The Gambit (Part Two)

The man lost his rectum, but for him, who had two sets of internal organs, it was neither painful nor bothersome.

And Sin Annihilation his left eye.

"Sin Annihilation!!!"

Xiao Wu hurriedly brushed aside the front of Sin Annihilation and carefully examined the empty left eye socket. She breathed a slight sigh of relief when she saw that there were no obvious signs of bleeding or injury, and then glared fiercely at the man.

"What... what's going on?!"

"What? What happened?" The man shrugged innocently. "The loser loses their organs. Wasn't that predetermined from the beginning?"

"But you lost the first round! She has a higher score than you!"

"I did lose, undeniably... but does that mean she won?"

"Well..."

The man gave a smile that seemed to mock a little kid.

"Let's look at the game itself first—each person has three dice. Everyone rolls their dice, and the results are combined. The player with the highest sum of the three dice wins."

"Yeah! The one with the largest last digit wins! So--wait?"

"Wow, it seems you noticed."

Indeed, with all three opening numbers, the one with the highest last digit wins, so Xiao Wu won the first round.

But—how do we define a loss?

The rules state that the player with the largest last digit wins, but who loses? Is it the player with the smallest last digit? Or is it...?

"--What a pity, Urushihara. It seems that in this game, anyone who doesn't win is considered a 'loser'."

Xiao Wu has the highest score, so she is the winner; the other two players have lower scores, so they are both losers.

We're all losers—so we must accept our losses and the consequences.

"That's not right! We're together! We should be considered companions!"

"I don't care how you usually behave, okay? Take a close look at the rules. This game is an 'individual' game, everyone fights for themselves, not a 'team competition'! And there's no dealer or previous player, so there are no teammates in this game!"

"... Depend on!!!"

Xiao Wu was nearly driven mad; she couldn't believe she'd been manipulated to this extent! It seemed this game wasn't about her winning; if she won, Sin Annihilation would be punished, and if the man won, Sin Annihilation would be punished too! Wouldn't that mean there was no way to protect this innocent girl from harm!?

Not to mention—the girl has already lost an eye. While it's not fatal, losing such a beautiful eye is such a waste! Although she herself lost her left hand, if she wins the game and removes the "lost organ" restriction, her left hand can immediately recover thanks to her self-healing ability. But it's different for Sin Annihilation! Without self-healing, even if she wins the game, her eye won't grow back! Just how devastating is this for a healthy girl? Xiao Wu can't even imagine!

"I'm... I'm sorry..."

Trembling lips uttered words of apology. Besides "I'm sorry, "Xiao Wu didn't know what else to say. It was all because of her! If it weren't for her pointless sympathy and pathetic self-satisfaction, this girl wouldn't have suffered such a cruel fate!

"... It's alright, Xiao Wu."

Sin Annihilation's cool little hand gently cupped Xiao Wu's face.

"But..."

"It's okay, there will be a way, because... I have the ability to heal myself."

"... ah?"

"I... I also have self-healing abilities! There are ways to treat my eyes!"

"But..."

Xiao Wu was puzzled. Was she telling the truth? Or was she just trying to comfort herself?

"Look!"

Sin Annihilation picked up a playing card. The card was made of very tough material and had extremely sharp edges. He pressed it against his arm and slashed it hard, leaving a small bloodstain.

Then—under Xiao Wu's watchful gaze, the bloodstains quickly healed and disappeared, leaving only smooth, pale skin.

I wasn't lying to you, was I?

"Ah... that's good..."

Xiao Wu a little relieved. Since this girl also had a self-healing ability—although far inferior to hers—it wasn't impossible for her to recover after the illness was over, as long as a professional doctor was consulted and various medications were administered.

Seeing that Xiao Wu Sin Annihilation breathed a sigh of relief. Forcibly suppressing his self-healing ability and slowing down the healing process was not an easy task, but if Xiao Wu lost control of her emotions, he would definitely lose. Therefore, he had to reassure her without revealing his identity.

"Then let's begin the second round!"

Shaking the dice cup again, feeling the dice hit the inner wall of the cup, Xiao Wu bit her lip tightly.

She absolutely did not want this innocent girl to get hurt, even though the child had the ability to heal herself.

Since winning, whether it's herself or the man, will hurt her...

"... Then, we can only pray that the child wins."

Only in this way can the girl no longer be hurt.

As for Xiao Wu herself being punished if Saki wins the Sin Annihilation — Xiao Wu couldn't be bothered to consider that at all.

"Stop!"

The three dice cups were simultaneously placed face down on the table. Xiao Wu's hand trembled slightly as she lifted the cups—

"5, 5, 4, the last digit is 4."

Man--

"Oh, this time I'm the bigger one! 1, 4, 1, the last digit is 6!"

"Varied--"

The last digit is 6, which is already quite high.

Could this round be a victory for the men?

"3, 3, 2, the last digit is 8."

"!!!"

The victor is the Sin Annihilation!

"Okay!" Xiao Wu breathed a sigh of relief and couldn't help but shout it out. The man, however, shook his head, making "ya-le ya-le" noises.

"Alright, alright... Two losses in a row, come on, a bet's a bet."

With a thud, a long, white thing pierced through Xiao Wu's skin and fell out of her arm, at which point her arm slumped down like a deflated balloon.

"The bone in my left arm... it's alright."

First the left hand, then the bones of the left arm, indeed in the order from the distal end to the proximal end.

