America, New Orleans, Bourbon Street.
Following the clues John had gathered through his contacts, the three of them walked into an entertainment venue with pink lighting that looked rather disreputable at first glance.
Soon, they found their target at a Texas Hold'em table: Gambit, Remy.
Remy was leaning lazily against the back of his chair, showing off cool card tricks with both hands, causing the people at the table and the onlookers to let out low gasps from time to time.
A faint, elusive smile hung on the corners of his mouth; he was clearly enjoying the feeling of being the center of attention.
Judging by the pile of chips in front of him, this guy must have won a lot tonight. A blonde bombshell beside him was constantly praising him, providing emotional value. Remy chuckled and tossed a chip he had just won between the blonde bombshell's firm breasts.
"Show-off!" * 3
The three of them, Darian included, spat internally at the same time, feeling very envious... oh no, they felt disdain.
Logan volunteered: "I'll go over and talk to him."
Darian pressed down on Logan's shoulder: "Let me handle it. You have a way of killing conversations."
Logan's mouth twitched.
Me killing a conversation is still much better than you beating someone to death.
But he really couldn't argue with Darian, so he had to go with John to block the back door, just in case the negotiation failed and they had to fight, preventing the target from slipping out the back.
Darian walked straight to the card table and sat down in the empty seat opposite Remy.
Hearing the movement, Remy struggled to tear his gaze away from the blonde bombshell's breasts and landed it on Darian.
He smiled slightly: "Looks like we have a new friend joining us tonight. The rules here are a big blind of 100 and a small blind of 50."
"That little?"
Darian's tone carried undisguised disdain.
Remy was taken aback. His smile remained, but his eyes held a bit more scrutiny: "Then what amount do you think is appropriate?"
"Of course, at least ten thousand to start, with no upper limit. Otherwise, how could it be worthy of my status?"
Darian wore the expression of a nouveau riche throwing money around.
Remy narrowed his eyes slightly, secretly delighted. This was definitely a rare big fish.
On the surface, he remained calm: "That's a big talk. Did you bring enough capital? We don't do credit here."
"Is this enough?"
Darian pulled a dozen gold bars out from his backside and placed them on the table, making everyone around stare in shock.
Wait, where did you hide so many gold bars?
"Enough."
Remy's gaze also lingered on the dozen gold bars, his breathing involuntarily quickening.
Although he had experienced countless gambling sessions, most were small fry; a game this big was very rare.
However, he had absolute confidence in his card skills and wouldn't lose to anyone.
Due to the excessively high stakes, only Darian and Remy could bet at the table; the other gamblers were happy to watch this high-stakes game from the side.
This wasn't a formal casino, so there were no real rules to speak of.
Soon, the card table was cleared, leaving only Darian and Remy sitting opposite each other, with high-value chips piled up in front of them.
The dealer cut and shuffled the cards, sliding two hole cards to each of them.
Remy lifted the corner of his cards and glanced at his hole cards. It was a pair of Aces—a dream start in Texas Hold'em.
His heart skipped a beat, but he pretended to be nonchalant and casually pushed out two chips: "Double the blind."
"I call."
Darian, however, didn't even look at the hole cards in front of him and threw out four chips directly, as if he were throwing away a few one-dollar coins.
Remy asked in surprise: "Aren't you going to look at your hole cards?"
Darian waved his hand: "I don't lack this bit of money; I'm playing for the thrill!"
Remy: "Damn, he can show off even better than me!"
Next, the dealer flipped over three community cards in the center of the table: Ace of Spades, 8 of Spades, and Queen of Diamonds.
Seeing that Ace of Spades, Remy felt secure and pushed out five more chips: "Raise, fifty thousand."
"I call."
Darian called instantly again, his gaze not even casting a glance at his two face-down hole cards.
Seeing this, the last bit of doubt in Remy's heart completely vanished.
He had initially suspected that since the other party dared to play this big, he might be a hidden gambling expert.
But now it seemed he was just a pure show-off!
What expert would call all the way without even looking at their hole cards? Does he have too much money?
Subsequently, the dealer flipped over the fourth community card: a King of Hearts.
Seeing that Darian still hadn't looked at his hole cards, and looking at his own hole cards, Remy immediately decided to add fuel to the fire.
"One hundred thousand!"
"I call."
