This Must Hurt

This card.

Was a 10.

His current cards were 2, 3, 8, and 10.

That added up to 23.

He had already exceeded the required 21 Points.

Zai Zong was at a loss, unsure of what to do.

The viewers in his livestream had also seen his hand and praised him as a living gambling god.

Then they sent a wave of gifts, paying for the stream's antics.

In their eyes, this had been deliberately arranged by the streamer.

But how was this an act?!

Zai Zong was on the verge of tears. He had never imagined the card he called for would be a 10.

His score had jumped straight from 13 to 23!

An instant loss!

And the consequence of losing was...

Zai Zong swallowed and looked at his opponent.

After hesitating for quite a while, Hoffman gave an answer that made his heart sink even further.

[I don't want another card.]

"Damn it!"

Zai Zong cursed as the option to take another card appeared before him.

"It's already over!"

"Why the hell would I take another card?! I busted! I've already lost this round!"

He immediately selected option two.

[I don't want another card.]

Zai Zong had already prepared himself for losing a finger.

It was just a game, after all. It was no big deal.

I'm not the one getting hurt. I'm just playing a game.

Whose finger gets cut off has nothing to do with me.

That was what Zai Zong thought as he waited for the result.

Soon, since neither person at the table wanted another card, it was time to announce the result.

At that moment, the Masked Man's voice sounded from the speakers.

[All right, gentlemen. It is time to reveal the results.]

[The winner is...]

The Masked Man abruptly stopped. The surroundings fell deathly silent.

Zai Zong's heart suddenly skipped for no reason. A strange sense of oppression pressed in from all around him, making him uncomfortable and tense.

Hoffman across from him was also breathing heavily, adding a touch of unease to the oppressive atmosphere.

It was so realistic that Zai Zong became completely immersed, as if he were truly there.

One second.

Two seconds.

Then, in that instant, the Masked Man's voice rang out like a judgment from hell.

[Hoffman!]

The hole cards on the table were immediately revealed.

Zai Zong instantly saw the other side's total.

7, 1, 9.

Together, they made 17.

At the same time, he saw Hoffman's body go limp, as though he had narrowly escaped disaster, and he let out a breath of relief.

But on Zai Zong's side...

Things were different.

The Masked Man's voice suddenly became low, sinister, and vicious.

[Now, the loser pays the wager.]

Then Zai Zong saw the Guillotine Blade over the little finger seem to activate, beginning to shake violently.

The protagonist he controlled, Clancy, also looked panicked, his voice hurried.

[What!? Wait!! Wait a second!!]

But the sharp, icy Guillotine Blade gave him no chance.

Pulled by the mechanism, the violently trembling blade came down in an instant, too fast for the naked eye to follow!

Splat—

Blood sprayed everywhere.

It stained his sleeve and splattered across the surroundings.

The severed little finger bounced onto the table, then fell to the floor.

What followed was Clancy's heart-rending scream.

[AAARGH—!!! AAARGH—!!!]

Zai Zong was completely stunned by the sight!

Both of his controllers vibrated wildly.

Bloodstains filled his vision, along with waves of crimson that blurred his sight.

He saw Clancy, the protagonist he controlled, bend over in pain, his hand twitching violently, his vision awash in indistinct crimson.

For some reason, although Zai Zong felt nothing physically, the blurry red haze before his eyes in the VR experience seemed to stimulate some sensory nerve in his brain, affecting him slightly.

That visual presentation involuntarily made him think of the torment and pain Clancy had suffered.

He imagined the pain of severed nerves, the agony of a finger being cut off!

It made his entire body tremble.

[Oh, this must hurt.]

The Masked Man's voice rang out at the most inappropriate moment, his tone thick with obvious gloating.

That made Clancy roar in agony.

[Ah! You madman! Why would you do something so vicious!!!]

Those two voices snapped Zai Zong back to reality.

His gaze fell on the severed finger. The mangled flesh and blood were horrifying to look at, sending a chill down his spine.

To be fair, the enemies he had killed in games could probably circle Blue Star if lined up.

At the same time, he had experienced all kinds of fancy deaths in games. He had long since gotten used to them and had even found them boring.

But that was all through a computer screen.

So no matter what happened, there was none of the nausea of killing someone or the fear of death.

Now, in this VR Game that was as realistic as reality itself, that indifferent mindset he once had while playing on a computer was gone.

The powerful first-person experience and pain presentation of VR allowed him to feel that unbearable agony just by watching.

It was so realistic!

This game was already better than the major foreign studios' games!

The bloody scene also set the livestream viewers talking.

"Holy shit, that looks painful!"

"They're going this far?"

"Brother Zai is too miserable. He gave up first blood right from the start."

"This game is purely luck-based? Then there's no skill involved."

"Yeah, the cards are drawn at random. Whoever gets the better cards wins."

"They cut off someone's finger. Even if he gets out alive, what good is that?"

"I suddenly don't dare play this game anymore."

"Thank goodness, it's only a finger. I think I can still accept that."

As more and more comments appeared, Zai Zong turned his attention back to the game.

At that moment, the Masked Man's excited, wicked laughter came from the speakers.

[Hahaha! A wonderful round, wasn't it?]

[But doesn't that seem a little boring? You think so too, don't you? So...]

As soon as he finished speaking, the Guillotine Blades over the remaining four fingers suddenly sprang up.

Zai Zong stared in stunned disbelief.

"Holy shit, is it going to cut them all off at once?"

Then he looked at Hoffman across from him.

