Chapter 3513: Mr. Snake

"Putting it that way, the person who played cards with Xia De—while they were playing cards with Xia De, their family members all suddenly died? No matter how you look at it, that's not normal, right?"

Megan said, and Xia De nodded:

"So this person has a problem, but no element, and doesn't seem like an Infinite Serpent. I guess it might be related to the conservation of luck. I know this is superstition—what I mean is, he borrowed luck, so he has to pay it back. Someone directly interfered with his luck, which is why he himself showed no element reaction."

Now that Mr. Kluger the younger's home was no longer livable, although he had relatives and friends on the island, according to Stela and the others' investigation, he didn't go to take shelter with anyone tonight; instead, he was staying on the upper floor of a run-down tavern not far from his home.

This kind of tavern deep in the alleys could be found in any city—usually the ground floor peddled food and drink, the second and third floors offered lodging, and at night there would be streetwalkers about. Although such a place was convenient to stay, it didn't look like a temporary lodging spot for a grammar school teacher no matter how you looked at it.

"Since we've pretty much got the basic information, are you going to go see him tomorrow?"

Hivi asked Xia De, and Xia De shook his head:

"No need to wait until tomorrow. I'll go take a look after dinner in a bit."

Claire asked with concern:

"Why the rush... Grandfather said he wants to find him for revenge, right?"

Xia De laughed:

"I plan to use that time key tomorrow, and it'll take up a lot of energy. So whatever needs handling, I'll finish it now. Besides, although I don't know what else might be behind Clement Kluger, he really is just an ordinary person—investigating him won't be that difficult."

"I'm afraid this might be another demon or Weeper's trap. Let me come with you."

Megan said, and both Hivi and Claire looked at her. This trip didn't need too many people, so since Megan had spoken first, they couldn't very well say they wanted to go too.

However, considering that Megan and Audrey had only just arrived, and it had indeed been a long time since they'd been alone with Xia De, the two rather displeased Great Witches said nothing more.

During dinner, the Radiant Messenger sailed from the town's dock to the Time Wheel City dock, so by the time Xia De and Megan left the ship, they disembarked directly at the Time Wheel City dock.

After the two of them left the gangway, Megan looked back once more at the great ship gradually disappearing into the night, then smiled and looped her arm through Xia De's:

"Hivi and Claire really think I only arrived today."

Xia De reminded her:

"Lying isn't a good habit."

"I know~ I'm just taking a small advantage. I'm not the sort of Miss who loves to lie."

The tavern where Clement Kluger was staying didn't even have an official name. Because it was located in an alley called "Fish Tail Alley," the locals called it the "Fish Tail Alley Tavern."

By the time Xia De and Megan arrived near the tavern it was already eight in the evening. This remote alley had no streetlights, but the tavern's windows had relatively bright light. The tavern deep in the alley had three floors in total, the main body looking like gray brick construction, quite dilapidated.

Because it was winter, the tavern's door was closed, but the noise from inside could be heard from quite a distance—the business here should be quite good.

Stela had even investigated the location of Clement Kluger's room. Xia De looked up outside the tavern, counted the windows, then used illusion to conceal himself and Megan, and finally flew with Megan directly to the window's position.

The narrow, dim room had a bed right by the door, without even a separate washroom or cloakroom. The light wasn't on inside the room, but from outside the tightly shut window, the sound of sobbing could be heard from within.

By the moonlight tonight, which wasn't especially bright, Xia De saw Luo De cards scattered across the floor of the room, and in the corner of the bed, Clement Kluger was curled up under the covers, crying.

Megan glanced at Xia De, and the two used spatial movement to enter the room directly. The crying young man didn't notice anyone appearing in the room. Xia De and Megan looked around, and finally Megan snapped her fingers.

After the crisp *snap* fell, the sobbing also vanished.

The young man, his eyes swollen and red, raised his head to look at the source of the sound, and then saw Megan's bright golden eyes. The Witch, whose psychic power was extremely strong, put him into a hypnotic state with just a look. However, Mr. Kluger's mental state was extremely poor right now, so controlling him was quite simple.

Megan gestured for Xia De to ask, and Xia De didn't directly ask the other about his card-winning technique:

"Why are you crying?"

"Because I killed my family."

He answered with a blank expression and a hoarse voice. Even in the hypnotic state, tears still flowed at the corners of his eyes.

"How did you kill your family?"

Xia De asked again, and the young man continued to answer with blank tears:

"I borrowed too much luck, so I paid the price. I shouldn't have been so greedy."

