Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 49: Taboo Loophole

“We’ll break the taboo together,” Fang Xiu said.

Hearing this, Song Zheng grew anxious but didn’t want to give out free intel. After a long pause, he said, “Then I’ll keep showing you around… Are we still waiting for those three?”

Jia Xu and the others had gone to the service desk to upgrade the guestroom menu and hadn’t returned yet.

Fang Xiu smiled, but his eyes held no amusement. “No need. We’re probably looking for different things.”

After hesitating for a few seconds, Song Zheng led them to the high-low dice game area.

The people here mostly looked dusty and worn out, their faces blank with numb expressions. Their auras resembled mushrooms growing in the corner, clearly a “Bankrupt Alliance”.

Song Zheng plucked two of the “mushrooms” from the group and introduced them. “These two are my teammates. Xiao Tian and Xiao Li.”

He pointed first to the young woman, then to the young man beside her.

Both were pale and emaciated, their expressions so blank they looked like they were wearing masks. But upon hearing Song Zheng introduce them, they both nodded slightly.

“How’s today?” Song Zheng asked.

Xiao Tian: “I won one round at the start. Xiao Li lost two, won one. His chips are even. Bro, you haven’t won yet, right?”

Song Zheng shook his head.

Xiao Li: “One bowl of veggie rice per person today. That’s a straight deduction of three chips. We’ve only got eleven chips left. Lao Song, don’t lose too badly today, or we’ll be down to just rice soup.”

He said this listlessly, his tone utterly flat.

Song Zheng looked at Fang Xiu. “Mind if I play a bit?”

Fang Xiu shook his head.

Song Zheng blew warm air onto both hands, rubbed them vigorously, and stepped toward the high-low table. Despite the fallen state of the players, the dealer’s smile remained as sweet as ever.

Song Zheng cautiously took out one chip and placed it. “Small.”

The dice rattled. 1, 5, 6. “Big”.

One chip was instantly gone.

He pulled out another chip, gritted his teeth. “Small!”

Dealer rolled. 4, 4, 6. “Big” again.

Sweat beaded on Song Zheng’s forehead. He wiped his palms on his pants and pulled out another chip. “Big…”

Dealer smiled and rolled 1, 2, 4. This time “Small”.

In a flash, three chips vanished.

Xiao Li cursed under his breath. Song Zheng sighed repeatedly. Half a minute later, he licked his cracked lips, shivering slightly, and placed another chip. “…Small.”

Finally, the dice came up 1, 3, 4. “Small”.

Realizing he’d won, Song Zheng slumped slightly in relief.

“We’re down to 9 chips. Breaking even, we can last maybe three more days,” Xiao Tian said bitterly. “Maybe… maybe I should trade the karma between me and my sister…”

She shivered slightly, then forced a calm tone. “A hundred chips. That’ll last us a few more weeks.”

Having just seen Jia Xu easily turn 1 chip into over a thousand, then looking at these folks grinding chip by chip, Guan He felt a surreal sense of absurdity.

He couldn’t help licking his lips. “What about familiar folks? Have you… traded all of them?”

Hearing this, Xiao Tian gave a furious laugh.

Song Zheng shook his head and sighed. “Let me explain. It’s not valuable info, so I won’t charge.”

…Once, his team had been young, strong, and in harmony.

Together, they’d cleared three rituals. This was Song Zheng’s fourth. Having five people enter a fourth trial spoke volumes about their strength.

A month ago, they arrived at Huanxi World.

Like Fang Xiu, they disliked the place and wanted only to destroy the “E”.

Everyone agreed to win just once per day, no greed. To prevent anyone from getting carried away, they centralized chip management.

“We lent all our chips, interest-free, to the calmest person in the group, A’Qing,” Song Zheng said with a bitter smile. “He’s a PhD from a prestigious university, the smartest in our group. He did the most in our first three rituals.”

Guan He glanced at Fang Xiu… A’Qing sounded like their group’s “Fang Xiu”.

Fang Xiu: “And then?”

“A’Qing suggested we first trade away unimportant acquaintances for chips. Then take turns playing high-low using a martingale strategy. Know martingale? If you lose a round, you double the chips on the next.”

“That way, just one win recovers all losses plus profit. That profit buys veggie rice, and with free rice soup, you survive the day. Sounds foolproof.”

Cheng Songyun sneered. Guan He mentally ran the math and agreed.

If Song Zheng had used martingale: bet 1 lose 1, bet 2 lose 2, bet 4 win 4. Net gain: 1 chip.

Too bad Song Zheng hadn’t enough chips… Wait, not enough chips?

Guan He suddenly realized something and looked up at Song Zheng.

Song Zheng closed his eyes. “At first it worked great…until one day, A’Qing lost five rounds in a row.”

