“Wait a moment…”

Xiao Cheng lowered his head to look at his own cards, then raised his head to carefully examine Earth-Monkey’s cards. He quickly discovered where the problem lay.

He had never imagined that this game could be simultaneously so simple yet so complex.

Qi Xia’s words, the questions he had asked, the increasingly bright wooden box in the center of the table, the “Lunar Month,” the solar terms, the festivals—all the information connected together.

“Clang!”

A distant bell chimed, and in that instant, Xiao Cheng’s thoughts suddenly became clear.

He found it hard to believe that the man called Qi Xia had been engaged in such complex thinking all along. If he had participated in this game alone, let alone eight rounds, even playing for an entire day under these continuously changing rules, he might not necessarily be able to accurately figure out the rules.

The most difficult aspect of this game was that the fourth round would change the rules.

Normally, for players to research and understand this deck of cards’ rules, it naturally couldn’t be done in just one or two rounds like Qi Xia had done. The number four rounds was likely carefully designed. Most people who wanted to fully understand this game’s rules would need about four rounds.

And just when everyone was about to comprehend the rules, the box in the center of the table would enter its brightest state, and the rules would quietly change.

At this moment, when everyone thought they had victory in hand and increased their bets, they would fall into the second trap designed by Earth-Monkey.

“Do you understand now?” Qi Xia said in a low voice from the side. “When you rely too much on those around you and stop thinking, you’ll appear weaker than usual.”

Xiao Cheng nodded, realizing that his line of thinking had indeed been biased just now.

If one always wanted to depend on others, how could one possibly survive to the end in this kind of place?

If he had started using his brain earlier, perhaps he could have figured out these problems long ago.

This game, while adopting the rules of “Twenty-One,” couldn’t accurately be called “Twenty-One” at all. It should be called “Sixteen.”

“Right now we’re experiencing the ‘Full Moon.’ During the ‘Full Moon,’ all point values can no longer be calculated individually. Instead, we must see whose points are closer to the ‘Full Moon.’ The person closest to the ‘Full Moon’ has the highest hand.” Xiao Cheng reached out to point at Earth-Monkey’s cards, patiently explaining to everyone. “The current rules are slightly more complex than before. Besides calculating each card’s point value and month, we must also add all the point values together.”

“For example, Earth-Monkey’s cards this time are ‘Qingming’s’ ‘three-six,’ ‘Spring Equinox’s’ ‘two-two-one,’ plus ‘Spring Festival’s’ ‘one-one.’ When all these numbers are added together, the total is ‘sixteen.'” Xiao Cheng, worried everyone wouldn’t understand, explained further. “Just like in the ‘Twenty-One’ game, ‘twenty’ isn’t the highest number—’twenty-one’ is. Earth-Monkey probably adopted the saying ‘the fifteenth moon is fullest on the sixteenth,’ so he set ‘sixteen’ as the cap number for this game. Any total exceeding ‘sixteen’ counts as a loss, while reaching ‘sixteen’ counts as the highest.”

“Originally, we couldn’t have known the rules this quickly, but just now, Brother Qi’s question directly determined the rules.”

Xiao Cheng pushed his cards forward.

“Everyone, I have ‘Light Snow’s’ ‘one-zero-two-three,’ ‘Winter Solstice’s’ ‘one-one-two-three,’ plus ‘Spring Festival’s’ ‘one-one.’ All my numbers added together equal ‘fifteen.'” Xiao Cheng said with a serious expression. “It’s also thanks to Brother Qi’s question that we directly figured out which is higher in this game—’fifteen’ or ‘sixteen.’ This is the rule during ‘Full Moon.'”

After listening, everyone lowered their heads to look at their own cards and quickly discovered that what Xiao Cheng said was indeed correct.

In Tiantian’s hand, “Minor Cold’s” “one-two-eight,” “Grain Buds'” “four-two-one,” plus “Spring Festival’s” “one-one” had already reached “twenty.” This number exceeded the “Full Moon,” so it could only count as a loss.

Zheng Yingxiong’s cards added up to “twenty-six,” Chen Junnan’s numbers added up to only “thirteen,” while Qiao Jiajin had “twenty-one,” and Qi Xia had “twenty-eight.”

In this round, the person closest to victory was only Xiao Cheng with his “fifteen.”

If Earth-Monkey’s hand wasn’t “sixteen,” everyone might have been able to win another round.

“Damn…” Qiao Jiajin reached up to scratch his head, feeling that this game was increasingly exceeding the range he could adapt to.

The various paper cards scattered on the table were clearly a bunch of Chinese characters, yet everyone had been doing excessive calculations in their brains from the very beginning. Now the calculations had deepened by another level.

Not only did they need to calculate the “date” on their cards based on the first clue Earth-Monkey gave, “September Twenty-Third,” but they also had to add together all the numbers contained in all the “dates.” Yet this was merely knowing one’s own cards.

To achieve victory, they needed to deduce the probability of each card their opponents obtained based on the cards currently revealed on the table, then convert their opponents’ cards into numbers, and then add them one by one.

After deducing both their own cards and their opponent’s cards, they would then engage in psychological warfare through “betting” and “calling.” This was “Lunar Month.”

Although the rules weren’t complicated, the excessive calculations made everyone extremely silent during the game, as a single moment of inattention could lead to miscalculating one’s own cards.

Qi Xia pressed his forehead at this moment, turned his head to look at Xiao Cheng, and after a few seconds of silence, slowly spoke: “Are these all the rules?”

After hearing this, Xiao Cheng also looked at Qi Xia, but not knowing what he meant, could only think for a moment before saying: “Yes, this is all I can think of.”

Qi Xia nodded slightly, then withdrew his gaze.

He knew Xiao Cheng had overlooked an important rule without mentioning it.

Looking at his expression, he genuinely hadn’t thought of this crucial rule, but likewise, there was no need for him to point it out here.

After all, the people who heard Xiao Cheng’s words included not only their own people but also Earth-Monkey.

When Earth-Monkey heard that Xiao Cheng had omitted such an important rule, he would naturally try to make an issue based on this rule. Meanwhile, Qi Xia could use Earth-Monkey’s psychology in reverse and employ his deception again to claim victory in the next round.

Although Earth-Monkey occupied the advantages of timing, terrain, and harmony, he ultimately wasn’t a sheep.

“Since you understand the rules, let’s start quickly.” After Earth-Monkey finished speaking, he turned his head to look at Qi Xia. “All of your chips are already running low, and you have absolutely nothing left. Do you really have confidence you can walk out of my venue?”

After hearing this, Qi Xia slowly raised the corners of his mouth and said: “Earth-Monkey, you’re a gambler. You should know that those who’ve lost everything are the most terrifying.”