"Mine is... oh dear, I've lost something very important (especially for a man). It's okay, I have two kidneys, four in total, losing two won't matter."

The man lost both kidneys; it was a scene straight out of a raunchy joke.

... Don't even mention it, the idea of losing internal organs after rolling the dice is just too surreal.

"Xiao Wu..."

"Don't worry, you'll recover to this level immediately after you beat him."

That's good, that's ideal... If we could guarantee victory for the Sin Annihilation every time... No, wait!

If Sin Annihilation wins every single match, then even until Xiao Wu dies from heart loss, the man will only have lost one of his two hearts! In that case, he'll have to keep winning!

"Tsk..."

"Then let's continue the game! Round three, three-two-one-go!"

The dice cup flew rapidly, the dice bouncing back and forth inside. Xiao Wu felt a little more confident; her learning ability was astonishing, and she was already close to mastering the technique after just three rolls! Although she couldn't control the numbers she got, she felt that she could control the "arrangement" of the dice in the next round!

"Stop! Start!"

Xiao Wu -- 2, 5, 5, last two digits: 2.

Sin Annihilation -- 1, 2, 4, last digit 7.

And men—

"2, 3, 4, ending in 9! Haha! Looks like my luck has returned!"

"--Depend on!"

Xiao Wu felt a sudden lightness in her chest as a row of bones fell out! Twelve in total, all from her left ribcage! She immediately felt a churning sensation inside her. Ribs are the bones used by vertebrates to protect organs such as the lungs, heart, and liver; they form the framework of the entire chest cavity. Although losing them wouldn't kill her immediately, prolonged loss could lead to serious problems!

"...(Ugh, gulp!)"

Sin Annihilation lost was her tongue. In fact, if Sin Annihilation wanted to, she could easily create a vocal organ elsewhere in her body, so there was nothing to be afraid of. For her, at worst, she could just have all her organs transplanted away and only her brain left, and then recreate a body. But Xiao Wu's gaze towards Sin Annihilation was full of self-reproach, which made her a little uncomfortable.

However, Xiao Wu had already come up with a countermeasure—just a countermeasure, not a solution.

Hey, Fatty!

"That's an offensive way to address someone. What is it?"

"Before we begin the fourth round—I want to say something to her. Is that considered cheating?"

"Oh? To draft a battle plan?"

"So what if it is, and so what if it isn't? I just want to confirm—to convey my thoughts to her, like discussing strategy with allies during wartime, or you can treat it as my own ramblings. It shouldn't count as cheating, right?"

"... I don't think so, but at least you need to let me hear it clearly so it's fair."

"What ever."

Xiao Wu turned to Sin Annihilation, her expression serious, and asked, "Sin Annihilation, to what extent can you control the dice?"

After these few encounters, Xiao Wu was convinced that Sin Annihilation was a master of individual techniques and a genius at learning; she might really be able to do what Tsume said!

"Without violating the rules, it's impossible to control the number rolled on the dice, but we can roughly determine the arrangement of the dice..."

"That's enough! Listen carefully, Sin Annihilation, in the next contest, I want you to roll 'two dice'!"

"... two?"

Sin Annihilation was a little confused, while the man's eyes widened slightly.

"That's right, the goal is to ensure that when the dice are opened, exactly two of them are stacked together!"

"Why--"

"Don't ask why yet! Let's continue the game!"

"..."

The man clearly understood Xiao Wu's intention immediately and gave a soft hum.

"Hmph, so you're still going to play with boring probabilities or manipulate techniques? Fine, do whatever you want, but I think I can only rely on my own luck."

"Stop talking nonsense, I don't want to talk about sentimentality with a two-guts bastard like you!"

Start!

Sin Annihilation shook the dice cup with a clattering sound, her brows furrowed slightly, and her hand movements were a little unusual, but not yet at the level of fouling. She was clearly trying her best to follow Xiao Wu's instructions. Xiao Wu's technique also changed a bit; the shaking was not as fierce as before, but rather more rhythmic.

"Stop! Start!"

If you turn the dice cup upside down and then uncover it, you will get --

The man looked at his own: 3, 6, 6, ending in 5.

The other two were somewhat unusual.

Sin Annihilation did indeed roll the arrangement instructed by Xiao Wu: one die was isolated, the other two were stacked together, the isolated die had a 4, and because the other two were stacked together, only the top die could be counted as a 3, and the bottom die was counted as no number, resulting in a final number of 7.

Xiao Wu's three dice were stacked on top of each other, resembling a three-story building. Therefore, only the number on the top die could be counted—4, and the final number would naturally be 4.

In this round, Sin Annihilation Wins!

As the biggest loser, Xiao Wu lost her intercostal muscles, and the man lost his liver.

"... boring."

The man shook his head dismissively, seemingly looking down on their methods, but Xiao Wu didn't care about that; as long as Sin Annihilation, that was all that mattered!

As for the Sin Annihilation, he was still somewhat confused.

"I don't understand... why do I have to roll 'one die isolated, two dice stacked'?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Holy crap, I can't believe the promised 90 chapters have arrived so quickly! Well then, I'll keep my promise and add an extra chapter! Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone!

To be honest, while writing this, I kept imagining Gastrodia elata, but I just couldn't emulate Saki's Demon King cheat abilities, so in the end it became a battle of luck and wit... Please forgive me if the probability calculations in the next chapter are wrong, after all, it was done in the middle of the night with a pencil, half asleep.