Chapter 3200: Lose and Win

At the main entrance of the playground, the chubby clown had one hand behind his back, not daring to reveal the dagger he was holding. He wasn't waiting for an opportunity to sneak attack, but was afraid that once the dagger appeared, the three fierce gods opposite would knead him into a ball, stuff him into a rat hole, and then pour sulfuric acid into it.

The dagger in the chubby clown's hand was called "Mockery." The chubby clown had used it to cut the throats of many players and then nailed this dagger in front of the victims, the clown face at the end of the handle mocking the dying victims.

"Tell us, where are the Scroll Fragments you know about? Don't be nervous, we are not bad people."

Wood stepped forward, and Su Xiao and Zuiyas followed. Seeing this, the chubby clown's heart was almost in his throat.

If it were in the past, even if facing death, he wouldn't be so panicked. But this time he was used as a shield, and dying here like this, the chubby clown was very unwilling. This unwillingness was gradually transforming into fear of death.

"Not talking? So you were playing with us just now? Hmm?"

Zuiyas's gaze began to turn unfriendly.

"Of... of course not, it's just that the storage point of those three Scroll Fragments is very special."

The chubby clown waved his hands repeatedly while speaking, his movements a bit exaggerated. This was his habit, exaggerated, flashy, liking to uglify himself and paralyze others. But this time, he made a huge mistake.

The chubby clown suddenly remembered that he was still holding the dagger in his right hand, which made his expression stiffen, and sweat quickly seeped from his forehead.

"Oh? So you were still holding a weapon in your hand. Facing our friendliness, you were hiding a weapon behind your back. Disappointing."

Wood's aura also turned cold. If he didn't harm the chubby clown to the point of half-death, he wouldn't rashly walk into the playground.

"Truly terrifying."

Zuiyas, who had been straight-faced just now, began to be sarcastic.

"..."

Su Xiao didn't speak, judging whether the chubby clown was lying. If the other party didn't know the clue to the 【Scroll Fragments】, he would kill him immediately to get the World Source, and if lucky, he might even drop a treasure chest.

"No... no, this is a prop for the playground."

The chubby clown was sweating profusely with nervousness. He knew that the three guys in front of him might be smiling one second and kill him the next, cutting his throat like killing a chicken.

"Prop? Oh, I see, you are from the circus."

Wood's words made the chubby clown a bit confused, but he immediately said "hmm."

"You must be performing swallowing knives for us. Look at how enthusiastic you are, don't be so polite..."

"Yes, yes, yes."

"However," Wood changed the subject and continued: "Since this is your way of welcoming, we shouldn't refuse. Come on, start your performance."

Wood made a gesture of invitation. The chubby clown, who was nodding like a chicken pecking at rice, froze in place. He looked at the dagger in his hand. This was his weapon for killing people. If he swallowed it, he would at least be half-dead.

"It seems you don't want to perform swallowing knives? Or is it that this isn't the prop you said, but a real weapon? A weapon represents hostility, and hostility means you are about to die."

The pupil flames in Wood's eyes condensed, which made the chubby clown take a big step back. His instinctive thought was, is the guy in front of me a devil?

Not to mention, Wood was indeed from the Devil Tribe.

The chubby clown, full of sweat, struggled for a while, and finally, he gritted his teeth, stared, stretched his neck, and was about to start performing swallowing knives.

The chubby clown tilted his head, and the dagger was gradually swallowed into his mouth. This guy was very smart, swallowing the dagger upside down, with the handle facing down.

The chubby clown rolled his eyes, trembling all over from the pain, before letting the dagger fall into his stomach. Swallowing this thing wouldn't kill him, but he couldn't exercise vigorously, and fighting was even more looking for death.

Wood had actually seen long ago that the chubby clown was a shield. The current situation was the best choice. The chubby clown was indeed an enemy, but he had utility value. But there was one point: his combat power must be limited.

The method Wood used was very clever. He didn't let the chubby clown sign any contract, which would make the chubby clown desperate and counterproductive.

Letting the other party swallow the dagger could limit the other party's mobility and combat power without making the other party desperate. Don't forget, that dagger was the chubby clown's own weapon, something he was familiar with. Swallowing this thing was psychologically completely different from signing a contract or being poisoned by alchemical poison.

