“Heh.”

Before Xiao Cheng could answer, Earth-Monkey spoke first.

“He himself said he’s a con artist. What reason do you have to trust him?”

Earth-Monkey reached up to scratch his head. “You should be able to figure it out yourself—between him and me, who has the better odds of winning in this game?”

“I…” After hearing this, Xiao Cheng lowered his head and squeezed the cards in his hand, his expression somewhat troubled.

From his perspective, he naturally knew Earth-Monkey had better odds of winning. After all, the “rules” of this game were all in his hands.

And the leader of this team, Qi Xia, not only had to guess the rules time and time again, but also had to transcend the rules and defeat the person who made them.

Looking at it this way, it was a tough battle no matter what.

“Young man, as long as you join me, we can achieve a stable victory,” Earth-Monkey said again.

At this moment, Qi Xia’s eyes moved slightly, feeling that things were going badly.

If Xiao Cheng joined Earth-Monkey’s camp at this time, everyone’s probability of winning would decrease infinitely.

After all, it was currently six against one. Among the six people, as long as one person won, Qi Xia’s camp could declare victory.

In other words, for Earth-Monkey to win the game, his hand had to beat all six people. Otherwise, no matter who won, it would count as his loss.

This was probably everyone’s only advantage in this game.

But this game only had eight rounds total. If they couldn’t figure out the game rules soon, if people with big hands randomly “conceded” and people with small hands randomly “raised,” everyone would quickly lose the entire game.

Earth-Monkey’s bewitching words caught Qi Xia somewhat off guard. He had inserted a needle at precisely the moment Xiao Cheng began to waver.

What should he do now to avoid this situation?

Although Qi Xia had only spoken a few simple sentences with Xiao Cheng, he roughly understood his somewhat hesitant personality.

If he started arguing with Earth-Monkey now and began telling Xiao Cheng who had the better chance of winning, it wouldn’t be a good thing for Xiao Cheng. The more choices he had, the more indecisive he would become.

So how exactly could he make Xiao Cheng stay in his own camp?

Qi Xia slowly raised his head, looked at Xiao Cheng, then turned to look at Earth-Monkey.

Human thought processes were like this—sometimes just by changing perspective, everything could be easily resolved.

Why talk to Xiao Cheng?

He could directly attack Earth-Monkey. Earth-Monkey had only just started inserting his needle now—it was already too late, because he himself had already planted a “needle” in the previous round.

“Deception techniques” naturally had their own usage methods.

“I advise you not to go too far!” Qi Xia’s tone shifted, speaking to Xiao Cheng with slight displeasure. “I’ve already explained everything clearly to you. Are you still going to persist in your delusion?”

“Persist in delusion…?” Xiao Cheng froze. “That’s not it… I’ve already told you all my thoughts. I just…”

“I’ll pretend you said nothing.” Qi Xia replied. “Do you really want to side with a ‘Zodiac’? Are you inherently a man who bullies the weak, fears the strong, and shirks responsibility?”

“I, I definitely didn’t think that way…” Xiao Cheng felt somewhat wronged. “But what you’re saying is a bit too much… How could I be that kind of person?”

“Whatever. Go if you want to go.” Qi Xia shook his head helplessly. “I’ll act as if you don’t exist. I don’t accept trash here.”

“You…” Xiao Cheng hadn’t expected Qi Xia’s attitude to change completely in an instant, leaving him unable to even speak. “What you’re saying is too harsh. Although I’m not as smart as you, I haven’t been dragging the team down either, have I…?”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

At this moment, Earth-Monkey watched the two arguing people and didn’t choose to interject, just slowly narrowing his eyes.

“Earth-Monkey, I don’t want this person anymore.” Qi Xia said coldly. “Take him with you and wait for death together.”

Earth-Monkey stared at Qi Xia’s eyes for a long time, slowly straightened his body, and a trace of coldness appeared in his gaze.

“Qi Xia, you’re doing this again?”

After hearing this, Qi Xia reached up to touch his face. “What?”

“Starting an argument with someone every round, trying to deceive me?” Earth-Monkey sneered. “The same technique, the same routine. Am I that easy to fool in your mind?”

“I’m not deceiving you.” Qi Xia shook his head helplessly. “I really don’t want this person anymore. Have him sit next to you. Don’t annoy me here.”

“Dream on.” Earth-Monkey shook his head. “It’s just a pity that your ‘deception techniques’ can only go this far. I won’t fall for the same trick twice.”

“You…” After hearing this, Qi Xia slowly revealed a troubled expression.

“That was really close.” Earth-Monkey looked at Qi Xia with a slight smile. “Too bad you were too hasty. If you hadn’t said what you just said, if there hadn’t been this ‘argument’ act, I very likely would have fallen into your trap.”

“Oh? Is that so?” Qi Xia ambiguously raised an eyebrow. “So I said too much?”

“Just wait for death together.”

“Heh.” Qi Xia sneered. “So my ‘deception techniques’ still need more refinement…”

Earth-Monkey stopped paying attention to Qi Xia and turned his head to the side.

And at this moment, Xiao Cheng understood the meaning behind Qi Xia’s sudden attitude change.

This man was even more terrifying than he had imagined. He was toying with a “Zodiac.”

Because he had pretended to argue with Zheng Yingxiong in the previous round and made Earth-Monkey suffer a loss, he used the same old trick this round to actively force Earth-Monkey to withdraw.

Earth-Monkey thought he had seen through Qi Xia’s deception technique, but he didn’t realize that “seeing through the deception technique” was itself “falling for the deception technique.”

This move not only made Earth-Monkey completely withdraw, but also cut off the possibility of joining Earth-Monkey himself.

Now Earth-Monkey already believed he was Qi Xia’s failed planted mole, so there could be no possibility of cooperation going forward.

Seeing Qi Xia’s series of operations, Xiao Cheng felt his ears begin to buzz. He thought about the days he had previously spent in the “Land of Ends,” and compared to this man’s scheming, it was simply child’s play.

Normal people facing an Earth-level “Zodiac” spent every second thinking about how to survive, yet this man was toying with the “Zodiac’s” thinking.

Seeing him staring blankly in a daze, Chen Junnan at his side slowly leaned his head over and said quietly, “You know what? The ‘scheme’ Old Qi sets up doesn’t need your cooperation at all. He can unilaterally make you a part of the ‘scheme.'”

This sentence flashed through Xiao Cheng’s mind like a bolt of lightning, making his pupils contract slightly, then he nodded with seeming understanding.

“Since that’s the case… then we can only rely on ourselves.” Qi Xia turned his head and gave Xiao Cheng a meaningful look.

Xiao Cheng also nodded and said nothing more.

Several people casually dealt cards, then casually revealed their cards, getting through this trust crisis.