Almost the instant the rules finished being declared, every person on Tianshui Star felt a dizzying blur before their eyes. The next moment, they found themselves in some unknown place, surrounded by pitch-black darkness, with only the card table in front of them illuminated by an unseen light source.
This was...
Guan Tong looked around, unsure where this was, let alone how he had gotten here. Just a second ago, he had been standing with Adam at the edge of the collapsed building.
Was this some kind of forced teleportation from the rules? Or something else entirely?
And what about the Demon mentioned in the rules? The term 'life-hunting' also bothered him. If the entity that had appeared in the previous [Scarlet Fear] rule was also a Demon, then this would be the second contact between humanity and Demons.
He tried to move his body but found his feet nailed to the spot, unable to budge an inch.
He tried to summon his Shadow, but nothing happened.
This sent a ripple of unease through Guan Tong's heart.
"Hello."
Just then, a raspy voice came from across the card table.
Guan Tong focused his gaze. The other figure's form was mostly hidden in the darkness, with only three hands extending from the shadows to rest on the edge of the table.
Three hands...
Guan Tong was somewhat startled. Among those three hands, one was pure black, one pure white, and the third was spread open with a golden dice-shaped mark flashing in its palm.
"Life-Hunting Gambling Rule Number One: Initial Stake."
The raspy voice spoke as the golden dice in the palm shook.
The next moment, a gleaming gold number appeared on the card table in front of Guan Tong: 100 Ascension Coins.
"This is the initial stake granted to every participant by the gambling game."
Ascension Coin stakes...
"Life-Hunting Gambling Rule Number Two: Each participant must engage in at least three gambling rounds."
Terminal Panel.
While the raspy voice was speaking, Guan Tong silently recited in his mind.
This time it worked. The black rectangular panel appeared in his field of vision.
So, even though items and abilities were unusable, the Terminal Panel was not affected.
This way, Guan Tong could check the hidden rule.
"Now, let us begin the first gambling round."
Just as Guan Tong was examining the rule details, the first round had already started.
A deck of cards materialized out of thin air on the table, automatically dealing two cards—one facedown on Guan Tong's side, one facedown on the three-handed side.
"For the first round, I am the dealer. We compare card values. Fold and lose half your bet. Three-minute decision time. I'll place my bet."
After the raspy voice finished speaking, it fell silent, as if waiting for Guan Tong to follow suit or fold.
Guan Tong said nothing. He first checked the hidden rule.
[Hidden Rule 21: The True Banker]
[Hidden Rule Content: By never initiating a gambling round and refusing to accept stakes won from the Life-Hunting Avatar, you may retreat unharmed or face the True Banker.]
[Note: The True Banker understands one principle—not gambling is the true victory.]
Never initiate a gambling round and refuse stakes won—only then could he retreat unharmed or face the True Banker?
Guan Tong saw the rule details and realized this gambling game was likely extremely dangerous, not as easy to leave as he had imagined.
He immediately contacted through the Mind Network: "Shi Jingyi, can you hear me?"
"Uenoshi, are you there?"
"Yelanka?"
"Adam?"
He contacted everyone he had established a Mind Network with, but received no response.
Guan Tong's heart sank. It seemed this "gambling space" didn't just bind the participants' physical bodies—it could even cut off the Mind Network.
Until the gambling round ended, there was no way to communicate with the outside world.
He closed the Terminal Panel and fixed his gaze on the card table.
The three-minute decision time had already passed one minute, with two minutes remaining.
He thought about what the Life-Hunting Avatar had just said.
The first rule of the Life-Hunting Gambling game was to distribute 100 Ascension Coins as the initial stake to each participant.
The second rule was that participants had to engage in at least three gambling rounds.
If there were first and second rules, there were bound to be third and fourth ones. What the other rules were remained unclear. But after learning the hidden rule, Guan Tong had gained considerable confidence.
Because from the very start of this gambling game, he had already seen the true trump card.
"Call," Guan Tong said.
"Open."
The Life-Hunting Avatar's black and white hands remained still on the table, while the hand with the golden dice mark flipped over the card.
What surprised Guan Tong was that the card wasn't a poker card as he knew it. Instead, it was a picture of a monster with a human face and a bird's body.
What was even more horrifying was that the picture on the card was animated. The monster kept twisting its neck, its human face constantly making exaggerated and eerie expressions.
"Open your card," the raspy voice prompted.
Guan Tong pulled his gaze away from the card, feeling a slight unease as he flipped over his own card.
On his card was a three-eyed giant, covered in flames, with hot air spewing from its open mouth.
What was astonishing was that the moment he flipped his card, the human-faced bird monster on the Life-Hunting Avatar's card let out a piercing shriek before vanishing without a trace, the entire card turning blank.
"The Fire Giant is greater than the Face-Seeking Owl. You win."
The raspy voice finished speaking, and a stream of golden sand flowed from the golden dice in its palm, gathering before Guan Tong's stake count.
Fire Giant, Face-Seeking...
Guan Tong didn't know whether this was a type of card from the "Life-Hunting" civilization's game, or if these two creatures actually existed in the universe.
Regardless, with human understanding, there was no way to know which card was greater than the other.
What did this mean?
It meant that who won or lost in this gambling game was entirely decided by this Demon named "Life-Hunting."
This gambling game was fundamentally unfair from the start!
Guan Tong furrowed his brow. He absolutely refused to believe that this Demon, whose origins were unknown, harbored any goodwill toward humanity.
"Accept the stake and begin the next gambling round," the raspy voice said again.
Guan Tong looked at the golden sand floating before his stake and said, "I refuse."
His memory wasn't so poor that he had already forgotten the hidden rule he had just read.
After he spoke, the other side fell into silence.
A few seconds later, the raspy voice asked, "Are you sure you want to give up the stake you won? Doing so won't end this gambling game."
"I'm sure."
"Very well."
The stream of golden sand drifted away from Guan Tong's stake and flew back into the golden dice in the Life-Hunting Avatar's palm.
"The second gambling round begins."
Whether it was his imagination or not, Guan Tong could feel that the Life-Hunting Avatar's raspy voice had turned noticeably colder.
It seemed that his refusal to accept the winning stake had already provoked some kind of hostility from it.
Two more cards were dealt to each side.
"This time, you are the dealer," the raspy voice said. "My stake was lost in the previous round. I'll use this as my bet this time."
As the voice fell, a dazzling small chest appeared on the card table.
The moment Guan Tong's gaze landed on it, the item details automatically unfolded.
[Survival Chest? Glory Grade]
What?!
His heart shook violently, filled with disbelief.
He knew that Survival Chests were rewards obtained only after completing a survival-type Doomsday Rule challenge. And a "Glory Grade" Survival Chest was exceedingly rare. Even Guan Tong had only seen one or two before.
But that wasn't what shocked Guan Tong the most. What truly stunned him was—how could the Life-Hunting Avatar produce this as a bet? Wasn't this a reward that only the Fire Thief could grant?
"Place your bet and open your card, or fold. Folding will cost you half your stake," the raspy voice said.
"Wait," Guan Tong said, not letting the appearance of the Glory Grade Survival Chest cloud his judgment. He had spotted a critical issue.
"In the last round, I refused your stake. Those 100 Ascension Coins of yours should still be usable this round. There's no need to swap them for a Survival Chest."
"Lost stakes, even if the winner refuses them, cannot be retained by the loser," the raspy voice said, its tone noticeably stiffer than before.
"Is that also one of the rules of the Life-Hunting Gambling game?" Guan Tong asked seriously.
Even if it wasn't directly evident yet, being forcibly transferred into this gambling space, unable to use any abilities or items, and cut off from external communication... from these side effects alone, Guan Tong understood that this rule concealed tremendous danger.
He wasn't going to blindly obey the Life-Hunting Avatar's every word out of fear, completely submitting to its rhythm in the gambling game.
He had to get clear answers to the things that concerned him. Because he knew that even if this Demon possessed power, it still had to abide by the Fire Thief's "rules" and couldn't kill people at will.
This time, it was a long while before the raspy voice spoke again.
"Temporary rule. Refused stakes are forfeited."
Temporary rule.
Guan Tong sneered inwardly. Sure enough, this wasn't a true rule of the Life-Hunting Gambling game.
This guy was deliberately concealing it, with the obvious intent of luring participants—me—with the Glory Grade Survival Chest.
If that was the case, then it meant...
This time, I would win again.
Guan Tong spoke: "Bet 100. Open the card."
"Call."
Both facedown cards were flipped open.
Guan Tong's card showed a massive serpent coiled deep beneath the seabed, its entire body covered in rock-like, grayish-brown scales, as if it were one with the ocean floor's bedrock.
Looking at the giant serpent on his card, he felt a strange sensation. It involuntarily made him think of Uenoshi's serpent bloodline. That bloodline seemed to originate from a deep-sea serpent. If it truly existed, perhaps it looked just like the serpent on the card?
He turned to look at the Life-Hunting Avatar's card. On it was a human dressed in plain clothes and straw sandals, carrying a hoe on his shoulder, looking like a farmer. Upon seeing the giant serpent, the farmer was so terrified he immediately threw down his hoe and fled. The card went blank, just like the Face-Seeking Owl from before.
"The Abyssal Serpent is greater than the Valley Farmer. You win."
Guan Tong was hardly surprised. The outcome was exactly as he had expected.
After the raspy voice finished speaking, the Life-Hunting Avatar used its pure white hand to push the Glory Grade Survival Chest in front of Guan Tong.
The chest emitted an alluring, dazzling light. Such a grade of chest could only be obtained in the past through fierce competition with countless other Ascendants, by becoming the ultimate victor. And the rewards it could yield upon opening were extremely valuable.
Guan Tong still remembered that the first item he had ever obtained from a Glory Grade chest was the [Gene Optimization Serum].
That item had significantly increased his Mind Power upper limit, providing immense help and long-term enhancement for his early growth. Without that serum, he might still have grown into a strong individual, but certainly not this quickly.
In fact, without the boost from that serum, it was entirely possible he could have died in some later crisis due to insufficient Mind Power. This showed just how important that item had been to him.
Now, looking at that dazzling chest symbolizing a substantial power boost, he raised his eyes to the Life-Hunting Avatar hidden in the darkness and said without hesitation, "I refuse."
"...Are you sure you want to refuse the winning stake again?" Guan Tong's consecutive refusals to accept his gambling winnings had introduced a barely perceptible hint of anger into the raspy voice.
"Yes, I refuse."