In the villa.
Zhou Qiaoqiao's phone was playing a short advertisement she had almost memorized by now: "The snow has blocked the mountains. What will you decide?"
Zhou Qiaoqiao was on the verge of a breakdown.
"The snow has blocked the mountains, the snow has blocked the mountains, it's always the snow blocking the mountains! Aaaaaah!!!"
It wasn’t just Zhou Qiaoqiao who was driven mad by the second level of the mini-game; the other three weren’t faring much better, and they were all venting their frustrations about the game.
"This isn’t 'Sheep and Sheep'! It’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing!"
"I failed again, Qiaoqiao. I’m starting to feel like the snow’s blocking my way too, wuwuwu..."
"Why is the second level so hard?!"
Just as the three of them were being tormented by this little game, Xu Mo returned.
Originally, he might have had to work overtime today, or even pull an all-nighter. But thanks to a reward from the system, he used one, and the case was solved in no time.
With the case solved, there was no need for overtime.
"What’s going on here? Why are you all pouting? What’s wrong?" As soon as he entered, Xu Mo saw the four women sitting on the sofa, looking gloomy and fiddling with their phones.
"Do you know 'Sheep and Sheep'? We’re trying to get past the second level."
"That game? Yeah, I know it." Xu Mo nodded.
Of course, he knew the game!
In fact, Xu Mo wanted to thank the game’s developer. While the developer was tormenting players with ads and milking users for profit, Xu Mo was using the system to sell walkthroughs and milk the game for profit.
The game had already cultivated a large group of players who were obsessed with passing the levels and bringing glory to their provinces, so the walkthroughs were selling like hotcakes.
Xu Mo didn’t have to do anything; he could just lie back and collect the money.
"You know it? Have you passed the second level?" Yang Jingxuan’s competitive spirit flared up as soon as she heard this.
Xu Mo shook his head. "No, I haven’t."
"But how hard can it really be? It’s just a matching game. I could finish it in no time."
Hearing this, the four women stopped playing the game and turned their attention to Xu Mo.
Once upon a time, they had thought the same thing.
When they saw netizens saying how difficult the game was, they thought, "Isn’t this just a matching game? How hard can it be? Watch me finish it in two minutes!"
With that mindset, they started playing, but the game turned out to be much harder than they expected. The four of them had been playing all afternoon and were still stuck on the second level.
"What do you mean, ‘just a matching game’? This game is really hard!" Yang Jingxuan argued.
Zhou Qiaoqiao chimed in, backing her up.
"Yeah, it’s really hard. The four of us have been playing all afternoon and still can’t get past the second level. It’s super difficult! Don’t underestimate it just because it’s a matching game."
An Youyi added, "That’s right, this isn’t your ordinary matching game!"
"Oh? Not an ordinary matching game? Is it some kind of matching game from Wang Wei’s poetry or something? How hard can a matching game be? If you can’t do it, don’t blame the road for being uneven."
Zhou Qiaoqiao: "???"
Yang Jingxuan: "???"
An Youyi: "???"
Li Jiaxin: "???"
They could tell that Xu Mo didn’t take the game seriously at all. He had no idea how difficult it was!
They had to make him understand just how hard the game was. With that in mind, Zhou Qiaoqiao handed her phone to Xu Mo.
"It’s really hard. Here, you try it! Play it for yourself and you’ll see!"
Zhou Qiaoqiao thought that once Xu Mo played a round, he’d realize how difficult the game was.
Then, he’d feel ashamed of the big talk he’d just made, just like they had when they first started playing.
"Alright, I’ll give it a try. It’s just a matching game. Give me two minutes!" Xu Mo took the phone and started playing.
Seeing Xu Mo start the game, the four women gathered around him.
"You definitely won’t pass. This game is really hard," Yang Jingxuan said, hands on her hips.
"Two minutes probably won’t be enough. We’ll give you twenty."
"Or even two hours. We’ve been playing all afternoon and we’re still stuck on the second level."
At first, all four of them were sure that Xu Mo wouldn’t be able to pass the second level, just like them.
In fact, they were even waiting to see Xu Mo fail so they could laugh at him.
But what they didn’t expect was… Xu Mo passed the level. Right in front of their eyes, Xu Mo actually passed the level!
"Is this game… really that hard?" After passing the level, Xu Mo glanced casually at the four women surrounding him.
The only response he got was their wide-eyed stares.
The air in the villa’s living room seemed to freeze.
Apart from the game’s background music, there wasn’t a single sound.
A few seconds later.
"You actually passed?!" Zhou Qiaoqiao stared at Xu Mo in disbelief, her voice rising several pitches.
She had been waiting to laugh at Xu Mo, but instead, he had breezed through the level effortlessly, completing it in one go without even pausing to think.
"No way! Absolutely no way!" After a brief moment of shock, Yang Jingxuan spoke up. "It must be a problem with the phone. The second level isn’t that easy. Try playing on my phone."
With that, she handed her phone to Xu Mo. "Use my phone and try passing it again. That was definitely a fluke!"
Xu Mo didn’t say anything, just smiled.
Back at the police station, Xu Mo had glanced at the walkthrough. Although he hadn’t tried it himself, he already knew how to pass the level.
For others, passing the level might require luck, but not for Xu Mo. He could pass it 100% of the time!
After taking Yang Jingxuan’s phone, Xu Mo passed the second level again. This time, he did it even faster, taking only half the time he had before.
"Done."
Yang Jingxuan: "???"