Game of Deception Chapter 73: Savior and Betrayer

Protector raised his head, ready to face his judgnt.

Above the center of the four of them hung a cluster of four circular white lights. It was the only light source in the pitch-black space, making it look exactly like an interrogation room.

He stared at the lights, avoiding the Sunflower on the table.

"Congratulations, Protector. Your personal ti has been exhausted,"

the Host announced. "The first to leave the table."

The iron rings binding Protector's wrists vanished.

His breathing gradually grew rapid. He gasped fiercely a few tis and let out a cathartic shout.

'The Ga of Deception is actually quite nice.'

In that instant, the thought suddenly popped into Protector's mind.

At least here, he could do whatever he wanted.

He wanted to save soone, so he simply did.

No one would bla him for it; so would even support him. The person he saved would repay him, rather than lower their head and refuse to look at him.

Perhaps he should have co here from the very beginning.

He raised his hands, looked at his chafed red wrists, and slowly stood up from his seat.

Protector truly realized it—

He was free.

The only price was that, in order to save him, Monkey had been dragged into an even deeper abyss.

Monkey finally let out a sigh of relief.

He leaned back, completely relaxing his body.

Even though he was still locked to his chair—and his ti was almost impossible to run out—he felt an unprecedented sense of ease.

"I guess I'm still sowhat useful."

He chuckled self-deprecatingly. "Even if I'm not smart, and I have no courage."

"I'll help you! I'm still here—"

An earthen-yellow glow ignited deep within Protector's pupils. He declared without hesitation, "Don't give up!"

Just like before, when he had pulled the falling Monkey back up without a second thought.

That was a spiritual resonance originating from the Domain of Virtue.

And it was at this mont that Ming Po saw the resonance color of the Domain of Virtue for the first ti.

Only then did Ming Po realize that the colors of the Domain of Virtue and the Domain of Slaughter were shockingly similar!

Both were yellow—so similar that they could almost be confused.

But their fundantal natures were polar opposites—one participated in gas to save others, while the other participated to kill.

"—That scared to death."

Lin Ya whispered softly, "I thought the Sunflower was going to explode just now—"

Her terror was by no ans an act.

Her palms were genuinely slick with sweat. The back of her shirt was soaked through with cold sweat, as if she had just jogged for half an hour.

Her heart was still pounding fiercely, and she even felt a bit dizzy from the spike in blood pressure.

"What are you afraid of?"

Ming Po did not have a single drop of sweat on him.

He stated calmly, "It was impossible for him to [Pass]."

"—Why?"

"Because if he did, Monkey could have died."

Ming Po spoke softly, turning to look at Lin Ya. "Even if it's just a 'possibility'—it must be avoided."

That aningful gaze left Lin Ya unable to read him.

—During the first ga, "Wolf's" gaze had been easy to understand. Even with his mask on, she could guess what he generally planned to do.

But now, she found herself unable to decipher Ming Po's mind.

"Uncle, co over here—"

Monkey suddenly spoke up, calling out to the fat man. "Can you wipe the sweat off my right hand? My hand has gone stiff."

"—Alright."

Protector glanced at the Host. Seeing that the black cat was simply grooming itself with no reaction, he walked over.

Inside that silver, reflective device, sweat was indeed evaporating like steam.

But just as he reached his hand over, he suddenly froze.

Three chips had silently surfaced on the back of Monkey's hand.

Without batting an eye, Protector brushed his hand over the chips and absorbed all three into his body.

The Host remained completely indifferent to this.

Protector abruptly raised his head, looking toward Ming Po and Lin Ya.

He finally realized what Monkey was trying to do.

Monkey had emptied himself of chips in advance, handing them over to his teammate—that way, even if he fell to the fourth position, there would be no penalty at all!

—So, was this the normal way to play the ga?

That was why the Host specifically ntioned that "trading and cooperation are permitted."

Because this ga, setting aside the scenario of "directly bombing others to death," was originally ant to be played by cheating!

Blowing up soone else granted an extra 'day' of profit; that was a supplentary rule added by the Host.

If this rule didn't exist, killing soone at the very start would yield zero profit.

Since the "first, second, and third to leave the table" had not yet been decided, naturally no chips would be distributed!

There needed to be at least one person who had left the table for blowing soone up to yield any profit!

So the correct way to play this ga—

Should be for the "active players" of both teams to guarantee the "passive players" pass and leave the table, and then engage in a one-on-one competition.

This way, both sides would have one freed person who could walk behind the others and openly spy on their actions—

They could see exactly how many seconds the dealer had set!

And as the ti hovering over their heads ran out, the ga would transition into a completely transparent state. A strange thought surfaced in Protector's mind: in a normal round of Passing the Flower Drum, would trading chips in advance really be allowed?

As long as both sides traded all their chips to their teammates early on, the two players left on the field would both have zero chips.

The goal of the ga couldn't possibly be killing, either—the reason had already been laid out: there was no profit in it.

Then the answer was simple.

Originally, this ga simply did not permit the trading of chips—

So why did the Host specifically leave behind a rule that allowed it?

Realizing this, the fat man quickly looked at Lin Ya.

He thought he understood—

The Host specifically stated that "no contracts will be drafted for you." So if the other party took the chips and refused to return them, there was nothing that could be done.

