Chapter 88: “An Wujiu, you lose.”
An Wujiu made his final plan with the resolve to face death.
After he and Shen Ti explained the next steps to everyone in their team, they observed the movements of the purple and yellow teams in the hall, knowing that once they saw those teams disappear into the casino, they would make their move.
After a moment, An Wujiu and Shen Ti also headed to the first floor.
From the beginning, the two intentionally jumped into the traps set by the yellow and purple teams.
After they left, the six remaining members of the red team raced against time to complete the plan within the limited time left. Besides the red team and the two teams that had gone to occupy the exchange area, only the orange, green, and blue teams remained.
[Now, Zhou Yijue and Maguire have gathered two groups to occupy the exchange area. Their plan is simple: as long as they exchange the chips in time and prevent others from entering, they can win.
So we only have one path to take, which is to unite with more people on the field.]
Thus, Wu You, Zhong Yirou, and Toudou Sakura each went to seek cooperation from the remaining three teams.
[Everyone belongs to different teams and won’t easily cooperate. To persuade them, we must first dismantle these teams from within.
By now, they must be wondering why only their captains’ chips are increasing. You just need to reveal the truth at this opportune moment and offer substantial exchanges—not chip exchanges, but the reward points we obtained in previous games.
Reward points can only be truly owned by survivors and become invalid once eliminated. They will certainly compete for these reward points to survive.]
Following An Wujiu’s instructions, the three split up and found their respective teams.
Toudou Sakura smiled as she approached some dejected members of the orange team and asked, “Why are you all so down?”
“What are you so happy about?” One of them frowned, clearly in no mood to talk, “We’re all going to die; what’s there to be excited about?”
Toudou Sakura remained calm, “What if I say I have a way for you to survive?”
As she spoke, she noticed Wu You in the distance, holding a small megaphone bought from an NPC, testing the sound in the center of the hall.
“Hello?”
The sound was louder than he expected.
He was inspired by Shen Ti’s idea of buying a broadcast, but this was more practical since it wouldn’t be a problem if the first floor could also hear the broadcast.
Wu You didn’t waste words and got straight to the point: “Members of the Orange, Green, and Blue teams, your captains have betrayed you. They’ve colluded with the Purple team, using you as chips to intentionally lose to them in exchange for kickbacks.”
The hall erupted. Toudou Sakura clicked her tongue, “Why steal my thunder?”
The Orange team captain was the first to react. He was shocked, stepping back in a panic and stuttering, “He-he’s lying!”
Wu You remained indifferent, “Why does your captain keep losing? Why always to the Purple team?”
The players in the hall were furious. They thought this was a team competition about unity and collective spirit, but now it turns out their captains were the first to betray them!
As the scene grew chaotic, Wu You continued to fan the flames.
“These three captains must have taken kickbacks, not in chips; otherwise, it would be too obvious. They likely received reward coins from the purple team. If you don’t believe me, you can check if they have any coins.”
With this, a Green team member, who had sacrificed a hand for the team’s victory, charged forward. Now he realized his sacrifice was all for someone else’s gain.
“You bastard!”
As he tackled the green team captain, the sound of coins clinking was heard.
The sound, though not loud, seemed magnified in the noisy hall. Faith crumbled, and greed, desire, and betrayal surged, igniting this ornate cage.
The three captains who exploited their team members were swarmed, beaten, and left breathless on the ground. The coins they painstakingly acquired were snatched away by their enraged teammates.
But the chaos wasn’t enough.
“The purple and yellow teams are already cooperating.” Toudou Sakura walked to Wu You’s side, using his megaphone to announce, “They’re trying to drain all our chips to win! Those chips were earned with everyone’s blood and flesh!”
