“Beep, beep, beep!”

Gon suddenly blew the whistle hanging around his neck and pointed at Caroline, “Red Team player over there, please don’t say anything unrelated to the match during the game, otherwise, I’ll have to give you a yellow card warning.”

As a single man, one of the things Gon hated most in his life was people showing affection in front of him. What’s up with that? Do you guys just enjoy tormenting single people for no reason? What did we single people do to you to deserve such abuse!

Hearing this, Chen Kong, Caroline, and even the audience outside the Dimensional Screen knew he was spouting nonsense; there was no such rule at all. Only the simple-minded fellow didn’t react, foolishly saying, “Gon, you can’t talk about things outside the field? But the rules you just mentioned didn’t seem to include that, did they?”

Gon turned to look at Chen Kong, staring at him with an idiotic expression. “Are you the referee or am I the referee? Say one more word, and I’ll give you a yellow card right away, kid.”

“Uh…” Facing Gon’s irritated threat, Chen Kong was momentarily speechless. He wanted to retort but also worried about actually being given a yellow card by Gon. Weighing the pros and cons, he ultimately chose silence.

After all, even though he could rely on the effect of ‘Mark of Emptiness’ to negate the yellow card effect Gon gave him, considering the huge level gap between him and Gon, nullifying a single yellow card would likely consume half, or even all, of his Star Energy. He absolutely couldn’t do it casually.

Moreover, compared to using the Mark of Emptiness like that, he felt it would be better to find an opportunity to remove the ‘Audience’ status from Isabelle and then take her out of this strange subspace. Thinking this, Chen Kong instinctively looked in Isabelle’s direction.

Gon immediately caught his small movement and taunted, “Don’t look, kid, you don’t think I know what you’re thinking, do you? You know, if you dared to rashly use your special ability to eliminate Star Source effects, without real-world coordinates, you might instantly fall into an unknown time-space rift instead of returning to reality.

So if I were you, I’d definitely not entertain any crooked thoughts and would just stand there obediently, seriously preparing for the upcoming match.”

Is he telling the truth, or just lying to me? Gon’s words suddenly threw Chen Kong’s mind into confusion.

Caroline: “He’s telling the truth, Kong, because subspace is like a small boat floating on the sea. If you don’t have the strength to swim back to shore yourself, it’s best not to use that ability recklessly. And if I’m not mistaken, the subspace we are currently in should be the effect of this guy’s Star Tool, not a Star Source ability. Otherwise, I don’t believe a mere Tier 2 Star Envoy would have the power to create a subspace on their own.”

Seeing Caroline interfere again, Gon couldn’t hold it in anymore. “No, I didn’t guess wrong, I didn’t guess wrong! What’s wrong with you, Catwoman? Every day it’s ‘I didn’t guess wrong, I didn’t guess wrong,’ you never end, do you?! If you’re so good at guessing, why don’t you guess what today’s lottery jackpot is, instead of constantly guessing my information?!”

Broken. Gon was utterly and completely broken. If Caroline had guessed wrong, it would have been fine. But every time she opened her mouth, she would accurately hit the nail on the head. How was this guessing? She was clearly reading off his data! That’s right, this subspace wasn’t Gon’s Star Source ability. It was the effect of one of his Star Tools, whose name was — Rift Prism.

[Name: Rift Prism]

[Effect: By rotating the prism surface, localized spatial changes can be triggered, projecting a certain area of the real world scene one-to-one into a subspace between illusion and reality, forming a sealed special space.]

Even though Caroline had mostly guessed his abilities, Gon remained unfazed. After all, in the face of an absolute difference in strength, all schemes and tricks were mere flashy displays. This round, the advantage was with him!

“Alright, I’m not going to argue with you kids anymore. For this first game of dodgeball, who are you sending out first?”

Gon walked to the center of the field and extended his right hand. The next second, a lead ball the size of a basketball suddenly appeared and landed heavily in his right palm.

Seeing this, Chen Kong was instantly dumbfounded. No way, your dodgeball uses a lead ball, and such a big one at that?! If this ball hits, forget catching it, not dodging it is just asking for death!

Caroline: “Kong, for this first round… you go first.”

“Huh? Me?” Before Chen Kong could react, Caroline’s voice suddenly rang out from the side. Upon hearing Caroline’s words, Chen Kong immediately looked at her in shock, as if he couldn’t believe his ears.

With his small arms and legs, it was clear he wouldn’t even last one round against Gon! Sending him first, how was that different from sending him to his death?

Thankfully, Chen Xing also knew his brother’s situation and immediately stepped forward. “Caroline, how about I go first instead?”

Facing Chen Xing’s proactive challenge, Caroline shook her head and said, “No, you already have a yellow card. Without knowing what other hidden rules this guy has designed, you going first would be the most irrational action.”

