544 That’s not fair
“This is fair?”
A large question mark appeared above Vladimir’s head.
You call this fair?
Something’s definitely wrong here.
But regardless, the Reaper’s Bargain had already been initiated, and Vladimir had no chance to back out.
He rummaged through his pockets and managed to scrape together 186 Truth Gold Coins, which he handed to Mike.
“Look, it’s just an experiment. No need to actually pay up.”
Mike, while pocketing the money, warned Vladimir, “Next time, don’t try this.”
Vladimir: …
After collecting Vladimir’s coins, Mike transferred 187 coins to himself.
The moment Vladimir handed over his coins, the Libra tilted toward him.
But after Mike transferred the coins to himself, the Libra tipped back in Mike’s favor.
Yep, perfectly fair.
Next to the Libra, a phantom hourglass marked the passage of time.
With the fairness test complete, Mike didn’t waste any time. He shot a glance at Fool Master.
Fool Master understood immediately. From a distance, she suddenly attacked, a streak of purple light flashing through the air and engulfing the Reaper Envoy entirely.
Boom—
The once-powerful Reaper Envoy crumbled like a fragile chick under Fool Master’s assault!
The envoy was instantly obliterated, and the purple light began to carry away the remains.
After all, even the corpse of a nine-star Lord reaper was worth something!
“Leave it!” Mike commanded as Thor’s Sea surged forward, surrounding the purple light.
Mike joined the fray, competing with Fool Master for the envoy’s remains.
In the end, Mike managed to reclaim most of the remains, though Fool Master still walked away with about 30%.
Watching the display, Vladimir could only clap in admiration.
These two are really in sync.
They’re ruthless!
After securing the remains of the envoy, Mike sighed.
“As expected, there’s a flaw.”
Reaper’s Bargain had a significant weakness: the referee was too weak!
While the participants in the Reaper’s Bargain were bound by the rules, limiting the damage they could deal to the referee, to outsiders, the Reaper Envoy was just an ordinary nine-star Lord!
Fool Master hadn’t even used her full strength, yet she had easily killed the Reaper Envoy, breaking the bargain.
When third parties were involved, the Reaper’s Bargain was easily disrupted!
In other words, this skill was best suited for one-on-one duels, ideally against the ghost race or demon race.
It wasn’t quite strong enough to be a finishing move.
But for single-target kills, it was just right.
Of course, there was another option.
Mike could protect the Reaper Envoy and stall until the competition ended, ensuring his victory!
The first experiment had already revealed a flaw.
Clearly, there was still a long way to go in refining the skill and exploiting its bugs.
Mike turned to Dracula, preparing for the second round of Reaper’s Bargain.
Dracula wanted to refuse, but unfortunately, Thor didn’t give him the chance.
This time, the summoned envoy was a trembling gargoyle, hovering in the air.
It was clear that the tragic fate of the previous Reaper Envoy had spread, and now only a gargoyle had shown up—no actual Reaper in sight.
“Don’t worry, I won’t kill you this time,” Mike reassured the gargoyle with a kind smile.
The gargoyle was weak, and even if it died, its remains wouldn’t be worth much.
Of course, that wasn’t the main reason.
The main reason was that Mike still needed to test the strength of the Reaper’s Bargain, and there was no need to kill so many ghosts.
Besides, if he wiped out all the ghosts, there’d be no one left to act as referees, which would be even more troublesome!
Mike also had a deeper plan in mind.
If possible… why not cultivate a strong, loyal referee? Wouldn’t that be ideal?
If all the referees are on my side, how can anyone beat me?
The gargoyle nodded repeatedly, praising the generosity of the undead lord, while cautiously asking,
“What kind of fair competition will you be conducting?”
Dracula was also curious to see what new tricks Thor had up his sleeve.
Mike thought for a moment and said,
“Whoever stacks the most Charge Up in one minute wins.”
Dracula: ???
Why don’t you just declare yourself the winner?
Do I even know how to Charge Up?!
The gargoyle quickly nodded in agreement.
“This is very fair!”
