It's so painful! So hard! So difficult!

Si Mo did not confirm Bai Lin's statement, nor did he deny it. He just gave Bai Lin a brief response. Such words inexplicably made Bai Lin feel a chill on the back of her neck, but she did not think about it further. She just continued to cheer up and entered the next game.

This time, Smoo's opening hand wasn't particularly impressive either. Her early moves were still smooth, but from a certain point on, they became incredibly skillful, leaving Chronos, behind her, unable to decipher her thinking. It was as if she could see through the deck, and the course of the game flowed naturally, following her every move.

Chapter 846 Didn’t you notice?

Bai Lin, like a reef that sometimes grows and sometimes shrinks, stands in the middle of the river. Previously, the reef itself didn't think it was such a formidable force that the river couldn't move, but now, even though she was just playing her cards normally, she was already a huge obstacle in front of Si Mo.

Seeing that both sides played their cards more naturally, at a certain moment, Bai Lin's eyes also lit up slightly. She declared to a card played by Huang Shen,

"I'm going to reveal the hidden card."

This action was not stopped by anyone. And the card that was revealed later, Bai Lin did not pick or touch it, nor did she win the hand. She just ignored the card very naturally after doing this. Then, it was her turn to draw the cards, and she drew another valid card, which was the last piece of the puzzle for her to win the hand. Seeing this, Bai Lin smiled slightly, played the cards horizontally, and declared loudly,

"Richichi."

This was exactly what Bai Lin had anticipated. She had no intention of relying on revealing the hidden cards to advance. Under these rules, the probability of what hidden cards would appear was extremely high. Therefore, she believed that rather than trying to guess what the hidden cards were, using them directly as an option to increase the bet was a more reasonable option.

And she was doing just that. Right now, she was the only one showing clear signs of a winning hand, and it was still early in the morning, so she firmly believed she could win immediately and tie the hand. In this situation, not raising her bet would be a bit unreasonable.

It was the second round of the South Division, with Aragami in the banker's seat. Bai Lin was holding Nanfeng's own card, and she did have Nanfeng's yaku in her hand. The reason she had both yaku and riichi was because she not only sounded good, but also had dora1, which allowed her to achieve a grand slam with riichi, while also putting a certain amount of pressure on the field.

With someone like Smoo's seemingly perceptive style, even if her strategies were mostly ineffective against him, it was still too difficult to expect her to pull off a knockout blow. So Bai Lin wasn't deliberately targeting his opponent; he was simply doing what he was good at. Come on, if I win on my first shot, I'll just jump full, widening the gap between us. Before the halfway mark, I'll have a steady hand on the situation.

Thinking this way, Bai Lin was ready to start the next round of drawing cards. But Simo whispered,

"eat."

Bai Lin's first move was quickly destroyed. However, Si Mo showed no sign of stopping. When she played a card, Huang Shen immediately knocked it down and played a Fa. Si Mo then called out again, placing the Fa at the edge of the table. In the back-and-forth exchange between the two, they had already completed two sets of Lu, not giving Bai Lin a chance to draw any cards.

The cards, seemingly scattered at first, suddenly took on a murderous intensity. Even if they weren't significant, harvesting one more soul from Bai Lin, who had already paid out, would undoubtedly give her a greater advantage. Bai Lin sensed something was amiss, but she didn't regret her decision.

Having more cards exposed and playing faster doesn't necessarily mean you can win faster than yourself. She just calmly waited for her turn to draw a card. Unfortunately, she didn't draw a card. She looked at the card and briefly analyzed it.

On Smo's side, the probability of already having a draw is still quite high. My draw cards are 3 and 6. The 6 has already been taken by the God of Wilderness, leaving only one in the hands of the poet. The 3 has also been played, so the number of draws is not optimistic.

For now, I should play it safe and let the poet go, allowing this round to pass smoothly. While this would place a burden on the poet, the next two rounds would be my turn as the banker, and I would simply navigate them more smoothly. This way, I wouldn't need to consume any of the poet's soul points or souls, and could collect the seat bonus again, achieving a compounding effect.

