I Want to Take a Gamble Too

"Damn it, that Gambling Dog from the Third Floor! How did it become an A-Class Calamity?!"

"This monster can't be killed! Run!"

"..."

Just as the intelligence had described, bullets striking the monster were like bullets sinking into asphalt. Ripples spread across its body before it restored itself.

They did no damage at all.

Fear appeared on the faces of the dozen or so mercenaries.

They had all heard of this Calamity's terror.

Anyone it targeted never survived!

Even Mechanical Arm Girl's Facial Expression changed drastically. She urgently warned Ji Xun beside her, "This monster is Curse Type. Whoever it targets is certain to die! I have no way to resist that kind of curse either."

As she spoke, she cursed under her breath, "Damn it, why is this Calamity here?"

She was still confident she could take on other monsters head-on.

But Curse Type monsters simply could not be dealt with through conventional means.

They were nothing but twisted and unnatural!

Avoiding them was the best option.

Ji Xun's expression did not change at all as he listened. He did not think they had simply been unlucky.

Instead, he felt that the difficulty only seemed normal now that they had encountered this monster.

Before his words had even faded, the dozen mercenaries demonstrated the proper response to this monster.

Bald Captain roared, "Run!"

They had no intention of fighting it. The mercenaries turned and fled at once.

The bad news was that whoever the monster targeted would certainly die.

The good news was that it only targeted one person at a time.

Everyone was gambling in their hearts.

Gambling that the monster would not choose them.

However, since this Calamity had appeared, someone was bound to die.

The mercenaries had barely run any distance when a black shadow flashed past. When they looked again, the Gambling Dog, which had been over a hundred meters away, had bizarrely appeared before them as though it had teleported.

Ji Xun's eyes narrowed slightly in surprise. "Teleportation?"

Hearing about it was one thing. Seeing it firsthand was another.

The mercenary standing before the Curse Gambler had not expected to be chosen. His face turned deathly pale in an instant.

Though Bald Captain and the other mercenaries could not bear to watch, they all secretly breathed sighs of relief.

As long as it had not chosen them.

Bald Captain's eyes flickered. Without the slightest hesitation, he shouted, "Go! Leave him!"

Everyone knew that anyone chosen by the monster would not survive.

There was no point in staying behind.

The moment he spoke, the group abandoned their companion without a second thought. They no longer cared about the safes either.

The monster ignored the fleeing mercenaries completely. It spread one hand, and two glowing poker cards appeared before it.

It displayed them. One bore the image of an Ace of Spades.

With a dazzling flick of its hand, the two cards switched positions countless times.

It was a simple choice between two cards, seemingly a test of eyesight.

A low, demon-like voice came from the monster's throat. "Take a gamble. Which card is the Ace of Spades?"

The chosen mercenary looked utterly despairing. As though restrained by some mysterious force, he stood frozen in place.

Trembling, he stretched out a hand. He did not want to choose, but refusing meant certain death. Choosing seemed to offer at least a fifty-percent chance of survival. "I choose this one."

The Dog-Headed Monster looked at the card he had selected. An eerily human sneer appeared on its terrifying canine face as it rasped, "Congratulations, you guessed wrong!"

The answer was revealed.

When the chosen card flipped over, it was completely blank.

The other card was the Ace of Spades.

The instant it spoke, the terror on the mercenary's face froze. All life left his body, and he died on the spot.

Not far away.

Ji Xun, who had not run very far, watched the scene and sighed inwardly. So this is a curse. What a bizarre way to kill someone.

He had wanted to see how the monster killed. Having seen it, the method was completely beyond his understanding.

Just as the intelligence had said, this kind of instant-death Curse Kill could not be avoided through normal means.

The mercenaries saw it too. Terrified out of their wits, they ran even faster.

However, after killing one person, the Dog-Headed Monster teleported away again.

Before the mercenaries could react, the Dog-Headed Monster was already blocking their path.

There were more than a dozen of them, after all, so the odds of being selected by the monster were much higher.

This time, the monster chose Old Six, the one who had picked the locks.

Just as before, the other mercenaries decisively abandoned their teammate and ran.

