Although the Black Mist Camp cannot be seen near the campfire where the demons live, the camp is actually within twenty steps along the path.
The air around them became even colder, and the permeable silence made the soul instinctively feel the atmosphere of danger and oppression. Everyone shut their mouths, and just like last time, in order to pass safely and avoid getting separated accidentally, four people lined up in a row, with the person behind him putting his hand on the shoulder of the person in front.
The witch Miss Higgins was still controlling the black scale that Shad had taken a fancy to and walking in the front. Behind her was old lady Miles, then Shad, and finally the boy.
Because the goal was clear this time, Miss Higgins led the group directly into the camp, and then moved carefully along the path between the shadowy vendors.
The direction the four people were walking this time was completely different from the last time, which meant that although the experience gained last time could still be used, what they would encounter on the way had become completely unknown.
The light of the four torches could only illuminate the goods on the stalls on both sides of the road. Under the light of the torches, everyone on the road had a different expression on their face. Miss Higgins was worried about herself and Mrs. Miles, the old woman was determined to go all out, Shad was frowning and thinking about the confusion in his heart, and the boy behind him was worried with a gloomy face.
There was silence everywhere, except for the burning flames, and even the sound of footsteps was swallowed up by the black fog. There was a faint smell of rot in the air, and the black shadows standing still in different postures behind the stalls had no faces, but they seemed to be watching them.
While walking, Xia De confirmed that although these shadows had different postures, their shapes were quite consistent. He noticed this when he first came here, and noticed it again this time, so his speculation that these things were not demons felt more real.
Miss Higgins, who was walking in front of them, suddenly slowed down while Shad was thinking. It was not because they had reached their destination, but because the still black shadow in front of them suddenly moved, which meant that they had encountered the "camp activity" that they had to participate in again.
It was a dark shadow on the left side of the path between the stalls. In front of the dark shadow was a rotten and peeling wooden table with a stack of cards on it.
When Xia De looked over, the black shadow just picked up the cards with the golden scale pattern on the back, then selected five cards and placed them in front of himself, then selected another five cards and placed them on the table facing outwards, and finally put three black coins next to him and made a gesture of invitation.
"Is this... playing cards?"
Shade was a little surprised, and so was Miss Higgins:
"Can you play cards?"
She asked Xiang Xiade softly. The champion of Big City Player 1853 was about to answer, but then realized what time it was:
“But I don’t know what cards it plays.”
Miss Higgins then tried to ignore the other party and walked straight past the card table, but as soon as she took a step, the sound of rattling chains was heard in the darkness that was not illuminated by the torchlight.
The young red-haired witch glanced at Shade, who nodded cautiously:
"We'll just have to try. Do you want to do it or should I?"
Mrs. Miles, who was between the two, consciously retreated behind the witch, and the boy moved closer to the old lady. Miss Higgins was obviously quite afraid of this, and Shade saw what she was thinking:
"I'm here this time, you owe me a favor."
"I see."
So Shade walked to the table and looked at the shadow:
"I'll play cards with you."
It looked like if you won you could take three coins, but it was unclear what would happen if you lost. Shade suppressed his uneasiness and reached out to flip open the first card in front of him. The moment the card was revealed, his eyes widened:
"How is that possible?"
The card is the Moon 4 from the Rhodes deck.
Xia De was quite sure that there would be no Rhodes cards and Rhodes card rules in this era. Even the All-Seeing Impermanence cards should be the rules of the "Game of Life" in this era.
"Because I was the one who turned over the cards, all the cards follow the rules of Rhodes? This shadow can give different types of cards based on my background? Wait, it..."
He suddenly realized something and quickly turned his head to look around. Tong Kong shrank slightly, and then he realized what he was thinking about:
“That’s interesting.”
He looked at his first card again, and then asked the shadow in front of him:
"What rules?"
The shadow stretched out three fingers, and Shade, who was quite familiar with the rules of the Rhodes cards, understood:
"Five cards for three games?"
The shadow nodded slightly.
This is a very special Rhodes rule, that is, a specific number of cards are selected and then turned over in sequence to complete a specific round of the game. Each card can only be used once, and the cards must be played in order, and only one card behind can be viewed in advance. In other words, if three cards are viewed, the first two must be played.