So, Bai Lin immediately decided to send his signal to the poet. But the poet who picked up the card seemed very solemn. She shook her head and looked a little embarrassed, which made Bai Lin feel a little suspicious. And Simo, at this time, spoke again.

"Why didn't the poet give you a chance? That's what you're thinking, right? Holy Son, you seem to have figured out the direction you should take, but you haven't escaped your own fear. You're too eager to defeat me. I'm afraid you won't feel at peace until this game is over."

She lit a cigarette, holding it beside her, and took a long drag. Her wandering eyes and analytical tone, like her smoking habit, still occasionally pierced Bai Lin's heart. Bai Lin didn't react immediately, but continued to ponder the poet's reasons for not firing. After observing for a while, he answered calmly,

"Can you make such a thing sound so mysterious? But you are really smart, Smoo."

Bai Lin's expression didn't change much at all because of the other person's words. Instead, he praised her. After all, this move was indeed clever. A 7-sou lay on the river of Smo's previous turn. This meant that if Smo was drawing, there was a good chance she was also drawing to 3s or 6s.

Suppose the opponent originally has a hand of 5, 7s, and so on, and when they draw 4s, they will naturally cut off the 7s, forming a better hand. This logic is very easy to understand.

This way, the poet naturally couldn't offer Bai Lin a draw. Once she played, Si Mo, sitting below the poet, could immediately grab the draw, a move known as a "cut-in." Even if the points weren't necessarily high, Si Mo's hand was undoubtedly a significant obstacle, forcing one to be on guard.

So, to be safe, the poet played a familiar four-cake. Small then made a noise and unexpectedly took it, clearly her previous draw was still a bluff, which was indeed the kind of play she was good at.

The opponent immediately withdrew a three-card hand, completely eliminating any possibility of a "3, 6s" draw. Seeing this, Bai Lin's eyebrows twitched slightly. This behavior was like a provocation, deliberately provoking Bai Lin and the other two, mocking them for being fooled by his trick again.

In this kind of card game, it's better to give up than to lose easily. It was precisely this mentality that Si Mo grasped, which led to his repeated success. However, Bai Lin didn't believe that her and the poet's decisions were wrong. She stared at the cigarette in Si Mo's hand. The fire made her eyes appear slightly dazed, but Bai Lin's actions remained unchanged. Once again, she failed to win by herself and calmly discarded the useless card.

Chapter 847: Equality is interesting

In truth, Bai Lin was lost in thought. She was wondering, if Si Mo had already established a deterrent strategy, why would she abandon it after just one round? Wouldn't the poet still be able to give her a draw in the next round? It was obvious, and Si Mo couldn't have failed to anticipate it. And someone like her wouldn't choose a useless tactic, absolutely not.

The card she had played after standing upright hadn't caught her off guard. Sometimes she did have an uncanny sense of cards, as if she could see through a mountain of cards, but that didn't seem to be the case this time. Bai Lin's intuition told her that Smo's actions were not as simple as they appeared.

At this moment, the God of Wilderness touched the card Bai Lin had discarded, then slammed his previously reserved card onto the table, forming a hidden gang. The new indicator was nine cakes, meaning the treasure card was one cake. And the God of Wilderness touched exactly one cake. In just one round, the God of Wilderness had three treasure cards, which was undoubtedly terrible news.

By saving the hidden kong for this patrol, and then opening it, it was clear that Huang Shen had already listened to the cards and wanted to make a gamble on Lingshang. However, she quickly played the lingshang card, and it was obvious that she was unsuccessful.

Seeing this scene, even Bai Lin couldn't help but feel a little nervous. Were they finally caught up? These two were no ordinary people. It was a bit wishful thinking to expect to always be so far ahead.

However, it was only a matter of catching up, nothing more. Huang Shen's intention on the ridge was to get the winning hand before Bai Lin could, thus directly destroying his hand. If this step failed, there would be no way to stop the poet from giving him a winning hand. But Simo's behavior was still worrying...

As she thought about it, a strange feeling like an electric current shot through Bai Lin's head, and she figured it out. It was Simo and Huang Shen, using a similar tactic to the Dongfeng Field, but this time, their target was the poet.

