Chapter 6: In the Face of Life and Death

Lin An was utterly bewildered, completely at a loss as to what was happening. Instinctively, he glanced at Ye Luo.

Ye Luo wore a timid expression. “I... I think what you’re all saying makes a lot of sense. But this uncle, he really did doubt the giant frog earlier. So, I think this uncle is the most suspicious.”

Ye Luo stretched out her hand, trembling as she pointed at the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man’s face darkened. The crew-cut man, however, was overjoyed. “That’s right! You believe me. Out of all of us, only he turned into a frog. As long as we write down his name, we win.”

“Yes,” Ye Luo nodded as well.

“Foolish! Utterly foolish!” The middle-aged man flew into a rage, yet he couldn’t find words to defend himself, stomping his feet in frustration.

Ye Luo narrowed her eyes, glancing at the countdown overhead.

There were only sixty seconds left.

Suddenly, she asked the woman a question. “Sister, thank you and your boyfriend for helping us find the real frog. Having such a clever and wise boyfriend must make you very happy, right?”

The crew-cut man tensed, glancing unconsciously at the woman.

The woman hesitated, forcing a smile and nodding perfunctorily.

“Sister, then—” Ye Luo began to continue.

The crew-cut man warily stepped in front of her. “You’re not much younger than us, so stop calling us brother and sister. In a moment, after we write the middle-aged man’s name, the game will end. After that, we’ll each go our own way.”

“Oh? I was hoping you could look after me,” Ye Luo replied, sounding a little disappointed.

Ah, so this woman just wants to cling to someone strong.

The crew-cut man’s expression softened a bit, but his voice remained cold. “In a place like this, surviving on your own is already fortunate. I can’t look after you. Enough, there are only fifteen seconds left. Write the name!”

Ye Luo nodded, pulling Lin An aside.

With pen and paper in hand, the names of the others appeared automatically in Ye Luo’s mind.

Calmly, Ye Luo wrote down two names.

Lin An glanced at her sheet, his pupils contracting sharply.

“Don’t speak—just write,” Ye Luo whispered, lowering her voice.

Gritting his teeth, Lin An copied Ye Luo’s answers without hesitation.

“Ten...”

“Nine...”

“...”

“Three...”

“Two...”

“One...”

“Time’s up.”

All the sheets of paper spontaneously caught fire, turning to ash within seconds.

Ye Luo watched with serene indifference.

“That’s it, we’ve won,” the crew-cut man said with a smile.

Ye Luo looked at him and smiled as well. “Yes, we’ve won.”

Her expression was odd.

The crew-cut man paused, about to speak.

Then, a mechanical voice of judgment rang out overhead.

“Name verification complete.”

“The winners are: Humans.”

Humans?

The couple and the middle-aged man’s expressions changed simultaneously.

All three stared at Ye Luo in disbelief.

She had actually gotten it right? How could she have possibly gotten it right!

“Goodbye,” Ye Luo waved to them.

In the next instant, three beams of light descended, enveloping the trio.

They didn’t even have time to speak; with a final scream, they turned to ash in midair.

“Congratulations on clearing the Roller Coaster. After completing one attraction, please remember to return to the Central Plaza.” The mechanical voice finished its announcement and fell silent.

Lin An stared, dazed, at where the three had disappeared, his lips trembling slightly. “Sister Ye... why did all three of them die?”

Just before, Ye Luo had written down the names of only two frogs.

One was the woman.

The other was the middle-aged man.

Lin An had found it odd at the time.

If the woman was a frog, how could her partner, the crew-cut man, have survived? Wasn’t it said that everyone in the same row would live or die together?

But trusting Ye Luo, he’d copied her answer.

And sure enough, he’d won along with her.

Still, he didn’t understand why.

Ye Luo glanced at him. “Let’s head back to the plaza first. I’ll explain on the way.”

Lin An hurried to agree.

As the two walked back slowly, Ye Luo spoke. “Who told you that everyone in the same row is bound to live or die together?”

Lin An was even more confused. “You said that first, Sister Ye.”

Ye Luo sounded a bit exasperated. “I said that to mislead them. Any normal person should have noticed the flaw in those words. But such an obvious loophole, and none of those three caught it. Not only that, the crew-cut man even emphasized it again later. That alone proved that all three of them were suspicious.”

Lin An was baffled. “What loophole, Sister Ye? I didn’t notice anything either!”

Ye Luo looked even more exasperated.

If this naive fool hadn’t been in her row, she would have suspected him too.

She took a deep breath and explained, “The statement that everyone in the same row lives or dies together ignores one thing: the doll prop that can block a fatal attack. If someone in your row has such a doll, they can survive one deadly attack. The other three, I believe, all chose to save the frog. But the man had a doll, so only he survived. He was still human, but his alignment had likely changed. I suspect his win condition was also to protect the frog. If we’d made a mistake and written the crew-cut man’s name as well, we would have lost this round.”

According to the rules, writing too few, too many, or the wrong frog names all resulted in a win for the frog faction.

In truth, the human win condition was extremely strict.

Lin An was still puzzled. “Sister Ye, how did you figure out their roles?”

Ye Luo raised an eyebrow. “First, the middle-aged man’s reaction to being accused was odd. He seemed to defend himself, but actually mounted no real defense—just flared up in helpless anger. After I accused him, he only said a couple of things before accepting his fate. It was almost as if... he wanted to expose himself as the frog.”

“As for the crew-cut man, he opposed the middle-aged man from the start. That gave us the impression that they were mutually exclusive. If the middle-aged man was the frog, then the crew-cut man and the woman must be innocent. That was their trap from the beginning. If we’d followed that line of thinking, we’d have walked right into it.”

In reality, the crew-cut man and the middle-aged man were covering for each other.

If Ye Luo had believed their antagonism and only written one side’s name, the frogs’ side would still win. The middle-aged man exposing himself was just deliberate misdirection.

Lin An’s head ached from all this, but he pressed on. “Then, Sister Ye, how did you confirm the couple’s identities?”

Ye Luo replied calmly, “Remember how I chatted with the woman and praised her boyfriend?”

“And then?” Lin An asked.

Ye Luo lifted her brow. “She didn’t echo my praise.”

“???”

“When the couple first appeared, the woman was extremely dependent on the man, completely lovestruck. Someone like that, hearing someone else praise her boyfriend, would instinctively agree. But she seemed flustered instead. It didn’t make sense.”

“Wow, Sister Ye, I didn’t expect you to understand lovestruck types so well...” Lin An sighed. “One last question—how did you know the crew-cut man had the doll prop?”

This time, Ye Luo was silent.

After a while, she said, “Before the roller coaster, I saw the woman secretly take something out and clutch it tightly. That was probably the doll.”

“The woman had it?” Lin An was surprised. “But the man was the one who survived the ride. Did you see wrong, Sister Ye?”

Ye Luo paused again, then answered, “I didn’t see wrong.”

Lin An paused, then suddenly understood.

He murmured, “He... stole his girlfriend’s doll.”

So much for being a loving couple.

In the end, the truth beneath the surface was so brutal.

This was... the true nature of humanity in the face of life and death.

Lin An had nothing more to say, falling silent—a rarity for him.

Soon, a bright light appeared ahead.

Ye Luo spoke calmly, “We’re back at the plaza.”