“Make way, make way!”The gathered audience parted for me, seeing the mask I wore. ‘What was that all about? So this ‘lucky guest’ thing means you’re really powerful. If I’d known, so many plans that were impossible before could have been carried out.’
Still, before I pondered those thoughts, I figured it was best to get Bingying out of there first.
“Alright, alright, old man, don’t be so crude.” I pushed the startled man aside, then stood before Bingying, whose clothes were half-torn. I sighed. “I told you to be careful. I only left for a moment, and you’ve already caused trouble. Never mind, let’s go, let’s go. Hey, do you two not understand Chinese? Let her go. Don’t make me say it a second time.”
Perhaps realizing the situation had changed, the black bodyguard released his grip and silently retreated to his original position.
‘Though I couldn’t see her expression beneath the mask, she must have been terrified. Seriously, whose personality did she inherit, this outwardly strong but inwardly weak demeanor? She’s practically the archetype of a novel’s heroine. If I had arrived any later, wouldn’t this book have become an 18+ story?’
“Are you… Luo Tianchen?” Bingying asked, a hint of hesitation in her voice.
“Of course. Who else did you think would come to save you at a time like this?” I replied, as if it were the most obvious thing.
“…I just feel like something’s off.”
“Is it really such an inconvenience that it’s me? Should I just step back, let you get caught again, and see if your Prince Charming shows up instead?” ‘Seriously, pick your timing when you say things like that.’
“That’s not what I meant! I was saying… you were very dashing.” Her voice grew softer and softer, becoming almost inaudible by the end.
“Hmm? What?” I hadn’t quite caught the latter half of what she said.
“Nothing at all! Let’s go, let’s go! We’re going home!” She naturally linked her right arm through mine, her voice brightening with happiness. The panic she’d felt from almost being violated had completely vanished.
‘But Yao Xinchang… never mind. With such big news breaking out, she must have noticed what happened here. Whether she’s truly Yao Xinchang or not, if she came here to do something, she would definitely avoid the crowds and act discreetly.’
Although Bingying appeared calm, I could still feel her inner tremors through our physical contact. It was best to take her home first. I could always return here later if an opportunity arose.
Yet, had I forgotten something?
“Hey, you two aren’t just going to walk away like that, are you?” A man’s furious voice came from behind me.
‘Ah, I knew it wouldn’t be that simple.’
I turned around to see the man from earlier, who had already retrieved the gorilla mask from the floor and put it back on. I scratched my head, helpless. “Hey, old man, what more do you want? She kicked you, and you punched her back. That makes us even. Since she’s not interested, don’t keep pestering her. I know this might break the rules, which is why we were about to leave, weren’t we?”
“Joking aside, where do you think this is? A child’s playhouse?” The man sneered. “Since you’ve come, don’t expect to leave so easily. Since you’re also a lucky guest, we’ll gamble according to the rules here. Whoever wins gets the woman.”
“Huh? Shouldn’t this situation depend on the woman’s own wishes?”
“A woman’s wishes? What is that?” The man cackled. “They’re just things that money can buy. Do you ask your toothbrush if it hurts? You just said she was your girlfriend, didn’t you?” He licked his lips, his eyes filled with greed. “Fine, I was going to let it go, but now, if you don’t hand her over to spend a night with me, neither of you will leave this place!”
‘What the heck, is this guy a connoisseur of married women? Should I have said we weren’t actually together?’ I pondered seriously.
Bingying’s body began to tremble again, this time likely from anger. I squeezed her hand firmly, urging her to calm down so she wouldn’t rush forward and kick the man down again.
I looked towards The Clown standing on the stage. Among everyone present, only he remained high above, silent, observing mortals like a deity.
As I watched him, he watched me, his eyes full of amusement.
‘Is this what you mean?’
“Alright, alright, let’s gamble then. What should we bet on? How about Ludo? Checkers works too, you know?” ‘It seems a competition is unavoidable after all.’
“Are you mocking me?” The man’s anger gauge visibly shot upwards.
“Oh? Then how about Go? Or Chess? Five-in-a-row?”
“Since both parties are lucky guests, let’s continue to compete on ‘luck.’ We’ll see who is the luckiest guest present.” The Clown finally spoke, his tone full of interest.
“Fine, I have no objections.” The man agreed.
“It seems I don’t have the right to object either. So, what are the rules?”
“It’s simple. To avoid delaying your night of pleasure, we need to finish quickly. We’ll draw cards, highest card wins. Excluding jokers, A through K increase in value. For cards of the same rank, suits are compared: Spades, Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, in ascending order. Each person draws one card, and we compare the total points. Any questions?”
