Chapter 333

The Gambler pointed at the golden-haired cloth doll lying on Bedan's shoulder, spread its palm and raised it, signaling him to hand it over.

Bedan's mouth twitched, and he looked across the table, exchanging glances with Miss Mei Lin.

"So you want Piani?" Bedan said, taking the little girl-like cloth doll off his shoulder and putting it into the Gambler's hand: "Okay, she is yours."

The name of this soul-summoning doll is 'Piani'? Ning Zhe frowned slightly, secretly glancing at the Gambler's direction. The dead face covered in corpse spots was still pale, but the Gambler's face, which had always been expressionless, now had a touch of human-like emotional fluctuation for the first time.

The emotion that appeared on the Gambler's face at this moment was named: anger.

The Gambler seemed a bit angry.

Ning Zhe thought for a moment and understood the reason for the Gambler's anger—the soul-summoning doll is a granted item unique to the European noble 'Dyke' family. The Dyke family controls the source ghost that gives the soul-summoning doll its power, so they can continuously manufacture this special granted item. Every Dyke family member who is valued carries at least one soul-summoning doll for self-defense when walking outside. This is the iconic item of the Dyke family and also a symbol of identity.

The rules of the soul-summoning doll are related to the name. Every doll has its unique name. Knowing her name means having control over this doll.

"The moment Bedan said the name of this doll was 'Piani', the ownership of Piani was already evenly divided among everyone in the room who heard this sentence."

Even if the Gambler now uses Piani's name to order her to kill everyone present, they can use the part of the control they hold to counter the Gambler's instructions.

"But the problem now is, why does Bedan have a soul-summoning doll?" Ning Zhe was a bit puzzled.

Bedan's full name is 'Bedan Silk Astarti', not surnamed Dyke. There is no such person in Van Dyke's memory. Why does a person who doesn't belong to the Dyke family hold a granted item unique to the Dyke family?

No, now is not the time to worry about these trivial details. Ning Zhe wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, cautiously looked up at Miss Mei Lin, and cast a look of help at her.

From the beginning, Miss Mei Lin had held an inexplicable hostility and vigilance toward Ning Zhe, this Chinese woman of unknown origin, and now, this hostility of hers had become more intense and concrete.

"This woman is lying."

Miss Mei Lin stared at Ning Zhe, who was pear-blossom-in-the-rain and pitiful, and had already raised her vigilance to twelve points in her heart: "She is not some innocent passerby who happened to get involved in a strange event to find her husband at all! She is a granted person!"

Even... possibly an ascended person.

Ning Zhe took a square towel from his bag, gently wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, noticed the vigilant look on Miss Mei Lin's face, and became more certain of his guess in his heart.

"In all the gambling games the Gambler has pulled people into so far, there must be the concepts of 'winning/losing' and 'stakes'."

"Among them, the rules and gameplay of the game will depend on specific circumstances. If there is a revolver, play Russian Roulette. If there are playing cards, play Old Maid. If there are only wine and cups, you can play the coin-putting game."

"And the setting of 'stakes' follows another unwritten latent rule—fairness."

"When the Gambler played Russian Roulette with Sha Li Sha Li and others, the stake was 1 human life. The loser was shot to death."

"When playing Old Maid with Xia Yubing and the God of Wealth and others, the stake was 1 piece of life-buying money. That Alan who violated the rules died because the Gambler confiscated the stake—1 human life can be exchanged for 1 copper coin."

The Gambler hates cheaters who cheat. Its game is based on fairness. Under this premise, each round of gambling has two common points:

1. Every player can afford the stake.

2. The value of the stake paid by each player is equal.

And the stake Bedan paid after losing the bet was a soul-summoning doll, or—a granted item.

"The stake for this round of the game is '1 granted item', which means..."

Miss Mei Lin's palm clenched silently. Looking at Ning Zhe, her vigilance was even greater: "Every player participating in the gambling must be able to afford the stake. This is the Gambler's rule, which means this woman is currently carrying at least 1 granted item that, in the Gambler's view, has equal value to the soul-summoning doll!"

Ning Zhe didn't care about the hostility in Miss Mei Lin's eyes, because he was in a good mood now. Just now, a doubt that had been bothering him was solved. He finally understood how the Gambler won the almanac in He Nianjun's hands.

"At that time, the Gambler pulled He Nianjun into the gambling game and forced her to engage in a game with '1 ghost' as the stake. He Nianjun's stake was the almanac, which is the Snake God Zhaoyou, and the Gambler's stake, if nothing goes wrong, is itself—the Gambler."

He Nianjun lost the bet, so Zhaoyou was lost to the Gambler. If the result at that time was that she won the bet, then it is estimated that there would not be so many things later. The ownership of the Gambler would directly belong to the Snake God.

Unfortunately, there is no if.

Ning Zhe wiped his tears, folded the square towel gracefully and put it back in his bag. The Gambler grabbed the golden-haired cloth doll named 'Piani', sat back in its seat slowly, and placed her gently in the center of the table.

Then, the Gambler bent down and took out a crystal glass cup and placed it on the table, pushing it forward, stopping accurately at the empty seat next to Miss Mei Lin.

After doing all this, the Gambler raised its head slightly and looked at the man who suddenly appeared in the room, its cold expression as if saying: "Please."

"Come over here and sit down quickly." Miss Mei Lin patted the sofa next to her: "If you don't want to die here."

The man opened his mouth, his face full of panic, repeating words like 'Xiadan', 'Zangbi', etc., which were incomprehensible, and ghost-like, he bypassed the table and came to Miss Mei Lin's side, sitting down cautiously.

"What exactly are you doing here?" The man's face was pale, and he said with a crying face: "Why did that corpse move? What exactly..."

"Shh—"

Miss Mei Lin put an index finger on her lips to make a silent gesture, and whispered: "This is a devil's game. When it starts and ends is not up to you. Cooperate, if you don't want to die."

"Okay... Father in heaven, I have never encountered a crazier thing than this..." The man's hand trembled and made a cross on his chest. The Gambler walked behind him with a wine bottle and filled his wine cup.

Seeing this, Miss Mei Lin breathed a sigh of relief:

"This man should just be an ordinary person. He is not an ascended person, nor does he have a granted item. The stake for the next round of the game should not be as expensive as just now..."

(End of chapter)