The Bet Is On

But he couldn't just reach out and take that windfall for nothing.

With someone like Wang Hao, the more you avoided him, the more fired up he got.

Su Mu had to provoke him and make him propose the bet himself. And the bigger he made it, the better.

That way, once the result came out, everything would look perfectly reasonable.

Even if someone accused him afterward of setting a trap, he could defend himself... From beginning to end, Wang Hao had been the one eager to raise the stakes. Su Mu simply hadn't refused.

The corner of Su Mu's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.

He had only wanted to run instances and level up in peace, but people kept sticking their faces in front of him.

It would be downright rude not to slap them.

So he kept his patience.

"How many waves did you clear?" Su Mu turned around and asked in a flat voice.

"The fifth!" Wang Hao instinctively puffed out his chest, his voice growing louder.

"I almost butchered the elite monster in the fifth wave! Do you know what the fifth wave of a nightmare instance means? Let me tell you, the monsters in a nightmare instance are more than four or five times as strong as those in a hard instance! An ordinary S-rank awakener couldn't even dream of clearing nightmare without two or three days of preparation!"

That was half true and half false.

He really had reached the fifth wave, but far from having "almost butchered" the elite monster, he'd been knocked flying by a single swing of its club the moment they'd clashed.

The core card Chaotic Hair Cloak Hammer had been cracked by the elite monster's successive heavy blows. If the protection mechanism hadn't activated in time, he might have met his end in there today.

Of course, he wouldn't mention those details.

"Wang Hao really reached the fifth wave? Damn, isn't this only the first day?"

"The fifth wave of a nightmare instance... An ordinary S-rank really would need a day or two of preparation before daring to take it on. Wang Hao is already really strong."

"That's an S-rank core card with a martial soul theme. You think that's a joke?"

The surrounding chatter surged like a tide. Some of the pallor seemed to fade from Wang Hao's face, and he straightened his back again.

"Trash," Su Mu said.

His voice wasn't loud, but it was like a blade, cleanly cutting through all the noise.

The air around them froze in an instant.

Several nearby students stared at Su Mu, mouths hanging open in disbelief. The students farther away hadn't heard clearly, but they too sensed the sudden shift in the atmosphere and turned to look.

Wang Hao's face went from white to red, then from red to ashen in an instant.

"What did you say?" he squeezed out through clenched teeth, his voice sharp as a blade.

"Trash." Su Mu repeated himself without the slightest change in expression. "What, didn't you hear me?"

"I'm trash?" Wang Hao trembled with rage, his voice changing pitch. "I reached the fifth wave, and you're telling me I'm trash? What right does someone like you, who needs other people to carry him through even a hard instance, have to call me trash? You'd die and get thrown out in the first wave!"

"What if I don't die?" Su Mu asked.

Wang Hao froze, his words cut short for a moment.

Su Mu took a step forward and looked Wang Hao in the eye. "If I don't die in the first wave, what then? Want to bet on it?"

Wang Hao's lips moved, and he almost agreed on instinct.

But just as the words reached his lips, he suddenly stopped.

Su Mu's reaction... was too calm.

Too calm for someone who was bluffing.

What if this guy really had some special trick and managed to survive the first wave?

No.

He couldn't bet on one wave.

Wang Hao took a deep breath, forcibly suppressed his anger, and sneered. "Not dying in the first wave? You sure know how to pick your terms. If we're betting, let's make it big.

"Aren't you cocky? Then let's bet on whether you can beat me. I reached the fifth wave in the nightmare instance. You reach the fifth wave too, and even if you die and get thrown out the moment you get there, you win. Well, do you dare?"

Gasps rose and fell all around them.

"He's crazy... The fifth wave? That's a level of difficulty only S-ranks can handle!"

"There's no way Su Mu will agree. What can someone with an F-rank core card use to hold out until the fifth wave?"

"He's obviously trying to force him down a dead end. Anyone who agreed would either be brain-dead or looking for death."

Su Mu listened to the chatter around him without the slightest ripple in his heart.

His gaze settled on Wang Hao's face.

This guy looked arrogant, but he was plainly a coward underneath.

He didn't dare bet on the first wave and insisted on raising the bar to the fifth, all to pile the risk onto Su Mu. From Wang Hao's perspective, he thought he had the win in the bag.

Su Mu smiled.

But even with the fifth wave, Su Mu wasn't worried.

He knew better than anyone just how much weight the card in his hand carried.

When Little Drill Wind had just risen to A-rank, his base attributes had already been close to the lower threshold of an S-rank card. Now, after consecutive battles in the normal and hard instances, Little Drill Wind had reached level 5.

He sank his consciousness into his soul space and brought up Little Drill Wind's current panel.

Name: Little Drill Wind

Rank: A

Level: 5

HP: 11800/11800

Attack: 1040

Defense: 592

Speed: 970

Su Mu scanned it once and felt reassured.

Level 5.

The numbers on the panel looked unremarkable, but Su Mu knew that what made this card truly terrifying was how he actually performed within Lion Camel Ridge.

Lion Camel Ridge Glory: 150% strength.

In other words, within Lion Camel Ridge, Little Drill Wind's true combat stats were:

17700 HP, 1560 attack, 888 defense, and 1455 speed.

Those stats had already surpassed top-tier S-rank cards of the same level across the board. His attack and speed had even reached the threshold of a weak SS-rank card.

Judging by the panel alone, he could already go toe-to-toe with an SS-rank card.

But the thing about Little Drill Wind that gave Su Mu the most confidence had never been his panel.

It was the fighting instinct carved into his bones.

He was a true demon who had stepped out of the world of Journey to the West and lived for hundreds of years.

He needed neither Su Mu's direction nor tactical instructions. He was born knowing how to kill, how to dodge, and how to find a way to survive in the most perilous situations.

Although the current Little Drill Wind wasn't the "real" Little Drill Wind,

Su Mu had witnessed his earlier battles.

That kind of fighting skill was beyond anything the cards of this world could match.

As Su Mu was thinking,

Li Ming grew anxious too. He tugged at Su Mu from behind and lowered his voice. "Brother Mu, ignore him. The fifth wave is too much. Wang Hao himself almost didn't make it out. He's trying to goad you into it. You'll be at a disadvantage if you go in."

Su Mu didn't look at Li Ming. He merely turned his head slightly and nodded to him, indicating that he knew what he was doing.

Li Ming was still worried, but seeing Su Mu like this, he could only grit his teeth and let go.

Su Mu looked back at Wang Hao.

"You're on," he said.