Chapter : 82

Yan Yunqing took the three lonely chips and casually placed a bet on a large roulette wheel.

His luck was bad, and he didn't win either of the two bets. Instead, a sloppy, greasy-haired, and stubble-faced uncle at the same table won all the bets.

The uncle jumped up in excitement and gathered all the bets into his arms, "Mine, mine, it's all mine!"

The gamblers around who had already gambled with bloodshot eyes looked at the uncle with eyes full of jealousy and fervor.

Yan Yunqing had one white chip left. His chip was too inconspicuous at this table. No one had paid any attention to him during the first two bets. After all, he was just a poor ghost who could only take out one thousand gold coins.

The entry threshold for the primary game was one hundred thousand gold coins. According to the current purchasing power of gold coins, it could be said that the people in this primary game were all rich.

After all, a person with a family fortune of less than one million gold coins would not dare to directly hand over one hundred thousand gold coins as an entry fee.

With one white chip left, Yan Yunqing was in no hurry to use it.

Yan Yunqing silently observed for a while. This lucky roulette wheel indeed seemed to have no possibility of cheating. The small ball rolled down from the center and rolled rapidly on it with the speed of the large roulette wheel. After stopping, it slowly stayed in one of the squares.

If only one person bet on this square, then all the bets in the other squares would belong to this person. If more than one person bet on this square, then they would share a portion of the other bets according to the ratio.

If the amount bet exceeded the bets in the other squares, then the house would pay the lucky guest twice the amount bet as a reward for his luck.

And one-third of the squares on the roulette wheel belonged to the house, which was the casino. If the small ball landed in these squares, then these bets would be won by the casino.

Of course, the house also had to bet the minimum bet on these squares in each round.

Yan Yunqing tested it and found that this lucky roulette wheel was an alchemical item with only one characteristic, which was [Anti-magic].

No skill could control the landing point of the small ball. To some extent, it could be considered fair and just.

However, Yan Yunqing did not believe that there would be a truly fair and just casino. It was just that from the perspective of a gambler, it was completely impossible to see what the casino had done.

Yan Yunqing thought for a moment and, after the next round began, bet on a square that no one had chosen.

The uncle who had won all the bets before seemed to be getting carried away. He directly bet more than half of it in the square he had chosen.

Because of his previous good luck, the gamblers behind him almost followed him without a second thought and bet on that small square.

"You! You are not allowed to follow my bet!" the sloppy uncle shouted angrily, but it was useless because the rules of the lucky roulette wheel allowed multiple people to bet on the same square.

"I don't want to bet on the same square as these people. I want to withdraw from this round of the roulette wheel!"

"The number of bets in this square has reached the upper limit." The 'Man'er' who was presiding over this gambling game said with a smile, "The bets are already on the table and cannot be changed or withdrawn."

As her voice fell, two black-robed men next to her took a step forward and stared at the sloppy uncle with tiger-like eyes, as if he would be dragged away as a troublemaker if he said another word.

Seeing this, the sloppy uncle did not dare to make another sound. He just swept his bloodshot, protruding eyes fiercely over the circle of people who had followed his bet. His gaze was resentful and sinister, and everyone who met his gaze couldn't help but shiver.

The gamblers who had originally wanted to follow this person's bet, after hearing the dealer say that the number of bets was full, and seeing that the sloppy uncle looked too fierce, all avoided his square and chose to bet on other squares.

And the square that Yan Yunqing had chosen still only had him.

Because in the past dozen or so rounds, not a single small ball had entered this square. Compared to betting on being very lucky, these gamblers were more willing to believe in the squares that had already proven their luck.

All bets were on the table. The dealer asked three times in a row, and no one else placed a bet. She then announced the start of a new round of the lucky roulette wheel.

As the small ball rolled down with a gurgling sound and raced rapidly on the roulette wheel, gurgle, gurgle—

Every time it passed a square, the small ball would be bounced up by the baffle in a small arc. As the speed of the roulette wheel decreased, the speed of the small ball also decreased.

Gurgle, gurgle...

The small ball once again rolled past Yan Yunqing's eyes, gradually slowing down, and finally, with a click, it landed in a square.

23—

Yan Yunqing looked at the square he had bet on, 24. It was only off by one number?

And he remembered that 23 should be...

The beautiful dealer raised a smile, "It seems I have won this time."

As she spoke, she wanted to take all the chips on the gambling table, but was stopped by the sloppy uncle, "No, impossible, why isn't it 12? I clearly calculated that this round should be twelve!"

The dealer frowned, and this sloppy uncle was already a little crazy, "You cheated! You definitely cheated! Give me back my money!"

"This gentleman..."

However, the sloppy uncle completely ignored the dealer's words. In his eyes, there was only the large sum of chips he had lost.

The people who had bet on that square with him also turned their bloodshot eyes to the dealer's direction, as if as long as the sloppy uncle said a few more words and proved that the dealer had cheated, they would attack in a group and snatch back their chips.

Discovering that the situation was heading in a serious direction, the dealer immediately turned cold. She skillfully withdrew her arm, which was tightly held by the sloppy uncle, and with a wave of her hand, the few black-robed men standing by immediately rushed up and pressed the sloppy uncle to the ground.

"Take him away, say this person is causing trouble." The dealer still had a smile on her face, but the words she spoke were so cold that they could freeze a person.

The black-robed men did not hesitate at all. They directly went up and dislocated the sloppy uncle's arms. Immediately, the sloppy uncle let out a miserable cry, and then his hands twisted at a strange angle and hung down limply.

Only then did a little bit of the sloppy uncle's reason return. He had a look of horror on his face, "No, no! I was wrong, I shouldn't have caused trouble—don't—"

However, it was useless. He was already being dragged away by the two black-robed men. His feet dragged on the ground, and he had no face left, but he was still shouting in horror, "Don't—I was wrong!"

