Chapter 633: The Synodic Month
Qi Xia walked up to the Earth Monkey and reached out to tap the counter.
Only then did the Earth Monkey seem to hear something, slowly opening his clouded eyes.
"Fuck, welcome. Leave two 'Dao' here and you can start gambling..."
His words seemed to come before his body had fully awakened; before he was completely conscious, the greeting had already reached the ears of the group.
Upon hearing this, Qi Xia tossed two 'Dao' onto the table and said, "Not only can we start gambling, but you can start gambling too."
"Huh...?" The Earth Monkey opened his eyes and rubbed them, then looked at the two 'Dao' on the table, as if pondering the meaning of those words.
"Accept the entry fee. Let's begin," Qi Xia said.
Hearing this voice, the Earth Monkey slowly raised his head, his gaze meeting Qi Xia's.
Then came a silence that lasted over ten seconds.
The silence was perfectly timed. Whether it was the Earth Monkey's drowsiness or something else at play, he simply didn't speak for a long time.
"I... start gambling too?" He stared at Qi Xia for a long while before finally uttering those four words.
"What, is it inconvenient for you?" Qi Xia asked with a frown.
"Ha... hahaha..."
The Earth Monkey suddenly let out an unpleasant laugh. Qi Xia felt that this smile bore some resemblance to the one he had seen on Chen Junnan the first time they met.
"Of course I can start gambling..." The Earth Monkey slowly stood up, then shook his head helplessly.
He walked straight past the group, went directly to the entrance, and reached out to close the door.
"Special guests have come to the shop today. Closed for gambling." He turned back to survey the six people standing in the room. "Do all of you—men, women, young, old—want to gamble with me?"
"What men, women, young, old..." Qi Xia said calmly. "Do you think everyone standing here is weak?"
"Whether a team is weak or strong mainly depends on whether the 'leading sheep' is strong," the Earth Monkey chuckled. "I fully believe in this team's strength."
The Earth Monkey's words carried a subtext, and Qi Xia naturally caught it.
But it was hard to tell right now whether this person was connected to him or to the 'Heavenly Dragon'.
When Qinglong had given him the map, he had clearly expressed his hope that Qi Xia would come and meet these eight 'Zodiacs'. Unexpectedly, the first 'Zodiac' seemed to have some connection with him.
"Leading sheep...?" Qi Xia nodded. "Interesting. Shall we begin?"
"Then I'll have to carefully choose the gambling event... heh heh." The Earth Monkey kept staring at Qi Xia, his eyes exceptionally deep.
"You get to choose?" Qi Xia asked back. "This is your venue, and we're using your equipment. Yet you say you need to choose the 'gambling event' yourself? Doesn't that seem a bit unfair?"
"You can't say that..." The Earth Monkey smiled. "All of you are a team. I find it hard to believe you're not planning to cheat. It's me against six. No matter how you look at it, I'm the disadvantaged side. So I have to choose the event myself."
Qi Xia slowly furrowed his brow upon hearing this.
"You should also know, right? What determines the outcome of a gamble isn't the 'event'?" The Earth Monkey slowly walked back to the table and bent down to search for something. "The most important thing in gambling... is clearly the 'people'."
After a moment, he pulled out a wooden box from under the table.
This delicate wooden box seemed utterly out of place against the dirty, chaotic environment of the venue.
It was square, its entire body a dark brown with clear wood grain. Every edge was adorned with gleaming golden threads. The top of the box was carved with an intaglio pattern of the sun, moon, and stars, and at the center, in gold stamping, was engraved a regular script.
It read: "The Synodic Month."
The surface of the wooden box was spotless, as if it were wiped every day. Yet now the Earth Monkey still reached out, gently wiped the surface, and then opened the box in front of everyone.
The moment the box opened, a faint, subtle fragrance of wood wafted out. The group stepped closer to see that the interior was lined with soft velvet, containing a stack of cards facing down, with the words "Nuwa Game" written on the backs.
"For many years, I've been waiting for someone to gamble with me on a round of 'The Synodic Month'," the Earth Monkey said, looking at the box with a somewhat dazed expression. "But unfortunately, no one was worthy. I haven't met a single gambler who could make me pull out this deck. Those who have gambling skills lack knowledge; those who have knowledge lack courage."
"Is that so?" Qi Xia responded ambiguously. "With tens of thousands of people in this city, not one caught your eye?"
"This city...?" The Earth Monkey gave a 'heh heh' laugh. "I was assigned from 'Whirlpool City' to 'Jade City', and then from 'Jade City' to here... Not a single person in three cities was worth my attention."
"Oh? That's something new." Qi Xia smiled as well. "You 'Zodiacs' have job transfers too?"
"Of course." The Earth Monkey nodded. "When those two cities had no more 'Participants', the 'Zodiacs' in those cities had to be sent out with their games. Not just me—many 'Zodiacs' receive 'Heavenly-level' orders and undergo transfers."
"Then we're quite lucky." Qi Xia looked down at the wooden box on the table. "Fate allowed us to meet here."
"'Fate'...?" The Earth Monkey slowly narrowed his eyes. "Let's hope it's fate."
"Oh?"
"Have you ever thought... if all the other cities have fallen, and all the 'Zodiacs' gradually gather in the same city—is that a good thing or a bad thing?"
The Earth Monkey seemed to be implying something. Qi Xia didn't answer immediately, just stared into his eyes for a long time, then said, "Start explaining the rules."
Upon hearing this, the group slowly gathered around and looked at the exquisite deck of cards on the table.
"Rules..." The Earth Monkey slowly grinned. "What are you thinking?"
Qi Xia furrowed his brow again.
"The rule of my game is: 'Entry costs two Dao, exit yields ten Dao'," the Earth Monkey said with a sly smile that made Qi Xia sense something was off. "As for how to play this deck... that's for you to figure out."
"Figure out?"
The Earth Monkey picked up the wooden box, turned, and walked toward the large round table in the distance.
The group exchanged glances, realizing the Earth Monkey was starting to play tricks. Strictly speaking, the rules of this deck weren't part of the 'Earth-level game' rules, so the Earth Monkey could conceal them. After all, in this gamble, he was their opponent and had no reason to increase their chances of winning.
After a few seconds of silence, the group also moved toward the round table. Chen Junnan remembered that yesterday, the Earth Monkey had crushed everyone at this very table, winning at least dozens of 'Dao' and one life in that round.
After walking a few steps, Qi Xia shook his head, trying to stay clear-headed. He sat down opposite the Earth Monkey and watched as the other man took out the deck and placed it on the table.