A distance of a hundred meters was not usually far, but at this moment, it seemed terrifyingly distant.
Distant enough to be almost unreachable.
And distant enough to be the divide between life and death.
Han Ze was severely injured, with many fatal wounds all over his body. His clothes were soaked through with blood, and his face was alarmingly pale.
Blood continuously dripped from his body onto the ground, leaving bright red traces, looking extremely terrifying.
It seemed as if he could die at any moment.
In this situation, let alone fighting, just enduring until the end of the gamble could be enough to kill him.
After all, the amount of blood loss he had endured was beyond what an ordinary person could sustain.
Even Han Ze couldn’t hold on. The massive blood loss combined with multiple fatal injuries made his vision blurry, and he even felt like collapsing.
But he couldn’t collapse, because once he did, there would be no chance of getting up again.
And no chance to see that young man again.
He wanted to live, more than he had ever wanted before.
Not just for that kiss, but for a future, a future with that young man.
In truth, Han Ze had long since run out of strength. He was only rushing forward thanks to the force of his opponents’ attacks.
The finish line was getting closer and closer.
The players were starting to get nervous, even though they had no idea why they were nervous.
They were simply extremely tense, so tense that they unconsciously held their breath, and even the viewers in the livestream were the same.
They didn’t know if they were hoping for the man to win the gamble or for him to collapse before the finish line.
However, miracles were hard to come by, and the momentum Han Ze had borrowed from the attacks seemed insufficient to carry him to the finish line.
When he was three meters away from the finish line, all external forces vanished.
Han Ze could only rely on himself.
Blood poured from the corners of Han Ze’s mouth, but he had no time to care. Clutching the fatal wound on his chest, he staggered and used all his strength to charge towards the finish line.
Under normal circumstances, Han Ze could have easily teleported this three-meter distance.
But not now, and those few people were already catching up.
He couldn’t get through.
Someone behind him kicked Han Ze to the ground, hitting the ground hard and spitting out a mouthful of blood.
The blood he spat out and the blood flowing from his body stained the ground red, but Han Ze ignored his injuries and used the last of his strength to look up at Ruan Qing, who was just three meters away.
In his usually clear and foolish eyes, there was now a deep sense of reluctance and resentment.
He was unwilling to die and unwilling to lose the gamble.
Even though he had known this person for less than two days, Han Ze felt as if they had known each other in a previous life.
He existed just to wait for him.
But the wait was too long, and their time together was too short, shorter, and more painful than death.
Han Ze was enveloped in an aura of despair and gloom, looking helpless and pitiful.
However, the few people behind him showed no pity or hesitation. Ji Zhiyuan looked down at Han Ze from above and raised his sword high.
Seeing this, Ruan Qing’s expression remained unchanged; he didn’t even continue watching. Instead, under Han Ze’s gaze, he turned and walked away indifferently.
Han Ze’s gaze dimmed as he saw this. He pressed his thin lips tightly together but didn’t lower his head. He stubbornly watched Ruan Qing’s departing figure.
His appearance seemed to carry a hint of pity and grievance.
However, the young man walking away didn’t look back. His slender, thin figure was filled with ruthlessness.
It was as if Han Ze, who lost the gamble, had already become a discarded pawn.
The viewers in the live stream fell silent upon seeing this scene.
[What to do? I suddenly feel a bit sorry for this big fool. Boohoo, wife, why don’t you look back at him? Even just one last look would be nice.]
[Seeing that big fool’s pitiful eyes, I take back what I said before. I agree with wife looking back at him once.]
[No way! I disagree, it’s too bloody and will dirty my wife’s eyes. Better not look back!]
[Am I the only one who thinks that my ruthless wife is also incredibly handsome!? A strong person doesn’t need love! Everyone is just a pawn!]
Ji Zhiyuan’s raised sword showed no mercy as it slashed down. If Han Ze didn’t dodge, his entire head might be chopped off.
There would be no chance of survival.
However, Han Ze had long since run out of strength to dodge.
He could only watch the receding figure with reluctance, as if trying to imprint that slender silhouette in his mind.
If there was a next life...
Huh?
Han Ze looked around at the suddenly changed scene, and he was dumbfounded.
Where is this?
Had he gone to heaven?
But if he had gone to heaven, why did his body still hurt so much?
Han Ze struggled to support his weak body and looked around.
This place didn’t seem like heaven; this was... the lobby of Area Two of the Life and Death Casino?
Having frequented Area Two of the Life and Death Casino for many years, Han Ze naturally recognized that this was indeed the second district.
Had he left the game?
Han Ze was completely bewildered. What exactly was going on?
Li Ruoshi had been watching the game from outside ever since she learned that the young man was involved in it. She was not at all surprised to see the man suddenly appear.
