Chapter 044: The Agents of Life and Death

"Shan Feng, what are you trying to do?" Lin Xiayue said angrily, pounding on the baby spirit's arm with her fists, trying to break free.

"Gravity Field!"

Lin Xiayue activated the power of the Seven of Hearts—gravity field—against Shan Feng. Instantly, multiple times the normal gravity bore down on him. Yet Shan Feng merely trembled, barely affected at all.

"How is this possible?" For the first time, Lin Xiayue showed a look of anxiety as she saw Shan Feng unscathed. "The strength of my power changes depending on the area of control, but you can withstand my maximum gravity suppression!"

Shan Feng sneered. "When one's power is strong enough, external factors can't touch me."

He turned to Su Mu and warned, "Su Mu, save your effort. If you want to use your plant powers to break through the earth, you’ll have to see if I allow it."

Hearing Shan Feng expose his intentions so directly, Su Mu lowered the hand that had been about to activate the Four of Spades' plant growth ability.

Zhang Yisheng slashed directly at the baby spirit's arm with his scalpel. Bolstered by the sharpness of the Nine of Hearts, nothing in the world could withstand its edge. Yet the baby spirit's regenerative power far surpassed our expectations. Before Zhang Yisheng could fully sever an arm, the wound had already healed, the blade stuck inside the flesh.

Seeing that our strongest members could do nothing, I decided not to let my companions waste their strength any longer.

But Shan Feng hadn't realized that one of us had already vanished.

Sun Cheng's Schrodinger's Cat ability could be activated at any moment; no one could trap him. However, on his own he couldn't inflict any meaningful harm. For now, I could only ask Sun Cheng to stay hidden and observe.

"Shan Feng, what exactly do you want?" Wen Lingyu couldn't help but shout.

"Shan Feng, you broke the rules of the game! You're going to die for this!" Han Xue screamed and then burst into tears. I could sense her psyche was collapsing. Too many people had died in this game, and the brief friendship she’d shared with Wu Ziwei before her death had hit her especially hard.

Shan Feng swept his gaze over those around us and laughed.

"Didn't you all want to kill me? But in the end, you'll all die by my hand. Now I can gather plenty of playing cards at once. Hahaha!"

"What do you want the cards for?" Lin Wan suddenly asked, clearly trying to stall for time.

I, too, looked at Shan Feng, puzzled. Although we all had powers, we knew little about the cards themselves. We only knew they granted us abilities, but what one was supposed to do after gaining them was unknown.

"Then let me grant you the clarity of death," Shan Feng said. The wound on his forehead had long since healed. He looked at us as if we were lambs to the slaughter.

"There are fifty-four playing cards in all: the Joker, the Little Joker, and thirteen cards each for the four factions—Ghost, Corpse, Demon, and Spirit. Each card represents a unique ability."

"Those who possess cards become contractors who are drawn into the trial of life and death, fighting each other until only one remains to collect all the cards. Only then will this trial truly end."

"Of course, there’s another way to end it: by finding the Joker and the Little Joker. But legend has it that these two cards possess special powers and can disguise themselves as contractors. So, I think gathering all the cards is the more reliable option. Now, you can all die!"

Suddenly, Shan Feng made his move. The baby spirit's arms tightened around us, and I felt my breath cut off, an overwhelming suffocation flooding my mind.

But in the next moment, the grip around my neck loosened, and I was thrown heavily to the ground.

That's when I saw a familiar figure step between us and Shan Feng.

"Black and White Impermanence," I muttered to myself.

The contractors of the two Club cards had appeared to stop Shan Feng. Because of their distinctive costumes, I couldn't tell who they were, but they must have been hiding among the ordinary participants—players in this game as well.

"Here to stop me?" Shan Feng laughed.

"That's right," White Impermanence replied.

"Give me a reason," Shan Feng said, undaunted by the two Club powerhouses.

"You can't kill contractors at will," Black Impermanence stepped forward, his voice low and deep.

