Chapter 9: Chapter 9: The Gambler
In the room, Xu Mo closed his eyes, his breathing even. These days, he spent most of his free time cultivating his Breathing Technique.
Now, he could more clearly sense the energy field forming around him. The farther it was from him, the weaker the sensed energy field became.
In this state, he sensed Mia playing with Yaoer, sensed passersby on the streets, shopkeepers calling out, and even the sound of movement next door.
Xu Mo controlled the energy field with his thoughts, only to see a book in front of him slowly move, float up in the air, and gently land before him.
“Phew…” Xu Mo took a deep breath. Recently, with the Breathing Technique, he could simply control the energy field to retrieve objects from a distance. His sensing ability and perceived vision had also continuously transformed, as had his physical qualities. He took out a row of leather sheaths from under the bed and opened them. Inside were many darts, which Xu Mo had specifically commissioned as Meteor Darts. They had four corners, like four small knives forming a ring, making them very powerful as hidden weapons.
He wasn’t in a hurry to find the culprits; instead, he focused on improving his strength to face potential future situations.
In this savage world, he had to live cautiously.
Xu Mo took out a dart and placed it in his palm, gazing at it. With a thought, the dart floated in the air, spinning faster and faster under his control.
“Stop!” Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. The dart suddenly stopped, returning to Xu Mo’s hand. He felt somewhat dizzy and mentally exhausted.
Clearly, with his current control of the energy field, he could only use telekinesis on one dart for fast flight, but the burden was significant. Nevertheless, Xu Mo was quite satisfied with this, as it hadn’t been long since he started cultivating the Breathing Technique, and he could already be said to have acquired a “superpower.”
After a short rest, Xu Mo left the room and went downstairs.
“Miss Mia, I’m heading out for a bit.” Xu Mo greeted Mia. Having gained significant strength recently, he wanted to check the dark market to see if he could encounter the other assailants.
“Okay.” Mia nodded with a smile. “Come back early.”
“Brother, where are you going?” Yaoer walked up and held Xu Mo’s hand, asking.
“Brother is just going for a walk. Be good and listen to Miss Mia.” Xu Mo pinched Yaoer’s cheek. Nowadays, Yaoer and Mia had grown closer and often slept together at night.
“Then come back early, Brother. I’ll be waiting.” The girl nodded obediently.
“Got it.” Xu Mo rubbed the little girl’s cheeks and then left the department store. Watching his departing figure, Mia felt a bit worried.
Walking on the road, Xu Mo thought to himself that although he was working at the department store, Miss Mia was doing most of the work. This couldn’t go on; he had to move out eventually.
Additionally, the Law Enforcement Team had intentionally questioned him before without getting any useful information. The assailants hadn’t come for him either. He wasn’t sure if they didn’t know he was alive or didn’t care about his existence, but in any case, he couldn’t let his guard down.
……
Arriving at the dark market again, Xu Mo donned both a mask and a hat, wearing loose clothing to hide his figure. This time, he wasn’t followed. Perhaps due to his disguise, no women tried to pull him into small rooms along the way.
The dark market was a mix of all kinds of people. Someone with a peculiar attire like Xu Mo’s, whose background was unclear, naturally wouldn’t be provoked.
The casino and fighting arena were still the liveliest places in the dark market. Upon arriving outside, Xu Mo saw many people gathered, watching. Approaching, he saw a young woman in white lying on the ground, her clothing torn and stained with blood.
The girl looked around nineteen years old. Although her hair was disheveled and her face had traces of blood, one could barely make out a delicate face under her fair skin. Her features were very refined.
Beside the girl was a middle-aged man, stepping on her leg to prevent her from crawling forward.
“Two thousand, I just need two thousand,” the middle-aged man said to one of the people standing outside the casino’s iron gate. The person was relatively young, not even thirty, looked refined, wore gold-rimmed glasses, and smiled warmly at the middle-aged man.
“I’ve always been strict in my discipline; this girl has been obedient and well-behaved since childhood. She’s pretty too, worth at least two thousand.” The middle-aged man clenched his hands, a bit of madness in his eyes.
“Oh, so she’s a virgin?” People around started to jeer, their eyes fixated on the girl, seeming as if they could devour her.
“Boss Bai, you know your own situation. If it was before, your daughter could have been a wealthy lady. But now…” The young man with gold-rimmed glasses adjusted his glasses and looked at the middle-aged man. “Walk around the dark market and see who can pay that price.”
The middle-aged man known as Boss Bai looked ashen. He faced the crowd. “Whoever can pay, take her right away and do whatever you want with her.”
The girl struggled to crawl forward, her hands stained with blood.
“Stay put!” The middle-aged man crushed her leg, his face twisted as he roared. The girl screamed in agony, her face pressed against the cold ground, lying there in despair. This was her biological father. Since getting addicted to gambling, he had squandered the family fortune, driven her mother to suicide, and still hadn’t repented, now wanting to “sell” her too.
