"Let go! That's not what I meant..." Marcus was freaked out and pissed, worried both sides would get into a massive gunfight and get him killed on the spot.
"Oh, that's not what you meant? You should've said so sooner—I almost got the wrong idea." Leon smiled and let go, sneaking a peek at the clock: 11:56 PM.
Damn! Only one minute had gone by.
Leon's behavior made Marcus's eye twitch. He looked sadly at the black handprints left on his floral shirt.
Who said this guy was back to normal? He was still totally nuts! What kind of poisonous mushroom did this kid eat that screwed him up this bad?
"Uh... Leon." Vincent's careful voice came from behind Leon.
"Are you sure you're completely back to normal? Maybe..."
Leon was just wondering how to kill more time, and Vincent had walked right into it.
He raised an eyebrow and snapped, "Maybe you should do it! Maybe you should do it?! I hate it when people talk behind my back. If you don't trust me, then get up there yourself."
Vincent's face immediately went cold. Getting called out like this in public as the East District Leader made him feel totally humiliated—he wanted to put a bullet in Leon right then and there.
But he held back. With mutant creatures lurking outside Ash Soil Town, if they couldn't find someone to handle Bone Spitter, the whole town was screwed.
He choked down his anger, telling himself not to argue with a crazy person.
"Let's get this show on the road already. Everyone's getting antsy—hurry up and tame that cursed thing," West District Leader Viper said coldly, gripping his gun.
Sigh.
Marcus took a deep breath, slowly calming himself as he stared at Leon across from him.
Really crazy or just faking it?
Whatever, it didn't matter anymore, because next... I'm going to control this whole damn game!
Confidence flashed in his eyes—the kind of confidence that came from over ten years of practicing sleight of hand.
His nickname was Magic Hand for a reason. He could not only tell what cards were which just by touch, he could even spin a revolver's cylinder to whatever position he wanted. That meant he could make the gun fire on whichever shot he chose.
Rock-paper-scissors was kid stuff. As long as he won the first move, he could load the bullet, spin the cylinder, and control the whole game.
"I'm throwing scissors next," Marcus said, staring hard.
He deliberately gave away his strategy, starting mind games with Leon.
Leon couldn't give a crap about any of that—his whole focus was on the time. Just three more minutes!
Damn, why were three minutes taking forever?
Time to get weird!
Suddenly, Leon let out a cold laugh. "Did you know there's a foolproof way to win Devil's Wheel?"
As soon as he said that, not only did Marcus freeze up, but everyone else watching did too.
Not taking my bait? Marcus narrowed his eyes and forced a laugh. "This kind of life-or-death game is pure luck. How could there be a foolproof way to win?"
Leon looked disgusted, like he was sick of how clueless this guy was. "Just because you don't know doesn't mean it doesn't exist."
The teenager sounded so sure, so confident that even Marcus the card shark started second-guessing himself. "What foolproof way?"
Leon's mouth curved up. "The foolproof way is to let your opponent shoot first."
Everyone was confused. That's how you win for sure? How's that work? Then what?
"What kind of BS is that? Then what?" Marcus looked totally skeptical, thinking Leon was telling some stupid joke.
"Then what?" Leon shrugged. "Then you take the gun and pump five bullets into your opponent."
Marcus: "???"
The air suddenly went dead silent.
The square with over a hundred people fell into an icy atmosphere because of Leon's one line.
Turns out bad jokes really could kill the vibe.
"Pfft..." Someone couldn't help cracking up.
Others started cursing: "What the hell..."
"What kind of bullcrap foolproof method is that? Why don't you just say blow your opponent away with six shots?!"
"Heh heh..." Marcus laughed coldly twice. "That joke sucked. Let's play rock-paper-scissors."
Looking at the hand stretched toward him, Leon stayed quiet. Two more minutes.
Time crawled by second by second. Marcus's raised hand was getting sore, and whispers started around them.
"What's Leon doing? Why isn't he starting?"
"Is he having another breakdown?"
"What breakdown? He's obviously scared shitless! Must've gotten all fired up thinking he could become the cursed thing's master, jumped up there without thinking. Now when it's time to get real, the kid's chickened out."
Vincent's expression darkened as he gripped his gun tighter. The only reason he put up with Leon was because Leon had the guts to step up and try to tame the cursed object. But now that Leon wasn't doing squat, how could he keep putting up with this crap?
"If you're scared, just get down from there and stop making a fool of yourself!" Marcus pulled back his sore hand and said nastily.
The doubting voices around them got louder and louder, but those final two minutes still weren't up.
Leon, who was about to become everyone's target, started laughing. His mouth split into a grin like a vicious lone wolf in the dark night, showing white fangs to his prey.
"I'm not scared—I just think this is way too boring."
"Boring?" Marcus frowned. "You think a life-or-death game is boring?"
"Bone Spitter's cylinder can hold six bullets, but there's only one loaded right now. That's just a one-in-six chance of dying—isn't that boring as hell? If we're gonna play, let's go big."
"How do you want to play?"
"Add more bullets, obviously." The teenager's words caused total chaos.
A one-in-six death rate was already enough to scare most people off. They never thought Leon would have the balls to add more bullets.
Marcus's heart sank a little. Sure, he was a card shark who'd specifically practiced Devil's Wheel, but he'd always practiced with just one bullet. If he just randomly added another, his 100% win rate would drop to 98%, which was cutting it way too close.
Seeing Marcus hesitate, Leon kept going, "You know why you've won three rounds straight but still can't tame Bone Spitter?"
"Why?"
"Because you don't have the balls!"
"You son of a..." Marcus instantly lost it. "Fine! Add the damn bullet! Add it right now!"
He grabbed Bone Spitter and shoved two more brass bullets into it, glaring furiously at Leon.
"Now we're talking. Only someone with both guts and luck deserves to tame Bone Spitter. But..." Leon suddenly switched gears, staring intensely. "It's still not enough."
"What?! Still not enough?" Shocked voices came from the crowd.
"Two bullets already and it's still not enough? Does Leon want to play with three?"
"Holy crap! Three bullets—that's a fifty-fifty death rate."
Marcus was also blown away by Leon's words. Three bullets meant his win rate was less than 80%. How was that different from suicide?
Leon glanced at the time from the corner of his eye. One more minute!
His heart immediately calmed down, but his face stayed ice cold. "If you're scared, just get down from there and stop making a fool of yourself!"
Hearing those same words thrown back at him, Marcus went ballistic on the spot. Me, a card shark, afraid of some punk kid?
"Fine, I'll play your game."
He pushed the third bullet into the cylinder.
But then Leon shook his head. "Not enough."
Marcus was stunned. Still not enough?! Four bullets? Playing this insane?
He couldn't quite handle Leon's aggressive stare, which made his gun hand shake a little. The chaos around them made him even more on edge. He wanted to back out, but suddenly something hard pressed against his back.
West District Leader Viper's cold voice came from behind: "You know what happens if you don't get that cursed object."
With Leon in front and Viper behind, Marcus was completely trapped with nowhere to run.
Humans are weird creatures. When there's no way out, some kind of desperate courage kicks in.
Marcus gritted his teeth and quickly got it together, steadily loading the fourth bullet.