When the Hooded Man saw all the Guillotine Blades rise, he was already terrified out of his wits.

His Finger-Breaking Torture Device still included the blade over his little finger.

That meant that if Hoffman lost, all of his fingers would be severed at once!

[Round two, begin!]

The Masked Man's merciless voice rang out.

The card machine immediately dealt cards to both of them.

As before, each person received one hole card and one face-up card.

This time, Zai Zong's hole card was 1, and his face-up card was 6.

That gave him 7 points.

Hoffman's hole card was unknown, but his face-up card was 9.

So...

He was still some distance from 21 Points, which meant he had a good chance of increasing his score!

Zai Zong chose to take another card.

[Give me... another card.]

Because of the intense pain, Clancy no longer spoke as smoothly and crisply as before.

That made Zai Zong feel the voice actor's professionalism and dedication.

Soon, the card machine dealt another face-up card.

The number was... 11!

His score had now reached 18!

Hoffman across from him also called for another card.

[I also want... another card.]

Whoosh—

A face-up card was dealt in front of him. It was a 4.

That meant Hoffman had 13 points plus an unknown hole card.

Seeing that, Zai Zong began to think.

The cards currently on the table were 1, 4, 6, 9, 11, and one unknown card.

Aside from that unknown hole card, the deck still contained 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, and 10, six cards in total.

Zai Zong currently had 18 points, only 3 points away from 21.

If he called for another card, only a 2 or 3 would help him.

But compared to the other four cards, his chances of drawing either of those two were too low!

And he could not rule out the possibility that Hoffman's hole card was already a 2 or 3.

That meant his chance of drawing a 2 or 3 would be even lower.

So the risk of calling for another card was simply too great. It was not worth it.

With that in mind, Zai Zong chose not to take another card.

[I... don't want another card.]

Clancy spoke weakly, and his voice made Zai Zong's heart ache.

Hoffman, after staring at his cards and thinking for a while, also chose not to take another card.

The Masked Man's voice immediately sounded.

[Now, reveal the results.]

[The winner is...]

After pausing for two seconds, he gave a sinister laugh.

[Clancy!]

All the hole cards on the table were immediately revealed.

Hoffman's cards were 9, 4, and 3, for a total of 16 points.

When Zai Zong saw Hoffman's hole card, his heart filled with lingering fear.

The Hooded Man's hole card had actually been a 3!

Thank goodness!

Thank goodness he had not called for another card!

Otherwise, he would have lost again this round!

After seeing that he had lost, Hoffman began struggling wildly, trying to free his left hand from the device restraining it.

At the same time, he wailed and begged for mercy, his voice filled with unmistakable terror.

No! No...!! What did I do!? What did I do!? Why are you treating me like this!? What did I even do!?

Yet the only response he received was merciless cutting.

The Guillotine Blade came down in an instant, severing all five of Hoffman's fingers.

"Aaaaaaah—!!!"

The screams were incessant, and one could feel the agony he was enduring through them.

And along with the screams came spraying blood.

The filthy crimson splattered everywhere, with several drops even landing on Zai Zong's face.

Before long, Hoffman's voice gradually grew quieter.

His body seemed to have lost all strength as it began to go limp.

Finally, before Zai Zong's widened eyes, he collapsed face-first onto the table.

It was over.

The surroundings fell deathly silent once more.

Until Clancy spoke.

"He's dead. I can... leave now, right?"

Zai Zong could clearly hear the protagonist, Clancy, breathing heavily. He seemed deeply afraid of this murderous maniac.

Upon hearing that, the Masked Man smiled.

"Mhm. Since that's the case, then..."

"No. I can't lose. I want to go home. I want to see my daughter."

Zai Zong froze, as did the viewers in the livestream.

Before their eyes, Hoffman, whose five fingers had been severed, struggled to prop himself up with his only movable right hand.

His voice had become incredibly weak. Even with the hood over his head, they could imagine how deathly pale his face was.

"I have to support my family. I'm the only one earning money in the household. My family can't be without me. My daughter can't be without me."

Soon, Hoffman sat back up and gasped for air.

"Another round!"

Zai Zong was stunned.

What kind of man was this!?

For his family, he would keep going even with half his life gone!

He was absolutely a role model!

Not only him—even Clancy, the protagonist he controlled, cried out in shock.

"Are you kidding me!?"

Yet the Masked Man seemed utterly devoid of conscience as he shouted excitedly.

"Whoa! You really are full of surprises, Hoffman!"

After a pause, he continued.

"Since you love playing games so much, then in consideration of your persistence, I can't exactly refuse."

"To make our next game even more exciting and fun, I'd like to invite a good friend to join us."

At once, every light source went out.

The surroundings became so dark that he could not see his hand before his face.

Zai Zong could not see anything at all.

Fortunately, the Pitch Black darkness did not last long. The television's light soon came back on.

But this time, something slowly descended before the two of them.

The moment he saw it, Zai Zong went blank. As a player, he felt genuine fear toward the next round of the game.

Because it was an Irregular Circular Chainsaw welded together from dozens of kitchen knives!

Its height was perfectly aligned with their faces!

I originally thought I could finish the three rounds in three chapters, but after two chapters, only one pinky had been cut off. At this rate, the game experience alone would take more than ten chapters to write. So I had no choice but to speed things up: cut off the rest all at once, skip the electrocution punishment, and go straight to the chainsaw round. I'll condense it all and finish it in the next chapter, then I can start making a new game.

Thanks to "Hun Yi" for the monthly ticket support. And while I'm at it, please send recommendation votes and monthly tickets.