Welcome to Ability Store-Chapter 45 - 44: I Predicted Your Prediction

She hesitated for a moment before coming to her senses, spitting out the remnants of blood with a sinister look in her eyes, "Pah... You should have told me earlier, turns out you’re in the same line of work... So, you’ve set your sights on my meal ticket, have you?"

Chen Xuan didn’t respond, instead he raised his leg and kicked at her face—with the enhancement from the Heart Method, he could easily perform acrobatic moves that were normally impossible for him.

"I demand—Guess the Coin!" At the same time, Fei Wuniang shouted.

Tic-tac.

Chen Xuan felt the light around him instantly darken, and his kick felt like hitting a ball of cotton. He clearly touched her face, yet no force feedback returned.

With a smile of triumph, Fei Wuniang slowly stood up, "It’s useless, from this moment on you won’t be able to touch me at all. Join me for a wager!"

Chen Xuan retracted his foot and tried to grab her, but no matter what action he took, his body seemed nailed in place, unable to leave the inch of ground beneath him.

He was still able to control his body, but some force separated him from contact with the world. Chen Xuan realized that the light darkening was due to the same reason, not because of dusk but because external light could no longer reflect into his eyes.

Meanwhile, three large hands and one eye appeared between them, each towering to the height of half a person. They were a light blue, like solid objects made of gas.

"What’s the wager?" A voice asked from the void.

"The loser forfeits all abilities! Winning requires three victories out of three rounds!" Fei Wuniang shouted excitedly.

"Then... both parties make a covenant." The eye turned towards Chen Xuan, and a bolt of lightning pierced into his forehead.

Instantly, Chen Xuan understood all the rules of this ability: the large hands would toss three coins, heads showing a snake, tails a snake tail - if any one side appears more than twice, that side wins. For example, heads-heads-tails counts as heads, vice versa. Participants can call out their guesses in advance or wait until confident, but can guess only once. The first to call the correct answer wins.

Once the wager starts, it cannot be ended prematurely and is impervious to external interference, bearing unyielding compulsion.

"She used that trick." Chen Xuan whispered.

"You’ve already clashed?" Lin Qing breathed a sigh of relief, "That’s good... In Fei Wuniang’s view, once this ability is invoked, victory is guaranteed."

"What are you muttering about?" Fei Wuniang squinted and asked.

"What exactly is this ability?" Knowing is one thing, but Chen Xuan had to put on a slightly surprised show.

"Has it not already told you?" She pointed at the eye, "Once someone touches me, they can’t refuse a wager I propose. Your biggest mistake was striking this old woman’s face! It’s too late to regret now, boy, when your abilities are gone, I’ll crush your bones piece by piece!"

Her confidence was not unfounded.

Because not only was Chen Xuan aware of this ability’s existence, he also knew its rules weren’t as ’fair’ as they seemed. The large hand actually held four coins, one being a Counterfeit Coin, allowing the dealer to decide heads or tails. In other words, with that Counterfeit Coin activated, win or loss transcends probability.

Thus, despite Fei Wuniang’s lack of combat prowess, the Dimensional Limit Mechanism rated her danger level at six stars.

According to Lin Qing’s conjecture, during the capture mission, more than one individual on the task force likely fell by her hand. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

As they spoke, the first round of coins was launched—

The coins were about the size of a palm, visually impressive as they spun through the air.

Snap!

The three large hands swung simultaneously, catching them firmly before they hit the ground.

"So, is it heads or tails?" Fei Wuniang bared her bloody smile, "Don’t rush, I’ll let you guess first."

"Heads." Without waiting for the first hand to reveal, Chen Xuan made his judgment.

"You..." She paused, then sneered, "Going all in without a thought, huh, Is your luck that good?"

"I always trust myself."

"Fine, then I’ll guess tails."

The first hand opened, showing tails.

But the second and third opened successively, revealing heads.

"Not bad, seems like my luck isn’t too shabby today." Chen Xuan said with feigned delight.

A trace of mockery flashed in Fei Wuniang’s eyes, "Boy, this is only the first round. I suppose... your eyes are particularly sharp aren’t they? You even saw through my sneak attack."

"..." Chen Xuan stayed silent.

Because he had indeed activated the Divine Eye Technique at the moment the coins fell, allowing him to see the orientation of all three coins clearly until they were firmly grasped by the hands.

"I knew it... I’ve encountered one or two like you before." She raised a finger, "Then how about this?"

