(3/3)
Anchor Hall
Chapter 539: I feel like I’ve been played
“…”
The entire second floor of the casino was shrouded in dead silence. The air became thick and oppressive, flowing into one’s lungs like heavy liquid.
Staring into Wen Jianyan’s eyes, the corners of Mesvis’s mouth slowly pulled back bit by bit. Uncontrollable laughter spilled from his throat, gradually becoming maniacal: “Haha… Hahahahahahahaha!”
The high-pitched laughter echoed throughout the second floor of the casino, making one’s scalp tingle.
After an unknown amount of time, Mesvis, who was laughing so hard he leaned forward and backward, finally stopped.
He held his stomach, wiped away the physiological tears overflowing from the corners of his eyes, and said with a smile: “Oh my, oh my, sorry, I lost my composure a bit.”
Mesvis stared tightly at Wen Jianyan with those terrifying eyes that had little sclera and large pupils, the smile on his face deepening:
“It’s just that I really haven’t encountered something this interesting in a long time.”
He slowly stood up from the sofa. Only then did Wen Jianyan realize that Mesvis was extremely tall, standing at least two meters.
“Ten times leverage, right?”
The casino manager lowered his head, revealing a terrifying smile: “I agree.”
Even though he received an affirmative answer, Wen Jianyan’s heart suddenly relaxed.
Everything was going in the direction he expected.
Mesvis was a seasoned gambler—this could be seen not just from the orders he gave to the dealers.
For someone like him, the obsession with high risks and high stakes had penetrated deep into the marrow like an addiction. The more dangerous, the more addictive; the more stimulating, the more irresistible… This was the instinct of a gambler.
Precisely because of this, he couldn’t refuse Wen Jianyan’s bet.
However, after a brief relaxation, a new wave of pressure struck again.
You know, this was a bet of 1.5 billion points.
—1.5 billion.
A number that caused infinite panic even just imagining it.
Wen Jianyan raised his eyes and looked at Mesvis not far away.
At this moment, the other party stood with hands behind his back, smilingly watching the waiters busying themselves back and forth—in the blink of an eye, a blank area was cleared in the salon, and a gambling table covered with blood-red cloth was placed right in the center.
“…”
He slowly took a deep breath.
Any chance of winning?
Hard to say.
Wen Jianyan didn’t like gambling, and liked casinos even less.
If not for the extremely extreme situation this time, he would never have chosen this method.
Just as Chen Mo said… there were too many high-level anchors on the ship.
Not only anchors like Figaro who specifically came for the auction, but also instance survivors invited onto the ship by Nightmare just after the Top Ten Challenge ended. They were basically the backbone anchors of major guilds.
There were even four from the Top Ten!
That is to say, once this instance truly took shape, its difficulty would be extremely terrifying.
The rating of the [Yuying Comprehensive University] instance was SS, and the survival rate out of thousands was only double digits.
What about this instance?
The answer was chilling.
According to the analysis of the data on the screen earlier, the cruise ship ran on the points lost by gamblers as fuel. Under the sweet trap deliberately concocted by Nightmare, it had already swept all gamblers on the ship into this frantic vortex. In this group hysteria, no one could stop anymore.
This is gambling.
The more they gamble, the more they lose; the more they lose, the more they gamble.
And all the points they lose turn into the mileage for the cruise ship to sail forward.
The rope of death tightens constantly, poised to strangle everyone on this ship.
If Wen Jianyan had a choice, he wouldn’t want to fall into this deadly high-stakes gamble either, but… this was the only chance right now to level the score between the two sides again.
As long as he could earn back the points lost by others on the ship, the ship’s speed would be suppressed—as long as he could delay for 24 hours, Wen Jianyan could send others in the guild off the ship.
As for the life and death of others on this death ship afterwards, they were not within Wen Jianyan’s concern.
After all, gamblers will always reap what they sow.
Wen Jianyan looked down at the time.
