At that moment, I saw someone else step down from the carriage—Mona Ouyang. She approached as well. Two years ago, Mona Ouyang saved Vivian Ouyang and didn’t take her to Ghost Mound Forest. She quietly watched me, then spoke in a strange, mocking tone.
"Let me have a good look at you, Ethan Zhang. My reason for coming here is different from those who are just here to watch the show. I’m here to test your resolve."
I glanced around. These people all stood far off, looking like spectators at a circus. Annoyed, I muttered under my breath.
"Am I a monkey to them?"
Yuna Ji giggled.
"Ethan, you’re much more interesting than a monkey."
"How about this, everyone? I’ll open a betting pool. Let’s place our bets—I’m putting mine on Ethan Zhang losing."
A voice I found extremely irritating rang out, dripping with mockery. It was Lance Quinn, who suddenly popped up from underground. In his hand, he held a silver corpse jade, which he placed on the right side. He drew a line in the middle, marking 'lose' on the ground to the right, and 'win' to the left.
"This is a top-quality corpse jade—very expensive. If you want to bet, you’d better have something worthwhile to put up. Hurry up."
Lance Quinn said this, glancing over at our group.
"You two, don’t start fighting yet. Wait until we finish betting, then you can go at it. Hold on."
"What are you even here for?"
John Chou and the others all crowded over. Redmond snapped his fingers, and then Noah Grimm raised his hand, placing a large box of money on the 'win' side. At that moment, a faint blue glow appeared—Old Tom joined in the fun as well.
"I’ll bet on neither win nor lose. Is that allowed?"
Old Tom said this, taking out a pale blue stone. Everyone looked over.
"That’s not a good idea, little cat. Are you going to wager all your sheep-attributed treasures?"
John Chou muttered, then hesitated, glancing at me.
"Brother, should I bet on you winning or losing?"
"Young Master, it seems we don’t have anything to put up as collateral."
A flash of green light, and Mr. Brown appeared beside John Chou. After some thought, John Chou raised his hand and placed Rage Blood in the 'win' pile.