Xia De gave Megan a look that meant "I guessed right." The Witch curved her lips into a smile, and Xia De continued his questioning:

"Explain in detail—what does it mean to borrow luck?"

The tearful young man said:

"I obtained a strange ability. I can increase my own luck, but the more luck I gain, the more price I have to pay. The price is things I own—anything is possible.

I knew this might cause very serious problems, so I didn't dare be greedy. I only asked that during gambling, my luck would always be a little better than my opponent's. Yes, just a little better than my opponent at the time, and after the gambling session ended, my luck would return to normal.

This way, the luck I raised wasn't much, and the price to pay should be able to be smoothed out by selling those precious Luo De cards. Most problems could be solved with Kron."

Xia De pretty much knew what was going on.

"Starting from Year's End Festival, everything was going smoothly. I kept winning cards, and the prices I paid—falling out with friends, my grandfather's heirlooms being smashed and the like—were all within my tolerance.

But today I don't know what happened. Maybe the accumulated prices erupted all at once. Even though I was winning all day, I lost in the end. I was thinking then whether I couldn't bear the price anymore, and sure enough—Father, Mother, younger brother... all gone.

But I don't understand. I only asked that my luck during card games be a little better than my opponent's, just a little better. Why did I have to pay such a huge price?"

Megan understood too then. The Witches all knew Xia De's luck was very good, and supposedly blessed by the Old Gods, so his luck would be even better when playing cards. Therefore, if one wanted one's luck at the card table to overwhelm Xia De's, the amount of luck that needed to be raised was terrifyingly large.

If he hadn't run into Xia De, Clement Kluger, as long as he wasn't greedy, might really have been able to keep winning. But he did run into Xia De, and he did indeed obtain such powerful luck that Xia De lost two cards.

And precisely because he obtained such terrifying luck, the price he had to pay became his family's lives. And by the time his family had all died and he no longer had enough price to exchange for luck sufficient to beat Xia De, naturally he couldn't beat Xia De anymore either.

So Elder Harald losing four cards this morning really wasn't a coincidence. The other party, unconsciously, used his relatives' lives to win cards against Xia De. Xia De didn't know whether this should be called "cheating."

Xia De had also used supernatural power outside of card games to raise his own luck, but the difference was that he hadn't gained luck in order to win other people's cards, whereas Kluger had gained luck specifically to win cards—so the latter should be cheating.

"Where did you borrow the luck from?"

Xia De continued asking—this was the crux of the matter. He had considered perhaps a demon, perhaps an evil god, perhaps a relic, perhaps some unknown Pantanal Pantanal Xiewu related to fate, but he never expected to hear an answer like this.

"A temple. Before Year's End Festival, I went winter fishing by a stream at the foot of the mountain. On my way home it was a bit late, and in the night I came across an ancient temple I had never seen before. Somehow I walked in, and then I saw that what was enshrined in the temple was a giant Ouroboros wheel.

It was a metal wheel that could be turned. A man wearing a robe like the priests in stories told me that turning the wheel could reverse any fate.

He called himself 'Mr. Snake,' that is, the Snake Mr. I was quite satisfied with my life, but I wanted to make money—being a teacher doesn't make money. So I asked if I could obtain luck. After Mr. Snake said that raising luck required a price, I turned the wheel."

Megan silently asked Xia De what was going on. Xia De wasn't sure either. Although the other party had said "temple" and "Mr. Snake," perhaps that was just what demons or the like wanted mortals to see:

"After you turned the wheel, you left directly, right?"

"When the Ouroboros wheel turned, the snake's eyes began to glow. Only then did I seem to wake from a dream and realize something was wrong. I wanted to run, but my body wouldn't obey."

Later the wheel stopped, and the snake's two eyes fell out—two yellow gemstones shaped like eyeballs. Mr. Snake kept one of the gemstones and gave the other to me, then told me that if I wanted to end this borrowed luck, I just needed to toss the gemstone into any body of water inside or outside Fatum Island."

He began sobbing again:

"But today when I dug that gemstone out of the ruins of my house, it, it......"

The snake-eye gemstone sat on that filthy bedside table, but now it was no longer a gemstone—just a gray stone shaped like an eyeball, its surface even pitted and uneven, looking nothing like something carved by human hands.

Xia De held it in his hand and felt no elemental response whatsoever, but the surface of this stone had patterns drawn in black lines—this was the next lead for the investigation.