Keep Moving Forward (The Card Player) Chapter Twenty-Nine: Self-Hypnosis

Li Xiaoyue possessed a mental ability: hypnosis. However, its effect on enemies was weak; the best results required trust and a quiet environment. Now, with foes closing in, she had no time for alternatives. While firing wildly to keep them at bay, she turned her hypnosis inward.

“You are a woman who kills without hesitation. You are cold and merciless. Until the enemy falls, do not doubt these words.”

Even at such a critical moment, Li Xiaoyue reacted swiftly. Her stamina was a mere four points, and the exertion had left her heart unsteady, but with hypnosis, her grip on the gun gave her a significant advantage.

After all, Number Seven had been injured in the battle with the Cerberus and was still not recovered.

As the two tangled, Number Two— the chubby boy—watched thoughtfully. He tossed a die, saw that Number Five vanished as well, and immediately understood: “So that’s it—once dice counts drop below ninety, each one used also erases one persona in turn, skipping spaces already occupied. In that case…”

No one here, save perhaps Number Seven, was a fool. After the first round, Ren Yin had allocated points to reach nine intelligence. Li Xiaoyue’s seven made her clever by ordinary standards.

The current situation meant the track was shrinking, and this pattern of erasure increased the odds of high-value areas cropping up.

“Risk rises sharply… but so do the rewards.” Many thoughts flashed through Wu Hui’s mind before he decided to throw three dice. With Li Xiaoyue and Number Seven so evenly matched, the fight might not last.

He would go to help.

When Wu Hui appeared just a space ahead, Number Seven realized he was truly trapped.

At that moment, an invitation arrived—an offer to sign a slave contract. If accepted, his points became his master’s property, to be given or taken at will. He would have to obey all orders and could not harm his master in any way.

The initiator: Number Two.

This contract was nothing like the partnership contract, in which both sides were equals. Here, it was total submission and exploitation.

But it was the only way for Number Seven to survive. If the chubby boy gave him five hundred points, he could revive after death. He’d still be within Li Xiaoyue’s attack range, but at least he’d escape Wu Hui for now.

He accepted.

A shot of laser pierced Number Seven’s head.

As Li Xiaoyue killed, the hypnosis dissolved, and she began to tremble violently. She saw Number Seven revive at the starting point, and the chubby boy’s score drop by five hundred.

Ren Yin immediately threw the dice. The map shrank, bringing Wu Hui’s position adjacent to the starting point. A flying knife swept past, stopping Number Seven from attempting to kill Li Xiaoyue.

But now, Number Seven could roll the dice again.

“Imprisonment card!”

“Negative Effect Removal card!”

Wu Hui and the chubby boy, each from a distance, played their cards. Number Seven’s chance to roll was sealed and then restored, and in the end, he escaped.

Only eighty-one dice remained. Number Seven landed, by luck, on the twelfth space—a monster reward settlement—and his points soared by over a thousand. He’d slain many monsters, but until now, had never landed on a reward space. Now, fortune favored him at last.

However, the chubby boy quickly drained almost all his points, leaving him with just five hundred and fifty.

“You’re not simple, are you?” Wu Hui eyed the chubby boy, who looked all of fourteen—young enough to still be in junior high—pushing his glasses up his nose.

The chubby boy was still a good ten meters away; he had to speak up for everyone to hear: “Don’t blame me. The three of you are clearly working together. If you kill Number Seven, what’s to stop you from turning on me? Of course, if I hadn’t made a contract, knowing Number Seven’s intelligence, he’d probably try to kill me too. This is the only way.”

It was exhausting to shout so much from afar. Number Seven, derided as slow-witted, could only gnash his teeth in frustration.

The current standings: Wu Hui led with 2,600 points; Number Two, the chubby boy, was second with 1,800; then came Ren Yin, fresh from solving a puzzle, at 1,050; and finally Li Xiaoyue, who had just earned 500 points for killing Number Seven, at 650.

The game pressed on.

Dice continued to dwindle. Low-score areas disappeared, and soon the fifty-point spaces were gone entirely.

Wu Hui drew a handgun in the hundred-point region, while Li Xiaoyue acquired a designated number card, letting her choose her own dice roll once.

Such items grew more valuable as the game progressed. Having just killed someone, Li Xiaoyue seemed dazed. Her heart truly seemed frail; four stamina points were proving insufficient, and she now sat on the ground, resting.

When seventy dice remained, Ren Yin finally reached the starting point, earning five hundred points.

She had bought an item with a thousand points, and drawn a card at five hundred. Even after picking up a few bonus points along the way, she now had just five hundred and fifty left.

With everyone’s points rising, a single fight was no longer fatal. The map was shrinking. Soon, true battle with real weapons would erupt.

The chubby boy’s caution was justified. Wu Hui, Ren Yin, and Li Xiaoyue’s alliance was obvious. In fact, they’d made little effort to hide it.

“Then we must strike first. When we run into Number Two and Number Seven, don’t hesitate—use every tool and trick you have,” Wu Hui said through their mental link. Ren Yin agreed quickly, but Li Xiaoyue hesitated.

She had no other choice but to hypnotize herself again, forcing herself not to hold back.

Mercy to others was cruelty to oneself.

Hypnosis succeeded, and Li Xiaoyue’s expression turned cold once more, matching the deadpan faces of Wu Hui and Ren Yin.

So far, the system had not intervened, but the players had naturally split into two camps and begun to clash.

This matched Wu Hui’s original prediction.

He closed in on Number Seven. Wu Hui stood on the sixteenth space, gaining a positive effect: heightened confidence. Number Seven, on the seventeenth, suffered a negative effect: intense heat.

But such boosts and penalties were minor matters for both.

Bullets and knives flew. Number Seven held only a blade. Skilled as he was, Wu Hui didn’t even need to activate his “Little Joker” state to render Number Seven utterly defenseless.

“Tch.” Number Two, frustrated by his teammate’s incompetence, played another card: “Protect Number Seven!”

A barrier shimmered between spaces sixteen and seventeen, blocking further combat.

Number Seven, bloodied, lay on the ground, gasping for breath.

Wu Hui’s face was pale as well. He had hoped to kill Number Seven, send him back to the start, and let Ren Yin finish off their opponents by draining their points.

But now it seemed the chubby boy had come well-prepared.

P.S. Another chapter repaid. I’ll tally up what’s been added and what’s still owed at the end of the month.