“Are you fucking insane…?” Earth-Monkey asked in a daze.

“I’ve never been normal.” Qi Xia said. “Earth-Monkey, will you call or not?”

“Do you understand what ‘serve forever until extinction’ means?” Earth-Monkey said. “How could anyone possibly accept such stakes?!”

Qi Xia slowly raised his hand, wiped away the fresh blood flowing from his forehead, and said: “Then I’ll give you another break. If you think the stakes are unreasonable, you can withdraw.”

Upon hearing this, Earth-Monkey felt his mind becoming somewhat chaotic.

He slowly leaned back against his chair, his obese body trembling slightly, with only one thought remaining in his mind—Qi Xia was truly a bit too terrifying… completely different from the impression he had of him, like heaven and earth.

When he saw him this time, he had thought Qi Xia had merely grown somewhat, but now thinking about it, this couldn’t be called “growth” at all, but rather should be called “evolution.”

Qi Xia’s words about “giving another break” threw Earth-Monkey’s mental state into complete disarray within a single second. Looking at it this way, was the last “break” also planned?

No… that’s not right. The biggest problem with this statement wasn’t even that, but rather…

This statement seemed far too much like “bluffing!”

What did he mean by “if you think it’s unreasonable you can withdraw”?

In this kind of gambling game, once excessively outrageous stakes are put forth, nine times out of ten it’s to force the opponent to back down. Not only that, Qi Xia was directly using words to persuade his opponent to admit defeat.

It was textbook-level, by-the-book “bluffing.”

But would someone at Qi Xia’s level make such a low-level mistake?

Earth-Monkey felt he completely couldn’t fathom his opponent’s psychology. The story of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” had been played out countless times in this gambling game, and now they had arrived once again at a crossroads of choice. Should he believe this time or not?

Thinking this far, Earth-Monkey slowly raised his head, took a deep breath, and said in a low voice: “Qi Xia, I’m giving you one chance right now. If you voluntarily admit defeat now, I can take only two people’s lives, and you can leave with four people.”

This statement illuminated a new path for Qi Xia. If his opponent was truly bluffing, there was an eighty percent chance he would accept this request. After all, if the bluff failed, all six people would die miserably here, but withdrawing now only required leaving behind two people.

But what Earth-Monkey never expected was that Qi Xia decisively shook his head, then said: “I absolutely will not admit defeat. If anyone admits defeat, it will be you.”

“Damn…”

This difficult problem returned once again to Earth-Monkey’s hands, making him feel dizzy and disoriented.

He lifted his “hidden card,” on which the two characters “Laba” were written in a flamboyant style.

Clearly everyone’s hand cards had “busted,” so what was Qi Xia relying on…

After just a few seconds, Earth-Monkey’s train of thought opened up completely.

That’s right—what confidence did Qi Xia have to challenge him with a hand that had “busted”?!

Could he really have seen through his final “hole card”?

“But even if he truly saw through that ‘hole card’… I still won’t lose…”

After a lengthy ideological struggle, Earth-Monkey raised his head and said softly: “I’ll call.”

These two words made Qi Xia slowly widen his eyes: “Are you certain?”

“I’m certain.” Earth-Monkey nodded. “I don’t believe you can beat me. After the cards are revealed, you’ll need to serve me for life after life.”

Qi Xia slowly stood up. His mouth had just opened when his entire body suddenly collapsed toward Chen Junnan’s direction on the right. Chen Junnan hurriedly reached out to support him.

“Your grandfather, Old Qi… don’t you know what condition you’re in? Stop fucking standing up.”

Qi Xia nodded feebly, then sat down and said: “Earth-Monkey, you’d better withdraw.”

“Ha!” Upon hearing this, Earth-Monkey seemed to gain some confidence and said with a firm tone, “I won’t withdraw. I want to see… how exactly that ‘Mid-Yuan’ card in your hand is going to beat me?!”

“You even know that?” Qi Xia asked back.

“Qi Xia, this is where you stop.”

Earth-Monkey reached out and picked up his “hidden card,” then slammed it viciously onto the table, revealing its face. “Laba.”

“Laba Festival…” Qi Xia smiled bitterly. “I’m somewhat nostalgic for my hometown’s Laba porridge. Earth-Monkey, after the cards are revealed this round, can you let my teammates eat something?”

“Can you not understand the cards?” Earth-Monkey said. “I have ‘Laba’ in my hand, you have ‘Mid-Yuan’ in your hand. We’ve both busted!”

“Is that so…?”

Qi Xia slowly placed the “hidden card” he’d been clutching in his hand onto the table surface, then flipped it with his hand, revealing the card face.

It was neither “Double Ninth” nor “Mid-Yuan,” but an even more peculiar card.

“Major Snow,” November eighth.

Seeing this card, Earth-Monkey first widened his eyes with a bewildered expression, then his lips moved slightly, slowly uttering a few words: “How… exactly did you switch the cards?”

“I didn’t switch any cards.” Qi Xia said. “My card has always been this one.”

After saying this, he flipped the “Major Snow” card over, showing Earth-Monkey the back of the card.

On the back was indeed a red flower dyed with blood, which had been wiped countless times, revealing unique traces.

“This…” Earth-Monkey kept his pair of dry yellow eyes wide open, his face covered with an expression of disbelief.

This entire round was like a dream, with everything that happened leaving him puzzled.

“Even… even if you have ‘Major Snow,’ that’s still ‘eleven-eight,’ you’ve still ‘busted’!”

Earth-Monkey said, “Your remaining two cards add up to ‘twelve points,’ this card is ‘ten points,’ making a total of ‘twenty-two points’!”

After speaking, Earth-Monkey pushed his own cards forward again: “And all my cards add up to ‘twenty-one points.’ Before the game started, I already said that if both people ‘bust,’ it counts as your loss!”

Qi Xia shook his head expressionlessly and said: “Earth-Monkey, I truly wish that this time you could voluntarily withdraw instead of showing this unreasonable and obstinate attitude.”

“What…”

“I told you, I saw through both of your ‘hole cards,’ but you didn’t believe me.” Qi Xia sighed. “And I also advised you just now to withdraw. We only need to stay alive, but you followed up with your own ‘serve forever until extinction.’ Why couldn’t you trust me just once?”

“You fucking…”

Earth-Monkey suddenly stood up, his entire body beginning to tremble slowly. Only now did he finally believe that Qi Xia had seen through everything long ago.

When he thought Qi Xia was still the same Qi Xia, he had used consecutive tricks. When he thought Qi Xia was a liar, he had continuously spoken the truth.

His strategy was simply identical to his own “lunar month” rules, making it completely impossible to fathom.

Qi Xia pushed forward his “New Year’s Eve” and “Major Snow” cards, saying indifferently: “These two cards add up to ‘sixteen points.’ In this comparison of size, I won’t use the ‘community cards.'”