The crocodile-leather door slammed shut behind them, completely cutting off the furious, chaotic noises of the betting floor below. The VIP room was so silent that Kairi could clearly hear the sound of his own shoe soles sinking into the expensive Turkish wool carpet. The vast room was bathed in a sallow yellow light, lingering with the scent of premium Cuban cigars intertwined with an invisible, chilling, and murderous aura.
In the center of the room, a solid oak Poker table was already prepared. Sitting in the host's position was a middle-aged man wearing an ash-gray vest, a pair of gold-rimmed glasses resting on the bridge of his nose. No thuggish tattoos, no flashy jewelry; his demeanor exuded calmness and elegance, yet his narrow eyes behind the lenses were as sharp and cold as a cold-blooded reptile.
He was Kurosawa—the overseer of the VIP floor, and the venomous spider spinning his web in this Southside casino.
Kurosawa lightly tapped his pipe against the crystal ashtray, offering Kairi a faint smile: "Those cheap mechanical games down in the lobby are only for the little mice who like to rely on the pity of god. In this room, we play Poker. A game of intellect, deception, psychological reading, and pure probability. I hope the young master doesn't mind?"
Kairi smirked, pulling out a chair and sitting down with the arrogant demeanor of someone who looked down on everyone. "Deal the cards."
Tonight's table consisted of five people: Kairi, Kurosawa, and three pot-bellied tycoons with oily, arrogant faces. Ginji stood right behind Kairi, both hands resting casually on the back of his chair, acting like an insolent bodyguard, but his eyes hidden behind his mask were scanning the room at high speed.
With the experience of someone who had survived countless underground casinos, Ginji instantly spotted the anomalies. The hidden corners on the ceiling, the frames of the oil paintings, and even the edges of the oak table all had reflective points so minuscule they were unbelievable. Micro-cameras. Kurosawa was using a microscopic camera system combined with a hidden earpiece to let his technical team in the back read all the guests' hole cards.
But Ginji didn't expose it. He sneered. In his head right now, there were only 12 precious luck points left. Instead of wasting points, Ginji decided to use his gambling experience to direct this play.
The first few hands proceeded at a probing pace. Kairi played the role of a "naive young master" perfectly: he bet big on good hands, threw his cards away in frustration when his hand was bad, and occasionally threw money around on a whim to win a few small pots and lose a few moderate ones. His outward arrogance cloaked a coldly calculating mind. But in reality, Ginji had also been heavily advising him, spending 4 luck points throughout the process.
Conversely, the three arrogant tycoons quickly became fat sheep to be slaughtered by Kurosawa. With his ability to see through his opponents' hole cards, Kurosawa continuously pressured them to fold, lulled them into a false sense of security, and trapped them. After just over an hour, the three mountains of chips belonging to the tycoons had vanished completely. They turned red, cursed, and left the table in a huff.
The room was now left with only a direct 1-vs-1 showdown: Kairi and Kurosawa.
With only one prey left, Kurosawa began to tighten the noose. He focused his entire camera system to thoroughly scrutinize Kairi's every move. Whenever Kairi had a good hand, he immediately Folded early on. Whenever Kairi had a weak hand and wanted to Bluff, he immediately raised. In just three short hands, the massive stack of chips in front of Kairi had dwindled by a quarter.
Kurosawa pushed up his glasses, a half-smile of pity appearing: "Young master, it seems your luck from the lobby below has run dry?"
Kairi frowned, pretending to be bitter. Just then, Ginji leaned down, pretending to dust off Kairi's shoulder, and whispered a single, utterly insane command directly into his ear: "From now on, don't look at your cards. Just push All-in!"
Kairi didn't reply; he just blinked slightly in confirmation.
The Dealer began dealing the next hand. Two hole cards were pushed toward Kairi. Kurosawa stared intently at the hidden screen under the table, waiting for Kairi to lift the corner of the cards. However, Kairi leaned back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest, not touching the cards at all.
Instead, he jutted his chin, pushing two towering columns of chips straight to the middle of the table. "All-in."
The smile on Kurosawa's lips suddenly froze. He frowned. Kairi didn't look at his cards, meaning his camera system was completely blind. He looked down at his own hole cards: a 7 and a 4 offsuit—absolute trash. Kurosawa gritted his teeth and pushed his cards away: "Fold."
The next hand. Kairi still didn't touch his cards, calmly pushing all his chips into the middle of the table: "All-in."
Kurosawa started breaking into a cold sweat. Unable to see his opponent's cards, and facing Kairi's indifferent, death-defying attitude, the psychology of a man who gambled based on certainty suddenly collapsed. He constantly had to fold against the blind yet incredibly oppressive All-ins of the teenager sitting across from him.
