Chapter 1: I

Blue Star, within the Three Kingdoms Kill game space,

a classic five-player military struggle match is underway!

The game has reached its final moments.

Gu Xuan sits in his chair; the general he chose this time is Wolong Zhuge Liang.

He turns his head to glance at the chair in the fourth position.

A player with the Renegade role originally sat there,

but in the previous round, they were eliminated because their health points hit zero.

Half a year ago, the Three Kingdoms Kill game space descended upon this world.

Being eliminated in the game does not mean returning to the real world!

Instead, one thousand gold beans are deducted; if the gold beans are insufficient to cover the cost, the player dies instantly!

That Renegade player, right before Gu Xuan’s eyes, gradually vanished from feet to head!

Clearly, they had been erased by the game space!

With the Renegade gone,

the current situation on the board is that the two Rebels are fighting the Lord and the Loyal Minister.

But in reality, it is very disadvantageous for the Rebels.

The Lord still has three health points, and the Loyal Minister Sun Sun Shangxiang is still alive with two cards in hand.

The two Rebels, however, only have one health point left each!

Trying to kill the Lord to win the match is truly too difficult!

And!

His Rebel teammate, Zhen Ji, is a brain-dead idiot!

Not only did she equip Vine Armor while the Loyal Minister Sun Sun Shangxiang had the Vermilion Bird Fan,

but she even played Bountiful Harvest after Gu Xuan’s Wolong Zhuge Liang activated Empty Fort,

forcing Gu Xuan to take a Slash!

This caused Gu Xuan to lose two health points directly to the Lord.

With all these god-tier blunders stacked together,

the situation that was originally in the Rebels' favor has taken a sharp turn for the worse.

But even if the teammate is useless, Gu Xuan must stand tall!

The original owner of this body had already seen their initial gold beans hit zero,

and if he loses this round, he will be erased by the game space!

[Player 1314, it is now your turn. Please begin playing your cards!]

Upon hearing the cold, mechanical voice of the game space,

Gu Xuan suppresses the fear in his heart and takes a deep breath,

forcing his brain to calm down as he begins his turn.

"Observing tonight's celestial phenomena, I know the great events of the world!"

The phantom of Wolong Zhuge Liang behind Gu Xuan waves a feather fan, a faint smile of total control on his face.

Skill [Star Observation] activated!

Star Observation allows one to view the top cards of the deck equal to the number of surviving players before the turn begins.

Four cards shimmer with a faint light, unfolding before Gu Xuan.

[Plum Blossom Slash, Spades Slash, Ten Thousand Arrows Fire, Diamonds Slash]

"These cards..."

Upon seeing these four cards, Gu Xuan’s expression shifts slightly.

Among the four cards, three are Slashes.

He can only take two of them.

One Slash will inevitably be left behind among the remaining two cards.

He must put it at the bottom of the deck so Sun Sun Shangxiang cannot get it.

Otherwise, when it is the third player's turn to act,

they could use the Vermilion Bird Fan to play a Fire Slash,

instantly killing the fifth-position Zhen Ji, who is wearing Vine Armor, has only one health point, and has no hand cards!

At that point, Sun Sun Shangxiang, having killed a Rebel, would draw three more cards,

and then activate her skill to restore health to herself and the Lord.

If that happens, he will lose this game ninety-nine percent of the time!

However,

just putting it at the bottom of the deck isn't safe either.

No one knows

if Sun Sun Shangxiang will draw a Slash when it is her turn to draw cards.

If she does draw a Slash,

the aforementioned scenario will still occur, and his teammate Zhen Ji will still die!

"No! I cannot give her a chance to play!"

Gu Xuan glances at the female player in the third position.

After hesitating for a moment, he takes the Ten Thousand Arrows Fire and the Diamonds Slash from the four cards into his hand.

Currently, the Sun Sun Shangxiang player has two hand cards and one health point.

If those two hand cards are not both Dodges, then...

Everything still has a chance to turn around!

Thinking of this, Gu Xuan says directly:

"Targeting the third player, play Slash!"

Hearing Gu Xuan’s voice, the Sun Sun Shangxiang player raises an eyebrow,

and then plays a card without haste.

"Dodge."

Gu Xuan takes a look and sighs:

"As expected, she still had a Dodge?"

The male player in the first position sees this scene and smiles triumphantly at Gu Xuan.

"Don't waste your effort! Just surrender and hand over your beans! Haha!"

Both Rebels only have one health point left.

They have already won this game!

Gu Xuan ignores him.

