Chapter 187

"When two players from the circle simultaneously challenge the same Pioneer Seat holder, if the opponent chooses to accept both challenges, the Three-Player Challenge Mode is unlocked."

"The so-called 'Three-Player Challenge Mode', as the name suggests, means that the two challengers automatically form an alliance, and in the subsequent challenge match, as long as one of them wins, the challenge is considered successful, with the player scoring higher taking the Pioneer Seat."

As the host explained, everyone understood, but then felt that there didn't seem to be anything particularly special.

After all, this mode initially seemed like a two-on-one challenge, but in reality, they were still fighting individually. It was just a three-person competition, with the winner taking the Pioneer Seat.

Until—

"The challenge match consists of a preparation phase and a combat phase. Players must accumulate challenge time during the preparation phase to proceed to the subsequent combat phase.

But now, since the players have triggered the Three-Player Challenge Mode, the rules have been fully upgraded!

During the Three-Player Challenge Mode, the challenge time accumulated by the two challengers will be automatically combined and serve as their final available time.

At the same time, for the challenged player to successfully defend their seat, their final score must exceed the combined scores of the two challengers."

The next second, the entire venue erupted in an uproar.

Live comments: ??

[What does that mean?]

[It means that during the preparation phase, the total time they two gain is their combined time for the challenge phase.]

[For example: If all three players accumulated 2 minutes of challenge time during the preparation phase, then in the challenge phase, the challengers would both start with 4 minutes, while Ji Ruochu would only have 2 minutes.]

[And also, if Bei Lingyu and Quan Tianheng both score 3 points, then Ji Ruochu's score must be 7 points or higher to successfully defend her seat.] [!!!]

At this moment, the live comments were scrolling at lightning speed, filled with calculations, and some Ji Ruochu fans were starting to panic.

[Good news, Chuchu finally has challengers.]

[Bad news, the challengers are overpowered, and the difficulty is also off the charts o(╥﹏╥)o]

The venue itself was instantly engulfed in heated discussions, but rather than sympathizing with Ji Ruochu like the online fans, the on-site scholars were more focused on—

"Wow, with this mode, the pressure should be greater on Bei Lingyu and Quan Tianheng, right?"

"If they win, it would be a hollow victory. If they lose..."

"It would be even more embarrassing."

Live comments: [Huh? It does seem that way.]

At the same time, a segment of the interview with the post-production director was also spliced in.

"The Three-Player Challenge Mode puts the defender at a disadvantage in terms of difficulty, but from another perspective, the challengers are actually under more pressure, unless they can overwhelmingly defeat the defender with double the score.

However, at the same time, if in this situation, neither of the two challengers can defeat the defender, then the blow to them would also be doubled."

The next second, the camera switched, and the host added:

"Of course, as the defending side, if they can still win the match in a two-on-one situation, then the defender will secure a fixed position for the Pioneer Seat.

In other words, during the circle challenge round, the defender cannot be challenged again until the competition progresses to the next stage."

The players present all expressed their understanding, as the higher rewards came with double the risk, which was only natural.

"Well then, no more delay, please have the three players enter the preparation room, as our Three-Player Challenge Mode is about to begin."

It was only at this point that the camera finally revealed the three protagonists, and compared to the solemn expressions of the two challengers, Ji Ruochu's eagerness was almost too conspicuous.

"Next, please have the three players enter the preparation room together, where you will earn challenge time based on your abilities."

At this point, the audience's anticipation for the show reached a new high. Although this program can be said to be completely free of dull moments, but... who would complain about too much excitement?

"Pioneer Seat Showdown Round Two - Blackout Position Challenge."

"On a 7x7 chessboard, forty-nine colored balls of seven colors are randomly arranged. Players have a limited time to observe the positions of the colored balls, after which the colors of the balls will disappear. Players can only blindly rearrange the board by moving entire rows or columns, with the goal of having all balls in each row or column be the same color, which is considered a success.

Within the allotted time, the player with the most correct answers wins. If the scores are tied, the golden ball rule will be used as the tiebreaker.

Under immense pressure and mutual competition, please give your all."

At the same time, the difficulty coefficient table for this challenge also appeared on the big screen:

Observation: 2

Memory: 5

Spatial Awareness: 2

Creativity: 1

Reasoning: 5

Calculation: 4

The moment this table appeared, everyone fell silent.

"To be honest, judging solely from the difficulty coefficients, this challenge is slightly easier than the previous Pioneer Seat Showdown.

However, the calculation and reasoning coefficients for this challenge are too high, and it's also a blindfolded challenge, which implicitly raises the difficulty another level."

"You see, when moving the board, an entire row of balls will be moved, and it can move in four directions.

And every move you make changes the board state, meaning that each ball's movement creates 7*6=42 possibilities.

In other words, if you move N times, that's 42 to the power of N variations, which places an immense demand on calculation ability."

Not to mention that Ji Ruochu had previously manually increased the difficulty for herself, effectively enabling a super-charged difficulty mode.

Upon hearing this, the online commenters who had initially said that this challenge wasn't that difficult, and wasn't as hard as blindfolded Rubik's cube solving, fell silent.

What's more, the rules announced by the officials next were even more hair-raising.