179: Chapter 179 [The Weight of Life]: A Game of Chips on the Scales of Bones

The pointer on the wheel behind Hapi quickly swept across grids filled with lights of various colors, eventually slowing to a stop on a grid emitting a crimson glow—from the light emanating from that grid, viscous, crimson, scorching blood flowed out. The scorching blood quickly covered the original icy grid arena and stirred up a burst of steam. Waves of the fishy, sweet scent of blood continuously stung the nerves of all the Hosts through their nasal passages.

Hapi froze in place, then supported his forehead with one hand and burst into loud laughter: "Hahahaha! This is truly fantastic! I didn't expect you Hosts to be so lucky! The second Gambling you are about to proceed with is [ The Weight of Life ]!" Hapi spread his arms wide, as if cheering for the carnival about to begin. "This is more like it! This Gambling is the only one worthy of the word [ Pleasure ]—after all~ there are no chips more valuable than one's own life, right?!"

A massive scale pieced together from bones slowly rose from the deck filled with blood. The trays at both ends of the scale, composed of countless skulls, gleamed with a crimson luster. At the edges of the two trays were ladders built from two half-kneeling human skeletons. Hapi stared at the scale before him, nodded in satisfaction, and began to explain the rules of this Gambling to everyone.

Hapi's fingertips traced through the air, and the blood on the ground flew up from nothingness to form flowing crimson characters.

[ Gambling Name ] The Weight of Life

[ Gambling Rules ]

1. All Hosts can exchange [ Life Chips ] condensed from their own lifespan at [ Happy the Pleasure Gambler ]'s location. [ 1 Year of Lifespan = 1 Life Chip ], the minimum exchange is 1 year of lifespan, and there is no upper limit on the number of chips. If the [ Life Chips ] the Host exchanges are greater than their own lifespan, the excess portion is considered chips borrowed from [ Happy the Pleasure Gambler ]. Each person can only exchange once.

2. Nine Hosts are randomly paired in twos, with the remaining one receiving a bye and advancing directly to the next round. Both sides of the duel must place [ Life Chips ] in the tray in front of them within one minute—the number of chips placed is visible only to themselves. After one minute, the scale will automatically weigh them, and three situations will occur:

Situation 1: A < B, then A wins all chips from both sides.

Situation 2: A < B, but B's chip count is 10 times or more than A's, then B wins all chips from both sides, and A must pay [ Happy the Pleasure Gambler ] the same amount of chips as B as a penalty.

Situation 3: A < B, but B's chip count is 15 times or more than A's, then A wins all chips from both sides, and B must pay [ Happy the Pleasure Gambler ] the same amount of chips as B as a penalty.

Situation 4: A = B, A and B must pay all chips to [ Happy the Pleasure Gambler ] as a penalty.

3. When chips are insufficient, one can borrow [ Life Chips ] from [ Happy the Pleasure Gambler ] at the cost of [ 2 Years of Lifespan = 1 Life Chip ].

4. When the Gambling ends, the [ Life Chips ] will be automatically settled. Those with insufficient lifespan will die immediately.

Hapi alternated his hands back and forth, tossing 9 small golden money bags into the air like a juggler. The flickering golden money bags attracted the gaze of all the Hosts. Hapi said happily: "These nine money bags have the function of helping you exchange for [ Life Chips ]. Except for the first exchange which is [ 1 Year of Lifespan = 1 Life Chip ], subsequent exchanges are all [ 2 Years of Lifespan = 1 Life Chip ], and there is no limit to the number of times!" With the end of the juggling-like movements, the 9 golden money bags were thrown to the 9 Hosts respectively.

"The rules are very simple." Hapi walked to the side of the scale, his palms stroking the bone tray. "This is just a little game of Gambling with lives. Whether you Hosts want to end the Gambling relatively peacefully, or want to win more lifespan for yourselves, or enjoy the pleasure of eliminating your opponents, it is all possible. As long as all 8 duels are completed, this second Gambling will be settled and concluded."

"You're crazy! This isn't a Gambling at all, it's mutual slaughter! It's murder!" A young man in a hoodie suddenly shouted excitedly. He subconsciously gripped the golden money bag in his hand and touched his wrist. Because of the special nature of his C-rank Talent [ Powerful Item Manifestation ], he had consumed his own lifespan many times in previous missions to manifest powerful items that could turn the situation around. The little remaining lifespan caused the young man, who could view his remaining lifespan through his Talent, to feel the most primitive fear of death.

A young male Host exposing his robust muscles scratched his head foolishly and said indifferently: "It's so simple, doesn't that just mean both sides can keep drawing?"

The middle-aged beauty in gorgeous clothing to his right rolled her eyes in disgust and said: "If it's a draw, the duel between the two sides will just continue indefinitely until a winner is decided. Otherwise, the duel between those two will never end! Besides, if a draw occurs, the only one who profits is this [ Happy the Pleasure Gambler ]!"

The Host who had just revealed his flight-type Talent had a flash of inspiration in his eyes and said excitedly as if he had discovered a new continent: "That's not simple enough? A places 1 chip, B places 3 chips. After A wins all 4 chips, can't they just return B's 3 chips to B?"

Gemini listened to the discussions of the other Hosts, the corners of his mouth slightly raised. His left hand gently brushed over the black crystal earring on his left ear, looking forward to the start of this good show.

The pairing results for the first round of duels quickly appeared in the air in the form of blood-red text: Gemini's opponent was a female Host wearing a black cloak. She stepped lightly onto the bone ladder to reach the bone tray, opened the golden money bag to place the chips on it, and then leaped backward, landing silently on the ground.

