??

.......

Pleasure suddenly found the words catching in his throat, completely at a loss for what to say.

What the hell is this guy talking about? Am I really like that?

Xie Antong spoke with a smile throughout, and her words didn't carry the same utter disrespect and mockery towards gods that Lu Ce's did.

On the contrary, her words showed an abnormal level of respect for Pleasure, and she even kept praising him, talking about his power.

To someone who didn't know better, they'd think she was a believer of Pleasure, here to curry favor with the god... 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

But in reality, Pleasure found listening to his own praise more unbearable than hearing insults.

Her hands were now pressing down on the table so hard the gambling table creaked under the pressure, feeling like it might collapse at any moment.

As Pleasure, he rarely felt this provoked.

But now, even though he had won the gamble and was being lavishly praised by his opponent, he felt exceptionally uncomfortable, unable to speak.

The Arbitrator in the distance also wiped a cold sweat. The chip hourglasses in this game had special restrictions placed on them; players participating in the gamble couldn't crush them.

But this table seemed different. If the table collapsed, it would look pretty bad...

After all, what does it mean to flip the table at a divine gambling match?

However, at this moment, he was also using his divine sense to secretly observe the eloquent Xie Antong.

This guy... was she always like this? I really haven't observed enough.

Her heart is truly black...

Saying Pleasure isn't as crazy as he appears on the surface, saying he's actually quite rigorous, has substance, and isn't at all like "Sin"...

That's not praising someone; that's aiming straight for Pleasure's weak spot and mocking it wildly, even worse than cursing.

It's equivalent to denying the divine essence of Pleasure!

But Blank's current demeanor didn't really seem like she was cursing, which made the scene exceptionally ironic.

Pleasure gnashed his teeth fiercely, looking at Xie Antong as he spoke:

[Saying I'm different from "Sin"... are you trying to say I'm not pleasurable enough...]

Xie Antong's eyes and brows lowered slightly as she calmly replied:

"If this topic makes you uncomfortable, then just pretend I never said it."

[...]

That felt like an even dirtier insult.

Boom!

Pleasure slammed his hand on the table, stirring up a surge of divine light. It was only due to the Arbitrator's intervention that the table didn't collapse.

His expression returned to a smile, though this smile now carried a hint of killing intent.

[Little girl, I always thought before that you were quite fun, something to amuse myself with.]

[But this time, you've really managed to anger me a bit... Since you've lost, it'd be better if you kept your mouth shut!]

[Otherwise, why don't you look at your chip count and then look over there?]

At this moment, Xie Antong had lost four chips. She lost two chips earlier due to a special event penalty, another one rapidly drained away for unknown reasons, and now there was still one draining...

Meanwhile, on Pleasure's side, 28 hourglasses were perfectly intact, sitting there without any loss.

Glancing at the black box beside her with the corner of her eye, she couldn't help but twitch. After losing just now, Lu Ce was undergoing a drastic transformation!

Actually, she didn't even need Pleasure to specifically tell her to look. The gasps of the spectators nearby had already told her everything.

Consuming chips resulted in being burned by flames. How could there be no consequences when losing chips...

Inside the black box, Lu Ce's body was twisting once again. Black energy transformed into sharp thorns, piercing through his body, yet not a single drop of blood flowed out.

He looked as if ten thousand long needles had been driven into his body, with black thorns even piercing between the gaps of his fingernails! The sight alone conveyed immense suffering.

These things seemed to pierce through a person's soul, impossible to remove, bringing despair and pain every single moment, gnawing away at the victim's spirit.

But Lu Ce didn't feel much. He was just a bit surprised, or rather, pleasantly surprised.

[Chosen of Agony, Agony Value +17!]

[Chosen of Agony...]

Seventeen!

Since acquiring this special God's Chosen ability, Lu Ce had never received a single bonus of this magnitude!

It seemed the punishment from this divine gamble was actually pretty good.

Moreover, this bizarre pain was continuous, constantly increasing the Agony Value!

Lu Ce strongly suspected what the game's punishment mechanism was thinking. Was the Arbitrator actually helping him? He didn't seem like such a reliable guy.

Oh right, it was mentioned before that the game was supposed to bring feelings of pain and fear. That should be Death.

Is Death helping me? If that's the meaning, it really keeps adding up!

Sensing the drastic change happening to Lu Ce, Death also smiled, looking up as he spoke:

[It seems the result of the first round is out. I suppose you understand who won and who lost.]

[It seems your teammate has failed to live up to your expectations.]

"Now that no one else can hear, I need to ask you a serious question."

[Huh? What?]

"To be honest, did you have something going on with Agony back in the day? Are you also one of my brothers?"

Death: ?

What kind of nonsense is this?

Lu Ce's words completely baffled Death, instantly leaving him feeling bewildered.

The jump in topic was a bit too much for this "old gentleman" to accept.

[...What are you talking about? What does this have to do with Agony?]

"Nothing. If you won't admit it, forget it."

Lu Ce leaned back, enjoying the sensation of ten thousand arrows piercing his heart.

"To be honest, I kind of hope she loses a few more times too. But unfortunately, it seems the chips are limited; she can only win."

Hearing that he was still so stubbornly deluded, Death decided not to say anything more.

......

Outside, Xie Antong didn't look towards Lu Ce's direction again. She knew that this level of torment was probably something only Lu Ce in the world could withstand.

But now wasn't the time for heartache or apologies. What she could do was focus on her own gamble.

Crack!

Right at that moment, the leftmost hourglass had completely drained. With a crack, it shattered directly, making everyone's hearts tremble.

[Oh? Another one shattered. I hope you see your chip count clearly and understand how close you are to failure.]

Pleasure glanced over, sneering as he spoke to Xie Antong.

[Next is your turn. You place your bet first.]

[Let me give you a friendly reminder...]

[This game isn't really divided into five rounds. For you, this round is already your... life-or-death round!]