Chapter 372: Betting Your Life?

Lin Qiao kept flexing her fingers, trying to regain sensation as quickly as possible.

She glanced at the four “sticks” on her table: “Neutral Stick,” “Neutral Stick,” “Gale Sweeps Fallen Leaves,” and “Spring Blossoms Under the Sun.”

“One of these sticks isn’t mine at all…”

She rubbed her eyes, making sure she wasn’t hallucinating, then picked up the “Gale Sweeps Fallen Leaves” from the table.

Lin Qiao had no memory of ever drawing this stick. Upon closer inspection, it felt incredibly strange.

It gave off an unreal sensation.

Even though she was certain she was holding it—she could feel its texture and clearly see every character inscribed—it still felt artificial.

The sensation was like touching her own left hand with her right: she knew it was her hand, yet it somehow felt different, as if she were touching someone else’s.

“Old Qin… was this your doing?”

She turned to look at Qin Dingdong’s room, where yellow-green smoke was continuously pouring in. Qin Dingdong’s face had turned purplish, her veins darkening visibly—a clear sign of poisoning.

Lin Qiao knew the extra stick had come from Qin Dingdong, but it was a “fake.”

This was one of Qin Dingdong’s usual tricks—a sleight of hand she typically used for scams. But now, it had become a problem dumped in Lin Qiao’s lap.

Would the Earth Dog’s game recognize a counterfeit?

She’d fallen for Qin Dingdong’s deception once before, using a fake prop in another game. That time, the entire group was penalized for the violation, punished by Earth Monkey.

The difference between then and now?

This time, the “sticks” weren’t being verified by Earth Dog himself—but by a machine.

“But Su Shan…” Lin Qiao looked up at Su Shan, whose face was streaked with blood. “Why did we choose to save someone this round…?”

From Lin Qiao’s perspective, the optimal strategy this round should have been to quickly play “Hoeing Grain Under Noonday Sun” to extinguish Earth Dog’s last light, securing everyone’s survival.

Yet Su Shan had abandoned that plan, spending a turn instead to free them from the “calamity.”

“Do you really think saving someone this round is necessary…?”

Since Su Shan’s strategy was already set, Lin Qiao had no choice but to use the fake stick in her hand. Otherwise, Qin Dingdong would be beyond saving—”Winter would vanish,” and the game would spiral into inevitable defeat.

Faced with the choice between “no Winter” (certain death) and “using a fake” (possible death), the answer was obvious.

“Su Shan, you’re really gambling hard,” Lin Qiao muttered bitterly as she slid the counterfeit stick into the hole. “What if none of the sticks I have can save anyone? What then?”

Watching the stick disappear bit by bit into the slot, her expression darkened. At least it was accepted into the table.

Qin Dingdong’s room underwent a sudden change—gaps opened in the iron mesh floor, and a violent gale erupted from the ceiling, sweeping through the entire space in an instant.

The wind was so fierce that Qin Dingdong was knocked to the ground. Several sticks scattered wildly, becoming more dangerous than the poison itself.

Fortunately, the gale lasted only briefly, dispersing most of the yellow toxic gas and clearing the room’s visibility.

But Qin Dingdong didn’t get up for a long time.

“No… don’t tell me…” Su Shan’s eyes widened as she strained to see Qin Dingdong. Her “light” hadn’t faded yet—she had to be alive. “You can’t die… you’re our last link…”

Earth Dog glanced coldly in Qin Dingdong’s direction. “Third participant’s ‘wish’ concluded. Fourth participant, draw a stick.”

Silence filled the room.

After a dozen seconds, Qin Dingdong finally twitched. Under everyone’s watchful eyes, she slowly pushed herself up from the ground.

Lin Qiao saw that her face was still pale with a purplish tint, capillaries starkly visible. She wasn’t unscathed, but at least she’d survived.

“I—”

The moment Qin Dingdong tried to speak, she coughed up a mouthful of blood. The fluid clogged her airways, making her already labored breathing even more agonizing.

Every cough sent searing pain through her organs, as if they were about to rupture.

“Doggy…” Qin Dingdong steadied her breathing, spat out another glob of blood, and glared at Earth Dog. “You’ve got a real death wish, huh? I’ve picked up all of Chen Junnan’s rotten habits—and you dare mess with me?”

Earth Dog watched her with mild interest, as if waiting for her next move.

Qin Dingdong slapped the glass. “Earth Dog, let’s gamble with our lives.”

But to her surprise, Earth Dog simply stared back with that infuriatingly blank expression, as though nothing had happened.

“Hey!!” Qin Dingdong smacked the glass harder, anger rising. “I’m challenging you to a life-or-death bet! You hearing me?!”

Earth Dog studied her lips, then calmly rearranged the three sticks scattered on his table. His voice crackled through the speakers: “My apologies. I must be getting old—I can’t hear a word you’re saying.”

“What…?”

Qin Dingdong scowled at his smug face, suddenly realizing the issue.

This damn game had been rigged from the start. “Participants” couldn’t challenge Earth Dog to a life gamble mid-game because the soundproof glass room prevented him from hearing them.

He’d installed speakers but no microphone.

“Seriously…?” She coughed again, muttering to herself. “So the only way to ‘gamble your life’ in his game… is to decide from the very beginning?”

Then another thought struck her—Earth Dog had retreated into his glass room immediately after explaining the rules.

On the surface, it seemed like he was letting the participants strategize freely. But in reality, he was avoiding the risk of them immediately challenging him to a life gamble once they’d devised a plan.

“Doggy, you’re really something…” Qin Dingdong glared at those canine eyes, her anger simmering. “Just wait… once I get my strength back…”

For now, the “calamities” in each room had been mitigated to varying degrees. If they could hold steady for the next three rounds—countering disasters as they came—they could end the game by the eighth round.

“Round Six begins. First participant, draw a stick.”

Su Shan looked at the “Neutral Stick” rising from the hole and immediately pressed it back down without hesitation.

She knew Earth Dog’s target this time could only be her.

Summer, Autumn, and Winter had already endured their calamities. Only she—”Spring”—remained unscathed. If she were Earth Dog, she’d undoubtedly unleash disaster upon Spring next.