Over the course of the minute, Dracula tried attacking the gargoyle.
Though the gargoyle appeared weak, it was still a genuine nine-star Lord!
Just like Vladimir before him, Dracula was hit with a yellow card warning.
However, the yellow card didn’t deal much damage to Dracula.
He took five yellow cards without batting an eye!
“Where’s the red card? I want to see the red card!” Mike called out from the sidelines, eager to see what the red card would do.
The gargoyle was on the verge of tears. Yellow cards were the best it could manage.
In the end, Dracula spared the gargoyle, keeping Mike’s promise not to kill it.
After one minute, Mike was, of course, declared the winner.
A die fell from the sky, rolling across the ground to determine the final outcome.
The onlookers gathered around, waiting for the result.
Mike, holding his Luck Piggy, muttered under his breath,
“Jackpot! Jackpot!”
Unfortunately, his luck wasn’t great.
“Small Win!”
Mike’s face darkened.
Small Win doesn’t count as a real win!
Dracula wanted to laugh but didn’t dare show it too openly, so he held it in.
Since Mike had only achieved a Small Win, Dracula didn’t have to suffer any penalties.
Meanwhile, Mike received some special items from the undead world, worth about 3 million Truth Gold Coins.
After finishing the experiment with Dracula, Mike began searching for his next test subject.
“I’ll go! I’ll go!”
Lilith, finding the whole thing amusing, volunteered to participate!
Mike looked at the golden pig and decided to humor her.
“Reaper’s Bargain!”
The runes lit up, and the gargoyle from before returned.
“What a coincidence, we meet again,” Mike said to the gargoyle, reassuring it not to feel too pressured.
After some thought, Mike announced the rules for this round:
“Whoever eats more in five minutes loses.”
The gargoyle looked at the undead lord in surprise. This time, the competition rules were genuinely fair!
Why is it so fair this time?
The gargoyle couldn’t figure it out.
Following Thor’s instructions, the gargoyle set the rules.
The Libra appeared, along with a phantom hourglass to count down the time.
Lilith, completely unafraid, thought to herself, As long as I don’t eat anything, I won’t lose!
Then,
A table full of donuts, burgers, and hot dogs was placed in front of her…
Staring at the mountain of food, Lilith wiped the drool from her mouth. At some point, her hoof had already picked up a fork and knife.
She tried to convince herself,
“I’ll just take one bite…”
…
Five minutes later, Lilith had licked the plates clean.
Her belly was bulging, and she was wobbling on her feet.
Finally, she gave up and flopped onto her back, all four legs in the air, ready to give up on life.
“You lost,” the gargoyle declared, and the Libra tipped fully in Mike’s favor.
A die fell from the sky, rolling to determine the outcome.
Mike shot a glance at Fool Master and Dracula.
If the result was Small Win, Lilith wouldn’t suffer any penalties, and everything would be fine.
But any other result would come with severe consequences!
If it were Vladimir or Dracula, Mike wouldn’t be too concerned. If they died, they could always come back to life.
But Lilith was Morpheus’s only pet, and her strength wasn’t particularly high. If she died, it would be a bit of a problem.
Normally, Mike just teased her and used Dracula to scare her, but leaving her with lasting trauma wouldn’t be worth it.
So, if the result was unfavorable, Fool Master would step in to deal with the referee, while Dracula and Vladimir would protect Lilith.
Dracula was a staunch blood clan nationalist.
He did want to kill Lilith, and if Thor gave the order, Dracula would send her to her death without hesitation.
But Dracula couldn’t allow Lilith to die for any other reason!
The Blood Ancestor’s sister dying at someone else’s hands would be a disgrace to the blood clan.
Lilith had already lived a shameful life. She needed to die with dignity, not in disgrace.
As the referee, the gargoyle had no idea how close it was to death.
The die rolled a few times before finally landing on Small Win!
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Lilith’s luck was as good as ever!
After finishing the experiment with Lilith, Mike scanned his private space, searching for his next target.
Unfortunately, Maxen had gone to the Second Abyss.