“Understood.”
“OK.”
“Luo Tianchen…” Bingying tugged worriedly at my sleeve.
“Don’t worry.” Though she likely couldn’t see it, I gave her a reassuring smile. “I will absolutely not hand you over. This is my vow.”
Soon, a server led us to a dedicated gambling area. Many people chose to follow and watch, though some were undoubtedly eager to find the women they’d arranged to meet. Overall, it seemed that competitions between lucky guests were quite rare and worth observing.
“Isn’t that obvious? Everyone wears masks, so who knows what they truly look like? Rather than competing with another lucky guest for a woman or man and losing the privilege of being a lucky guest, it’s better to just give up and find someone else. That’s why scenes like this are so rare.” The Girl in the Cat Mask remarked.
“I see, you lose your lucky guest privileges if you lose. You know a lot.”
“No choice, I’ve just been here a lot.” The girl shrugged.
“By the way, aren’t you leaving yet? Aren’t all the guests here to indulge themselves?” I asked, glancing sideways.
“I haven’t found anyone interesting. No lucky guest has invited me either. There was one, actually, but even though he already had someone, he still chose to run off with another woman.” The girl’s eyes were filled with resentment.
“Wait a minute, the ‘one’ you mentioned, you don’t mean me, do you?”
“What do you think?” The girl said, as if it were obvious.
“No, no, no, we’ve only exchanged a few words, alright?” I said with a wry smile.
“Oh? You’re so mean. We’ve already done *that* kind of thing…” The girl feigned shyness.
“Hey, Luo Tianchen, who is that person?” Bingying’s voice was incredibly sullen.
‘This is bad. I don’t know why, but I have a really bad feeling about this!’
The girl deliberately ignored Bingying, clinging to my left arm and cooing, “Hey, hey, if you lose later, will you come to a room with me?”
‘Whoa, whoa, don’t secretly decide I’m going to lose right from the start.’
“What did you say?!” Bingying bristled like a startled kitten, her fur standing on end.
“What does it matter? You’re going to a room with that old man later anyway, aren’t you? So it shouldn’t matter if your boyfriend comes with me, right?”
“I won’t hand him over to you! Luo Tianchen will absolutely not lose!”
“Huh? So confident?”
“Of course! When it comes to a contest of luck, I’ve never seen him lose!” Bingying declared, full of conviction.
“Oh, really? Don’t say I didn’t warn you, his opponent is the Asian King of Gamblers, known as the ‘Lucky Pervert.’ He once won eight consecutive times purely by luck in an odd-or-even game. He’s attended ten of these gatherings and became a lucky guest seven times.” The girl offered a ‘kind’ reminder. “So you should start thinking about how you’ll serve him in bed later.”
“You! Luo Tianchen won’t lose! You B-I-T-C-H!”
“Huh? You old-man-lover, old-man-lover, old-man-lover, old-man-lover, old-man-lover, old-man-lover!”
“S-L-U-T!”
“Old-man-lover, old-man-lover, old-man-lover, old-man-lover, old-man-lover, old-man-lover, old-man-lover!”
Seeing that the two were about to come to blows, I had no choice but to play peacemaker and separate them.
‘So that’s it, it’s not a hundred percent. Then there’s nothing to be afraid of.’ As Bingying said, when it comes to a pure test of luck, I’ve never lost.
“Oh? After everything I told you, you’re still so confident?” The girl chuckled lightly.
“It’s not about confidence or lack thereof. It’s just that the outcome of this game was decided from the very beginning.”
“Hmm?” The girl frowned, seemingly not understanding my words.
Ignoring her confusion, I walked straight to the prepared gambling table. Fifty-two playing cards were neatly arranged face down in four rows of thirteen columns. The man was already standing opposite me, sneering, “Then, please, you go first.”
“You know what? Personally, I really dislike so-called dramatic twists.” I said to myself. “Honestly, I don’t understand why protagonists in some novels and anime pretend to be weak before revealing their strength. If they truly have power, why hide it? Why insist on being low-key, only to have someone attack them and then declare, ‘You made the first move,’ before wiping out their entire family? If it were me, I’d show my true strength from the start, directly crushing the fly instead of just shooing it away. That way, all the subsequent trouble would be avoided.”
“Huh? What exactly are you trying to say? If you want to beg for mercy, now’s your chance, you know.” The man scoffed.
“I’m saying, you’re that fly.” I casually flipped over a card.
King of Spades.
