Chapter 189: Chapter 161: Gambling with Demons

The sound of dice rolling came again, tears filled Li Yuan’s eyes as he looked tremblingly at Wei Wu, still unable to control his body from leaving the gambling table.

Underfoot was Ding Yuan’s corpse, his grinning face with sunken cheekbones staring at Li Yuan.

In the last round he lost, he definitely lost something, but he still doesn’t know what it is, this unknown fear is harder to endure than dying directly.

Not far away, Wei Wu quickly contemplated, looking at Xue Er and Ma Zi, “Did you bring the Substitute Death Grassman?”

Though unwilling, the two nodded.

In the Evil Suppression Bureau, as long as the merit points are enough, everyone will prioritize exchanging for the Substitute Death Grassman, which is a life-saving item.

Wei Wu called the two to the side, whispered about the current situation, “Now the whole gambling house is under the control of this ’Gambling Ghost,’ it seems we must follow the ghost’s rules and win a gamble to escape the gambling house.”

“Those not at the table cannot interfere with those at the table, no matter what they do, they’ll be thrown out by the ghost’s rules. So, if you want to take action against the ghost, you must participate.”

Xue Er swallowed hard, glanced at Ma Zi beside him.

Wei Wu knew neither of them wanted to go, from his sleeve he took out a red cloth package, opened it to reveal a red nail with flesh attached.

“Don’t worry, I would never gamble with your lives. Ma Zi, you take this nail to the table, one of you bet big with that White Servant, the other bet small, as long as it’s not a leopard win-all, one of you will win, and you have the Substitute Death Grassman, nothing will happen.”

“You then wait for the right moment to throw this nail, once used, it will leave you without your own nail, it won’t kill you, just to restrain the ghost for a few breaths, giving me and Xue Er a chance to imprison it.”

Upon hearing this, Xue Er secretly breathed a sigh of relief, immediately said to Ma Zi, “Don’t worry, I will do my best.”

Ma Zi sneered inwardly, thinking it’s not Xue Er who has to go to the table, nicely spoken words are useless.

However, Wei Wu was also correct, with one betting big and one small, the chances of winning are high, even if he loses by misfortune, he has the Substitute Death Grassman to hold things off.

In Wangshan City, Evil Ghosts rarely appear, this is already considered a big case, they can’t leave now, they must fight once.

If this case can be solved, the merit points won’t be few, and it can aid his future promotion to Golden Traveler.

Moreover, it’s heard that over in Shengjing they’ve found a way to safely tame evil spirits, becoming a Yin Walker, only Golden Traveler can apply.

Gaining more merit will eventually earn a rank, once a Yin Walker, he won’t have to feel so aggrieved.

Many thoughts passed through Ma Zi’s mind, eventually he nodded, taking the nail Wei Wu handed over.

He pulled out his dagger, cut off a strand of his hair, cut his fingertip, took out from his lapel the grass doll wrapped in red cloth tied with a red string.

He wrapped it with his hair, then smeared blood on it, the preparation for the Substitute Death Grassman was complete.

Ma Zi clenched the nail, took a deep breath, and walked to the gambling table.

Reaching the table, Ma Zi immediately sensed a chill, accompanied by a foul odor spreading around, his body became stiff, corroded by an invisible force, feeling like he was slowly dying.

Ma Zi frowned and spoke to Li Yuan, “You bet big, I bet small.”

Li Yuan saw the Substitute Death Grassman peeking from Ma Zi’s lapel, his eyes were bloodshot with tears, a nameless rage rising in his heart, but in the end, he could only grit his teeth and endure.

Li Yuan’s hand pressed on the big character, Ma Zi pressed on the small character.

In the darkness, a ghostly hand grabbed the dice cup and lifted it, sweat dripped from Ma Zi’s nervousness, he hadn’t yet triggered the nail when the hand vanished with a swish.

Three, five, six, fourteen points big.

Li Yuan was drenched in sweat, letting out a sigh of relief.

Ma Zi tensed up all over, feeling a chill piercing through his body, he immediately took out the Substitute Death Grassman, stunned wide-eye.

He lost, but the Substitute Death Grassman was intact, just like Li Yuan’s previous situation.

Yet Ding Yuan clearly lost once and had his neck twisted by the Gambling Ghost.

What’s the difference between him and Li Yuan, and Ding Yuan?

