Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

To close a casino for a month—what a grave matter that would be! Never mind a month; even closing for a single day would mean devastating losses.

A month without business, and many longtime customers would drift away. The greatest beneficiary then would naturally be the South City Casino. Of course, risk cut both ways: if Yu Deyi lost, and the South City Casino shut down for a month, the greatest beneficiary would be his own Huawei Casino.

"Well? Dare you take the bet?" Yu Deyi said unhurriedly. "Of course, you're welcome to refuse—you concede automatically, and then you only need to close for half a month. But I can't promise I won't come challenge you again in the future."

Xuanmingzong's face turned ashen. Concede? That was not even to be considered. If he conceded, he could forget about ever showing his face in Macau's gambling circles again. But if they took the bet and actually lost, then what?

Yu Deyi had clearly come prepared, and rumor had it his gambling skill was a notch above Zheng Shaopeng's. But by now, they were riding a tiger and could not get off.

Of course, there was always the option of playing the rogue. The South City Casino was not the Macau government; if he refused to shut down, they could not force him. But that would likewise leave him with no footing in Macau's entire gambling industry—because he would have broken the industry's rules.

The gambling world had an unwritten law: when a consultant from another house came to challenge, one had to accept. If one conceded voluntarily, the stakes could be halved.

But no one had ever played the rogue. And when he himself went to challenge other casinos, he received the same treatment.

Xuanmingzong truly could not make this decision, so he cast his gaze toward Huang Yan. But Huang Yan did not understand such matters well. Seeing Xuanmingzong look at her, she said, "Uncle Zhang, you make the call."

Hearing Huang Yan's words, Xuanmingzong groaned inwardly. How am I supposed to make the call? A matter like this—is it so easy to decide? At any other time, Xuanmingzong would have been delighted to hear such words; who wouldn't want the leadership to delegate authority to those below? But now... "Just agree to it." Yang Ce had some knowledge of the gambling industry—it was required coursework for a killer, to have some acquaintance with every trade and profession. Seeing Xuanmingzong's troubled expression, he could guess the crux of the matter, and so he simply spoke up to get him out of the jam.

Only then did Xuanmingzong breathe a sigh of relief. Good—now that Yang Ce had spoken, everything would be easy. Xuanmingzong looked at Zheng Shaopeng. "All right, Consultant Zheng. Go and play him a round."

Zheng Shaopeng nodded and solemnly took his seat at the gambling table. His gambling skill was indeed a notch below Yu Deyi's. A latecomer to the craft like him was bound to be inferior to Yu Deyi, who had been steeped in gambling since boyhood. But now he could not refuse the challenge; this represented the casino's honor. It was no longer a matter of personal gain or loss.

Zheng Shaopeng could only do his utmost. In fact, the moment he had entered the room, Zheng Shaopeng had noticed Yang Shuoxuan present, and puzzlement had stirred in his heart. Heng he did know—he had seen a photograph of Yang Juehuan at the boss's place before, and this was one of the men the boss wanted eliminated.

Recalling how that mysterious man earlier had found him from the casino's upper management, and how Yang Ce had come in together with President Zhang, it was no longer strange. These people probably all knew President Zhang. And now Zheng Shaopeng had already decided to betray his boss—the gu had been swallowed into his belly—so whether Yang Ce appeared here or not no longer had much to do with him.

"What game?" Zheng Shaopeng asked gravely once he was seated properly.

"Since I'm the challenger, and I proposed the stakes, then naturally it should be you who decides the game," Yu Deyi said. "Otherwise it wouldn't be fair."

Zheng Shaopeng nodded, some confidence in victory returning to his heart. After all, if the choice was his, he could pick the game he was best at. This was no time for modesty; Zheng Shaopeng would not yield either. He thought for a moment and said, "In that case, let's play stud poker."

Stud poker was a game of both luck and skill. And there was one more thing: at the critical moment, Zheng Shaopeng wondered whether he could use his advantage in hand speed to swap cards.

"Fine. But let's be clear first: this is a fair contest. That is to say, no cheating." Yu Deyi seemed to have known Zheng Shaopeng's thoughts all along, and with a single sentence he blocked off the card-swapping route.

"Of course I won't cheat." A touch of anger colored Zheng Shaopeng's face.

"Mm, of course I trust your character. But to be safe, some precautions are still necessary." As he spoke, Yu Deyi took from the small leather case he had brought a video camera and set it on the gambling table. "This is the latest high-definition 1080p camera. It can record every detail with great precision. No matter who cheats, no matter how fast they cheat, it will all be recorded."

"Fine. I'm all for it," Zheng Shaopeng said bitterly. With this, all his advantages were gone. But since it had come to this, what could he say?

"Very well, then. Since there are no objections, let's begin," Yu Deyi said with a nod.

The dealer began to deal the cards, and the contest officially began.

"Damn, boss, you can't be serious—there's this much to it?" Zhang Bin stared wide-eyed at Yu Deyi's showy performance. "I always thought those God of Gamblers types won by sleight of hand and swapping cards."

"That's in TV dramas and movies," Yang Ce said with a shake of his head and a laugh. "High tech is so advanced these days—how could little tricks like that slip past the cameras?"

"Fair point. So then it's all down to a man's luck and skill?" Zhang Bin said with a sigh.

"What did you think?" Yang Ce countered. "So gambling isn't what you imagined, and there's no such thing as a God of Gamblers who commands the winds and clouds. It all comes down to luck and real ability."

Zhang Bin grimaced and went back to watching the match.

At the start, the two men won and lost in turn, their chips staying roughly even. At their level and caliber, they naturally conducted themselves with the utmost caution, not daring the slightest negligence.

But gradually, the gap began to widen. No matter what you said, Zheng Shaopeng was a notch inferior in technique, and Yu Deyi's chips now exceeded Zheng Shaopeng's by a full million.

Don't underestimate that million—in a duel between two masters, opening up a million-chip lead is already quite something. Both men were old foxes: when your cards were good, I wouldn't call; when mine were good, you wouldn't call. Only when both felt their hands were about even would they take a gamble. So pulling ahead was unbelievably hard.

But Zheng Shaopeng, after all, had only begun studying gambling technique in recent years, and was somewhat inferior to Yu Deyi. No matter how prudent Zheng Shaopeng was, the gap between them slowly widened.

One million, one million one hundred thousand, one million two hundred thousand, one million five hundred thousand, two million, two million two hundred thousand—Yu Deyi was now ahead of Zheng Shaopeng by two and a half million.

Watching his own chips dwindle while his opponent's piled higher, Zheng Shaopeng's face began to bead with sweat. At this rate he was bound to lose; even if he folded every hand, the antes alone would drag him to death. Losing was only a matter of time.

"Zheng Shaopeng is going to lose." Watching Zheng Shaopeng's performance, Yang Ce sighed and said to Xuanmingzong, who sat beside him.

"Yeah. Not much hope of winning left," Xuanmingzong said; he too could see the crux of the situation.