"Vic, I did not know you harbored such specific proclivities."
Enid crossed her arms, glancing faintly at Vic, who was still covering his face and trying to play dead. Her tone was 30% teasing and 70% "I see right through you."
"I'm sorry, I have sinned..."
Vic peeked with one eye through his fingers. His voice was muffled, carrying sincere remorse and a lingering embarrassment that refused to dissipate.
Heaven knew what short-circuited in his brain just now.
"Enough! Vic, start the next round!"
Wednesday's cold voice sliced through Vic's self-flagellation and Enid's teasing.
She had already returned to sitting on the edge of the bed. Her hands rested flat on her knees, her spine straight as a rod, as if the person who had just jumped up from being licked on the sole of her foot with an exploding red face wasn't her.
Although she was trying her best to maintain her usual iceberg facade.
The faint blush that hadn't completely faded from her pale skin, and the flame dancing deep in her eyes—brighter than ever before—betrayed her far-from-calm inner state.
It was a flame mixed with shame, unwillingness to admit defeat, and a competitiveness that had been thoroughly ignited.
"No more, no more!"
Vic shook his head like a rattle, crossing his arms in a big 'X' in front of his chest.
"Someone's gonna die if we keep playing! I surrender! I forfeit! Pretend I never mentioned any stakes!"
He was genuinely scared now. That "accident" just now was stimulating enough. If things escalated further...
"Double the stakes."
Wednesday's red lips parted slightly, spitting out three words. Her voice wasn't loud, but it was like a boulder thrown into a calm lake, instantly stirring up a thousand waves.
Vic and Enid froze simultaneously, looking at her in unison.
Wednesday's gaze calmly met Vic's shocked stare. Word by word, clearly and distinctly, she said:
"The winner may command the two losers to complete one task together."
The air seemed to solidify.
"T-Two? Together?!"
Enid reacted first. Her blue eyes went wide as saucers, her voice pitching up.
"That... that exciting?!"
She grabbed Wednesday's shoulders and shook her vigorously, whispering urgently and shyly:
"Wednesday! Are you crazy?! What if... what if we both lose? Then wouldn't that mean... wouldn't that..."
Perhaps uncontrollable images were surfacing in her mind, because Enid's face turned beet red again in an instant. Her voice got smaller and smaller until it was basically a mosquito hum.
"I will not lose."
Wednesday's tone was flat but carried an unquestionable certainty, as if victory were already in her pocket.
Her dark eyes looked sharply at Vic, filled with naked challenge.
This powerful confidence acted like a bucket of cold water, dousing Vic's desire to retreat and igniting the bone-deep craziness and competitiveness within him.
"Oh?"
Vic slowly lowered his hands. The hippie-smiling, joking expression receded like the tide.
He narrowed his peach-blossom eyes slightly. Deep in his pupils, dark vortices seemed to gather. The corner of his mouth hooked into an arc that was a mix of danger and extreme excitement.
His entire aura shifted abruptly—from the cowardly pretender to something... predatory.
"Yare yare... My dear Wednesday, are you that confident?"
His voice dropped low, carrying a lazy magnetism but containing power that couldn't be underestimated.
"Don't capsize your boat and drag yourself down with it~"
He sat up slowly, brushing back the strands of black hair falling on his forehead, revealing a smooth brow and eyes that looked exceptionally deep in this moment.
"Since you've shown such 'sincerity'~"
Vic licked his dry lips. His gaze swept over the battle-ready Wednesday and the bewildered Enid like a physical touch.
"It would be rude of me not to show you my true power, wouldn't it?"
"W-Wait!"
Enid looked at the atmosphere taking a sharp turn and waved her hands between them frantically, trying to interrupt the inexplicable war flames.
"It's... it's just Ludo! Why are you guys acting like you're fighting for world domination?!"
She looked left at Wednesday, who seemed assured of victory with cold eyes, then right at Vic, who was radiating a full aura and smiling like a wicked fox. She felt her head swelling.
Why did these two, once they clashed, always drag the genre into some weird mix of shonen sports anime and psychological thriller?!
Wednesday ignored Enid's complaint. She silently returned the scattered Ludo pieces to their starting positions, her movements precise and swift.
Vic gave Enid a comforting—yet even more unsettling—bright smile.
"Don't worry, Enid baby, the results will be in soon~"
He cracked his knuckles, the sound crisp in the quiet room. His gaze fell back onto the board, sharp as a hawk.
And this time, the weight of the wager was heavy enough to make the air in the room thick and hot.
The real "war" officially began now.
Wednesday's fingertips unconsciously stroked a blue piece. Under her icy face lay absolute confidence.
In her view, the outcome of this duel was predetermined—
Under the joint blockade of her and Enid, victory was only a matter of time.
But she ignored a variable capable of overturning all rational calculations:
The terrifying potential of a teenage boy whose hormones were exploding from a "massive reward" and whose brain was filled with indescribable thoughts.
With enough temptation dangling in front of him, Vic's brain—usually reserved for fooling around and acting cute—instantly switched to "Grand Strategist" mode.
The fragmented theories of the Succubus Seduction Guide were thrown out the window.
Galloping through his mind now was the deeper, deadlier crystallized wisdom from the Ancient East—The Thirty-Six Stratagems!
The following game was no longer simply rolling dice and moving squares. It was a peak duel of psychology and strategy without smoke or gunfire!
Stratagem 6: Make a Sound in the East, Strike in the West!
Vic feigned an all-out escort for a "decoy" plane that looked ready for takeoff, attracting Wednesday and Enid's concentrated fire for interception. Secretly, with a precise roll of a six, he silently sent another real main force unit out of the crowded starting zone.
Stratagem 8: Openly Repair the Gallery Roads, Secretly March to Chencang!
When Wednesday's pieces were about to encircle Vic, he utilized the rule clause "Stacking Pieces Allows Jumps." Using one of Enid's inadvertently blocking pieces as a springboard, he narrowly avoided the fatal strike and instead looped behind Wednesday's main force.
Stratagem 4: Wait at Leisure while the Enemy Labors!
Vic wasn't in a rush to get all his planes out of the start. Instead, he deliberately left two as "ambush troops," forcing Wednesday and Enid to split their attention defending multiple fronts, unable to concentrate their superior forces to crush him.
The game became unpredictable. Vic applied the principles of emptiness and reality, orthodox and unorthodox, offense and defense with perfection.
Every move seemed casual but hid a trap, forcing his two girlfriends to run their pieces ragged.
Enid was confused at first, acting on instinct and Wednesday's commands. But gradually, even she felt the atmosphere on the board was wrong.
Vic, that guy... he was smiling harmlessly, but his moves carried a calculated ruthlessness. It made her feel like she had fallen into a spiderweb; the more she struggled, the tighter it wrapped.
And Wednesday... fine beads of cold sweat had begun to seep from her forehead.
She stared dead at the board, her brain running at unprecedented speed, calculating every possible outcome.
She found that her prized logic and calculation skills were actually being stretched thin under Vic's so-called Thirty-Six Stratagems.
This guy... since when did he become this formidable?!
However, Vic's "offensive" was far more than just strategy on the board.