The Wolong Zhuge Liang phantom behind him continues to wave the feather fan, wearing an expression of total control.

But Gu Xuan’s forehead is already beaded with sweat.

"This next card is critical!"

Sun Sun Shangxiang still has one card in hand; he cannot be sure if it is a Dodge,

but he has to gamble!

Gu Xuan clenches his fists and, controlling Wolong Zhuge Liang, plays his last hand card.

"Ten Thousand Arrows Fire!!"

"Ding~" A melodious zither sound echoes.

With his hand cards exhausted, the Wolong Zhuge Liang phantom behind Gu Xuan waves the fan even faster.

[Empty Fort skill activated! Other characters cannot target you with Slash or Duel!]

His teammate Zhen Ji, wearing Vine Armor, takes no damage from Ten Thousand Arrows Fire.

But if Sun Sun Shangxiang has no Dodge and Liu Bei has no Peach,

then Sun Sun Shangxiang will surely die this time!

After Gu Xuan releases this Ten Thousand Arrows Fire,

a look of panic appears on the face of the female player controlling Sun Sun Shangxiang.

"How do you still have Ten Thousand Arrows Fire?!!"

However, the game space does not shift according to her will.

Without a Dodge, an arrow flies through the air and pierces Sun Sun Shangxiang’s heart!

The female player widens her eyes and screams hoarsely at the Lord:

"Peach! Peach! Save me quickly!!"

Liu Bei panics as well.

"I don't have a Peach!"

He only has a Slash in his hand; where would he get a Peach?

As soon as Liu Bei finishes speaking, the female player controlling Sun Sun Shangxiang looks at Gu Xuan with unwillingness,

and then turns into a beam of white light, exiting the game space.

After Sun Sun Shangxiang vanishes,

Liu Bei does not play a Dodge, loses one health point, and is left with only two.

"Whew,"

Gu Xuan looks at Liu Bei, who has two health points and likely no Dodge in hand, and his suspended heart relaxes slightly.

This game has been pulled back!

If his teammate Zhen Ji has better luck with her Luoshen judgment this round,

and lands a Wine and a Slash,

then this game is secure!

In the first position,

the player controlling Liu Bei sits slumped in his chair, glaring at Gu Xuan with hateful eyes.

But he knows that saying anything now is useless.

With the Loyal Minister dead, he, the Lord Liu Bei, is effectively a blank-slate general!

One against two—while there is hope, it is slim.

In the next round, the fifth position plays.

"Drifting like flowing wind, returning like swirling snow~"

The Zhen Ji phantom behind the fifth-position female player smiles charmingly, activating the skill [Luoshen].

[Before your turn begins, you may perform a judgment; if it is a black card, you may obtain it!]

"Spades Slash, Spades Slash, Spades Wine, Hearts Dodge."

The first three cards are all black,

and they go directly into Zhen Ji’s hand.

Gu Xuan, who has been watching the situation on the board, lets out a heavy sigh of relief.

"This game is won!"

Sure enough,

the next moment, the Zhen Ji player uses a Wine-Slash to take out the Lord Liu Bei, who had two health points!

[Congratulations to the Rebel faction for winning the game!]

[Gold beans +1000!]

[Player 1314, highest overall score in the match, additional gold beans +500!]

The game ends, and Gu Xuan returns home.

Listening to the game space’s broadcast,

he wipes the sweat from his forehead.

But,

before he can even relax,

the voice of the game space sounds again:

[Due to Player 1314 having completed only two matches this month.]

[The game space will force a match for the next game in ten minutes.]

[Player 1314, please prepare!]

[Given the player's previous record of passive play, if the player loses the match, double the usual gold beans will be deducted!]

In an instant,

Gu Xuan’s face turns even paler.

The Three Kingdoms Kill game space requires players to play three matches every month,

and it is now 11:00 PM on the last day of March.

Before he transmigrated into this world,

the original owner had only played one match, and adding the one he just finished, that makes only two.

One more is needed!

In the match just now,

Gu Xuan’s performance could be said to have had zero mistakes,

and could even be called the absolute limit of what could be done with those hand cards.

But because of his pig-teammate,

he almost lost!

If he encounters such a teammate in the next match,

wouldn't he definitely lose beans?

And!

Because the original owner of this body had a history of passive play,

if he loses this time,

he will have to pay double the gold beans—that is, two thousand!

He only has the fifteen hundred gold beans he just won,

which is not enough to cover the deduction, and he would be erased by the game space!

"If only my top-tier Grand General account from my past life were still here."