First, he used a round of intimidation, forcing the poet to abandon his intended action. Then, he used taunting, attempting to stir the opponent's emotions. Then, he encouraged his teammates to rally their forces, causing the poet to feel his safe cards were dwindling, forcing him to search for a known safe card. However, that "safe card" was also trapped, ultimately leading to victory for Smough and the others.

At this thought, Bai Lin noticed the poet's hand had already reached out, suspended in the air. She could clearly see the hand holding the card trembling slightly, which further confirmed Bai Lin's suspicions. She hurriedly tried to stop the poet's hand, but the poet's next move seemed to see through Bai Lin's actions. She raised her hand to block Bai Lin's movement and forcefully knocked the card away.

6s, that was Bai Lin's winning hand. For Smo, she had already played the Sujin card, so it was difficult to draw this one. For Aragami, she had also encountered this card before, and it sounded very difficult, but...

"Tie, three colors, treasure card 1, 2000 points. Holy Son, I thought it might be a little difficult to catch up with you, but I'm relieved to receive the soul point you paid. A relatively even match is more interesting, don't you think?"

For some reason, Si Mo looked somewhat refreshed, but his expression didn't change much. Bai Lin secretly sighed and ignored him, instead looking at the poet next to him. She naturally didn't blame him, but asked with concern,

"Are you alright, poet? They're using the same tactics they used on me before on you. I've experienced this feeling before, and it's definitely painful. But just like you said..."

Bai Lin was naturally the type of person who would prioritize caring for his companions when they made mistakes. However, the poet simply shook her head and interrupted Bai Lin's consolation. She replied,

"I'm fine, Bai Lin, but this is actually a slightly better option. You've also seen the deck of cards that Huang Shen has, right? In fact, it's not any worse than the one you drew in the previous Dong Si game."

"She's the banker, and if she wins, she'll be the banker for the rest of the hand. And she has quite a few remaining cards to win with, so the chances of a win are incredibly high. I have quite a few dangerous pieces in my hand. You also have a straight, so you might miss out. While it might seem like you have a significant advantage on the surface, she actually has a clear advantage. After all, your winning hand doesn't even match the winning hand for a pair."

"In this case, rather than trusting probability, it's safer for me to shoot this small, certain card."

The poet said this calmly, as if the disadvantage in this round had never happened to her. And she continued,

"2000 points. Although you paid a little extra soul point, it's by no means a bad thing. No one can be lucky forever. As long as we continue to play well, it's fine. If you sit in first place, you will always have a two-point soul point advantage over the team. However, such a small payment is nothing to us."

"It's your turn, Holy Son. This round has been a bit frustrating, right? Then seize the opportunity and go all out. Let's take back what we've lost."

The poet's words made sense, but while Bai Lin found them pleasing to the ear, she felt a faint unease creeping in her heart, as if she had overlooked some crucial, potentially fatal detail. So, what about the poet's earlier trembling? Wasn't that out of fear? Was I mistaken?

A poet is not the kind of person who would show off his face in such matters. Maybe it’s just my own illusion.

Although Bai Lin's thoughts became clearer, she still felt that there was a lingering haze in her heart, but she couldn't express it. At this moment, Simo moved the hand holding the cigarette away, put it in his mouth, took a deep breath, and then said,

"As expected of an astrologer, you truly possess sufficient courage and insight. However, this situation... does put Saint Son in a difficult position. It's easy to say, 'Let it go,' but how easy is it to actually do it?"

"However, gambling itself should have such an irrational mentality. Holy Son, are you ready?"

Si Mo's riddle, followed by a question, left Bai Lin completely bewildered. For a moment, she couldn't comprehend his words. Unsure of how to respond, she looked away, pondering for a moment. Suddenly, an unusually striking number captured her attention.

That is... 1, the number 1. It has mathematical origins and is a very common number. But at this moment, the meaning it carries is profound.

Chapter 848: South Third Bureau

Seeing the number 1, Bai Lin felt a sudden storm sweep through her mind, leaving it completely blank, unable to register anything. Her eyes froze, then turned into an incredulous stare.