Darian threw out ten chips, even yawning out of boredom, and casually tossed a small chip to a waiter to buy a cappuccino to refresh himself, completely disregarding the gambling game.
Remy wasn't angry; the more Darian acted like this, the more at ease he felt.
He had already started pondering where to go to have some fun after winning this pile of gold bars, to "save" those scantily clad young ladies.
Immediately after, the dealer revealed the last community card: an 8 of Diamonds.
Three Aces with a pair—this was a sure win!
Remy desperately suppressed the corners of his mouth from turning up, showing a hesitant expression on his face, his brows slightly furrowed, his fingers hovering over the pile of chips as if he were making a difficult decision in his heart.
He was acting with all his might, just wanting to swindle more chips from Darian.
"Two hundred thousand!"
Remy didn't choose to go all-in, fearing it would scare Darian into not calling, but instead chose to continue raising.
"I call."
However, Darian still chose to call without a moment's hesitation. He pointed at the remaining chips in front of Remy and said happily: "Also, I'll raise you one more hand; let's bet all the chips in front of you."
The surrounding gamblers were immediately stirred up.
Going all-in on the first game? Is it that exciting!?
Remy stared fixedly at Darian's face, trying to discern something from the other party's expression, but only saw the face of a nouveau riche.
He hesitated for a moment, looked down to confirm his hand again, and his confidence instantly surged.
I have a Full House in my hand; can you beat me in a second?
If you can beat me in a second, I'll eat this card table!
"Fine! I call!"
Remy hardened his heart, reached out, and slammed all the chips in front of him forward, then flipped over his hole cards.
With the smile of a winner on his face, he said: "Sorry, I have a Full House, and it's the biggest Full House."
Darian didn't panic at all. Under everyone's gaze, he slowly flipped over the hole cards in front of him.
It was a pair of 8s, much smaller than Remy's pair of Aces.
But the problem was that there were already two 8s on the community cards. In other words, Darian's hand was Four of a Kind!
It completely crushed Remy's Full House!
"It's over!"
The smile on Remy's face froze instantly, his whole face collapsed, and his expression was uglier than if he had swallowed crap.
While raking the chips toward himself, Darian said happily: "Looks like today is my lucky day. I have too much money at home, and I originally wanted to give some away, but it was hard; in the end, I didn't manage to."
Remy: "..."
He felt as if his chest had been stabbed several times, stiflingly painful, and he couldn't say a word.
He had thought he could catch a big fish today, frantically baiting the hook, but in the end, the fish didn't bite, and he ended up feeding all the fish in the river instead.
Darian organized the mountain of chips and asked, looking up: "Are you still playing? If not, I'm going home to eat."
"Playing!"
Remy spat out the word through gritted teeth.
He had already dumped half his net worth into this; how could he just give up?
He absolutely didn't believe that the guy opposite him could keep winning with this kind of freak luck!
Half an hour later.
Looking at Remy opposite him, who looked like he had lost the will to live, Darian said to the blonde bombshell who was rubbing his shoulders: "Tiga, go pour Remy a cup of cappuccino too. He looks like he's in low spirits and needs a pick-me-up."
"Mr. Darian, my name isn't Tiga," the blonde bombshell corrected.
Darian looked at the blonde bombshell's breasts, then nodded affirmatively: "Data doesn't lie; you are Tiga. Hurry up and pour that cappuccino."
The blonde woman had no choice but to obediently follow orders.
There was no helping it; Darian had stuffed her "four-dimensional pocket" between her breasts full of chips. Now she only regretted that she was only a D+, otherwise, she could have stuffed more chips in.
Watching his Tiga serve his opponent in the blink of an eye, Remy's already broken heart became even more painful.
This half-hour was simply a nightmare for him.
He and Darian had played over a dozen hands, and without a single exception, he had lost to Darian in every one!
No matter how high he bet, Darian would choose to call without hesitation, and never looked at his own hole cards until the very last moment.
Even more absurdly, Darian's hand was always bigger than his. Various big hands that were rare in ordinary games kept popping out in Darian's hand as if they were worthless; even a Royal Flush appeared!
Facing this kind of play, the gambling skills Remy had painstakingly practiced for years had no place to be used. It was like punching the air, and every game he lost felt stifling and helpless.
Just like that, Remy lost over a dozen games in a row, not only losing his life savings accumulated over these years but even the blonde bombshell had run over to the other side to provide emotional value.
