[Tributary 67:]

[A Gambler’s Ruin]

[A gambler who often wins finds it hard to tolerate defeat. This is precisely their greatest weakness.]

[The Mobius Serpent is repeatedly defeated by a narrow margin in the clashes of destiny. It suffers a mental breakdown and is struck by the Eternal Life Law. Its consciousness scatters, its body disintegrates, and it transforms into a twenty-sided Light Cone. All of this happens so covertly that even the Ten Thousand Forms Kun, which is extremely sensitive to ripples of fate, fails to notice the disturbance. This is truly incredible.]

[Probability: 0.000009%]

0.000009%?

’That’s an absurdly low probability, isn’t it?’

With Shi Ming’s current strength, he had plenty of ways to kill this sea beast by force. The difficult part was how to do it without alerting the more powerful Holy Hall-level Sea Beast. ’Ten Thousand Forms Kun must be the name of that Destiny-attribute Holy Hall Sea Beast,’ he surmised. ’As sea beasts that both possess the Destiny attribute, their connection must be terrifyingly strong.’

Ten Thousand Forms Kun?

The name gave Shi Ming a strange sense of familiarity, as if meeting an old friend.

He shifted his focus back to the River of Destiny.

This tributary, "A Gambler’s Ruin," was the most perfect outcome Shi Ming had seen so far. Although its probability was minuscule, with the help of his Destiny Lock, even the most improbable event would play out as scheduled!

Destiny Power coalesced in his eyes.

Destiny Lock! Engage!

A sound like turning gears, or perhaps the surging of the river, filled the air. The tiny trickle of a stream that Shi Ming had chosen suddenly blazed with light. Despite its weak flow, it overwhelmed the other, thicker tributaries, seemingly becoming the one and only path in the river.

Shi Ming knew that the next sixty minutes of destiny were now locked in place.

This wasn’t like his first encounter with the Three-Eyed Golden Crow. At the current level of his Eye of Destiny, not even a Holy Hall-tier Sea Beast could interfere!

...

The outcome was already set.

But the "turn-based" game was still ongoing.

Next, it was Shi Ming’s turn.

He gazed at the illusory serpent coiled around a great fortune. The serpent’s head was connected to its tail, forming a shape much like a Mobius strip. At its core was a twenty-sided Light Cone, granting it the ability to manipulate probability and evade attacks.

As long as its dice rolls were high enough, it could even dodge the Eternal Life Law.

For an attack to be effective, he needed to use an ability that couldn’t be dodged.

The Fallen Sanctuary’s "Chaotic Divine Country" was perfect for the job.

’I’ll play along with it for a bit.’

’Consider it a warm-up.’

Shi Ming activated his first Holy Hall Skill, Fallen Sanctuary. Blooming Other Shore Flowers once again appeared inside the cabin of the King-level Wandering Ship.

Two Light Cones descended from the sky, and the results were revealed in an instant—

Shi Ming’s roll was a 19!

The Mobius Serpent’s roll was an 18!

A single point. Shi Ming won by a "narrow margin," giving the Mobius Serpent the illusion that it "almost won"!

This illusion was extremely dangerous.

But the great serpent clearly didn’t realize this. Like a gambler at the card table, feeling a twinge of regret, it once again activated its cheating ability! Destiny Reversal!

Five identical Light Cones descended from the sky.

They spun and landed in the Light Cone World, giving the Mobius Serpent its first chance to reverse its fate. As long as the sum of the five Light Cones was 51 or more, the Mobius Serpent could overturn the outcome.

17, 8, 2, 10, 12!

points!

The Mobius Serpent’s body stiffened for a moment!

It felt the mockery of fate!

One of the five Destiny Light Cones dissipated.

’I haven’t lost yet! I still have a chance! I can roll again!’ The remaining four dice were tossed into the air, spinning as they fell. Each time it failed, the Mobius Serpent could remove one of the five dice and reroll with decreasing odds.

As long as the total points exceeded 50 on any of these rolls, it could still win!

Of course, the probability of winning would get smaller and smaller.

But the combined win rate was still terrifyingly high!

Counting the first reroll, it had four chances to win the "game"—

First chance: a fair duel, one die each, higher number wins. 50% win rate.

Second chance: roll five dice (win if total is greater than 50). 50% win rate. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Third chance: roll four dice (win if total is greater than 50). 37.5% probability.

Fourth chance: roll three dice (win if total is greater than 50). 16.6% probability.

There was no fifth chance.

Combined win rate: 87%!

Fate, as it had done so many times before, would surely favor it.

But it had underestimated the enemy it was facing.

Perhaps it never imagined that here in the Endless Ocean, there could exist a human whose luck could crush its own. And so, fate played two more jokes on it: the next two dice rolls also came up just under 50!

One was 46, the other 47.

This made it a little frantic.

’To be beaten at my own game?’

’No matter! It’s just one failure!’

’The game has only just begun. We can play this out slowly! I didn’t even give that bug a second glance. Even if you humans tamed it, in my eyes, you’re all just scraps of destiny!’

’Today, I’ll show you creatures what a true "God of Gamblers" looks like!’

...

The judgment was over. Shi Ming’s action was complete.

The Mobius Serpent could find no way to evade Shi Ming’s attack.

The world began to tilt.

The crew members, seeing the Chaotic Divine Country for the first time, were stunned by the sudden appearance of "land." But they remembered their captain’s order to remain silent. They felt the solidness of the illusory ground beneath them while adjusting their balance to its slow tilt.

The "Chaotic Divine Country" and the "Light Cone World" created by the Mobius Serpent overlapped.

The Light Cone World wasn’t immune to the tilting of the Chaotic Divine Country and also began to invert. But in the great serpent’s eyes, this was nothing worthy of its attention.

’Flashy,’

’and completely non-threatening.’

It was the Mobius Serpent’s turn.

It decided to use another one of its signature moves: Samsara Beam.

But in the strange domain of the Light Cone World, its attack also required a dice roll to succeed. Two Light Cones, one for the human and one for the sea beast, descended from the sky again. The great serpent’s roll was a 9; Shi Ming’s was a 10.

A narrow margin!

A narrow margin again!

Shi Ming smiled.

’So, destiny isn’t even bothering to hide it anymore, huh?’

’No wonder the probability for this path was only 0.000009%!’

The Mobius Serpent began to twitch uncontrollably.

White foam even appeared at the corners of its mouth.

It was like a lottery player who’d bought several tickets in a row, only to be one number off from the grand prize every single time! Having missed out on the jackpot repeatedly, it was overcome with rage. It didn’t cheat this time, as its number of cheats was also limited. It needed to save the opportunity for a more critical moment.

Samsara Beam: activation failed.

Thirty seconds passed.

The world tilted by thirty degrees.

But the Mobius Serpent paid it no mind.

In its view, it was a serpent. Even if the world turned 180 degrees, it wouldn’t affect its balance. ’This human’s skill is all flash and no substance. It doesn’t even have a shred of offensive power? It’s just a worthless trick!’

The Mobius Serpent focused intently on Shi Ming’s next move.

Like a gambler who hadn’t found a worthy opponent in a long time, it was rubbing its metaphorical hands together, determined to win the next round in style!

Little did it know, the gambler’s ruin was about to play out, right on schedule.