The Master's Mask Unveiled Again

Chapter 134: Chapter 133: Saving You Some Face

Lu Mian collected her gaze without a sound.

The tips of her fingers, touched by Xiao Qimo, were slightly warm, and she gently curled them up, hiding everything without a trace.

Xiao Qimo maintained his usual serious demeanor, deliberately looking away.

Opposite them, Su Luo also began to speak, holding the game prop in her hand.

“Lu Mian, this is a 4×4 digital Huarong Dao. The goal is to reorder the number blocks on the game board from left to right, top to bottom in the correct sequence, using as few steps and as little time as possible. Do you understand the rules?”

Lu Mian nodded.

A 4×4 game board has a total of 16 block spaces, 15 with numbers. The missing number block is the space for movement. Simply put, all she had to do was arrange the numbers 1-15 in order on the board.

Standing between the two, Xiao Qimo swept his gaze unintentionally over Lu Mian, his hand already prepared with a stopwatch.

“Ready?”

Su Luo: “Director Qimo, I’m ready.”

He didn’t respond, waiting for Lu Mian.

Lu Mian nodded somewhat impatiently.

“Begin.”

The low, gentle voice fell, and the girls in the competition began to fiddle with the props in their hands.

The onlooking students all craned their necks, not daring to cheer or speak, just silently and excitedly watching. Especially Su Luo, whose hands moved so adeptly and quickly, they hadn’t even reacted before she had already arranged a row of numbers.

Indeed, a Go prodigy. That hand speed, that intellect, that logical thinking ability, they were way beyond their league.

Looking back at Lu Mian, she was flipping the blocks so carelessly, not seeming to be competing, but rather as if playing with a toy.

She must be planning to give up the competition, not even showing a hint of nervousness!

Su Luo had a great chance of winning. Ten seconds had passed, and she had already completed half. This game was about fighting for every second; as long as she maintained this pace, beating Lu Mian would be easy.

Fifteen seconds later, Su Luo chuckled as she put the last number in place.

With a victorious smile curling at her lips, she raised her hand.

However, before she could speak, Lu Mian’s leisurely voice preempted from the other side.

“I’ve finished.”

Su Luo looked over incredulously, her smile stiffening—Lu Mian had actually finished a step ahead of her?!

Xiao Qimo carelessly stopped the timer, checked the results of both sides, which were correct, making the competition valid.

“The first round is.…”

“Director Qimo! This isn’t fair!” Before he could finish, Bai Fangfei and the others were already dissatisfied.

Xiao Qimo slightly narrowed his eyes.

“Director Qimo, clearly Su Luo finished first; she just didn’t announce it that quickly! Although Lu Mian was fast, she was at least one second slower than Su Luo!”

“I agree! Just looking at Su Luo’s hand speed, she was much faster than Lu Mian! How could she possibly beat Su Luo…”

Fat Hao and Shouhao crossed their arms and sneered coldly.

See, I knew this would happen.

A group who never believed Lu Mian could win, their first reaction when Lu Mian slapped them in the face was to question it.

Su Luo also nodded, “Director Qimo, I was a bit slow to speak, how will you judge this?”

Xiao Qimo appeared to be strictly businesslike, explaining indifferently with the stopwatch in hand: “Lu Mian wins.”

“Why?”

“By the time you finished, she had already been waiting for you for seven seconds.”

At these words, the room fell silent.

Su Luo was stunned: …

Her backers too slowly opened their mouths, as if in slow motion.

In a game where a single second could determine the winner, Lu Mian had finished seven seconds faster than Su Luo?!

Shouhao, hands on his hips, boasted proudly: “Our Brother Mian finished at 20 seconds, while Su Luo only finished at 27 seconds!”

“Su Luo, our Brother Mian was actually being considerate, afraid that going too fast would hurt your pride!”