Volume 1 The Stone of the Philosopher Chapter 4 The Hand of Glory

"3 of hearts."

"4 of hearts." Martin instinctively played his cards and then looked at his home in a daze, the man who played the 3 of hearts.

It was a middle-aged man in a black suit, sitting on Martin's left-hand side.

His hair was neatly combed, as if it had been wiped with hairspray, a white square scarf pinned to his chest, and he held a knife in his left hand and a fork in his right hand, looking very old-fashioned.

He had a stack of cards in front of him, and a plate of meat next to it, which looked like a steak. When Martin looked at him, he was cutting off a piece of meat and putting it in his mouth.

"9 of spades." The man to Martin's right played the next card.

"Come up and hit so big? No. ”

"Don't."

"Don't."

It was a round table, and there were five people sitting with Martin.

The 9 of spades was played by a young man in a white mask, who was thin but wore a wide white suit that looked very ill-fitting.

Further to the right, there is a blonde woman holding a goblet and a fat man with red hair, and the fat man is the man eating steak.

The fat red-haired man was wearing a green shirt, and his thick body broke the shirt very tightly, revealing an explosive force.

On his left hand, except for his thumb, he wore a ring encrusted with gemstones of various colors, and between his right fingers, a gold coin was churning rapidly.

Martin gradually came to his senses, as if he had undergone a shift from the perspective of the audience to the performer, gaining the dominance of his body.

He didn't know why he was here, and he didn't know the four people at the table, but he had a familiar feeling, as if it wasn't the first time he had met them.

"Alas... One pair of 4. The thin man who had played the 9 of spades before sighed, the mask on his face changed to a sad expression, and his eyebrows drooped, weird and funny.

"Tomorrow it's my turn again."

"Don't." The blonde woman shook her goblet, the scarlet liquid in it swirling slowly. "It's just a red heart 3, don't you still have more hair on your body."

"That's it, you see that the boss lost a 'alchemy dog' today, and he didn't say anything." The redhead hit a pair of fives.

"Right 6." Martin's left-handed man in a suit played his cards and continued to enjoy his steak.

"You say, when is such a day a head?" The expression on the thin man's mask seemed to be a little sadder.

"It's been 3 months, and we don't even know who we're locked in, and this body can't even do basic communication."

"Why don't you give me my reverse card first, and I'll go out and pull everyone out." The red-haired fat man looked at the thin man and grinned.

"Who doesn't know that you're a gentleman and a businessman, York, is a big boss, I gave it to you, I'm afraid I'll be eaten by you when I turn around."

"Then everyone will be trapped here." The fat man leaned back in his chair and said indifferently:

"Although this kid's body is strong, it is almost impossible to support it. It's easier said than done to find your and Mary's reverse cards. ”

"Didn't you make a deal with that second prince?" The blonde interjected.

"That kid is very slippery, and the hell knows if he has your 'Night Tequila'..."

"Interesting, you're the 'Golden Fleece Treasurer' who has completely contained the 6th tier 'Star Coins' card, and he's just a 5th-tier 'Twilight Crusader', would you be afraid of him?" The blonde woman laughed.

"Having said that, his mind has to be guarded against his methods against the church... Moreover, it is said that he owns the 'Dragon Hunter' made by Agares...", the red-haired fat man replied with a little weakness.

"One of the seven greatswords—" The blonde woman took a sip of her wine and didn't answer.

"If only we could control this body." The thin man looked at Martin, his eyes narrowing on his mask.

"With the ability of the four of us, it shouldn't be difficult to get out of here."

"Haven't you tried it many times?" The fat man said. "This kid is here in this wood, and we won't even remember it."

The crowd was silent again.

"Guys—" Martin spoke suddenly, and he felt that this was an opportunity, and that things had taken a turn since the mirror had been shattered.

Stanley was visibly suspicious of him, and he decided to try to communicate, and he decided to try to communicate.

"It's not gentlemanly to discuss people in person." Martin looked at them.

The crowd looked over.

Martin experienced a mixture of anger, fear, greed, and hunger at the same time, and his brain felt like it was going to explode.

"Our little one seems to be awake, it's a rare thing." The blonde woman was in a state of interest.

"I've been in a state of spectatorship. Your conversation inspired me, and I think—" Martin straightened up.

"We can work together."

"Huh." The fat red-haired man let out a strange laugh. "What qualifications do you have to talk to us about cooperation? Do you know who we are? ”

"I don't need to know who you are. You want to get out, I want to get out, and the goal is the same. ”

Martin grasped the key message from their chat, and he looked at the man on his left who was cutting the steak, knowing that this man was the one who had the right to speak.

The man didn't answer him, still slowly slicing the steak.

"Aligned goals?" The red-haired fat man laughed disdainfully. "Since you're awake, why don't we just take your body?"

He stood up with a smirk, and the four rings on his left hand shone brightly at the same time, making his left hand look like a miniature sun.

The corners of the blonde woman's mouth curled in a nice arc, while the thin man watched from the side, his hands trembling slightly on the table, and the mask turned into a crooked and laughing face.

Martin looked at the sun-like ball of light and felt that his brain was gradually losing the ability to think, and he began to instinctively resist, only to find that his body could not move.

"That's enough." The middle-aged man, who had been eating steak, said calmly. He put down his knife and fork, picked up the square towel on his chest and wiped his mouth.

His voice reverberated through the air, and the masked man sat up straight with his hand on the table, and the blonde woman stopped shaking her glass.

The fat man also paused, the light of his left hand gradually dimmed, and he sat down in a daze. Martin suddenly sobered up a bit.

The middle-aged man looked at Martin and said, "You seem to have forgotten a lot of things. ”

Martin's heart tightened when he listened, he felt that he didn't show any flaws, this man shouldn't know that he was a traverser.

"It seems that our presence has had some effect on you." The middle-aged man said unhurriedly.

He thought for a moment, then drew a card from the covered deck and tossed it to Martin.

The card arced on the table and slashed in front of Martin.

"This 'Hand of Glory' will lead you to the Queen's Mailbox, and she will help you get out of here."

The others all showed more or less surprised expressions when they heard the middle-aged man's words, and the thin man's mask was dull, his eyes were glazed, and his mouth was wide open, which looked a little funny.

"A piece of advice."

The middle-aged man stared at Martin and added solemnly, his voice revealing some drift and mystery.

"It's best not to mention 'father' in your story."

When Martin heard this, he felt the cold hairs on his body stand up.

He wanted to ask the middle-aged man again, what is the "story"? Why can't the "father" be mentioned? But the middle-aged man had picked up the knife and fork again and stopped paying attention to Martin.

Martin looked at the dark gold card, known as the "Hand of Glory", and saw a small mask symbol drawn in the upper left corner, followed by the Roman numeral III, and a black plum blossom symbol in the upper right corner.

In the middle of the card, a brown monkey is drawn wearing a red circus tuxedo, a bow tie on his chest, and a white mask on his face, with a playful smile.

With its right hand attaching a top hat to its left chest, it was bowing, while its left hand was shrunken and withered, with many mysterious symbols engraved on it, its fingers becoming unusually thin, and its palm drawing an open eye.

Underneath the monkey, there was a line of small print, which Martin recognized, and the sentence read:

"You suffer because you have the wrong things."