Gemini walked forward slowly, stared at the black-cloaked woman, and asked: "Did you place one chip?" The woman answered very frankly: "It's 3 chips." Gemini looked at the woman in surprise, unable to read any element of "lies" from her expression. He chuckled, took a chip from his own golden money bag, and threw it onto his bone tray.

One minute passed quickly, and the skeleton scale tilted towards the woman's side. Hapi announced loudly: " [ Swift Shadow ] 3 chips, [ Gemini ] 1 chip, [ Gemini ] wins, [ Gemini ] wins all 4 chips!"

Gemini looked at the black-cloaked woman curiously, took three chips from the chips won in his hand, threw them to her, and said: "Leaving the outcome to the other party and expecting the kindness of human nature is not a good choice."

The black-cloaked woman caught the flying chips and said in a low voice: "Thank you, you are a good person." Gemini, who had already turned to walk back, paused his body, then raised his right hand with his back to the woman, making a gesture with four fingers clenched and his thumb pointing to the ground.

The hoodie-wearing young man's opponent was the robust young man. After the robust young man placed the chips on his bone tray, he said to the hoodie-wearing young man: "I placed one!" The hoodie-wearing young man nodded, climbed up the bone ladder, and placed the chips from the golden money bag onto his bone tray.

One minute passed very quickly. When Hapi announced the result of the duel, the robust young man stood frozen in place: "[ Muscle Maniac ] 1 chip, [ Item Master ] 10 chips, [ Item Master ] wins, [ Item Master ] wins all 11 chips, [ Muscle Maniac ] must pay a penalty of 10 chips!"

The robust young man rushed towards the hoodie-wearing young man, grabbed his collar with one hand, lifted him up, and questioned: "Why!" The hoodie-wearing young man's eyes dodged as he said: "I have a reason I can't lose."

Hapi flashed between the two, lifted them apart with ease, and then reached for the golden money bag at the robust young man's waist. He took out 10 chips and said: "I have already received the penalty chips. Because the [ Life Chips ] you exchanged are less than ten, the money bag automatically borrowed the insufficient portion from me. Also! Violence is prohibited in this Gambling~" As he spoke, the fifth rule of [ Gambling Rules ] appeared in text formed by blood: "5. Violent behavior between Hosts is prohibited."

The robust young man turned and left angrily, and the hoodie-wearing young man also left in a direction away from the robust young man. Except for Gemini and Hapi, no one noticed that the hoodie-wearing young man was clutching the one [ Life Chip ] he had won, and the flames of greed and desire were already burning in the depths of his eyes.

The remaining two Gamblings also ended quickly. With the hoodie-wearing young man as the precedent, everyone did not follow the rules set at the beginning and each placed the number of chips they thought could win into the bone tray. One of the matches actually resulted in a draw, which made Hapi whistle happily as he collected the 4 chips on the bone tray, while the beautiful middle-aged woman was lucky enough to receive a bye and advance directly to the next round of the duel.

Amidst Hapi's applause, the second round of duels began among the Hosts, and the middle-aged beauty was lucky enough to receive a bye again.

Gemini's opponent in this round was the hoodie-wearing young man [ Item Master ], who was the first to break the rules set between the Hosts. Amidst the hypocritical smile hiding madness on the [ Item Master ]'s face, the two simultaneously placed chips on their respective bone trays.

[ Item Master ] asked, pretending to be nervous: "I only placed 1 chip, how about you?"

Gemini looked at the other party's clumsy acting and replied: "10 chips."

[ Item Master ] performed his struggle with the remaining chips in his hand in front of Gemini until 1 minute had passed without placing another chip on his bone tray. When Hapi announced the end of the duel, [ Item Master ] let out an arrogant laugh: "Jie jie jie! Don't think you're amazing just because you won the first duel. I was guarding against you! I actually placed 9 chips! Merely using lifespan to create [ Life Chips ] is a daily operation for me, the [ Item Master ]!"

Hapi stood in place, gave [ Item Master ] a helpless glance from the corner of his eye, and announced the result of this duel: "[ Item Master ] 9 chips, [ Gemini ] 100 chips, [ Gemini ] wins, [ Gemini ] wins all 109 chips, [ Item Master ] must pay a penalty of 100 chips!"

The [ Item Master ], who had been laughing arrogantly, froze in place. He looked at Gemini, who was standing there smiling at him, in disbelief, as if seeing the mockery of a clown on the other party's face. [ Item Master ] questioned hysterically: "Why! Why! Why!"

Gemini "kindly" answered the other party: "Are you unable to organize your language properly anymore? Do you think clumsy acting like yours could fool me? Also, think about it with your simple brain, I was also taking risks~ If the chips I placed were less than 90 or more than 135, I would have lost terribly~ Hahaha~" [ Item Master ] glared at Gemini viciously, and in despair, 100 chips were drawn from his golden money bag by Hapi. Then his whole person turned gray, completely slumped on the ground, and was moved to the distance by Hapi manipulating the blood on the ground.

Gemini did not look in the direction of [ Item Master ] again. After a brief eye contact with Hapi, he turned to look at the remaining two Hosts: one was the middle-aged beauty [ Four-Leaf Clover ] who had been lucky enough to receive a bye twice, and the other was the flight-type Talent Host [ Wind Stepper ] who had luckily won twice.

The last two duels of the second Gambling [ The Weight of Life ] were about to begin.