bent over, tilting his arms to steadily set her on the ground.
Immediately, she walked in front of everyone, turning her back to them. "One person from each team, come stand behind me randomly. Stand in a horizontal line, it'll be easier for eeny, meeny, miny, moe."
After Ji Ning finished speaking, according to the grouping Xing Ye had described, one person stepped out from each squad, disrupting their previous standing order, and lined up behind her in sequence.
Sunlight fell on Ji Ning, her shadow slanting backward. Within her field of vision, she couldn't see their shadows, so there was no way to tell who was who.
However… it wasn't only by seeing shadows that one could distinguish people.
Ji Ning closed her eyes, and the memories of her five senses surfaced one by one.
The person standing in the middle had a stride that was long and steady, firm and unwavering—the composure forged through a life of blood and iron.
Therefore, the one in the middle was Xing Ye.
From the person standing to her left, she could smell a faint, elusive fragrance on him—warm, fresh, not too obvious, just perfectly pleasant.
That was Sheng Churan.
And the one on the right had a refined, elegant gait and light, shallow breathing. Whether it was the sound of his movements or his actions after standing still, everything was light and restrained.
Then the person on the right was undoubtedly Qin Yanshu.
This entire process of discernment took only a matter of seconds.
Immediately, Ji Ning began reciting the eeny, meeny, miny, moe rhyme while pointing in order from the middle to the right, then to the left. "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, catch a tiger by the toe. If he hollers, let him go, eeny, meeny, miny, moe. My mother told me to pick the very best one, and it is not him, it is you."
As the word "you" fell, Ji Ning turned her head back and saw that her finger was pointing directly at Qin Yanshu, who was on her right.
A randomly generated result naturally made the chosen person happy, while those not chosen wouldn't be upset either.
But in truth, behind the randomness was Ji Ning's selfish bias.
The rhyme had a total of 32 syllables. Pointing through three people in an unbroken sequence, the result would land on the second person counted from the start.
The first was Xing Ye, the second was Qin Yanshu, the third was Sheng Churan.
Counting to the 32nd time, it would inevitably point to Qin Yanshu.
Ji Ning met his gaze and saw in Qin Yanshu's eyes a light she had never seen before.
This glimmer—she had seen it in the eyes of every man present, even in Yan Qiao's eyes.
But she had never seen it in Qin Yanshu's.
Although his moments of intimate contact with her were very few, and he didn't chat much with her in the Wooden Cabin, Ji Ning was certain that Qin Yanshu liked her.
During the Tycoon Town instance, she had felt it. It was a deep yet pure force.
Ji Ning didn't want her choice to hurt anyone, yet she also wanted to do something to make up for Qin Yanshu's bottom-tier treatment. So she had no choice but to use this underhanded method.
She was guilty.
But seeing Qin Yanshu, who always buried his emotions so deeply, reveal such a vivid expression, Ji Ning felt she was willing to bear the guilt of this deception.
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