Dead on Mars

Chapter 200 - Sol Three Hundred and Twenty-Five, Do Not Disturb My Cards
Chapter 200: Sol Three Hundred and Twenty-Five, Do Not Disturb My Cards

“A pair of 8s!”

“A pair of 10s!”

“Slifer the Sky Dragon!”

“Three 7s with a pair of Qs. Want them?”

“Of course, three Js with a pair of 6s.”

“It’s my turn. Obelisk the Tormentor! Want that?”

“…Tomcat, why does it seem like we aren’t playing the same game here?”

The two humans and cat were in an intense match on a figurative card table. Although Mai Dong was the landlord with Tang Yue and Tomcat being peasants, the latter two weren’t united. The cat and man fully showcased how the Chinese were experienced at internal strife, but inexperienced at fighting their real external enemies as the two peasants began fighting over trivialities.

Tang Yue had useless cards—a 3 and a 4. Looking up at the cat’s face, the latter wore an unperturbed and unfathomable expression.

It was the most terrifying matter to play cards with an opponent like Tomcat. This was because it could backstab you regardless if you were an ally or not. It all mattered if it was happy, and you never knew what was on its mind. Yet, its ability to memorize cards were extraordinary. It basically knew which player had which card towards the end of the game.

You couldn’t control it, but it could see through you.

Tang Yue’s biggest card was the Black & White Joker. This was his trump card. He believed that all of them had rather scattered cards, so the possibility of a Bomb existing was very low. There was no other card that could beat his Black & White Joker.

“A pair of Ks.” Mai Dong threw a pair of cards. “Tang Yue, do you think we are nuts?”

“A pair of Ks… I want it. A pair of As!” Tang Yue struck the screen and threw out two As. “Why do you say so?”

“The space station is about to crash, and here we are playing Fighting the Landlord.” The girl giggled. “An analogy would be a cruise ship finds itself leaking in the middle of the ocean and about to drown, but the sailors just gather together to play cards the entire time. Anyone will find this crazy, isn’t that so?”

“In essence, card games are mathematical games—at least to me. This is a competition and deception based on probability. Since time immemorial, humans have had a soft spot for such games. Do you know in which era such similar games first appeared?” Tomcat said indifferently. “It happened more than two thousand years ago during the Pre-Qin period. Its name is Liubo, literally ‘six sticks.’ In a certain sense, it’s one of the first card games in human history.”

Tang Yue pricked his brows up.

“To humans, such entertaining activities are very widespread and they are infatuated with them. From the Arctic Circle’s Greenland to South America’s Peru, as long as there are people, there will be playing cards. No matter what difficulty or disaster you face, no matter how pressing the situation is, to the point of being on the brink of death, you will sit down and say to anyone in front of you…” Tomcat said, “Let’s have a game of Gwent.”

As Tomcat nagged on, it threw a pair of 2s, preventing Tang Yue from continuing. Finally, Tomcat went easy on Mai Dong. This cat was an ingrate, an enemy spy who would reach deep into the working class.

It didn’t seem to care that it should work together with Tang Yue to defeat the landlord. It attacked whoever it wanted, making it exasperating for its teammate.

“So we aren’t mad,” Tang Yue said. “We are Archimedes.”

“Archimedes?” Mai Dong didn’t understand what he meant.

“It’s said that Archimedes died under the blade of an ancient Roman soldier. Back then the soldiers had charged into Archimedes’s residence while he was contemplating a mathematical diagram. The last words attributed to him is ‘Do not disturb my circles!’” Tang Yue explained. “If the Universe were to be destroyed the next second, what would you say?”

The girl thought for a moment.

“Do not disturb my cards!”

“Do not disturb my fish!” Tomcat threw out a card.

“Do not disturb my police!” Tang Yue was never one to go with the flow.

The two humans and cat kept throwing out cards one after another, and soon, Tang Yue had few cards left.

He still had a few single cards, including a pair of 4s which he hadn’t found a chance to discard. In addition, he had a Black & White Joker.

The Colored Joker had yet to appear and its owner was a mystery. Of course, Tang Yue felt as though everyone was an enemy with that most powerful trump card in the hands of any one of them.

Mai Dong still had five cards.

Tomcat still had three cards.

Tang Yue frowned. If he could clinch victory this round, he could recoup most of the Happy Beans he had previously lost. If he lost this round, his already broke account would only turn for the worse.

Tomcat clearly didn’t care about the outcome. It was the real landlord, with hundreds of thousands of Happy Beans. Losing a few rounds wouldn’t leave a dent.

“Tang Yue, it’s your turn,” Mai Dong urged. “What are you doing? Why are you in a daze?”

Tang Yue looked at the screen in front of him. There were a total of four cards, two 4s, and a single Eight of Spades, and a Black & White Joker.

He was in deliberation. This might be his only chance to throw the pair of 4s, but the pair was just too weak. If the rest had a pair, they could immediately break his flow, and that would doom Tang Yue, preventing him from using his trump card. Nearing the end of the match, it was clearly unwise to throw something this weak. F*ck, damn Tomcat. I’m not only dealing with Mai Dong. I still have to be careful of Tomcat’s attacks, making them gang up against me.

Should I throw it?

Should I make a bet?

Should I bet that Mai Dong and Tomcat don’t have any pairs and are unable to trump my pair of 4s?

If I don’t throw the pair of 4s?

If I don’t, there will only be the Eight of Spades and the Black & White Joker… I’ll first throw the Eight of Spades before the Black & White Joker?

Tang Yue overruled the choice. After the Black & White Joker was thrown, he would be under the mercy of his opponent’s Colored Joker. Once he was blocked, he would hold the two pathetic 4s to death.

“A pair of 4s.” Tang Yue threw his cards.

Tomcat glanced at it and shook its head.

“I can’t take it.”

Mai Dong’s voice sounded after it.

“Neither do I.”

Success!

Tang Yue was delighted. Mai Dong and Tomcat didn’t have any pairs in their hands after all. He wanted to throw his Eight of Clubs next, holding a Black & White Joker in his hand. The victory was at hand. It was in the bag!

“Eight of Clubs!”

“Colored Joker.”

The Colored Joker was indeed in Tomcat’s hand.

After it threw out the Colored Joker, it had two cards left. Furthermore, they weren’t the type that could be thrown out at once. In terms of single cards, nothing was bigger than the Black & White Joker in Tang Yue’s hand.

Mai Dong and Tang Yue passed as Tomcat threw a Queen of Hearts, leaving one card in its hand.

Following that it was Mai Dong’s turn. No matter what she threw, there was nothing that could stop Tang Yue. With victory in the bag, Tang Yue could already see the Happy Beans flowing into his account.

“Five of Hearts.”

Mai Dong threw a card out.

Tang Yue was stunned. Tomcat had thrown a Queen of Hearts. But you threw a 5?”

Following that, Mai Dong continued throwing out cards.

“Five of Diamonds.

“Five of Spades.”

“Five of Clubs.”

“Finally, a 10.” Mai Dong cleared all her cards and clapped. “Mr. Kunlun Gambling Saint, I’ve won.”