The entire room fell silent. Even The Clown was stunned, never expecting the highest card to appear in the very first round. Had all the props and personnel for this gamble not been provided by him personally, he might have suspected me of cheating.
“Heh heh, kid, your luck isn’t bad, but this is as far as it goes.” The man’s eye twitched. He, too, flipped a card—Queen of Hearts—which made him let out a huge sigh of relief.
“Now, it’s your turn.”
“Hey, I think this is too slow. Can I just flip all 26 cards at once?” I raised my hand and asked The Clown on the stage.
He was silent for a moment, then turned to the man. “What do you think?”
“Fine, then let me see your ‘luck.’” The man gnashed his teeth, clearly provoked by me.
“Why didn’t we just do this earlier?” I stretched, cracking my finger joints. “Alright, I’m starting.”
King of Hearts, King of Clubs, King of Diamonds, Queen of Spades, Queen of Clubs, Queen of Diamonds…
I unhurriedly flipped open one card after another. With each card revealed, the man’s eyes widened a fraction more.
Jack of Spades, Jack of Hearts, Jack of Clubs…
The last card was the Seven of Clubs. Done.
“So, can we determine the winner now?” I turned to the stunned dealer, who snapped back to reality as if waking from a dream. He said hesitantly, “The winner is…”
“I refuse! I protest! He cheated!” The man suddenly roared like a madman.
“Oh? Are you implying that in my establishment, in a game I provided, under a dealer I hired, someone cheated?” The Clown’s voice became cold and serious, no longer comically amusing. Perhaps this was his true face as a gang boss. The man was instantly silenced, stammering and unsure what to say.
“Well, did he cheat?” The Clown looked at the dealer again.
The dealer said with some hesitation, “I apologize, I didn’t detect any traces of cheating, but this is also…”
The Clown waved his hand, cutting him off, his voice returning to its previous sharp, comical tone. “Then there’s no problem. Ah, it seems we have a super~ lucky guest this time! Let’s all cheer for his victory!”
All the spectators erupted. Bingying excitedly rushed forward and hugged me. The girl, meanwhile, stared at me as if I were a monster. “You… so that’s what you meant by ‘not a hundred percent’? How did you do it?”
“Didn’t I tell you? It’s luck. Cheating in this situation would be impossible, wouldn’t it?”
The girl looked utterly unconvinced. ‘Whatever, believe it or not, I don’t care.’
“Alright, alright, let’s go.” I held Bingying’s hand. Whatever happened next was no longer my concern.
“Stop! Don’t leave!” Amidst the cheers, only one voice sounded particularly jarring.
“You’ve lost. Don’t bother others anymore.” The Clown’s voice grew slightly heavier, clearly showing his displeasure.
“No! Leave that woman! You’re not allowed to go!” The man completely ignored The Clown’s words, shouting with bloodshot eyes, like a madman.
“Oh? You’re not a lucky guest anymore, are you? You’ve also heard the conditions for a gamble to be valid: equivalent stakes, right? If you still want to gamble, what exactly do you intend to add to the pot?” I turned my head, raising an eyebrow.
The Clown probably hadn’t expected me to respond. He restrained the security guards with a glance, watching me with considerable interest, likely wondering what my next move would be.
The man paused, then gritted his teeth. “One hundred million!”
Everyone was stunned. One hundred million for a woman? Was this man insane?
“Not enough.” I shook my head, and everyone was even more shocked.
“You! Are you trying to say that woman is worth more than one hundred million?!” The man was clearly exasperated.
“To me, she cannot be measured by money. If you can’t offer equivalent stakes, I won’t participate in this gamble.” I finished speaking and turned to leave.
“Wait! You name your price! As long as I can afford it!” The man finally gave in.
“Hey, hey, hey, it seems he really likes you, doesn’t he? Why don’t you just stay and accompany him?” I joked to Bingying.
“Huh? I absolutely refuse to be with such a disgusting thing!” she replied with utter loathing. ‘Whoa, whoa, don’t provoke him any further. He already looks like he wants to devour you whole. He’s probably fantasizing about all sorts of things he’ll do once he gets his hands on you.’
‘However, he’ll likely never get to in this lifetime.’
“Don’t worry, it’s definitely something you can afford.”
“Really? What is it?!” The man’s breathing grew ragged, his face flushed, drawing a chorus of jeers from the surrounding female guests.
‘I’m starting to get a little angry now.’
“That would be… everything you possess. Your wealth, your status, and, of course, the most important thing of all… your life.” I looked at him, enunciating each word distinctly.