Qiao Jiajin instantly frowned and looked toward the direction where the sound erupted.

The sound seemed like a group of people cheering.

“Well then, we’ve searched everywhere only to find it effortlessly.” Chen Junnan put the map in his pocket and also looked in that direction. “Although we’re tired today, no matter what, we should at least take a look.”

“No problem.” Qiao Jiajin said. “Just in time to see what kind of game this Earth-Monkey Zai is playing. If it’s not difficult, I’ll give you a hand.”

The two looked around in all directions. After confirming there was no one nearby, they walked toward that alley.

What felt strange was that there were no “Zodiacs” in the alley either—only an old wooden door that opened inward.

On the wall beside this wooden door, a pile of words were written in red paint.

The first thing that caught the eye was “Welcome.”

Next was “Opening hours: sunrise to sunset.”

The last line read “Harmony and peace, prosperity in and out.”

“Damn…” Qiao Jiajin felt something was off. “This kind of entrance—why do I feel it’s somewhat familiar?”

“What, were you a monkey before?” Chen Junnan looked inside the door and asked casually.

“No, Junnan Zai!” Qiao Jiajin pointed at the last line. “I always feel I’ve seen this phrase somewhere…”

The two stopped talking after that. Chen Junnan walked a step inside the door and discovered there was also a door curtain inside. He reached out to pull the curtain open, and a thick smell of smoke wafted out.

The sound of a large group of people conversing also instantly entered their ears.

The two carefully walked through the door. After passing through a long, smoke-filled corridor, the scene before their eyes suddenly opened up.

Inside a huge room, many tables were scattered about haphazardly. These tables were either strewn with dice or piled with playing cards and mahjong tiles, though all the tables were currently empty.

In the center of the room was a large round table, and right now about ten men were gathered around the table watching something.

They were talking and laughing, holding cigarettes in their hands, their carefree and happy state completely at odds with the situation in the “Land of the End.”

Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiajin looked at each other and slowly walked forward.

At this moment, Qiao Jiajin finally remembered where he had seen this phrase before.

It was from those “gambling dens” on the street.

Harmony and peace, prosperity in and out.

This phrase seemed to be said to all the gamblers, but it was also what the casino owners thought in their hearts.

First, they hoped no one would cause trouble. Second, they hoped everyone who entered could bring them money.

The two came to the crowd’s side and looked at the round table. The dozen or so men beside them glanced at the two as they approached, seemingly unsurprised, then continued to lock their gazes on the round table.

Three people sat around this round table. Two of them were sweating profusely, while facing them was a “monkey” with a face full of wrinkles.

The monkey was short and fat, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth at an angle. He looked both lazy and contemptuous.

His hand rested on the dice cup in front of him as he looked at the two people on his left and right with slanted eyes.

The two people on either side also reached out to guard their dice cups, looking somewhat nervous.

All three had dozens of “Dao” placed on the table in front of them. It appeared they were gambling, and the stakes weren’t small.

“My turn first.” Earth-Monkey’s hoarse voice came out.

The two men reached out to open their dice cups and carefully looked inside.

Earth-Monkey thought for a while, also opened his dice cup to glance at it, then said, “Six fours.”

After hearing this, Qiao Jiajin slowly frowned. He felt that everyone here was very familiar to him.

Gambling—this thing that had once ruined his entire life.

He had entered gambling dens countless times and had also advised the gambling addict Rong to quit countless times. But gamblers were like this—they always thought the next round could win back their capital, yet reality always made them lose more and more miserably.

“What are they playing?” Chen Junnan asked, puzzled.

“It’s called ‘Chui Shui’—you probably also call it ‘Bragging’ or ‘Liar’s Dice.'” Qiao Jiajin said. “Each person has five dice and needs to take turns guessing the point values of everyone’s dice. For example, ‘six fours’ means that all the dice added together have six ‘four points.’ If you believe what the previous player said, you can continue to call out higher numbers. If you don’t believe it, you can call ‘tai’ or ‘kai’ (open). Everyone will open their dice cups to show their dice. If everyone’s dice added together really have that quantity, then you lose; otherwise, the other party loses. Additionally, ‘point one’ can represent all numbers—that is, it’s a ‘wild.'”

“You old fellow…” Chen Junnan reached out and punched Qiao Jiajin’s chest. “You look so honest and straightforward—how do you know so much? Are you a gambling god?”

“This is a very common dice game, but this is the first time I’ve seen someone use this game for gambling.” Qiao Jiajin shook his head and said, “I don’t gamble, but I’ve been to many casinos and even looked after casinos before, so I know a little.”

Chen Junnan nodded. After generally understanding the rules, he looked at the three people at the table again. After Earth-Monkey called out the number, it was now the next middle-aged man’s turn. The atmosphere among the three was somewhat tense.

“Seven… seven fours…” the middle-aged man said.

After these words, neither of the remaining two people called “open,” and he also breathed a sigh of relief.

After hearing this, the third young man quickly covered his dice cup with both hands, carefully opened it to take a look, his expression hesitant as he kept muttering, “Seven fours…?”

Chen Junnan happened to be standing behind this young man and sneaked a peek at his dice cup.

The five dice were respectively two “twos,” two “threes,” and one “one.”

These dice seemed specially made—not traditional dots, but written directly with Chinese characters “one, two, three.”

At this moment, he didn’t have any “fours” in his hand, only one “one.” According to what Qiao Jiajin said about “one” being able to represent any point value, he had one “four” in his hand.

His expression looked extremely conflicted. His previous player had already called “seven fours.” At this point, he had to at least call “eight fours” or “seven fives,” but no matter which way he called it, both carried enormous risk for him.

After all, neither side had called the point value “five,” which meant they most likely didn’t have “fives” in their hands, or had very few “fives.” So calling “four” was the best choice at this moment.

But added together among the three people, could there really be “eight fours”?

Chen Junnan crossed his arms, feeling that this dice game was different from “guessing big or small”—it was more of a test of psychological warfare.

But this was still very strange…

Could playing dice be “Earth-Monkey’s” game?

The young man pondered for a long time, wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand again, and said, “Eight… eight fours.”

At this moment, Earth-Monkey sneered coldly, turned his head to look at him, and said, “Open.”