This Must Hurt

This card.

It was a 10.

His current hand was 2, 3, 8, 10.

So the total was 23.

Already over the specified 21 points.

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

His hand was also seen by the viewers in the livestream room, who praised him as a living gambling god.

Then a wave of gifts came in, paying for the live stunt.

In their eyes, the streamer did this on purpose.

But where was this a stunt!

Zai Zong wanted to cry but had no tears. He never expected the card he called would be a 10.

Jumping straight from 13 to 23!

Instant loss!

So the result of losing was—

Zai Zong swallowed his saliva and looked at his opponent.

Hoffman, after hesitating for a good while, said something that chilled him even more.

[I don't want any more cards.]

"Fuck!"

Zai Zong cursed loudly, then saw the option to take a card appear before him.

"It's already over!"

"What the hell do I need a card for! I've already busted! This round is lost!"

He immediately chose 2.

[I don't want any more cards.]

Zai Zong had already resigned himself to losing a finger.

It was just a game anyway, no big deal.

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

Whose finger gets cut off, what's it to me?

Zai Zong thought this to himself, then waited for the result.

Soon, since no one at the table called for cards, it was time to announce the result.

The Masked Man's voice rang out from the speakers at just the right moment.

[Alright, gentlemen, now revealing the result.]

[The winner is—]

The Masked Man paused abruptly, and the surroundings fell into dead silence.

Zai Zong's heart suddenly skipped a beat for no reason. A strange, oppressive feeling crept in from all sides, making him uncomfortable and tense.

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

Because it was so realistic, Zai Zong was completely immersed, as if he were right there.

One second.

Two seconds.

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

[Hoffman!]

The cards on the table were immediately revealed.

Zai Zong saw the opponent's hand at a glance.

7, 1, 9.

Total, 17 points.

At the same time, he saw Hoffman's body go limp, as if he thought he had narrowly escaped disaster, letting out a sigh of relief.

But on his side—

It was different.

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

[Now, the loser pays the bet.]

Then, Zai Zong saw the guillotine blade on his pinky finger start to shake violently, as if activated by something.

And the protagonist Clancy, whom he was controlling, also became panicked, his tone hurried.

[What!? Wait!! Hold on!!]

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

Driven by the mechanism, the violently trembling blade sliced down in an instant, too fast for the eye to follow!

Shiiing--

Blood splattered.

Staining the sleeves, scattering all around.

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

Following that came Clancy's heart-wrenching scream.

[Ahhh--!!! Ahhh--!!!]

Seeing this, Zai Zong was completely stunned!

Both of his controllers were vibrating wildly.

Before his eyes were patches of bloodstains, along with a blurring crimson haze.

He watched as the protagonist Clancy he controlled bent over in pain, his hand twitching uncontrollably, his vision a blur of red.

For some reason, Zai Zong felt nothing physically, but under the VR experience, that blurry red before his eyes seemed to stimulate some neural sensory center in his brain, having a slight effect.

In this visual representation, he couldn't help but think of the torment and pain Clancy was suffering.

Imagining that pain of the finger connecting to the heart, the cutting of nerves!

So much so that he couldn't help but shudder.

[Oh, that must hurt.]

The Masked Man's voice chimed in inopportunely, his tone carrying obvious schadenfreude.

This also made Clancy roar in agony.

[Ah! You madman! Why resort to such cruelty!!!]

Zai Zong was snapped back to reality by these two voices.

His gaze fell on the severed finger, where flesh and blood were a mess, a shocking sight that sent chills down his spine.

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

At the same time, he had experienced all sorts of fancy deaths in games, long used to it, even finding it boring.

But all that was through a computer screen.

So no matter what, there was never the nausea of killing or the fear of death.

Now, in this VR game so realistic it felt like reality, that indifferent attitude from the computer days was completely gone.

The powerful first-person experience and pain representation of VR made him feel that unbearable agony just by watching.

How real!

This game was already better than those from big foreign studios!

At this moment, the bloody scene also prompted comments from the live-stream viewers.

"Holy shit, that looks painful!"

"They're going this far?"

"Bro Zai's so unlucky, lost a finger right off the bat."

"This game is pure luck? Then there's no skill involved."

"Yeah, random card draws, whoever gets better cards wins."

"Cutting off someone's finger, even if they get out alive, what's the use?"

"Suddenly I'm not so eager to play this game."

"It's okay, just a broken finger, I think I can handle it."

As more and more comments poured in, Zai Zong refocused on the game.

At that moment, the Masked Man's voice came through the speakers with an excited, sinister laugh.

[Haha! A thrilling round, isn't it?]

[But this seems a bit boring, don't you think? So.]

As soon as he finished speaking, the Guillotine Blade over the remaining four fingers snapped up abruptly.

Zai Zong was dumbfounded.

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

Then, he looked over at Hoffman across from him.

At this point, the Hooded Man, seeing all the blades raised, was already scared out of his wits.

His finger-breaking torture device also included the pinky finger.

