Chapter 85: “There are new ways to play this game.”
The time passed slowly.
The score of the Purple Team was getting higher and higher, increasing at an astonishing rate, almost several times that of the first four hours. An Wujiu endured severe pain, sitting on the cold floor of the hall, staring at the screen in front of him with his eyes wide open.
“This couldn’t be!”
Toudou Sakura was right beside him, looking incredulous. “How could their total chips increase so quickly?!”
“Do you think he would use such a useful method only a few times?”
Hearing An Wujiu’s weak voice, Toudou Sakura suddenly understood something.
“You meant… they had not only turned people from our group but also from all the other groups? Is that right?”
An Wujiu’s face was pale; he just made a faint sound of agreement and said no more.
Just looking at Zhou Yijue alone, you could tell that he had lost so many chip values in the “Bao Huang” game; he shouldn’t have had many chips left.
But his increase was astonishing, with his chip value already at 7,000, approaching An Wujiu’s current personal second place.
It wasn’t just him, even his teammates were all increasing their scores together, the score of the whole group was getting higher and higher. At that moment, they had already opened up a lead of nearly 3000 points over An Wujiu’s leading Red Team.
Zhou Yijue was much smarter than Maguire.
Maguire, in order to win, had used authoritarian means, treating all the members of the group as his own chips and participating in gambling alone. This way, no one could harm him, even if the Yellow Team couldn’t become the final winning group, as the person with the highest points, he wouldn’t die.
But Zhou Yijue had used another method, not starting with himself but undermining external enemies.
He had turned members of other groups against each other one by one, colluding inside and outside, and generously giving each team member a chance to gamble so that they could also win.
So the group score of the Purple Team had increased so quickly.
This move hadn’t only stockpiled chips for his own team but also consolidated morale and dispersed the enemy; it had indeed been a very powerful tactic.
But An Wujiu still had two doubts in his mind.
Firstly, what conditions exactly did they agree to Zhou Yijue’s request for?
An Wujiu thought that in this place, everyone was using their lives as chips. To survive, one must become the first person on the team.
The promise made by Zhou Yijue was nothing more than, after cooperating to lose the game, giving them corresponding chips as a reward, allowing the betrayers to naturally become the final winners within the team.
An Wujiu looked up, and, as expected, just now Zhou Yijue’s team had gained nearly 3000 points more. At this moment, the Purple Team, currently in first place, only had slightly over a thousand more chip values than them.
This reduction by half was abnormal.
Unless they took out this half and exchanged it for points as a reward for those traitors.
It was truly a case of sparing the child and failing to catch the wolf.
Zhou Yijue understood human nature deeply and effortlessly used these things that exploited human nature.
But there was still another question, or rather, this method of defection had another drawback.
Just as he was thinking, Wu You, who had been arranged by An Wujiu, returned. Judging from his expression, An Wujiu guessed the outcome was not good.
“Wujiu-ge.”
After returning, Wu You squatted in front of An Wujiu. “I found the captain of the Orange Team and told him about the possibility of traitors in the team, but he heard it as if he hadn’t heard anything.”
An Wujiu actually anticipated this.
And he also thought the results obtained by the remaining few people should be similar.
Sure enough, Zhong Yirou and Nan Shan also returned, and the feedback they received was almost the same as Wu You’s.
This validated An Wujiu’s thoughts. When Zhou Yijue set up the trap, he had already thought of the drawback that An Wujiu had thought of—the captain had veto power over the arrangement of chips.
Once someone like An Wujiu was betrayed by someone on the team, they only needed to close their chip privileges to minimize their own damage.
If every team did this, he could only get the chips from the first round of gambling at most, because the captain would definitely close the privileges if it continued.
Unless that traitor was the captain themselves.
These captains were also clear in their minds: even if they went all out, in the end, only the team that ranked first in the team standings could survive fully.
Rather than risking half their lives to fight for the elusive first place, it was better to secure their own position as the first in their team.
Survival is more important than anything else.
After An Wujiu explained his thoughts and judgments to them, the others in the Red Team also understood.
“I see.” Zhong Yirou sneered, “Handing over the lives of other team members to other teams in exchange for a reward, this selfish act naturally would have people willing to do it.”
Nan Shan nodded. “It seems that Zhou Yijue has already bought off all the captains except for our team, including Maguire.”
That’s right.
An Wujiu looked in the direction of the Yellow Team.
That was why Maguire hadn’t come out to cause trouble at this moment.
But this was only temporary.
Given Maguire’s temperament and watching Zhou Yijue act so arrogantly, he would eventually become discontent.
“Wujiu-ge.”
Hearing Wu You calling him, An Wujiu snapped back to attention and looked at him, “What’s wrong?”
Wu You pursed his lips and said, “Shen Ti is missing.”
A faint smile appeared on An Wujiu’s pale face, “I know.”
Wu You’s eyes widened slightly, “When did you know?”
“He specifically told me before he left; of course I knew.”
“Then…” Wu You asked again, “Aren’t you worried about him?”
Of course, he was worried.
But An Wujiu knew Shen Ti’s abilities better than anyone else.
Originally, An Wujiu didn’t want to say, but perhaps due to the side effects of excessive blood loss, he felt dizzy and feverish. He blurted out, “I’m worried, but I know he’s strong enough, he doesn’t need me to worry.”
“It’s just… I’m quite relieved.”
Upon hearing these two words, Wu You was particularly puzzled, furrowing his brows, “Why? You’ve suffered such serious injuries.”
An Wujiu’s pale and beautiful face, under the light, resembled a white jade sculpture bathed in golden sunlight, with his shoulder wrapped in bandages where his arm used to be, only a blurry, blood-soaked red.
Many times, An Wujiu had a divinity beyond ordinary humans, a trait that made people willingly trust and follow him.
He was calm, unlike ordinary people, and also better than ordinary people, but at this moment, An Wujiu’s face unexpectedly showed a kind of expression that only ordinary humans would have, like a false alarm, yet also like a rebirth after a calamity.
“Before I left here to go to the first floor, I joked about having Noah use Shen Ti as a chip.” He lowered his eyes, his eyelashes trembling slightly, like two butterflies about to take flight.
“Fortunately, it didn’t come to that…”
“Thankfully, it’s not him.”
An Wujiu just imagined that scene and felt heartache, unable to accept it, as if Shen Ti’s life was truly tied to his own heart, unable to determine who owed whom.
Wu You fell silent.
In his eyes, An Wujiu was like a still pond, only stirring up massive waves when changing states.
But the calm waters ran deep, and the deepest part of An Wujiu’s heart had long been occupied by someone else.
However… he always felt like An Wujiu couldn’t quite discern his own emotions, as if there were some barriers, even though he and Shen Ti were already so intimate.
“Ah, someone like him has a great stroke of luck, he won’t just get injured easily.” Wu You deliberately said this to comfort An Wujiu.
Nan Shan saw that his condition was slightly better than before, so he asked, “What should we do now?”
Seeing Zhou Yijue take the lead, now surpassing An Wujiu’s individual chip value, Toudou Sakura also became a bit anxious. “Yeah, Zhou Yijue is already in first place.”
But An Wujiu still maintained his calm demeanor, with his severe injuries making him appear more fragile and paranoid. He looked around as if searching for someone.
“I know.”
An Wujiu withdrew his gaze.
He was sure that Zhou Yijue was not in the hall at this moment.
“No need to rush; let’s wait for a bit.” An Wujiu said softly.
He looked up at the countdown clock, there was still one hour and forty minutes left.
Toudou Sakura was puzzled. They were facing almost a hopeless situation, the longer it went on, the more chips the other side would accumulate, and they wouldn’t be able to catch up.
“How much longer do we have to wait? Time is running out, if we continue like this, the gap between us and them will only get bigger.”
An Wujiu nodded gently and said, “You’re right.”
“But there’s still another way to play this game.”
Chen Yu limped along, navigating through a long corridor towards the exchange area.
He felt uneasy, regretting countless times what he had done, but even if he regretted it now, it was too late. Shen Ti was holding a gun, pointing at his back.
As he approached the door to the exchange area, it slowly opened, and sure enough, there were several members of the Purple Team inside, including the blond guy, seemingly waiting for him.
“You’re here?” The blond guy greeted him with a seemingly friendly smile and said, “I’ve been waiting for you. Take a look for yourself, we’ve all exchanged our points.”
He patted his pocket, making the sound of coins clinking inside.
But at this moment, that sound no longer stirred Chen Yu’s heart.
“What’s wrong?” The blond guy found it strange that he didn’t come in, “Don’t worry, go out and ask around, who cooperated with us and didn’t get any points? Everyone has them, rest assured.”
There’s a tall, handsome man standing behind him, staring at Chen Yu, making him break out in a cold sweat.
Chen Yu suddenly remembered that this person was the captain of the Purple Team, Zhou Yijue.
“You guys take care of it; I have to go out and join the gambling.” Zhou Yijue suddenly stopped looking at him, lowered his head and tapped Blond’s hand, pressing the exchange button, “It’s up to you.”
“Okay, Captain, go ahead!” Blond looked admiringly and inserted the coins he had prepared into the exchange machine, then watched Zhou Yijue leave.
As Zhou Yijue passed by Chen Yu, his heart felt like a drum, nervous to the point of almost vomiting.
Did he notice something, so he wanted to leave?
It must be…
Would Shen Ti kill him?
But as he listened to Zhou Yijue’s footsteps gradually receding, there were no other sounds outside.
Just as Chen Yu was puzzled, the blond man had already exchanged his coins for his chips. With a ding sound, Chen Yu looked up to see that his original 900 chips had actually become 1900.
“I didn’t deceive you, did I? We are very honest.” Blond smiled shrewdly, talking and walking towards him, reaching out with both hands, “You scratch my back, I scratch yours, rest assured, as long as you go back and continue to help us…”
Before Blond could finish his sentence, a gust of wind swept past Chen Yu’s ear, followed by a loud bang, and blood splattered directly onto Chen Yu’s face.
The blond man was shot in the chest.
There was one person left in the Purple Team. Witnessing this scene, he panicked and screamed for help, but soon, like Blond, he was also deprived of breath by a bullet.
The two fell in front of him, Chen Yu’s body trembling uncontrollably and his lips quivering incessantly, “You… you…”
He had never imagined that Shen Ti, who used to frolic and play on the team, would have such a decisive side to him.
As Shen Ti passed by him, he walked up, kicked Blond’s “corpse” with his foot, then turned his head to look at Chen Yu.
He toyed with the dangerous gun in his hand, a smile playing at the corner of his mouth.
“You killed them…”
Hearing Chen Yu’s words, Shen Ti shook his head, “How can you call this killing?”
He smiled and pointed the gun at Blond’s head, “See? His chip value is still here.”
“The rules of the game have been stated. As long as a team becomes the first, even if the members died before, they can still be resurrected in the end.” Shen Ti squatted down, searching through Blond’s pockets, “So… they can’t be considered dead now; they’re both dead and alive.”
After scavenging some coins from these two Purple Team guys, Shen Ti felt very satisfied. “Not bad, unexpected gains.”
Chen Yu watched him smile, listened to him speak, and felt a shiver down his spine because, when he killed someone, he didn’t feel any fear or guilt, as if he were just squashing an ant.
“Why… why did you still make me come and ask them for this thousand…”
Shen Ti stood up and looked at him, “Because those were originally An Wujiu’s chips, even if it’s just half, it still belongs to the Red Team.”
With a cold face, he ordered Chen Yu, “Come with me, let’s deal with these two.”
“Deal…”
Chen Yu was afraid that he would suddenly solve him with a gun too, and although he was confused, he had no choice but to obey. When Shen Ti said “deal,” it was similar to burying corpses, making him drag the “bodies” of the two to another room on the first floor.
Dragging his injured leg, Chen Yu limped to place one of them in the corner. The wide-open eyes of the person looking at Chen Yu made him feel uneasy.
He had a very strong premonition, feeling that Shen Ti’s killing intent had enveloped him completely.
Here, it was so quiet that he could almost hear his own heartbeat, and there was no one around.
No one would find them.
Thinking this, Chen Yu knelt down with a thud, wanting to beg Shen Ti for mercy. He had already figured it out, he still had a sick daughter to save, he couldn’t die here like this.
But before he could speak, as soon as he kneeled down, Shen Ti had already raised the gun, a shot hitting Chen Yu’s forehead.
Blood splattered onto Shen Ti’s cheek.
“Shut up.”
Chen Yu, who didn’t have time to beg for mercy, fell straight onto the other two.
Shen Ti looked down at his “corpse,” wiping away the blood splattered on his face. There was not a trace of pity on his face, but rather some regret.
“I shouldn’t have let you ‘die’ so easily.”
If it weren’t for losing the chips, causing the team’s total score to decrease, Shen Ti really wanted to use this traitor as a chip, slowly dismembering his body until it was completely gone.
He knew he didn’t quite seem like a normal person right now.
So temporarily killing Chen Yu also had to do with Shen Ti’s own selfishness.
He didn’t want Chen Yu to talk about it, to let the kindest and most selfless An Wujiu know that he was such a ruthless person.
An Wujiu waited quietly, watching as time passed.
If his interpretation of the game rules was not off, the victory of this gamble feast didn’t depend on luck or whether one’s gambling skills were superb.
It depended on seizing opportunities.
Suddenly, An Wujiu sensed something, and as he turned around, he actually saw Shen Ti walking towards him.
In the moment they locked eyes, Shen Ti gave him a smile.
But An Wujiu was the first to notice the traces of red on his face that he hadn’t wiped away, as well as the blood drops on his chest.
“What happened to you?” An Wujiu walked towards him, reaching out with his only hand to touch the blood on his chest, “What happened? Are you hurt?”
He only had one arm left, his whole body as pale as paper, yet he only asked what happened and if he was okay.
An Wujiu’s usually calm face showed a rare hint of panic, as if he had become a different person, appearing very fragile.
“Why aren’t you saying anything? You never say where you’re going.” It sounded like a complaint, although very subtle and hardly noticeable.
In the end, Shen Ti couldn’t help it, extending his arm and giving him a very light and careful hug.
Like holding onto a bubble that could disappear at any moment.
“I’m fine.”
He half leaned on An Wujiu’s other shoulder, his voice gentle, speaking nonsense with a slightly hoarse tone.
“I just saw you from afar.”
“Your right shoulder looks really nice, like a beautiful red rose in full bloom.”
