Chapter 317: 7 of Clubs

The girl’s moans echoed sharply through the empty hall; seizing this moment of shock, Xia Yubing lunged forward and knocked Sally Sally to the ground, both of them collapsing beneath the audience seats.

The male attendant, snapping back to awareness, gripped his rifle with both hands and prepared to reacquire his lost target, when the voice of I Kesi , muffled with pain, came from behind: “Forget them—help me away. Something’s wrong here. That woman needs time to reload. A Lun , let’s go!”

“Yes, Mr. I Kesi .”

The attendant known as A Lun immediately abandoned his search for Xia Yubing and Sally Sally, knelt before I Kesi on one knee, untied his necktie, and wrapped it tightly around the base of his right thigh, staunching the bleeding from the gunshot wound.

After stopping the bleeding, A Lun gripped his rifle in one hand and helped his employer to his feet; the two limped backward together.

Neither noticed that just steps after they turned away, a new corpse appeared on the audience seats, fresh warm blood dripping down.

Meanwhile, Xia Yubing and Sally Sally, using the rows of seats as cover, crouched low and slipped out from another direction, entering a bright corridor lined with pale purple silk curtains—this was the staff passage used by theater attendants to deliver tea and water to the balcony tiers; a few steps upward from here led directly to the No. 1 balcony where Ning Zhe and Xia Yubing had originally been seated.

The curtain of the No. 1 balcony remained pulled open. Xia Yubing glanced around but found no sign that Ning Zhe had been here. Sally Sally, still recovering from her shock, asked: “Ms. Xia, what are you looking for?”

“My husband…” Xia Yubing began, then realized her slip and fell silent.

She crept cautiously to the railing, peered out just enough to glimpse below—the audience seats were completely empty, nothing there.

“Hm?”

Did I missee?

Xia Yubing leaned out again, confirmed—yes, the audience seats were truly empty, not a single person, not even a corpse. The bodies that had appeared one by one on the seats had vanished. A dread foreboding rose within her.

Before she could think further, the stench of rotting flesh drifted from behind. Xia Yubing froze, swallowed hard, and slowly turned—Sally Sally stood frozen in place, trembling violently, her pale face twisted with terror.

Beside the oval glass table in the center of the balcony, a tall, thin male corpse in tattered clothes, gray skin covered in livid spots, had appeared without warning, its head shrouded in a worn burlap sack, face hidden.

Alongside it stood another corpse—a withered old man without a head, skin stretched taut over bone, his belly swollen like a pregnant woman’s, hands like eagle talons, left hand clutching his own severed head, right hand cradling a small embroidered cloth bag depicting a hundred birds flying toward the phoenix.

“C…Cai Shen…” Xia Yubing whispered.

As both women stared in shock, two more figures entered through the door, supporting each other as they approached the table—it was the nobleman I Kesi , his thigh wounded by Xia Yubing, and his attendant A Lun .

How are they here too?! Xia Yubing instinctively slipped her hand behind her waist, gripping the revolver now reloaded.

I Kesi ’ face darkened, about to speak—when the tattered gambler stepped before him.

I Kesi ’ eyes widened, enduring the stench on his face, not daring to move; his attendant A Lun stood paralyzed beside him.

Xia Yubing watched, tense, as the bizarre scene unfolded: the gambler stood silently before I Kesi , reached into his trouser pocket, and pulled out… a bloodstained deck of playing cards.

The gambler sat on the sofa beside the oval table, opened the card box, took all the cards in hand, and began shuffling—shhh—shhh—the silent room held only the sound of the cards being dealt. Xia Yubing glanced back—the audience seats remained empty, not even corpses remained.

Meanwhile, Cai Shen bent his legs, placed the severed head and the embroidered bag upon his knees, and sat quietly opposite the gambler.

“So… Cai Shen has also been drawn into this gambler’s game.” Xia Yubing’s heart trembled; recalling Ning Zhe’s words before he left, she forced herself to calm down, took Sally Sally’s hand, and both sat down on the sofa. Whoever the gambler chose as an opponent must play—or something terrible would happen.

“This woman clearly knows something.” I Kesi clenched his teeth, exchanged a glance with A Lun , and the master and servant took their seats in turn.

The gambler continued shuffling.

Around the oval table sat six people, seated clockwise:

The gambler, A Lun , I Kesi , Cai Shen, Sally Sally, Xia Yubing.

Once the last person was seated, the gambler finished shuffling.

The tall, tattered male corpse rose from the sofa, began dealing cards one by one, starting from himself, clockwise.

A standard deck has 54 cards; six players, each received nine.

After dealing, the gambler sat back down, picked up his own nine cards with one hand, glanced briefly, then fanned them out with one hand, face side toward himself, clearly shielding them from view.

There were many poker rules; Xia Yubing didn’t know which game this was, so she mimicked the gambler, took her nine cards, checked them, and fanned them out face-down toward herself.

!

Xia Yubing’s nine cards were:

Ace of Hearts, 4 of Hearts, 7 of Hearts, 8 of Clubs, 10 of Diamonds, Jack of Hearts, Queen of Spades, King of Hearts,

and the Big Joker.

Was this a good hand? Or a bad one? It depended on the rules of this round.

Across the table, I Kesi and A Lun had already examined their cards, each fanning them out face-down like the gambler.

Only Cai Shen, seated on the same sofa as Xia Yubing and Sally Sally, remained motionless, his nine cards face-down before him, untouched, unlooked-at.

Xia Yubing cautiously glanced at Cai Shen—strange. Why, this time, had he not asked her for money?

Then the gambler moved. With its left hand holding its own cards, it extended its mottled right hand toward A Lun , seated to its left.

Precisely, toward A Lun ’s fanned cards.

The four living beings in the room held their breath, watching as the gambler’s fingers pinched one card from A Lun ’s fan and drew it out.

‘7 of Clubs.’

The gambler compared the 7 of Clubs with its own hand, then drew one card from its own fan.

‘7 of Spades.’

The gambler slapped both black 7s onto the center of the table. The room, already deathly silent, grew even quieter.

(End of Chapter)