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Bonus chapter! Thank you to Selkae for the donation! ^^
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The atmosphere at the gambling table was somewhat strange. The two staff members sitting opposite each other seemed out of place, as if they were just there to make up the numbers, mechanically drawing and playing tiles.
They didn’t say a word the entire time, and even their previous polite smiles had become more rigid.
It was as if they had turned into mannequins.
Only Su Zhen occasionally asked a question at the table.
Ruan Qing only responded when Su Zhen asked, never saying an extra word.
When it was Ruan Qing’s turn to draw a tile, Su Zhen’s gaze lingered on his hand holding the tile for a few seconds before he spoke indifferently, “You probably can’t repay tens of millions, can you?”
Although Su Zhen’s words were phrased as a question, his tone was one of certainty.
Almost no player could repay tens of millions of points, not even those on the leaderboard.
It was already a miracle that someone who owed tens of millions of points hadn’t been killed by the game’s main system.
But even if they weren’t killed, they would likely be trapped in this infinite horror game forever.
There would be no day they could leave.
Although in this infinite horror game, survival was already uncertain, and no one knew if they would die in the next instance, at least without debt, there was still some hope.
After hearing Su Zhen’s words, Ruan Qing didn’t even lift his head, merely responding with a light “mm.”
The response was clearly perfunctory.
It was obvious that he didn’t want to talk to Su Zhen at all, but he had to respond.
Su Zhen didn’t get angry. He lightly tapped the gambling table and nonchalantly said, “How about I help you pay it off?”
The onlooking players were stunned, their eyes widening in disbelief as they looked at Su Zhen, not caring if it was impolite.
That was tens of millions of points!
They risked their lives to earn just two or three hundred points per instance; tens of millions would require completing hundreds of thousands of instances.
Even if each instance took only a few days and they guaranteed survival every time, it would take hundreds of thousands of years.
The players understood why some people liked domineering CEOs. Who wouldn’t be moved by such an offer?
The players’ eyes were fixed on Ruan Qing, wishing they could take his place.
However, Ruan Qing showed no sign of being moved. He kept his eyes lowered, not even glancing at Su Zhen.
“Thank you. I can manage on my own.”
There was no such thing as a free lunch. Su Zhen’s proposal absolutely could not come without conditions.
The obvious reason was him.
Relying on a powerful person might seem promising, but in reality, it was like an illusion, entrusting one’s future and everything to someone else.
One would lose control over their own fate.
Just like when he was kept in the villa; at first, he could still have a normal life.
In the end, not to mention stepping out of the villa, even stepping out of the room was a pipe dream.
Everything he saw was given by others, completely turning him into a parasitic accessory like a dodder flower, even facing the danger of death.
Thus, Ruan Qing did not feel the slightest bit tempted.
He pursed his lips and silently looked at his tiles.
Unfortunately, it seemed this mahjong of chance was out of his control.
Su Zhen could control him at any time, play the tiles he wanted, or even make him play randomly, with no chance of winning.
This deadlock made Ruan Qing’s beautiful eyes reveal tension and unease.
There was also an unprecedented seriousness.
The ease and frenzy of gambling he previously had were completely gone.
It was as if he had encountered a natural enemy, suddenly learning to hesitate and fear, or as if a fearless cub suddenly understood what fear was.
The onlookers and gamblers all saw it; his hand was probably not very good.
The players, shocked that the young man had refused Su Zhen’s help, looked at Su Zhen, then at the young man sitting opposite him.
Then they silently moved closer to the young man.
They wanted to see what tiles he had.
The players braced themselves, but when they saw the tiles clearly, they were still silent.
They knew the young man’s hand was probably bad, but they didn’t expect it to be this terrible.
It was almost a complete mess, no different from the tiles of the two staff members next to him.
No sign of a winning hand, and it was completely unclear how to win.
The young man probably realized this too. He didn’t even look at the tile he drew before slapping it on the table and discarding a completely useless tile from his hand.
But even so, his hand was still a mess.
Not to mention there were a few tiles by his side that he had no idea what they were.
He was doomed to lose.
There was almost no suspense about it.
Even a god couldn’t save this hand, especially since Su Zhen’s hand was already on the verge of winning.
He could win at any moment.
So whether he refused or not didn’t seem to make a difference. Betting a few rounds with Su Zhen would be enough to lose everything.
It was just a shift from being proactive to being passive.
…Maybe this was the fun between a domineering CEO and his little wife.
The audience in the livestream also felt this game was hopeless.
[I can’t accept this! My husband is going to kiss another man, sob sob, how can I bear this? Only a kiss from my wife can make me feel better.]
[Damn! So what if you’re a big shot on the leaderboard? If you’re so capable, don’t cheat! What’s the point of three against one!]
[Heh, so what if you win? You’re just a passerby in my husband’s life. I’ll always be his most obedient puppy. How can an arrogant and unreasonable ugly thing like you compete with me!]
[But he said he’d help repay my husband’s millions in debt. I wavered just a little bit, only a little bit.]
As time passed, Ruan Qing became more and more nervous, his thin lips turning pale from being pressed together, and his forehead started to sweat.
He was no longer as composed and calm as before, looking as if he was at a dead end.
But even when nervous, a beauty was still a beauty, without any trace of the defeated look other gamblers have when they’re about to lose.
Ruan Qing’s nervousness added a hint of vulnerability, making people want to see him even more pitiable.
Like truly losing...and crying or something.
When Su Zhen picked up a tile, Ruan Qing nervously and uneasily glanced at the remaining tiles, finally fixing his gaze on Su Zhen’s hand.
Afraid that his next tile would immediately make a winning hand.
Fortunately, there was none, and Su Zhen got a useless tile, which he directly discarded.
Although it seemed like four people were playing at the gambling table, in reality, only two were actively playing.
Su Zhen discarded his tiles without much hesitation, while only Ruan Qing took a moment to think before making a move, but the speed wasn’t too slow either. In just ten minutes, more than half of the undealt tiles on the table were already gone.
Most of the tiles Su Zhen needed to win were in Ruan Qing’s hand, and some were still among the undealt tiles, so he was still one step away from winning.
T/N: Correction, they're playing mahjong, not a card game like I mentioned the last chapter. Sorry for the mistake. ><
please win ruan qing!!
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