Qi Xia walked up to the Earth Monkey and tapped on the counter.
Only then did the Earth Monkey seem to hear something, slowly opening his murky eyes.
“Damn, welcome. Just place two ‘Tao’ here to start the game…”
His words seemed to move faster than his body. Before he was fully awake, the greeting had already reached their ears.
Qi Xia tossed two ‘Tao’ onto the table and said, “Not only can we start the game—you can too.”
“Hmm…?” The Earth Monkey opened his eyes, rubbed them, and looked at the two ‘Tao’ on the table as if pondering the meaning behind those words.
“Take the admission fee, and let’s begin,” Qi Xia said.
Hearing his voice, the Earth Monkey slowly raised his head, locking eyes with Qi Xia.
What followed was a silence that lasted over ten seconds.
The silence was oddly fitting—whether due to the Earth Monkey’s drowsiness or some hidden reason, he remained quiet for a long time.
“I… can start the game too?” He stared at Qi Xia for a while before finally uttering those four words.
“What, is that a problem?” Qi Xia frowned.
“Ha… Hahaha…”
The Earth Monkey suddenly let out an ugly laugh. Qi Xia couldn’t help but feel that this smile bore an eerie resemblance to the one he’d seen when he first met Chen Jun’nan.
“Of course, we can start the game…” The Earth Monkey slowly stood up, shaking his head helplessly.
He walked straight past the group and went to the entrance, shutting the door firmly behind him.
“Today, my humble shop has honored guests—we’re closing to play.” He turned and scrutinized the six people standing inside. “You all—men, women, old, young—are you really going to gamble with me?”
“What ‘men, women, old, young’?” Qi Xia replied coolly. “Do you really think the people standing here are weak?”
“Whether a team is weak or strong depends on whether its ‘leader’ is formidable.” The Earth Monkey smirked. “I have full confidence in this team’s strength.”
Qi Xia could hear the underlying meaning in his words.
But it was hard to tell whether this person had some connection to him—or to the “Celestial Dragon.”
When the Azure Dragon handed him the map, he explicitly stated that he wanted Qi Xia to meet these eight “Zodiacs.” Yet the first one he encountered seemed to have some history with him.
“Leader…?” Qi Xia nodded. “Interesting. Shall we begin?”
“Then I’ll have to carefully choose the game… Heh.” The Earth Monkey kept staring at Qi Xia, his gaze unusually deep.
“You’re choosing?” Qi Xia countered. “This is your venue, your equipment. If even the ‘game’ is chosen by you, wouldn’t that be unfair?”
“Don’t put it that way…” The Earth Monkey smiled. “All of you are a team—I can hardly believe you don’t have some scheme to cheat. It’s one against six. No matter how you look at it, I’m at a disadvantage. So I *must* be the one to pick the game.”
Qi Xia’s brow slowly furrowed.
“You should know this too—what decides the outcome of a gamble isn’t the ‘game,’ right?” The Earth Monkey slowly walked back to the table and bent down to search for something. “The most crucial thing in gambling… is *people*.”
After a moment, he pulled out a wooden box from under the table.
The exquisite box was completely out of place in the grimy surroundings.
It was rectangular, dark brown with clear wood grain. Each corner was adorned with gleaming gold trim. The lid bore engraved patterns of the sun, moon, and stars, with a central inscription in gilded regular script:
**”Synodic Month.”**
The box’s surface was spotless, as if wiped clean daily. Yet the Earth Monkey still reached out and gently brushed it before opening it in front of the group.
As the box opened, a faint woody fragrance wafted out. Inside, lined with soft velvet, lay a stack of cards facedown. On their backs were the words: **”Nuwa’s Game.”**
“For years, I’ve been waiting for someone to play ‘Synodic Month’ with me.” The Earth Monkey stared at the box, his expression distant. “But no one ever could. I never met a gambler worthy of me taking out this deck. Those with skill lacked knowledge; those with knowledge lacked courage.”
“Is that so?” Qi Xia replied ambiguously. “Out of tens of thousands in this city, none caught your eye?”
“This city…?” The Earth Monkey chuckled darkly. “I was assigned here from ‘Whirlpool City,’ and before that, from ‘Jade City’… None in *three* cities were worthy.”
“Oh? That’s new.” Qi Xia smirked. “So ‘Zodiacs’ get reassigned?”
“Of course.” The Earth Monkey nodded. “When a city loses its ‘participants,’ the Zodiacs there are sent elsewhere with their games. It’s not just me—many ‘Zodiacs’ get relocated under ‘Celestial’-level orders.”
“How fortunate.” Qi Xia glanced at the wooden box. “Fate brought us together here.”
“*Fate*…?” The Earth Monkey narrowed his eyes. “Let’s hope it’s fate.”
“Oh?”
“Have you ever thought… if all other cities fall, all ‘Zodiacs’ will eventually gather in one place. Would that be good or bad?”
His words carried hidden meaning. Qi Xia didn’t answer immediately, just stared into his eyes for a long moment before saying, “Explain the rules.”
The group slowly gathered around, examining the elegant deck on the table.
“Rules…?” The Earth Monkey grinned. “What are you thinking?”
Qi Xia’s frown deepened.
“My game’s rule is simple: ‘Two Tao to enter, ten to leave.'” The Earth Monkey flashed a sly smile, making Qi Xia uneasy. “As for how to play this deck… well, that’s for you to figure out.”
“Figure out?”
The Earth Monkey picked up the box and walked toward a large round table in the distance.
The group exchanged glances, realizing the Earth Monkey was playing his tricks. Strictly speaking, the rules of this deck weren’t part of the “Earth-level game’s” regulations—so he could withhold them. After all, in this gamble, he was their opponent, with no reason to boost their chances.
After a few seconds of silence, they followed him to the round table. Chen Jun’nan remembered how, just yesterday, the Earth Monkey had dominated at this very table, winning dozens of ‘Tao’ and a life.
Qi Xia shook his head as he walked, forcing himself to stay alert, then sat across from the Earth Monkey and watched as he laid out the deck.
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