Written on the back of Smoo's body was the phrase "Number of Souls Remaining: 1." The owner of that data was the poet. She had no soul points left, only a single one. Simply put, she was in a critical condition.

Giving Bai Lin a card? She had no room for such a move. If she triggered the bomb, the game would be over, and the poet would be dead. Such news naturally left Bai Lin completely overwhelmed. She glanced at her hands, as if to confirm the reality of this, then slammed her hands on the table and looked at the backboard.

...When? How is it possible?!

In truth, even before the Nanfeng match began, the poet's soul was already in a precarious state. She was in last place, had already shot Bai Lin once, and even had her soul points squeezed twice in a single round. Nanfeng shot Bai Lin once more in the first round, and then targeted Smo. She had gradually reached her current desperate state.

And Bai Lin hadn't noticed anything about this? She couldn't accept this fact. The poet was her important boss, so why would she ignore this situation?

The reason was simple. Bai Lin, already in a dangerous situation, was constantly being prodded by the poet's offensive rhetoric, which naturally gave him the psychological cue, "I'm safe. Take care of yourself, and I'll help you." Bai Lin, already exhausted from dealing with the situation, naturally followed the poet's guidance.

Besides, Simo had been lighting a cigarette and leaving it there since the Dongfeng Field. This had gradually become a habit that people felt was reasonable. She did the same at the Nanfeng Field...which didn't surprise Bai Lin at all. The light from her cigarette was right in the blind spot of Bai Lin's sight, where he couldn't see the part of the scoreboard that represented the poet.

The poet's seat was on Bai Lin's right, and Bai Lin was completely blind to the number of soul needles on her neck.

The poet had probably done this unintentionally, leading Bai Lin to not notice this gap. Simo, however, had taken advantage of this and achieved the current situation.

In an instant, Bai Lin felt as if she couldn't breathe. Her eyes were dazed and her breathing became rapid.

Death... The poet is only one step away from death! Such pressure made Bai Lin completely unable to ignore it. And at this moment, Si Mo slowly said,

"It seems you're getting nervous, Holy Son. You've finally noticed. Extracting the soul will directly affect the body, so you've got some sense of it, right? Your good teammate seemed to be keeping quiet, suppressing everything, to avoid affecting you. And just now, she almost revealed herself in front of you, her hand trembling, but you didn't notice anything was wrong. In the end, this is the result."

"Admittedly, your thinking is very clear. Concentrating the points in one person's hands ahead of time will certainly prevent you from being unable to do this in the subsequent rounds. However, such a transfer naturally carries risks."

"Now, you have no way out. If the poet takes a wrong step, it will be a fatal mistake and a complete failure. Of course, you can also trust her not to make such a mistake. She is your most trusted teammate, isn't she? She is very smart, you know it best."

Smo's tone gradually softened, but the excitement also began to rise with her seductive eyes. She continued,

"If she's really in danger, you can always end the game. You have plenty of points, wouldn't it be better if you were the one to make the mistake?"

Bai Lin remained silent. Simo's words were like jumbled messages, seemingly unheard, yet deeply imprinted in Bai Lin's mind. Yeah... couldn't he just fire the cannon himself? He clearly had more points. As long as he was in the first position... no, it didn't matter if he wasn't in the first position. If the poet died, it would mean complete failure. It wasn't just a gamble, he actually let her die in such a ridiculous place? What a joke, this was absolutely—

"Don't listen to the devil's words, Holy Son. Everything she said is a trap for you. If you think about it carefully, you will understand. However, she is right about one thing: I am very smart, and you know it. Don't worry, just do it."

The poet interrupted Bai Lin's thoughts. She was as calm as ever, giving off a sense of composure. But when Bai Lin looked at her mask, she could no longer accept her words calmly. Was the poet clever? She knew she was, of course, but the opponent before her was not simply clever enough to guarantee a safe retreat.

The poet had also fallen before Bai Lin before, discouraged by certain situations. She wasn't invincible, and even though Bai Lin knew that precognition was practically invincible at this table, she still couldn't let it go. No matter what, she couldn't leave the poet alone to face the traps and tactics of these two men.

