Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Chapter 332 The Extra Playing Card

"A tie counts as your victory?"

The temperature inside the cabin continued to drop, the damp air almost felt like it could condense into water particles at any second. Although Shard was tormented by hunger, hearing about playing cards immediately invigorated him.

"In the event of a tie, I'll concede victory to you. Moreover, I respect the special rules of Roder Card, and my deck has no Special Cards; I am a very fair person."

Shard nodded and overturned his deck onto the table, mimicking the other's gesture by pulling at it slightly, causing the cards to scatter in a pile.

He paused for a moment, his hands moving to reorganize the deck, then carefully spread the entire deck out evenly in an arc.

"Let's not waste time. I am looking forward to seeing your cards."

The captain said, reaching out towards the deck, and nine cards automatically slid out from the fanned-out pile. He casually grouped the nine cards into threes, then flipped them over together:

"First set, 21 points."

The first three cards were a Flower 3, Sun 10, and Moon 8.

"Second set, 21 points."

The middle three cards were Moon 7, Flower 7, and Star 7.

"Third set, 21 points."

The last three cards were Star 9, Moon 6, and Sun 6.

The nine cards were laid face up on the table, revealing nine different card faces on which Evil Spirits writhed as if they truly existed within the flat cards.

The captain's card-flipping was very quick, but his speech was even faster. He announced the result first and then flipped the cards, meaning he knew the outcome without needing to look at them.

In fact, this was unnecessary because he had printed the deck in front of Shard saying, "It's not cheating if it's not caught." These were the captain's own words, and he clearly knew what he was doing.

"It's your turn."

The captain gestured for Shard to pick cards, his expression particularly vicious in the cold green light:

"It's not cheating if it's not caught, but if you are caught cheating, the price is much more than just a chopped hand."

"I never cheat when I play cards."

Shard said, swallowing saliva as the pain in his stomach numbed. He turned slightly to look at Miss Princess behind him; she was watching Shard's cards with great anxiety:

"I believe you."

Her somewhat pale lips moved slightly as she whispered, but now the problem was that Shard didn't believe in himself. He was just very lucky at Roder Card, it wasn't a guaranteed win. After the opponent shamelessly scored three sets of 21 points, he wasn't sure what the outcome would be next.

"However..."

Genesis: Balance slid out from the left sleeve, then skimmed across the underside of the table toward the opposite side. Shard glanced and saw that neither the Evil Spirits nor the captain noticed his slight movement:

"This is not a fair way to play cards!"

He exclaimed loudly, the sudden sound drawing the monsters' attention.

"You're talking to me about fairness?"

The captain laughed loudly and then slammed his hand on the table:

"Pick your cards, otherwise consider it a loss!"

"Fine, then prepare to face your defeat!"

Shard replied, with his loud voice and arrogant tone drawing the attention of most of the Evil Spirits to his outstretched right hand.

Miss Princess, standing behind him, had her right hand tensely pressed on the back of the chair. Based on her knowledge of Shard, he wouldn't use such a tone without reason; it seemed he was deliberately attracting attention.

"These nine."

He casually selected nine cards from the pile, grouped them into threes, and placed them in front of himself:

"First group, watch closely, if I win, don't say I was cheating!"

He covered his stomach with his left hand and lifted the first three cards in succession. Moon 9, Moon 1...

His hand purposely paused:

"Watch closely, the next card will be Moon 11!"

Shard continued to raise his voice, his expression that of a gambler who bet everything. The evil spirits all looked over, their whispers melding into a continuous murmur, like the eerie sidetalk in a graveyard at midnight. Even the captain squinted his eyes as if guessing what trick Shard would use:

"It must be—"

He lifted the card high and then slammed it down onto the table:

"11!"

The card faced up, indeed it was a moon, but it was Moon 3, Shard lost the first group.

Even the skull lanterns overhead let out a laugh.

"Second group!"

Shard said loudly again and reached to flip the cards. Sun 5, Sun 12...

At this sight, Shard was taken aback. He could pull out the Sun 4 card of "Southern Carsonrick Folklore: Moon Dance Festival" at any moment, and if he did, his second group would also be 21 points, and a tie would count as his win.

He looked up at the captain, who was staring at him with a mischievous smile. That terrifying smile made Shard hesitate. Cheating only counts as cheating when it's found out, but he wasn't sure whether these evil spirits captured by the ship could detect a blessing from two weak spirits.

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After thinking it over, he decided not to pull out the Moon Dance Festival card and instead flipped over the last card of the second group with a normal approach.

Moon 4, luck was on Shard's side. The second group totaled 21 points, and with a tie, he won.

As he breathed a sigh of relief, he also heard Miss Princess's heavy breathing from behind him; she must have been very nervous too.

"You win the second group, start the third," the captain urged, while the surrounding evil spirits suddenly fell silent. This eerie calm was even more terrifying than the previous whispers and curses filling the air. But fortunately for Shard, his "hunger" was now overwhelming, leaving him to pay no mind to the current atmosphere.

He looked down at his cards, for Shard was not one to gamble on luck:

"I've won."

He looked up at the captain:

"There's no need to flip the cards, I've won, now let us leave."

"Oh? Have you lost your mind?"

The captain asked, and Shard shook his head:

"You cheated, so you've lost."

The sailors, glowing with a sickly green light, all looked at Shard, who in turn stared at the captain.

"Are you suggesting that I can manipulate the points of my own cards?"

The captain narrowed his eyes and asked, becoming increasingly dangerous as an odd scent began to emanate from him, his ugly face looking more and more fish-like.

"Of course not. What I'm saying is, when we started playing, your deck had the normal 54 cards, but tell me, how many cards are in front of you now?"

The captain looked down at his deck, and Shard immediately provided the answer:

"55 cards. It's only cheating if it's discovered, and now your deck has one extra card, you've been caught."

Fingers like they were soaked in mucus touched the cards before him, the captain pulled out the only card that didn't belong to him and revealed it, it was "Genesis: Balance." Just now, Shard had drawn the sailors' attention, and while the captain was focused on speaking with him, he had managed to sneak the card into the opponent's deck.

Thankfully, the card was directly linked to the power of the Ancient God, and it wasn't manipulated by Sorcery to fly, otherwise it would likely have been noticed. The ways to cheat at cards weren't limited to only manipulating one's own, affecting the opponent's could just as well secure a win.