Fang Xiu hummed. “Lost 31 chips total. Sixth round would require betting 32.”

“Yeah. We only had four chips left. I advised A’Qing to switch to betting one per round to make do. But A’Qing wouldn’t accept it. He said keeping only four chips was too risky. The odds couldn’t be that cursed.”

Song Zheng looked down.

Things unfolded as Fang Xiu had guessed.

A’Qing, who was carrying a blood debt from an accidental death, wasn’t heavily penalized for revealing it. Brimming with confidence, he traded for 1,000 chips to continue martingaling.

…Then he lost five more rounds.

By round 10, he’d lost 1,023 chips. Round 11 required betting 1,024. But now the group had just a few chips left again.

Throughout this, Song Zheng had tried to stop him, but A’Qing had the chips and insisted.

“Ten losses in a row on 50/50 odds? Impossible… Unrealistic…”

A’Qing slumped soullessly at the table. The dealer’s smile didn’t flicker. 1,000+ chips devoured in silence by three dice.

Then A’Qing began exchanging again.

He traded every colleague and classmate he knew, his glamorous job, his properties, all his savings. “It’s fine,” he said, “once I pass the trial, I can wish for tons of money.”

…Thus, he scraped together 1,024 chips and bet again.

Round 11, loss.

Total chips lost: 2,047. Next round would need 2,048.

But they had nothing left.

“Odds can’t be this cursed,” A’Qing muttered, yanking at his hair. “I need more chips…”

“More chips, my ass!” Song Zheng snapped. “The only thing left to trade is family! You crazy?!”

A’Qing snapped too, eyes bloodshot. “So what? I haven’t won once today! If I bet 1 chip now and win, all my previous losses were a joke?!”

Gritting his teeth, Song Zheng grabbed A’Qing’s collar and marched to the service desk, trading in his own blood debt.

His blood debt was also accidental death. After trading, he said coldly, “I’ll lend you chips—one at a time. Go bet one by one.”

A’Qing stared at him for a while, then smiled a little manically and turned to the desk. “I’ll trade my beloved. I have a childhood fiancée…we were planning to marry by the end of the year.”

Song Zheng: “What the f—”

“If the karma’s gone, it’s gone. I’ll just pursue her again after this. It’s not irreversible…” A’Qing’s eyes bulged. “Can I trade it?”

“Verification complete. You do love your fiancée. How enviable.”

The girl at the counter smiled sweetly. “Here you go. 100 chips. Your karmic bond between you and your lover is cleared.”

A’Qing stared at the chip for a while.

They’d known each other for over ten years, and it ended just like that… It felt too easy.

After a while, A’Qing’s throat moved. “I’ll also trade my grandparents.”

“They have many grandchildren, not just me. They’re old anyway. Even if they forget me, it’s okay…”

He muttered, not sure who he was trying to convince.

“Here’s your 200 chips. Your karmic bond with your grandparents is cleared.”

Holding the 300 chips, A’Qing squatted silently for a long time. The “100” printed on each chip looked like strange pupils staring at him with a twisted tenderness.

A’Qing didn’t take Song Zheng’s chip. He bet the 300 directly.

This time, he didn’t bet high-low. He bet that the total dice sum would be 9, 10, 11, or 12. Odds: 6 to 1.

…And he won.

Guan He was stunned. “Winning’s good, isn’t it? Now he has 2,100 chips. He’s recovered completely.”

Plus Song Zheng’s 1,000, if he just bet carefully now, things shouldn’t have ended like this.

Fang Xiu showed no expression. “Everyone knows the logic. But do you think someone who won or lost over a thousand chips in one go would bet one by one again?”

Guan He was stunned, at a loss for words.

Once the discipline breaks, once the chips you’ve traded with your life… once you tasted the rush of a thousand-chip win… the human mind suffered a ‘broken window effect’. Once you take the first step, the second is inevitable.

Before Song Zheng could continue, Xiao Tian frowned. “After that, Song Ge wouldn’t let A’Qing handle the chips anymore. But A’Qing insisted he was right. Said if he’d listened to Song Ge, they’d have lost everything.”

“He said he’d switch to playing poker, a ‘higher skill game’, and even took another group member. Thinking about it now…”

Song Zheng shook his head to stop her.

He concluded directly, “In the end, A’Qing lost his parents too. Once he traded everything, he said returning to the human world was meaningless. Might as well stay here, win more chips, live in comfort.”

“So he tricked us, pretended he wanted to return, and stole all our chips… As for how, that’s paid info.”

Guan He: “Huh? He’s not dead?”

Song Zheng made it sound like a eulogy. He thought A’Qing had gambled himself into oblivion.