Three large hands appeared, and surprisingly, another three hands emerged. At the moment the coin was tossed, the extra hand blocked its falling trajectory!

"Your little trick won’t work now!" Fei Wuniang was increasingly excited, "Guess quickly!"

This time, Chen Xuan didn’t place a bet immediately.

Both were waiting for the large hand to open.

The first hand flipped open: a snake’s head.

Chen Xuan immediately called out "Heads."

This was also the move with the highest chance of winning under normal circumstances. As long as one of the next two coins showed heads, he would win this round.

In an instant, he caught a glimpse from the corner of his eye of the opponent’s sinister and mocking smile, as if enjoying watching him step toward his downfall.

The second hand slowly unfolded: a snake’s tail.

Fei Wuniang then sharply said, "I guess tails!"

Sure enough, the third coin was tails, two tails one head, snake tail wins.

"Hehehehe, so now it’s tied one to one!" She licked her lips, "I’m very curious, when you lose all your abilities, will you cry and beg me for mercy? I have met quite a few folks far stronger than me before. Their abilities are like their backbone; the tougher they were before, the more humble they became once stripped of it! Even if they had to kneel and lick my toes, they’d rather not die like wild dogs."

"Is this how you treat losers? Isn’t it too inhumane?"

"Inhumane?" She acted as if she had heard the funniest joke, "Isn’t a person without abilities just an animal waiting to be slaughtered? What, are you a fledgling who recently obtained abilities?"

Fei Wuniang at this moment completely dropped her facade, her eyes full of anticipation to torture him, "Let’s make it simple, I’ll give you one step, this time I’ll only use one hand. Make sure you keep your eyes wide open!"

With that, she withdrew the extra three hands.

The final round of the coin was tossed in this moment.

With the Divine Eye Technique, Chen Xuan saw clearly that when the hand grabbed the coin, it was facing tails, heads, tails.

He didn’t pretend anymore and directly bet, "Tails."

"Then I’ll choose heads." Fei Wuniang looked at him as though he was already dead, "I’ll take good care of you later."

The first two hands unfolded normally, just as he saw. Just before the third hand was about to open, Chen Xuan suddenly said, "This is the Counterfeit Coin, isn’t it?"

Fei Wuniang’s expression changed, "What?"

"You lost." He directly revealed the answer.

The hand also opened, and indeed, the coin was tails. It trembled slightly, seemingly wanting to turn over but couldn’t, because a mini Thousand Thoughts Sword was pinned in its center like a nail, firmly fixing it in place.

Initially, Chen Xuan opted for combat rather than summoning the Thousand Thoughts Sword to meet the conditions quickly and force Fei Wuniang to play the Guess the Coin. This was the strategy determined after he discussed it with Lin Qing—rather than beating her half to death and then threatening her to hand over her abilities, it was better to have her put all her abilities up on the gambling table herself. After all, the moment Fei Wuniang appeared, the Dimensional Limit Mechanism’s capture squad was already en route.

"This is..." She stepped forward in disbelief and tried to pull the sword, but due to the gambling contract, she couldn’t move an inch, "You actually cheated!"

"A fair deal." Chen Xuan shrugged.

This plan wasn’t entirely foolproof; if Fei Wuniang had used only regular coins from the start and left everything up to fate, things would have become quite difficult. But Lin Qing analyzed that this probability wouldn’t exceed 1%, because from recorded cases, what she indulges in is not the joy of gambling, but the pleasure of manipulating others and seizing all they possess.

The three hands disappeared.

Only that eye remained on site. Through it, Chen Xuan seemed to glimpse an elusive darkness. The next second, he felt a surge of power rushing into his body—forcibly—it was all of Fei Wuniang’s abilities!

The woman who initiated the bet let out a painful wail.

Her body became shriveled, her skin lost its luster, and her cheeks sank, becoming unrecognizable from the seductive and charming Fei Wuniang she once was.

A mere transfer of abilities wouldn’t cause such severe side effects.

Chen Xuan realized that there were other things attached to her abilities... losing them meant her life could no longer sustain itself.

"No... that’s mine, give it... back to me..."

Fei Wuniang struggled to crawl a couple of steps, reached out a hand toward him... this was her final move.

"Get out of there quickly, don’t let the Dimensional Limit Mechanism find you." Lin Qing’s voice echoed in his earpiece with a warning.

Chen Xuan waited another two minutes until he confirmed she was no longer breathing, and he turned to leave the abandoned room.