By the sixth hand, Kurosawa gritted his teeth. The Dealer had just finished dealing the two hole cards; he peeked at the corner of his cards and his pupils suddenly dilated. A pair of black Aces (A♠ A♣). The strongest starting hand in Poker.
"All-in," Kairi maintained the old chorus, his fingers tapping a bored rhythm on the table.
Kurosawa sneered, blue veins bulging on his temples. He swept his hand, pushing his entire massive stack of chips into the middle, an amount far exceeding Kairi's. "Call! You're pushing me a bit too far, young master."
Kurosawa's eyes, sharp as razors, swept over Kairi's face. He saw no fear, nor any regret, even though Kairi had just shoved tens of millions of Yen into a blind bet. That indifference stimulated the bottomless greed of the old fox.
"Playing with this pile of plastic gets boring," Kurosawa said slowly, his voice full of bait. "Betting such a large amount blind without changing your expression proves that money is just scrap paper to your family. How about... we bet some outside assets to make it more interesting?"
Kairi raised an eyebrow, feigning hesitation, playfully twisting the Rolex on his wrist: "Outside assets? That's a hassle. I don't like dealing with complicated transfer paperwork."
Seeing his prey about to slip through his fingers, Kurosawa quickly lowered his voice to persuade: "We don't need to flip our hole cards just yet. Let the Dealer deal the community cards up to the Turn (the 4th card), you can see if your hand has any hope, and then deciding to bet more on the final round (River) won't be too late."
Kairi let out a cold snort and shrugged: "Up to you."
The Dealer nodded, burned a card, and flipped the first three community cards (Flop) onto the table: Queen of Hearts (Q♥), Jack of Hearts (J♥), Ace of Diamonds (A♦).
Kurosawa let out a breath, a frenzied joy surging through his veins. He had a set of Three of a Kind (Three Aces).
The Dealer proceeded to flip the fourth card (Turn): Ace of Hearts (A♥).
Kurosawa's heart felt like it would burst from his chest. He clenched his fists tightly under the table to stop his body from trembling with excitement. With two red Aces on the board and two black Aces in his hand, he held Four of a Kind (Four Aces). This was an almost immortal hand, unbeatable unless a miracle descended.
"Well, young man?" Kurosawa leaned back in his chair, the demeanor of a victor clearly displayed. "It's time to show me what else you can bet."
Only then did Kairi lean down, slowly peeling back the corner of his two hole cards. The depths of his eyes flickered, a trace of panic (acted out perfectly) flashed across his face. He licked his lips and turned his head to call Ginji over to whisper.
Ginji feigned tension, reaching into the inner pocket of his vest and carefully pulling out a black velvet box. He opened the box, placing a finely carved jade corporate seal on the table.
"This is the corporate seal of Young Master Kairi's independent tech company," Ginji growled, playing the role of a loyal servant desperately trying to advise his master but failing. "It has just spun off from the parent conglomerate. With a super product launching next quarter, its current market capitalization... is no less than two billion Yen. Young Master, do you really want to bet this?"
Kairi swatted Ginji's hand away, jutting his chin at Kurosawa with a provocative and arrogant glare. "I've put this on the line; what does an underground casino boss like you have of equal value to match it? If you don't have it, then muck your hand and get off the table."
To add more pressure, Kairi proactively flipped his two hole cards face-up on the table for Kurosawa to see: 10 of Hearts (10♥) and 2 of Spades (2♠).
The entire room fell dead silent. Kairi's hand was a pile of garbage. The 2 of Spades was completely useless. However, the 10 of Hearts, when combined with the Queen of Hearts, Jack of Hearts, and Ace of Hearts on the board, created the foundation for a Straight Flush.
Before his subordinates could verify and confirm that the seal and the company Kairi owned were real, Kurosawa's experienced brain was already spinning with calculations, because he had known Kairi's cards the moment the boy looked at them.
He held Four of a Kind: Aces. For Kairi to beat him, the final card (River) absolutely had to be the King of Hearts (K♥) for Kairi to form a Royal Flush (10, J, Q, K, A of Hearts).
A deck has 52 cards. Two dealt to Kairi, two to him, four community cards on the table. That left 44 cards. The chance to draw the single King of Hearts was 1 in 44, equivalent to 2.27%.
A number that was too low. Too delusional. Too absurd to possibly happen.
While Kurosawa was still drowning in the numbers, no one noticed the sweat pouring down Ginji's forehead like a shower.
