Chapter 124

After that was a large double-page spread.

The image was composed of two manga pages joined together, with dark and gloomy colors.

Xia Xiaoxi was lying on her side in the center of the picture, her eyes still weak and dazed.

Her golden hair, which had fallen to the ground, appeared somewhat dull in the dim light.

There was nothing else around her but the dark gray walls, and she was surrounded by a large area of darkness.

On the next page, she propped herself up with her hands, trying to sit up. There were small wavy lines next to her arm, and a line of text that read “Slightly trembling,” indicating that she had not fully regained her strength.

In the following few panels, she stood up slowly and unsteadily, stretching her hands forward in a groping motion. At the same time, her inner monologue read: There is no light here, I can’t see clearly… I remember that the special ability energy crystal I saw before was in this direction?

She took a step, and the small text next to her foot read “Staggering.”

In the next panel, Xia Xiaoxi fell. She stretched her hands forward and fell to the ground.

There was a jagged special effect sticker next to her bent elbow, indicating that her elbow had hit the ground.

Next was a close-up of her expression. She half-lowered her emerald eyes, frowning slightly in discomfort, thinking to herself: I can’t, I don’t have the strength to walk for now…

In the next panel, she turned over, changing from a prone to a supine position.

The end was a completely black panel, with a speech bubble of her inner monologue saying: I wonder how Hot-pot and Ling Feng and the others are doing…

[Ahhhh, Xiao Xi is thinking about Brother Hao and Ling Feng, Maomao!]

[My heart aches for my daughter, she still hasn’t recovered her strength.]

[My daughter must have hurt herself when she fell, Mommy will kiss it better——]

[Previously on the Pink Forum, some people were scolding Xiao Xi for being a burden. I was really angry when I saw that. It’s true that Xiao Xi being captured was a bit reckless + she wasn’t vigilant enough, but even in this state, she’s still trying her best to complete the mission of finding the special ability energy crystal.]

[It was inevitable that Xia-bao would be captured. Didn’t some big shot on the forum analyze it before? Gong Ting was targeting Brother Hao. Even if Xia-bao managed to escape once, she couldn’t escape a second time.]

[Jade Liquor is a member of the Apocalypse Society. Earlier in this chapter, he even said “complete the leader’s mission.” He deliberately set up Xiao Xi.]

The scene shifts back to the game room in the Dream Game City.

To prevent Gong Ting from cheating, Zhou Chenhao offered to shuffle the cards for him, but Gong Ting retorted with “why,” so he had to settle for second best and suggested that everyone shuffle once. Ling Feng then proposed that this would be more interesting and add to the excitement.

Bai Xuechao seconded this proposal.

[Wifey’s attitude has me confused. Who does he want to help? (Scratching head)]

[He’ll help whoever he wants to help. The main thing is to be spontaneous and add to the fun of the game! After all, “a game where you know the outcome is extremely boring.” (Doge with a rose in its mouth)]

[Hahaha, my Xuexue’s cheesy lines have already been included in the B-king’s handbook for showing off.]

[Uh, I feel like Bai Xuechao is treating the other three people at the scene like monkeys, not respecting the game at all ( . )]

[I agree, he’s like he has the hand of God, controlling the direction of this game. Suppressing the protagonist group for fun, I really can’t like this kind of character.]

[To the person above, do you think I’ll be angry if you say that about wifey? nonono, I’ll just think you’ve made wifey sound too cool!]

[A fun-loving person who manipulates the situation, I love this character! (Heart eyes sticking out tongue) (Drooling)]

In the manga, Gong Ting agreed to this proposal, but wanted to be the last to shuffle. Zhou Chenhao disagreed, so Gong Ting compromised and proposed that neither of the two from the protagonist group could be the last, so it could only be Bai Xuechao who shuffled last.

When it was time to shuffle, the first three people shuffled the cards honestly. When it was Bai Xuechao’s turn, the manga once again used a series of panels.

Three long rectangular panels from top to bottom, the perspective should be Bai Xuechao’s view of the poker cards.

The first panel was a pale hand with slender fingers, pushing all the poker cards face up, half of them already pushed open; the second panel was another equally beautiful hand, flipping up the bottom card of the pushed-open cards, causing the other cards on top of it to flip over with it, turning them face down; the last panel was a picture of all the cards on the table, the right hand had already pushed all the cards open, and the poker cards brought up by the left hand were about to be completely flipped face down.

Bai Xuechao cut the cards a few times and pushed them to Gong Ting on the table.

Gong Ting, who got the poker cards, was drumming in his heart, inwardly struggling with whether Bai Xuechao had cheated or not.

The readers were also speculating.

