NOVPUB29: Chapter 29: Older Than You (Please Favorite, Vote, and Follow)
29: Chapter 29: Older Than You (Please Favorite, Vote, and Follow)
“Of course,”
Viktor nonchalantly tossed the cards to He Ao.
He Ao deftly caught them, and the deck of poker cards landed neatly in his palm.
Even without the enhancement of Martial Arts, He Ao’s own skills were not lacking.
A deck of casino-customized playing cards uniformly manufactured by a factory presents almost no differences on their backs to the naked eye, even those with the most advanced high-resolution cybernetic eyes would struggle to clearly distinguish each card.
This was something Selena knew; even she could not discern the differences on the backs of these cards.
He Ao didn’t know this, but he wanted to try using Super Memory.
The moment Super Memory activated, the entire world as seen by He Ao transformed, every person’s face, even the pores on their cheeks, became vividly clear.
This was Super Memory, when it was activated, the ‘world’ He Ao saw changed; he could clearly see the texture of every object and rapidly catalog these details in his mind.
He Ao even suspected that under the influence of Super Memory, he wasn’t ‘seeing’ with his eyes, but rather perceiving his surroundings from a higher perspective, taking everything in at a glance.
However, Super Memory’s duration was limited, so he didn’t have time to study these details closely.
He looked at the deck in his hands, picked up the top card, and held it under the light.
It was the two of diamonds.
He Ao turned it over several times, examining the details of the card closely.
Then he quickly swapped for another card.
Originally, he was just testing whether he could rely on remembering the slight differences between the cards to directly recall their numerical values.
But he discovered something interesting on the cards.
Each card’s back pattern was actually slightly different.
These subtle differences seemed to exist outside the range of visible light, He Ao could only vaguely perceive these patterns, and these discrepancies were only visible when directly facing the back of a card and from certain special angles.
He Ao lifted the stack of cards, rapidly reviewing each one.
As expected, each card had such a special ‘design’, and his brain quickly formed a connection between these patterns and the corresponding card faces.
This was, after all, a deck that had been ‘tampered with’.
The casino staff likely had special tools that allowed them to see the faces of the cards without turning them over.
Interesting.
He Ao handed the cards back to Viktor, smiling softly, “No problem.”
Viktor checked the deck to ensure He Ao hadn’t tampered with it, then passed the cards to Selena, “Well then, let’s start the game.”
He stepped back, and casino employees brought two chairs for He Ao and Ludo to sit behind.
Ludo glanced anxiously at He Ao, then at the cards in Selena’s hand, seemed to find some reassurance, and slowly seated himself.
He Ao also seemed a bit nervous, taking several deep breaths to calm his emotions before finally sitting down.
He placed his hands on the table, then thought better of it, and put them under the table, even tucking them into his pockets.
Then, under everyone’s gaze, he took his hands out of his pockets again.
His breathing remained shallow, as if he were nervous the entire time.
Watching He Ao’s actions, Ludo gradually calmed down.
While He Ao might be good at fighting, he was still a rookie in the casino, and soon Ludo would get his revenge for the earlier gunshot.
“Ande?”
Selena, concerned by He Ao’s nervous appearance, looked at him.
“I’m fine!” He Ao reassured her with a nod, “Let’s give it a try.
It’s worth a shot.”
Giving up and failing were alike, but gambling still held the possibility of winning.
Heartened by He Ao’s words, Selena took a breath and began to deal the cards to both parties.
Her dealing wasn’t professional, but no one in attendance cared about that.
In that moment, He Ao’s bet with Ludo was actually a bet with the casino, challenging the establishment.
Most gamblers usually lost money at casinos and harbored no fondness for them, and they loved nothing more than a spectacle like this.
Whether it was professional mattered little to them; what thrilled them was the potential to see the casino humbled.
Watching He Ao’s nervous appearance, still a fledgling, they began to lose interest.
Although Ludo was malicious, his gambling skills were decent.
Instead of watching Ludo bully the novice, they would rather go out and have a couple of exciting bets.
So, some people started to leave, one after another.
Selena dealt the first hole card, with He Ao playing first and Ludo following.
Typically, gamblers would check their hole cards upon receiving them, but He Ao did not.
Instead, he bowed his head, seemingly lost in thought.
And since He Ao didn’t check his card, Ludo naturally didn’t either.
If he did, it would appear as if he was intimidated by the rookie.
Moreover, he didn’t need to look to know what his card was.
Every deck in Crown Casino was rigged, and he had long since altered his right eye into a specialized prosthetic.
This prosthetic eye wasn’t advanced, but it could, from certain angles, detect the unique patterns on the backs of these cards and subsequently determine each card’s value.
So, all he needed to do was to glance downwards to know his hole card was the ten of diamonds, and by shifting his angle slightly, he could see that He Ao’s hole card was the nine of clubs.
This technology was state-of-the-art, originating from Nord Financial Consortium, and had been reliably in operation for many years without anyone ever uncovering it.
So, Ludo was very confident in this technology; He Ao couldn’t possibly see through it.
Selena began to deal the second hole card, with He Ao still being first.
Through his prosthetic eye, Ludo was able to clearly see that He Ao’s second hole card was the two of spades.
At this moment, He Ao still seemed very tense; his breathing was quick and shallow.
Selena began to deal Ludo his second card.
Ludo watched her beautiful hands closely, paying attention to the card being dealt to him.
He was unable to decipher the specific value of the card from his current angle of sight.
Even having cheated, he felt a bit nervous.
He began trying to shift his gaze to an angle where he could decipher the card.
But just as he was about to see the card’s value, a loud noise erupted from the front.
Ludo instinctively looked across the table.
The hole card landed on the table in front of him.
The person opposite him, He Ao, seemed to have been overwhelmed by nervousness; he abruptly stood up, slamming his hand onto the table with a clattering sound.
“What’s the matter, rookie?” Ludo, seeing He Ao’s state, was quite amused and couldn’t help but taunt him, “Have you realized you’re outmatched, so you’re begging for mercy now?”
However, before the words had fully left his mouth, a cold, dark gun barrel was pointed at his forehead.
This caused the smile on his face to freeze on the spot.
“If you died, I could probably ‘cheat’ my way into winning this bet?” He Ao said with a smile, looking at Ludo.
His breathing gradually stabilized, and he smoothly slid his hand over the gun, swiftly removing the magazine and putting it back again.
“Please be quiet, sir.”
He pressed the gun barrel downward and gently pulled the trigger.
Bang—
A plastic bullet fell towards the table in front of Ludo, grazing his fingers, striking his second hole card, and swiftly ricocheting past his cheek as it flew by.
It was a toy gun.
Even though it was just a plastic bullet, Ludo still felt a slight sting on his cheek and hand.
His face turned ashen as he looked at He Ao, fully aware that he had been toyed with by a toy gun, yet he dared not speak again, for he did not know whether He Ao would pull out a real gun next time.
“My first up card,” He Ao slowly put down the toy gun and flipped over his left hole card, “the nine of clubs.”
“Sorry about that,” Ludo also slowly revealed his first hole card, “the ten of diamonds.”
He flashed a grin at He Ao, “Bigger than yours.”
This time, He Ao had no reaction, only smiling back at him.
