The white-haired young man walked straight toward the central gambling pool.
[This white-haired guy is fierce. He’s already aiming for the 10,000-chip table.]
[Doesn’t he only have 11,500 chips? If he loses once at that table, it’s GG for him.]
[Whew, he’s got guts. I’m rooting for this kid!]
The bullet chat was boiling with excitement. The trainees gathered around the central gambling pool also turned to look.
The minimum bet required to enter a game at an A-rank gambling table was 10,000 chips.
To put that into perspective, one life was worth 5,000 chips, and a B-rank prop was worth no more than 5,000. Anyone who wanted to play a game here needed at least the capital of two props, or two lives. Just as the bullet chat had said, losing at this table was no different from dying.
The players capable of gambling at the innermost pool were, without exception, above A-rank. There were also trainees from the top three ranks scattered nearby, but they were only watching from a distance. None of them actually stepped forward.
And so, the white-haired young man who had walked out from the crowd once again became the focus of everyone’s attention.
Because of where he was going.
Because of the green C-rank badge displayed on his chest.
Because of his unforgettable appearance.
“Interesting. Is he here to gamble at the A-rank tables?”
An A-rank trainee watched the scene coldly.
“Speaking of which, I just heard that this C-rank directly exchanged his life at the reception counter. He even gained the instructor’s favor, and the instructor gave him another five thousand chips for free.”
“Exchanged his life? This newcomer has some nerve.”
Another A-rank laughed.
“If I’m not mistaken, he should be the most outstanding newcomer in this batch.”
“Obviously. How could the system hand out an S-rank rating so easily? Even we didn’t…”
An A-rank who had been listening silently to their conversation suddenly rose from the sofa.
“I’m going to greet him.”
The alabaster-skinned man with sandy-brown hair and blue eyes walked toward the gambling table. Every trainee in his path cleared the way for him.
After he left, the other two A-ranks sitting on the sofa exchanged a look.
“Why is Anthony so active today? Isn’t he always by His Lordship’s side?”
The A-rank shrugged.
“His Lordship seemed to show some interest in this C-rank before. Before returning to the dormitories, he specifically ordered people to look into him. As His Lordship’s most loyal dog, it would be stranger if Anthony didn’t go up.”
That was hardly surprising. Since his master had lost a powerful right-hand man, Vincent, it was only natural that Anthony would be eager to prove his loyalty.
The A-rank grunted and did not continue the conversation, simply preparing to watch the show from the sidelines.
Many others had the same thought.
Zong Jiu strode briskly into the gambling pool at the central area.
The décor of the central gambling pool exuded extravagance. Due to the high entry threshold, there were only a few tables scattered around, each placed a considerable distance from the others. Luxurious sofas, fruit and snack towers, and champagne lounges were arranged artfully throughout the central area, a stark contrast to the haphazard arrangement of tables in the E-rank section.
In the very center was a blood-red, no-limit gambling table.
Whether it was the audience watching through bullet chat, or the thriller trainees inside the Las Vegas Casino, everyone could see what was happening at that table.
It was the only no-limit gambling table.
At the innermost gambling table, the number of chips needed to open a hand was entirely up to the starting player at the table. There was no upper limit. It was a game where one either struck it rich, or lost everything down to the socks on their feet.
The situation at the innermost gambling table could be seen from every area of Las Vegas, so very few trainees dared to disturb it.
Zong Jiu’s gaze paused briefly on that central table.
The seven men gathered there were, without exception, S-rank trainees standing at the very peak.
Their current game had opened with an initial threshold of 50,000 chips, and the atmosphere at the table was astonishingly heated.
When Zong Jiu looked over, a dark-haired man with his cards pressed against the table raised his head, as if he had sensed something.
The man’s long, upturned eyes narrowed slightly as their gazes met. Then he gave Zong Jiu a barely perceptible nod.
Zong Jiu: “…”
He kept feeling that Zhuge An’s faint smile did not reach his eyes. Instead, being on the receiving end of his favor gave Zong Jiu a vague chill.
Recalling how he had tossed that troublesome mess to him back in the Mental Asylum, this probably wasn’t anything good.
The white-haired young man returned a polite smile as well. His gaze swept past the golden-haired Holy Son seated beside Zhuge An, then finally returned to the A-rank gambling table.
What he did not notice was that, at that moment, another man with ash-gray hair also raised his eyes. His dark-red gaze swept over him thoughtfully.
After being shut out of casinos for so long, even though his hands were in better-than-peak condition, Zong Jiu was inevitably a little rusty. Fortunately, the previous game had loosened him up, and his fingers had not stopped moving for even a moment. He had finally managed to recover the feel for it.
He was very clear about his objective this time.
No matter whether it was gambling with his life, cautiously testing the waters, or heading straight to the central gambling pool, these seemingly reckless actions were all supported by absolute confidence in his own ability.
Once he won a hand at the 10,000-chip gambling table, Zong Jiu intended to head directly to the no-limit gambling table and play big.
In the best-case scenario, everyone would lower their guard, and he would take away a handsome windfall.
Standing beside the gambling pool, an attendant in a tuxedo confirmed, “A-rank gambling tables require at least 10,000 chips to join.”
Zong Jiu waved the platinum-gold card in his hand, and the attendant led him to a gambling table.
Unlike the ordinary dealers at the lower-ranked tables, who wore black vests and white shirts, the dealers at the higher-ranked gambling tables were dressed more formally in crimson skirts, completed with neatly folded neckties. Only their stiff smiles remained unchanged.
