I don't want to conquer witches anymore.

As for the suspect who escaped into the witch's game, he was also in the game. He was quite lucky and was not targeted by any monster veterans. After a few mediocre matches with normal people, he used up five cards and had two stars left, so he temporarily stopped the game.

Duke didn't approach the man because he was with Cecil, and the two of them would be too conspicuous if they went together. Besides, the old man had just announced a rule that "violent behavior is prohibited," so even if they went over, they wouldn't be able to catch him.

Moreover, Duke remained skeptical. This witch game was simply too incompatible with Cecil. If he hadn't come along, even if she hadn't been eliminated early, she probably wouldn't have won smoothly.

Going back along this line of logic, the bus accident this morning happened to occur near Cecil, and the man's escape was so obvious that even if Duke didn't notice, others might have (his perception isn't very high, so it wouldn't be surprising if others noticed), which would have attracted Cecil's attention and ultimately led him into this witch's game.

Could this be a trap set for the Radiant Witch?

Duke frowned: "Cecil, have you offended anyone recently?"

Guangbao blinked and obediently pointed at him.

Duke: "..."

"Forget it, you've offended too many people. Who knows who they are?"

The Radiant Witch has helped many people through her sustainable acts of heroism, but she has also offended many others. Countless people in the floating city admire her, but there are also quite a few who hate her to the core. Cecil herself is unsure who she has offended recently.

"However, even if someone really wants to harm you, it doesn't matter, because I've already found you."

Upon hearing this, Cecil blushed slightly, then hurriedly looked away, annoyed and embarrassed, and accused, "I'm warning you, we've already broken up!"

"Huh?" Duke said, puzzled. "Of course I know, so what if we broke up?"

His words infuriated Cecil again. She glared at him fiercely and asked directly, "Then why did you come to help me?"

Duke was even more confused: "What reason do I need to help you?"

"..."

Cecil covered his flat breastplate, feeling his heart beating slightly faster.

Wow, isn't this guy ashamed to say these things? Or does he simply not realize what he means by them?

It's definitely the former!

It must have been intentional!

He must be flirting with me!

Does he really want to get back together with me?

And yesterday Amber said those were all rumors; he's actually a smart genius and not a jerk at all (meaning he didn't jerk that perverted elf). What should I do if Duke really brings up getting back together? No, no, no, no matter what, he's still a jerk who cheated on five women, but he was so handsome when he saved the day...

Under Duke's relentless barrage of attacks, Guangbao was thrown into chaos and began to strategize on her own. But while she was struggling with her dilemma, Duke actually started to think about "why he helped Cecil" and carefully gave his reconsidered answer.

“If you die, Amber will be very sad, and I don’t want her to be sad.”

"??????"

amber!!!

A certain elven maid, who was far away in the floating city, waiting to freeload a meal, suddenly sneezed.

Duke, of course, had no idea what kind of ups and downs his words had caused Cecil; at this moment, his attention was elsewhere—he had finally decided to try to earn more stars.

"Hoarding cards based on the remaining cards seems like a good strategy, but if there are other hoarders or other extraordinary factors involved, it is easy to lose everything, and the risk is uncontrollable."

"Gambling in the long run will inevitably lead to losses; as long as I don't gamble, I won't lose."

"Nobody said that earning stars necessarily requires gambling, right?"

Duke waited for his opportunity, and with just over half the time remaining, he finally set off.

He strode up to the target he had already set his sights on, and greeted him with a smile:

"Hey, you have two cards left, right? Sell them to me."

Chapter Forty-Seven: Entrapment

"Hey, you have two cards left, right? Sell them to me."

The person being approached was a human man in a formal suit, with seven stars on his chest, meaning he had at least four wins so far. Duke knew he was a lone wolf player who had played ten matches before, winning four and drawing six, remaining undefeated.

This ever-victorious general immediately made an outrageous demand of Duke:

"One star and two cards."

Duke smiled and nodded: "Sure."

The man raised an eyebrow, then extended his hand to Duke: "Deal."

But Duke showed no interest in taking the star. Instead, he shook his head and said, "You're mistaken. You used a star to sell me the two cards you had."

"Huh? Are you crazy?"

"The two cards you have are two stones, right?" Duke's smile remained unchanged. "I can't see how you've managed to remain undefeated, but judging from the fact that you only dare to compete against newcomers, it shouldn't be a very strong ability, right? Is it a certain amount of luck? Or is it a highly limited divination technique? It's most likely the latter, otherwise you wouldn't be foolish enough to leave two stones in your hand."

"I don't understand what you're saying. The cards in my hand aren't two stones at all!"

"Come on, want me to show my hand and play a game with you? You wouldn't dare, would you? The disadvantages of being a lone wolf player are too fatal. I don't need to know what techniques you used to remain undefeated; I just need to know what cards you have." Duke shook his head. "Give me a star, and I'll take your cards. You can leave immediately after completing the game. Why not?"

The man's cunning was clearly not as good as his card skills; Duke immediately bluffed him out, and he couldn't help but shout:

"Are you an idiot?! I'll just refuse to do business with you, won't I?"

