Pleasure’s body unconsciously leaned forward, pressing over the table between them. If not for the distance the gambling table provided, he would have wanted to press his face right against Xie Antong’s!

In fact, he did have that ability. They were non-corporeal beings; an energy-form’s neck could stretch a meter or two and touch.

But perhaps he still cared a little about appearances, so he didn’t do that. This level of pressure alone was enough to make Xie Antong break down.

He genuinely did not care whether Xie Antong had guessed the Game’s rules; victory or defeat in the Game had nothing to do with that.

This was only the second round. Even if she knew the rules, she still wouldn’t know what cards she would play; whatever she played at random would not change her win rate.

On the contrary, the one who had to think about which cards to play was not her, but the opponent!

Because she knew the rules, she had to guess in her head what she would play, calculate how she could win, and all of that consumed mental energy.

From that perspective, figuring out the rules wasn’t necessarily a good thing! It could easily be a brand new trap.

Moreover, the timing of his extreme pressure mattered.

Because now... Xie Antong had not yet played her card!

She was used to giving herself a bit more thinking time, so she always bet first and played her card later, pushing things to the final moment.

Applying pressure at this point would force her to hesitate over the card she intended to play. With her actions distorted, she might make an incredibly stupid mistake.

“Even a lion fights a rabbit with all its might!” Pleasure smugly thought, convinced he was squeezing Xie Antong to death from every angle in this gamble!

He waited, eager to see how the one in the black box who had handed Life to a teammate would scramble to turn the tide after this loss!

And... whether Agony would have any reaction... 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

“If you want to play with me, don’t expect to leave room for yourself!”

“I suggest you look at the time. Also, if you fold now, these ten hourglasses still go to me, which means you basically lose anyway.”

Pleasure sneered when Xie Antong remained silent for a long time, raising the bet again to force her into a corner, leaving her extremely passive.

Xie Antong, however, showed no expression. She stared at the leftmost hourglass in front of her.

The sand flowed slower and slower, and after another two grains fell, it stopped entirely!

—That meant she had stopped thinking!

She raised her head, unexpectedly without any gravity, instead smiling as she looked at Pleasure.

“You’re right that winning or losing the Game has no necessary connection to knowing the rules. I don’t even truly understand the rules completely; there are too many permutations for me to think through every possibility.”

“But after this round of verification in the Game, everything will be clear.”

“For this Game, fifteen chips and ten chips make no difference.”

“Betting against a god naturally leaves no room for slack, but...”

As she spoke, only a few seconds remained on the countdown for her to place a bet.

Then, as time was about to run out, she made an instant decision, pushing all five intact hourglasses in front of her out at once!

She did not hesitate the way Pleasure expected. She decisively wagered all her chips!

Now both players had piles of fifteen chips before them. The second round of the gamble had escalated to such a high-stakes wager!

In front of Xie Antong, only one partially emptied hourglass remained—that hourglass could not be used as a chip.

The stands packed with who-knows-how-many spectators were strangely silent.

Were these two insane? Were they both so confident they could win?!

This was only the second round of the Game!

And Pleasure was one thing; his existence had always been outrageously formidable, doing absurd things as a matter of course.

He was a god, after all, with so many chips and so many advantages.

But Blank—how dare you?!

You effectively staked everything. If you lose, you die. And if it’s not you who dies, then whatever happens, right?

After staking everything, Xie Antong spoke again, addressing Pleasure:

“I never intended to leave myself any leeway in this round. The reason I left five chips before was because I needed myself to be the last one to make the wager.”

Xie Antong looked up with a hint of “apology” and said:

“Because those were all my chips. I worried you might deliberately stall time, forcing me to think after I wager and thus consuming the sand in the hourglass.”

“Or you might trigger that special event to reduce both sides’ chips. If that happened, without spare chips to reduce, I’d be at a severe disadvantage.”

“With your habit of always playing with optimal solutions each time, you would really do that, wouldn’t you?”

Pleasure: ...

He had only noticed Xie Antong reserving chips before, and had not considered these possibilities.

But if she had wagered everything from the start, then he might... indeed have done exactly that.

A dangerous smile crossed Pleasure’s face. He interlaced his fingers in front of him and said:

“You... played well. You put a lot of thought into this little mind game.”

“You kept emphasizing that I play optimally to plant a psychological nail in my head, making me feel irritated so you could deliberately do something dangerous later, right?”

Xie Antong smiled and narrowed her eyes, feigning surprise:

“Oh? You even noticed that? Gods really are amazing~.”

They conversed like this while the spectators’ minds were melting!

They could never have imagined that such seemingly simple dialogue hid such a high-level contest of wits. Even their conversation contained psychological cues?

This was carving on a needle’s tip—the two seemingly reckless gambles were backed by this kind of calculation.

“Players, pay attention to card-playing time.”

The Arbitrator approached the table again and reminded them.

Neither hesitated. One threw down a card, while the other threw down three!

Up to now, Xie Antong still maintained card types of one, four, and five cards.

“I’m eager to see what expression you’ll make when you lose.”

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