Because she had used the same method herself.
Sending a teammate out of the game while choosing death herself.
However, this game wasn’t a matter of life and death, so the young man couldn’t possibly die.
Having watched for so long, Li Ruoshi naturally knew that this man was the young man’s teammate, so she wasted no time. She redeemed some healing medicine from the Life and Death Casino’s store and immediately handed it to Han Ze.
Although Han Ze’s mind was in a daze, he still recognized the medicine. He quickly took it and swallowed it.
The medicine from the Life and Death Casino worked quickly. In less than a minute after swallowing it, Han Ze already felt much better.
At least the bleeding all over his body had stopped, and he had the strength to stand up.
“Thank you, I’ll repay you with gold coins later.”
***
In front of the maze of the game, everyone fell into silence as they watched the man instantly disappear when Ji Zhiyuan’s slash landed.
As the man disappeared, Ji Zhiyuan’s sword naturally struck empty air, leaving a gap in the ground.
The gap exuded a terrifying aura, looking extremely frightening.
Even the onlookers couldn’t help but shudder, unable to imagine the consequences of that sword strike landing on a person.
Only two people in the entire gambling arena maintained a calm demeanor from start to finish: the maid boy and Ruan Qing.
The maid boy showed a hint of regret in his eyes as he looked at the still-alive Han Ze, but the next second he returned to normal.
Meanwhile, Ruan Qing walked unflinchingly toward the edge of the maze.
The maze had its boundaries, and if any gambler participating in the gamble accidentally stepped out of these boundaries, they would lose.
Ruan Qing stopped just one step away from the edge, then looked at the staff member not far away and softly said, “Team Five.”
“I concede.”
Ruan Qing’s words coincided with Han Ze’s disappearance; as he spoke, Han Ze vanished.
After speaking, Ruan Qing turned indifferently to look at the maid boy, then stepped out of the maze’s boundary.
Obviously, he had intended to concede from the start.
After all, without Han Ze drawing attention, he might not have even had the chance to concede.
As Ruan Qing’s words fell, the entire arena fell into dead silence. The air seemed to freeze.
The silence was somewhat terrifying.
Even the players who didn’t quite understand what had happened realized that Han Ze’s disappearance was the young man’s doing.
The young man had even directly conceded.
The winner of this gamble would be one of the bigwigs, but it didn’t seem like a true victory.
At least the young man wasn’t sending that foolish man to his death but rather protecting him.
The teleportation tool to send a teammate out of the gamble wasn’t cheap, undoubtedly costing the young man most of his coins.
Willingness to spend all his coins on someone else already indicated an extraordinary relationship.
Just like before with Li Ruoshi, who saw her teammates as family, she was willing to use her coins to send them away.
The players no longer dared to look at the expressions of those bigwigs.
After Ruan Qing conceded, he did not leave the gamble, clearly knowing that conceding wouldn’t work.
After stepping out of the maze, his figure instantly disappeared from the game.
Leaving the maze’s boundary was the only way to admit defeat.
Although this game seemed not to bet on life, in reality, it was almost impossible to come out alive.
However, Ruan Qing didn’t care about winning or losing the game; he had already obtained the information he wanted.
That maid boy was one of the big bosses of this instance.
And the other one... was Han Ze.
Perhaps these two were originally the same person, or maybe all the staff of the Life and Death Casino were derived from the same person.
They shared perception and memory.
Ruan Qing had felt this on the night he entered the instance; the night staff shouldn’t have recognized him.
But their attitude towards him was not much different from that of the day staff, as if they knew everything that happened during the day and felt it themselves.
This could only be possible through shared memory and perception.
And those staff were most likely evolved from the monsters in the maze because their eyes were almost identical, all golden-yellow.
It’s just that the staff learned to disguise themselves.
The monsters always wanted to go deeper into the maze, obviously drawn by something there.
And that thing was very likely what could turn monsters into staff.
After experiencing so many instances, Ruan Qing discovered one thing: the reason NPCs and small bosses were so powerful was that their strength almost always came from the big boss of the instance.
So, the existence deep in the maze was most likely the big boss of the Life and Death Casino.
The green vine’s sap being golden-yellow was no coincidence; it probably belonged to the big boss or was the big boss’s body.
The monsters were either stealing the big boss’s power or were being eroded and influenced by the big boss.
The maid boy and Han Ze were the two who gained the most power, or they might even be part of the big boss.
Ruan Qing didn’t just want to clear the instance; since he had promised the system, he would naturally strive to help the system gain power.
And this instance might be the best opportunity.
After all, in this instance... you could bet on anything.
soo r we gonna get maid boys name orr??
ReplyDeleteLol i wonder
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