She stared at him intently, unable to look away for a long time. The poet did the same; no one knew what she was thinking. If the poet had said to Bai Lin again, "Just do it, and leave the rest to me," Bai Lin would have listened, relying on his trust.

But the poet simply turned his head and looked forward. Those cold words, along with the mask separating the two of them, were like a dark wall, completely unsettling Bai Lin.

"Let's begin the battle of the South Third Division."

The poet declared so.

Apparently, due to his restlessness, Bai Lin, playing in the South Third Division, wasn't dealt good cards. As the dealer, this was undoubtedly bad news. Bai Lin, pinning his hopes on the poet, cast a questioning glance, but the poet simply shook his head.

It looked like the poet was complaining about his own cards being bad. But Miyu, sitting next to them, could clearly see their hands. It was clear that the poet had a good opening hand, even a decent one: a standard "Ritsuki-hei-dan" (Ritsuki, Heihe, and Duanyi) combination.

Why was she shaking her head? Isn't the poet sister...my sister's teammate?

Immediately, Miyu deduced a few things. One of them was that this deck of cards seemed a bit too big.

Chapter 849 Seven Pairs

Generally speaking, the bigger the winning hand, the better. However, for the poet at this moment, this was bad news. If Bai Lin let the poet go, he would suffer a heavy blow from the point stick, wasting an entire round and sending back the soul points he had already converted. This was disadvantageous to the team.

Of course, if one can consider the possibility of the opponent's attack, a larger hand is better. But at the moment, it seems that the only ones playing with tactics are Smoo and Huang Shen. Their playing style is like seeing through the card mountain, and also seeing through Bai Lin himself. Forcing Bai Lin to switch to a different style will only have the opposite effect.

As it stands, Bai Lin is well ahead in first place. Even if the poet flips a few hidden cards after accepting the handoff, Bai Lin's first place is still guaranteed. While it's a bad strategy, it's better than picking on the opponent. So, what is the poet thinking?

Miyu's gaze shifted back to Bai Lin, who looked a little agitated. She looked at the somewhat scattered cards and observed them...

Could it be that this deck of cards holds a chance for a resurgence? Sister has now lost the poet's help, but the two opponents will definitely target the poet sister, so if Sister has a good hand now, she can definitely win by herself!

The answer was, indeed. Although she started with only two pairs and a bunch of completely unrecognizable side cards, her subsequent progress was completely different from her initial start. In her next five rounds, not a single invalid card was played. Bai Lin quickly built a seven-pair hand (seven types of paired cards), even holding a pair of treasure cards.

Seven Pairs, in Riichi Mahjong, offers both offensive and defensive advantages. Because you hold a large number of pairs, losing just one can eliminate all your cards. Furthermore, Seven Pairs often includes cards like the character 1 and 9, providing more safer cards for defense. Furthermore, after reaching a winning hand, you can switch to a winning hand at any time.

On the offensive side, while the number of winning hands is limited to three, making it difficult to reach Seven Pair without a wild card, Seven Pair, after riichi, can hit the inner treasure, becoming a pair of treasure cards. Seven Pair, with two inside two, is also a classic jump-to-full hand. The enemy's safe cards will eventually be exhausted, and a wild card might just happen to be in your hand. Therefore, Seven Pair is a very powerful hand.

Clearly, Bai Lin's seven pairs couldn't immediately stand at attention. Their superior, the God of Wilderness, had already done so in the previous round. It seemed that, contrary to the poet's assertion that "they can't always have good luck," the God of Wilderness, always frivolous, now seemed even more cheerful, as if gaining momentum.

This... how could she be so fast? Here, we can only use the Seven Pairs defense first. A rash attack will only increase the chances of a hit. The poet can't afford to let himself down right now, and the chances of a self-draw with Seven Pairs simply aren't high enough. If the hand wasn't Seven Pairs, but something like a Peaceful Three Sides Draw, it would be much better.

More importantly, once he went riichi, he was completely unable to offer any aid to the poet. Even if the Aragami's draw wasn't high, it would still be a sure kill for the poet, because that was the rule of morning and evening mahjong. So the best scenario was to predict the situation and kill him with one strike... No, to be safe, he should not go riichi.