To survive, the chubby clown would be more obedient. He was now in a restricted but not desperate situation.

Wood played the white face, and Su Xiao rarely played the red face. He took a bottle of active potion from his storage space, mixed some gelatinous substance into it, and threw it to the chubby clown. For Su Xiao, this thing wasn't precious.

The chubby clown took it, hesitated for a few seconds, and then gritted his teeth and drank it. As soon as he drank it, he felt the severe pain in his chest quickly subside, and a gelatinous substance filled his stomach.

Feeling this, the chubby clown didn't say much and began to lead the way in front.

According to the chubby clown, his relationship with the Nightmare King wasn't close, and the two parties were more like cooperation.

The entire Nightmare World wasn't big. The areas where the game took place included the Birth Plaza, the slaughterhouse, and the playground. The Nightmare Town at the very inside was a territory that couldn't be stepped into. The Nightmare King and its minions were entrenched there. Right now, they must have gathered together, just waiting for Su Xiao and the others to arrive and attack in a group.

This also meant there was no need to rush to Nightmare Town in a short time. Before going there, getting the three 【Scroll Fragments】 in the playground was the real business. Holding the most 【Scroll Fragments】 would make one the final winner.

The Ferris wheel in the playground turned slowly, full of people. These people's clothes were brand new, but their bodies had turned into skeletons, looking both strange and terrifying. The carousel and pirate ship had similar scenes.

The neon lights were brilliant, and the playground was cold and silent except for the operation of the equipment.

On the way forward, Su Xiao saw a large stone house on the lawn on the right. This large stone house had a human-shaped grass roof, and the rocks on the outer wall had traces of melting, looking very much like a half-melted candle. That feeling... was like being scorched by the sun.

"This stone house is a bit strange."

Wood slowed his pace. Hearing this, the chubby clown explained: "That appeared here suddenly a month ago. Nothing strange about it."

"Isn't such a suddenly appearing building worth being surprised about?"

"Not worth it. The Nightmare World we are in is an inner painting world that exists based on the Main Painting World. The Main Painting World is already in that ghostly state, so it's not strange at all for something to suddenly appear in the Nightmare World that exists based on it. Without this kind of 'shuttling,' where would we find players?"

The chubby clown spread his hands, indicating that this was very normal. After Wood examined the stone house for a while, he didn't doubt it.

Su Xiao didn't look at the stone house much either and continued forward. He had not only seen the stone house before but had also stayed in it for a few days.

Ignoring the stone house for now, under the guidance of the chubby clown, Su Xiao entered a skull door. After entering, noisy sounds entered his ears. This was a large video game hall.

"Guests, do you need coins..."

A woman with a fake smile stood behind the bar. Hearing her words, the chubby clown was scared to death. The game rules were indeed like this, but Su Xiao and the others were not participants in the playground.

The chubby clown glared at the fake-smiling woman and walked to the inside of the video game hall.

Su Xiao looked around. The sense of era in this video game hall was very strange. There were video game machines from all eras, and there were many guests here, all of whom were spirits with transparent bodies.

Su Xiao was very interested in these ghosts. This reminded him of the female ghost, Xiao Hong. Xiao Hong once had eighth-tier combat power. During the death battle between Su Xiao and the Moon Wolf, he released the weak Xiao Hong and killed the other party, relying on the passive characteristics of Qing Ying Wang to restore mana, and finally won. Thanks to Xiao Hong.

After observing for a while, Su Xiao found that the ghosts in this video game hall had no combat power. The game rules here were nine times out of ten that players exchanged lifespan for coins, bet coins with coins, and after winning a certain amount of coins, they passed this small level.

This had nothing to do with Su Xiao. He wasn't here to participate in the game. The truly powerful existence here was the entire playground. Without reaching a contract with the playground, or triggering some kind of condition, this playground couldn't do anything to Su Xiao.

The chubby clown came to the innermost room of the video game hall. He pushed open a dilapidated small wooden door, and a room made of skeletons came into view.

The area of this room was about 50 square meters. The walls were piled up with leg bones, the ceiling was made of arm bones—looking up, there were dense skeleton hands—and the floor was neatly arranged with skulls, all with the top of the skull facing up.

