The Fate Coin tumbled through the air.
Just as it rose, Guan Tong suddenly spoke to the Life-Hunting Demon hidden in the darkness.
"The choice I made in my heart is the 'Existence' side of the Fate Coin. You must catch the Fate Coin."
The moment those words left his mouth, an invisible change occurred within the Gambling Space.
Deep in the darkness, the Life-Hunting Demon let out a low roar after a brief, dead silence: "No! My body... how did you...?"
The golden-glowing Fate Coin had now reached its highest point and began to descend.
The sound of something tearing came from the darkness.
"No, this is impossible... Why...?!"
The Life-Hunting Demon let out a pained cry. One of its palms reached out from the darkness, struggling to catch the falling Fate Coin.
But before that palm could even touch the Fate Coin, it shattered into pieces, as if rapidly breaking apart at an incredible speed.
*Clink.*
The Fate Coin fell to the ground, producing a crisp sound.
Guan Tong said expressionlessly, "You lost."
"How is this possible? What did you do?! Arghhh!!!"
Unbelievable shock mixed with screams echoed from the darkness. The Life-Hunting Demon was undoubtedly in some extreme agony at this moment.
"I think you still don't know why you lost." Guan Tong spoke to the darkness. "Then let me tell you."
The Life-Hunting Demon's screams continued, but Guan Tong ignored them and went on.
"The ultimate goal of the Life-Hunting Gambling Game is to seize the participants' life force. Participants who lose their lives naturally cannot continue to exist. Therefore, participants who have their lives taken lose their own 'Existence'."
"But your ability, or rather, the ability of the Gambling Space, no matter how powerful, cannot force someone who refuses to gamble into the game. So you and your avatars read the participants' memories to tempt them with targeted offers, tricking them into joining."
"When participants see through your tricks, or remain firm in their hearts and refuse the tempting bait-stakes, the Gambling Space activates its final protocol—the 'Ancient Gamble'."
"Life-Hunting Demon, I suspect that even as the master of the Gambling Space, or perhaps its symbiotic entity, you never truly understood the nature of the 'Ancient Gamble'."
"You thought that as the 'Receiver' of the Fate Coin in the Ancient Gamble, you were guaranteed to win, but your choice already exposed your weakness: deep in your heart, you're terrified of losing this gamble, yet simultaneously so arrogant that you believed a human could never beat you."
"So, if you demons, or rather, if the essence of the Gambling Space is to 'plunder Existence', then isn't its opposite exactly 'Existence' itself?"
"A truly fair gamble has no guaranteed loss or guaranteed win, and the two sides of the Fate Coin in the 'Ancient Gamble' provide the 'Thrower' with a hint on how to win."
"When the 'Thrower' chooses the 'Existence' side and tells the 'Receiver' his choice, if the 'Receiver' catches the coin, it acknowledges the 'Thrower's' Existence."
"But you can't acknowledge it, can you? Your essence, the Gambling Space's essence, is to plunder the participants' 'Existence'. When you acknowledge the participant's 'Existence'... a paradox is born in this space."
"It's like 1+1=2 and 1+1=3 cannot coexist. You—no, it should be the Gambling Space. From the current situation, the Gambling Space is the true master, and you, the Life-Hunting Demon, are merely a slave serving this space."
"When that slave, knowing your choice was the 'Existence' side, still tried to catch the Fate Coin, follow the Gambling Space's essence, and deny your permanent Existence in the space... of course, it would destroy him, tear him to pieces."
"I imagine you must have initiated the 'Ancient Gamble' a few times before, but the participants never told you which side they chose, right? Because the rules said 'choose silently in your heart'—but you don't even realize you're just mechanically following the Gambling Space's rules without knowing how the 'Thrower' wins the Ancient Gamble."
When he reached this point, the screams in the darkness gradually subsided.
Whether the Gambling Space had stopped harming the Life-Hunting Demon, or it had simply lost the strength to scream.
Guan Tong stepped forward into the darkness, and everything before him became clear.
The so-called powerful demon controlling the Gambling Space was now nothing more than a pile of scattered remnants on the ground. From the fragments, one could vaguely discern its original form: a monster composed of three arms and several dice.
"I won this Ancient Gamble. Life-Hunting Demon, you can die now."
...
A wisp of golden light flew up from the pile of debris, fleeing into the distance, but it was immediately suppressed and extinguished by the Fire Thief's red ring.
The Fire Thief's notification sounded.
[Hidden Gambling Round has ended]
[Ascendant 'Shadow' wins the gamble, claiming all stakes wagered by the Life-Hunting Demon]
[Life-Hunting Demon's original consciousness has been erased]
The next two prompts were heard simultaneously by everyone still alive in the Gambling Space:
[As the Life-Hunting Demon's original consciousness disappears, all Life-Hunting Avatars cease operation, and the Gambling Space will automatically close]
[The Twenty-First Apocalypse Rule will end prematurely in thirty minutes]
...
Adam suddenly opened his eyes, finding himself still sitting on that half-collapsed building.
He instinctively reached out and made a grabbing motion, and a nearby stone floated up under gravitational control.
How is this possible?!
Adam couldn't believe what he was seeing.
In the Gambling Space, to win that [Life-Hunting Tracer] item, he had wagered his own ability. But he had lost that round, and his ability had been taken by the Life-Hunting Avatar's dark hand.
After that, he lost all his other items.
By the third and final formal round, he had already realized he'd been tricked. But by then, it was too late to turn back. The Gambling Space's rules were very clear: once a formal round began, three rounds had to be completed.
As long as the formal round was initiated, even if the participant realized the trap the very next second, there was no going back.
Moreover, the Life-Hunting Avatar would completely control the outcome once the formal rounds started, making the participant lose all three rounds, losing everything precious, even life.
During this time, even if the participant tried to use low-value items to scrape through the three rounds, it wouldn't work, because the Gambling Space also had the rule of 'matching stakes'. As long as the Life-Hunting Avatar wagered high-value items, the human participant had to wager equivalent value.
Adam recalled this and felt a chill run down his spine.
This rule was truly terrifying, but he wouldn't complain.
Because he had a chance to withdraw before entering the formal rounds. It was his own obsession—the desire to know where his wife and daughter were, sparked by seeing that [Life-Hunting Tracer] item—that had clouded his judgment and led him willingly into the trap.
But now, what confused him was that he had received those two notifications from the Fire Thief, knowing he had narrowly survived.
During the thirty-minute waiting period, he had decided to pull himself together. Even if he lost his ability and became a 'blank Ascendant', he would keep living for the sake of his wife and daughter.
Yet when the thirty-minute waiting period ended and he left the Gambling Space to return to the real world, both his 'Force Field Manipulation' ability and the items he had lost were back with him. Why?
Did everyone who left the Gambling Space alive get their wagered stakes returned?
"Are you alright, Adam?"
Guan Tong's voice suddenly came from beside him, and Adam immediately turned his head.
"Shadow, you... how are you? Did it trick you into joining the formal rounds in the Gambling Space?"
Guan Tong shook his head.
He hadn't joined the formal rounds, but he had participated in a hidden gambling round.
Of course, he didn't intend to mention this. There was no need.
"I joined, all because of my own greed." Adam said, puzzled. "But I don't know why my lost ability and items all came back."
"Does everyone who leaves the space get the same treatment? I wonder if the others are also like this."
"Maybe they are," Guan Tong said. "Who knows."