Song Zheng grinned. “Nah, now he owes Uncle Hou a lot of chips. Uncle Hou values his brains and keeps him working… Oh, Uncle Hou’s that fat guy. His info’s also paid.”

Guan He nervously glanced at Fang Xiu again.

Fang Xiu was an orphan and seemingly unmarried, with fewer human ties than A’Qing. Guan He imagined Fang Xiu turning into another A’Qing and broke into cold sweat.

Fang Xiu, seeing Guan He’s expression, almost laughed. “Relax. I won’t gamble.”

Cheng Songyun had no reaction the whole time. She just quietly listened, her eyes unreadable.

After the story, Song Zheng finished showing them around Huanxi World.

The casino was massive, larger than the most extravagant malls Fang Xiu had ever visited. His legs felt weak from walking. Bai Shuangying occasionally tugged his collar to stop him from toppling over.

It didn’t help much. Fang Xiu still drifted sideways and muttered occasionally.

After grumbling about the lighting being too bright, Fang Xiu asked, “You said there’s only one evil spirit here… so what are the dealers and staff?”

Bai Shuangying: “Illusions.”

Seeing Fang Xiu blink in confusion, he added, “Like the pedestrians in Mid-Autumn E. But this E is much stronger, so the illusions are more refined.”

“This E is that strong?” Fang Xiu reached out, his fingertip brushing the ornate wallpaper.

“Evil spirits don’t need karma. The karma from chips is all consumed by the E.”

Bai Shuangying explained casually. “Objects with lingering will gather karma and becomes an ‘E’. The more karma, the stronger the E.”

Fang Xiu’s brows twitched. “If all the karma’s drained, wouldn’t the souls taste bland? Then how would you get nourished—cough, I mean, how would ghost immortals be raised?”

He’d seen ghosts eat sacrifices to grow an E but never seen an E and ghost fighting over food. Terrible working conditions. What ghost could bear it?

Bai Shuangying gave him a side glance. “Worry about yourself first.”

Fang Xiu grinned mysteriously. “The mountain hermit has his tricks*!”

*This comes from a phrase said by Zhuge Liang. The mountain hermit refers to himself, because he was originally considered a hermit. The full context would be like “though I am a humble man from the mountains, I have a good solution.” In this context, it’s basically Fang Xiu playfully saying, “don’t worry about me, I have my ways/solution/trick up my sleeve.”

……

“I still think the safest way to win once a day is to trade some familiar people, draw a chip, and bet on high-low,” Song Zheng said gently after they returned to the first floor. “Breaking a taboo is too risky.”

Fang Xiu raised his hand cheerfully. “The first taboo says, ‘you must win once a day.’ Does that necessarily mean ‘you must win a bet in Huanxi World’?”

Upon hearing this, a trace of nostalgia crossed Song Zheng’s face. “When we first got here, A’Qing raised that same question.”

“We tried gambling in private with people who had nothing, even wagering magic weapons or food, intentionally losing to let the other win. We also tried clear win/lose games like arm wrestling. It was all useless.”

“‘Win once’ strictly means ‘win a game with chips in Huanxi World.’ There’s no loophole.”

After his reflection, he caught himself. “Wait, that was paid info…”

Fang Xiu held back a laugh. “Mhm, I’ll pay you with a roast chicken.”

He wasn’t disappointed. If the first taboo were that easy to bypass, 800+ people wouldn’t be stuck here.

Then Fang Xiu stretched a bit and walked once more toward the high-low tables.

Cheng Songyun frowned. “Xiao Fang, didn’t you say you wouldn’t gamble? You—”

Before she could finish, Fang Xiu suddenly lunged toward a figure in the corner. He moved behind the man and swiftly locked his throat.

That man was part of the “Bankrupt Alliance” over 1.9 meters tall. Yet he was scrawny and pale, looking even worse off than Song Zheng’s group.

He was sitting blankly when Fang Xiu struck. Several seconds passed before he realized what was happening. Fang Xiu leaned on the chair back with his body weight, choking the man tightly in place. In minutes, he was dead, without even a struggle.

The noise wasn’t huge but seeing someone killed so casually stunned everyone nearby.

Song Zheng was frozen. He spread his arms, shielding his teammates like baby chicks. “Y-Y-You—”

Fang Xiu didn’t explain. He took out a chip, drew a circle around the corpse, and scanned the surroundings.

Sure enough, within 30 seconds someone arrived. A man built like a tank with a hostile air, clearly another sacrifice.

“Kid, there are rules here.” The brawny man’s voice was low. “Explain. Now.”

He crossed his arms in front of his chest and his muscles were tense. His forearms were thicker than Fang Xiu’s thighs.

Fang Xiu: “He had a personal vendetta with me. He killed someone close to me.”

