Listening to Pleasure's voice, the Arbitrator continued to retreat. Xie Antong also lowered her head somewhat silently, her expression grave.

Death was starting to feel a bit bored. Although even now, He didn't really understand how this gamble was played, it was quite obvious that the scales of victory seemed to be consistently tilting in His favor...

While gathering the chips in front of Him back together, He spoke up:

"Little girl, it seems this game still can't let us have fun. So now..."

"Wait, what's going on!"

Xie Antong suddenly exclaimed, interrupting Pleasure's voice, and grabbed the hourglass on the far left!

At this moment, that hourglass, which she had been suppressing her thoughts to try and slow the flow of sand, suddenly began to drain rapidly!

The speed within the hourglass seemed to form a continuous, gurgling stream, flowing non-stop.

Judging by the mental capacity Xie Antong had displayed, this had to be a state formed by absolutely high-speed operation.

Looking at the hourglass in her hand, she seemed extremely anxious. Sweat beaded on her forehead as she gripped the hourglass tightly.

Divine light surged on her straining arm. In a moment of desperate, random measures, she even began using Divine Power, as if trying to use force to stop the sand from seeping out.

"What is happening!?"

Xie Antong whipped her head around, looking at the Arbitrator beside her, and asked.

But the Arbitrator's expression was indifferent. Since uttering those words earlier about not influencing the game anymore, He had completely become dead-eyed, with nothing readable on His face.

It was the same now. He showed no reaction, as if all of this were normal.

The entire venue was dumbfounded. No one knew what had just happened; everything was fine a moment ago, then suddenly this.

*Thud!*

Right at that moment, a tremendous boom erupted from the black box beside them. The sound was so massive it shook everyone's hearts. The previously motionless black box actually trembled.

Everyone's gaze shifted, discovering that inside the black box, a figure wreathed in blazing flames had stood up and was now raising both fists, pounding forcefully on the black box!

— Lu Ce.

The black box clearly wasn't a physical object with a concrete form, yet it now swayed with a feeling of being on the verge of actual collapse!

"What is he doing? Wasn't he fine just now? Why is he suddenly smashing the box?"

"Is it because he can't endure being burned by the flames?! But the Strongest Player never seemed to have this feeling before."

Listening to the spectators' voices, Xie Antong's hand clenched the hourglass in her grip fiercely. She turned her head to look at the adjacent black box.

Not just her, even Pleasure across from her had the exact same reaction, staring in astonishment at the black box on the left.

Since this game began, He had felt everything was under control. Yet, this guy had disrupted the rhythm, and He also had no idea why he suddenly wanted to stir things up differently.

...

"So hot, so hot!"

"It hurts so much!!!"

Inside the black box, divine light blazed from Lu Ce's body. It contained the Knowledge He had devoured, the Lust that had chosen Him, and even the Agony He himself possessed!

All of it was to try and stop the black flames burning on his body. He seemed completely unable to bear this torment now, wanting to resist.

He couldn't hear the sounds outside, and the outside couldn't hear his sounds...

So now, his wails only lingered in Death's ears, like a malevolent ghost roaring.

"What madness has taken you?! What's wrong?"

Death felt utterly bewildered and couldn't help but stand up as well!

He understood the energy of these black flames very well. There had been absolutely no change just moments ago. How could he be fine one second and like this the next?

Huh?

Originally, the two of them sat facing each other on chairs materialized within the black box, looking very much like masters with an air of expertise.

Now, one was wailing, and the other stood there, confused yet sensing something profound, creating a rather comical scene.

Under the continuous pounding, the black box suddenly opened, and the Arbitrator's voice sounded.

"Due to the player forcibly damaging the game venue, resisting the collection of the life wager."

"Therefore, the first special event is triggered."

After speaking, He gave Sin a strange look.

Then, He dutifully came before the gambling table.

"The triggering of this special event will be settled as a chip penalty."

"The player side loses two chips. The deity side loses one chip."

As He spoke, without needing the agreement of either party, His hands simultaneously shot out like lightning, directly crushing the corresponding number of hourglasses!

Scattered, fine glass fragments littered the gambling table, but the sand inside had already vanished directly, like lives that had slipped away.

"Wait! Why is my side's chips being crushed too when *they* violated the rules?!"

Pleasure shouted discontentedly. However, the Arbitrator now adhered to what He had stated earlier, offering no explanation whatsoever.

When He went to crush the hourglass in front of Xie Antong, Xie Antong hurriedly tried to stop Him.

"Wait! Use this one first!"

Saying this, she reached out, wanting to substitute with the hourglass that had already lost a certain amount of sand. But as she opened her palm, her pupils contracted sharply.

That hourglass was already shattered too, the sand inside long gone.

Logically, these hourglasses couldn't be broken by any external player force; only the Arbitrator had the ability to crush them.

This situation seemed more like the performance of an hourglass that had completely run out.

"So, the person inside the black box resisting the black flames also accelerates the loss from this thing?"

Helplessly placing the shattered hourglass in her hand onto the table, Xie Antong addressed the Arbitrator.

From the start of the game until now, it had truly been one blow after another. They were already two chips fewer than the other side!

After the black box opened, the flames on Sin's body also extinguished. His entire demeanor changed instantly; the previous wailing and pain seemed purely like an illusion.

Raising a hand to touch his twisted, pink right cheek, he muttered to himself:

"Oh... So that's how it is, indeed."

"Breaking open this black turtle shell box is a special circumstance."

Pleasure didn't care about Xie Antong's despondency now. After Sin appeared, His attention was completely captivated.

"You purely just wanted to try it out, without even knowing the consequences, and triggered this special event?"