Chapter 671: The Killing Card
"Are you fucking crazy...?" Earth Monkey asked dazedly.
"I've never been normal," Qi Xia said. "Earth Monkey, are you in or not?"
"Do you even know what 'sell your life forever until death' means?" Earth Monkey said. "How could anyone possibly accept such a bet?!"
Qi Xia slowly reached up and wiped the blood trickling from his forehead, then said, "Then I'll let you off the hook one more time. If you think the stakes are unreasonable, you can withdraw."
Hearing this, Earth Monkey felt his mind go into a tailspin.
He slowly leaned back in his chair, his fat body trembling slightly. Only one thought remained in his mind—
This Qi Xia guy was way too terrifying... He was like a completely different person from the one he remembered.
When he'd seen him this time, he had thought he'd just grown a bit, but now that he thought about it, this wasn't "growth" at all—it was more like "evolution."
Qi Xia's words about "letting him off the hook again" threw Earth Monkey's state of mind into complete chaos in under a second. Was that previous "letting him off the hook" also part of the plan?
No... that's not right. The biggest problem with this statement wasn't that at all. It was that...
It sounded way too much like a "bluff"!
What did he mean by "if you think it's unreasonable, you can withdraw"?
In a gambling match like this, when someone throws out an absurdly high stake, nine times out of ten it's to force the other side to fold. Not only that, but Qi Xia was directly telling him to surrender.
It was textbook—by the book—"bluffing."
But with Qi Xia's skill level, would he make such a rookie mistake?
Earth Monkey felt he had absolutely no way to figure out what the other man was thinking. The story of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" had played out countless times in this match, and now he was at another fork in the road—which way was he supposed to believe?
"I've been wrong every single time..." Earth Monkey thought to himself. "Even if my luck is the worst, I should be right at least once, right?"
With that thought, Earth Monkey slowly lifted his head, took a deep breath, and said in a low voice, "Qi Xia, I'll give you one chance right now. If you admit defeat voluntarily, I'll only take two people's lives. You can leave with the other four."
This statement opened a new path for Qi Xia. If the other man really was bluffing, he'd most likely agree to this—after all, if the bluff failed, all six of them would die here. But backing out now would only cost him two people.
But what Earth Monkey never expected was that Qi Xia resolutely shook his head and said, "I will absolutely never admit defeat. If anyone's admitting defeat, it's you."
"Damn it..."
The tough decision was back in Earth Monkey's hands, making his head spin.
He flipped over his "hidden card." On it, in flamboyant calligraphy, were the two characters "Laba."
Obviously everyone's hand had "busted." What was Qi Xia even...
In just a few seconds, Earth Monkey's thoughts cleared completely.
Yeah, what right did Qi Xia have to be yelling at him with a hand that had already "busted"?!
Did he really see through his last "hole card"?
"But even if he really did see that 'hole card'... I still wouldn't lose..."
After a long mental struggle, Earth Monkey raised his head and said quietly, "I'm in."
Those two words made Qi Xia slowly open his eyes wide. "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure." Earth Monkey nodded. "I don't think you can beat me. When the cards are revealed, you'll be working for me for life."
Qi Xia slowly stood up. He had just opened his mouth when his entire body suddenly pitched to the right, toward Chen Junnan. Chen Junnan quickly reached out and caught him.
"Damn it, Old Qi... do you even know what state you're in? Don't fucking stand up anymore."
Qi Xia nodded weakly, then sat back down and said, "Earth Monkey, you'd better withdraw."
"Ha!" Hearing this, Earth Monkey seemed to gain some confidence. His tone hardened. "I'm not withdrawing. Let's see... how exactly is that 'Zhongyuan' card in your hand supposed to beat me?!"
"You know that too?" Qi Xia retorted.
"Qi Xia, you stop here."
Earth Monkey reached out, picked up his "hidden card," and slammed it hard onto the table, revealing its face.
"Laba."
"Laba Festival..." Qi Xia smiled bitterly. "I kind of miss the Laba porridge from back home. Earth Monkey, after we open the cards, could you buy my teammates something to eat?"
"Are you not reading the cards right?" Earth Monkey said. "I have 'Laba,' you have 'Zhongyuan.' We've both busted!"
"Is that so...?"
Qi Xia slowly placed the "hidden card" he had been clutching in his hand onto the table, then flipped it over, revealing its face.
It wasn't "Chongyang" or "Zhongyuan." It was an even stranger card.
"Major Snow," the eighth day of the eleventh lunar month.
Seeing this card, Earth Monkey first stared in disbelief, his eyes wide, then his lips moved as he slowly uttered a few words:
"How... how did you switch the cards?"
"I never switched cards," Qi Xia said. "This card has been mine all along."
He then flipped the "Major Snow" card over, showing Earth Monkey its back.
On the back was a red flower dyed with blood, rubbed countless times, leaving a unique, unmistakable mark.
"This..." Earth Monkey's dry yellow eyes were wide open, his face filled with incredulity.
This whole round felt like a dream. Everything that had happened left him baffled.
"Even if... even if you have 'Major Snow,' that's still '118'! You've still busted!" Earth Monkey said. "Your other two cards add up to 'twelve points,' and this card is 'ten points'—that's 'twenty-two points' total!"
Earth Monkey then pushed his own hand forward. "And my cards total 'twenty-one points.' Before the game started, I said if both of us bust, you lose!"
Qi Xia shook his head expressionlessly and said, "Earth Monkey, I really hoped you would withdraw this time, instead of showing me this stubborn, unreasonable face."
"What..."
"I told you, I saw both of your 'hole cards' completely. But you didn't believe me." Qi Xia sighed. "And I just advised you to withdraw, saying we just need to survive. But you went ahead and bet your 'sell your life forever until death' against me. Why couldn't you just trust me once?"
"Fuck you—"
Earth Monkey suddenly stood up, his entire body beginning to tremble uncontrollably. Only now did he finally believe that Qi Xia had seen through everything long ago.
Just when he thought Qi Xia was still the same Qi Xia, he kept pulling off tricks. When he thought Qi Xia was a liar, he kept telling the truth.
His strategy was exactly like the "synodic month" rule—utterly unpredictable.
Qi Xia pushed his "New Year's Eve" and "Major Snow" forward and said calmly:
"Those two cards add up to 'sixteen points.' This time, when comparing sizes, I'm not using the 'community card.'"