This is no ordinary advanced world.

"Wait!" Shao Lin's mind went blank. Seeing Xing Ye carrying the small suitcase full of chips and about to leave, he couldn't help but call out.

Xing Ye raised an eyebrow and looked at Shao Lin. "What? You think I cheated? Want to ask the dealer to check?"

Check my ass! If they checked, they would only find out that he was the one who cheated, deliberately losing to Xing Ye. In that case, the one in trouble wouldn't be Xing Ye—it'd be him!

As if in sync with Xing Ye, the dealer asked, "Red Team player Shao Lin, do you want to request an inspection?"

"N-No need..." Shao Lin waved his hand dejectedly and walked out of the duel room, feeling lost.

When he saw Xing Ye approaching him, he had the overwhelming urge to punch that handsome face. After all, it was just 100 passenger chips—he... he couldn't afford it!

Shao Lin suppressed his impulse. He couldn't resort to violence. He was about to step back when, unexpectedly, Xing Ye moved with startling speed, using a phone cord to lift the string around Shao Lin’s neck, revealing the Lucky Star pendant.

"A Following Fate Item?" Xing Ye remarked.

Shao Lin snatched the item back immediately, staring at Xing Ye warily.

Xing Ye said, "You think this is over? No, it’s not. I'll show you what it truly means to sow discord among teammates."

At this moment, Red Team's members were all contemplating why Xing Ye hadn't died. As experienced players, they quickly realized where the issue lay. Lu Qi and Lin Si both turned their gazes to Ning Xinyao.

Ning Xinyao was struck as if by lightning. She rushed at Yan Hebi, shouting, "You lied to me! You told me Xing Ye's initial skill was 'Love Money Like Life'! You said that skill kills when he loses money, but winning money would kill him instead! The more money he wins, the greater the damage! We've been through so many worlds together, and yet you deceived me?!"

Yan Hebi avoided her gaze. He looked sorrowful and said in a low voice, "You lied to me first."

Xing Ye’s entire strategy was built upon the fact that Red Team had actively targeted him first. Without Ning Xinyao trying to deceive Yan Hebi to extract Xing Ye's weakness, none of Xing Ye's plans would have worked.

"I never attack others without reason," Xing Ye said as he stood in the observation area outside the duel room, looking at the Red Team. "But if you scheme against me, don't blame me for being ruthless."

Ning Xinyao made a disgusted expression and sneered at Yan Hebi, "You’re just a five-minute man. You took advantage of me, and now you want to lie to me? What kind of trash are you?!"

Seeing Yan Hebi’s pained expression, Xing Ye reached out and pulled him behind him. He then said to Ning Xinyao, "I’m sorry, miss, but the one who spent last night with you wasn’t Yan Hebi—it was a 'Hypnosis' QR code. The one who changed your clothes was a hotel attendant. Here’s her contact information—you can call and confirm it yourself. Nothing happened between you and Yan Hebi last night. The reason you believe it did is because the hypnosis effect only lasts for five minutes."

Lin Si turned angrily to Ning Xinyao and Shao Lin. "You two swore up and down that you’d win. Where’s the victory? Ning Xinyao, you even made us sign a contract—one where we had to give you 10,000 points and two QR codes. What gave you the right to make us sign something like that?! And Shao Lin!"

Lu Qi stopped Lin Si and suggested, "If you want to argue, do it back at our base. Don’t make a scene in front of the Green Team."

Xing Ye then said, "Before you all leave, I have one thing to remind the Red Team of. Did you see the Lucky Star pendant around Shao Lin's neck? That’s his Following Fate Item."

Hearing the words "Following Fate Item," Ning Xinyao, Lu Qi, and Lin Si all looked confused. They had never known about this.

Xing Ye gave a brief explanation of what Following Fate Items were, then added, "Only Fate-Defying players can own and use Following Fate Items. Your teammate, Shao Lin, who keeps saying that Following Fate players should reject Fate-Defying players? Turns out, he's a Fate-Defying player himself."

Then, Xing Ye casually dropped another bombshell: "And it seems like his Following Fate Item has already had its consciousness erased. Oh, you guys don’t know what that means? Let me explain: when an item’s consciousness is erased, the real person it was linked to dies in reality."