[I haven’t turned the page yet, I guess he didn’t cheat! In this round, Axue wants to help Brother Hao and Maomao, he won’t help Jade Liquor cheat.]

[Didn’t cheat +1, not because I trust wifey, but because Gong Ting himself said in his mind that wifey’s movements didn’t have the slightest suspicion of cheating. I can’t think of how he could cheat, and in this round, he spoke up for the protagonist group, so he’s definitely going to screw Gong Ting over.]

[You all guess he didn’t cheat, then I’ll guess he cheated, I’ll bet 2 game coins!]

[Come, come, I’ll also bet 2 game coins that he didn’t cheat. I’ve carefully studied the panel of Bai Xuechao shuffling and cutting the cards in this round. He took the cards that Ling Feng had finished cutting, just pushed them open on the table and flipped them over, he didn’t shuffle, he just cut the cards directly. It’s equivalent to him continuing to cut the cards that Ling Feng had finished cutting, it’s impossible for him to cheat.]

[Don’t guess wifey’s thoughts~ (singing) Since I think he didn’t cheat, then he must have cheated. (Clenching fist) (Firmly believing) Bet against the bullet comments, a villa by the sea!]

At the beginning of the next page, Gong Ting dealt himself the first card and found it was the Ace of Hearts. His inner monologue next to it: Hmm?

He dealt cards to everyone in order, flipped over his own face-down card, found that his score had reached 20, and began to analyze it in his mind.

His opinion was—Dongfang Bubai had cheated.

[??? Wifey, are you messing with me!]

[Impossible, absolutely impossible! This is just Jade Liquor’s side of the story!]

[He’s just judging that Axue-baobei cheated based on the fact that his initial hand was just right. That’s a bit too weak, he’s even wondering how baobei cheated himself.]

[Yeah, Gong Ting himself is thinking that the prerequisite for cheating is to know which cards are where in your hand.]

[Bai Xuechao didn’t even shuffle the cards, how could he memorize them? Just by pushing them open on the table just now? I just counted the number of poker cards on the table with the highest image quality, and if I’m not mistaken, there are 140+ cards.]

[Aha, I believe in Gong Ting Jade Liquor!]

[My wifey is so smart, how is it impossible for him to memorize 140+ cards in a few seconds?!]

The story of the manga continues.

Ling Feng, as Gong Ting’s next player, reached a score of 17 after taking a card. He used the Hi-Lo system to count the cards in his mind and calculated the probability of not busting, finding that the situation was not good, but he still chose to hit.

Unfortunately, luck was not on Ling Feng’s side. He got a 7 and busted.

After Ling Feng was Bai Xuechao, who got a 10 of Clubs.

The manga gave a close-up of Gong Ting’s eyes here. His eyes widened slightly, and the word “trembling” was written next to them, showing how shocked he was.

And his inner monologue also shocked the readers.

[I’m a bit dumbfounded, Gong Ting said that the 7 was arranged for Ling Feng?? Wifey cheated?!]

[6, if Ling Feng Maomao hadn’t taken the card, Jade Liquor would have given the 7 to Axue, and Axue would have busted if he had taken another card, so Axue knew that Ling Feng Maomao would take the card, and let him bust =A=]

[Grass (a plant) I’m a bit impressed by Bai Xuechao, did he really memorize 140+ cards in a few seconds? I don’t believe it! (Shocked) (Grabbing hair)]

[Jade Liquor’s comment on wifey is so cool! “He has calculated the human heart” ahhhh!]

[The ancient Greek god who controls the human heart. (Doge)]

[Wifey is really awesome, both his IQ and EQ are online… I’m willing to admit defeat, I’ll go tip 20 yuan after I finish the new chapter QAQ]

[The person who said “hand of God” earlier was too accurate! This round was completely controlled by wifey Axue, I love it! I’m a power-admirer! (Starry eyes)]

The following development was also beyond the readers’ expectations.

Bai Xuechao actually asked for Zhou Chenhao’s opinion on whether to continue hitting. After Zhou Chenhao analyzed the situation and advised him not to, he really didn’t.

As a result, the next card was a 3 of Spades, which Zhou Chenhao got. If Bai Xuechao had gotten this card, he would have had 21.

The manga showed a close-up of Zhou Chenhao’s somewhat guilty expression.

The following few panels were a long string of his inner monologue, expressing his guilt and apology, and at the same time, expressing that because of this incident, his trust in Bai Xuechao had increased. Because Bai Xuechao had missed 21 because he had trusted his advice, he wanted to “compensate” with the same amount of trust.

Next was a close-up of Ling Feng’s expression, and his inner monologue was also analyzing this matter.

