The dealer looked at Xing Ye and said, "What exactly did you do?"

 

It was too shameless. Xing Ye frowned slightly. After dealing with the system across so many worlds, this was the first time he had experienced such a feeling.
The game system had always simulated fate, aloof and manipulative, toying with people in the palm of its hand — but this time, it seemed as if the system itself had been pushed to its limits.

Even if the system had cheated during the gambling sessions to win all their chips, it would have been better than this.

Xing Ye had a sense that the system was deliberately trying to create an atmosphere of utter hopelessness  for players — this gambling event from the beginning was designed for desperate players willing to bet everything on one final turnaround.

The system was offering a "last chance" to players at the end of their ropes, only to then watch them spiral into ruin when they failed to seize that final lifeline, falling head first into the abyss.

Yet this time, under Xing Ye's protection for the Green Team and under Shao Lin’s fierce attacks for the Red Team, no one had actually been driven into desperation.

Those who should have been eliminated were already gone. The remaining Song Er and Yan Hebi only had to leisurely wait until disembarkation.
Xing Ye and Shao Lin each held a massive amount of passenger chips.
If they truly managed to leave this world and cash out, the system might not even have enough real money to cover it.

Thus, unintentionally, they had pushed the system into a corner — and that’s why it resorted to such ridiculous tactics.

Xing Ye asked, "I have no objections to the game rules and am willing to borrow chips from the casino. I just have a small question — what happened to the players who previously entered this world?"

The dealer said, "I'm quite surprised you know there were players before you. Most of them ended up borrowing money from the casino and were unable to leave, staying behind to work off their debt. However, many thought they could escape by dying — most of them chose to jump into the sea. I can remind both of you in advance: players who jump overboard on this cruise ship really will die. They won’t be returned to the starting world, as you might assume."

So that’s how it was.
As expected, it was because he and Shao Lin had been countering each other that many of the casino’s tricks were rendered useless, forcing them into this desperate measure.

"I have no more questions," Xing Ye said. "I'll borrow 10 special chips."

Shao Lin looked at Xing Ye, frowning: "1 special chip = 10,000 passenger chips = 1 million points = 100 million yuan. Can you afford it?"

Actually, 1–2 billion yuan was still within reach.
Though he didn't have that much cash on hand, and corporate funds couldn’t be touched, Xing Ye had plenty of real estate and assets under his name, worth far more than 10 billion yuan. If he really lost, he'd probably find a way to repay the debt with money and return to the real world.
Gradually, he began to understand where the system’s payout money came from.

No wonder the system had confidently claimed that no external currency would disrupt the market — it turned out that in advanced worlds, they had ways to "devour the rich" like this.

Despite thinking this, Xing Ye said to Shao Lin, "I can't afford it. But if I don't borrow, what choice do I have?"

Shao Lin’s face twisted.
Even if he combined all his chips, QR codes, points, starting skills, and Destiny Adjustment items, he could only exchange for two special chips — borrowing was the better choice.

He said, "I'll also borrow 10 special chips."

These so-called special chips were just casino-prepared tokens — they had no real-world value.
The dealer obviously had more chips; they just needed to win them back.

After receiving the chips, Shao Lin said darkly, "Let's get started. Let's end this match within an hour."

The dealer smiled and said, "Alright. In that case, we'll choose a relatively simple game: Russian Roulette."

Russian Roulette was an exceptionally brutal gambling game — in most games, you bet with money, but in Russian Roulette, you bet with your life. You load a revolver with one or more bullets in six chambers, spin the cylinder randomly, and participants take turns pointing the gun at their own heads and pulling the trigger. Whoever got shot was eliminated immediately.

"You want us to bet our lives?" Shao Lin said grimly.

The dealer replied, "Of course not. This is a fair casino — we gamble with money, not lives.
This round is slightly different from the traditional rules:

Five of the six chambers will be loaded with blank rounds — they’ll make a loud sound but won’t cause harm.
Only one chamber will be empty.
Whoever pulls the trigger and gets the empty chamber wins.
If you pull and get a blank, you lose five chips, which go into a prize pool to be claimed by the final winner."

"In other words, the longer it takes to hit the empty chamber, the bigger the final prize," the dealer explained.

"How can we be sure you're not cheating?" Xing Ye asked. "The gun belongs to the casino, the bullets belong to the casino. As the dealer, you could rig it at any time."

The dealer said, "I understand your concerns. Therefore, in this game, players are allowed to use any tricks — as long as you aren’t caught by the casino’s surveillance or using real-world cheating tools. Feel free to cheat as much as you like. Of course, the casino can do the same."

He looked at Shao Lin, then at Xing Ye, and added: "Your 'Faction Reversal,' 'Celestial Shift,' and 'Kuafu Chasing the Sun' skills are all allowed. To win, use whatever means you have."

"'Kuafu Chasing the Sun'?" Shao Lin looked at Xing Ye in shock. "You have that starting skill? How can you have the same starting skill as Xing Shuo?"

Xing Ye gave him a cold glance and said, "No comment."

He then said to the dealer: "Please start as soon as possible. You've already wasted five minutes explaining the rules — we're on a tight schedule."

His words also served as a reminder to Shao Lin — They were running out of time.

"Alright," the dealer replied politely, "the shooting order will be decided by drawing cards. I'll have a croupier bring a deck of cards, and we’ll determine the order based on card value — Ace is the smallest, Joker is the largest."

As he spoke, a croupier walked up slowly, sluggishly opening a brand-new deck of cards and shuffling them — not once, but three times.
The croupier, usually quick and efficient, was now deliberately dragging things out.

Even Shao Lin, carrying 2 billion yuan in debt, was growing impatient.

He and Xing Ye had each borrowed 10 special chips from the casino, each worth 100 million yuan.
If they repaid within the first hour, they only needed to repay 20 chips — 2 billion yuan. But if they delayed into the second hour, they would have to repay 30 chips — an absolutely terrifying number.

The croupier took a full five minutes to shuffle before allowing the three of them to draw.
The dealer drew a Joker and would fire first.
Xing Ye and Shao Lin both drew the smallest card, an Ace, so they had to draw again.
Shao Lin drew a 2; Xing Ye still drew an Ace.
Thus, the firing order was: Dealer, Shao Lin, Xing Ye.

Shao Lin: "..."

He looked at Xing Ye, frowning, and asked, "You're supposed to be a following Fate player — why is your draw so consistently bad?"

A steady draw of the lowest card — even worse luck than Shao Lin's.

Xing Ye smiled faintly: "Who said I’m a following Fate player? Just because I said it and you believed it? You can pretend to be a following Fate player — why can't I?
Besides, Yan Hebi revealed from the beginning that I was a Fate-defying player. You just chose to believe the lie I made up later."

That was because Xing Ye had been unbeatable at the casino, his luck seemingly impeccable.
And Shao Lin had once used "Faction Reversal" on Xing Ye to swap their luck;
during a Baccarat match, with Xing Ye’s luck, he had drawn a 6 — not a bad result — which confirmed his belief that Xing Ye was a following Fate player.

"If you're wondering about the Baccarat round," Xing Ye explained calmly, "According to my actual luck, you should’ve drawn two zeroes. The fact that you got a six was thanks to... the card cut."

After the dealer had shuffled, because Shao Lin was to be dealt first, Xing Ye had been asked to cut the deck — altering the cards’ positions. At that moment, Xing Ye used his intuition skill — the Little Mirror — to help him choose the cut point, which is why Shao Lin ended up with a six.

"So trying to swap luck with me is pointless," Xing Ye said, holding up his Ace with a sigh.
"Your luck is a 2 — still better than mine. I was actually looking forward to seeing your stunned expression after you switched to my bad luck, but unfortunately, it got exposed thanks to the draw."

Though his words sounded regretful, Xing Ye's expression showed no such thing.
The corners of his eyes were curved in amusement, as if he might laugh at any moment.

Shao Lin clenched his fists, gritting his teeth. It didn’t matter — "Faction Reversal" wasn’t limited to players; it could also target NPCs.
He could transfer his bad luck to the dealer.

The dealer was firing first. If he won on the first shot, then even if Shao Lin and Xing Ye repaid their chips, they would still owe an extra billion yuan. He had to make sure the dealer lost!

The key to this competition was: In the first hour, they needed the pot to build up to at least 10 chips before winning.

Already 20 minutes had passed, yet the game hadn't started.
The dealer, holding the gun, idly mused for a full ten minutes: "Should I win... or not?"

He toyed with the gun lazily in his hand.

Xing Ye said, "Dragging time out like this is meaningless. I suggest that if anyone holds the gun for over one minute, they should forfeit one chip. What do you think?"

Shao Lin had to admit: That was a damn brilliant suggestion!

The dealer smiled leisurely and said, "Alright then. No need for you two to be so nervous — I guarantee everything is fair. I won't cheat."

Even though he said that, Shao Lin was still uneasy. He quietly reached out and touched his lucky star charm.

Xing Ye’s luck had already plummeted to rock bottom. But the dealer was different — his luck was likely excellent. Even if it wasn't, Shao Lin still had his "Celestial Shift " skill,
allowing him to move the blank chamber into his own hand.

Earlier, during the rules discussion, he had already made physical contact with the dealer —
that was enough to exchange luck.

Shao Lin transferred his bad luck to the dealer. As long as the dealer didn’t cheat, his first shot would definitely fire a blank.

When the dealer pulled the trigger, Shao Lin tensed up — but he didn’t yet use "Celestial Shift." He needed to gamble that the dealer wouldn't win the first round.

If he were the dealer, he would deliberately lose first, letting Shao Lin and Xing Ye lose more chips before eventually securing victory — because the game was inherently malicious.

Sure enough, on the first shot, the dealer fired a blank. He lost five chips and handed the gun over to Shao Lin.

In Russian Roulette, after the first player spins and fires, the remaining players are not allowed to spin again — they must fire as-is, in order.

Now Shao Lin needed to make sure he didn't win his first shot either — otherwise, he would only win the five chips already in the pot, but still owe five chips to the casino.

Only if it went around once and came back to him could he win properly.

Thus, Shao Lin used "Celestial Shift" to rearrange the bullet positions.

When using "Celestial Shift ," the player could sense whether an object had moved,
allowing Shao Lin to accurately locate the blank. However, the skill could only be used three times every 24 hours — he had to be cautious.

After repositioning, Shao Lin realized that the bullet under his barrel was indeed the blank.
Since he had absorbed the dealer’s luck, he had aligned with the winning slot — but that was okay, he could still move it again if necessary.

Now, he needed to ensure Xing Ye would not win the next round. He had to let Xing Ye lose and add 5 more chips to the pot, reaching exactly 10 chips — only then would Shao Lin win at the optimal moment.

As he stared at Xing Ye, thinking about how to sabotage him, he pulled the trigger.

He put down the revolver and was just about to place five chips into the pot when — the dealer said with a bright smile: "Congratulations, player Shao Lin, you have won! All the chips in the prize pool are yours!"

In an instant, Shao Lin felt as if he had gone deaf. "I... won?"
He stared at the revolver, only now realizing — when he had pulled the trigger just now, there had been no gunshot at all; it was a blank round.

"Why did I win?"
Shao Lin looked at the revolver, bewildered. He had clearly shifted the bullet away — so why?

There were only five chips in the prize pool. Even if Shao Lin took the chips, he would still owe the casino five more. He would be trapped in the game forever!

Meanwhile, Xing Ye hadn’t even gotten the chance to fire yet. Even if he repaid the 10 borrowed chips, he would still owe another 10. Yet he seemed so calm — even clapping to congratulate Shao Lin on his "victory."

Shao Lin hadn't considered this possibility at all.

He had been guarding against the dealer, but before firing, he had never once guarded against Xing Ye — because he had assumed Xing Ye, too, wanted the prize pool's chips.
Thus, Xing Ye would surely want him to lose in the first round, so that, as the third to fire, Xing Ye would have a solid chance to win 10 chips.

Why?

Even the dealer was now clapping and smiling. He said to Shao Lin and Xing Ye: "With this outcome, player Shao Lin owes the casino five special chips, and player Xing Ye owes ten — that's five hundred million and one billion yuan, respectively. If you can repay, you may leave the game."

Just as he said this, a croupier walked up, holding a slip of paper. The croupier handed it to the dealer and whispered something to him.

Upon seeing the paper, the dealer was dumbfounded. He turned to stare at Xing Ye and asked, "What on earth did you do?"

Xing Ye, meanwhile, was sitting casually at the gambling table, sipping a cup of the casino’s complimentary black tea.
He frowned and said, "Terrible taste."

 

Translator : DarNan