Chapter 71: Death Poker 1

  The full moon, ancient temple and bonfire are etched in his eyes, being pulled into this eerie moment by the black hole, An Yi's face changes suddenly.

  The scene in my impression hasn't changed at all, it's just...

  Ten people!

  An Yi, who had experienced a sweep in the past, suddenly realized something.

  "The washing race. Immediately drawn, start..." The dull voice confirmed An Yi's guess.

  The bonfire suddenly spread out a surging flame, accompanied by that dull sound, and above the bonfire, a huge wheel appeared out of thin air.

  It's exactly the same as the roulette wheel that An Yi saw during the last cleaning match. The black skull in the center of the roulette wheel, the left-hand dagger, and the right-hand handcuffs are all the same.

  Spinning. The wheel appeared and there was hardly any interval before it started spinning rapidly.

  In an instant, when the wheel stopped again, the grid pointed by the skull's left hand knife tip flashed a dazzling light.

  The light is increasingly dazzling, almost covering everything, even shrouding the surrounding darkness. Only... excessive light can't bring any vision at all, it just replaces the original darkness and becomes another kind of 'darkness'.

  In the dimness, the skull wheel became more and more illusory. As the light faded away bit by bit, a sheepskin scroll appeared in the field of vision.

  A sheepskin parchment floating above the bonfire slowly unfolded, with blood-stained characters gradually revealing themselves.

  Event: Washing race

  Objective: Only one person can survive (Nine deaths and one life).

  Reward: Point Pool (cumulative points of the 9 deceased)

  Method: Random drawing (Death Poker)

  Death Poker: What's in hand isn't poker, it's death...

  Rules: 53 poker cards, with only one skull; 10 people decide the drawing order in clockwise direction, and when it's their turn to draw, they must draw a card from the hand of the person on their left (i.e. the previous player); if a single player has two or more identical cards in their hand, they are automatically destroyed; when a player runs out of cards, they win the round; the round continues until one player is left with no cards, marking the end of the round; after each round, the cards are redistributed and play resumes until 9 players have been eliminated, ending the game.

  Special rules: The person who draws can ask the drawn person a question; the drawn person must answer the drawer's question, but has one right to lie per round, which can be accumulated up to nine times.

  The words on the sheepskin scroll disappeared, replaced by the three words "Integral Pool", and the surroundings fell into darkness.

  The bonfire had gone out, but in the center of the ashes a deck of cards appeared. The cards fluttered and flipped over as if an invisible hand was dealing them.

  First, he took a glance at the number 2 in front of him, then looked around at the darkness, and An Yi's eyebrows slightly furrowed as he quickly thought about the key points of this elimination match with the theme of Death Poker.

  The waiting time was too short, and the specific process was not clear, so it was impossible to understand the details, and the poker cards were distributed one by one.

  A deck of poker cards in the center, clockwise, one by one, distributed to the surrounding darkness, after a circle is over, continue to distribute until the deck of poker cards in the center is completely distributed.

  Red Peach J, Black Peach 3, Square 9, Square 7, Plum Q, Black Peach J.

  53 cards, three people must get six cards each. As the first single round clockwise card distribution order, An Yi, who is in seat 2, will undoubtedly get six cards.

  Looking at the six floating poker cards in front of him, disrupting the order, An Yi slightly raised an eyebrow and pointed to one of them with his hand, trying to adjust the arrangement of the cards.

  But...

  Fingers pointing at playing cards cannot move their positions at all.

  An Yi's eyes flickered.

  Is it because the position of the poker cards cannot be swapped at all, or is it because the game has not started yet?

  Although An Yi's heart was inclined towards the former, he didn't dare to be too sure for the time being.

  He glanced at the six cards in his hand and carefully looked at the red J of hearts and the black J of spades that could be paired together.

  In a situation where 10 people are distributing 53 cards, being the first to get a card that can form a pair is indeed quite lucky.

  It's just...

  Isn't it supposed to be automatic destruction? Do we have to wait until the game starts?

  The moment when the poker cards were thoroughly distributed, the bonfire ignited, and two figures in positions 10 and 1 appeared at the same time.

  The ill-fitting gray suit on No. 10's body, due to his slightly chubby physique, made the suit look quite out of place.

  Even...the undershirt worn by the fat guy in the gray suit number 10 was visibly bulging at the abdomen, and a faint outline of flesh could be seen.

  Compared to the gray-suited fat man No. 10, the young man No. 1, who is about 1.8 meters tall and has a well-proportioned figure, undoubtedly formed a sharp contrast with the gray-suited fat man No. 10.

  It's just...

  The young man with slightly curly hair, No. 1, not only wore a large pair of sunglasses on the bridge of his nose but also had a bright red mask covering his face, as if he didn't want people to see his true appearance.

  Two figures emerged at the same time: No. 10, a grey-suited fat man, and No. 1, a young man with curly hair, sunglasses and a mask. As they appeared, five poker cards facing No. 10, the grey-suited fat man, floated in the darkness.

  It can be seen that the young man with a perm, sunglasses and a mask seemed hesitant and remained silent.

  The time for choosing cards is not infinite, and the 99 candles representing time are still slowly extinguished around the bonfire.

  When half of the candles went out, a young man with a perm and sunglasses mask finally raised his hand, pointing to the far left card in front of him, hesitated for a moment, and asked: "What is this card?"

  "Black 3." The gray-suited fat man with a receding hairline glanced in the direction pointed by the young man with curly hair and sunglasses, seemingly wanting to confirm the face of that card once again.

  According to the rules, each person has the right to lie once per round. The young man with a messy bun, black-rimmed glasses and a mask seemed to be considering whether he would start by lying or not.

