Chapter 6: Russian Roulette

The accusation of Jin Dun cheating plunged the activity room into chaos; taking advantage of the patients wielding tables and chairs before they could surround Jin Dun, Wu Chang left the activity room early.

He did not forget to make a gesture of prayer as he left.

Hoping that person would be alright.

Zhu Li escorted him back to his room; she stood at the doorway, pulling a ring of keys from her waist to select one.

"For safety's sake, don't go out today. I will bring you your lunch and dinner."

Taking advantage of the moment Zhu Li was retrieving the keys, Wu Chang saw two keys—one black and one red—strapped to the inside of the slit in Zhu Li's nurse skirt.

Seeing no one was around, Wu Chang took off his shirt, revealing the robust physique that had earned Zhu Li's perfect score; while her gaze was drawn to him, he pinned her against the door, his other hand sliding up her thigh, closing in on the two keys from below.

"Do you want to stay a while longer?"

Zhu Li pressed his hand down against her leg, the immense force preventing him from moving an inch further upward.

"You cannot touch those. In this sanatorium, the basement and the fourth floor are forbidden areas for patients; approaching them without authorization is a serious violation."

Wu Chang raised an eyebrow, his palm, held down by her, squeezing slightly.

"Can't touch those, does that mean this can be touched?"

Zhu Li leaned toward Wu Chang's ear and whispered, "That depends on your performance."

Watching Zhu Li's departing back, Wu Chang raised an eyebrow.

He had bet correctly; this woman was indeed on his side.

Without Zhu Li's protection, Jin Dun would never have let him leave the activity room so easily.

This skin of a medical staff member was more useful than he had imagined; with such a cheap guardian deity, no matter what misunderstanding she had about his identity, this misunderstanding had to continue.

After seeing Zhu Li off, Wu Chang immediately checked the gains from the Bloody Last Words.

Player Nickname: Don't Eat Beef.

Player Level: 1 (0/100)

Health: 8 (5)

Strength: 9 (5)

Agility: 9 (5)

Stamina: 7 (5)

Energy: 0 (0)

Inspiration: 52 (5)

Willpower: 31 (5)

(Values in parentheses are the average attributes for an adult male aged 20-40.) Skills: Mamba Iron Elbow, Firearms Proficiency (Skilled).

Items: Silver Dawn, Favor of the Goddess of Luck.

Talent: Deliverance.

Compared to his previous attribute panel, after completing the gambler's Bloody Last Words, his Agility and Willpower had each increased by one point, and his Inspiration had increased by two points.

Four attribute points did not seem like much, but according to the game panel's prompts, one only gained five free attribute points per level up.

The attribute rewards gained from completing one Bloody Last Words were close to a full level up, which was quite a considerable gain when calculated this way.

Not to mention that in addition to the attribute rewards, he had also obtained a new game item.

He opened his personal storage space and took out three twenty-four-sided dice, each engraved with numbers from 1 to 24.

"Item Name: Favor of the Goddess of Luck."

"Item Grade: D."

"Item Skill: Strong Luck."

"Roll three dice; when all three show the number 1, you can gain the Strong Luck status, increasing the success probability of the next luck-related choice. The effect depends on your Inspiration value."

"Item Skill: Loaded Dice."

"The Goddess of Luck gives extra care to those she favors, loading the dice with a little lead to ensure they roll a 1 when activated. This skill can be activated once per dungeon plane."

Good grief, the Goddess of Luck cheats too, does she?

Completing the gambler's Bloody Last Words had earned him four attribute points and a D-grade item; even without knowing the market in the Abyss Game, he could guess the value of the rewards was explosive.

No wonder the game administrator suspected him of cheating in the talent's skill description.

What, the Goddess of Luck loads her dice, but he isn't allowed to use a small auxiliary plugin?

Being alone in the room made time feel exceptionally long; with no computer or phone, he started tossing the three dice he had just obtained to kill time.

The Strong Luck skill had no usage limit or cooldown; it relied purely on luck. If he happened to roll three 1s, he could save the usage count of the Loaded Dice.

In a whole day, couldn't he get lucky once?

Two hours later, Wu Chang lay decadently on the bed, muttering softly:

"Right, a twenty-four-sided die; the probability of rolling a 1 on all three simultaneously is less than one in ten thousand. You, a 'non-chief' who hits the pity system even on 1.6% odds, even if someone woke you up, you'd only be suffering from hypoglycemia—stop dreaming."

As time passed, the sky soon turned dark, and the nurses shook their bells, announcing the arrival of night.

Wu Chang climbed off the bed and lit the kerosene lamp on the table.

By the lamplight, he took out the three dice again and activated Loaded Dice.

The three dice were tossed; after a brief spin, they stopped simultaneously, neatly displaying three ones. Cheating really is better.

He put away the dice, moved the table to the center of the room, and sat on one side.

He didn't know how much time had passed, but just as he was about to fall asleep, footsteps echoed in the quiet corridor.

The footsteps approached from afar; estimating the time was right, he was just about to get up to open the door when he found the door, which he had locked from the inside, opening on its own.

Jin Dun pushed the door open, sat opposite him, and said with a smile, "Ran into a little trouble, got delayed for a while."