“First, tie up the traitors,” Zhong Yirou, clutching her injured hand, said to the crowd, “We need to settle scores with those in the exchange area on the first floor. We’ve prepared an electronic contract, witnessed by the Altar. Anyone willing to go down and deal with the purple or yellow teams with us will receive 2000 reward coins. You don’t even have to capture them, just sign the contract to become our ally, and you’ll get a 300-coin advance.”
Hatred and the lure of rewards fired everyone up, eager to take down the two teams, but then the hall was plunged into darkness.
In the darkness, Nan Shan and Noah stood on the third floor. Following Shen Ti’s instructions, they found the NPC who sold the broadcast to him, a masked man.
“Adjustment complete,” the NPC said, extending a hand, “Pleasure doing business.”
As he spoke, the luxurious interior of the airship returned to its former glory and brightness.
The brief darkness gave everyone a moment to breathe. When the lights came back on, the first person to sign the contract appeared. Like An Wujiu, he had lost an arm but signed his name boldly, earning reward points.
“Me too!”
Once the first person signed, others followed, joining the alliance. Watching the growing number of signatories, Toudou Sakura marveled at how accurately An Wujiu had predicted this. Apart from the three traitorous captains and the severely injured players, almost all of the twenty remaining players agreed.
[They thought they had no choice but to wait for death before the game ended. Now, given a chance to reshuffle the cards, someone will surely take it.]
“Alright, since everyone agrees,” Wu You said, seeing Nan Shan and Noah return to the second-floor hall, “let’s move out together.”
According to An Wujiu, by reaching this step, they had already half succeeded.
The remaining plan was to have no plan, allowing the situation to descend into chaos and disorder.
00:15:00
The countdown timer, like a shadow, followed them, with only fifteen minutes remaining.
Dozens of excited players reached a consensus and marched toward the exchange area on the first floor. Among them, Wu You felt extremely apprehensive. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that An Wujiu’s instructions were too detailed this time, and what he said to them at the end was too unusual.
Could it be that he really intended to sacrifice himself to buy time for them to survive until the end?
Only now did he finally see that An Wujiu was the real gambler, betting even himself as a chip. The result of victory would be a win for everyone, and he could be resurrected as well.
If he lost, there would be nothing left.
An Wujiu knew very well that Zhou Yijue was a smart person. Realizing that the two members of the Purple team were probably already dead and short of manpower, Zhou would definitely join forces with Maguire to first occupy the exchange area and then deal with them.
In that case, An Wujiu let him succeed, allowing him to set an ambush there to catch him red-handed. Only then would they have a chance to gather the remaining players on the field and form an opposing faction against Zhou Yijue.
Shen Ti was aware of all of An Wujiu’s calculations. Even if An Wujiu didn’t explain, he could see through them.
Shen Ti said nothing, merely accompanying him in this gamble. But in his heart, he had already found a get-out-of-jail-free card for An Wujiu.
Even if they did win in the end, Shen Ti did not want to see An Wujiu bleeding and injured again. Once was enough.
Fortunately, they arrived on time.
Everything was going as expected.
Except for An Wujiu, who was the biggest deviation in all his predictions.
In the darkness, a staggering Shen Ti was embraced by an arm, and moist lips pressed against his. As they kissed, his heartbeat almost stopped in an instant.
Shen Ti had never expected that An Wujiu, who had just retracted the exchange command with a touch, would kiss him.
He even remembered the favor owed from their playful banter back then.
They were like two butterflies suspended in the wind, briefly colliding and then separating. An Wujiu, ending the kiss amidst infinite apprehension, released his overstepping arm and, before parting, tore off the black blindfold covering Shen Ti’s eyes.
In that moment, Shen Ti clearly saw everything he wanted to see.
An Wujiu with his eyes covered, a bleeding shoulder, and unraveling bandages.
The chaotic crowd swarmed into the exchange room, catching Zhou Yijue off guard, as An Wujiu had anticipated. The previously monopolized situation turned into a melee. These furious people didn’t just “trap” the members of the purple and yellow teams—they demanded repayment for the chips lost with their blood and flesh, seizing the reward coins Zhou Yijue and Maguire had already exchanged in advance!
“You!” Maguire, curled up on the ground, roared, “Those are mine! My coins!”
No one paid attention.
The countdown continued.
00:10:00
00:09:59
00:09:58
Everyone vented their anger at the betrayal. Zhou Yijue and Maguire’s team had only fifteen people, putting them at a numerical disadvantage, and they were quickly overwhelmed. The exchange area, originally meant for chip transactions, has now become a new battlefield.
In the chaos, Nan Shan and Wu You found the ropes securing An Wujiu and Shen Ti, untied them, and lowered the two suspended men. An Wujiu’s feet touched the ground, and he removed the long blindfold covering his eyes, only to be immediately embraced.
The strength and scent of the hug were very familiar—it was Shen Ti.
Shen Ti said nothing, released him, and took his hand, leading him toward the exchange machine.
At that moment, a gunshot rang out in the chaos!
00:02:32
The crowd fell silent, leaving only the sound of coins falling.
Someone at the center of the commotion was pushed aside, collapsing limply to the ground, and shot in the abdomen.
The one who pushed him was Zhou Yijue, covered in blood.
He had been attacked by the crowd, with punches raining down on him, but suddenly understood what was happening.
Fortunately, he had just exchanged for a gun.
Nothing could stop him from reviving the person he wanted to revive; no one could.
“Anyone who steps forward,” Zhou Yijue said, wiping the blood from his face, “I will kill.”
He and his teammates had been robbed, but with a gun in his hand, Zhou Yijue demanded the return of his reward coins from those who took them.
“Very well, it seems no one wants to die.”
“And me!” Maguire stepped forward. No one was willing to return his coins, and even if he tried his hardest to snatch them back now, it was too late.
He had no choice but to go to Zhou Yijue—they were allies, and they should share, striving to be the last player standing together.
“Give me some; I only need three thousand; three thousand is enough!”
By now, Zhou Yijue had completely changed. Having only been using their alliance out of convenience, he no longer bothered to pretend, directly pushing Maguire’s arm away, cold and decisive.
“Stay away from me.”
00:00:05
Zhou Yijue glanced at the countdown timer, with only five seconds remaining, then looked at An Wujiu through the crowd.
“Have you achieved what you wanted with all your scheming?”
Behind An Wujiu was a massive mountain of gold. The dazzling golden light enveloped his whole body, along with his bloody wounds. In Zhou Yijue’s eyes, he seemed like a foolish and arrogant deity, trying to feed eagles with his own flesh and sacrifice himself to tigers, with all his actions being hypocritically evil.
00:00:00
The countdown ended.
“The six hours are over. What’s the point of exchanging now?”
Zhou Yijue watched the gold mountain’s operation behind him and found it laughable: “I have seventeen reward coins in my hand, worth eight thousand five hundred points, while all your points are still behind the glass in the gold mountain.”
Indeed, those coins were still being pushed down continuously, doing nothing useful, just like An Wujiu’s repeated self-sacrifice for people he thought were not worth saving.
“You lost.”
An Wujiu didn’t say a word; he just stood there in silence, as if waiting for the final outcome.
But Shen Ti laughed.
“Let’s not talk about winning or losing for now; just look at how boring this is.”
He casually pointed his thumb at An Wujiu, his clear and beautiful green eyes fixed on Zhou Yijue.
“Do you know? I learned a little trick from this guy, a fascinating distraction.”
“Such an interesting game, how could I not let you see it?”
As soon as Shen Ti finished speaking, all their chips completed the exchange, and the last coin fell.
And the countdown, frozen at 0, started to reverse!
00:05:00
00:04:59
……
Zhou Yijue stared in disbelief at the game projection with the timer restarting.
“The Altar is quite user-friendly.”
Shen Ti smiled. “As long as you have money, you can buy anything.”