Unknowingly, the time had passed midnight.
In a sense, his day today was a bit too fulfilling—from the casino to the celebration banquet, from the celebration banquet to the cockpit, from the cockpit to the casino second floor. He spun like a top all day, passing a whole day without realizing it.
Wen Jianyan thought for a moment, looked at Mesvis, and asked: “Mind if I start a live stream?”
Since it was past twelve anyway, might as well start a live stream to complete some tasks and earn some points.
Although these points were somewhat insignificant compared to the number he was betting now, mosquito legs were still meat—especially for him who might go bankrupt within today.
Mesvis: “Of course I don’t mind.”
Getting Mesvis’s approval, Wen Jianyan turned on the live stream.
After a brief blank, scattered bullet screens began to appear in the “Integrity First” live room.
[?]
[Damn, I woke up too suddenly, seem to see anchor actually starting broadcast at midnight.]
[What? I just clicked in to try my luck, really started broadcasting?]
[Wait, such a big anchor broadcasting late night for us? Am I dreaming?]
[Speaking of which, where is this?[
“Good evening.”
Wen Jianyan blinked.
“As everyone can see, I am now on the second floor of the casino. Next, a gamble worth 1.5 billion is about to begin.”
The young man narrowed his light-colored eyes and smiled: “Thought everyone should be interested, so started broadcasting early.”
In the “Integrity First” Live Room:
[…]
[…]
[…Wait a minute?]
[What casino second floor? What 1.5 billion gamble?? Wait a fucking minute! What is all this? What on earth did we miss during these few hours offline ahhh!!!]
Wen Jianyan turned a blind eye to the screen full of question marks and closed the interface directly.
Anyway, he hadn’t started long. Even without explanation, the audience would probably understand after watching for a while.
“How much do you know about the rules of the red gambling table?” Mesvis asked.
Wen Jianyan: “Not much.”
“Alright, then I’ll start from the beginning.”
Once involving his professional field, Mesvis was surprisingly patient.
“First, what is in front of you now is the red gambling table that only appears when chips reach a million. Unlike any other gambling table in the casino, on this table, there is no distinction between banker and player.”
…What?
Wen Jianyan was startled.
It was the first time he heard of such a thing.
“Correct.”
Mesvis clapped his hands with a smile, and several footsteps came from the depths of darkness.
Soon, four dealers in sharp tailcoats walked out of the darkness, one female, three males—obviously, these were the core dealers belonging only to Mesvis that Figaro mentioned earlier.
“On the red gambling table, only betting against each other is allowed.” Mesvis pointed to the four people behind him and introduced, “And they are your opponents.”
“You can discuss the specific gambling content yourselves, but once decided, it cannot be changed within ten rounds.
Of course, if you choose a project with a banker-player distinction, then you and your opponent need to take turns being the banker.”
Wen Jianyan digested this amount of information in his mind.
Just as he guessed at the beginning, the rules on the red gambling table were very special, completely different from ordinary casinos.
In ordinary gambling games, the dealer is only responsible for dealing cards, collecting (taking the gambler’s wager when the gambler loses money) and paying (paying the gambler when the gambler wins money). However, on the red gambling table, the dealer is in a position equal to the gambler.
Admittedly, the gambler has the right to decide the way of gambling, but that’s the extent of it.
That is to say, even if the gambler chooses a gambling method with a banker-player distinction, both sides will take turns being the banker to show fairness—the reason Wen Jianyan could join Dan Zhu’s bet in the underground casino and bet on dice with her earlier was probably because it happened to not be Dan Zhu’s turn to be the banker in that round.
Rather than saying this was a gamble organized by the casino, it was better to say…
This was a 1v1 gambling game.
“Secondly, on the red gambling table, besides betting points, you can also bet physical objects—as long as you can produce chips of equal value.”
Mesvis said.
Wen Jianyan almost immediately associated this with Dan Zhu’s bet in the underground casino.