But the mercenaries had clearly realized that their large numbers made them more conspicuous targets. While fleeing, a vicious glint flashed in Bald Captain's eyes, and without warning, he sent two cards whistling toward Ji Xun and Mechanical Arm Girl in the distance.

Mechanical Arm Girl noticed sharply and raised her gun with lightning speed. With two shots, she shattered both cards several meters away.

Yet unexpectedly, the two cards burst apart, scattering powder across the ground like fluorescent dust.

Mechanical Arm Girl instinctively dodged, but they were too close. Some of the powder still got onto Ji Xun before he could avoid it.

The girl looked at the powder, and her expression changed. "Not good! It's a Dirty Bomb Card! This powder is bait made from the poison glands of Zombie Worms. Its smell strongly attracts most Calamities. Take off your vest! We need to get out of here!"

Ji Xun looked at the powder on himself. Though he did not know what kind of worm it was, he could guess what it was for.

In a tone that was not particularly surprised, he said, "Those mercenaries didn't attack earlier because this was their plan all along. In their eyes, the only value in keeping us alive was to use us as bait. But it doesn't matter."

Mechanical Arm Girl found his words strange: You knew they were planning this, yet you still stood there and got hit?

But this was not the time to say more.

She led her deadweight teammate away at a rapid retreat.

Ji Xun truly was not surprised.

At least, the moment Bald Captain turned back, he had guessed the man's intention.

Unhurriedly, Ji Xun took off his tactical vest, while keeping one eye on the gambling game still taking place behind them.

He wanted to figure out some of its rules.

The monster once again produced two cards and asked Old Six the same question. "Take a gamble. Which card is the Ace of Spades?"

Old Six was drenched in cold sweat, but he had clearly come up with an idea. His little eyes shifted as he pointed at one card. "I guess this one."

As he spoke, he suddenly grabbed that card and added, "I guess this one isn't it."

Since the monster could cheat, Old Six had concluded that the card in his hand had already been switched. He was playing a little trick by choosing first and speaking afterward.

Then Old Six dropped dead.

He had guessed wrong again.

The card in his corpse's hand was still blank.

The Gambling Dog's cheating skills were better than Old Six had judged.

"A one-hundred-percent chance of dying."

After two people died in a row, Ji Xun understood.

It looked like there was a fifty-percent chance of survival, but the Revelation was already obvious: the Dog-Headed Monster would definitely cheat.

Under normal circumstances, no matter which card one chose, one would lose.

The monster could teleport, so running fast was actually meaningless.

Instead, blindly running through this unknown laboratory was even riskier.

With that in mind, after rounding a corner, Ji Xun slowed down and said to Mechanical Arm Girl beside him, "If we get chosen later, don't worry about me. Leave first. I'll do my best to stall for time. With your speed, you should be able to get farther away than those mercenaries. Of course, if I don't die, come back and pick me up."

Mechanical Arm Girl froze, thinking she had misheard. "???"

What she had not said earlier was: If the monster chooses you, I may want to save you, but there's nothing I can do.

But... what did he mean?

From his tone, this guy seemed to think he could survive against the Gambling Dog?

Where did his confidence come from?

Before she could ask more, Ji Xun explained why he had said that. "Since those mercenaries can't kill the Curse Gambler, sooner or later we'll have to face this monster, or some other monster. The risks of exploring unknown areas may not be any lower than facing this monster. It would be good to let those guys test the waters first. Besides..."

"???"

When Mechanical Arm Girl saw Ji Xun stop, she had thought her temporary teammate had been frightened into talking nonsense.

But hearing his calm tone, which had never changed from the start, she suddenly felt that something was off.

Yet after thinking it over, she felt that he was indeed right.

If the gambler from the Third Floor could come after them, what about the even more terrifying mysterious Calamity on the Fourth Floor?

Or any of the others?

Exploration Progress in this Alternate Dimension was only a little over thirty percent. The unseen dangers were far more dangerous than this Gambling Dog.

In Survival Mode, there was no way they could rely on luck to avoid every monster.

But if they did not run, what else could they do?

The girl was conflicted for a moment.

After a pause, an almost imperceptible, crazed smile flashed through Ji Xun's eyes. Only then did he say his final words. "Besides, I want to take a gamble too."