At this moment, the clown patted Jiang Ran's shoulder.

"Don't lose heart, as long as you win against me in the gamble-with-your-life game, won't that solve everything?"

After speaking.

The clown had already taken his seat at the gambling table, in the dealer's position.

Jiang Ran knew there was no escaping today and could only play along.

He then sat down in the gambler's seat opposite.

But it was clear that he was quite agitated.

He said: "How do we play this gamble-with-your-life game? Let me state upfront - I don't gamble, never have gambled, don't really know how to play cards, just know how to play Fight the Landlord."

"Hehe"

The clown was amused by Jiang Ran's blunt honesty.

He said: "Don't worry, the gamble-with-your-life game is very simple, very fair."

Jiang Ran asked: "What you said earlier about the winner living - is that true? If I win against you, you won't go back on your word and kill me, will you?"

The clown shook his head: "I keep my promises."

Jiang Ran asked again: "What if it's a draw?"

The clown shook his head: "There won't be a draw. If it's a draw, we both get to live."

The clown then thought of Wang Tao, who had asked him the same question last time.

Unfortunately, that guy cheated and got killed by him.

Jiang Ran swallowed hard: "Alright, then tell me how this gamble-with-your-life game works!"

Jiang Ran took a deep breath - now he could only win this so-called gamble-with-your-life game before making other plans!

He hoped heaven would bless him and let him win!

The clown said: "Comparing card sizes with playing cards, best of three rounds, each drawing one card."

Jiang Ran thought for a moment and shook his head: "No, I've seen plenty of TV shows, movies, and novels about gambling tables. Things like playing cards, dice, and mahjong are all about cheaters versus cheaters."

"You're a clown, so you're definitely better than an ordinary person like me at things like playing cards. I don't think this is fair."

The clown was stunned. He hadn't expected Jiang Ran before him to be so similar to Wang Tao from last time.

He suddenly smiled: "In that case, I guess dice won't work either."

"How about this - last time someone suggested blind drawing from paper balls when playing the gamble-with-your-life game with me. How's that? Fair enough?"

"Last time? You've played the gamble-with-your-life game with someone else before? What happened to that person last time?"

Jiang Ran quickly asked.

The clown said: "He died, died from cheating. So I'm warning you - don't cheat. Cheating gets you a hand chopped off. Last time he both cheated and tried to kill me."

Jiang Ran said: "Then let's forget about the paper ball drawing too. The last person didn't survive, it's bad luck. Let's change the game."

The clown said: "Why don't you suggest one yourself."

Jiang Ran: "I need some time."

Jiang Ran sat there pondering hard.

The clown remained calm, smiling all the while.

At the same time, his hands kept performing various flashy tricks, especially with several colorful balls that he manipulated with utterly mesmerizing skill.

While playing, the clown suddenly asked:

"Jiang Ran, do you believe in fate?"

Hearing this, Jiang Ran temporarily stopped thinking about game options and replied: "I don't know, I've never thought about such questions. Since you're asking me, do you believe in it?"

The clown didn't answer whether he believed or not.

He said: "My life has had its peak, and after the peak came the valley. According to my thinking, after the valley should come either a return to the peak or lingering in the valley forever - that's just how life is."

"But what I never expected was that after the valley of my life came another, lower valley, and after that even lower valley came yet another, even lower valley."

The peak the clown referred to was his clown performance career at its height with high income. The first valley was when he got injured during performance, and after recovery his income drastically dropped, his clown performance career plummeting.

The second valley was when his female apprentice and wife ran away.

The third valley was falling in love with a male apprentice, only to be given by that male apprentice to others to play with.

At this point, the clown continued:

"After falling into successive valleys, I found a quite famous fortune teller."

"I asked him to tell my fortune. I only had him tell my fortune without sharing my experiences with him."

"Then he did his calculations for me, and after finishing, he said my fate was bad - though my life had its peak, what followed were all valleys with no chance of recovery."

"I asked him if there was any solution?"

"He told me that a person's entire life is designed from birth, everything is predestined. He only tells fortunes, he doesn't change fates. If he could change fates, he wouldn't be making a living telling fortunes for others here."

"At that time I thought about it, and what he said about life being designed from the start and everything being predestined - that made a lot of sense."

"For example, after my lowest valley, I wanted to make money, lots of money, but couldn't."

"I wanted to find a woman again, get married and have children, but no matter how hard I tried, I remained alone."

"I suddenly understood something."

"Yes, that saying is so true - what's meant to be will come, what's not meant to be cannot be forced."

"I cannot control my own fate. No matter how hard I try, the things I want to obtain remain out of reach."

"But! I suddenly discovered that I can control other people's fates!!!"

At this moment, despite the heavy clown makeup on his face, nothing could conceal the bizarre great enlightenment showing on the clown's face.

"I can decide the life-and-death fates of others!"

"For example, if I meet someone on the street, if I don't want to kill them, they can continue living well for now. But if I want to kill them, they're definitely dead!"

"Since I can't control myself, then I'll control others!!!!"

Jiang Ran felt a headache coming on after hearing this: "So now you want to control my fate?"

The clown laughed uproariously: "Nonsense! Aren't I gambling with your life right now? If you win against me, won't you get to live well?"

"Alright, come on, have you thought of a game yet?"

Jiang Ran shook his head.

He had thought of many options but felt none would work.

At this moment, the clown pulled open a drawer from a cabinet beside the gambling table and surprisingly took out a silver-white revolver from inside.

Besides that, there was also one bullet.

Seeing this, Jiang Ran's eyes instantly widened.

If this were free America, Jiang Ran definitely wouldn't be so shocked!

But this is Hua Country!

How do you have a gun?!

Though shocked and curious, Jiang Ran didn't ask where the gun came from.

Because that question was meaningless.

The clown now said: "Using this to gamble with lives, just like in those movies."

"This revolver can hold six bullets. Right now, I'll load one bullet into this gun. Then we'll take turns, each firing one shot. How about that?"

"If everyone's fate is predetermined from birth, then so is life and death."

"When to be born, when to die."

"If you're destined to die today, then no matter what you do, you won't survive."

After speaking, the clown placed the revolver and that single bullet in front of Jiang Ran.

"Once you've considered this game, inspect the gun and bullet. Don't think that just because I provided them, I would tamper with anything."