After she won, the dealer gave her corresponding chips and also invited her to leave with him/her.
Then, what Dan Zhu bet at that time should have been some kind of physical object.
“Finally, cheating is not allowed on the gambling table,” Mesvis looked at Wen Jianyan, the smile on the corner of his mouth slowly deepening, “Once caught, you will pay ten times the bet—of course, since you have added ten times leverage, if you get caught cheating, the amount you need to pay is one hundred times the bet.”
One hundred times.
This was a terrifying ratio that made one’s heart skip a beat.
Wen Jianyan didn’t show it on his face, but couldn’t help shivering inwardly.
A waiter stepped forward, holding a transparent box in his white-gloved hands, neatly filled with blood-red chips—a full one hundred and fifty pieces.
One piece worth one million, totaling chips worth one hundred fifty million.
And according to the leverage agreement Wen Jianyan previously drafted with Mesvis, a chip worth one million on the table was worth ten million under the table.
That is to say, the chips in this box now were worth a full 1.5 billion.
The waiter bent down and placed the box full of chips on the edge of the table in front of Wen Jianyan.
Seeing this scene, Mesvis seemed to suddenly think of something and spoke again: “Oh right, one more thing… because your gamble is leveraged, once you lose chips equal to the value of your entire principal, you cannot leave the gambling table early until all chips are lost.”
The so-called “backing” means the value of chips flips ten times under the table.
An ordinary gambler, with 150 chips, gambling on the table, if losing 20 pieces and stopping, still has a principal worth 130 chips remaining.
However, in the case of backing, a gambler with 150 chips, even if only losing 20 chips on the gambling table, is equivalent to losing 200 chips.
Not only losing all principal but also owing the casino 50 pieces.
And the rule Mesvis just added seemed very simple, but was actually extremely vicious.
In the casino, once a gambler realizes their luck is bad, there is an option to cut losses in time (of course, very few gamblers can seize this opportunity; even if cutting losses once, impossible to cut losses every time).
But for Wen Jianyan who added leverage to chips, once the chips he lost fell below the limit his total points could pay—that is, 15 pieces—he couldn’t leave the gambling table until losing all chips in his hand.
The subtext here is:
Either win. Or owe 1.5 billion.
Earn, or die.
No compromise option.
Viewers in the live room seeing this now almost understood what was going on.
“…Damn, this isn’t ordinary gambling anymore; this is a fucking life and death gamble!!! Just listening to the rules makes me start shaking.”
“I’m scared too, ahhh, what possessed the anchor to let himself fall into this kind of gamble? Too terrifying. The consequence isn’t just bankruptcy; it’s a suicide mission!!”
“Does anyone know the consequence of owing money to the casino?”
“Points negative, subsequent instance clearance for repayment—of course, Nightmare will charge interest and commission.”
“Ordinary debt is like this, but what if owing 1.5 billion?”
“…”
“Who knows, I’ve never even heard of such a huge debt!!!”
“That’s about all the rules.”
After introducing the rules of the red gambling table to Wen Jianyan, Mesvis smiled and stepped aside, “Alright, you can choose your opponent now.”
“…”
Wen Jianyan’s gaze swept over the four dealers, finally resting on Mesvis at the very front. Wen Jianyan narrowed his eyes thoughtfully and suddenly asked:
“What about you?”
Mesvis: “Hm?”
Wen Jianyan smiled and asked: “Can I choose to gamble with you?”
In the “Integrity First” Live Room:
[…]
[H-Heart stopped.]
[Who? Who did you say? Gamble with who?]
[Ahhhh I’m panicked, anchor wake up!! Where did the old Wen Jianyan go? I’m not used to this madman now!!!]
“…Me?” Seeming unexpected that Wen Jianyan would ask such a question, Mesvis was slightly stunned, showing a surprised expression.
Wen Jianyan blinked, asking seemingly innocently:
“What? Can’t I?”
