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Chapter 451 No Dogs Allowed
Perhaps because the event changed the terrain, the Liannu River had narrowed considerably, and a large number of players gathered together.

Gu Mian saw what appeared to be chessboard-like grids on the water ahead, and then the introduction to this stage appeared in front of her.

Minesweeping on the Water

[The waterway ahead is divided into grids, with safe zones and bomb zones. The first row has no bomb zones. Bomb zones explode every minute, instantly capsizing any player within them. Once a player enters a grid, a number will be displayed, indicating the total number of bomb zones in that grid and adjacent grids. Players must use the safe grids to reach the finish line.]

Gu Mian saw a 60-second countdown in the sky ahead. Every time the countdown reached "0", the ships in the blast zone would be blown up.

This thing is similar to the Minesweeper game they usually play on the computer. Gu Mian's ship wasn't at the very front; he saw that many of the ships that had entered the grid area ahead had already been blown up.

After all, not everyone knows how to play Minesweeper. For example, Gu Mian had only played this game when he was bored before. He had no idea how to play and just randomly clicked around.

Gu Mian has always had bad luck and often triggers mines at the start of the game, but that's okay, since triggering a mine won't actually kill him.

But things are different now; now, if you accidentally trigger a grenade, you really will be blown up.

By this time, quite a few people had already died.

Real-world Minesweeper is different from the computer version. On the computer, you can click anywhere on the grid, but now their ships can't fly. They can only enter from the edge area, pass through the center, and finally leave the area.

Their ship had now reached the front of the first row of grids.

Gu Mian glanced at it and found that the grid in this area was seven rows by seven rows, and each cell was quite large, which was different from the Minesweeper game on the computer.

As expected, there were no bombs in the first row; the players who capsized all started from the second row.

At this moment, the ship at the front was stopped in the third row. Several people on that ship were craning their necks to look at the grid on the water around them. Other players followed the route taken by this ship, but unfortunately their ships were blown up. It seems that the minefields on each ship are different.

Gu Mian confidently directed her brother and Xiao Hong into the rightmost grid in the first row. Immediately afterwards, Gu Mian saw the number "1" rise from the top of their boat.

“I know,” the fat man looked up at the number above their ship, “it means there’s a bomb in the cell next to us.”

Actually, there is a very simple way to pass the level: just rush through this area in one go within sixty seconds.

But that's unlikely.

Now each boat is equipped with a boatman, who rows the boat slowly. Gu Mian observed that the players' boats can only move a maximum of three squares per minute, roughly the distance from the first row to the third row.

Even if you keep rushing forward at full speed, it will take you a little over two minutes to get past it, and those who try to rush forward at full speed will basically have their boats blown up halfway through.

Meanwhile, the player in first place at the front of the pack capsized because he went to the wrong square, and the other players had all stopped.

The fat man looked troubled: "They're just giving us a number and telling us to wander around aimlessly. It's all about luck. There are three squares next to us. Who knows which square the bomb is in?"

Meanwhile, Chu Changge had peeked out, secretly observing the ships ahead. "There are no bombs in the first row. Bombs can only be in the two squares in front of us. Let's move sideways first." Gu Mian instructed Xiao Hong to push the ship one square to the left, and a new number "2" appeared on the ship.

This means there are two bombs in the five surrounding squares, but since there are no bombs in the first row, the two bombs are in the three squares in front.

Still, nothing could be discerned. Gu Mian and the others moved another space to the left, but the number displayed in the third space from the right in the first row was still "2".

The fat man tugged at his hair: "There are still two bombs in the first three squares, so the rightmost square in the second row is safe, and the square to our left front is also safe."

A minute had passed while Gu Mian and her group were moving, and some more players had moved to the third row.

Just as Gu Mian was about to head towards the square to her left, Chu Changge, who had only shown his head, suddenly spoke up: "The second, fourth, and sixth squares from right to left in the third row are safe. No player has ever been caught in those squares."
"And all the odd-numbered squares in the third row, counting from right to left, will explode. I just observed that the boatman moves three squares per minute, and I guess this is information provided by the event."

The fat man looked left and right, but still couldn't understand what Chu Changge meant.

Gu Mian stroked her chin: "The event is designed to prevent players from rushing through a single vertical grid. Players can only move three grids per minute. Even if they rush forward recklessly, they can only reach the third row before the explosion. If it's really as Chu Changge said, that the even-numbered grids in the third row are safe and the odd-numbered grids are bombs, then the even-numbered grids in the sixth row are definitely not safe, and the odd-numbered grids are not necessarily safe either."

After changing boats, the brother and Xiao Hong's speed noticeably decreased, barely faster than the boatmen, and Gu Mian couldn't rush past them directly.

Chu Changge continued, "The maximum speed for ordinary players is three grids per minute. I've discovered that if you start moving from a safe grid, there will definitely be another safe grid within three grids. The event doesn't put players in a situation where they are doomed."

Gu Mian frowned as she looked ahead: "According to the rule that three rows of odd numbers are guaranteed to die and two rows are guaranteed to live, six rows of two rows are guaranteed to die and there is always one safe grid within three rows... Xiao Hong, listen to my command."

The fat man frowned as well, a sense of foreboding creeping into his heart.

Sure enough, he heard that unlucky Gu Mian start giving instructions: "We are now in the third square from the right in the first row, move one square to the left, and two squares forward..."

That brings us to the fourth square in the third row, which is an absolutely safe square.

The number displayed in the fourth cell of the second row is "4".

The number displayed on their ship is now "6", indicating that there are six bomb zones around them.

Just as the two ghosts were pushing the boat into this square, the explosion zone went off, and the boats in both squares were blown over.

Before anyone could even observe this rising star, the man with the black-rimmed glasses once again gave the order without hesitation: "Move forward two more spaces."

The boat, which had no boatman at all, seemed to come alive and began to glide forward.

However, at this moment, the people were no longer concerned about whether the ship had come to life. They swallowed hard and watched the ship getting further and further away: "So reckless? Aren't they afraid of getting blown up?"

(End of this chapter)