Chapter 39: Class Game (Five)

The person in charge excitedly widened his eyes and panted heavily. Yun Xueqing looked at the composed man across from him, his gaze deepening slightly.

Fu Wuxuan sat in his chair, his left eyebrow arching lightly as he smiled carelessly. “Shoot. Don’t worry, it won’t be my turn to die.”

Upon hearing this, Yun Xueqing slightly lowered his raised arm. He had originally aimed at the other’s forehead but shifted to the chest before gently pulling the trigger.

There was a faint click as the chamber advanced. The pistol fired a bullet that whistled through the air and struck Fu Wuxuan squarely in the chest!

Fu Wuxuan’s body lost balance, toppling backward along with the chair in a chaotic scene. The casino manager jumped up in excitement, laughing heartily. “Overly clever, overly clever fools! Fooled by me, weren’t you!”

In stark contrast to the manager’s exhilaration, the gamblers below wailed like ghosts and howled like wolves, wishing they could bash their heads against the ground.

They had believed the conclusion that the bullet was in the sixth chamber and bet everything on it, only to lose it all.

The manager’s smile grew increasingly smug, his face radiating smug satisfaction. “A bunch of idiots, brainless things, only fit to be toyed with in the palm of my hand! Hahaha!”

“Your laughter is hurting my ears.”

Fu Wuxuan, who had fallen to the ground, suddenly sat up. Indifferently, he brushed the short hair dangling over his shoulder back behind his neck. “So proud of fooling me?”

The smile on the manager’s face gradually froze, his joyful expression turning to surprise and then horror. “You… you’re not dead?”

Fu Wuxuan replied, “As you can see.”

He sat on the ground and obediently extended both arms. His peach-blossom eyes, shimmering with a watery glow, curved slightly, exuding a bewitching allure.

His skin was fair, his face pale without much color, save for lips as red as blood. The mole beneath his right eye added a perfect accent, making him resemble a seductive ghost from a storybook.

He rubbed his chest, complaining casually, “That shot actually hurt quite a bit.”

Yun Xueqing walked over and lifted him back onto the chair.

The manager gritted his teeth, belatedly realizing he had been played. “You tampered with the gun.”

Fu Wuxuan nodded and smiled faintly. “Yes, I swapped the bullet for a hollow-point one.”

The manager’s expression turned sinister with disbelief. “Impossible. I was watching you the whole time. How could you have had the time… Wait!”

His eyes, rigid like a wooden carving, shifted to Yun Xueqing. “It was you!”

He began to recall. “When…”

He slapped his hand suddenly, utterly certain. “During the third round, when you were dawdling—it must have been then!”

Yun Xueqing glanced at him calmly. “No.”

That had been a performance for his benefit. If both of them had appeared too calm—especially him, who was “most likely to die”—the manager would have noticed something was off.

So they had to act tense and afraid to lower his guard.

Fu Wuxuan looked at the manager’s impotent rage mixed with bewilderment and sneered. “Still don’t get it?”

He drawled slowly and unhurriedly, “When I tricked you into believing I had a special relationship with him, you’d already fallen for it.”

While distracting the manager, he had briefly held Yun Xueqing’s hand and secretly passed him a hollow-point bullet from his Storage Space.

The casino manager asked suspiciously, “Then when exactly did you…”

Fu Wuxuan’s tone was light and airy. “When I speculated the bullet was in the sixth chamber and handed the gun to him.”

At that moment, Fu Wuxuan had analyzed the bullet’s position so convincingly that the manager and the gamblers below were fully focused on him. No one paid attention to what Yun Xueqing was doing.

That was when they swapped the solid bullet for the hollow one.

Fu Wuxuan smiled mockingly. “I know this brass revolver model’s specs—about 750 grams. A single bullet is only around one gram. I’m not some electronic scale spirit; how could I detect such a minute weight difference?”

“It was just random nonsense, and you all actually bought it.” Fu Wuxuan arched his brow, his smile rather punchable as he teased the gamblers below. “You really don’t use your brains.”

The gamblers below shook their fists in fury, but having lost everything—even going into debt—they would soon become the lowest slaves and didn’t dare cause trouble in the casino. They seethed in impotent anger.

The casino manager, who had been somewhat furious, now laughed helplessly upon hearing this. “Just to be safe, I even shaved down the gun’s weight and loaded two extra bullets to prevent anyone from noticing.”

He smiled bitterly. “I never imagined you’d turn it against me. Truly insidious.”

He said no more and promptly handed over 100 gold coins to the pair.

Fu Wuxuan didn’t take it but nodded to Yun Xueqing. “You handle the money.”

Yun Xueqing had no objections.

They had bet their single silver coin on Yun Xueqing, while everyone else, due to that bizarre deduction, bet on Fu Wuxuan. Yun Xueqing’s odds were sky-high at 100:1, and since they won, they turned it into a massive windfall of 32 gold coins.

Adding the 100 gold coins from the manager, they now had a total of 132 gold coins.

132 gold coins were enough to elevate them to the lowest rank of gentry.