The moment his voice fell, a shudder-like smile seemed to flit across Mesvis’s face, but soon, the smile disappeared, and he reverted to the casino’s actual person in charge who planned strategies.
“Unfortunately, indeed can’t. It’s against the rules.”
He said.
“But don’t worry…”
Mesvis raised his eyes, staring unblinkingly at Wen Jianyan. Not sure if it was an illusion, the sclera part of his eyeballs seemed even less, looking very creepy under the light.
“Maybe there will be a chance in the future.”
Wen Jianyan looked at him silently. After a few seconds, he looked away nonchalantly:
“I look forward to it.”
After speaking, he turned his head back and began to carefully scrutinize the four dealers in front of him again.
The first was a baby-faced male of indeterminate age. He smiled at Wen Jianyan who looked over, revealing two sharp tiger teeth. A black-gold nameplate was pinned to his chest:
【No.8】
A blonde, blue-eyed female with a frosty face, wearing a suit uniform tailored for her figure, hanging the same nameplate on her chest:
【No.6】.
【No.4】 was a robust and handsome male. Wen Jianyan found this person’s face very familiar—he was the dealer serving Dan Zhu’s table in the underground casino before.
The last one was an undistinguished middle-aged man, eyes narrow and long, flashing with shrewd light.
The nameplate on his chest was 【No.3】.
“Do their rankings have meaning?” Wen Jianyan’s gaze lingered on the nameplates on their chests and asked.
“Of course.”
Mesvis’s voice came from behind.
“I have ten core dealers in total. Ranking is their winning rate—these four are just free now. The remaining six are currently at other gambling tables in the casino.”
“How about it?” Mesvis asked, “Chosen?”
Wen Jianyan pointed to the baby-faced dealer with the lowest ranking and said: “Him then.”
In the “Integrity First” Live Room:
[…]
[Oh?]
Mesvis showed a somewhat surprised expression, “Didn’t expect your choice to be so conservative?”
Adding ten times leverage to throw 1.5 billion, speaking wildly about wanting to gamble with him, and finally choosing the dealer with the lowest winning rate on the field?
Wen Jianyan nodded smilingly: “Yes.”
He said shamelessly: “No choice, to win, of course have to pick soft persimmons to squeeze.”
Mesvis: “…”
Clearly very shameless words, but the other’s tone was just too matter-of-fact, making one momentarily unsure how to refute.
[Integrity First] Live Room:
“…Fine, as expected of you.”
“Ruthless words are ruthless words, actions are actions, right?”
“Starting to feel unworthy for myself worrying about the anchor going crazy two minutes ago—your kid’s thick skin and guts are really consistent!!!”
After being named, No.8 slowly walked forward and sat behind the blood-red gambling table.
He smiled at Wen Jianyan, revealing two sharp canine teeth:
“Shall we begin?”
“What do you want to play?”
Wen Jianyan thought for a moment: “Anything is okay?”
No.8 smiled: “Of course, what do you want to play?”
Wen Jianyan: “Gomoku (Five-in-a-row).”
Everyone around: “………………”
What?
After Wen Jianyan’s voice fell, the “Integrity First” live room fell into silence. Even Mesvis watching from the side had a momentary blank on his face.
After seconds of silence, scattered bullet screens finally began to appear on the screen again.
“What did he say? I didn’t hear clearly just now. What is he planning to play in the casino? He plans to take 1.5 billion gambling capital to play what with the core dealer under casino management on the second floor?”
“Gomoku.”
“…”
“What to do, so weak.”
“Me too.”
“Feel like I’m being played.”
“…………Me too.”
Even No.8’s expression stiffened.
After a brief silence, he confirmed: “Gomoku?”
Wen Jianyan nodded with a serious face: “Mm.”
He asked: “Can’t I?”
“…”
No.8 raised a smile again, but, not sure if it was an illusion, the other’s voice sounded a bit like gnashing teeth:
“Of course you can.”