A gambling table was placed in the center of the room. The dealer behind the table was a skeleton. Even so, the playing cards in its hands were flying, shuffling and arranging cards with extreme skill.

"This is it."

The chubby clown didn't say much, meaning that the skeleton held three 【Scroll Fragments】.

Wood and Zuiyas didn't make a move. Both felt that the skeleton opposite was not to be trifled with.

"Three friends, your Painting Scroll Contest has nothing to do with me, but... if you are interested in playing a few games with me, I won't refuse."

The skeleton spoke. It pulled a small drawer from the side of the gambling table, took out three 【Scroll Fragments】 from it, and threw them onto the gambling table.

Undoubtedly, this skeleton was an existence that couldn't be defeated by force. The other party knew that the Nightmare World had been notarized and that a Painting Scroll Contest was taking place here.

"If you are not interested in playing a few games, then leave. A 'little guy' came here recently, and I am very interested in it."

Su Xiao roughly guessed what the little guy the skeleton mentioned was; it was the little thing in the stone house.

"You two, what's your attitude?"

Wood sat in front of the gambling table. As a Devil Tribe, he wouldn't miss such an interesting thing.

"Let's play a few games."

Zuiyas also sat down. He lived in the Meteorite Star, the lair of Ancient Gods, and was long used to communicating with many existences that could not be confronted, so he was very calm in the face of the current situation.

"Not interested."

Su Xiao expressed his stance. After sensing the skeleton's strength, he concluded that he couldn't play tricks in the dark this time, so he decisively didn't participate.

"Pity, rejected by a Law-Breaker again. The last Law-Breaker who refused to play a few games with me was... Green Gillian, yes, that female robber, who snatched my bet and was driven away by me, that female robber."

The skeleton seemed to be smiling. Such an existence was fundamentally different from the Nightmare King, and the strength of the two sides was not in the same dimension.

"My gambling game is life for life. People never cherish their own time and waste their own lives. Two friends, how about we bet with years as a chip? Please rest assured, I have many 'Life Souls'."

A playing card rotated and floated up. The back of this playing card was a skeleton, and the front was blank. When this playing card stopped in mid-air, a number appeared on the front. This number represented the 'Life Souls' owned by the skeleton. These 'Life Souls' were all won by it. Its 'Life Soul' stock was: 1,695,234 years.

"Life for life? That's too terrifying. I bet on it."

Wood placed the Abyss Jar on the gambling table, his voice somewhat teasing. Life for life? He wouldn't participate.

This move by Wood could be said to be very flashy. The skeleton's background was not small. If Wood could use this gambling game to get rid of the Abyss Jar, then he would be a hero of the entire Devil Tribe. The Devil Tribe had been harmed miserably by the Abyss Jar.

It was funny to say, Law-Breakers and Spellcasters both obtained Black Maple seeds by opening Abyss passages before the Abyss passages collapsed.

After the Devil Tribe opened an Abyss passage, they invited a father back. What was even more annoying was that this was actually a stepfather, beating them up whenever he had nothing to do.

Seeing Wood take out the Abyss Jar, the skeleton behind the gambling table stiffened, and then, to Wood's astonishment, the skeleton took out a pitch-black semi-circular lid from the drawer of the gambling table. Whether it was color, pattern, or texture, this lid was exactly the same as the Abyss Jar.

The skeleton's hand trembled slightly. This was a trembling of excitement. Even for an existence like it, it had been harmed quite a bit by this lid. Today, the opportunity to get rid of this thing had come.

Even if Wood was an old schemer, he was stunned now, his brain buzzing. At this moment, he knew that the father they invited back to the Devil Tribe hundreds of years ago was incomplete, only half a father. Now this father had a chance to be spliced into a complete one. Unexpected? Surprised?

If the Abyss Jar became complete, wouldn't it be harmed to the point of doubting life? Wood was sure that this thing would not only not get better after being complete but would get worse.

The skeleton opposite sat down and looked at Wood. The atmosphere almost solidified. Zuiyas stood up immediately and retreated to the side. He didn't want to have anything to do with the Abyss Jar.