The man's hand was gripping Kairi's shoulder so tightly his knuckles turned white. Throughout this entire hand, Ginji had not let things play out naturally. He had frantically drained his ability, using 1 luck point for every card drawn (2 for Kairi, 2 for Kurosawa, 4 community cards) – spending exactly 8 points. Ginji had personally directed this hand to trap Kurosawa in the most perfect snare. Ginji didn't force every card to appear in a fixed order. He only intervened to make the necessary cards appear before they became too hard to control. The closer they got to the River, the narrower the range of choices became, and the price to force the probability increased accordingly.
But now, to force reality to distort probability, to make that 2.27% card appear in the final round, the 0 remaining luck points were not enough. Ginji roared in his throat, forcing his ability to break its limits. He was incredibly afraid of the price he would have to pay when his points went into the negative. (Luck points: 0 -> -3). Ginji had to try and stay calm because he knew bad luck would come looking for him soon enough.
Across the table, Kurosawa had made his decision. His eyes gleamed with the fanaticism of a desperate gambler.
"Alright. Two billion Yen." Kurosawa roared, pulling a stack of papers from his coat and slamming them onto the table. "These are the transfer papers for full ownership of a quarter of the Northside casino district that I own. Equivalent value! I Call!"
Kairi gave a slight smirk. The smile was no longer fake, but the smile of a hunter watching a beast step into a trap.
"Reveal the card," Kairi ordered the Dealer.
The Dealer's white-gloved hand trembled as he burned the top card, then slowly flipped the fifth card (River) into the middle of the table.
Time seemed to stop. The air in the VIP room froze solid like plaster.
A bright red card, standing out with a dazzling royal symbol: King of Hearts (K♥).
Kurosawa shot to his feet, knocking over the armchair behind him. His eyes bulged so wide they seemed ready to pop out of their sockets, red veins bulging with pure terror. "No... Impossible! What the hell is this? Cheating! You're cheating!"
In stark contrast to the boss's madness, Kairi and Ginji were terrifyingly calm. Kairi unhurriedly gathered the stack of ownership papers for the Northside casino, dusted off his hands, and stood up.
"2.27%. Low probability, but it's not zero, right, Kurosawa-san?" Kairi mocked, his voice as sharp and cold as a blade. He stretched, feigning extreme boredom. "Hey, gather the money. The game is over. I thought there would be something more interesting here, but it turns out this is all there is. We might as well have someone flatten this Northside casino into a parking lot tomorrow."
Seeing Kairi turn his back to leave, Kurosawa thoroughly panicked. He had just lost a massive asset belonging to the organization. If his superiors found out, he would be skinned alive.
"Stop!" Kurosawa screamed, his voice cracking with despair. "One more hand! Just one more! I'll match whatever you want to bet!"
Kairi halted, glancing back at him over his shoulder with half an eye. "I told you, you have nothing left to bet with me. Even if you put up this entire Southside casino, I wouldn't be interested. I heard your people's gold mine—the Mikage Company—is on the verge of collapse because the cops are sniffing around, right? Where would a drowning bunch get assets to bet? Though I hear that company's internal information is quite valuable."
The name "Mikage" dropped like a spark thrown straight into the powder keg inside Kurosawa's head. The frantic frenzy to win back his losses had swallowed his last shred of reason. To prove he still had a door to cooperate with the underworld forces and to keep Kairi at the table, Kurosawa lunged for the wall safe behind the oil painting.
He punched in the code with trembling hands, pulled out a tiny metal box, and slammed it onto the betting table. Inside the box was a silver, high-level encrypted USB drive.
"Mikage's money-laundering evidence! All the ledgers, black cash flows, and the list of bribed officials! The cops couldn't find this in their wildest dreams!" Kurosawa panted, his bloodshot eyes pinning on Kairi. "I'm betting this! One last hand!"
The corner of Kairi's lips curled into a flawless arc. The golden hook had firmly lodged into the prey's jaw. He turned around, walking slowly back to the betting table.
At the same time, in the slot machine area in the lobby on the ground floor.
Yume was still sitting with her legs crossed, her hand idly pulling the lever of the Slot Machine. However, behind her mask, her eyes were wide and tense. The Echo network blanketing the entire casino suddenly shook violently, as if a bomb had just been dropped into the tranquil lake of causality.
It wasn't the ripples of ordinary gamblers. It was a violent, bloody wave of causality, carrying the overwhelming pressure of an existence that transcended the normal laws of time.
She clenched her fists; the coin in her hand warped and deformed. She immediately whispered into the microphone embedded in her bracelet to transmit to the wireless micro-earpieces that Ginji and Kairi were wearing:
"Kairi... Ginji... Do you read me? Abort the plan. Pull out of there immediately! There's a Time Breaker approaching this casino!"
But back to the situation inside, Kairi and Ginji's predicament right now was also incredibly dangerous.