Though they tried to be discreet about it, all the trainees in the central area were secretly watching the white-haired young man enter.
Before Zong Jiu could sit down, there were already five other players at the gambling table.
One by one, they leaned back in their chairs. Their faces carried visible arrogance as they glanced sideways at him, a C-rank who had dared to take a seat among a group of A-ranks.
One of the unnaturally pale men slammed the table.
“Why are you letting a C-rank in? Our table just raised the threshold to 20,000 chips.”
“If I’m not mistaken—”
The faint dark-red hue in Anthony’s green eyes drifted toward him. His expression made it seem as though he had no intention of provoking hostility at all.
“With only ten thousand chips on hand, he doesn’t qualify to sit at our table, does he?”
The attendant following behind the white-haired young man hurriedly lowered his voice and said, “My apologies. This table is playing Texas Hold’em. Just now, the starting player raised the initial threshold to 20,000. Would you like to open a game at another table, or temporarily exchange more chips with me?”
The central gambling pool was equivalent to the VIP area of Las Vegas. Every player who entered would be assigned an exclusive attendant, ensuring that each player could instantly exchange money whenever they lacked chips. This saved them the trouble of returning to the reception counter and allowed them to begin the game quickly.
Hoh. This guy was trying to force him out.
Looking around at the people who had gathered to watch the spectacle, Zong Jiu raised an eyebrow.
If necessary, it wasn’t as if he couldn’t mortgage his S-rank prop for chips. In any case, as long as he had more chips in hand than he had been given before the casino closed, the prop would not be taken away.
He turned and spoke to the attendant in a low voice.
[Looks like these A-rank big shots are determined to make things difficult for this newcomer.]
[That’s pretty normal if you think about it. Yesterday, among all those A-ranks, fewer than ten trainees received a single S-rank rating, yet an E-rank trainee suddenly got an S-rank from the system. Of course they’d want to clip his wings.]
[Normal? This is going too far. If they make him lose here, they’re taking his life.]
[Get used to it. That’s how the infinite loop has always been. It used to be hard to meet each other inside instances, but now that they’ve entered a survival show, they’re all competitors. If a rival is starting to rise, killing him in the cradle is the most normal thing in the world.]
[Exactly. They’re contenders, not charity workers. This is a competition where everyone is your enemy. The person above, I can tell you’re still new to the infinite loop. Your life is in the hands of the system, and you still expect other people to be fair to you? Did capitalists ever ask whether it was fair before oppressing you?]
In the infinite loop, the strong devoured the weak.
It was cruel to the weak, but fanatical toward the strong.
If a person did not display sufficient strength, no one would ever take them seriously.
The people at the gambling table watched coldly.
Everyone was waiting to see him make a fool of himself. No one would go back and open a table with an initial threshold of 10,000 chips for him. This C-rank either had to find a way to produce 20,000 chips, or get the hell out.
Perhaps feeling that this level of hostility still was not enough, another B-rank watching from the side suddenly spoke up.
“Not enough chips?”
His filthy gaze slowly swept across the white-haired young man’s face.
“If you’re willing to let everyone play with you, I’m sure someone would be willing to chip in.”
The people around the table burst into loud laughter.
“How about that? Not bad, right? Ten thousand chips is equal to two lives, after all.”
“More than not bad. Even the most expensive star actress wouldn’t get to enjoy rates like that.”
Although this sallow-faced B-rank had spoken at Anthony’s signal, the look he used to examine the young man became increasingly lecherous.
Just then, the attendant turned back and respectfully pulled out a chair at the gambling table for Zong Jiu.
The white-haired young man tossed the platinum-gold card forward. The card traced a beautiful arc through the air and landed in front of the dealer. The electronic display on it showed that there were 30,000 credits in the card.
30,000!
The spectating crowd was stunned, disbelief written across their faces.
His balance had clearly been just over 10,000 a moment ago. How had it suddenly reached 30,000 in less than a few minutes?
The B-rank who had run his mouth earlier was even more incredulous. He watched as the white-haired young man whispered something to the attendant behind him.
He did not know what they had said. But after that conversation, the young man’s lips curved slightly, and his elbow moved in an almost imperceptible motion.
In the next instant, an object nearly impossible to catch with the naked eye tore through the air toward him like an arrow piercing through frozen wind, moving with lightning speed.
“Ah—”
The B-rank screamed and dropped straight to his knees, both hands clamped over the artery at his neck.
The blood spurting between his fingers was so thick that he could not stop it.
Behind him, the blood-stained weapon lay quietly on the carpet.
The clown on the joker card grinned broadly. The bright red of its lips and the blood along the edge of the card blended into a grotesque beauty. Somewhere in a boundlessly dark space, the smile of the man controlling puppet strings widened.
Everyone was stunned by the scene.
Even though the system had not explicitly said so, everyone shared a common understanding: there would be serious consequences for openly attacking someone in Las Vegas.
At the same time, the attendant standing behind Zong Jiu said, “According to the rules, intentional injury is prohibited in Las Vegas. As punishment, 10,000 chips have been deducted from the trainee.”
The 30,000 on the card immediately dropped by 10,000, leaving a balance of 20,000. That amount was then frozen by the dealer as the entry fee for the game.
“I hope every owner can keep a collar on their rabid dogs.”
The young man’s voice was icy.
“Ten thousand chips to buy a dog’s life is truly rather expensive.”
“And I’m not always willing to dirty my hands.”