It is rare to encounter similar rules in formal competitions. This peculiar rule is mostly seen in banquet games. Under such rules, the most important provision is that there must be cards left in the hand at the end of the round. Therefore, if you want to win under a similar rule system, you must not only calculate your points, but also the number of remaining rounds and the number of cards in your hand.
After figuring this out, Shade rebuilt Moon 4 and pushed it forward:
"In the first round, I play a card."
The shadow pushed the first two covered cards forward, and after they were uncovered together, Shade's "Moon 4" was indeed defeated by the combination of "Sun 5" and "Flower 3".
Xia De continued to look at his cards. The second card was Star 7, and the third was Sun 5. He thought about it for a moment, and then skillfully used the third card to lift up a corner of the fourth card, and found that it was Star 8.
He breathed a sigh of relief and was about to push out the three cards at once, but the witch beside him stopped him:
"Although I don't understand the rules, but at the end there's only one card left, isn't that too risky?"
"I've already lost one round, I can't lose the second round."
Shad gave this explanation, and then he and Miss Higgins saw that the shadow pushed out two cards, leaving only the last one.
"If it only played one card this round, I would have other options, but now I have to use three."
He said this and revealed his cards. Shade had a total of 20 points, while Shadow had 9 Moon and 1 Flower, 10 points and lost the second round.
In this way, the final victory or defeat is just a matter of the size of the last card left by both sides.
There was no need to hesitate. The black shadow opened the covered cards and saw the number of 11 points, which made Miss Higgins take a deep breath. Although she didn't know the upper limit of 21 points, she could tell that they were comparing the numbers.
"Oh no..."
Xia De placed his hand on his cards, took a deep breath and looked at the back of the cards, then closed his eyes and threw the cards on the table. The snapping sound was particularly strange in the quiet camp. He was very sure that he would never lose, not because of the blessing of the God of Gamblers, but because -
"Flowers 12."
On the card, it was the Genesis Earth that Shad had gotten from Stone Oxenfurt. His ability to pull out the five Omnipresent Impermanence cards besides the Genesis Silver Moon at any time and anywhere came from the inexplicable "new power" after each major event of the Chosen One. This special power had not been restricted for the time being and could certainly be used in the Fifth Era.
Shade felt the witch holding her breath. The other cards had no card faces, only this one had a card face, so Miss Higgins could see that there was something wrong with Shade's last card. Of course, if she looked at the back of the card, she would see more problems.
Xia De also knew this, so he looked at the shadow behind the table in silence, waiting for the other party to make a judgment.
A few seconds later, the black shadow did not point at the card that Shade opened and accuse him of cheating, but slowly pushed the three black coins in his hand to him.
A smile appeared on Shade's face. It was not because he was happy that the number of his coins had become four, but because he had verified a conjecture of his. Although the Vientiane Impermanence Card was magical, it had to be recognized, otherwise it would be an ordinary card. If it was an ordinary card, there was no reason for Black Shadow to accept his cheating method.
So the situation now is that the card was obviously recognized, otherwise it would be impossible to explain why the other party did not accuse him of cheating.
"What kind of beings can recognize the Vientiane Impermanence card?"
He had a preliminary understanding of what the Tree Father wanted him to do this time. The demons, the shadows, and so on were all just a cover to mislead him. The god of wealth and trade was really a joke.
The number of coins Xia De had now increased to four. After heaving a sigh of relief, the group once again put their hands on each other's shoulders and lined up to set off.
In the next few minutes, they did not come across this kind of special stall in the market again. Special stalls were actually rare here.
And only after she was a hundred steps away from the shadow playing cards did Miss Higgins stop again, because the black scale had regained its balance here.
The devil just said that the merchant the boy was looking for was on the same road as old lady Myers was going to find the merchant, so the boy had arrived at his destination.
Miss Higgins, who was at the front, made way for the boy to approach the stall. When the boy walked past her from behind, Shad suddenly reached out and pressed his trembling shoulders:
"Do you know what the most important thing people should think about before they do something?"
“Will it be successful?”
The boy stood there without looking back at Xia De. Xia De always felt that he didn't dare to look him in the eye.
"No. The most important thing before doing something is to think about whether you should do it."
Shad gave his answer, the boy nodded, broke free from Shad's hand and came to the stall. Miss Higgins looked at Shad in surprise, Shad shook his head slightly and came to the boy's side.