Chen Xing: “But my brother, he…”

Caroline: “Don’t worry, he’ll be fine. Because if I’m not mistaken, the core of the referee’s Star Source is actually the word ‘fairness’. And in order to maintain fairness, this guy, in addition to strictly adhering to all the public rules he just stated, must also present any hidden rules he’s secretly designed to us in some subtle way. Otherwise, such hidden rules would be too unfair.”

At this point, Caroline suddenly pointed to the clock hanging on the wall in the hall and said, “What do you think the meaning of this clock is?”

With Caroline’s prompting, Chen Xing immediately seemed to ponder. Chen Kong, however, foolishly said, “It’s so we can see the time here?”

Caroline: “…”

What you said is good, but please don’t say it next time, because I hate foolishness.

Fortunately, Chen Kong’s foolishness didn’t mean Chen Xing was also foolish. After a simple thought, Chen Xing quickly had the answer. “You mean, this match, from the very beginning… has strict time limits? Otherwise, in this timeless subspace, there would be no need for this object that allows us to observe time.”

Caroline nodded, indicating Chen Xing was correct. Then she turned to look at Gon, who was completely numb in the arena. “Yes, this guy was secretly misleading us from the very beginning.

Because whether it was his exaggerated opening performance or his leisurely explanation of the rules afterward, all he wanted was for us to subconsciously assume one thing: that he had plenty of time and could slowly play with us.

This way, he could not only increase our sense of urgency but also make us, in our tension, forget our original sense of time, thus making it difficult to discover this hidden rule. But he forgot one thing.”

This time, it wasn’t Chen Kong or Chen Xing who spoke, but Gon from a distance. He was also very curious about what he had forgotten.

Caroline: “You forgot to state the conditions for a draw. You know, for any type of competition, if enough matches are held, with a large enough base, small probability events will inevitably occur at some point. And once such a small probability event occurs, to prevent similar situations from happening again, it will definitely be recorded and even evolve into one of the existing competition rules.

Although a draw is very unlikely in this best-of-three dodgeball match, I was still able to deduce several small probability situations that could result in a draw in a very short time.

Even I, who am participating in dodgeball for the first time, can calculate the existence of a draw, so Gon, as the referee and organizer, cannot possibly not know. If that’s the case, then why didn’t he say anything? You know, in the face of such a huge level gap, even if we knew the draw conditions, it would be difficult for us to achieve them.

He didn’t need to specifically hide them; he could have openly included them in the public rules. After all, I speculate that the more rules he makes public, the greater his advantage in this match. But he’s actually willing to give up an advantage to hide all the draw conditions, which can only mean one thing.”

Mean what? Chen Kong, who was already a bit confused, foolishly asked.

Caroline: “It means that among those different draw conditions, there is one that, even if our level is lower than his, we still have a good chance of achieving. And among the draw conditions I can think of, there is only one that fits our current situation. That is, with an equal number of small round wins, an equal number of dodgeball hits and catches, and the same number of penalty cards, we drag the game until the match time ends.”

Chen Kong: “But if that’s the case, my sister wouldn’t be…”

Chen Kong was about to say something, but then he suddenly reacted and slapped himself on the head, realizing, “…Oh right, I forgot I can remove the yellow card status from my sister. This way, as long as I choose to activate my ability, my sister will be as if she never received a yellow card. After all, a yellow card is essentially a Star Energy spell, not a real rule.”

Caroline: “Mm, so you going first is the best option. Because if you’re not trying to win, just aiming for a draw, you can focus solely on dodging and don’t need to catch the ball. And among the three of us, in terms of dodging and hiding ability, Chen Kong, you’re actually superior to us.”

Chen Kong: “Okay, Sister Caroline, I understand! This first round, leave it to me.”

After listening to Caroline’s analysis, Chen Kong, who had originally been afraid of going first, instantly became full of confidence. Come on, he might not be good at fighting, but when it came to hiding and dodging abilities, with the Mark of Emptiness, no one among the 36 members of the entire Starfall Project, except for Brother Tendo, could contend with him! At this moment, Chen Kong for the first time had the illusion that he wasn’t a burden, but a crucial member of the team.

Meanwhile, the Dimensional Audience at Station 13, after hearing Caroline’s analysis, instantly understood Gon’s insidious nature and couldn’t help but complain.

‘He’s already the referee personally participating, yet he still designed so many hidden rules. This guy is really dark.’

‘”Clearly strong, but excessively sinister”‘

‘No wonder you’re a fish pond killer. The fish are already in the pond, and you’re still unfairly using pumping and electrocution. With that fishing method, who wouldn’t catch fish?’

