It Wasn't Necessarily Me!

Because everyone had deduced that only Igola would choose "no," even Igola himself had wagered on five people during the guessing phase. Since everyone guessed correctly, the question was simply voided. "You people..." Igola gritted his teeth. Harvey spread his hands. "I had no choice, Igola. Bound by the Contract, I could only answer honestly. It wasn't that I didn't want to defend your honor—my heart simply wouldn't permit it. Even in my eyes, only a slender, form-fitting miniskirt and dignified black stockings are worthy of your corpse." "Young lady, I think someone lied!" Yaxiu raised his hand and declared, "How could anyone possibly have chosen 'no'? Even Igola himself couldn't have chosen 'no'—he definitely cheated!" "How do you know it was Igola who chose 'no'?" Annan shook her head. "No prying into the truth, remember?" Lisi frowned deeply as she stared at the six coins on the table. Igola continued to host the game. He drew a slip of paper from the black box, an expression of visible surprise crossing his face. "Question." "Would you give up everything for the one you love?" Yaxiu raised his hand abruptly. "Objection!" "I didn't even object to your question earlier! What the hell are you objecting to?!" Igola snapped. "Because the ones I love aren't in this world! The hypothetical is far too abstract for me—I don't even know my own feelings." Yaxiu sounded remarkably proud when speaking of his bachelorhood. "How about switching to a question that's friendlier to single folks?" Annan spoke up. "Just because the ones you love aren't in this world doesn't mean you don't have anyone you love." "But if they aren't here, how can I give anything up for them?" "Then just make them exist, isn't that simple?" Annan smiled. "If she's dead, bring her back to life; if she's gone, bring her to your side. If she doesn't exist, make her exist. A divine wish can realize any thought you have." Yaxiu was taken aback, a bizarre thought suddenly popping into his head. "Say, if I fall for a virtual character in a video game, and I wish for her to appear in reality to be with me—" Annan shrugged. "I'd say that wish of yours sounds a lot easier than resurrecting the dead." Yaxiu blinked. It had really never occurred to him that a wish could be used like that. Bringing Sword Princess and Witch to his side, and then embarking on a shameless fantasy journey together? Living an adventurous life of three times in the morning and four times at night? However, the idea only circled once in Yaxiu's mind before vanishing. Using a wish to find a wife was far too embarrassing. Besides, if he actually dared to do that, the very first thing Sword Princess would do upon arriving would probably be hacking him to pieces until he had to use the Reverse Day sorcery spirit to save himself—*You wasted a divine wish just to get a woman? Even if it was to find me, you shouldn't be so wasteful! I've never seen such a stupid little horn!* Still, Annan's words served as a reminder to Yaxiu. The people he loved in his previous life were naturally gone. But in this world, did he truly have no one he loved...? The answering phase concluded, and they moved on to the guessing phase. Yaxiu pondered: First off, Banjie and Annan were at least normal people of a civilized society, so at least one of them would choose "yes"; Next, the reason Harvey had broken out of prison to take revenge on Financier was that his lover had died, so he would probably choose "yes"; As for Igola—not that Yaxiu was judging the swindler's heart with the cynicism of a victim, but the idea of "Igola giving up everything for someone else" was about as unimaginable as Freya practicing celibacy. And little Lisi: at her age, she was in the "mine, mine, everything's mine" phase. Perhaps warm and caring daughters existed in this world, but recalling how Lisi had stirred up trouble the other night, she was shoddy cotton at best. Therefore, Yaxiu wagered two silver coins. Igola and Harvey also bet two, Banjie bet three, and most astonishingly, Annan and Lisi bet four! Yaxiu wondered if they had simply thrown in the towel—how could there possibly be so many love-struck fools willing to sacrifice themselves among the six of them? Yet when the handkerchief was lifted, Yaxiu was completely dumbfounded. Four "yeses," two "noes"! Yaxiu had undoubtedly chosen "no." Which meant that aside from a self-loving single dog like him, four out of the other five were actually love-struck, good-aligned saps who loved someone else more than themselves?! "A very interesting number," Igola said, raising an eyebrow. "In the first question just now, there happened to be two selfish individuals of the evil alignment; in this question, four selfless ones of the good alignment appeared—adding up to exactly the total number of us." "Could it be that the people who picked 