Ma Zi pondered deeply, suddenly opened his eyes as if electrocuted.

He and Li Yuan have families, while Ding Yuan does not, no parents or siblings, only himself.

So, after they lost, it wasn’t themselves who died, but their family? Just like those gamblers who lose everything and even sell their wives and daughters for a chance to turn things around.

Ma Zi went cold all over, an uncontrollable panic climbed into his heart, making him tremble all over, his wife just gave him a son, his parents are healthy, he can’t lose any of them!

“I won’t gamble anymore, I must go back, I must go home now!”

Ma Zi panicked, started struggling violently, wanting to rush home to check who in the family was in trouble?

Wei Wu and Xue Er watched from the side, suddenly realizing what the cost of losing was, Xue Er swallowed hard, taking a step back, he too had family.

Only Wei Wu remained steady as a mountain, showing no panic, merely staring at Li Yuan, raising his voice, “Li Yuan, you won a round, have the Gambling Ghost open the gambling house and let us out.”

The dice on the table remained silent, Li Yuan sweating all over quickly nodded, just about to speak, two items suddenly appeared on the table.

A red hair ribbon, and a gold ingot weighing ten taels.

Seeing the red ribbon, Li Yuan’s eyes widened in confusion, immediately looked at his wrist.

Sure enough, the red hair ribbon originally tied to his wrist was nowhere to be seen, tied there by his six-year-old daughter before he left.

“Dad, you must come home early, remember to buy sesame cakes, it’s mom who wants them, not me~”

His daughter’s voice still echoed in his ears, Li Yuan suddenly realized what he lost in that round, the life of his young daughter!

Li Yuan almost collapsed in tears, now he had won a round, was picking the red ribbon able to win back his daughter’s life?

Thinking this, Li Yuan grabbed towards the red string without hesitation.

“Li Yuan!”

Wei Wu shouted sternly, Ma Zi beside him was quick-eyed and deft-handed, grabbed Li Yuan’s reaching hand with his only movable arm.

“Are you crazy, miss this chance and we won’t escape!”

Ma Zi forcefully pulled Li Yuan’s hand towards the gold ingot.

Li Yuan cried bitterly, “Let go of me, I want to save my daughter, let go of me!”

Ma Zi’s neck veins bulged, stubbornly pressed Li Yuan’s hand onto the gold ingot, “Don’t you fear taking the red string will keep the gamble continuing? Who will you lose next? You must take the money to leave the table alive, I’m doing this for you!”

“Take my life, release my daughter, release my daughter!”

Ma Zi, being a Silver Traveler, was much stronger than Li Yuan, while sobbing and struggling, his hand was still firmly pressed onto the gold ingot by Ma Zi.

Li Yuan watched helplessly as the red string disappeared, missing the chance to win his daughter’s life back, then his body relaxed, the oppressive force vanished, he stumbled backwards away from the table, fell to the ground with weak legs.

Squeak—creak—

The sound of the gambling house door opening came from the darkness, Wei Wu and Xue Er turned around in surprise.

Ma Zi attempted to leave the table, but his body still couldn’t move, suddenly he panicked, pleading with Wei Wu for help, “Mr. Wei, help me, I can’t gamble anymore, think of something!”

Wei Wu looked at the door and then at Ma Zi, realizing the rules of this gambling trickery were formidable, he isn’t a Yin Walker, only relying on the yin object he possesses, successfully imprisoning this gambling trickery had little chance, they usually only do preliminary investigations, final actions are handed to Night Travelers.

After all, handling fourth-layer Evil Ghosts was Night Travelers’ responsibility, Day Travelers needn’t take this risk.

Thinking this, Wei Wu suddenly said to Xue Er, “Grab Li Yuan, let’s withdraw first and figure it out later.”

Xue Er didn’t hesitate a bit, went over and pulled the despondent Li Yuan up, followed Wei Wu out the door.

Ma Zi couldn’t believe watching the two who just promised to do their utmost to help him, watching the captain and mates he’s faced life and death with, feeling his blood gradually cooling.

Bang!

The three vanished at the door, the door closed mercilessly, leaving the whole gambling house in pitch black, eerily quiet.

Then, the sound of dice rolling started again.

Each roll causing Ma Zi to tremble all over, terrified to the extreme.

“I won’t gamble, I won’t gamble anymore ah ah ah!!”

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