***
Bonus chapter! Thank you to Swissroll for the donation! ^^
***
The maid boy’s smile disappeared after hearing Ruan Qing’s words. He slightly squinted his eyes for a moment and then stared directly at Ruan Qing.
It seemed like he was contemplating the truthfulness of Ruan Qing’s words.
However, there wasn’t much to think about, as no one could refuse such a wager.
Even the maid boy couldn’t refuse.
Using force to keep someone around was naturally not as good as making them stay willingly.
After staring at Ruan Qing for a few seconds, the maid boy revealed a bright smile and said, “Okay.”
Ruan Qing wasn’t particularly surprised that the maid boy agreed. He lowered his eyes and hesitated slightly before speaking, “In the maze...”
Before Ruan Qing could finish his sentence, the maid boy chuckled softly and interrupted him, “I’ll take care of it.”
Killing those people would be difficult, but simply tying them up wouldn’t be as challenging.
After all, those people weren’t exactly bright.
And in that maze, relying solely on brute strength would make it hard to find the way out.
“Okay.” Ruan Qing didn’t say anything further in response. He looked at the maid boy and asked calmly, “Is it alright if we set the time for tomorrow?”
“That’s fine.” The maid boy had no objections and tilted his head as he looked at Ruan Qing, “Have you already chosen the game we will gamble on?”
Although the maid boy’s words were phrased as a question, his tone was one of certainty.
Ruan Qing nodded lightly, “Yes.”
Ruan Qing had naturally chosen the gambling game before initiating it with the maid boy.
Even though the chances of winning were very slim, he wouldn’t enter a battle unprepared.
Ruan Qing had chosen the Life and Death Casino’s Area Two, a two-person team mode, kill-or-be-killed gamble.
This wager only had two camps. Each side could choose to form a team of several people, or they could enter alone; there were no restrictions on the number of participants.
Even if one chose to enter alone, the enemy could opt for multiple participants.
The rules of the wager were simple: once the wager began, the side that killed everyone on the opposing side would be the winner.
The maid boy was somewhat surprised that Ruan Qing would choose this gambling game. He raised an eyebrow as he looked at Ruan Qing, “Are you sure you want to choose this?”
“Yes, I’m sure.” Ruan Qing nodded. “But the rules need to be modified.”
Ruan Qing stared directly at the maid boy and continued, “No killing, and killing is prohibited.”
The gambling game that prohibited killing almost completely destroyed its core.
It also ruined the way to achieve victory.
The maid boy didn’t immediately refute Ruan Qing’s words. Instead, he turned the gun in his hand and asked, “Then how does one win?”
Ruan Qing spoke calmly, “As long as the participants in the game get stained with red, it’s considered death.”
The maid boy’s hand paused for a moment while spinning the gun. “Red?”
“Yes, red.” Ruan Qing nodded again. “Any kind of red will do.”
After Ruan Qing finished speaking, he paused and added after some thought, “Getting stained with your own blood doesn’t count.”
In battle, it’s inevitable to get injured, and if being stained with your own blood is considered a loss, it would be somewhat hasty and very disadvantageous to those participating in the game.
Ruan Qing didn’t propose these rules arbitrarily.
By prohibiting killing and substituting staining with red for death, it maximized the chance of preserving the lives of other participants in the game.
In other words, this game belonged solely to him and the maid boy; the others did not need to pay with their lives.
They didn’t even need to pay any price at all.
After all, if someone didn’t want to participate in the game, they could simply get themselves stained with some kind of red.
The maid boy was somewhat surprised by Ruan Qing’s unwillingness to involve others, but felt it was reasonable.
After all, even when Ruan Qing didn’t have many gold coins, he still gave half of them to the little girl who helped him flip the cards.
This was enough to show how soft-hearted and kind he was.
Not killing, for the maid boy, wasn’t much of a restriction. It was merely the difference between dealing a fatal blow and not doing so.
Without any hesitation, the maid boy agreed. “Okay.”
After the two confirmed the rules of the game, they set the time for the game to begin at 6 PM the next day.
This period would give everyone time to rest and also time to find teammates.
The maid boy kept his word. After confirming the time and content of the game, he directly controlled the green vines of the maze to cover the entire maze, sealing off all the exits.
This was to ensure that no one would disturb the game.
It also ensured that those few people wouldn’t join the maid boy’s side.
With the help of those few people gone, the only person left with the young man who had any significant combat ability was Han Ze.
However, Han Ze wasn’t worth worrying about.
***
After confirming the bet with the maid boy, Ruan Qing returned to his room. He glanced at the maze, which had been sealed off on his tablet, and let out a slight sigh of relief.
As expected, the maid boy wouldn’t allow these people to leave the maze.
This was exactly what Ruan Qing wanted.
Ruan Qing then organized his phone and tablet, and even redeemed some special red paint from the Life and Death Casino’s shop.
He also got a dozen or so guns and countless bullets.
Ruan Qing soaked all the bullets in the paint to ensure that each bullet was coated with the red paint.
Ruan Qing had seen this paint before; it never dries and stains anything it touches. Even objects that normally wouldn’t take on color would get slightly stained. When combined with the wooden guns, it would be perfect for tomorrow’s bet.
Although Han Ze wasn’t very bright, he roughly understood Ruan Qing’s intention after seeing him dye the bullets.
But there was one thing he couldn’t figure out.