Therefore, this ga was a test of whether the two teams could trust their own teammates!

—And the ga is [Fair].

Since the two of them could trust each other and were both rookies, and the opposing team had been assigned a clearly intelligent veteran—it ant that the relationship between the mbers of that opposing team must be terrible!

Thinking of this, Protector helplessly patted the back of Monkey's head.

He was still too hasty, Monkey—

There was no need for Monkey to sacrifice himself at all; they actually still had a chance to win!

Seeing this, Lin Ya also realized sothing.

Her mind raced, and she beca excited.

She imdiately turned to Ming Po and said, "Wolf, let help you check Monkey's tir!

"My ti was reduced by 37 seconds in the first round, and Monkey hit the stop button on the fifth second, so my ti should have decreased by another 55 seconds!

"Therefore, I only have 28 seconds left!"

The implication was that she wanted Ming Po to snatch the dealer position—and then let her out first!

She didn't explicitly say "I'll hold onto your chips for you first" because she was afraid that doing so would make her motives too obvious.

It wouldn't be too late to do that when it ca down to a duel between the two of them.

Lin Ya thought to herself.

Even if he wasn't an incredibly experienced expert, as a "Wolf" who entered the ga at the sa ti as her, he shouldn't have too much savings. After all, a ticket to enter a Promotion ga cost "one day"—that was twenty-four hours!

All the money she had lost so far didn't even add up to half the cost of that ticket!

But Ming Po rely smiled faintly.

He asked gently, "Are there really twenty-eight seconds left?"

—What did that an?

In that instant, Lin Ya froze.

Because Ming Po's tone was so certain, she genuinely wondered if she had miscalculated.

Earlier, worried she might accidentally slip up, she had kept hypnotizing herself in her mind—telling herself her tir really was sixty seconds, and that was how she had just calculated it.

Did she calculate it wrong because of this?

Was her true remaining ti actually five seconds more or five seconds less?

Lin Ya's hair stood on end as she began to doubt herself.

She quickly recalculated her actual ti in her head: reduced by 50 seconds, reduced by 37 seconds, so she had a total of 115 seconds—

No, that wasn't right!

She quickly realized that it didn't matter if it was 55 seconds or 60 seconds. The answer was the sa. If it was sixty seconds, she had already added those extra five seconds to her total ti—and she had set the lowest ti she could, rather than betting 55 seconds and setting 60!

So the answer should be the sa—

But when she realized this, she imdiately felt terrified again.

—No, wait!

Why should she hesitate?

Did Wolf really suspect her?

Would Wolf set a ti lower than this and blow her up?

But soon, Lin Ya realized again—that was impossible.

Because the minimum ti Wolf could set was very long, at least fifty seconds or more.

In the first round, after the two of them had burned through thirty-eight seconds, he had held the bomb for an extra eighteen seconds!

The tirs set by the first two were far shorter than hers—if his ti wasn't also roughly this long, how could he have dared to hold onto it without letting go?

"Why aren't you speaking, Little Ya?"

Ming Po spoke gently.

That deep voice, which usually offered a sense of reliability, now sounded like a death warrant.

Lin Ya's mind raced, coming up with a barely passable excuse.

She smiled, her face slightly pale. "Because I'm actually... not entirely sure if my remaining ti is twenty-three seconds."

Although this was also a way of showing suspicion toward "Wolf", this kind of suspicion was relatively reasonable.

After all, once Monkey sacrificed himself to knock Protector out of the ga, this match beca a four-player ga where the team aspect wasn't as strong. Doubting her own "teammate" would at most brand her as paranoid, which could barely be excused.

Before Ming Po could say anything, Monkey couldn't help but mock, "You can't even trust your own teammate, huh? You don't even know how to cling to a thigh, do you?"

"It is exactly twenty-three seconds."

The smile on Ming Po's face faded slightly.

He spoke slowly, "Little Ya, do you rember... what the last thing I said to you in the first ga was?"

—What did he say?

Lin Ya felt a bit lost.

She had played through seven or eight gas non-stop over the past few days, making it feel as though months had passed.

She racked her brain for a long ti before she could barely rember.

Her voice grew even softer. "At the end... weren't you analyzing Dog and the others with ?"

It was only after listening to Wolf's explanation that she understood exactly how they had died.

Was this a threat—was he implying he had sched against her as well?

"Ah, that's not wrong."

Ming Po smiled and didn't elaborate further.

He simply said, "I was referring to this line—"

"—Do you trust ?

"Can you trust under any circumstances?"

"—I can!"

Lin Ya stiffened for a second, countless images flashing through her mind, before she nodded with so hesitation.

"Then," Ming Po held up a single finger, just as he had done with her and Raccoon back then. "Let confirm one thing first.

"I need to determine my actions based on your information. Are you certain there were absolutely no issues with what you said earlier?"

—Determine his actions based on information?

Then if she spoke her true thoughts at this mont—how would she invent a new excuse to absolve herself?

Lin Ya remained silent, raising no objections.

Either way, Wolf couldn't blow her up!

Lin Ya thought to herself.

—That makes twice.

Ming Po lowered his gaze slightly, sighing silently.

Now that Protector had left the table.

Ming Po had even given Lin Ya a second chance to explain her actions.

But she didn't take it seriously.

So—there was only one answer left.