The man frowned. “…Go on.”

“Shang Debao. 41, from Chou Province. I know him. Outside, he raped and killed two girls. One of them was Haizhen—Zhang Haizhen. She was a grad student at the time. She said they’d get married after graduation.”

Fang Xiu stared down at the man. “He killed someone close to me. I took revenge. Got a problem?”

The man paused, as if verifying his memory. In the end, he just clicked his tongue. “We’ll let it slide this time. Don’t do it again.”

He moved to deal with the body.

But Fang Xiu swiped his hand and stored the corpse in his qiankun pouch.

“What’s the meaning of this?”

The man’s face darkened. “Let me be clear. If you’re killing to harvest meat to beat the taboo, or trading human meat for chips, that’s taboo!”

Fang Xiu stood firm. “I just want to bring my enemy’s corpse back and tear it apart. Why are you meddling?”

The man glared silently, then growled, “I’ll remember you.”

Fang Xiu: “You have a good memory.”

The man left, fuming.

Song Zheng had never seen someone so reckless. “That guy works for Uncle Hou. You… Haa…”

He looked toward Fang Xiu’s companions, but Guan He and Cheng Songyun were equally stunned, speechless.

Eventually, Cheng Songyun struggled to speak. “I thought we couldn’t hurt people…”

“‘Deceiving, coercing, or harming others to gain chips or chip items is considered stealing chips.’”

Fang Xiu recited Huanxi World’s rules. “So, directly harvesting human meat is banned. Trading human meat for chips is banned. Even trading meat for meat is considered chip bartering. It’s still banned.”

“Trading meat for magic weapons, then selling the magic weapons for chips, whether that works, I don’t know. But given the mess here, it’s probably impossible.”

Cheng Songyun pressed her lips together. “So you can only cut your own flesh.”

“…No, you can still gift it.” Fang Xiu said brightly, “If I simply kill someone and give the corpse away for free, that breaks no rules.”

As he suspected, violence wasn’t entirely forbidden here.

If violence were banned outright, Song Zheng wouldn’t have warned them against broadcasting their intent to break the E. The enforcer of Uncle Hou who rushed over proved it…

You could use violence here and you could kill people. However, Huanxi World was so peaceful that it was quite “unprofitable” to do so.

Giving away a corpse for free might win you allies, but those you can win over are usually marginal players who can’t win once per day anyway. They’re only useful to loan sharks like Uncle Hou, not regular players.

…But that was under “normal circumstances”.

Fang Xiu patted his pouch. “This guy’s a bit weak, but still about 265 lbs. Cheng Jie, you and Xiao Guan can split him. Should last around eight days.”

Bai Shuangying frowned slightly. Guan He tensed up. “Fang Ge, what about you?”

Fang Xiu smiled. “I’ll have to break the taboo.”

“If I can’t crack the E in eight days, I’ll probably just have my head left. At that point, you guys do what you have to. Think for yourselves.”

Cheng Songyun: “……”

Guan He: “……”

“Don’t get all emotional. I need your cooperation.” 

Fang Xiu looked at Cheng Songyun in particular. “Whatever you do, don’t kill for me. If we start exchanging human meat and it gets flagged as next-day trading, we’re all doomed.”

Bai Shuangying stared at him, but Fang Xiu didn’t respond to the look, as if he assumed Bai wouldn’t care.

Bai Shuangying paused, then grabbed a wandering soul still drifting nearby.

Unhappily, he bit into it. Then immediately froze. He lifted his sleeve to cover his mouth and gagged delicately before spitting it out as politely as possible.

A soft “urgh” sounded. Fang Xiu spun around lightning-fast. “What happened?!”

“It tastes awful. I can’t eat it,” Bai Shuangying said frankly, still covering his mouth.

Fang Xiu: “…”

Fang Xiu said with conviction, “I’ll try my best and crack the E within three days.”

Bai Shuangying: “Mm.”

……

At 11:30 p.m., the casino lights began to dim. A golden light shimmered at the lobby. Fang Xiu nodded at Cheng Songyun and Guan He and dashed straight into it.

When he opened his eyes again, he was back in his mountain-view suite.

Seeing the change in his room, Fang Xiu lifted the corner of his mouth. “So thoughtful.”

A golden round table had appeared in the center of the room. On it sat an exceptionally sharp bone-cutting knife and a perfectly sized weighing scale.

Fang Xiu touched his left arm and sighed.

“Sorry again,” he said to it.

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The author has something to say:

There’s no such thing as a good ending for a gambling addict. There’s no such thing as a guaranteed win.

Gambling is *not* cool! Gamblers are just as disgusting as johns and junkies. Porn, drugs, and gambling go hand in hand.

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