Thinking of this, Bai Lin maintained a state of silent listening, praying for the arrival of self-touch. Once self-touch came, all his worries would disappear.

Unfortunately, the good times didn't last. After two rounds, Bai Lin still failed to complete a self-draw, but instead collected a seven-cake wild card that looked exactly like the card the God of Heaven wanted. So, Bai Lin took it and played his original winning hand. This way, he could not only hold back a possible winning hand for the God of Heaven, but also end the situation at any time by letting the God of Heaven win.

In the next round, Bai Lin actually directly touched the card she had drawn in the previous round, which was a West Wind. This made Bai Lin feel a surge of inexplicable annoyance, but she still played the card calmly. This scene made Mi Yu slightly smack his lips.

In this situation, if the second option fails, anyone would get a little impatient. Stay calm, sister.

But we all know Bai Lin is incredibly patient—only sometimes. Over the next four rounds, she repeatedly tapped in and played two pairs, never quite reaching her desired seven. One could even say the river successfully masked her intention to draw seven pair, perhaps a different kind of good luck.

The problem was, Bai Lin had no hope of these gods and demons turning on each other. Smo remained composed, unable to read her emotions, while the other wild god seemed to be treating the mahjong tiles like a joke. Trying to get them to turn on each other was incredibly difficult. The only way to break the deadlock was to self-draw the seven-piece tile.

After Bai Lin failed to win again, the long-silent voice rang out again from the table opposite her. The God of Wilderness pointed at the arrangement on the table of Simo and said,

"I'm going to reveal this hidden card."

"Prevent the reveal."

Instantly, three more soul points were slammed onto the table. The weight of this round shifted instantly. With the only opponent waiting for a hand, Aragami, it was clear they were planning to deploy their strategy of transferring soul points to Aragami. This momentarily made Bai Lin's heart tighten again, and now, Bai Lin's desire to win the hand became even stronger.

Even if it's just one, as long as they can block their cards, they can overturn the already determined situation. Unfortunately, the probability of drawing seven cards by themselves is too low.

At that moment, a noise came from the poet's side. After Bai Lin failed to win a self-draw again, she unexpectedly also drew a seven-piece. While blocking the opponent's winning hand was certainly a good thing, Bai Lin's chances of winning a self-draw were further reduced.

Bai Lin now saw only one option. He hoped that Aragami and Smoo wouldn't touch the remaining 7p, allowing the game to slowly end in a draw. With only a few rounds left, it would be difficult for him to win a hand himself. He might as well get rid of An's safe hand at the right moment.

Coincidentally, Bai Lin, in the next round, drew a wild card, Forty Thousand. She accepted it and turned to look at her own paired West Wind. This card was Smo's Self-Wind. Although it was paired, it was still a wild card on the field, so it was not completely safe.

Smoo hadn't made any moves, and his hand looked haphazard, suggesting he likely wasn't drawing a hand. But Bai Lin knew full well that dealing with these two opponents meant he couldn't use common sense.

Chapter 850 Win the game with your mouth?

The possibility that Smough was already drawing a card certainly existed. If one had to explain why this form of silent listening was used, it was because the Bard would be dead if he fired a cannon at this point. By applying pressure to Riichi, they could induce the Bard to withdraw his cards, thus letting him fire. This tactic was indeed easy to understand.

It was precisely because of this understanding that Bai Lin snatched up Xifeng in his hand and threw it away with a look of annoyance. For Huang Shen, this card was undoubtedly the safest. Of course, he had to choose a small one. If he tried to guess at whether other cards would fire at Huang Shen at this moment, if they did, it would be a fatal blow.

Looking at Bai Lin's slightly ferocious expression, Simo breathed a sigh of relief, and very naturally put down the cards in front of him, and said,

"Rong, Xi, 1000. As expected of the Holy Son, it seems you listened to my words. When it comes to decision-making, it's better to be decisive."

Bai Lin was about to retort, but when she saw the fallen cards, her pupils trembled again. Smoe's hand contained three 7s. Wasn't this the most likely winning hand for the God of Wilderness? Could it be that the God of Wilderness hadn't considered this hand from the beginning, and therefore hadn't given up on it?