“A good girl beaten like this, if it was before, maybe she’d be worth two thousand. Now, at most one thousand.” The gold-rimmed glasses man looked at Boss Bai and sighed. “Or Boss Bai, let’s bet. If I win, I take the girl. If you win, I’ll give you three thousand, and I won’t take her. How about that?”
Boss Bai appeared to struggle, staring at the other man, then nodded, “Fine.”
“Great, Boss Bai, come on in,” the young man said with a smile, walking through the iron gate. Boss Bai glared at the girl, lifted her collar from behind, “Don’t worry, Dad will win this time. Yes, definitely win.”
Xu Mo watched everything from the sidelines. The surrounding crowd also laughed and followed them inside, showing no hint of sympathy.
Having lived through two lives, he still couldn’t understand the existence of “gamblers.” Not only did they lose their humanity, but they also lost basic judgment. It was clear the other man just wanted to gamble and didn’t need to pay a price to take the girl.
Xu Mo followed through the iron gate too.
Inside, a crowd gathered around a gambling table. The gold-rimmed glasses man and Boss Bai stood on opposite sides. In the middle was the casino “attendant,” acting as a referee. When customers gambled, the casino acted as the intermediary, taking a small commission from each bet.
The attendant handed each man a set of dice, three each. After examining and covering them, he said, “One round to decide the winner. The higher the total, the winner. Please.”
“After you, Boss Bai,” the gold-rimmed glasses man said with a smile. Boss Bai’s hand holding the dice cup trembled slightly. He stared hard at his hand and then started shaking the cup. His opponent watched him with a smile, also shaking his cup.
Both of them shook for a long time before stopping, placing their cups down and stepping away from the table.
The attendant placed his hand over Boss Bai’s cup, whose entire body trembled slightly. He opened the cup, revealing the dice showing: four, four, and six.
Fourteen!
A lot of commotion erupted around them. Boss Bai clenched his fists and his eyes lit up. Fourteen was quite high.
The gold-rimmed glasses man smiled, the attendant moved his hand to the gold-rimmed man’s cup and opened it, revealing the dice. Everyone’s eyes focused there.
Five, five, five.
Fifteen!
“Wow!” The crowd erupted loudly, jeering. Boss Bai’s face turned ashen as he stared at the dice, “Impossible, impossible…”
“Boss Bai, you lost,” the young man with gold-rimmed glasses smiled, glancing playfully at the girl beside him.
The girl tried to escape but was stopped by two of the man’s subordinates.
“You cheated,” yelled Boss Bai.
“Boss Bai, some things are better left unsaid here,” the young man with glasses warned. The attendant also glared at Boss Bai coldly. Boss Bai turned pale and collapsed onto the ground.
The man with glasses sneered, approaching the girl, looking at her face arrogantly, “Miss Bai, you’ll be coming with me.”
Bai Wei’s face turned ashen. Seeing the faces around her, her heart turned cold.
“How about we have a bet?” A voice sounded. The man in glasses turned to see a masked and hatted man sitting at the gambling table with his back to him.
“Are you talking to me?” the glasses man asked.
Xu Mo nodded, placing his 1,700 federation coins on the table.
The man with glasses seemed intrigued, “How do we bet?”
“This is my wager. Same rules as before,” Xu Mo pointed to the federation coins, “If I win, the woman is mine.”
The man with glasses glanced at Bai Wei and smiled, “Miss Bai seems quite charming.”
He then took a position opposite Xu Mo, “Alright.”
The crowd gathered again, curious about this new guy.
The attendant placed dice and cups before them, and after checking, made a gesture to proceed.
The man with glasses smiled at Xu Mo and began shaking his cup. Xu Mo watched him and began shaking his cup shortly after, pausing only after a moment and stepping back from the table.
After Xu Mo, the glasses man also stopped and stepped back. Both men stared at each other; Xu Mo’s gaze was calm under his mask, while the glasses man’s face held a faint mockery. Few people could beat him at gambling.
“Sir, please go first,” the attendant gestured to Xu Mo. Xu Mo nodded, the attendant opened Xu Mo’s cup.
The crowd looked at the dice, and disdainful boos erupted, mixed with curses.
“A rookie, after all.”
“Even worse than me,” scoffed many voices.
The dice showed: two, three, and three.
Eight!
The crowd, initially thinking Xu Mo’s getup signaled expertise, now lost interest, seeing him as just giving away money.
“Thank you!” the glasses man said with a confident smile, stretching his hand to take the money even before glancing at the dice.
“Look closely at your dice,” Xu Mo reminded him. Simultaneously, shocked gasps sounded around.
“Hmm?”
Feeling the crowd’s abnormal reaction, the glasses man stopped reaching for the money, glanced at Xu Mo, and then down at his own dice.
The smile on his face slowly froze; his eyes squinted, his expression turning grim.
Were these the dice results?
“Was this a mistake?”
“Did this guy get lucky?”
People around were also astonished at the results, finding it strange, as they themselves could likely win with such results.