Earth-Monkey didn’t raise in this round, so Zheng Yinxiong began the second round of dealing.

He dealt the cards face down, giving one to each person, with Earth-Monkey being last in turn.

When Zheng Yinxiong climbed onto the table and was about to hand the card to Earth-Monkey, he suddenly twitched his nose, and his hand delivering the card stopped in mid-air.

Earth-Monkey’s hand reaching for the card also froze: “What? You don’t want to give me the card?”

Zheng Yinxiong looked around with a confused expression, then pulled his gaze back to Earth-Monkey and sniffed with his nose again.

“What the hell is wrong with you, kid?” Earth-Monkey asked.

“This… Uncle…” Zheng Yinxiong seemed to have encountered something puzzling. After being stunned for a while, he raised his nose and sniffed again. His expression relaxed somewhat at this point. “It’s nothing… it seems like it was just my imagination…”

After handing the “hole card” to Earth-Monkey, Zheng Yinxiong returned to his seat with a puzzled look on his face, then scratched his head.

A trickle of blood slid from his nostril, but his expression was as if he felt nothing at all.

Tiantian beside him was startled and quickly reached out to wipe Zheng Yinxiong’s nosebleed. Her palm was instantly dirtied.

“Brother Yinxiong, why are you getting a nosebleed again?”

Zheng Yinxiong turned his head blankly to look at Tiantian, seemingly still not having come to his senses. His lips moved slightly as he slowly squeezed out a few words: “Just that instant, it really stank.”

“Stank…?”

Tiantian quickly raised her nose to sniff. Speaking of “stench,” the “Land of End” was already full of rotting, heavy odors. Ordinary foul smells weren’t particularly unusual to everyone.

Moreover, someone had probably just died in this room, and the floor was covered with sticky blood. The smell was probably even worse than outside.

He had smelled a scent that only he could detect.

“What kind of stench?” Tiantian bent down and asked in an almost inaudible whisper, “Is it the smell of an ‘Echo’?”

“Hard to say…” Zheng Yinxiong shook his head and answered in an equally small voice. “Sister, what you call ‘Echoes’ mostly smell fragrant to me. I’ve only smelled a slight stench from some very powerful ‘Echoes’ before… but the smell I just caught was very strange…”

“Strange how?”

“That smell was very much like a ‘Heavenly’…” Zheng Yinxiong’s face had turned somewhat pale. “I seemed to smell a foul odor far exceeding that of ordinary ‘Zodiacs,’ but I don’t know where this smell came from…”

“Where else could it come from…”

Tiantian recalled that when Man-Monkey had given them Earth-Monkey’s address earlier, he had clearly stated “I want to know if Earth-Monkey has an Echo.” That statement probably wasn’t made without reason.

“Brother Yinxiong.” Tiantian called out softly. “If you smell a similar odor again, pat my arm, okay?”

“Mm.” Zheng Yinxiong nodded.

Earth-Monkey didn’t notice anything unusual about Tiantian and Zheng Yinxiong. After getting his hole card, he lifted it to take a look and showed a slightly complex expression, but this expression was hidden very deeply and extremely difficult for others to detect. After pondering for a moment, he put the card face down and looked at everyone: “Does anyone want to ‘raise’?”

His minute expression was captured by Qi Xia, but it was difficult for Qi Xia to guess the meaning of this expression. What kind of card would cause him to show such an expression?

Currently, among the cards that could be revealed on the table, the strongest card faces were Earth-Monkey’s “New Year’s Eve” with “one, two, three, zero,” and Zheng Yinxiong’s “Winter Solstice” with “one, one, two, three.”

Since the community card for this round was “Lixia” (Beginning of Summer), and this year’s Lixia fell on the sixth day of the fourth month (“four, six”), both of their cards combined with the community card had the probability of forming a “one, two, three, four, five, six” straight.

However, this straight was different from the rules Qiao Jiajin had mentioned—it wasn’t composed of five cards, but six cards.

As long as either Zheng Yinxiong or Earth-Monkey drew a card containing “five,” they could potentially get a dragon hand composed of six cards.

Qi Xia had already calculated that in this game, situations where a “straight” could be formed were very rare. The probability of forming one was far smaller than a “flush,” “three of a kind,” or “pair.” It was basically equivalent to “four of a kind,” so the weight of a “straight” should be very heavy.

Theoretically, he no longer had any reason to continue following in this round’s bet, but if he didn’t maintain his thinking, Zheng Yinxiong might very well lose this round even with a good hand.

The urgent priority now was to guess what Earth-Monkey’s “hole card” was.

What kind of card would cause him to show such a slightly complex expression?

“If no one’s raising, I’m going to raise.” Earth-Monkey said. “Raise by one.”

He tossed the “Dao” onto the table, then raised his head to look at everyone.

At this moment, both Tiantian and Zheng Yinxiong showed slightly complex expressions. The two of them now had no more chips, so under these circumstances they could only concede defeat.

Seeing this, Qi Xia slowly turned his head: “Fist.”

“I know.”

He exchanged a glance with Chen Junnan, and the two slowly stood up. Qiao Jiajin said: “Aiya, Miss Tiantian, I can return the ‘Dao’ you lent me earlier.”

Chen Junnan also reached into his pocket: “Kid, I just picked up a bead at the door. Take a look—is it yours?”

The two decisively slapped their chips on the table, then raised their heads to glare viciously at Earth-Monkey, showing no intention of backing down in their attitude.

Earth-Monkey also knew he had no right to prevent the private chip collusion between several people, and could only turn his head disdainfully to look in another direction.

Xiao Cheng looked at his own “Xiazhi” (Summer Solstice) card on the table with a troubled expression. He also only had one last chip remaining. After thinking for a while, he was about to announce his withdrawal when Qi Xia in the distance spoke up.

“Follow him, no need to be afraid.” Qi Xia said. “Your cards are very good.”

“Very good…?” Xiao Cheng was stunned. After lowering his head to think for a while, he could only choose to trust Qi Xia and pushed forward his last chip.

Qi Xia thought carefully for a moment. He had almost failed to notice Xiao Cheng’s card earlier. By all rights, his card was even easier to win with than Zheng Yinxiong’s and Earth-Monkey’s.

The “Xiazhi” in his hand was “five, two, one,” and this time’s community card “Lixia” was “four, six.” He was only one “three” away from the “one, two, three, four, five, six” straight.

The “three” he needed was much easier to complete than the “five” that Earth-Monkey and Zheng Yinxiong needed.

Because the “solar terms” in the lunar calendar’s second half of the year were all on the “eighth or twenty-third,” this meant that at least six solar terms in the second half of the year were dated “twenty-third.” In the first half of the year, there were also two solar terms—”Qingming” (Pure Brightness) and “Guyu” (Grain Rain)—that fell in the third month, plus one festival from the third month, “Shangsi Festival,” and one festival containing “three”—”New Year’s Eve.” In total, there were ten cards containing “three.”