Yun Zhonghe stepped forward and chugged the four poisons in sequence: bottle one, bottle two, bottle three, and bottle four.

 A few seconds later, blood came out of every orifice in his head.

 He was dead!

 At the age of nineteen.

 This was his way out?

 “Patient Nine, Quantum, was this how you predicted the future?

 “You ran the calculations and simulations in your head again and again.

 “No wonder you could make accurate predictions in the first and last years of your stay in the hospital. How many simulations did you have to create for that many variables?

 “It’s a miracle that your brain didn’t explode.”

 He only had the time of a burning incense stick left when he had closed his eyes. He had shuddered as he felt chills run down his spine.

 The once amazing Patient Nine, Quantum, possessed him.

 Then, he started running simulations of the current situation in his mind.

 The experience was very real, as if he was the most advanced tactical simulation system.

 ***

 The second simulation was done.

 He drank the poisons in a different sequence: bottle number one, two, four, and three.

 He died!

 In the third simulation, he drank the poisons in the sequence: one, three, two, and four.

 He died!

 The fourth simulation.

 He died!

 The fifth simulation.

 He died!

 What the hell.

 Enough!

 He only had a little time left.

 Soon, the incense stick would burn to its end.

 ***

 Yun Zhonghe kept wanting to read Xu Anting’s mind, but he failed because Xu Anting was a very strong-willed person. There was no emotion in his eyes or on his face, and he wouldn’t whisper anything to himself.

 However, when Viper took the only bottle with non-poisonous liquid, and Yun Zhonghe had certainly lost, Xu Anting finally experienced a fluctuation in the emotions deep inside him. At that instant, Xu Anting whispered in his mind, “Drink all.”

 Yun Zhonghe could finally read one of his thoughts.

 From there, Yun Zhonghe inferred that although all four bottles left contained poisonous liquids, they would become harmless when they were mixed together. The various toxicities would cancel each other out.

 Nevertheless, he didn’t rush to drink all the liquids together. He asked for Quantum’s help to do a tactical simulation of consuming the four liquids in different orders.

 Let the “professional” nutcase do his job.

 That was why the above scenes appeared in Yun Zhonghe’s mind.

 But the result wasn’t too encouraging.

 The incense stick had burned to an end, but Yun Zhonghe had only done twenty-three simulations in Quantum’s spiritual world.

 They all gave the same result; Yun Zhonghe died with blood coming out of every orifice.

 There were 24 different potential orders in which Yun Zhonghe could drink the four bottles. However, he had only tested 23 of them. Only the last permutation, four, three, one, and two, was left behind.

 After eliminating the 23 wrong answers, the last one had to be correct.

 But who knew? Who could be sure?

 Who could know for sure what Xu Anting’s monologue meant? He hadn’t clearly stated that mixing all four liquids would make them harmless.

 On top of that, only three or four of all Quantum’s predictions throughout his sixteen years of calculating and forecasting were accurate.

 Yun Zhonghe was betting his life on this.

 “Mr. Yun, time’s up,” Xu Anting said.

 Yun Zhonghe opened his eyes, stepped forward, and mixed the four liquids in the sequence of bottle number four, three, one, and two.

 At that moment, everyone’s expressions changed.

 Yun Zhonghe lifted the glass. Although the liquid was poisonous, he acted like he was holding a glass of Lafite 1982. (Why was it not a Romanée-Conti?)

 He swirled the glass and smelled it.

 Ugh!

 “Under the circumstances, I would like to compose a poem.” Yun Zhonghe held the glass with only two fingers and stuck his pinky out, looking graceful and elegant. The people in the room were suddenly greatly anticipating hearing the poem. How legendary would his poem be?

 Even Sister Xu Antiing and Viper pricked up their ears, awaiting Yun Zhonghe’s poem.

 Yun Zhonghe got emotionally ready, and a mightily remarkable poem came pouring out of his mouth.

 “I am drinking in this lonesomeness

 I am drunk and I see two beautiful you

 Each of you is in each of my eyes

 I only wish that we could be together someday

 She tenderly plays her zither

 Swallows were frolicking in my black bamboo forest

 I am in love so deep with a beautiful woman

 With all my heart and soul

 I would travel a thousand miles to look for you…”

 Goosebumps suddenly rose on the skin of everyone in the basement. They were electrified by the poem.

 Yun Zhonghe stopped reciting out of the blue. He held the glass, looked at the poison inside, and said to Viper, “I bet my life on this! I’ll chug, and you drink as much as you please!”

 Then, Yun Zhonghe drank all the liquid in the glass.

 A heavy silence fell upon the room. All eyes were on Yun Zhonghe.

 Drinking a combination of four poisons could kill someone in a split second. Yun Zhonghe was indeed a wack job.

 But after drinking the liquid, Yun Zhonghe did not move a muscle. It was as if he was immobilized.