Otherwise, Maxen would have been the perfect test subject.
Light Nine… Mike hesitated for a moment before deciding against it.
It didn’t seem right to trick his own disciple.
Gabriel was from the angel race, and accidentally killing him wouldn’t be ideal either. After some thought, Mike’s gaze finally landed on Fool Master.
“I have a bold idea.”
Mike whispered a few words to Fool Master, and her eyes lit up with interest.
“Alright, I’ll play along for free this time!”
Fool Master got into position, and Mike activated Reaper’s Bargain.
Boom, boom, boom—
This time, the Reaper Envoy was of a much higher tier, nearly reaching the level of an Ultimate Lord!
Feeling the strength of the envoy, Mike grew even more excited.
The Reaper Envoy, wielding a massive black scythe, wasted no time with pleasantries and immediately began overseeing the competition.
Mike announced the rules he had prepared:
“Rock, Paper, Scissors…”
It was a very fair rule.
Even Vladimir and Dracula, upon hearing it, had to admit it was fair.
After hearing the rules, the Reaper Envoy was about to nod in agreement.
But Fool Master spoke up.
A terrifying pressure descended, causing the Reaper Envoy to become extremely wary, as if facing a great enemy!
Fool Master spoke calmly,
“That’s not fair.”
The Reaper Envoy hesitated for a moment, then turned to Mike and said seriously,
“It’s not fair.”
Everyone: …
“I knew it!”
Mike rolled his eyes, exasperated.
“This skill is such a coward!”
Indeed, when facing the participants of the Reaper’s Bargain, the Reaper Envoy had high damage resistance and the power to issue yellow and red cards.
But they also had emotions. They could feel fear, anger…
When faced with a real threat to their lives, they would back down.
For example, Fool Master’s intimidation had caused the Reaper Envoy to immediately declare the rules unfair, even though they were perfectly reasonable.
Through this experiment, Mike had discovered another bug!
“What now?” Fool Master asked, looking to Mike for guidance.
Having found the bug, most people would have ended the simulation.
But this was Thor!
Mike approached the Reaper Envoy and whispered a few words.
The envoy’s eyes lit up, and it nodded repeatedly.
“This is fair!”
10:47
“Whoever’s DNA is more similar to that of the human race wins.”
Fool Master: ???
Why don’t you just declare Thor the winner?
How can you call this fair?
But then Fool Master thought about it. If they really tested DNA, Thor might not even be related to the human race. Who knew how it would turn out? freeweɓnovel.cѳm
Still, Fool Master was curious. Why had the Reaper Envoy, who had been so scared just moments ago, suddenly changed its tune?
Since Fool Master had participated in the experiment for free, Mike decided to reveal the answer.
“I gave him a small piece of ghost law.”
Everyone: …
This guy bribed the referee!
This simulation had revealed two bugs.
First, the referee could be intimidated.
When the opponent was too strong, the referee would make concessions out of fear for their own safety.
Second, the referee could be bribed.
After identifying the two bugs, Mike decided it was time to end the simulation.
He took a step back.
Everyone else took a step back as well.
The Reaper Envoy, wielding a massive black scythe, was confused. Why weren’t they starting the competition? What were they waiting for?
Suddenly, the sky darkened!
The Reaper Envoy looked up and saw a black-winged angel hovering above, radiating Arcane Vitality and blotting out the sky.
A mere two-winged angel? Laughable, weak, and insignificant!
What could he possibly do?
Boom—
Gabriel descended at lightning speed, giving the Reaper Envoy no time to react!
In the next instant, the Reaper Envoy was flattened into a pancake, dead beyond any hope of revival.
Gabriel’s strength was nearly at the level of an Ultimate Lord, and he had to suppress his power just to stay below level 989.
A one-hit kill was only natural.
True powerhouses always finished things in one blow.
As the dust settled, Mike gracefully stepped forward and retrieved the piece of ghost law he had used to bribe the envoy.
Vladimir shook his head with a smile.
“Taking Thor’s bribe and thinking you could get away with it? How naive.”