He stared fixedly at Darian, strongly suspecting that the other party was cheating!
But the problem was, from beginning to end, Darian had barely touched the cards; sometimes even flipping the cards was done by the blonde bombshell, so there was simply no opportunity to cheat.
Darian drank his cappuccino and smiled at Remy: "Are you still playing?"
"Playing!"
Remy answered without hesitation.
He firmly believed that Darian was relying purely on luck, and he also believed that Darian's luck would eventually run out, and that would be his chance to turn the tables!
In short, the gambler had lost his head!
Darian looked at Remy's empty table and said happily: "But it seems you don't have any chips left."
Remy gritted his teeth and said: "I have a plane I can bet against you."
Darian laughed: "What use is your plane to me?"
Remy slammed the table and said viciously: "What I use to bet against you depends not on what you want, but on what I have!"
Darian: "....."
"Sigh, why bother."
Darian looked at Remy, who was left with only a pair of underpants, and shook his head.
Just a moment ago, Remy had lost everything of value he owned, even betting his clothes piece by piece.
If it weren't for the fact that Darian was truly disgusted, Remy's underpants probably wouldn't have been saved either.
Even so, Remy still owed Darian a huge gambling debt, the kind with usurious interest.
Remy had no reaction to Darian's words; he just slumped on the chair with a dull expression, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling, looking as if he had already decided which rooftop to jump from to set himself free.
Seeing this, Darian comforted him: "Don't be so discouraged. If money is gone, you can earn it back. There's no need to seek death over such a small matter. At the very least, it wouldn't be too late to die after you've paid off the gambling debt you owe me."
Remy: "..."
He wanted to die even more after hearing this.
"However, as long as you help me do one thing, I can waive your gambling debt."
Darian revealed a mischievous smile.
Remy covered his two temples and looked wary: "What do you want me to do? Let's get this straight: I sell my skills, not my body!"
"There are too many people here; let's go to the side to talk."
Darian stood up and signaled for Remy to follow. Before leaving, he incidentally stole the chips from the blonde bombshell's chest.
He just remembered that the money he won relying on the "Disciple of the God of Gamblers' Blessing" skill could not be used for personal consumption and could only be used for charity, otherwise it would bring bad luck.
Of course, "saving" scantily clad young ladies didn't count!
Remy gritted his teeth and had no choice but to get up and follow Darian to a relatively quiet corner of the casino.
"What exactly do you want me to do?"
Darian got straight to the point: "I want to find an island."
Remy's expression suddenly stiffened, his eyes shifting: "What island? I don't understand what you're talking about."
"The island where Stryker and Victor are."
Darian said bluntly: "You know what I'm talking about. You're the one who escaped from that island, right."
Hearing this, Remy knew he couldn't hide it any longer and said in a deep voice: "No wonder you took the initiative to find me; it turns out your real purpose was for this. Who exactly are you?"
"Just like you, we are both Mutants."
"Oh?"
Remy's eyes lit up: "So that means you also have special abilities? Could it be that your ability is luck?"
If Darian had used Mutant abilities to beat him at the gambling table, it would prove that it wasn't his gambling skills that were lacking, but that Darian had hacked the game.
Darian seemed to see through his thoughts and waved his hand: "Forget it. My ability has nothing to do with gambling. You lost to me simply because you suck."
Remy: "..."
That hurts!
After a moment of silence, Remy's expression gradually became serious: "Since you are also a Mutant, why do you want to actively look for that kind of place?"
Darian asked back: "What's wrong with that place?"
Remy seemed to have some extremely unpleasant memories triggered, a flash of fear crossing his face.
He spoke slowly: "That island is a large-scale laboratory. Those humans use Mutants for all kinds of live experiments. I saw with my own eyes quite a few Mutants die in their experiments."
"I endured that hellhole for two and a half years, a life worse than death. Fortunately, the Goddess of Luck favored me, allowing me to escape. So, why on earth do you want to find that place?"
Darian said: "To be honest, I am actually the leader of the Brotherhood. The purpose of our organization is to fight for a better tomorrow for Mutants."
"The Brotherhood?"
Remy was taken aback: "I think I've heard of this organization. Isn't the leader a Mutant named Magneto?"
Darian's expression didn't change: "You remembered wrong; their organization is called the Sisterhood."
Remy: "..."