"What a joke." Shan Feng summoned the massive baby spirit behind him, preparing to fight. "Where were you when White Impermanence was sweeping through the girls' dormitory? Now you both gang up on me, do you really think I’m easy prey?"

With that, Shan Feng struck first. Several bloody hands lunged at Black Impermanence, who conjured a black scythe to block them.

"Shan Feng!" White Impermanence shouted. "Don’t force us to act."

She conjured a white soul-calling bell, sending shimmering white ribbons toward the bloody hands.

With a wicked smile, Shan Feng suddenly switched targets and grabbed White Impermanence instead.

"You two only have a joint attack ability. One-on-one, neither of you can match me."

"Let her go!" Black Impermanence yelled, swinging his black scythe down.

The ghost that managed the game was already dead. Our round had ended, so I signaled for Wen Lingyu and the others to retreat.

Tan Tou, Lin Wan, and I stayed behind to watch. Such a spectacle was not to be missed. If we could learn more secrets, all the better.

As soon as the game ended, Lin Xiayue, Zhang Yisheng, and the rest withdrew.

Although Lin Xiayue wanted revenge, Hu Xing'er forcibly dragged her away.

Black Impermanence's scythe couldn’t harm Shan Feng, who had awakened into the baby spirit form. Meanwhile, White Impermanence was being choked by the giant hand, her face turning crimson from lack of air.

Shan Feng laughed, easily parrying Black Impermanence’s attacks. Driven by fury, Black Impermanence’s scythe suddenly expanded to ten meters long, cleaving down on the giant blood-red hand.

The baby spirit's hand was severed, and White Impermanence fell. Black Impermanence rushed to catch her.

As Black Impermanence activated his power, I glimpsed the unique mark of a contractor—the Six of Clubs.

As expected, Black and White Impermanence were just regular contractors who had hidden their identities. Had we known, we might have concealed ours from the start as well.

Just then, someone else appeared at the center of the battleground, likely drawn by the commotion. It was someone familiar to all of us, and Lin Wan and Tan Tou had warned me to keep a close eye on him.

Zhou Zitong of the Club faction.

Zhou Zitong forcibly separated the combatants and shouted, "Everyone, back off!"

Black Impermanence, carrying White Impermanence, flew away at once, leaving Shan Feng behind.

"What now, planning a mutiny?" Zhou Zitong glared at Shan Feng.

"Are you going to fight me too?" Shan Feng’s eyes were red with fury, heedless of who stood before him.

"Shan Feng, you’ve broken the rules," Zhou Zitong said softly. "Come with me. You’re out for this stage of the game."

With that, Zhou Zitong dragged Shan Feng away by force. Shan Feng, for all his power, could not resist at all.

It seems Zhou Zitong had hidden his true strength in his match with Pang Dongqiang.

Tan Tou and I bid farewell to Lin Wan and returned to our dormitory.

"The Joker and the Little Joker…"

Chen Hao muttered to himself from his bed, and those words hit a sensitive nerve.

Shan Feng had said that in this game, killing the two ability users represented by the Joker and Little Joker would end everything. Or, one could kill all the other contractors and gather every playing card. But I could never bring myself to do the latter—to kill so many innocent people for no reason.

I wanted to discuss it with Chen Hao, Sun Cheng, and Tan Tou, but Sun Cheng stood against the wall in silence, unresponsive no matter how many times I called him. He still hadn’t recovered from Wu Ziwei’s death, I supposed.

The next round of the game wouldn’t involve us, but would include Li Yuan, Wu Mingran, and Pang Dongqiang, along with students from other colleges.

At least there was one piece of good news. While we were playing the numbers game, Li Yuan had, by chance, unlocked his ability. From what I’ve seen, it’s similar to my light shield—defensive. As long as those three stick together, I believe they can survive.

I left Han Xue to Wen Lingyu’s care. My most pressing task now was to pry more information out of Tan Tou.