Why did they need so many guns when there were only two of them?
However, Han Ze quickly found out why. Just as he was about to ask, there was a knock on the door.
Ruan Qing, his chin white and jade-like, lifted it slightly, signaling Han Ze to answer the door.
Seeing this, Han Ze immediately went over and opened it.
Standing outside the door were Li Ruoshi and a few of her teammates.
Seeing that it was Han Ze who had opened the door, the nervousness and excitement in Li Ruoshi’s eyes faded a little. She smiled politely at Han Ze, “Hello, may I ask if Mr. Yan Qing is here?”
Upon hearing this, Han Ze stepped aside.
Because Han Ze moved out of the way, Li Ruoshi could instantly see the person inside the room.
Li Ruoshi suddenly became excited. She instinctively tidied her clothes and hair, suppressing her excitement as she walked towards Ruan Qing, “Good evening, Mr. Yan.”
Li Ruoshi’s voice carried both nervousness and excitement, even though she was trying her best to control it.
“Mr. Yan, the thing is, my teammates and I would like to join tomorrow’s game.”
Ruan Qing looked at Li Ruoshi and softly asked, “Do you know how to use a gun?”
“Huh?” Li Ruoshi was a bit confused. Just as she was about to ask, Ruan Qing tossed a few loaded pistols into her hands.
“Go back and check if the guns have any issues.”
“If there are no problems, meet me at six tomorrow.”
Ruan Qing’s words clearly indicated that she had agreed to let Li Ruoshi and her teammates participate in the gamble, which made Li Ruoshi extremely excited.
It was even more thrilling than participating in the gamble itself.
Li Ruoshi hastily and clumsily cradled the guns in her arms, stammering, “Okay, okay.”
After speaking, Li Ruoshi was so flustered that Han Ze had to escort her out.
Li Ruoshi’s teammates had been waiting outside the entire time. Seeing her looking so flustered and embarrassed, they were somewhat disappointed in her.
She had been inside for less than a minute, and now she was already being escorted out, grinning foolishly.
However, upon seeing the guns in her arms, they immediately understood that the person had agreed to let them participate in the gamble.
Unlike Li Ruoshi, who admired the young man for no particular reason, her teammates respected him but weren’t ready to risk their lives for him.
They were doing this for themselves.
A hundred thousand gold coins might be easy for the young man, but for them, it was an unreachable sum.
What’s more, their team needed more than just a hundred thousand gold coins, making it even more difficult.
The young man’s gambling rules forbade killing, and aside from the content of his gamble with that maid, the amount of gold at stake in the gamble wasn’t insignificant either.
As long as they won the gamble, even if the gold wasn’t enough to clear the dungeon, at least they would have done the young man a favor.
With this favor, the likelihood of the young man helping them would be quite high.
This was their chance, and it might even be the only opportunity to clear the dungeon alive.
That’s why they had come to find the young man with Li Ruoshi.
After returning to their room, Li Ruoshi and her teammates took Ruan Qing’s words seriously and carefully checked the guns for any issues.
In the end, she found a piece of paper hidden inside one of the gun barrels.
Li Ruoshi was startled when she saw it, but she didn’t take it out immediately.
If there was no need to hide it, the young man wouldn’t have placed it so discreetly; he could have just handed it directly to her or told her about it.
But the fact that the young man concealed it so carefully meant he wanted to avoid all surveillance and prying eyes.
Li Ruoshi didn’t even inform her teammates. Instead, under the cover of her sleeve, she took out the note.
[Don’t use anything from the Life and Death Casino. Use your own weapons and nail polish.]
After reading this line, Li Ruoshi instinctively glanced at her nails.
Faint traces of red were still visible on her nails.
It was nail polish she had applied out of boredom before entering the game, but most of it had already worn off after entering the scenario.
And she hadn’t had the mood to reapply it.
She hadn’t expected that the young man would notice this detail and thus deduce that she had nail polish.
Her nail polish wasn’t something exchanged in the Life and Death Casino, but rather something she had obtained from the system shop.
Although those two sentences didn’t reveal much information, Li Ruoshi vaguely sensed that there was something wrong with the maid boy.
She discreetly passed this information to her teammates.
***
After sending Li Ruoshi away, Han Ze closed the door expressionlessly, with a clear look of displeasure in his eyes.
He didn’t like the way that woman looked at the young man.
Just as Han Ze turned around, the door to the room was knocked on again.
Upon hearing the knock, Han Ze looked at Ruan Qing.
Ruan Qing slightly lifted his chin and gave a small nod towards the door, clearly indicating for Han Ze to open it.
Han Ze had no choice but to open the door once more.
This time, there were even more people. More than a dozen stood outside, including the little girl from earlier.
Ruan Qing wasn’t surprised. Although the little girl seemed weak, she was indeed a player.
Besides the little girl, some of the dozen or so people were players, while others were not.
Ruan Qing did not reject the players, but he turned away all the non-players.
This was because, strictly speaking, non-players could be considered part of the Life and Death Casino, and as long as they were connected to the Life and Death Casino, there was a possibility that the maid boy could perceive them. In that case, it would be hard to tell if they were friend or foe.
For tomorrow’s game, he would not accept any uncertainties.
This was going to be the most reckless gamble he had ever taken, staking everything on it.
Thank you for the chapters!!
ReplyDeletedamn ruan qings got a whole army
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