By the fourth round of dealing, Baron Cobol's nervousness was no longer hidden. He probably thought he had a great advantage in this card game and had high hopes for that rhode cards. Now that Xia De had won two rounds, he couldn't stop worrying about losing.
Under this mindset, the chances of losing cards would be even greater, a truth that even Xia De understood.
They both received their hole cards. The Baron quickly glanced at his and showed a disappointed expression; it seemed it wasn't a King or a Queen.
Then, for the second card, they received Moon 9 and Moon 1 respectively. The Baron, who got Moon 9, hesitated for a while before deciding to draw another card, which allowed everyone around them to roughly guess the range of his current hand.
Xia De, after checking his hole card, chose to draw directly. And their third cards were even stranger: the Baron got sun 1, and Xia De got Flower 1.
Baron Cobol hesitated again, and even Baron Lavende, who was dealing for him, couldn't help but remind him:
"If you hesitate any longer, I won't even need to look at your cards to know what your current hole card value is."
This made everyone around them laugh, and Xia De also laughed:
"Baron, want to gamble on luck?"
"Mr. Hamilton, do you want to continue drawing?"
Baron Cobol asked in return.
"Of course."
The Baron's mouth twitched:
"Alright, I'll continue drawing too."
Then a King was dealt to the Baron's hand. His eyes widened instantly, and his mouth was tightly shut as if he couldn't breathe. Unless Xia De had 21 points, it would be a two-to-two situation.
The people around them whispered, and the Baron suddenly looked up at Xia De's card, which was a Flower 8.
【Old Continent Eastern Landscape · Tis Lake】: After drawing this card, guess the number of an opponent's unrevealed card. If correct, you can choose whether to force your opponent's card number to increase by one after they reveal their card. If the opponent reveals their covered card first, 【Old Continent Eastern Landscape · Tis Lake】 has no effect.
Of course, if the opponent has a King or Queen, adding one point means busting, which is also one of the basic rules.
Seeing Xia De's card, the Baron was stunned, knowing the effect of this card. At this moment, recalling the rules, he immediately reached out to flip his hole card, but his hand movement was not as fast as Xia De's mouth:
"I guess it's 9 points."
Xia De said, without any tension on his face. There was no penalty for guessing wrong, and his current total was 11 points, so he could still draw another card.
Baron Cobol pinched the corner of the card and stopped there.
"I guess it's 10 points!"
Baron Lavende, who was dealing, immediately said with a smile.
"No, 9 points is more likely!"
Another dealer, Baron Lavende, wearing a curly wig, retorted.
"Hurry up and reveal it, what is it?"
People urged, everyone looking at Baron Cobol's hand. The Baron's face showed an ugly expression, then he gave a dry laugh and flipped the card, throwing it onto the table:
"I shouldn't have hesitated just now. Alright, Star 9."
He then threw the small bag containing the blood money, which slid across the table to Xia De's hand:
"I shouldn't have hesitated just now."
He repeated again.
Xia De opened the bag and looked inside, nodding with satisfaction:
"Baron, thank you for your generosity."
"Let's play cards together again sometime."
Baron Cobol stood up with a regretful expression:
"Although I lost, Mr. Hamilton, I find playing cards with you truly interesting. I will remember this kind of game for 20 years... Hesitation leads to failure."
He sighed like that, and the onlookers laughed once more.
After winning the gamble, the ball at nine in the evening was about to begin. The onlookers dispersed, with only a few still playing rhode cards. Xia De took this opportunity to carry his antique knight's longsword and return to the lounge on the second floor, where he found Miss Bei Ya Si and Miss Annette waiting:
"Look."
He threw the small, tightly tied bag onto the tea table, then returned the banknotes Miss Annette had given him earlier.
Miss Bei Ya Si curiously opened the bag and marveled at the gold coins with no patterns, while Miss Annette was puzzled by Xia De's actions:
"What do you mean by giving me back the money?"
"I didn't spend any money; I won it playing rhode cards."
He said with a slightly relaxed smile, happy because he had won the game:
"You know, my luck with rhode cards has always been pretty good."
He was referring to 【Origin · Silver Moon】.
Miss Annette then took the banknotes and asked jokingly:
"Do you still remember what the Priest said?"
"Of course, I remember—do not indulge in rhode cards."
Xia De repeated, thinking of the Priest's worried expression:
"Miss Bei Ya Si, do I look like a gambler?"
He then asked the young lady who was playing with the old pounds, trying to discern their special properties. She glanced at him:
"No."
This made Xia De much more at ease.
Since they had obtained an additional five blood money, Miss Annette immediately decided to proceed with the so-called "precise divination."
As Miss Jialinna had not yet left, Xia De was worried that the Great Witch's keen senses would expose Miss Annette's secret, so he gave a slight reminder, but Miss Annette didn't care:
"My secret, perhaps only a God can fathom."