Wood took out a phantom of a translucent mechanical eye. With the appearance of this thing, 【Insight Eye】 was forcibly summoned by Wood. As a Void race, although the Arcane Eternal Star had the right to use 【Insight Eye】, this was an item belonging to the Tree of Void. Wood had a way to forcibly summon it for half an hour.

As 【Insight Eye】 was activated, the scene in the bone house was transmitted to the big screen in the arena.

In the circular audience stands of the arena, because of the change in the picture, the audience who were laughing loudly felt a bit disappointed. They were enjoying the cat-and-dog battle, and Morey, who was acting as a referee, was bitten by Benny on her hair.

"Damn, why did the place change."

"It's Zuiyas, Wood, and Bai Ye. They are indeed still in the Nightmare World, and that skeleton, that thing... is not to be trifled with."

"This is a gambling game. The chip is a black pottery jar, and there is a lid. I don't see anything special. No! This seems to be the Abyss Jar of the Devil Tribe!!"

The audience discussed heatedly. The seats where the Devil Tribe was located became lively after seeing Wood appear, but soon, this area became silent.

Whoosh!

The Devil Tribe spectators stood up from their seats one after another. Their gazes were fixed on the big screen above the central arena. They all saw the black pottery lid on the gambling table.

Nightmare World, inside the bone house.

Wood stared at the skeleton opposite. He knew that the opportunity to get rid of the Abyss Jar had come. According to the rules of this game, the winner takes all. In other words, he must lose this time. Only by losing could he get rid of this scourge that had harmed their Devil Tribe for hundreds of years.

"How long has it been? I haven't experienced what nervousness feels like. I even tasted a bit of excitement and joy."

The skeleton placed a stack of playing cards in its hand on the gambling table. Another bone hand pushed the black pottery lid forward.

Seeing this, Wood also pushed the Abyss Jar forward. He carefully sensed himself; there was no sense of distortion, which meant the Abyss Jar didn't refuse this gambling game.

The rules of this round were very simple: Wood and the skeleton each draw a card, and the one with the larger card face wins.

Wood and the skeleton drew cards at the same time, pressed the playing cards on the gambling table with their fingers, and unfolded them at the same time, without any hesitation. Short, exciting, and... fatal.

Two cards: the skeleton had a Diamond 9, and Wood had a Heart 5. The skeleton won.

With a click, the lid of the Abyss Jar closed itself, and the restored Abyss Jar automatically slid toward the skeleton.

"I lost, but I also won."

Wood smiled, smiled from the heart, smiled extremely happily.

"Is that so? Did you win? Who stipulated that playing cards only have one card face?"

The skeleton pressed the Diamond 9 on the gambling table with its finger and flipped it over. This was also a Club 4. This was a double-sided card, one side was a normal card face, and the other side was a hidden card face. How many such cards were there each time, the skeleton didn't know. It was very powerful, yes, but it was a gambler, so it ended up in this state. As a pure gambler, the gambling game it presided over was very fair, but some rules were a bit special, which was to increase the tension of the game.

Seeing this, Wood was shocked, but a few seconds later, the pupil flames in his eyes condensed and said:

"You are very powerful and very old. However... using your existing wisdom to take everything to the extreme is the principle of my Devil Tribe. Ancient existence, I still say the same thing: you... won, but you also lost."

Wood also flipped the card face on the gambling table in front of him back. His Heart 5 became a Spade 3, which was the smallest card face.

"This powerful existence, please accept the gift of my Devil Tribe, the Abyss Jar."

The pupil flames in Wood's eyes turned ghostly green. He was laughing.

Void, in the Moru Arena.

Wood lost, and the Abyss Jar changed hands. The Devil Tribe members who were staring at the big screen were paralyzed in their seats, some laughed loudly, and some covered their faces with one hand, their shoulders trembling non-stop. The Abyss Jar was finally sent away.

Inside the bone house, Su Xiao watched the gambling game from beginning to end. Participating in this gambling game indeed had a probability of obtaining three 【Scroll Fragments】, but he didn't know if this gambling game could be cheated. Given the skeleton's seriousness about the gambling game, this gambling game was nine times out of ten based on luck.

In Su Xiao's view, luck = unreliable = his own luck is poor = unlucky = must lose = don't participate in the gambling game = win. ===== CHAPTER 3201 =====