The flame inside the kerosene lantern hanging from the roof beam flickered. Its light spilled downward, and the shadows cast across the tabletop seemed to come alive, clawing and writhing.
Everyone in the tavern held their breath. Every bizarre creature’s gaze focused sharply on the four players.
Russian roulette officially began!
“What a coincidence. The first shot starts with me? Then allow me to test the gun for the beautiful Miss Bai Tang~”
Werewolf Eric’s eyes were also covered by a black cloth strip. His tone carried a hint of surprise.
Because her eyes were completely blindfolded, Bai Tang could only tilt her head and listen carefully to every tiny sound.
After a faint mechanical click, the werewolf seemed to have raised the revolver. The barrel slowly pointed at his own massive wolf head.
He pulled the trigger.
Click—!
The first shot was a blank.
“What a shame it was empty. Then the next shot goes to the beautiful Miss Bai Tang~”
The werewolf’s voice sounded relaxed, even carrying a trace of schadenfreude. Bai Tang frowned slightly.
Was it a coincidence that the werewolf sat right before her in the turn order?
In Russian roulette, the player who went immediately before the next shooter held an enormous advantage.
If he had figured out the live round’s position in the cylinder, he could fire a blank himself and then spin the cylinder to set up the next person for death.
On the other hand, under the clockwise firing rule, Bai Tang — in the second position — would find it nearly impossible to target the werewolf in the first seat while skipping the starving ghost in third and the scarecrow in fourth.
Two bizarre creatures acting as a defensive moat?
Bai Tang was speechless. Her luck really was terrible.
At that moment, the sound of the revolver cylinder spinning came from her right. The girl froze.
Why would the werewolf choose to spin the cylinder?
Her confusion was reasonable. When Russian roulette was mentioned, most people would naturally assume that with one live round in six chambers the odds were 1/6.
That was not the case at all.
The 1/6 probability only applied to the very first shot if the cylinder was not spun. Each subsequent blank eliminated one empty chamber, increasing the odds of hitting the live round on the next pull.
First shot: 1/6.
Second shot: 1/5.
Third shot: 1/4…
The longer you went without spinning, the more dangerous it became. Spinning the cylinder reset the odds but carried the penalty of an extra shot.
At the very start of the first round, the werewolf in the first position held an absolute advantage. Bai Tang simply could not understand why he would spin the cylinder after firing a blank and reset the odds for her.
Unless… the werewolf already knew exactly where the live round was, and spinning the cylinder was not to help her but to move the live round into her next shot.
“You know the bullet’s position?” Bai Tang asked, testing him.
“Me? Heh~” The werewolf chuckled lightly. “Miss Bai Tang, you’ve misunderstood me. I, Eric, never cheat.”
From the sound of it, he placed the revolver back on the table.
“But I’d love for Miss Bai Tang to guess whether the next chamber is live or not.”
“Next player, take the gun,” the tavern owner announced coldly as referee.
Damn it. She had completely underestimated him!
This was probably why they had blindfolded everyone. There was no way to read facial expressions or body language.
Even on the very first shot of the first round, Bai Tang faced three possible scenarios.
Scenario 1: The werewolf knew the live round’s position and had moved it to her shot. Without spinning, 100% death rate. Even if she spun, the extra-shot penalty still gave her a 33% chance of dying.
Scenario 2: The werewolf did not know the position and was tricking her into spinning. Without spinning, 16% death rate. With spinning, 33%.
Scenario 3: The werewolf knew the position and had spun the cylinder a full rotation back to the start. Without spinning, 20% death rate. With spinning, 33%.
The more she thought about it, the harder the choice became!
“What’s wrong, Miss Bai Tang? Haven’t decided to pick up the revolver yet?” The werewolf mocked. “Don’t tell me you’re scared out of your wits. Need me to pull the trigger for you?”
“No need. Thank you.”
Bai Tang answered coldly.
She knew stalling would not help. The girl reached out and picked up the revolver lying on the table in front of her.
Just as she hesitated over whether to spin the cylinder, new text slowly appeared in her right eye’s vision.
[Current chamber contains a live round.]
Bai Tang froze. The hand holding the gun trembled.
Of course! Her right eye was the transplanted Eye of Breaking Delusions. How could she have forgotten that?!
The next shot really was live. If she chose not to spin the cylinder, her death rate would be 100%!
Without the Eye of Breaking Delusions’ warning, even Bai Tang would not have known how to win.
“I guess the next shot is live, so my choice is to spin the cylinder.”
The corners of her mouth lifted slightly. Bai Tang deliberately raised her voice so the werewolf on her right could hear.
The moment her words fell, the entire tavern erupted in an uproar.
“Is that stupid human even playing properly?! Didn’t Mr. Eric already kindly spin the cylinder and reset the odds to 1/6 for her?”
“Why would she take the extra-shot penalty and bet on 2/6 instead?”
“She doesn’t even know whether 16.67% or 33.33% is bigger. Truly idiotic!”
“……”
Bai Tang ignored the surrounding jeers. The creatures were only calculating random odds under the assumption that the werewolf did not know the live round’s position.
But from his earlier suspicious decision to spin the cylinder and the fact that the current chamber truly held a live round, it was clear the werewolf had already discovered the bullet’s location through some method.
As the saying went: You started the transparency first!
Now that danger was confirmed to be gone, Bai Tang stopped overthinking. She raised the revolver, pressed the barrel to her temple, and used her index finger to nudge the cylinder forward one click, precisely skipping the live round.
According to the penalty rule, she had to pull the trigger twice this round.
The entire tavern fell deathly silent. Every gaze locked onto the pink-haired girl as they waited for the outcome.
First trigger pull.
Click—!
Blank.
The crisp sound rang out clearly in the silent tavern. Everyone swallowed hard. Even they themselves had not realized that a trace of admiration had risen in their hearts toward the weak human they had looked down on moments ago.
Bai Tang placed her finger on the trigger again and pulled a second time.
Bang—!
Every heart in the room clenched violently at the deafening sound. Yet the imagined scene of a bullet tearing through her skull and brains splattering everywhere did not appear.
The loud bang had come entirely from the werewolf’s palm slamming onto the tabletop.
He raised his hand. A small patch of deep red bloomed in his palm. The werewolf grinned.
“Heh heh. There was a fly buzzing around my ear the whole time. I couldn’t hold back and swatted it. Didn’t scare anyone, did I?”