  After a moment's thought, the young man with the volume hair and sunglasses mask pointed to the card on the far left of the poker hand again: "I want this one."

  After all, under normal circumstances, unless it's a skull card, the possibility of the other party lying is indeed not high. And encountering a skull card at the beginning, the probability should also be low, so the young man with volume hair and sunglasses mask chose that card, which is also inevitable.

  It's just...

  In the darkness, An Yi glanced at his own face. Black 3 of Spades! It was clearly in An Yi's hand.

  So...

  Would the other party casually waste the precious opportunity to bluff with a single wheel? That can only be said, that card might just be the skull card!

  No. 1, a young man with a perm and sunglasses and a mask, drew his card and then the figure of No. 10, a fat man in a grey suit, retreated back into the darkness, while the figure of No. 2, An Yi, appeared immediately after.

  One of 7 cards belonging to Volume 1: Ink Mirror Mask Youth, appearing simultaneously in the darkness.

  An Yi's face sank.

  From the beginning to now, it's not long, but An Yi has already figured out some key points of this death poker. Maybe not comprehensive, but some things An Yi have grasped. As for the rest, they need to be verified again.

  This elimination match is themed on Death Poker, and the skull card seems to be very dangerous at first glance, making people want to avoid it. However... at least under the premise of being able to quickly reduce the number of cards in one's hand, the skull card is not that dangerous.

  It can even be used as a finishing move.

  His gaze wandered over the 7 poker cards with a young man wearing a No. 1 volume perm, sunglasses and a mask, while An Yi's eyes seemed to glance in the direction of the fat man in a dark gray suit No. 10.

  No. 10 grey suit fat man has used up the privilege of telling lies with this unicycle, No. 1 curly hair sunglasses mask youth knows it and An Yi also knows it.

  At the same time, An Yi thought that the young man with a perm and sunglasses mask in his hand was likely to be Skull & Bones. And this thing, the fat guy in gray suit No. 10 and the young man with a perm and sunglasses mask No. 1 should also know about it.

  So...

  For now, what's most important for An Yi is... helping out the youth with the messy hair and sunglasses!

  A 10-man elimination match, with the final result being that the other 9 people are all potential opponents of An Yi.

  Among these 9 people, who poses the smallest threat to An Yi?

  No. 1 curly-haired youth with sunglasses and mask!

  Secondly, it's the fat guy in a gray suit No. 10!

  This is determined by the position, and also because this pattern has just started, the mistakes made by both of them have created a tiny advantage. After all, as the game progresses, others will inevitably become more familiar with the key points of Death Poker.

  At this time, it's too difficult to establish a slight advantage.

  It's also for this reason that An Yi must help the youth with a messy bun and sunglasses!

  If he had to give a death order for others, An Yi would definitely want the No. 1 volume-haired, bespectacled and masked youth to die last! Next is the No. 10 grey suit fat man.

  Of course, apart from the 1st volume of hair-dyed youth with sunglasses and mask who posed the least threat to An Yi, and the grey-suited fat man No. 10, there were naturally people who posed the greatest threat to An Yi.

  Number 3!

  Just as location determined that the least threatening to An Yi was the No. 1 curly-haired, sunglasses-wearing, mask-wearing youth, so too was An Yi the least threatening to No. 3.

  In other words, No. 3 is the biggest threat to An Yi!

  Only the latter knows whether the former is lying or not, as long as the former does not make an obvious mistake.

  As this purge match goes on towards the end, the life and death of the latter will inevitably be more controlled by the former.

  So...... In An Yi's view, the biggest focus of this death poker is to protect the one in front and kill the one behind!

  He took another look at the 7 poker cards belonging to the young man with a messy bun, sunglasses and a mask, and An Yi's eyes sparkled.

  An Yi actually wants to draw... Skull most now.

  But which card will be the skull?

  An Yi slightly raised an eyebrow and considered what question to ask the young man with a perm, sunglasses, and a mask.

  The position of the skull badge doesn't matter at all. An Yi believes that even if he didn't get it this time, he will eventually get it later on.

  But compared to thinking of ways to draw a skull card, what question to ask is the key.

  Come up with a way to make the No. 1 curly-haired, sunglasses-wearing, mask-wearing young man tell a lie! Let him waste that chance to lie! At the same time... can't let others know that the No. 1 curly-haired, mask-wearing young man is lying!

  In An Yi's view, the lie of the 10th gray suit fat man was a complete mistake. Of course, due to unfamiliarity with this death poker mode, such mistakes at the beginning are also normal.

  But this opportunity may not come again.

  Actually, if An Yi were to switch, if he wanted to pass the Skull card to the next player, even if it was a lie, he could say that one of his own cards had the same face. This way, except for the next player, no third person would know that he lied.

  After a moment of contemplation, An Yi finally pointed at the card on the far right: "Is this one the Skull King?"

  It's better to know what specific poker game it is, so as to make further arrangements more convenient.

  But... if the young man with a perm, sunglasses and mask tells the truth, it's possible that others will also start to have their own calculations about what's going on up front.

  And if the young man with glasses and a mask on Volume 1 told a lie, once again like the fat guy in gray suit No. 10, was found out by a third person that he lied, then...

  In short, An Yi hopes that the young man with a messy bun and sunglasses is lying, but he doesn't want others to know that he's lying, nor does he want others to know what might be on the front.

  It seems that An Yi didn't expect such a vague question. The young man with the messy hair, sunglasses and mask hesitated for a moment: "No."

  "Then this card it is," An Yi said, tapping the card again.