 ***

 After a while, two minutes had passed.

 Yun Zhonghe opened his mouth and said, “Shopkeeper Xu, a refill, please!”

 Nothing happened to him. The toxicities canceled each other out and became harmless after the four poisons were mixed in the order four, three, one, and two.

 Yun Zhonghe had won the bet.

 Everyone remained silent.

 Yun Zhonghe said, “Xu Anting, Viper, I won the competition, didn’t I?”

 According to the rules, the third round technically ended with a tie because both of them drank the poison and hadn’t died.

 But everyone knew that Yun Zhonghe had won.

 Perhaps it might have been hard to choose the bottle with the harmless liquid right away, but it was even harder to mix the liquids and make them harmless.

 Doing so required courage, wisdom, steadiness, and calmness.

 Xu Anting was stupefied. He still couldn’t believe what he had seen.

 He had applied what he had been studying for his whole life on toxicology in the third round. There was seemingly only one bottle that contained harmless liquid. It looked like a dead-end, but there was a hidden solution, a potential for a losing player to be reborn.

 Deep down, he hadn’t expected that to happen because it was too hard.

 Who would have figured out that once all four poisons were consumed, the toxicity was annihilated?

 And who would have known that the four liquids had to be consumed in the correct order? Even a tiny mistake would turn the mixture into a lethal poison.

 Only one out of the 24 arrangements was correct.

 Yun Zhonghe had found the solution that was hidden in the blind alley.

 If he hadn’t won, who had?

 It was utterly breathtaking.

 Other than the poem, Yun Zhonghe was awesome.

 ***

 Xu Anting looked at Viper and said, “Sir, you rank way higher than me, and you are my idol. How would you judge the current situation? Who won the competition? I will leave it up to you.”

 According to people’s opinions, Yun Zhonghe had won.

 However, according to the rules, the third round ended up in a draw, or Viper could even be considered as the winner since he had drunk the harmless liquid in the shortest time.

 Everyone was staring at Viper, waiting for his decision.

 Viper was like a wooden doll. He didn’t move at all, nor did he react to what Xu Anting had said.

 Xu Anting asked again, “Mr. Viper, who do you think is the winner?”

 Viper opened his eyes and exhaled deeply. He stared at Yun Zhonghe and said, “The poem was nice.”

 “See? He is a man of taste. Only such a man would appreciate the poem that I, Yun Zhonghe, wrote.”

 “A song that wrenches the heart, where do I find a knowing ear? But, Mr. Viper, your reaction was rather slow.”

 Xu Anting said, “So, Mr. Viper, who do you think won?”

 Viper still didn’t say anything about the winner. Instead, he gave Yun Zhonghe a fist and palm salute and said, “Farewell.”

 Then, he walked toward the door. Needless to say, he had decided that Yun Zhonghe had won.

 However, when he reached the door, he stopped, gave Yun Zhonghe a fist and palm salute again, and said, “It was an honor to meet you.”

 Yun Zhonghe returned the salute. “The honor is mine.”

 Viper said, “It was a pleasure to meet you.”

 Yun Zhonghe said, “The pleasure is mine.”

 Then, Viper was gone.

 What he didn’t say was that he would put in a good word for Yun Zhonghe and Feng Xingmie when he went back and ask the No-King Division to fully support Yun Zhonghe’s undercover operations.

 From the beginning to the end, Yun Zhonghe hadn’t clearly seen what Viper really looked like, but he could be certain that he was a wonderful man.

 When he could no longer see Viper’s figure, Yun Zhonghe said, “He is a pro.”

 Xu Anting nodded in agreement. Then he sighed. “I will regret for the rest of my life that I wasn’t able to work with Mr. Viper.”

 Yun Zhonghe frowned immediately. He looked at Xu Anting and whispered to himself, “I don’t like what I just heard.”

 “Shopkeeper Xu, you are blowing hot and cold like a fickle lover.”

 Xu Anting looked at Yun Zhonghe, and a chill went down his spine.

 There was a certain kind of person that you would do anything to help when he was in danger, but once he was safe, you would feel like killing him.

 Yun Zhonghe was that kind of person.

 From now on, he, Xu Anting, would be working with Yun Zhonghe to execute the mission in the City of Torn Gust.

 Xu Anting didn’t know why he suddenly had an urge to run out and stop Mr. Viper from leaving.

 However, there was no use crying over spilled milk at the moment.

 “Mr. Yun, welcome aboard,” Xu Anting said. “The mission in the City of Torn Gust is now yours, and all of us will give you our full support. Time is of the essence. Let’s get started.”

 Yun Zhonghe was startled, and he whispered to himself, “Start now? It’s that urgent? You aren’t going to throw me a welcoming party? No team-building?”

 “I have a location in mind: the Sleepy Spring Brothel would be just right. Those girls are so warm and lovely.”