Chapter 873: An Insider
Xu Huo glanced at his number: 326.
The person across from him wasn't a player. That woman seemed especially terrified, her voice trembling as she negotiated with him, "I can't complete the black ball mission, so I won't choose the black ball either. Can you also not choose the black ball?"
The raincoat man nodded.
The woman forced a smile. "Which ball do you want to choose..."
The raincoat man pointed at the white ball.
The woman was stunned for a moment, seemingly surprised that he was so agreeable. She mustered up the courage to suggest, "How about we complete the mission together..."
Before she could finish speaking, the raincoat man chose the white ball first.
He directly handed the decision-making power to the woman.
Trembling from head to toe, the woman walked over to those projection balls. Her gaze darted back and forth between the white ball and the yellow ball. After struggling and hesitating, she finally chose the white ball.
The random result landed on the raincoat man. The woman kept bowing to him in thanks, but every step she took forward, he took a step back. Forget about conversation—he wouldn't even let her get close.
You Si found it amusing. "Isn't this guy socially anxious? This is the first time I've seen such a shy man."
The raincoat man turned his face sideways to "look" over. There was too much hair covering his eyes; you couldn't see them at all. For the sake of argument, let's say he was "looking." His gaze paused briefly in their direction before quickly shifting away.
The mission he drew was to catch an immature man-eating fish at the aquarium.
"This mission shouldn't be too hard, right?" You Si said.
That was what many people thought, but the next second, the raincoat man appeared in an enclosed body of water. From the projection, you could see that the water was sealed from above and surrounded by transparent glass walls. Going down there meant soaking in the water without even a place to catch your breath.
Staying underwater for a short time wasn't difficult for players. The raincoat man swam a couple of strokes, and a protective suit resembling an astronaut's spacesuit appeared on his body. After draining the water inside, he brushed the hair away from one of his eyes.
But soon, he was completely surrounded by a school of man-eating fish.
For missions that wouldn't yield results anytime soon, the projections wouldn't play for long. The host switched the focus back to the square.
Three hundred and eighty-one people. Subtracting the six who died at the start left three hundred and seventy-five. Paired up in groups of two, that was nearly one hundred and ninety pairs. Not even half of them had gone through yet. The remaining people and those who had already completed the first round had lost interest in watching the ball selections. They casually found spots in the square to rest.
By the time the number of participants exceeded one hundred, most of the remaining people had even lost interest in the mission projections. Quite a few gathered together, looking for other forms of entertainment.
Xu Huo, You Si, Shaka, and the fingerless player Gan Yi—who had returned after completing his recognition—had grouped together.
The latter two had come over on their own. You Si was jogging nearby to fight off his alcohol cravings, leaving only Xu Huo to occasionally chat with them.
"You've been watching the holographic projections the whole time. Anything special?" Gan Yi stretched his neck.
"Nothing much. I'm just afraid of encountering the same danger in the next mission, so I'm getting a heads-up in advance." Xu Huo hadn't missed a single one, though he'd only watched the beginning of most.
Gan Yi chuckled. "Since we've got nothing better to do, how about we play a game?"
"You think things aren't exciting enough already?" You Si jogged back nearby, his tone unfriendly. "Since you're free, why not come spar with me?"
"It's just a game. No need to be so tense." Gan Yi quickly raised his hand to refuse, then added, "I can see everyone's nerves are on edge. Why not relax a bit?"
"What game?" Shaka was interested.
"Fortune Cards." Gan Yi pulled out a deck of golden cards the size of playing cards and said, "They say a person's fate is determined by heaven, but luck can be influenced by personal actions. For example, a very small choice can affect a person's luck for a period of time, or even their entire life."
"How do you play?" Shaka pressed.
"Very simple," Gan Yi said, holding the cards upright in front of him, covering the lower half of his face so that only his eyes were visible, aimed at Xu Huo. "You look at the cards, recall recent events, then think about what might happen next. Draw a card, and the card will show you corresponding content. Only you can see this content. You can judge your fortune based on what you see. If you don't understand, you can ask me."
"Isn't this the same as drawing lots and interpreting the results?" You Si strode over and snatched a card from the deck first.
A flicker of gloom passed over Gan Yi's face, but he quickly returned to normal and reminded him flatly, "You have to sincerely focus to see your own fortune."
You Si tried his best to calm his mind and look at the card. After a moment, he threw the card to the ground. "What the hell is this?!"
"Friend, that's a bit much," Shaka said, helping to pick up the card. "It's just a game."
You Si turned over with a dark face and walked away on his hands.
"Let me give it a try," Xu Huo said.
Gan Yi turned slightly, facing the cards toward him.
Xu Huo casually drew a card, then heard him say, "Take a look. This is your recent fortune."
Xu Huo glanced down at the card and handed it back. "There's only a door. What does that mean?"
Gan Yi subconsciously looked over, then immediately raised his head, suppressing his smile as he said, "How would I know?"
Xu Huo spread his hands and smiled. "You're not very professional as a fortune interpreter."
Shaka reached out from the side. "Give me one."
Without waiting for Gan Yi's response, he took a card directly. After a moment, he handed the card back, smiling as he said, "Your Fortune Cards are pretty interesting. What I saw was a wooden fish."
"What does a wooden fish mean?"
"Personal fortune—you have to figure it out yourself." Gan Yi said casually and started to put the cards away, but at that moment, Xu Huo and Shaka pressed down on his shoulders from left and right. Xu Huo smiled. "Aren't you going to check your own fortune?"
Gan Yi's eyes darkened.
"Give it a try. You're the one with the item. If you try it, we'll all feel at ease," Xu Huo said.
Gan Yi said coldly, "You should have said that at the beginning."
"I forgot earlier. It's not too late to make up for it now." Xu Huo shot a glance at Shaka. "Don't you think so?"
Shaka nodded.
Seeing that the two weren't going to let it go, Gan Yi had no choice but to draw a card and look at it.
Xu Huo and Shaka then asked, one after the other:
"Did you see a door?"
"Did you see a red wooden fish?"
The black surface of the card twisted like smoke, and Gan Yi saw a door inside the card. When the door opened, a red wooden fish appeared.
He slammed the card face down and looked at the other two.
The three of them sat on the ground, forming a triangular standoff. Two seconds later, the space around them was pulled into darkness, but it was restored to light in an instant. Under the somewhat glaring illumination, the three of them appeared on a spiraling downward staircase, and a door ahead of them was getting closer and closer!
Then darkness surged in from all sides again, squeezing the space of light and gradually drowning out that door. It seemed about to regain the upper hand, but at that moment, a loud "dong" sound suddenly rang out... Gan Yi leaped up from the ground, quickly putting distance between himself and Xu Huo and Shaka.