Judging by Jin Dun's state, the trouble he had encountered was not small.

The nurses at Moonlight Sanatorium were exceptionally fierce, and the patients they were responsible for guarding were certainly no pushovers.

Jin Dun's hospital gown had almost turned into a blood-soaked garment, and he had at least dozens of wounds on his body—stab wounds, blunt force trauma, and burns, he had them all.

Setting aside these minor injuries, Jin Dun's round head had a deep indentation compared to the daytime, likely caused by a heavy blow from a blunt object.

A square table leg was impaled into his abdomen; he hadn't had time to pull it out, and it was still oozing blood.

The reason he hadn't pulled it out was likely that it was inconvenient to bandage with one hand, as his left arm had been torn off clean from the shoulder down.

If Jin Dun were to lie down and play dead now, a forensic examiner would need several days just to determine which wound was fatal.

Another one who was heavily crippled.

Wu Chang tried hard to control the corners of his mouth and asked with a concerned tone, "Brother Jin Dun, is your body alright? Do you need to go for treatment first?"

Jin Dun grinned, revealing a mouthful of blood-stained white teeth.

"Just some minor wounds, don't worry about it. Brother Xiao En, what do you want to bet with me?"

Wu Chang pretended to reach under his pillow, pulled the Silver Dawn from his personal storage space, and slapped it onto the table.

"Brother Jin Dun, do you recognize this?"

Jin Dun stroked the Silver Dawn with his only remaining hand and sighed, "What an exquisite flintlock!"

Wu Chang raised an eyebrow; the dungeon plane's technological progress already included firearms, which would save him a lot of explaining.

"Brother Jin Dun, have you seen a gun before?"

Jin Dun said, "I used one when I was in the service. I can guarantee that the flintlocks used by the royal family and the great nobles are not as good as this one! Are you using it as a stake? If so, I'm afraid I don't have a corresponding chip."

Wu Chang shook his head and explained:

"No, it is a tool for the game, not the stake. In the place where I live, there is a traditional game called Russian Roulette."

Jin Dun showed a look of curiosity, "What does that mean?"

Wu Chang briefly demonstrated the firing principle of the revolver, opened the cylinder, took out a bullet and loaded it, then spun it and closed the cylinder.

"The rules are simple: six chambers, and only one has a bullet right now. You and I take turns pointing the gun at our foreheads and pulling the trigger; the one who gets shot loses."

He looked at the deep red resentment behind Jin Dun, "If I lose, this gun is yours. If you lose, I want the key to that white door in the basement area."

Such simple and brutal rules were very much to Jin Dun's liking; he licked his lips and said, "No problem, the key you want is in my room; if you win, you can go get it yourself. But I have one condition: I must be the one to spin the cylinder, and I must be the one to fire the first shot."

"Agreed." Wu Chang accepted very readily.

Jin Dun slapped a piece of paper on the table, stuck his thumb into a wound on his body to dip it in blood, pressed his fingerprint on it, and then pushed it in front of Wu Chang.

"To prevent going back on our word after losing, we need to sign an agreement before we start, no problem?"

There was only one simple sentence on the paper.

"The winner takes all, the loser has nothing."

Wu Chang had seen this agreement in the resentment; it possessed a certain coercive force. Once signed, the side that lost the game would die on the spot, something even players could not resist.

The power of the agreement came from the huge crescent moon that occupied half the paper; the outline of the moon was composed of countless complex curves, exquisite and gorgeous, as if representing some powerful existence.

Wu Chang used a dagger to cut his thumb and also pressed a fingerprint.

"Of course, no problem. If you're still worried, I can even pinky-promise you."

Jin Dun said, "I hope you can still be this optimistic after a while."

Jin Dun picked up the gun, carefully checked the cylinder, and after confirming there was nothing abnormal, spun the cylinder with one hand, inserted the bullet while it was still spinning, and closed the wheel.

He pressed the muzzle against his forehead, the smile on his face becoming even more brilliant.

This game called Russian Roulette looked random, but for a top-tier gambler like him, based on his keen eyes and technique, controlling which chamber the bullet appeared in was not difficult at all.

Random? Not random in the slightest! He would fire the first shot, so Wu Chang would have to fire the last.

He seemed to have already seen the final result of the game: after five consecutive empty shots, Wu Chang would hold the gun with trembling hands, unable to pull the trigger that was destined to blow his skull apart.

The despair of pushing oneself into the abyss would make Wu Chang fearful, struggle, go mad, and beg...

And finally, lose the game by forfeiting, only to be crushed by him like a bug.

Watching the opponent at the gambling table take step after step toward the cliff—this drama was something he could never watch enough of; this pleasure was enough to mask the pain in his body at this moment.

"The gamble begins!" Jin Dun shouted excitedly, his finger pulling the trigger.

At the same moment Jin Dun pulled the trigger, Wu Chang picked up the wooden board he had prepared long ago to block the spraying liquid.

Putting down the wooden board, Wu Chang picked up the Silver Dawn with an expressionless face and wiped the bloodstains off it.

The design that allows silver bullets to be loaded at any time is truly convenient to use.

(End of chapter)