Chapter 656: Testing the Limits
"Betting without looking at your cards?" Ground Monkey furrowed his brow slightly.
"Is the casino owner afraid to gamble?" Qi Xia said. "My hand is currently 'eighty-eight', and the 'community cards' are 'one-one'. Do you think you can beat me?"
Ground Monkey didn't answer. He merely stared at the cards Qi Xia was holding, glanced at them, and then said, "Aren't you afraid of losing?"
"Why do you think the one who loses will be me?" Qi Xia countered.
Ground Monkey shook his head helplessly at this and withdrew his gaze. "I have a feeling you're more likely to lose."
As he said this, Zheng Yingxiong was still gripping Tian Tian's arm, his expression somewhat grim.
Tian Tian, infected by his tension, swallowed slightly and turned her head to call out, "Qi Xia... be careful."
Qi Xia listened, looked at Tian Tian's serious expression, then glanced down at Zheng Yingxiong, whose nose was twitching. He slowly narrowed his eyes.
Although Tian Tian hadn't said a word, the expressions on both her and Zheng Yingxiong's faces pointed Qi Xia towards an absurdly improbable answer. This answer left him momentarily stunned for three seconds.
Qi Xia collected his thoughts, picked up the cards from the table, and slowly moved them beneath the table.
"Oh?" Ground Monkey found Qi Xia's action intriguing. The wrinkles on his face relaxed slightly as he asked with a light chuckle, "What's the matter?"
Qi Xia didn't know the exact reason, but he felt that Ground Monkey's current state was very strange—
His demeanor was like he had unlocked something, even his state of mind seemed to have changed.
"Nothing." Qi Xia replied. "You want to bet?"
"Fine." Ground Monkey nodded, still holding his own cards. "Qi Xia, without looking at the cards, I raise by one."
Seeing Ground Monkey so confident, Qi Xia felt an inexplicable unease. He felt like this game had returned to its very beginning.
He didn't know the reason for Ground Monkey's confidence—was it his 'hole cards' or some kind of 'rule'?
Just as this thought drifted through his mind, Qi Xia felt a fog invade his brain. This lingering sensation continued to churn within his mind.
He quickly pinched the little finger of his right hand, but it seemed his brain had become somewhat numb to the pain, and it didn't immediately dispel the fog.
Gritting his teeth, Qi Xia slowly lowered his head, then forcefully pinched his little finger and twisted it sharply.
A strange sound quietly echoed in the room, like broken bones being shattered again.
Qi Xia grunted, buried his head deep, and his whole body began to tremble. The few people around him were startled by his appearance.
"Boss trickster..." Qiao Jiajin quickly bent down to check on him.
Qi Xia clenched his teeth fiercely, waiting for the fog in his mind to dissipate, but he felt it descending more and more frequently and becoming increasingly difficult to dispel.
"I'm fine..."
Everyone cast worried glances at Qi Xia. He was already looking unwell; his demeanor today had felt off from the start, as if he were sick or injured.
After waiting a long while, Qi Xia slowly raised his head, feeling his mind had cleared a bit.
His mind now told him there was only one way to test the extent of Ground Monkey's 'confidence'.
"Ground Monkey, I'm raising the stakes again, betting against you outside the round." Qi Xia said, his forehead covered in cold sweat. "I'm betting two 'Tao' separately, against the two you have."
Qiao Jiajin noticed Qi Xia's face was pale and couldn't help but frown.
"Betting outside the round...?"
"That's right. This bet between you and me doesn't involve the others." Qi Xia nodded. "Just you and me. Do you dare?"
Ground Monkey stared into Qi Xia's eyes for a few seconds, then asked, "One chip to start, one for the first round, one for the second round, and now you're adding two more. If I remember correctly, these five are all your chips, aren't they?"
"Yes." Qi Xia answered weakly. "I'm betting all my chips against you alone. You can choose to refuse."
"I have no reason to refuse." Ground Monkey took out another two 'Tao' and placed them on the table, his expression still calm.
Though he hadn't looked at the 'hole cards' and hadn't figured out how the rules had changed, Qi Xia felt he had probably lost.
Often, a game doesn't require knowing the rules or seeing the hole cards. Just one look at Ground Monkey's expression was enough for Qi Xia to see the outcome.
Seeing the two choose to bet outside the round, the others could only follow Ground Monkey's bet of one 'Tao' for this round and then began to check their own hands.
No more raises were possible this round, as everyone's chips were nearly depleted, and Qi Xia had already wagered all of his.
Qi Xia lowered his head and gently turned over the card he had hidden under the table. It was 'Major Snow'.
"November eighth...?" Qi Xia slowly furrowed his brow.
Wait...
'Luck' seemed to have arrived.
His previous hand was 'White Dew', 'August eighth'.
The 'community cards' were 'Spring Festival', 'First day of the first lunar month'.
Converting to numbers, his first card was two 'eights', and the center had two 'ones'.
And now he had drawn another 'one-one-eight'?
What incredible luck was this?
The cards in his hand were now four 'ones' and three 'eights'.
The seemingly unrelated 'eighty-eight' and 'one-one' had completely turned the tables thanks to this belated 'Major Snow'.
If the previous rules were correct, could there be a bigger hand on the table than this?
This was no longer a simple 'Full House' of 'three plus two'; this was 'four plus three'.
Not a single one of the seven numbers was wasted; they were all perfectly combined into the hand.
Qi Xia hadn't expected that his blind gamble would yield such a massive hand.
He looked up at Ground Monkey's expression and found that Ground Monkey still controlled his demeanor perfectly, revealing no weaknesses.
From his eyes and movements, one could sense an extraordinary calm within him. Whether it was genuine confidence or masterful disguise, he simply re-covered his cards after checking them and raised his head to meet Qi Xia's gaze.
Qi Xia ignored Ground Monkey and instead turned to look at his teammates.
Most of them wore grim expressions. Only Chen Junnan and Little Cheng were intently studying their hands, as if calculating their card values.
However, their mental arithmetic was slightly inferior to Qi Xia's. After about ten seconds, Little Cheng nodded contentedly and put his cards away.
Then it was Chen Junnan's turn. After looking at his hand, he let out a slow 'hiss', covered his cards with both hands, and brought his face between them.
"Oh my god..." As if remembering something, Chen Junnan quickly straightened up and started patting his pockets, but they were all empty.
"Jun Nan, what are you looking for?" Qiao Jiajin asked from the side.
"Damn it, I'm looking for the house deed!" Chen Junnan shouted. "Why didn't I bring my house deed when I went out today?!"