The casino town beneath the Blue Castle had entry requirements for most players—at least commoner status, or even gentry.

Thus, Yun Xueqing and Fu Wuxuan didn’t rush to gamble again. Instead, they first returned to the Livestock Yard to redeem themselves and certify their assets.

The Livestock Yard owner had encouraged them to gamble in the Blue Castle town but hadn’t truly expected them to win. He mostly hoped they would rack up more debt.

After all, these two stood out awkwardly amid everyone’s struggles—too defiant. Only massive debt could break them in.

But he never dreamed they would actually win back so much gold!

The Livestock Yard owner stared at the heavy pouch in Yun Xueqing’s hand, his eyes gleaming with greed. “How much did you make?”

Money shouldn’t be flashed openly, lest it attract envy. Yun Xueqing had no intention of answering when Fu Wuxuan beside him grinned and said, “A total of 132 gold coins.”

The owner’s face nearly split from smiling. He forgot the horsewhip in his hand, which clattered to the ground, and rubbed his hands excitedly. “How did you make that much? What game did you play? Any tricks?”

Fu Wuxuan replied carelessly, “Russian Roulette. The trick’s obvious—that casino manager likes loading the bullet in the fifth or sixth chamber. Fifty-fifty odds.”

The owner was thrilled at first but hesitated upon hearing this. “Russian Roulette? That’s gambling with your life. High risk.”

“High risk, high reward,” Fu Wuxuan said meaningfully. “And that casino’s rules have you shooting at your opponent, not yourself. So the risk is actually pretty low.”

In truth, the risk hadn’t lessened—it was just human nature to be selfish. Shooting at someone else always felt better than at oneself; the psychological pressure was far less.

The owner’s resolve wavered from his words. Fu Wuxuan stopped there, not pushing further. He handed over the owed three gold coins and one silver coin, redeemed their freedom, then went to the financial certification office for asset verification and status upgrade.

After successfully becoming the lowest rank of gentry, the pair headed back to the casino to aim higher toward nobility.

The journey was boring, so Fu Wuxuan initiated conversation. “I didn’t expect you to have that skill.”

“What?”

Fu Wuxuan lounged idly in his wheelchair. “Cheating at cards.”

Swapping bullets under everyone’s watchful eyes wasn’t easy; it required masterful sleight of hand, which couldn’t be learned overnight.

Yun Xueqing lowered his gaze slightly. “No.”

The days studying at the Sword Pavilion were dull and boring. Card games and dice were common pastimes, despite the academy instructors’ strict bans on gambling. Sword Pavilion disciples still played secretly.

Yun Xueqing had no interest in such things, but a close senior brother who loved cards and dice often dragged him down the mountain to gambling dens.

Over time, through osmosis, he picked up a few tricks.

Yun Xueqing had no intention of sharing these past matters with Fu Wuxuan and merely nodded calmly.

But Fu Wuxuan was intrigued and smiled. “Aren’t you curious how I knew the bullet was probably in the fifth chamber?”

Yun Xueqing glanced at him faintly and drawled, “Not interested.”

He had no curiosity about Fu Wuxuan or any topics unrelated to “how to survive in this Weird Domain.”

No interest at all.

Fu Wuxuan chuckled, then abruptly said something off-topic. “Getting shot in the chest really hurt.”

He hadn’t precisely sensed which chamber held the bullet—just that it probably wasn’t the sixth.

If it were the sixth, the manager would have desperately hidden it instead of going along with his casual bluff, steering everyone to believe it was there.

Given the manager’s nasty personality, aside from a first-chamber surprise, it was most likely the fifth.

Second-to-last, the grand finale—a climactic, twisty death. For the manager, that was peak drama: a selfish person choosing to let their partner die, only to doom themselves through bad judgment.

What irony.

Fu Wuxuan thought this and couldn’t help humming cheerfully.

Yun Xueqing leaned closer and realized he was singing “Two tigers running under the bridge in front of the door, bunny obediently wearing floral clothes.” It was utterly tuneless.

In this inexplicable way, they returned to the gambling town beneath the Blue Castle. The only difference was their new status: promoted from slaves to low-rank gentry.

Fu Wuxuan asked with interest, “Back to that casino?”

Yun Xueqing nodded, unusually adding, “That casino boss is interesting.”

“He might just be a front,” Fu Wuxuan said, lips quirking. “Someone else behind the scenes.”

Yun Xueqing asked, “How do you figure?”

Fu Wuxuan laughed. “That Maitreya Buddha is just a D-level Weird. He couldn’t run a casino that big.”

Yun Xueqing rubbed his fingertips thoughtfully. “You want to meet the real owner?”

Fu Wuxuan nodded. “Exactly. If we’re fishing, let’s hook a big one.”

Yun Xueqing couldn’t help sizing him up, staring until Fu Wuxuan flushed with embarrassment, on the verge of anger, before slowly looking away.

The two arrived at the casino again, and the Maitreya Buddha greeted them directly, smiling broadly. “Gentlemen, my master requests your presence.”