'no' for this question are the prospective traitors who picked 'yes' earlier?" "No prying into others' answers," Annan reminded them once more. "The guessing is where the fun of this game lies." If Yaxiu hadn't picked "no" himself, he probably would have agreed with Igola's hypothesis. But he was just an ordinary guy who was neither willing to sacrifice everything for a loved one nor willing to resort to unscrupulous means for a divine wish! Did all you sorcerers have something wrong in the head? Loving without holding anything back, being evil to the point of slaughtering everything—were every single one of you unhinged psychos? "Daddy, you'd definitely sacrifice everything for me, right?" Lisi shook Yaxiu's arm, acting cute. Yaxiu wondered why she was clinging to him again when she had been so cold just moments ago. Human children really were incomprehensible creatures. He gave a perfunctory reply: "Of course... of course not." "Daddy, you won't even humor a little child. I feel sad for my future mommy." "Putting aside the fact that you dare assume you'll even have a future mommy, isn't there any girl in this world who doesn't need to be humored?" "Daddy, you look so handsome when you're this confident!" "Huh? Hahaha, indeed, you've got great taste." "See, Daddy? Even a grown man like you needs to be humored. How do you have the nerve to ask if other people need it?" "The final question." Igola drew a slip from the black box and said calmly, "Without the restrictions of the Contract, could you cooperate sincerely with the other five people?" A meaningless question, the swindler thought. Without the constraints of a contract, who would dare cooperate sincerely with anyone else? Not to mention that several of them were escaped convicts in a foreign land; not only could outsiders never trust them, but they were also riddled with mutual suspicion. And Annan and Banjie were seasoned professional kidnappers. Among the six of them, virtually none belonged to a lawful alignment. Throwing them together was like slamming a dumpster into a cesspool—even if they weren't wallowing in the same filth, they were at least evenly matched opponents. They could cooperate, but they had to be prepared for betrayal at all times, keeping a constant eye on their allies' movements. If all went well, fine; the moment anything went wrong, one had to strike first and betray the others before being betrayed. Igola used to have five partners: two had died in a drainage ditch, and three had been locked up in Feimeng City's Blood Moon Prison. If Igola hadn't been adept at disguises and selling them out ahead of time to draw attention away, he would have been dragged down long ago. A major reason Igola had fled to Kaimeng City to expand his business was that Feimeng City's prison was packed with people he knew. Those three former partners were probably rubbing their hands together in anticipation of reuniting with him behind bars. So Igola had simply run off to work solo in Kaimeng City; that way, even if he got caught, he could start fresh in prison. And sure enough, without partners to sacrifice, Igola had ended up bungling his way right into the net. Annan and Banjie couldn't possibly trust them, nor could they trust one another, which meant everyone would choose "no"... No, wait, there was still the wild card that was Lisi. Yet in Igola's eyes, Lisi was clearly a very mature little girl—and so-called maturity was simply the antonym of innocence. The answering phase ended, and they entered the wagering phase. "Zero," Igola said concisely. Harvey, Annan, and Banjie also wagered zero. Just as Igola thought this question was going to be voided as well, Lisi took out a silver coin— She wagered 1. Everyone looked at her in unison. The little girl lifted her head proudly and gave everyone a smile brighter than sunshine. Even knowing this might be an intentional attempt to please them, even Igola was touched by the little girl's innocence. Lisi wagering 1 meant one and only one thing: she had answered "yes." With her quick wit, she must have guessed that everyone else would answer "no," leaving her as the sole "yes." As a helpless, amnesiac orphan girl, she could actually still trust others. This sincerity, devoid of the slightest falsehood, felt somewhat glaring to a swindler whose heart was filthy enough to sprout mushrooms. The others seemed to share Igola's sentiment. The necromancer voluntarily stubbed out his cat grass cigarette, the Purple Moth's eyes lit up, and the young butler's gaze softened. As for Yaxiu— He wagered 2. Everyone was stunned. Then, lifting the handkerchief to look: four "noes," two "yeses." Now, everyone stared blankly at Yaxiu, and even Lisi was no exception. Stared down by them, Yaxiu felt a flush of embarrassment and indignation. "What are you looking at? It wasn't necessarily me who voted 'yes'!"