Chapter Six: The Wagering Model

When the white light finally faded, Liu Mengchao realized that he was no longer in the Main God Space.

“Bai Ya,” Liu Mengchao said, lying on the ground and listening to the sounds around him. “What is a wager agreement?”

“A wager agreement…” Bai Ya’s voice held a trace of hesitation, and to Liu Mengchao it was full of concern. “A wager agreement means that two competing Main God Spaces each stake part of their prize pool as the price of victory, with one side placing its chips first.”

“If there are chips, then there must be a stake,” Liu Mengchao said. He found that there was still no other sound around him, so he decided to lie there a little longer.

“Yes, and the stake is enormous. The side placing the wager must have at least one million points in the prize pool.”

“And then?” Liu Mengchao heard footsteps nearby. It seemed that some of the reincarnators had already awakened. “He gets to choose the next reincarnation world, right, Bai Ya? Like the world I’m in now, Another. I’ve never even heard of this world.”

“That’s right. Not only can he choose the world, he can also add his own reincarnators to Your Excellency, the Envoy’s team.”

Bai Ya spoke in Liu Mengchao’s ear as he slowly rose to his feet and swept his gaze over the people within sight.

Not a single familiar face.

Qi Xiaoxiao was not here.

“Tch…”

Liu Mengchao leaned against the wall and looked at the people around him. They, too, were casting the same puzzled looks at him.

“So my veterans can’t appear here,” Liu Mengchao said while conversing with Bai Ya in his mind, all the while watching the reincarnators before him. “And in this reincarnation world, everyone is a newbie.”

“That’s right. This wager agreement has only one standard for victory and defeat.”

“Death,” Liu Mengchao said, looking at the people before him, then suddenly smiled. “You expect me, the Main God’s Envoy, to protect the reincarnators? To help them farm points smoothly?”

“No…” Bai Ya did not appear before Liu Mengchao, but he could still imagine her shaking her head. “There is only one criterion for deciding the winner of this wager agreement.

“Your Excellency, it is your life or death!”

“My life or death?”

Liu Mengchao looked at the two pistols hidden beneath his cloak. Ebony and Ivory. As long as he still had these two guns, he absolutely could not die.

At the very least, he would not die at the hands of a fellow traveler. That would be far too humiliating.

“And what about the assignment of missions?” Liu Mengchao raised his eyes and looked at the reincarnators before him. There were six of them in total. Three men and three women, making seven people altogether including himself.

“The first mission will be issued by the other side’s Main God Envoy. After that, all missions in this world will be issued by you. As long as you complete the first mission he gives out, he loses!”

Ha!

Liu Mengchao laughed and shook his head, the corner of his mouth curling upward. So he had become a reincarnator under the other side’s command?

“Then what about my prize pool points? How do I get them?”

“That is how it works, Your Excellency. For every point of prize pool points these reincarnators earn under your guidance, the other side’s Main God Space must pay you two points. Of course, there is one thing I must remind you to pay attention to.”

“Once this Main God world is over, my reincarnators will return to my Main God Space, and the other side’s reincarnators will return to his Main God Space, right?” Liu Mengchao smiled, leaning slightly forward as he looked at the six reincarnators before him. “So I also have to be careful not to raise a tiger only to be bitten by it.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

“Still, Bai Ya, no matter how you look at it, this wager agreement sounds like some idiot trying to buy my death with money.” Liu Mengchao smiled as he drew the two pistols from his waist, Ebony and Ivory. He aimed them at the reincarnators before him and carefully studied the expressions on their faces. “Unless I’m the idiot, his money is destined to go straight down the drain.”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Six gunshots.

The pistols in Liu Mengchao’s left and right hands fired in turn, the bullets skimming over the heads of the newbies before him.

“Welcome to the Main God’s game world, newbies! I’m your captain, Liu Mengchao!”

Pool system: 702,000.

Liu Mengchao swept his gaze across the expressions on the reincarnators’ faces one by one. That had only been a small scare. In Liu Mengchao’s eyes, six people combined would not cause any great psychological shock.

At most, one thousand.

That meant the wager agreement had already begun.

“Bai Ya, I have another question.” As he spoke, Liu Mengchao slowly and firmly moved the gun in his hand over the heads of the reincarnators. “Is the other side’s Envoy among them?”