Most high-level world players didn't know this fact. Even Little Mirror had only learned about it after meeting Randy.

The three Red Team members turned to stare at Shao Lin, struggling to process the horrifying truth—he had killed someone in real life to obtain that item.

Seeing their reactions, Xing Ye added one final reminder: "Oh, and when Shao Lin eats candy, you all better watch out. That’s the sign he’s about to manipulate someone’s mind."

Then, he turned to Shao Lin and smirked. "See? That’s how you sow discord."

With that, Xing Ye left, taking Yan Hebi and Song Er with him.

Song Er was completely dumbfounded. He had no idea how any of this had happened. He only remembered seeing the Red Team challenge Xing Ye back-to-back that morning. Xing Ye had even lost the first match! Song Er had a stake in those chips and had been nervous as hell watching it unfold…

Unexpectedly, Shao Lin lost inexplicably, and the entire Red Team erupted into chaos, fighting like mad.

In fact, Xing Ye hadn’t meant to bring him along. It was Song Er who had subconsciously followed; there was something about this person that made you want to follow him.

The three of them arrived at a small gambling table. Seeing Song Er’s confused expression, Xing Ye asked Yan Hebi to explain.

After hearing the explanation, Song Er asked, "Boss, do you really have the ‘Love Money Like Life’ skill?"

That skill sounded too magical—giving money to take someone's life. If Xing Ye gave someone money, he could take the opponent's life; but if the opponent gave Xing Ye money, then Xing Ye would die. What kind of initial skill was that?

"Of course I don’t," Xing Ye replied with a faint smile. "I was just lying to him."

Song Er: "..."

But if he didn’t have that skill, then why did Lin Si get injured after losing 4 chips? Shao Lin must have believed Xing Ye truly had that skill after seeing Lin Si get hurt, right? He was someone who was cautious and wouldn’t act without confirming things first.

"There are other methods," Xing Ye said, "but I don’t trust you, so I don’t want to tell you."

Song Er’s excitement cooled down. He had addressed Xing Ye the way Yan Hebi had, in order to make a good impression, hoping that Xing Ye would trust him.

People like Xing Ye made you want to team up with them. He was strong but wouldn’t harm his teammates, and following him had no downsides.

"You and Mu Ba must have tricked Liu Yi, right?" Xing Ye said to Song Er. "Because Shao Lin gave you Liu Yi's player chips."

Song Er stared into Xing Ye’s all-knowing gaze. He had planned to deny it, but knowing he couldn’t deceive Xing Ye, he could only nod. He opened his mouth, as if wanting to say something.

Xing Ye interrupted him: "Are you about to say that in the higher-level worlds, everyone does this? After all, points are money. You've betrayed others and been betrayed yourself. There’s no one who’s more noble than the others, right?"

"Yes." Song Er nodded repeatedly.

Xing Ye looked at his expression, which showed no sign of regret, and calmly said, "I don’t operate that way, and I won’t allow someone like you on my team."

Song Er lowered his head. He knew that because of his initial betrayal, he had permanently lost Xing Ye’s trust.

At least now, as long as he stayed on Xing Ye’s team, he could still win in this world. Xing Ye had promised to return his points before the seventh-day settlement, and Song Er believed Xing Ye would keep his word.

Of course, whether he believed it or not didn’t matter—what could he do in front of someone this strong?

The three of them finished their three rounds of gambling, and Song Er left. Yan Hebi, looking dejected, followed Xing Ye back to his room. "At the beginning, Xinxin probably never thought things would turn out like this. In the higher-level world, she had to go with the flow to protect herself." Yan Hebi sighed.

Xing Ye didn’t respond. He knew that Yan Hebi needed to figure it out for himself.

"If I’ve been tricked too many times, I guess I’ll gradually change too," Yan Hebi continued. "Otherwise, how can we protect ourselves against people like Shao Lin? We’re weak, and being weak is like inviting people like Shao Lin to take advantage of us. It’s a world where the strong prey on the weak—weakness is the original sin."

Hearing this, Xing Ye thought back to his past experiences. Both he and his younger brother Xing Shuo had been weak at one point, and because of their weakness, they had been bullied.

But he had met Lu Mingze at a crossroads in his life, while Xing Shuo had grown more distant.

So, Xing Ye patted Yan Hebi’s shoulder and said, "In this world, just because everyone else does something doesn’t mean it’s right. And just because the animal kingdom follows the law of the jungle, doesn’t mean humans have to do the same. Rationality, I think, is what sets humans apart from animals."

He picked up a fruit knife from the coffee table and handed it to Yan Hebi. "The knife is in your hands. Whether you use it to kill others or to protect the things you want to safeguard, that choice is up to you."

Yan Hebi stared at the fruit knife, deep in thought.

A few minutes later, he firmly grasped the handle of the knife and nodded with determination, as if he had made up his mind.

"I’ll hold on until the very last moment," Yan Hebi said. "I don’t really know where that last moment is, but I suppose it’ll be when I can’t move anymore and completely collapse."

Xing Ye understood that this somewhat naïve young man was gradually maturing.

After calming down for a while, Yan Hebi asked, "What do we do next? Are we just going to keep fighting like this until the Red Team is stuck on this cruise ship forever?"

"Don’t worry," Xing Ye smiled confidently. "I used a scheme to defeat Shao Lin, not because I couldn’t win without one, but because I wanted him to suffer the consequences of his own actions. Besides, I don’t actually care about the Red or Green Team’s victory. There are more important clues hidden in this world, but they probably won’t appear until the seventh day. Before that, you need to do something. It’s for me, but also for yourself."

Yan Hebi nodded firmly.

*

After defeating Shao Lin, the following days became relatively easy.

The Red Team no longer dared to provoke Xing Ye. No matter what news they heard, they would first consider whether it was one of Xing Ye’s traps, and they even avoided crossing paths with the Green Team.

Due to Xing Ye’s provocation, Shao Lin was heavily ostracized by the other three members of the Red Team. No one spoke to him, and he could only pass the time by gambling aimlessly in the casino.

Fortunately, his item was strong, and his initial skill was powerful. Even without the 200 player chips, he still managed to win a fair amount of passenger chips.

Xing Ye, on the other hand, paid no attention to the Red Team’s affairs. He focused on having Yan Hebi carry out tasks while also teasing Lu Mingze, coaxing him into entering the full-length mirror in the bathroom.

Lu Mingze flushed in both embarrassment and anger. "Even if I were the size of a normal person, all you’d be touching would still be a mirror!"

"True," Xing Ye mused. "Then once we return to the real world, I’ll just kiss your actual body."

"No way!" Lu Mingze protested. "A kiss without a soul is meaningless! If I’m not inside, it doesn’t count!"

Fine, then. Xing Ye could only continue poking the mirror helplessly.

Suddenly, Lu Mingze asked, "Do you think the people who lost to me in the advanced worlds might also be stuck here?"

Xing Ye shook his head. "I don’t think so. Other worlds should function normally—losing would just mean losing half of your points, at most failing the storyline mission. But this casino world feels different. There’s barely any plot, just rules. I suspect it’s a special world within the higher-level worlds. Plus, you once mentioned that most game worlds don’t repeat, yet according to what Madam Lin revealed, the casino world is one that does."

"And the dealer here wears a black-and-white mask, which suggests that the system itself has intervened in this world’s rules."

Lu Mingze frowned. "But why is that?"

He hesitated for a moment, then suddenly stopped speaking. Xing Ye immediately turned to look at him.

Lu Mingze murmured, "I just remembered—when I was in the advanced world, I encountered similar worlds before. Those worlds had black-and-white square symbols, and the NPCs in the game seemed to know we were players."

"How many times did this happen?" Xing Ye asked.

Lu Mingze’s memory wasn’t as sharp as Xing Ye’s, but he never forgot the worlds he had experienced. After counting carefully, he said with certainty, "Three times. And the last advanced world I went through was also one of those system-intervened worlds. After winning that world, I received an invitation card for the final challenge!"

 

Translator : DarNan