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Along the long corridor, rows of identical doors stood in a stalemate for a long time in front of one of them.

"I'll ask you one last time, you didn't check the 'death-related' option, right?"

Ji Mo questioned Jiu Chonglou once again, his hand on the doorknob, determined not to push it open until he received an answer.

The journey was so short it couldn't be shorter, yet Ji Mo asked the same question five times, until Jiu Chonglou grew impatient and muttered to himself:

"Even if you don't believe me, you should at least believe in my aggressiveness. Without damaging the room, I can't break through your defenses at all. In the end, I'll be the only one who gets killed. Would I do something that would harm both myself and others?!"

"You're capable of doing it."

"..."

"You're capable of doing it." Ji Mo repeated.

Jiu Chonglou's eyes flickered. She wanted to firmly say no, but seeing Ji Mo's posture, it seemed that he was going to say "You can do it" a third time, as if she had a similar past record. For a moment, she herself became uncertain.

I don't have a criminal record, do I?

But no matter what, Jiu Chonglou really didn't lie this time. After all, it wasn't her own territory, nor was it a small room she had set up herself. She wouldn't hand over the power of life and death to a stranger.

Jiu Chonglou had no choice but to swear: "Fine, I swear, okay? If I lie about this, I'll be your mother from now on, and you can sacrifice me for anything you do to cause trouble, like blocking bridges while playing games."

Ji Mo felt something was off, but still respected the oath made by the hardcore gamer and took the initiative to push open the door and enter.

A flash of bright light, and the two found themselves in a simple room with only a bed.

The only entrance door is marked with the words: "The room where you can't leave without having sex."

"Wow, your face looks even worse than if you had chosen a room where you have to kill each other a hundred times to get out," Jiu Chonglou teased, covering her mouth with her hand as if she were an outsider.

"This place is bad luck for me," Ji Mo said, rubbing his forehead.

From the candy truck to the blind box apartment, everything was beyond his expectations; there were no surprises, only shocks.

Ji Mo didn't want any of the amusement park rides with special features from the Rules World; he just wanted to ride the classic bumper cars and roller coasters.

Jiu Chonglou walked to the bedside, pressed down on the bed, somewhat disapproving of its quality, but still sat down.

She bent over, propping her chin on one hand, a half-smile on her face: "What do we do now?"

Ji Mo cracked his knuckles and said bluntly, "Be prepared to lose money."

"Eh~~~"

"Do you intend to do as I say?"

Ji Mo stopped what she was about to do and looked back at Jiu Chonglou. Seeing her indifferent attitude, she sensed something was wrong.

"Is there a problem with my problem-solving approach?"

Guess~

you guess?

I won't guess.

Ji Mo expressed his attitude with the most straightforward action: he walked straight over, picked up Jiu Chonglou and put him aside, then grabbed the foot of the bed.

Shake, shake, shake.

A pen and a grid board fell out.

In that instant, memories of the well-known XXOO game called Tic-Tac-Toe were awakened.

Ji Mo: "..."

Well, the most dangerous place is the safest place. You must have been hiding your XXOO in the mattress where you were supposed to be XXOO.

"Haha, you really think it's that kind of room? Didn't the questionnaire have a few questions about that?"

Jiu Chonglou, who had been placed on the floor, was laughing so hard she was practically in tears. She wiped away the tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes and teased, "Isn't there a more plausible explanation than the amusement park staff making a mistake?"

"Or... did you actually tick a box back then, Old Man Ji?"

Jiu Chonglou let out a typical mocking laugh from a lowly female brat, "And you're supposed to have an outstanding memory? You've already forgotten? No way, no way?"

"Yes, I checked it."

Jiu Chonglou's laughter stopped abruptly, his expression stiffening: "Huh?"

"After all, the situation the introducer described was interesting, but using death to make connections is a bit much."

"Huh?"

"But it's much simpler to test it using a different option."

"Ahhh?" Jiu Chonglou had become a state where all she could do was "ahhh."

Ji Mo walked slowly towards him, and the closer he got, the further Jiu Chonglou moved back.

The room was only so big, and the two of them quickly reached the edge. Jiu Chonglou had nowhere to retreat and could only watch the shadow cast down on him grow larger as he approached.

boom!

The whole room shook violently, and coupled with Ji Mo's smiling explanation, it became even more terrifying.

"After all, I know someone who has the desire but not the courage, and will definitely check the 'no' box on some option."

Someone with the desire to steal but not the courage was looking around, then his pupils suddenly contracted, just because Ji Mo was holding a grid notebook and pretending to tear it up.

"Now, does that guy who was probably thinking of calling me a nobody just a nobody have anything to say?"

Jiu Chonglou, neck stiff, spoke with the utmost bravado in the softest voice: "Shh, can we reconcile?"

Her answer was a giant hand descending from the sky and landing heavily on the top of her head—

He ruffled her hair.

"Can."

Ji Mo's terrifying aura suddenly dissipated, and he returned to his usual easygoing demeanor, asking with a smile, "So, after we finish at the Blind Box Apartment, what should we do?"

"special--"

"Um?"

"A really fun roller coaster."

"Um."

Ji Mo withdrew his hand and took two steps back to give Jiu Chonglou enough space to stand up. His tone changed from terrifying to somewhat helpless: "Xiao Jiu, you sometimes like to provoke others regardless of the occasion. That's not good."

Jiu Chonglou gave a barely audible scoff and muttered under his breath, "It was clearly you who taught him."

"What do you mean I taught you?" Even the softest voice was no different from shouting in Ji Mo's ear, given his current strength.

"that is……"

Jiu Chonglou's stammering appearance aroused Ji Mo's curiosity. Before he could hear the answer, a force suddenly appeared beside him and began to fight for it.

"Got it~ You fell for this?" Jiu Chonglou had somehow acquired the only pen in his hand, decisively drew a circle on the winning spot before handing it back, and resumed his previous smug expression: "Your turn."

Other chess games are fine, but in Tic-Tac-Toe, the first player can never lose; at most, it's a draw.

"...You, with this strange competitive spirit." Ji Mo was both amused and exasperated, but he had no intention of losing.

The key to solving this puzzle is whether the two can realize there is another way to solve it. There's no real intention to make them rack their brains to turn the tic-tac-toe into a three-in-a-row game. There are only nine squares in total, so it'll be done quickly with a few crosses and circles.

The two players tied as expected.

As I drew the last circle, a click came from the other side of the door.

The door opened.

"What a wicked design." Jiu Chonglou didn't rush out, but instead looked towards the direction where the bed had been: "If you act in the way a normal person would most easily think of, and you just happened to check the 'no' boxes, you'd only realize how uncomfortable the bed was when you couldn't open the door, ha..."

"really."

"It's strange that it's forbidden." Jiu Chonglou rolled her eyes. Ji Mo went in first, and this time it was her turn to go ahead. Before entering the next door, she still asked, "That questionnaire, you didn't actually check the boxes for those kinds of options, did you?"

"I was just kidding."