That meant if Hoffman lost, he would have all his fingers severed at once!

[Second round, begin!]

The Masked Man's voice rang out mercilessly.

The card dealer immediately dealt cards to both men.

Still one face-down and one face-up card each.

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

Together, that made 7 points.

Opposite him, Hoffman's face-down card was unknown, but his face-up card was 9.

So—

He was still a ways off from 21 points, with a decent chance to increase his total!

Zai Zong chose to take another card.

[Give me. One more card.]

By now, Clancy's speech was no longer as smooth or fluent as before, due to the immense pain.

This made Zai Zong appreciate the professionalism and dedication of the voice actor.

Soon, the card dealer dealt a face-up card.

The number was... 11!

His total had reached 18 points!

Across from him, Hoffman also called for a card.

[I want. One card too.]

Whoosh—

A face-up card was dealt before him—it was 4.

So Hoffman's total was 13 points plus an unknown face-down card.

Seeing this, Zai Zong began to think.

Right now, the cards on the table were 1, 4, 6, 9, 11, and one unknown.

Excluding that unknown face-down card, the deck still held 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, and 10—six cards in total.

Zai Zong's total was already 18, just 3 points short of 21.

If he called for another card, only 2 or 3 would be useful to him.

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

And he couldn't rule out the possibility that Hoffman's face-down card might be 2 or 3.

So the chance of drawing a 2 or 3 had to be lowered even further.

Thus, the risk of calling for a card was simply too great—not worth it.

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

[I... won't take a card.]

Clancy said weakly, his voice making Zai Zong's heart clench.

Across from him, after staring at his cards and thinking for a moment, Hoffman also chose not to take a card.

The Masked Man's voice rang out immediately.

[Now revealing the results.]

[The winner is—]

After a two-second pause, he let out a sinister laugh.

[Clancy!]

Instantly, all the face-down cards on the table were flipped.

Hoffman's cards were 9, 4, and 3—totaling 16 points.

When Zai Zong saw his face-down card, a wave of fear washed over him.

The Hooded Man's face-down card was actually 3!

Thank goodness!

Thank goodness he hadn't called for a card!

Otherwise, he would have lost this round too!

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

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

[No! No...!! What have I done!? What have I done!? Why are you doing this to me!? What did I even do!?]

Yet, the only response he received was the merciless cutting.

The guillotine blade came down in an instant, and all five of Hoffman's fingers were severed cleanly.

[AAAAAAHHHHHH--!!!]

The screams were unending, and from them, one could even feel the agony he was enduring.

And accompanying those screams was the splatter of blood.

These patches of crimson filth were splashed everywhere, even a few drops landing on Zai Zong's face.

Soon, Hoffman's voice gradually faded.

His body seemed to lose all strength, beginning to go limp.

Finally, before Zai Zong's wide-eyed stare, he slumped headfirst onto the table.

It was over.

The environment fell silent once more.

Until Clancy spoke up.

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

Zai Zong could clearly hear the protagonist Clancy panting heavily, as if he was genuinely terrified of this murderer in his heart.

Upon hearing this, the Masked Man chuckled.

[Mhm. In that case, then.]

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

Zai Zong was stunned, and the viewers in the livestream were the same.

Before them, Hoffman, with five fingers severed, struggled to prop himself up with his only movable right hand.

His voice had become incredibly weak; even with the hood on, one could imagine the paleness of his face.

[I have a family to support. I'm the only one in the house with an income. My family can't be without me. My daughter can't be without me.]

Soon, Hoffman sat back up properly, taking deep breaths.

[One more round!]

Zai Zong was shocked.

What kind of man was this!

For the sake of his family, dragging himself along with half a life left, he still went up!

A true role model!

Not just him, but even the protagonist Clancy he controlled was equally shaken, exclaiming.

[Are you kidding me!?]

But the Masked Man, as if devoid of a conscience, shouted out.

[Whoa! You really are a surprise, Hoffman!]

He paused, then continued.

[Since you like playing games so much, and in consideration of your persistence, I can't very well refuse.]

[To make our next game even more exciting and fun, I'd like to invite a good friend out.]

Instantly, all light sources were extinguished in a flash.

The surroundings became pitch black, so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

Zai Zong could say he couldn't see a thing.

But fortunately, this darkness didn't last long; the light from the TV soon flickered back on.

This time, however, something slowly descended, coming to a stop before the two of them.

And the moment he saw that thing, Zai Zong was dumbfounded. As a player, he felt a genuine fear for the upcoming round of the game.

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

Its height was perfectly aligned with their faces!

I originally thought I could finish three rounds of the card game in three chapters, but after two chapters, only one little finger has been cut off. At this rate, just the gameplay experience alone would take over ten chapters. So I have no choice but to speed up the pace, cut off the rest in one go, skip the electric torture, and jump straight to the chainsaw round. Condense it to end by the next chapter, then I can start making a new game.

Thanks to 'Hun Yi' for the monthly ticket support. Also, please throw in some recommendation tickets, and monthly tickets.