Qi Xia reached out and shook the box in front of him slightly, and the clear, audible sound of “Dao” rolling could be heard.
“Monkey, it’s my turn next, right?” Qi Xia asked.
“You…” Man-Monkey’s Adam’s apple moved slightly. He had planned every step, yet didn’t know where things had gone wrong.
There was still one piece in the box?!
He hurriedly counted the “Dao” on the table surface—there were indeed twenty-two pieces. What was that one piece in the box?
“Your wager from the very beginning wasn’t ten pieces at all…” Man-Monkey slowly widened his eyes. “Bastard, you tricked me?!”
Qi Xia reached in and pulled out the last “Dao.” “That’s right. You can use your magic tricks, so naturally I can use my specialty as well.”
With that, he took the “Dao” out and placed it on the table, saying slowly, “Fortunately, I kept this box in front of me the entire time, giving you no opportunity to verify the ‘Dao’ inside.”
“Deception…?” Man-Monkey said, somewhat dazed. “You knew from the start that I would cheat?”
“Not quite. I was just adding an insurance policy for myself,” Qi Xia said. “My box always had one more ‘Dao’ than yours. This wouldn’t affect whether I won or lost. As long as I took all the ‘Dao’ out in the final move, everything would become perfectly natural. You said your ‘Dao’ were ‘at least as many if not more’ than mine, and I had eleven pieces. I didn’t break the rules.”
“But I want to know when you pulled this trick?” Man-Monkey asked. “When that woman gave you the ‘Dao,’ I saw everything clearly—it was definitely ten pieces.”
“I certainly don’t have those fancy techniques of yours.” Qi Xia picked up a “Dao” and tried to palm it inconspicuously like Man-Monkey had, but failed several times. “If I wanted to add one ‘Dao’ to the wager, I could only hold it in my hand from the very beginning.”
Man-Monkey understood instantly.
When that woman had taken out the “Dao,” this man already had one “Dao” in his hand.
He had cupped his hands like a bowl, and when he received the four “Dao” that woman passed to him, there were already five pieces.
“I didn’t expect I had already failed so early on.” Man-Monkey gradually lost his strength and sat down on a chair to the side. After a pause, he raised his head to look at Qi Xia, as if he had something to say.
Qi Xia noticed this, but unhurriedly picked up the “Dao” and handed them to Yun Yao.
Finally, he left two pieces on the table and pushed them toward Man-Monkey.
“Monkey, I advise you not to do that,” Qi Xia said slowly. “These two ‘Dao’ are for your comeback. You worked so hard to get to this point—there’s no need to act rashly.”
“What… you…” Man-Monkey hadn’t expected the other party to be so terrifying, seeing through his thoughts on the spot.
“If you really go all in, I’ll reveal my trump card too,” Qi Xia said. “I don’t mind mutual destruction. I have nothing to lose anyway, but you definitely can’t beat me.”
Man-Monkey completely lowered his head, his eyes filled with the word “give up.”
“Very good. We’ll meet again if fate allows.” Qi Xia nodded and led the three people behind him to leave quickly.
After exiting the door, Qi Xia finally let out a long breath.
“Qi Xia, what’s wrong?” Yun Yao asked. “Are you afraid Man-Monkey will gamble his life with you?”
“Exactly.” Qi Xia kept looking back, afraid Man-Monkey would follow them out.
“But don’t you have a ‘trump card’?” Yun Yao found Qi Xia interesting and said, “Your intelligence is much stronger than that Man-Monkey’s. If you really gambled your life, I think your chances of winning would be quite high.”
“I don’t have any damn ‘trump card.’ Let’s go quickly.” Qi Xia pulled everyone along hurriedly. “Just now I was bluffing him. That Man-Monkey was completely beyond my expectations—he actually cheated. If we really gambled our lives, I wouldn’t know what cheating methods he might use.”
“Ah? You were bluffing him? Hahahaha!” Yun Yao immediately burst into laughter. “You acted so convincingly! Are you a con artist?”
“Let’s go quickly.” Qi Xia said helplessly.
The three of them found a roadside spot to rest briefly. Though dawn had only broken an hour or two ago, everyone felt like a long time had passed.
“Let’s divide up the ‘Dao,'” Qi Xia said. “We earned ten pieces. Since both you and I contributed ‘Dao,’ you and I each get three pieces, and Qiao Jiajin and Tiantian each get two pieces.”
“Qi Xia, can I date you?” Yun Yao suddenly asked out of the blue.
“What…” Qi Xia nearly choked on those words. “What are you doing? Do you know what situation we’re in right now?”
Qiao Jiajin and Tiantian beside them also opened their mouths wide. They felt this girl really did seem to have some problems.
Upon hearing this, Yun Yao blinked, then asked Qi Xia again, “Do you like me?”
Qi Xia’s brow furrowed tightly, then he shook his head. “I’m flattered, but I’m married.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Yun Yao said without hesitation. “I can just be your girlfriend in the ‘Land of the End.’ After we get out, we won’t contact each other.”
“Are you sick?” Qi Xia couldn’t quite see through the woman before him. “I’ve already said this much—don’t you understand? I have a wife!”
Yun Yao looked at Qi Xia expressionlessly, then scratched her head and muttered softly, “Still not enough?”
“Not enough?”
Yun Yao took a deep breath and said, “Qi Xia, stop caring about that wife of yours. Am I uglier than her? Am I not as good as her? Rather than thinking about someone beyond reach, why not…”
“Yun Yao, don’t destroy the favorable impression I have of you.” Qi Xia’s eyes instantly became ice-cold, as if he wanted to kill someone. “I don’t allow anyone to talk about my wife in that tone. You should know I’m not a good person.”
“What? Do you want to curse at me?” Yun Yao said. “Or do you want to hit me? Come on, I’m right here waiting.”
Qiao Jiajin was completely dumbfounded.
This sudden hostility was something he could never have anticipated.
“Hey, hey, hey… you two, let’s talk this out properly,” Qiao Jiajin hurried over to mediate. “What’s gotten into you two all of a sudden?”
There was an inexplicable oppressive feeling in the air.
Seeing that Qi Xia seemed truly angry, Yun Yao let out a “pfft” and laughed.
“Oh dear… okay, okay…” Yun Yao waved her hand. “Just now I was joking. I’m sorry, Qi Xia. I shouldn’t have spoken about your wife that way. The girl who could marry you must be a very good person.”
Qi Xia frowned, equally confused by what Yun Yao was saying.
“What are you up to?”
“I wanted to test whether I could hear the ‘echo.’ It seems I failed.” Yun Yao shook her head in frustration. “I don’t know if you didn’t curse at me harshly enough, or if I don’t like you that much… In any case, I was probably too hasty. Qi Xia, please don’t be angry, okay?”
“Testing whether you could hear the ‘echo’?” Qi Xia seemed to understand something. “Could it be that your ‘echo’s’ trigger is…”
“It’s ‘wanting but not obtaining,'” Yun Yao said somewhat embarrassedly. “Since childhood, I’ve always gotten whatever I liked. When I fall into a state of ‘wanting but not obtaining,’ the bell sound rings.”