"What did you just say!?"
Inside the police station, Zheng Zha's fury erupted the moment he learned that the five of them had almost been discarded as expendable pawns by Chu Xuan.
Without hesitation, he grabbed Chu Xuan by the collar and slammed a heavy punch into him.
Chu Xuan staggered backward, his gold-rimmed glasses flying off.
Zheng Zha pointed angrily at Zhang Jie, his voice trembling with rage.
"He almost died! We all almost died!"
Off to the side, Xiao Yehui crouched silently, but her glare toward Chu Xuan was just as sharp.
Because of Chu Xuan's decision, her Kabutack robot had been left behind on the street.
Which meant that everything she experienced in the previous movie, A Nightmare on Elm Street, had vanished into nothing.
To her, it felt as if the sky had collapsed.
Li Shuaixi, Hao Shuang, Fei Hao, Hu Yong, and Zhan Lan — who had been holding the rear of the police station — were also glaring at Chu Xuan with fury.
After all, they too had nearly died in the North Polar Team's ambush.
Six of the small-town police officers on the first floor had already been killed.
If the attackers had reached the second floor, the defenseless Central Continent team would have been nothing more than free points for the enemy.
Yet Chu Xuan remained unmoved.
He bent down, picked up his fallen glasses, and spoke in a flat, emotionless tone.
"To maximize our overall benefit… this is merely the first step."
"What damn first step!?"
Zheng Zha stepped forward again, ready to grab him.
From the makeshift "hospital bed" assembled from office chairs, Zhang Jie forced out a hoarse whisper.
"L-let's… hear what he has to say."
"You still want to listen to him?"
Zheng Zha clenched his fists tighter.
"If Nova didn't have the Sanqing Talisman, you'd be dead already!"
Nova's Sanqing Talisman had originally come from Yujin.
After finishing the Alien's subplot mission, Yujin lacked enough points to exchange for a Stitching skill.
Nova had generously helped him by giving a C-rank side plot reward.
To repay her, Yujin used it to redeem the Sanqing Talisman.
That talisman — worth five hundred reward points — pulled Zhang Jie back from the gates of death.
It was the only reason the Central Continent team had not lost a member.
Zhan Lan tugged gently at Zheng Zha's arm.
"Let… let's listen to him first."
Grinding his teeth, Zheng Zha forced himself to sit down, though his fists remained tightly clenched.
It was clear that if Chu Xuan's explanation wasn't good enough, he planned to throw two more punches.
Chu Xuan's expression stayed perfectly calm.
"In this points competition, there will be one winner — and only one. And that winner… will be the Central Continent team."
Zheng Zha snapped back immediately.
"Stop with the damn empty talk. Tell me exactly what you did!"
Chu Xuan wiped the dust from his glasses, unhurried as he continued speaking.
"Have you ever played Animal Chess? What we're facing is actually an unfair game of Animal Chess."
"Elephant, tiger, bear, leopard, dog, cat."
"Right. There's no mouse. I'm only using this to help you understand."
"Except for Yujin, who is our tiger, the rest of you veterans can basically be divided into leopards, wolves, and dogs."
Chu Xuan pointed at himself and the four newcomers who arrived with him.
"They and I are all cats."
"As for the North Polar Team, aside from having a tiger, the rest of their members include bears and leopards. Even their lowest-ranking veterans are at the level of wolves."
"But they also have nine rookies— little cats."
"And those cats… are their burden."
"With a major battle approaching, they can only choose between bringing their burden with them, or leaving a wolf behind to guard their base and protect those cats."
"After the North Polar Team, let's talk about the East Sea team."
"The East Sea team has a powerhouse. According to Yujin's intel, the opponent is at least a 3rd Stage Gene unlocker, with B+ level enhancement. He is the only one in this whole team battle who is a…"
Chu Xuan adjusted his glasses.
"…an Elephant."
Hearing this, the members of the Central Continent team continued listening quietly. Even Zheng Zha slowly unclenched his fists.
"With an Elephant, the East Sea team can launch an attack on the Central Continent team and North Polar Team — both teams without an Elephant and without a Mouse. Under an Elephant's protection, we can't resist them. We are basically facing the fate of being stomped to death."
"The variable is our cooperation with the North Polar Team… and the fact that the East Sea team does not have a strategist who can keep that Elephant under control."
"After the East Sea team lost one of their bears, the Elephant was enraged and went after our strongest member — the Tiger. At that moment…"
Chu Xuan looked around at everyone.
"The only thing our leopards, wolves, and dogs can do is cause trouble for the East Sea team that has lost its Elephant!"
"We link up with the North Polar Team's Tiger and devour the East Sea team's cats!"
Chu Xuan activated his reincarnation watch.
"Right now, our team has four points."
"The North Polar Team has zero. Think carefully — if they want to make up the four-point difference, will they go after the East Sea team… or us?"
Li Shuaixi, who had never experienced a life-and-death crisis before, spoke up as if speaking to a camera.
"Obviously they'll come for us little dogs and cats. The East Sea team's five veterans, even without their Elephant, North Polar Team would still have a hard time killing them."
Chu Xuan glanced at Li Shuai-xi, mentally giving this newcomer extra points for contributing, then continued explaining.
"This is the key to tonight… and it's also the hope for you leopards and wolves to survive."
"The tiger of our team! Charging straight into the North Polar Team's nest!"
"He's got the lives of all nine of their little cats in his hands… plus their guard-wolf."
"A whole thirteen-point difference! North Polar Team will never recover from this!"
A cold glint flashed through Chu Xuan's eyes.
"Because the East Sea team… also needs to make up their points."
Zheng Zha slowly calmed down.
He counted the members of the Central Continent team.
Aside from Yujin—the nearly unkillable tiger—the rest together were worth eleven points.
If the North Polar Team wanted to avoid losing reward points and side-story plotlines, they had to secure Central Continent team's points.
But with the East Sea team owning a 'giant elephant,' there was no way they'd just sit still and watch their own points get deducted once everyone returned.
Whether it was their strategist, Dick Brooks, or their captain, Gonniel— as long as they still had functioning brains, they would reach one conclusion.
They must protect the Central Continent team and ensure they escape.
They cannot let Central Continent team die at the hands of the East Sea team.
That was the only condition for keeping their nine little cats and their wolf alive.
If blame had to be placed, it could only fall on Chu Xuan— the guy who sent a tiger straight into the North Polar Team's cat-den to force Gonniel into protecting the Central Continent team five-man group.
If the North Polar Team refused Chu Xuan's proposal, then Yujin, as Central Continent team's captain, could simply take his thirteen-point lead, fly around the town in circles, and drag things out.
The final winner, no matter what, would still be the Central Continent team.
Once the Central Continent team members understood everything, the way they looked at Chu Xuan completely changed.
Even Zhang Jie—who had almost been killed in the process—had to admit it now.
Chu Xuan's plan gave the Central Continent team the greatest possible advantage.
Compared to that, almost getting eaten by a tiger… maybe that was acceptable?
"Right now," Chu Xuan said, placing a piece of chocolate in his mouth, "Central Continent team holds the initiative. We're up by four points. No matter how the game continues, we're the side with the advantage."
Hearing this, Zheng Zha smashed the office desk with one punch and glared at Chu Xuan.
"Have you even thought about this? We're all gathered at the police station right now— the East Sea team can march straight toward us, swallow us whole, and take eleven points! Have you thought about that?! You'd become points too! You'd die!"
Chu Xuan was completely unfazed by Zheng Zha's roar.
"Die?" he repeated.
Chewing his chocolate, he let out a casual, uninterested hum.
"Oh."
****
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