Right, I should have thought of it. Since the chips are made in the form of an hourglass, they naturally have to flow downward.

Otherwise, why not just make them game tokens?

It's just that she previously thought, "thinking consumes your teammate's life" meant that you think to place a bet, but what you bet is your teammate's life.

Thinking that way was already cruel enough, but if merely thinking itself consumes it...

Xie Antong forced herself to calm down, emptying her mind, not to overthink useless things.

In daily life, her exceptionally powerful, highly developed brain was accustomed to processing countless pieces of information anytime, anywhere, whether useful or not.

But now, her strongest, most highly developed brain had become her shackle!

She looked up at her opponent and noticed that [Pleasure] seemed to have no reaction at all, and the hourglass before him also had no sand falling.

"Why are you completely fine? Don't you use your brain?"

Xie Antong looked at [Pleasure] with some shock. She now needed to eliminate thoughts from her mind as much as possible, so she could only speak out whatever came to mind the moment she thought it.

Right now, the sand in the hourglass was falling very slowly, grain by grain, basically unnoticeable, but that was because she hadn't had time to think much yet!

Who knew how exaggerated it would become as the game progressed to the later stages.

[Pleasure]'s expression looked very relaxed, supporting his chin with one hand, as if watching his prey.

[You little thing, you really are quite rude.]

[I don't use my brain... First, I don't have that kind of organ you people do, though my thinking would certainly still cause the sand to fall.]

[But you don't think your little boyfriend's life level is on the same tier as "Death's," do you?]

Xie Antong stared fixedly at [Pleasure], merely listening, freeloading off the other's analysis, and not engaging in any further thinking about his words.

Sweat was already beading on her forehead.

Making a fool act like a smart person is completely impossible, it can only be faked.

And making a smart person restrain their own thoughts to act like a fool is equally as difficult as scaling the heavens!

[Oh? Heh heh, you're being quite cautious.]

[Pleasure] said, picking up an hourglass between two fingers, weighing and toying with it in his hand.

[This thing is a quantification of Their two lives, twenty-five each, for the fairness of the chips, so you can try hard to play and have a bit of a sense of participation.]

[However, the life concentration and energy level represented by each one is completely different!]

[When you think, the sand in the hourglass will disappear, but I'm different. I can operate freely. This guy's health bar is quite thick.]

Xie Antong's face had already darkened. [Pleasure] had explained it very clearly.

In summary, the chips on her side were equivalent to being naturally consumed every moment, but the other side's weren't!

This wager seemed completely fair, like the most impartial match since participating in the Game.

But the difference in identity between human and god was the greatest unfairness of all!

You are human, He is a god. Your life levels are different, your resources are different, your strengths are different. So, even in an impartial match, the other side still holds all the advantages!

But, it doesn't matter...

Since she was already at the gambling table, who would end up the victor still depended on how the player holding the cards played!

Xie Antong took a deep breath, her expression calming down. She tried her best to discard the thoughts in her mind and reached out to take the cards on her table.

"Thank you for the reminder. Lord [Pleasure]'s judgment of this game is truly sharp."

Xie Antong picked up the stack of cards in front of her, which was noticeably thicker than [Pleasure]'s.

She had fifteen cards in her hand, with numbers on them.

While the other side only had five cards!?

In a card game, how do you play with different numbers of cards? That's the most basic rule!

Tsk... Don't think wildly about it first!

Almost every single moment, she needed to restrain her train of thought.

[You seem a bit nervous, little girl. Do you want to consider giving yourself an injection right now?]

"That really isn't necessary, thank you for your concern."

In the current situation, what she needed wasn't to enhance her own strength, but rather to weaken herself.

If she injected the serum, wouldn't these hourglasses open their floodgates?

Thinking back on it now, Xie Antong felt a lingering fear. The person acting as the "chips" really had to be Lu Ce.

With her own life level, the hourglass condensed from it would be far inferior to his, meaning both she and Lu Ce would become even weaker!

[Oh? Your cards are numbers! How strange.]

Just as Xie Antong had calmed down and noticed the hourglass in front of her had stopped leaking, suddenly, [Pleasure]'s voice sounded in her ear.

What?

Xie Antong looked up, meeting [Pleasure]'s gaze, watching Him gently wag a finger.

[My apologies, the surrounding spectators gave me the answers.]

Following His reminder, the deafening roar from the countless people in the spectator stands nearby was finally noticed once again by Xie Antong.

The All-Seeing Eye floated above the match, instinctively receiving all information.

"This game is so strange. Without stating the rules, how could anyone possibly figure it out!?"

"The two sides don't even have the same number of cards, let alone the same content."

"One has numbers, the other has patterns. What connection could there be?"

...

Once Xie Antong heard those sounds, it became uncontrollable, sifting through and analyzing the information.

From the countless chaotic voices, she discerned that the opponent's cards seemed to be five patterns, and from what the spectators said... animal patterns?

This vast sea of countless spectators gave her information, information about the opponent's hand!

But now, the hourglass on the far left had started leaking sand again, and even faster than before!

The mental power consumed by the All-Seeing Eye ingesting information from hundreds of millions of people...

[Heh heh...] Pleasure let out a chuckle of successful scheming, pointed at the black box beside them, and spoke again:

[I discovered something fun. Do you want to take a look over here?]

Xie Antong didn't need to turn her head. The All-Seeing Eye had already transmitted the image back.

At that moment, during the process of the hourglass sand flowing, black flames were burning on Lu Ce's body inside the black box! Just like the sand flowing in the hourglass, his life was being worn away bit by bit!

What?!

.......

Inside the black box, Lu Ce and [Death] had no idea what was happening outside, only silence and darkness.

[How does it feel, being scorched by black flames?] Death said flatly.

Here, they could only hear each other's voices, and their voices could not be transmitted outward.

"Heh heh, is this considered a perk? Compensation for the two of us being bored?"