"Has there been any news of Divine Maiden Buxi in the city?"
Withdrawing his consciousness from the Devouring Heaven Pagoda, Chen Lin looked at Gu Youlan and asked.
He had been unconscious for half a month. Including the first night, sixteen of the twenty-four nights had passed, leaving only eight. Many of his plans had been thrown into disarray.
Now that he had offended this city's Sage, and with High Person Yunhai appearing as well, he needed to reunite with Buxi and the others as soon as possible.
"Buxi?"
Gu Youlan raised a delicate eyebrow.
"Are you close to her? Are you Companions?"
"No, nothing like that."
Chen Lin waved a hand.
"But we're working together. We placed the same wager and agreed to stand together throughout the gambling match."
He offered a brief explanation.
Then he decided to lay his cards on the table.
"My circumstances are rather unusual. Besides the gambling match, there are other matters involved. The two of us probably won't be able to handle them alone, so we need to find the others."
"How many of you are there altogether?"
Gu Youlan immediately seized on the crucial point.
Chen Lin understood what she meant. After a moment's thought, he replied, "Five, including me. Two men and three women. But Divine Maiden Buxi is a sprite, so she counts as a special life-form. With you, that makes exactly three women."
When he had placed his wager, he had included special life-forms precisely because of Buxi.
Gu Youlan frowned.
"According to your wager, only seven people can survive in total. Apart from your own group of five, that leaves just two places. Is that realistic? Why would you make such a wager?"
"It's a little extreme, but that may very well be the outcome."
Chen Lin answered