Chapter 654: See Through and Be Deceived
"Heh."
Before Xiao Cheng could answer, Di Hou spoke first.
"He himself said he's a liar, so what reason do you have to believe him?"
Di Hou reached up and scratched his head. "You should be able to figure it out yourself, right? Between him and me, who has the better chance of winning in this game?"
"I…" Xiao Cheng looked down and squeezed the cards in his hand, his expression troubled.
From his perspective, he naturally knew Di Hou had a better chance—after all, the "rules" of this game were all in his hands. And the leader of their team, Qi Xia, not only had to guess the rules over and over again, but also had to rise above them and defeat the one who made them. Either way, it looked like a tough battle.
"Young man, if you join me, we can win this steadily," Di Hou added.
At that moment, Qi Xia's eye twitched slightly, sensing something was wrong. If Xiao Cheng joined Di Hou's camp now, their chances of victory would drop infinitely. After all, it was currently six against one—as long as one person among the six won, Qi Xia's camp would be declared victorious. In other words, for Di Hou to win the game, his cards had to beat all six; otherwise, no matter who else won, it would count as his loss. This might be the only advantage their group had in this game.
But the game only had eight rounds total. If they couldn't figure out the rules quickly, the people with big cards would randomly "fold" and those with small cards would randomly "raise," and they would soon lose the entire game. But what Di Hou could never have imagined was that Qi Xia had figured out the rules in less than two rounds and had been winning consecutively ever since. If Di Hou didn't act quickly, Qi Xia had already written the ending of this game.
Di Hou's attempt to sway hearts caught Qi Xia off guard; he had precisely inserted a needle at the moment when Xiao Cheng began to waver. What should he do now to avoid this situation? Although Qi Xia had only exchanged a few simple words with Xiao Cheng, he had roughly understood his somewhat indecisive nature. If he started bickering with Di Hou now, telling Xiao Cheng who had a better chance, it wouldn't be good for Xiao Cheng. The more choices he had, the more he would waver. So how exactly could he make Xiao Cheng stay in his own camp?
Qi Xia slowly lifted his head, glanced at Xiao Cheng, then turned to look at Di Hou. That's just the way human thinking works—sometimes, by just changing perspectives, everything can be solved smoothly. Why should he talk to Xiao Cheng? He could directly attack Di Hou instead. It was already too late for Di Hou to insert his needle now, because he himself had already planted a "needle" in the previous round. "Deception" naturally has its own methods of use.
"I suggest you don't go too far!" Qi Xia's tone shifted, speaking to Xiao Cheng with slight displeasure. "I've explained the reasoning to you clearly. Are you still obstinately refusing to see the light?"
"Obstinately refusing…?" Xiao Cheng was taken aback. "No… I've already told you my thoughts. I just…"
"I'll take that as you saying nothing," Qi Xia replied. "Do you really want to side with the 'Zodiac'? Are you really a man who bullies the weak and fears the strong, an irresponsible man?"
"I-I definitely don't think that…" Xiao Cheng said, somewhat aggrieved. "But what you're saying is a bit too much… How could I be that kind of person?"
"Whatever. Go if you want." Qi Xia shook his head helplessly. "I'll just pretend you don't exist. I don't take in trash here."
"You…" Xiao Cheng hadn't expected Qi Xia's attitude to change so abruptly, making him speechless. "Your words are too harsh. I may not be as smart as you, but I haven't been holding the team back, have I…?"
"I don't want to hear it."
Meanwhile, Di Hou watched the two quarreling but did not choose to interrupt; he merely narrowed his eyes slowly.
"Di Hou, I don't want this man anymore," Qi Xia said coldly. "Take him and wait for death together."
Di Hou stared into Qi Xia's eyes for a long moment, then slowly sat up straight, a hint of coldness appearing in his gaze.
"Qi Xia, you're at it again?"
Qi Xia reached up and touched his face. "What?"
"Every round you pick a fight with someone, trying to fool me?" Di Hou sneered. "The same tactic, the same scene. Do you think I'm that easy to deceive?"
"I'm not deceiving you." Qi Xia shook his head helplessly. "I really don't want this man. Let him sit next to you and stop annoying me here."
"Dream on." Di Hou shook his head. "It's a pity your 'deception' can only go this far. I won't fall for the same trick twice."
"You…" Qi Xia's face gradually showed a troubled expression.
"It was indeed close." Di Hou looked at Qi Xia with a hint of a smile. "It's a pity you were too impatient. If you hadn't said those words, if you hadn't put on the 'quarrel' act, I might have fallen for your trap."
"Oh? Is that so?" Qi Xia raised an eyebrow ambiguously. "So I said too much?"
"Both of you wait for death together."
"Heh." Qi Xia let out a cold laugh. "So my 'deception' still needs more practice…"
Di Hou stopped paying attention to Qi Xia and turned his head away.
And at that moment, Xiao Cheng understood the meaning behind Qi Xia's sudden change in attitude. This man was even more frightening than he had imagined. He was toying with the "Zodiac." Because in the previous round, pretending to quarrel with Zheng Yingshou had put Di Hou at a disadvantage, in this round he repeated the same tactic, actively forcing Di Hou to withdraw. Di Hou thought he had seen through Qi Xia's deception, but he didn't expect that "seeing through the deception" was actually "being deceived." This move not only made Di Hou completely back off, but also cut off any possibility of him joining Di Hou. Now Di Hou believed that he was a failed spy planted by Qi Xia, making any future cooperation impossible.
Watching Qi Xia's series of moves, Xiao Cheng felt his ears start to ring. He thought of his previous days in the "Land of Endings," which seemed like childish games compared to this man's schemes. While normal people, faced with a ground-level "Zodiac," would spend every second thinking about how to survive, this man was toying with the Zodiac's mind.
Seeing him staring blankly, Chen Junnan slowly leaned in and whispered, "You know what? The 'trap' Old Qi sets up doesn't even need your cooperation; it can unilaterally treat you as a part of the 'trap.'"
These words flashed through Xiao Cheng's mind like a thunderbolt, causing his pupils to contract, and then he nodded as if he half-understood.
"In that case… we can only rely on ourselves," Qi Xia said, turning to give Xiao Cheng a meaningful look.
Xiao Cheng also nodded and said nothing more. The few of them randomly dealt cards and randomly revealed them, getting through this trust crisis.