"Then I'll spread the word that you only have two stones. You'll become the target of everyone's attention, how about that?"

"To put it bluntly, you understand your situation. For nearly half an hour, you've been looking for clueless newcomers, trying to use your last two cards to compete. But no newcomer who's still alive would be foolish enough to compete with someone like you who's never lost. The only ones who would compete with you are the veterans who know you still have two stones left."

"If we continue the match, you'll lose two games and lose two stars. If you trade with me, you'll only lose one. How about it?"

"……damn it!"

After a long while, the man left the hall, leaving behind two cards, a star, and a barrage of profanities, and angrily completed the game with six stars.

Cecil stared in disbelief as Duke successfully extorted money from him.

"Who exactly is the bad guy?!"

"They are, and so am I, so what?"

Next, Duke quickly went to extort money from a few more people he had been watching for over an hour. However, these people had different remaining hands and varying abilities to cheat. Some even refused to trade, preferring to suffer for the sake of saving face. Therefore, his extortion was not successful for all of them.

However, this move ultimately allowed him to collect a total of three stars.

You always lose when you gamble, but the casino owner always wins by taking a cut.

Even the most skilled and cunning gamblers can slip up and fail, but as long as you don't bet on Duke, you'll never lose.

However, this kind of intimidation and extortion business won't last long.

Firstly, there are very few lone wolf players who can be blackmailed by Duke through card counting, and his memory is not so outrageous that he can remember too many targets.

Secondly, his ostentatious behavior quickly attracted the attention of others.

After Duke received the last star, three grim-faced veterans surrounded him. The leader, with a dark expression, said, "You're quite greedy, aren't you!"

Duke rolled his eyes at him, ignoring him completely, and prepared to go to the side to meet Cecil, who was waiting for him.

"Hey! I'm calling you, kid!" The leader blocked Duke's path again, his face filled with anger, his voice rising an octave: "I'm talking to you!"

“I know, but what are you planning to do to me in this hall where violence is forbidden?” Duke raised an eyebrow and gave them a mocking smile. “Are you planning to beat me up?”

"Hahaha! So you're a newbie, kid? You don't really think we can't do anything to you here, do you?"

To Duke's surprise, the three veterans suddenly burst into laughter in response to his provocation. Their laughter was filled with barely suppressed smugness and arrogance, which made Duke even more eager to see what other tricks they would come up with.

He could see their arrogance with a clear conscience. Even a fool could figure out why they dared to be so brazen—they simply had ways to exploit loopholes in the rules and harm others.

The legendary old man was saying that the rules in this hall are inviolable and cannot be changed.

Previously, some players who got frustrated with losing rolled up their sleeves and started fighting, but they were instantly overpowered by the staff who appeared out of nowhere and eliminated early. The staff's speed was so terrifying that Cecil didn't even have time to react.

Judging from those guinea pigs, such brutal acts of violence are punished, but some more covert attack methods seem to have been ignored by the organizers.

For example, hypnosis.

If hypnotizing someone to intentionally lose to you isn't considered violence, then is hypnotizing someone to commit suicide? Probably not!

Upon seeing the orc controlled by hypnosis, Duke realized this and even considered trying his half-baked hypnosis skills.

Of course, he failed. His half-baked self-hypnosis technique clearly wouldn't work on others, and in such a noisy and chaotic place, ordinary psychological suggestion simply had no chance of success. To hypnotize someone here, your hypnotic ability would need to be extraordinary, and you'd also need to choose easily hypnotized subjects.

Duke wanted a more versatile attack method—after all, they still needed to capture the fugitive suspect.

When acting, one should naturally go all the way.

"What are you laughing at!" Duke put his hands on his hips, frowned, and said irritably, "If you're so capable, why don't you just slap me to the ground?"

His original intention was to continue using provocation, hoping to provoke these veterans into making a move, but even he didn't expect them to actually do it.

The leader then raised his hand and slapped it across the face!

Duke: "?"

Is it really that simple and crude?

He quickly bent down to avoid the attack.

Does this mean I should instinctively retaliate, and then claim it's "self-defense"?

Surely their methods aren't that ineffective?

As it turns out, those who dared to act so openly and honestly did not disappoint Duke.

Because after the leader launched the attack, the other two could follow up, and the three of them, wielding fists the size of sandbags, ganged up on Duke and beat him up!

Meanwhile, the staff in the distance seemed oblivious to their actions... That was one thing, but even Cecil, who witnessed everything, didn't react at all, as if they were interacting harmoniously and amicably.

"How is this going?"

Chapter Forty-Eight: Modifying Cognition

"How is this going?"

Is it illusion? Or some other type of ability?

Several possibilities flashed through Duke's mind, but before he could think further, the three veterans attacked him, interrupting his train of thought.

He had no choice but to barely dodge their attacks.

Given Cecil's creativity in "being fooled" over the years, Duke dared not let her "improve things on the fly" in any situation. If a situation truly required Cecil to improvise, Duke had no idea what outrageous reactions she would produce.