Gada

"Four o'clock..."

"Doubles."

"I have doubles too."

"Heh, what a coincidence, me too."

"Seven o'clock!"

"I have nine."

"Me too, nine."

"Why am I always the same as you guys?"

In the desert of the Bewildering Secret Realm, something bizarre occurred, the most peculiar in a hundred years, perhaps even since the realm's opening.

In the final circle, when the ancient Dragon Soul everyone yearned for was within reach, the last four remaining players were actually playing Pai Gow together on a flat patch of sand and stone?! The glowing Dragon Soul served as a lamp in the center of the stone table...

Perhaps the Dragon Soul itself never imagined it would be so disrespected...

But after playing three rounds, Jiang Lin began to regret it!

He was playing Pai Gow against the protagonists?!

Holy crap!

Was he out of his mind?

Of the three people surrounding this stone, weren't they all people who could find peerless martial arts manuals just by falling into a cave, or obtain rare treasures by entering an auction house?

Why did he think of gambling with them?! And he was the banker?!

Alright, to be fair, Jiang Lin had a sliver of hope: he had a System, didn't he? Wasn't the Host with a System also a protagonist? Wasn't a villain protagonist also a protagonist? Why couldn't a villain protagonist be human?

However, when he saw that half of the Spirit Stones in his pocket were gone, Jiang Lin deeply buried his face in his hands, wishing he could slap his naive past self!

God! What was he thinking?!

Didn't villain protagonists exist just to give experience points and equipment to the main protagonists? How could he compare himself to the main protagonists? Hadn't he learned enough from novels and TV shows?!

"Um... maybe we shouldn't play anymore..."

After ten rounds, Jiang Lin's eyes were a little teary, his heart bleeding. He was already poor, and he had finally accumulated some small wealth by partnering with Fang Chaoqun in some business...

Now... the night was still long, how could he have gone back to before liberation?

"That won't do, I'm just getting into it, I didn't expect Pai Gow to be so fun."

Chen Jia said happily, even though Jiang Lin had just taught him the rules and even helped him look at some of the tiles.

Lin Qingwan looked at Jiang Lin's pleading eyes, which resembled those of a cute demon dog cub (a demon dog cub is extremely cute and likes to act spoiled to confuse opponents when it's young), and couldn't help but cover her mouth and chuckle, with a hint of mischief: "That won't do. Junior Brother Jiang said that you have to lose all your money before you can leave the table."

"Master taught me since I was young that no matter what you do, you must give it your all and not give up halfway!" Xiao Xueli said slowly, glancing at Jiang Lin again, her pretty face slightly flushed, "If you, Jiang Lin, run out of Spirit Stones, I... I can lend you some..."

Xiao Xueli originally wanted to say she could give them all to him, but the Elder Sister Sword Spirit in the girl's body kept warning her that doing so would be unseemly, so the girl finally said "lend."

"Oh... so Jiang the Beast is out of money? You should have said so earlier. Here, take mine. As long as you can keep playing with me."

Chen Jia also pushed the Spirit Stones in front of him towards Jiang Lin.

"No Spirit Stones?! How could I have no Spirit Stones?! To tell you three the truth, besides being handsome and 1.8 meters tall, the only other advantage I have is being rich. Come on, let's continue! I'll be the banker again!"

Xiao Xueli's hesitant and somewhat sympathetic tone deeply wounded Jiang Lin's fragile pride.

Especially Chen Jia's naive and silly words.

A man can do anything! But he absolutely cannot say he can't!

And so... after another ten rounds...

Sitting on the sand, as Jiang Lin tremblingly picked up the tiles and carefully opened them, in an instant! Jiang Lin's expression became as joyful as a Shiba Inu meme...

"Double Heaven!"

Jiang Lin slammed the tiles onto the stone. Double Heaven is composed of two Heaven tiles! The second highest in Pai Gow.

"Eh? What's mine? Jiang Lin, can you take a look for me."

As if ignoring Jiang Lin's excitement, Chen Jia spread his tiles on the stone.

"Eh? Chen Jia, our tiles are the same."

"Mine too."

When three pairs of Supreme Treasure (the highest in Pai Gow) appeared before Jiang Lin, Jiang Lin didn't want to speak anymore...

Damn it! Shouldn't there only be one Supreme Treasure in a deck?! Where did the other two come from... Did he buy a counterfeit deck?

Jiang Lin swore he would never touch Pai Gow again in his life...

"I lose..."

Just as Jiang Lin was about to accept defeat and reach into his underwear to pull out his last remaining Spirit Stones, a "ding" sounded in Jiang Lin's mind.

[Ding... System detected that the Host is with three protagonists, and all three have let down their guard against the Host. System triggered.]

``` [Choice: 1. Host, seize the Dragon Soul and enrage three protagonists. 2. Desolate and moonless night, Host, lust after their bodies and act on it.]

[Host, please make your choice within three seconds... 3... 2... 1...]

"I choose your mom's ass! What time is it?! Besides, they were already going to give me the Dragon Soul. What's the point of taking it if they don't get angry?"

Jiang Lin was internally collapsing. Watching the countdown in his mind, in the last second, Jiang Lin silently wiped away a tear, then punched the stone to pieces, and swept up the Spirit Pearl containing the Dragon Soul.

In an instant, sand and stones flew...

"Jiang Lin, what's wrong?"

"Jiang Beast, what madness are you on? Do you want to fight?"

"Junior Brother Jiang?"

The three girls also quickly got up, avoiding the dust and sand.

"Senior Sister Lin! I am a person of the Demonic Sect, I will die a ghost of the Demonic Sect! I will absolutely not return to the Dragon Gate Sect with you! And Miss Xiao, I know what you want (what the hell do you know?), but I don't want to agree! Also, the Map of Mountains and Rivers is still with you, one day, I will personally come to take it, so keep it safe for me!"

"Then Jiang Beast, you chose me? To go back with me?"

"Oh, right, and you, Chen Jia! Sorry, your chest is small, I forgot. Although I'm from the Sun Moon Sect, I don't plan to bring the Dragon Soul back to the Sun Moon Sect this time. I want to give it to a lady in the south! That's right! The courtesan from the Drunken Immortal Abode in the Great Xia Dynasty! If I just give her the Dragon Soul, she'll agree to sleep with me for a night!"

Jiang Lin leaned on his sword and shouted loudly, his expression serious, as if spending a night with that courtesan was more important than his own life.

In fact, Jiang Lin only knew that the Great Xia had such a prosperous dynasty.

Since it was a prosperous dynasty, there must be places of romance and pleasure.

Where there are places of romance and pleasure, there must be courtesans.

As for who it was, who cares? Did it matter? All he needed to do was create the impression that he was someone who betrayed their good intentions and was driven by lust.

As expected, as soon as Jiang Lin finished speaking, three killing intents spread out, and their Notoriety Points increased non-stop...

"Junior Brother Jiang? What is a courtesan? What did you just say?"

"Jiang Lin, you saved me twice, I thought you were just superficially flirtatious, I didn't expect you to... for a fleeting moment of intimacy..."

"Jiang Lin! Explain yourself! What's wrong with my chest!"

The three people advanced step by step, like Cheng Ge about to be chopped with a cleaver back then.

"Animal! Beast! Pervert! Jiang Lin! Die!"

Chen Jia pulled back his fist and took a step forward, his peak Fist Intent, small fists, directly hammering towards Jiang Lin's chest.

Jiang Lin instinctively blocked with the Spirit Pearl in his arms...

"Crack..."

The sound of something breaking, like eggs, slowly emanated from Jiang Lin's chest.