Xia De opened his mouth but didn't ask further, and Miss Bei Ya Si next to him did the same.
When Miss Annette performed the divination, she did not avoid Xia De and Miss Bei Ya Si. According to her, even if they saw the whole process, they wouldn't be able to discern any clues.
In fact, the process was very simple. First, Miss Annette held the blood money she had already used, tossed it twice, and then put the coin down:
"The secret of The Chosen is indeed not easily divined; one blood money is not enough."
So she activated another blood money that Xia De had won playing cards, using a method of "trading with herself," but two blood money were still not enough.
"After all, it is The Chosen, the beginning of a legend in the sixth epoch. If the result were divined so easily, it would make me suspicious instead."
Xia De said, and handed Miss Annette another one. But before Miss Annette could use the coin, Miss Bei Ya Si reached out and snatched the coin, shaking her head and saying:
"Even if the blood money is consumed immediately, causing the curse to disappear, bearing so many curses in a short period might not be an easy task."
She placed the antique gold coin in her palm and, seeing that Xia De and Miss Annette were both looking at her, she said somewhat embarrassed:
"You are helping me, and although I cannot divine, I also want to do my part."
Saying that, she also followed Miss Annette's method, activating the blood money by trading with herself. Only after the patterns on both sides of the gold coin appeared did she hand the blood money to the female Diviner.
"No, it's still not enough..."
Three gold coins stacked in her palm, Miss Annette looked at the relic under the gas lamp light with some unease:
"It's alright, even if six aren't enough, I have other ways to pay the price... other ways."
From her expression, it was clear that the other ways were certainly not simple and might even cause her harm.
"I'll go next."
Xia De also picked up a gold coin from the small cloth bag on the table. After activating it, he expected a feeling like "a cold aura drilling into the body," but in reality, he felt nothing at all.
His luck was pretty good; four blood money were finally enough.
Miss Annette took a deep breath, and then, in front of Xia De and Miss Bei Ya Si, she tossed these gold coins, which contained the curse of the ocean undead, one by one into the air.
At this moment, it was as if time stood still. Xia De looked up at them, and in the indoor light, his eyes clearly saw every detail of the spinning gold coins in the air.
The air became thick, and some rustling sounds appeared in his ears.
As the blood money spun upwards in the air, they rapidly decayed and finally completely rusted at their highest point. As they fell, they scattered into Ashes, and the Ashes completely dissipated before reaching the ground.
Xia De didn't know what Miss Bei Ya Si could observe, but he saw several gray streaks of light cutting through the air from the blood money that had turned into Ashes, gathering at the back of Miss Annette's head.
He tilted his head, looking at the purple-eyed female Diviner, and in a trance, he actually saw a transparent and illusory female figure, leaning over and gently resting behind Miss Annette. The power of the blood money was completely absorbed by her. Her hands were wrapped around Miss Annette's neck, and her mouth whispered something in her ear.
Miss Bei Ya Si seemed unable to see this scene, and even Miss Annette couldn't see the person clinging to her back, but Xia De saw it:
"This is..."
The transparent, illusory female figure was precisely the image of Miss Annette, but she looked more mature. Her expression was somewhat sorrowful, and her transparent body seemed incomplete, with some parts so illusory that they were almost formless.
She also noticed Xia De looking at her, a surprised expression appeared on her face, and then she vanished.
【This is her "other self".】
"But why... Miss Annette's so-called divination at a cost seems to truly be a special ability of her other self, rather than some powerful relic. But... that figure just now... this also doesn't seem to be a normal 'other self'."
Miss Bei Ya Si was reaching out, trying to catch the flying Ashes formed from the blood money, while Miss Annette was tilting her head, listening to words that no one else could hear. Neither of them truly saw the figure that appeared for that brief moment.
"Did you see it too just now?"
【I saw it, but I cannot give you an answer. I can only tell you that her "other self" seems to be injured and incomplete.】
"How severe are the injuries?"
【Cannot determine, unless you make closer contact.】
"The doctor's other self is related to demons, and Miss Annette's other self can actually utilize the power of relics..."
Xia De was still pondering, while Miss Annette had already revealed a satisfied smile, seemingly having gotten a result:
"The answer obtained from four blood money—to become The Chosen of Balance, the first condition is an artifact containing the power of an Old God, the second condition is an understanding of Balance itself, and the third condition is a ritual, a special ritual—"
She looked at Miss Bei Ya Si, who sat upright:
"Please speak."
"Pray to the Old God, willingly offer one of your eyes, and gain the wisdom to measure Balance. In an inverted state, witnessed by people of special destiny, justly judge your fated enemy, thereby marking your own scale of Balance, mastering the power of the Judge, and becoming a true Chosen."