Silence. Gon was completely silenced by Caroline at this point. He had met many intelligent automatons, but he had never encountered one as meticulous and quick-witted as Caroline. No, if you’re so capable, why are you Isabelle’s bodyguard? Wouldn’t it be better to work independently?

Fortunately, even though Caroline had uncovered a lot of his trump cards, he still had a backup plan! He just had to find a way to speed up the match and couldn’t let Caroline keep talking. Because if she kept talking, he was genuinely afraid she’d expose all his trump cards.

So, seeing Chen Kong already wearing the Red Team player’s exclusive dodgeball vest and entering the field, Gon immediately spoke, “Alright, I’m flipping a coin now. The chosen person gets the opening offense. Heads or tails?”

Chen Kong thought for a moment and said, “I’ll choose heads.”

Gon: “Okay.”

As the words fell, Gon immediately flicked the silver coin in his hand. The silver coin, after a free fall, finally came to rest on the ground. Seeing the result of the coin toss, Gon immediately congratulated him, “It’s heads. Your luck is pretty good.”

However, unlike Chen Kong, whose face was joyful, Caroline looked at Gon, who was still wearing his referee uniform, and immediately became thoughtful.

Gon: “Here, you get to attack first in this round.”

Gon casually tossed it, and the heavy lead ball arced through the air before being clumsily caught by Chen Kong. Even this simple catch left Chen Kong’s arms aching. One could only imagine what would happen if he were hit by that ball… Thinking this, Chen Kong immediately swallowed, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

However, he quickly had a change of thought. With a draw as his goal, he would most likely not get another chance to attack. Therefore, this attack would likely be his only offensive opportunity in this first round, and he absolutely couldn’t waste it.

After all, if he could somehow hit, he would only need to keep dodging afterward, and after time ran out, he could even win a valuable round for his team, increasing their chances of winning. Thinking this, Chen Kong immediately prepared to throw the ball forcefully at Gon in the arena.

But just as he was about to do so, Caroline, not far away, suddenly interrupted him.

Caroline: “Wait, Kong, don’t throw yet. Wait until he puts on his player’s vest. Because if you throw now, you’ll be attacking the referee without cause. At best, you’ll get a yellow card; at worst, you’ll lose this match directly.”

At these words, Chen Kong immediately stopped his original movement and regained his balance with a stumble. On the other side, seeing another one of his schemes exposed by Caroline, Gon was utterly furious. After all, if Caroline hadn’t reminded him quickly, would this simple-minded guy in front of him have realized his trap? He would have fallen for it long ago and lost this first match at light speed!

Gon was infuriated that such a rookie had escaped. “Damn it, next time I’m definitely adding another public rule: non-players are not allowed to say a single word!”

He grumbled, glaring at Caroline outside the field, then walked unhappily to the side and took off his referee uniform. As the referee uniform was fully removed, Gon quickly displayed his upper body muscles, which looked like a human sculpture, in front of everyone.

Perhaps to vent his dissatisfaction, or perhaps to put some pressure on Chen Kong, Gon didn’t rush to put on the blue team’s athlete vest on the ground. Instead, he provocatively struck a standard bodybuilding pose, trying his best to show off his exaggerated muscles.

At the same time, Gon’s back muscles continuously tensed during this process, and the intricate muscle lines slowly formed a pattern resembling a ‘demonic ghost’, commonly known as the Demon Back!

After showcasing his strength, Gon contentedly put on the blue team’s exclusive dodgeball vest and said in a low voice, “Kid, don’t think you can rest easy just because someone is helping you. Although I’m a Specialist, as a referee who has personally participated in matches for years, this ultimate physique, forged through countless trials, is definitely not something your skinny arms and legs can compare to. Because my purity… is far above yours! Come on, kid, let me see your purity!”

Hearing this, Chen Kong took a deep breath, revealing a resolute look in his eyes. This look and the aura he exuded actually startled Gon a bit. So much so that Gon immediately adopted a serious defensive stance, extremely wary and ready to face Chen Kong’s upcoming attack.

Chen Kong: “Ha!”

Chen Kong shouted loudly, then exerted all his strength to throw the lead ball in his hand. His posture was so standard, it was like a textbook demonstration. However, unlike his professional movements, the lead ball thrown by Chen Kong flew in an extremely low arc. It landed prematurely a full five meters away from Gon.

Gulu-lulu—

After a slow and harmless roll, the lead ball he had thrown finally stopped half a meter from Gon’s feet.

Chen Xing, Caroline, Gon, Dimensional Audience: “…”

Looking at the lead ball on the ground, Gon picked it up silently after a moment of daze. Then he looked up at the embarrassed Chen Kong not far away and sighed deeply.

Gon: “I’m sorry, I overestimated you. Others might be pretending to be bad, but you are really bad.”

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep