Thank you @Renea for the Kofi. (1/4)
The Lucky Cruise Ship
Chapter 547: Pass
Supported by Tong Yao, Qi Qian staggered to his feet. His face was extremely pale, and his limbs didn’t seem to be obeying him very well.
“How do you feel?” Wen Jianyan asked with concern.
“Want to know?” Qi Qian shook his head, his voice very weak. “Wait until you’re made into a die, put into a dice cup, and shaken around for a dozen rounds; then you’ll know.”
Wen Jianyan: “…I think I’ll pass, thanks.”
Qi Qian looked at Wen Jianyan, blinked, and his vision gradually focused.
He frowned and asked somewhat uncertainly:
“Was the voice I heard earlier yours?”
Wen Jianyan shook his head.
“It was me, it was me!” Maggie jumped up from the side, raising her hand eagerly.
“Thank god,” Qi Qian seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. “I thought you had turned into a little girl again.”
Wen Jianyan: “…”
Can you members of Dark Fire stop bringing up that previous instance!
“So, what exactly happened just now?”
An Xin fired off questions like a machine gun: “Captain, how did you turn into a die? If you were one, then wouldn’t the other dice…”
“Stop, stop.”
Qi Qian had a headache from the noise. “Be quiet; I’ll answer your questions one by one.”
“First, regarding how I turned into a die.”
Qi Qian raised his hand to show the others.
On the back of his hand, which was devoid of blood like a dead man’s and had veins popping out, several red holes were neatly arranged, looking like circular wounds that didn’t bleed.
“Look familiar?”
Qi Qian withdrew his hand and continued, “A die has 21 dots. Once the number of losses at the gambling table exceeds half of this number, you will completely turn into a gambling tool on the table—which is to say, those black dice.”
He looked at An Xin and said, “So, to answer your question just now… yes, that’s right, the other dice are also people.”
During Qi Qian’s explanation, the others had actually already basically guessed the answer to this question. But even so, upon receiving an affirmative reply, everyone couldn’t help but feel their hearts sink and their scalps tingle.
One had to realize that every gambling table on this floor had a game in progress. Since all the dice were transformed from people… then exactly how many dead people were on this entire floor?
No one knew clearly.
“Aside from losing 11 rounds, if a person loses all the points in their account at the gambling table and chooses not to take a loan from the casino, they will also turn into a die controlled by others.”
“In fact, this is exactly the dealer’s method of cheating.” Qi Qian touched the red dots on the back of his hand that were sunken in like the pips on a die, falling into thought. “All the people who turned into dice are his chang ghosts [enslaved spirits], all subject to his domination.”
He looked up and swept his gaze over everyone:
“—This means the points rolled by the dice are controlled.”
In the “Integrity First” live room chat:
[Good lord… no wonder you can’t win!]
[Pure cheating!]
An Xin revealed a confused expression: “Then why weren’t you controlled?”
Qi Qian took a deep breath: “Before going ‘all in’ on the last hand, I froze half of the points in my account, set to automatically unfreeze after half an hour.”
He tapped the back of his hand: “And I had only lost ten rounds.”
Tong Yao was stunned and subconsciously turned her head to look at Wen Jianyan.
In fact, Wen Jianyan had asked her this question during the intermission earlier… about how many rounds Qi Qian had lost in total.
Had he already noticed this point back then?
“So, this was your plan,” Wen Jianyan said. “You actively let yourself turn into a die, then used your Talent to transmit information to Tong Yao, letting her, as a medium, continue the gamble and subsequently win.”
“Correct.” Qi Qian nodded.
“The dealer can only control the dice once per round. Similarly, it only takes one die to change odd or even. You just have to make sure your control happens later than his.”
This was a solution that only Qi Qian could use; no one else could do it.
As long as the paper figure in Tong Yao’s hand remained, Qi Qian could ensure his livestream wouldn’t close after his “death”. This allowed him to wait until the points automatically unfroze, freeing him from the “controlled” condition and allowing him to become a die with independent thought.
Even if the plan failed, it didn’t matter…
After all, he just had to wait for the cooldown to end, and he could resurrect.
Tong Yao couldn’t help asking, “Why didn’t you tell me in advance?”
“Because I had only just realized it myself at the time, and my loss count was already very close to half,” Qi Qian sighed. “Also, I was worried that if I stopped gambling, the dealer would get suspicious. If he knew I had figured out his technique and suddenly changed his strategy, the loss would outweigh the gain.”
“Of course, the most important thing is, I did make a mistake. I didn’t anticipate…”
Wen Jianyan smiled and finished the sentence, “You didn’t anticipate that although you turned into a human die, the system didn’t judge you as ‘dead.’ Therefore, your Talent couldn’t be activated, and the message couldn’t be sent out. Even though Tong Yao is a medium, without any clues, she couldn’t pass any instructions to you either.”
In the “Integrity First” live room chat:
[Ah… actually Qi Qian had paved the road quite thoroughly. Although he couldn’t send information out after turning into a die, as long as Tong Yao, the medium, got the necessary information, he could succeed. He just didn’t expect a misjudgment in the middle, causing the information chain to break.]
[Good lord, I finally understand why the anchor was able to win the game against the dealer in the end! He clearly guessed the message Qi Qian tried to send but failed, then picked up Qi Qian’s unfinished layout, making Maggie the intermediary to transmit the information!]
“…” Qi Qian couldn’t help but take a few extra looks at Wen Jianyan. “Haven’t seen you for so long, and you’re still this sharp.”
In fact, Wen Jianyan had stated the whole truth pretty much spot on.
“You flatter me, you flatter me.” Wen Jianyan blinked.
Even though he had witnessed the terrifying nature of Wen Jianyan’s mind in the [Changsheng Building] instance, Qi Qian still couldn’t help asking, “How did you realize my intention?”
For Qi Qian to reach his conclusion and make a countermove, aside from sending other Dark Fire members to conduct probing gambles, he had also conducted long and careful observation, aided by some necessary items.
Wen Jianyan didn’t seem to have these conditions.
Yet he still reached a similar conclusion, accurately guessed his intention, and in the end, even bridged the information gap.
Wen Jianyan shrugged. “First, the marks on the dice and the marks on the hands share too many similarities. It really leaves one with no choice but to overthink it.”
“Secondly, your good teammate gave me enough clues.”
The number at which Qi Qian entered the game had a deep meaning; he wasn’t the type to go ‘all in’ based on mere whims.
“Of course,” Wen Jianyan paused, then continued, “more importantly… these marks cannot be reduced.”
“Marks cannot be reduced.”
This was a very terrifying omen.
This meant the process of transforming into a gambling tool was irreversible. Once you lost a round, the marks would increase by one—no matter how many rounds you won afterward, the number of marks wouldn’t decrease.
Unless you never went to the gambling table again… but in this instance, that was almost impossible.
To some extent, every rule here was practically dragging them toward the gambling table.
“So, this means that simply ‘playing on’ isn’t a good way to break the game.”
This was an old habit of Wen Jianyan’s.
He had always been good at thinking about problems from the perspective of the rule-makers, and his methods of manipulating human hearts had always been precise. Precisely because he understood the Nightmare, and understood the actions Qi Qian might take in such a situation, he was able to deduce the full picture from the traces.
Wen Jianyan looked at Qi Qian, his expression changing, his tone suddenly becoming serious. “Alright, we should talk about business now.”
Seeing his solemn expression, Qi Qian couldn’t help but straighten up, frowning as he asked:
“What is it?”
“Pay me back.” Wen Jianyan extended a hand.
Qi Qian: “…”
Everyone present: “…”
The audience in the “Integrity First” live room chat: “…”
“Okay, truly worthy of you.”
Wen Jianyan kept his palm extended, looking serious. “In order to find the pattern and save you, I played quite a few rounds with that dealer.”
Although he had pulled the score back a bit in the last few hands, overall, he was still at a loss.
“First, I lost about 35 million chips in the gamble. It’s not excessive to ask for reimbursement, right? Secondly, as a top-ten ranker, my commission fee has gone up, but for the sake of our old friendship, I can give you a discount…”
Wen Jianyan spoke very fast, leaving everyone a bit dazed.
Finally, he concluded: “Just transfer 70 million to me. That’s not excessive, right?”
Qi Qian: “Mn.”
Although this number wasn’t small, for those of them who knew the trade, it truly wasn’t excessive.
After all, the dot marks of the dice couldn’t be erased, and in order to figure out the dealer’s cheating method, the marks on Wen Jianyan’s hand had increased to eight—just three games away from the number needed to completely turn into a human die.
This meant that in subsequent gambles, he was almost unable to participate.
However, before Wen Jianyan could smile, he heard the other party say in an equally calm and restrained tone: “But I can’t take it out.”
“…”
The smile on Wen Jianyan’s face froze. “What?”
“I can’t take it out.”
Qi Qian spoke truthfully.
He wasn’t lying.
He had quite a few Dark Fire members under his command. Aside from senior members like Tong Yao and An Xin, the others’ funds weren’t that ample. To avoid the terrible situation of being in debt right at the start, the first night’s room fees were basically advanced by Qi Qian.
Moreover, in order to become a human die, he had lost half of his funds—according to the plan, these funds should have been earned back by Tong Yao—but everyone knew what happened later.
Wen Jianyan: “…You aren’t telling me that after I spent so much effort to save you, I can’t even get my principal back now, are you?”
The young man in front of him still had that smiling appearance, but he looked inexplicably terrifying.
Even though everyone present had experienced all kinds of risks and death traps, seeing this expression of his still made their backs feel cold.
“…”
Gazing at Wen Jianyan in front of him, Qi Qian seemed to be undergoing a fierce internal struggle.
Finally, he slowly let out a breath, seemingly having made up his mind:
“Fine.”
Wen Jianyan blinked. “You’re ready to pay?”
Qi Qian: “No…”
Seeing Wen Jianyan narrow his eyes, he sped up his speech: “But I can give you a reward of higher value.”
Wen Jianyan: “How so?”
Qi Qian reached into his pocket and pulled out a pitch-black card. Its texture looked somewhat similar to the auction invitation.
Wen Jianyan’s gaze paused. “What is this?”
Qi Qian didn’t answer Wen Jianyan’s question directly but spoke on his own: “You guessed right, the marks on the back of the hand are indeed impossible to dissipate—as long as you are on this floor, they won’t.”
What?
Wen Jianyan was startled.
“However, if you enter the Negative Third Floor, the marks will be reset,” Qi Qian said.
He handed the card to Wen Jianyan:
“This is the pass to the Negative Third Floor.”
Wen Jianyan didn’t take it. He looked at Qi Qian and frowned, “How did you get it?”
Qi Qian glanced at Wen Jianyan, seeming a bit surprised.
“Follow me.”
Saying that, he turned around and walked toward the chip exchange counter.
Wen Jianyan and the others followed closely behind.
Qi Qian nodded to An Xin.
An Xin stepped forward and tossed a few chips onto the table.
“Chip exchange.”
“Do you wish to exchange chips for points, or other items?” the waiter asked.
An Xin: “The latter.”
The waiter bent down beside the blood-red counter, rummaged for a while, then straightened up and handed over a thin piece of paper.
Wen Jianyan stepped forward and looked at the paper.
There was only one line of text on the paper.
[10 Million Points: Exchange for Single Person Pass to Negative Third Floor]
Behind him, Chen Mo couldn’t help but be surprised. “But we didn’t…”
“Because you guys didn’t go to the gambling table,” An Xin picked up the two chips he had just thrown from the table and shook them. “These are chips won—chips exchanged with points don’t work. Only by bringing chips won from the gambling table to the counter for exchange will you get this information.”
No wonder.
Under Captain Wen Jianyan’s mandatory restraint, his teammates had not gone to the gambling table so far, so naturally, they hadn’t won any chips and had no way to trigger this information.
An Xin turned his head to the waiter behind the counter and revealed a graceful smile:
“Thanks, maybe next time.”
He put the chips back into his pocket and turned to return to the team.
“Furthermore, the chips used to exchange for the pass must also be won from the gambling table,” Qi Qian added.
If they could directly use the points in their accounts for exchange, there would be no need for them to linger on this floor for so long—after all, although ten million wasn’t a small amount, for senior anchors, it wasn’t completely impossible to produce.
Wen Jianyan thought for a moment and said, “So, as long as you win ten million on the Negative Second Floor, you can exchange it for a Negative Third Floor pass at the counter. And as long as you go to the Negative Third Floor, the marks brought by the lost games on the Negative Second Floor will be wiped clean?”
“Correct.”
Qi Qian nodded.
Standing to the side, Chang Feiyu raised an eyebrow, his smile sunny and hearty. “But even so, the value of a pass is only ten million, isn’t it?”
Still not enough to cover the principal.
Qi Qian looked at Wen Jianyan: “Open it and look.”
Wen Jianyan looked down and opened the pass.
The pitch-black background with sunken golden intaglio was indeed very similar to that auction invitation, but the content was completely different.
[Negative Third Floor Pass]
[Group]
“Group…?” Wen Jianyan showed a surprised expression and looked up at Qi Qian.
“That’s right.” Qi Qian said, “It allows your entire team to enter the Negative Third Floor together.”
Now, even Tong Yao and the others showed surprised looks. “Captain, when did you get this?”
Qi Qian: “When I turned into a human die.”
He turned his head to glance behind the counter and said, “I only learned then that there are two ways to obtain a pass—one is to win ten million in gambling funds to exchange at the counter, and the second is to expose the dealer’s cheating techniques.”
“However, this requirement is very strict—mere verbal description doesn’t count, you must produce tangible evidence.”
Wen Jianyan raised an eyebrow with interest. “Meaning?”
“Livestream recording.”
Qi Qian said.
“Although I turned into a human die, my livestream room didn’t close. The livestream camera captured the dealer’s cheating methods directly from inside the dice cup, so the system judged my exposure successful. This pass is the reward—it’s just a pity that this kind of reward can only be claimed once.”
“So that’s it… No wonder.” Wen Jianyan was thoughtful.
Previously at the gambling table, No. 8 agreed to that deal precisely because he thought Wen Jianyan possessed evidence of his cheating and feared the punishment that might follow.
Qi Qian: “This should be enough, right?”
He stared at the pass in Wen Jianyan’s hand, revealing a pained expression.
Wen Jianyan came back to his senses, a brilliant smile appearing on his face:
“Of course!”
Thirty-five million in exchange for a group pass; calculating it, he still came out ahead.
Actually, he made a huge profit.
Qi Qian nodded. “In that case, see you on the Negative Third Floor.”
Tong Yao followed him.
An Xin, however, looked back every three steps, his gaze half-expectant and half-reluctant falling on Wen Jianyan, giving people goosebumps.
Qi Qian gave An Xin a cool look:
“What, do you think your own captain hasn’t been fleeced enough?”
Wen Jianyan: “…Hey!”
“I didn’t say anything wrong.” Qi Qian looked at the group pass in Wen Jianyan’s hand, seemingly still a bit heartbroken. “You lucked out, kid—we’ll meet again.”
After speaking, he forcibly dragged the reluctant An Xin away, striding off with large steps.
Wen Jianyan watched them leave.
Although they didn’t have the group pass, he wasn’t worried about Qi Qian’s safety.
After all, they had already found the opponent’s cheating method. Next, Qi Qian just had to repeat the previous steps and coordinate with Tong Yao from inside and outside to earn back all the gambling funds needed to enter the Negative Third Floor.
The only risk was getting too dizzy after turning into a die…
He might need to swallow a few motion sickness pills.
“Let’s go,” Wen Jianyan waved his hand with a smile. “To the Negative Third Floor.”
Under Wen Jianyan’s lead, the group walked into the elevator again. This time, when they stated their destination, the waiter inside the elevator didn’t refuse their request like before but very naturally pressed that old, rusty button.
Accompanied by the sound of metal hinges grinding, the elevator beneath their feet started up once more.
It slowly sank downward.
With a muffled thud, the elevator slowly came to a stop.
The moment the elevator doors opened, the black pass in Wen Jianyan’s hand suddenly spontaneously combusted without warning. Startled, he subconsciously let go, and the thin black paper burned to ashes before it hit the ground.
Immediately after, a wave of unbearable, intense pain came from the back of his hand.
Wen Jianyan looked down at the back of his hand—the blood-red, wound-like circular marks were being erased by some invisible force, revealing the pristine skin underneath.
“Negative Third Floor arrived, please watch your step,” the waiter said.
Wen Jianyan gave him a deep look, lowered his still-throbbing hand, and walked out of the elevator.
What appeared before his eyes was still the familiar casino hall, almost a one-to-one replica of the previous two floors—however, compared to the bustling crowds of the upper two floors, this floor seemed very deserted.
Standing at the elevator entrance, one could only hear the sound of their own breathing.
Behind the blood-red counter was a pale-faced waiter, revealing a formulaic smile to the crowd.
However…
Wen Jianyan frowned slightly.
He didn’t know if it was an illusion, but he felt the air here seemed much colder than the previous two floors, and there seemed to be a trace of strange bloody scent floating in the air.
Wen Jianyan took a step forward. Suddenly, a bizarre chill attacked from beneath his feet. In an instant, the entire floor seemed to darken, and the originally glaring light overhead began to be swallowed by darkness.
As if sensing something, Wen Jianyan slowly turned his head to look toward a corner near the counter.
The corner of the counter was covered by darkness, but within that darkness, a silhouette seemed to be visible.
Very much like a person.
But definitely not a person.
Wen Jianyan couldn’t help but shiver.
On the ground, rotting, wet, pitch-black footprints emerged.
One, by one, by one.
Even though he couldn’t see anything clearly, Wen Jianyan felt as if he had been submerged in ice water, a bone-piercing chill rushing up his spine.
Behind him, a scream seemed to come from far away:
“Don’t go forward!”
The next second, someone seemed to grab Wen Jianyan’s arm tightly and yank him backward.
Wen Jianyan lost his balance and fell backward.
He lay on the ground, taking a full twenty seconds to recover his senses.
“What’s wrong?” Wen Ya frowned, staring at the Negative Third Floor casino in front of them—everything was no different from just now. The overhead lights were bright, there were no footprints on the ground, and all the scenery looked very normal.
“I-I don’t know.”
Maggie was panting violently, her pink hair slightly messy, her eyes darting around in panic.
She was still tightly clutching Wen Jianyan’s arm.
“But, but… there is danger ahead.”
“As a medium, her ability isn’t bad.”
Not far away, a figure slowly walked out from inside the casino—a pale, correct face, a gentle and polite smile, and very fastidious attire.
It was exactly the Vice President of the Oracle Guild, ranked ninth on the overall leaderboard.
Gentleman raised his hand, touched the brim of his hat, and smiled at Wen Jianyan’s group: “Good afternoon.”
“But don’t worry, whatever was here just now, it can no longer pose a threat.”
Not far behind Gentleman followed several figures. Wen Jianyan recognized that these people had all appeared at Chen Cheng’s celebration banquet and should be core members of Oracle.
They were soaking wet and their faces were pale; they looked as if they had just been through a fierce battle.
Gentleman gazed at Wen Jianyan, who was still lingering at the elevator entrance, waved the folded black card in his hand, and said with a smile:
“Mind moving aside? We’re going downstairs.”