He had originally been thinking about whether Bai Xuechao would cheat by shuffling last.

Now that he saw that the other party had failed to get 21 because he had listened to Zhou Chenhao’s advice, he believed that the other party did not know that the next card was a 3, so he judged that he had not cheated. His thinking continued to diverge, and he rationalized Bai Xuechao’s behavior in the Dream Game City as “looking for excitement,” and even found a good reason for the other party for concealing his special ability level before.

[…6, wifey really knows how to play, the protagonist group is still too naive.]

[Even if Ling Feng is smart, he would never have imagined that a madman would give up a victory that was within his grasp and exchange 50 million game coins for their favor.]

[I’m dying of laughter at this speculation, Maomao, don’t be too in love, you’ve already found a bunch of reasonable explanations for my wifey.]

[He convinced himself and completed his self-conquest hahaha!]

[Brother Hao too, Xue-bao acted, and he took the bait. He even wanted to eat Xue-bao’s coins before, but now he’s both guilty and touched, and he even trusts Xue-bao (covering face and crying with laughter)]

[Hiss, I feel like if I were sitting at the same table with them, I would be cheated by Axue until I had nothing left. (Smoking)]

[What? The person in front is being a pervert! Put on your dirty talk! (Covering eyes)]

In the manga, Bai Xuechao nonchalantly fiddled with the cards in front of him and comforted Zhou Chenhao, saying that it was just a game and that it was interesting to make choices based on others’ opinions.

Zhou Chenhao “mm-hmmed” and nodded, his expression serious with a touch of emotion.

[I feel like Hao-zi has already fallen for him ( . )]

[If it were me, I would have fallen too. Wifey is so beautiful, let me kiss him!]

The game was still going on, and Zhou Chenhao continued to take cards.

He got an A, and his score was still small, so he chose to take another one. When Gong Ting dealt the cards, he was still thinking to himself, this card was also arranged by Bai Xuechao, right?

As expected, this card was a 9, and Zhou Chenhao busted.

The manga turned the camera to Gong Ting here.

Through Gong Ting’s inner analysis, the readers knew that Bai Xuechao had considered both possibilities. Whether Zhou Chenhao had let him continue to take cards just now or not, Zhou Chenhao would have busted in the end.

Finally, he flipped over his face-down card and won with 20 points.

[Wifey is so awesome, so meticulous! (Drooling)]

[Helping the sisters in front wipe their drool.]

[The three of them put three layers of filters on Xuexue. I’d say this is killing three birds with one stone, no one objects, right? Hahaha.]

It was Ling Feng’s turn to be the dealer again, but he proposed to change the game, and to change to a game where it was impossible to cheat.

Gong Ting finally revealed the final form of his game—the Dream Game.

The space they were in changed.

The manga showed the changing place through a few panels. Their seats became swings hanging from chains, something was looming in the void under their feet, the screen became four and moved to the middle, one for each person…

Finally, there was a long shot, and the space they were in had become cylindrical.

Gong Ting smiled and said, “Welcome to the Dream Game.”

But he then proposed that to participate in the game, a bet of at least five rounds was required.

Zhou Chenhao and Ling Feng didn’t have enough game coins and needed to continue exchanging them. But before exchanging, Ling Feng asked why it was impossible to cheat, to confirm the fairness of the game.

Gong Ting explained that the Dream Game has no fixed game; it generates a game based on the requirements of each player.

[Isn’t this just private customization? Game lovers are ecstatic, I want this special ability too!]

[That’s great, as long as you request that this game cannot be cheated, it’s fine. The protagonist group’s comeback is coming!!]

[I was still worried about how Brother Hao and the others would win if this continued, I didn’t expect the tables to turn so quickly. Ling Feng, Maomao, you’re the best!]

The manga gave a close-up of Ling Feng and Zhou Chenhao’s expressions.

The former was looking at the latter, who nodded at the former. They communicated without words and decided to participate in the Dream Game.

Just as Ling Feng was about to exchange for game coins, Gong Ting proposed another rule for the Dream Game.

—Everyone had to exchange the same thing to enter the prize pool.

Bai Xuechao spoke up at this moment, saying that he had an interesting and exciting proposal. In this panel of the manga, his exquisite face was beautiful and pale, with a faint smile on his slightly raised lips. The smile looked lazy and casual, as if he didn’t think the thing he proposed to exchange was very important: “How about we exchange our ‘personalities’?”

[Holy crap? What the hell? Personality? (Stunned)]

[Wifey, you’re really daring to say that!!]

[I’m dumbfounded, what would happen if you lost your personality to someone else?]

[It’s really “interesting and exciting”… (No mercy)]

[The others will definitely not agree, right?!]

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep