“Are you sure you’re going to play that card this round?”

Almost instinctively, Xie Antong said it, then immediately regretted it.

She had deliberately tried not to overthink, to stop her brain from working too hard, but that very effort had its downsides—she still sometimes blurted out foolish things.

This kind of questioning was part of the gamble itself; asking it made her look like she’d already lost the upper hand.

Hearing her, Pleasure chuckled, the laughter threaded with immense anger.

“Ha ha ha ha ha! Are you thinking I’m just pretending? Do you really believe the card I played can be taken back?”

“Are you underestimating me and overestimating yourself? Where’s the fun in that!”

A violent divine power enveloped Xie Antong, pinning her to the chair. Pleasure, as if infuriated and shamed, lunged at the table.

He slammed both hands down, his right hand clasping an hourglass and squeezing it until it creaked. That fragile glass seemed ready to explode in his grip at any moment.

Then Pleasure tilted his head slightly, looking at the Arbitrator with a hint of menace, and snarled:

“Arbitrator, why don’t you be fair? The cards I threw are the cards I played—no take-backs!”

“In this game, once a card has been placed on the table, there’s no reason to take it back, right?”

“Just like chips—you pushed them forward, how can you pull them back?”

Arbitrator: ......

Pleasure was unusually frenzied; his divine power not only pressed down on Xie Antong, it also made the Arbitrator look as if he might waver in a storm.

When a participant in the gamble could directly threaten the judge, what could be done?

At this moment, the Arbitrator was not bound by the Game’s restrictions, and he himself did not know whether such a “reasonable” demand should be granted.

Almost involuntarily, he glanced with the corner of his eye at the black box beside him, and at “Sin” who sat inside it unhurriedly.

Then he gritted his teeth and said to Pleasure:

“Fine. A card that has been definitively played is considered played. No take-backs.”

......

Xie Antong was being crushed by Pleasure’s divine power as if her bones were about to splinter, but because Pleasure’s measure was precise, it wasn’t officially counted as an attack.

So she could only endure it, forcing herself to draw on the Pleasure divine power within her body and resist like a madwoman.

Under such pressure, her mind felt chaotic. Forcing herself to calm down, she pulled a “Dog” from her hand.

Following Lu Ce’s advice, she restricted her thoughts to game-relevant matters only; Pleasure’s bizarre behavior—she’d ignore it for now.

Knowing the opponent would play a “7,” she understood the rules well enough to know how to win.

The only problem was that if she won this round, both players would exchange hands again afterward!

Then she would have to take back her numbered cards, and she’d have to consider the cards she had just “lost” a round with.

So in this round, she not only needed to win—she had to deplete the opponent’s resources as much as possible. After all, the cards in her hand now would soon be the opponent’s cards.

To beat a “7,” she needed either a Tiger or a Dog; Tiger represented “3,” Dog represented “11.”

From prior deduction, “11” was the opponent’s most powerful card—now that it was in her hand, she wanted to make him burn it.

This line of thinking matched the opponent’s: Pleasure had also chosen to expend his “7.”

Her mind raced and she grasped it all quickly; not much time had passed.

But she still didn’t understand why Pleasure would be so confident. Regardless, she couldn’t do anything else now, so she simply tossed out the “Dog.”

“I confirm. Reveal the cards.”

Animal cards were simple—once chosen, you played them; there were no combos to worry about.

Yet the instant she played her card, she felt a bad premonition.

The Arbitrator looked at both cards on the table but did not step forward. Instead, he checked the remaining countdown time.

It seemed he was waiting for something.

“Heh heh, all played? Then surely it’s my turn.”

Pleasure smiled. Golden strands of energy floated in the air, making him look like a golden-maned lion king.

“What did you say? Didn’t you just confirm with the Arbitrator that a tossed card is final?”

Xie Antong squinted at the countdown, nearly a minute remaining, and barked.

“You intend to use underhanded tricks to wriggle out of the rules?”

Pleasure only smiled wider at Xie Antong’s mocking, accusatory tone.

Everything that had been pressing down on Xie Antong—the divine power that seemed intent on destroying her on an energetic level—mysteriously vanished.

“Don’t be so worked up. I said there’s no take-backs, no pulling cards back, but I don’t think I ever said I was finished playing cards!”

“I might not be limited to a single card.”

“Isn’t this sort of wordplay exactly what Sin loves the most? I’m just using the method you all like.”

Xie Antong’s pupils dilated; in a flash, she replayed every word he had said and realized he was technically right!

After the Arbitrator agreed, he had lowered his head—clearly he had noticed it!

Damn it—why hadn’t she thought of that? Was it because she hadn’t been thinking in that direction?

Where should she have overthought, where should she have underthought... she had jumped to conclusions!

She had planned to play a single card this round—the “7.” Seeing the opponent’s move, her mind went blank.

“Heh heh, you look a little uncomfortable. You think someone with your intellect wouldn’t make such a mistake?”

“Don’t overthink—it wasn’t an accident.”

Pleasure’s voice brimmed with satisfaction; he even licked his lips leeringly.

“There’s not much time left. Here’s some good news—you should feel honored.”

With that, he slowly loosened his grip.

Earlier, in the fury of being humiliated, he had clenched an hourglass tightly in his hand!

Now, there remained only a pile of fragments!