While Liu Mengchao asked Bai Ya this question in his mind, the looks the reincarnators gave him in reality were all filled with fear. Fear from the depths of their hearts.

Their legs were faintly trembling; by the posture of their bodies, they looked ready to run at any moment. After all, this was a memory carved into their bones by countless generations of instinct.

The prize pool rises!

Pool points: 704,000.

“He is not among them, Your Excellency. He will only issue a single mission at the beginning, and then this entire world will be no different from the game worlds you have experienced before.”

“No, Bai Ya,” Liu Mengchao said, shaking his head. “At the very least, he also sent me a large batch of free labor. And a chance to make a fortune. A life like this, earning prize pool points with my own hands and not getting paid for it, is not something just anyone likes doing. So if I can be lazy, I’ll be lazy. By the way, is there anything else you haven’t told me? Tell me everything all at once.”

“Yes…” Bai Ya’s voice carried a hint of self-reproach. “I did not expect us to receive a wager agreement at this stage. It was all my mistaken assessment of the situation. I never thought they would move this fast!”

“This is not the time for self-blame. I want information, more information.”

“As far as I know, there are only two things most important concerning wager agreements.” Bai Ya took a deep breath. “First, the other side’s Envoy has one authority: the power to alter the fate of a story character. Second, as long as we survive, the next installment…”

“The next installment will be our home turf, and then we’ll make sure they die so completely that not even their bones remain!”

“That’s right, Your Excellency!”

Bai Ya’s voice slowly faded from Liu Mengchao’s mind. At the same time, a voice that Liu Mengchao detested beyond measure rang out in his mind.

“Mission for the world of Another now being issued.

“There is only one mission: find the ‘extra person.’

“Requirement: Before the ‘extra person’ is found, reincarnators are forbidden to use force, kill, or injure any story characters.

“Violators will be erased.

“Wishing all reincarnators an enjoyable game. Main God Envoy Qingyun is at your service, and sincerely hopes you survive safely.”

“Heh.” Liu Mengchao let out a cold laugh, then under the watchful eyes of the reincarnators opposite him, said, “This Main God Envoy’s mission statement is long-winded and obnoxious, and the ending is really unpleasant.”

Swish. Swish.

Ebony and Ivory were tucked back into Liu Mengchao’s clothes.

Only then did his words slowly reach everyone.

“Nagging just like my mother, and not even half as pleasant to listen to.”

“That’s right, that’s right.” A burly reincarnator across from him scratched his head and said with a grin, “I thought the same. This Main God might be a chatterbox. Captain, honestly, your welcome ceremony just now really gave us all a shock.”

Is that so…?

Liu Mengchao cast a pitying glance at the reincarnator before him.

The corners of his mouth were raised, yet the muscles around his eyes did not move in the slightest. A formulaic smile was fine too; at the very least, Liu Mengchao found it acceptable.

Because his attention had shifted to someone else.

A girl.

A girl of fourteen or fifteen.

A girl of fourteen or fifteen who was holding a lifeless doll in her arms.

“Pleased to meet you.” The girl manipulated the doll in her embrace. The doll opened its mouth and said, slowly and innocently, “We are Liu Ling and Ji Ruixue.”

As soon as the doll finished speaking, the bearded man beside them immediately cut in.

“Is your doll called Ji Ruixue?”

The doll shook its head. “No.”

“Then it’s called Liu Ling?”

The doll was still shaking its head. Together with its empty eyes, it sent a chill through everyone nearby. “I’m not called Liu Ling either.” The doll slowly nodded and bowed to the people around it. “My name is Doll. Thank you.”

The girl’s lips never moved. It was as if every word had come from the doll in her arms.

Liu Mengchao laughed. He liked reincarnators like that.

Because the prize pool had gone up again.

Pool points: 706,000.

Prepare to go bankrupt, Main God Envoy Qingyun, because your business ability is clearly failing!

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If there are any readers in the group named Rin, please come and claim your cameo role. Two three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three, and Doll Student too, two three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three three!

I’ve come up with a new wager mode... consider it the prologue to the team battle... please don’t scold me... o_o nooo!

Also... this chapter was thanks to the scheduled-updates helper...

Special thanks to Kiririn, the Frozen-Silent One, the Blue Friend, and Victoria 8 for their generous rewards!