Chapter 169: The Life Card
Su Shan reached out and grabbed a card, and Qi Xia followed closely behind.
Whatever the face of this card was didn’t matter.
Their tactics were already set.
Qi Xia placed the "Gun" on the table, while Su Shan put down a "Knife."
Neither of them tried to hide anything; they simply pushed their cards face-up.
"Su Shan, I have the 'Gun,' and you have the 'Knife,'" Qi Xia said.
Su Shan nodded and asked, "Qi Xia, have you ever fired a gun?"
"Fired a gun?"
"Do you know what model of handgun will drop when our cards are played?" Su Shan continued. "And how do you load it? How do you release the safety?"
Qi Xia frowned slightly but didn’t answer.
"I bet your teammate can’t pull the trigger within ten seconds," Su Shan said, forcing herself to stay calm. "And even if he somehow manages to fire, he won’t kill Zichen outright. Ten seconds is too short."
With that, she took out another "Gun" card, flipped it over, and showed it to Qi Xia.
"As long as Zichen is still breathing, I’ll make sure he gets the 'Gun' in the second round. That’s when the real outcome will be decided."
Qi Xia stared into Su Shan’s eyes for a long time before saying, "I really hope you don’t die here."
"Heh, is that so?" Su Shan let out a cold laugh. "But you’ve been ruthlessly trying to kill me. One of us is going to die here."
"That’s not what I meant." Qi Xia scratched his head. "Look, after this game... if you figure something out, you can come find me at the school in the west."
"What?" Su Shan was momentarily stunned. "After this game?"
"It’s complicated to explain," Qi Xia shook his head. "Or maybe you’ll never remember me at all."
"Stop changing the subject." Su Shan interrupted. "All I see is victory or defeat. Let’s begin."
Di Ji waved his hand after seeing their cards, and the props dropped into the glass room.
Zichen immediately grabbed the machete from the ground and was about to charge forward when a dark gun barrel was already aimed at him.
"Don’t move," Dr. Zhao said.
"You..."
Zichen saw the man in front of him lean his gun-holding shoulder slightly back, arms bent, both hands gripping the pistol with a very professional posture.
At that moment, Dr. Zhao’s mind kept echoing Qi Xia’s words: "When I play the 'Gun,' make sure it doesn’t fall to the ground."
The situation was exactly as Qi Xia had predicted.
"This Glock 19 is the same model I used in my shooting course," Dr. Zhao said through gritted teeth. "I’m aiming at your chest. If a human gets shot in the upper torso without medical treatment, the chance of survival is extremely low."
Hearing this, Zichen swallowed nervously. He felt the other man was probably telling the truth.
But at this point, surrender was out of the question. So he moved his lips slightly and squeezed out four words: "You’re bluffing..."
"You can try." Dr. Zhao’s hands didn’t tremble at all as he stared unblinkingly at the other man. "Put down the knife. In exchange, I won’t fire this round."
"Put it down...?" Zichen kept thinking—why was the other man so insistent on him dropping the knife when he clearly had a gun?
"I’ll count to five. If you don’t put down the knife, I’ll shoot immediately." Dr. Zhao paused, then began counting, "Five, four, three, two..."
"I’m not putting it down!" Zichen shouted. "I’m going to kill you!"
He raised the knife and was about to lunge forward when a cold, broadcast voice slowly rang out: "Time’s up. Please cease all actions."
"What..." Zichen looked up in confusion, realizing that ten seconds had passed.
No matter how much of what the other man said was true or false, he had been stalling for time.
But what was the purpose of his stalling?
"Both of you, please discard your props."
Dr. Zhao turned around without hesitation and tossed the gun into the window. Seeing this, Zichen was baffled but could only throw the knife into the window behind him as well.
This was the second time he had gotten a knife, and yet every time he was unable to move. The feeling tormented him.
"Qi Xia, what are you plotting?" Su Shan asked.
"I..." Qi Xia thought for a moment and then said, "I’m going to make a bet with you—betting everything we have on the table."
"A bet?"
"If possible, I want to push you into a state of utter despair," Qi Xia said.
"You really aren’t normal..." Su Shan’s hands were trembling slightly. She had no idea what the man in front of her was thinking. "You want to kill me, and make me despair too?"
"I..." Qi Xia didn’t continue, just nodded.
"Round eight. Draw a card."
Qi Xia immediately grabbed a card, didn’t even look at it, and tossed it aside.
Su Shan slowly drew a card as well. She knew that no matter what the other man was thinking, now was the perfect moment to kill him.
Following her strategy, she played the "Gun."
Qi Xia played a "Knife."
Neither of them hid their play; they both revealed their cards face-up.
"The roles are reversed, Su Shan," Qi Xia said. "This round, you have the gun. What will you do?"
"I’ll kill you without hesitation," Su Shan said.
Di Ji waved his hand, and the props for round eight dropped.
When Zichen saw the gun, he grabbed it as fast as he could and aimed it at Dr. Zhao. But half a second later, cold sweat trickled down his forehead.
This gun... was too light.
Dr. Zhao unhurriedly picked up the knife, raised his head, and said, "Sorry about this."
As soon as he spoke, he charged forward.
"What the hell is this?!"
Zichen screamed and pulled the trigger. A tiny, barely visible stream of water shot from the muzzle.
Su Shan’s eyes slowly widened. She had never considered this possibility.
In this game, every "prop" was supposed to exist for killing. The club was polished, the knife was sharpened—but the "Gun" was a toy?!
In an instant, Dr. Zhao was in front of Zichen. He swung the knife and slashed it into Zichen’s thigh.
"Ah!!" Zichen screamed in agony as he collapsed to his knees, blood pouring from his leg.
He thought he was done for.
But Dr. Zhao didn’t make another move after that one slash. Instead, with a grave expression, he slowly backed away a few steps, waited for the ten seconds to pass, and then threw the knife into the window behind him.
Zichen gritted his teeth, stood up, and despite the excruciating pain, threw the gun into his own window.
"So you already knew the gun was a toy..." Zichen muttered. "That’s why you had to catch it before it hit the ground... otherwise I would have heard it was plastic."
"You probably don’t know how terrifying our 'mastermind' really is." Dr. Zhao let out a soft sigh. "He had me use a water gun to successfully disarm you."
By now, Su Shan also understood the gravity of the situation.
The seemingly most powerful "Life Card" was actually a completely useless piece of plastic—its lethality was even less than a rope.
"This damn rooster left me a faint hope in this deck..." Su Shan slowly raised her head, feeling deceived. "He’s messing with me..."
"He didn’t mess with you." Qi Xia shook his head and pointed at the writing on the card. "This card is called the 'Life Card,' and it’s always had the word 'JOKER' written on it."
"What...?"
"Think about it—the shield in this game is made of wood, meaning the 'Gun' should be invincible." Qi Xia said calmly. "If there were a guaranteed win card, then why would we go through all this trouble fighting tooth and nail? Whoever draws the 'Gun' wins—that’s not the kind of scene Di Ji wants to see. Look at the cards in our hands; he wants us to torment each other in a long, drawn-out slaughter. That’s why the 'Gun' is just a prank. When you play this 'Life Card,' no one dies."