1824 Like an Old Couple

"Who asked you to go and pat Young Master Ling's shoulder?" the director said in a mix of amusement and helplessness.

"What do you mean? His shoulder can't be patted?" Cao Jingcheng asked.

"Indeed, it can't." Han Zhuoling held back his laughter as he said, "My apologies, but I just found Lu Ban's successor and received an item. The person who eliminates me will be eliminated instead because it rebounds. Of course, I can also only use this item once, and it can only be activated passively by a trigger."

"What the heck!" Cao Jingcheng exclaimed. "This is immoral! I came here to publicize my new film, yet you guys won't let me show my face more and eliminated me so early on. It's such a loss, a loss."

Han Zhuoling gave him a look and said with a poker face, "The Han Corporation has partially invested in that film of yours. Do you think we'd not help you to publicize?"

"Oh, I forgot, I forgot." Cao Jingcheng smacked his head and said, "Okay, then, there's not much of a problem. I'm going off."

Everybody: "…"

Must you make it so obvious, sir?

Han Zhuoling raised his eyebrow and turned to Zhang Xiangyou.

Zhang Xiangyou saw that his originally advantageous team suddenly lost a partner, and he quickly laughed awkwardly before running away.

Hence, Han Zhuoling and Shi Xiaoya went around strolling and followed the clues to reach the location of the second to last round.

The second to last round coincidentally needed two people to work together.

Liu Chuanhui also arrived, but he was alone.

He glanced at Han Zhuoling and Shi Xiaoya, then lamented despondently, "It's always good to have a partner!"

Shi Xiaoya: "…"

Why did this make them sound like an old couple?

With Han Zhuoling around and Shi Xiaoya to help beside him, this round naturally need not be elaborated on.

Both of them passed the round together and waved goodbye at Liu Chuanhui.

"Congratulations to the two of you for being the first to arrive here." The moment they entered, that man in a black robe that appeared in the underground palace yesterday reappeared through the projection on the screen. "I think you guys can tell by now—actually, today's missions require players' cooperation to be completed. Only when you understand the true meaning of working together can you reach this place. Today, being a lone warrior won't help you to get here."

Shi Xiaoya turned to look at Han Zhuoling.

Whether Han Zhuoling knew it all along, she did not know.

She simply followed Han Zhuoling along and trusted him.

"Now, I will give you the last mission." Right after the black-robed man finished speaking, a flash of light lit up behind him.

A checkerboard appeared on the screen, with black and white stones on both sides.

"Such a difficult game like Go?" Shi Xiaoya got a shock. "I don't know how to play that."

The black-robed man said, "Don't worry, it's Five in a Row."

Shi Xiaoya: "…"

The moment he said that, the prestige of the game immediately dropped and it made her feel like laughing.

"The person who wins will receive a reward for the last round," the black-robed man said.

Han Zhuoling and Shi Xiaoya took out their phones according to the instructions. They opened the link to a mini-program they had just received on their phones.

After tapping on it, they each entered the board game.

The system randomly assigned them, and Shi Xiaoya got the black stones and was to start first.

Five in a Row is not a difficult game. It mainly tested how meticulous the player was.

As the number of stones played out increases, the player might get overwhelmed and easily not be able to consider every part, which will give the other party the chance to pick out the loopholes to win.

As for the rest, the requirements for various calculations and placement positions were not that high.

Shi Xiaoya casually put out a stone in the center, and Han Zhuoling casually played as well.

As the number of stones put out by each of them increased, the number of black and white stones became very tightly packed together, making one feel lost having to look at so many stones.

Finally, Han Zhuoling placed another stone. Shi Xiaoya found to her surprise that Han Zhuoling actually made a mistake. He did not see that there was one area in which if he placed another stone, he would get five in a row and win.