This was the second time Yan Yunqing had seen a black-robed man drag someone away. The first time was when he had just come in and saw a gambler who had lost all his assets being dragged away.

According to the bunny-eared girl's words, that gambler had bet himself away to the casino, which was why he was dragged away.

The second time was now. The sloppy uncle was taken away by the black-robed men because he had made a move to attack the dealer, and the reason was causing trouble.

So, in Mandiper, there were two bottom lines that could not be crossed. One was to mortgage oneself to gamble, and the other was not to cause trouble, especially not to attack the people of Mandiper.

But from the system prompt Yan Yunqing had received before, he knew that the members of the Children's Gang in Mandiper had been under continuous attack for a period of time, and it was obvious that no black-robed men had intervened to stop it. So, the scope of the second rule could be narrowed down a bit.

You cannot attack the dealer.

Yan Yunqing took a step back. His gaze swept over every gambling table, and he found that there were several black-robed men standing by each gambling table. It was obvious that their role was to step out and deal with any troublemakers.

In other words, the status of the 'dealer' who operated the gambling table in Mandiper was higher than that of the 'Man'er' and 'Pei'er'.

Why? Was it because the 'dealer' was closely related to the interests of the casino, so this unspoken rule was set?

Yan Yunqing frowned. He had no more information, and his reasoning was stuck.

It seemed he still had to wait for Xiao Ai to come over. He had to have an insider to provide him with more information.

All three chips were used up, and Yan Yunqing had no intention of exchanging for more. He waited for a long time, but Xiao Ai did not appear. It was probably an accident. Yan Yunqing was preparing to go and meet Xiao Ai first.

While Yan Yunqing was betting on the lucky roulette wheel, Rocco was constantly looking around. According to the fox-eared young man's words, Xiao Ai should be here soon, but her long delay had already made him uneasy.

Yan Yunqing was still calm. The system had not prompted him that the NPC was being attacked, so it was impossible that Xiao Ai was in danger. At most, there was some small trouble that had delayed her arrival.

...Oh, that's not right. From Xiao Ai's perspective, he, the guest who had suddenly bought a day of her time, was probably that small trouble?

Ah, could it be because of this that Xiao Ai was delaying her arrival?

Yan Yunqing thought with hesitation.

***

Things were just as Yan Yunqing had thought. At the time he bought Xiao Ai's time, Xiao Ai was in Jenny's room, applying medicine to the bruised and battered Jenny.

Jenny was lying on the bed, her face pale without a trace of blood. She was drowsy, and her back, which was exposed outside the quilt, was covered with whip marks.

Mia's eyes showed worry, "Jenny's injuries are too serious. If she doesn't get timely treatment, she will definitely be left with scars."

The oldest, Xiao Ai, sighed. She used a soft cotton cloth to dip in the potion and gently applied it to Jenny's wounds. With each application, she could feel the muscles under her hand trembling slightly.

This was not just a matter of leaving scars. With such serious injuries, Jenny was very likely to get a fever and die from it.

They had to take Jenny for treatment.

But Mandiper would not allow it, because this time Jenny had broken Mandiper's rules, which was why she was beaten like this. The purpose was to teach Jenny a lesson, so how could they let Jenny get treatment?

She could secretly bring some wound medicine over for Jenny to use because these wound medicines were saved up by her bit by bit when she was injured and was reluctant to use them.

Mandiper did not need a 'Pei'er' who was disobedient and would resist.

Xiao Ai was also very flustered in her heart, but she could not show any unusual emotions on her face. With Nana gone, she was the oldest of these children. If even she started to panic, what would the younger children do?

She had to calmly think of a way to break the deadlock.

Xiao Ai encouraged herself in her heart. While applying medicine to Jenny, she quickly thought that if Jenny could not receive treatment, then they must get more medicine now.

Should they find an opportunity to go out of Mandiper to ask Nika and the others for help, or should they let the other children deliberately get a little injured and use this to get some medicine granted by Mandiper?

It was a difficult choice.

According to Xiao Ai's thoughts, she was unwilling to let the other children get injured deliberately, because getting injured meant that there was a possibility of making mistakes in the subsequent work. If they made mistakes, they would still be punished by Mandiper.

At that time, it would only make their injuries more serious. Perhaps Jenny's injuries would not have healed yet, and the other children would also have problems one after another. This was a vicious cycle.

But going out to find Nika and the others...

It had been a while since Xiao Ai and the others had gone out to contact Nika and the others. The last time Nana was taken away, they had secretly slipped out to find Jeff, hoping that Jeff could find a way to rescue Nana.

However, Nana was not rescued, and Jeff was injured, and so tragically.

At that time, Xiao Ai felt very guilty. Compared to the children living in Mandiper, the children outside lived in more straitened circumstances.

They didn't have enough to eat or wear, and they didn't even have money for treatment when they were sick.

In the end, they even let their companions outside get injured because of them... especially since the injured one was the big brother Jeff, whom they had always respected very much.

Now, big brother Jeff must also need a lot of money for treatment. If she went out rashly and asked Nika to find a way to get more wound medicine, Nika probably wouldn't be able to do it.

What's more, since the matter of them sneaking out to ask Jeff for help was discovered by Mandiper, all the children related to Nana were forbidden to go out. It would be extremely difficult to sneak out again.

If they were discovered again...

Xiao Ai's face turned a few shades whiter, and she had already imagined a very bad consequence.

Just then, the bracelet on her wrist vibrated. Xiao Ai was stunned. She clicked on the bracelet and saw the message displayed on it. Her hand trembled, and the bottle of potion she was holding almost fell to the ground.

"Xiao Ai?" Mia looked at Xiao Ai, whose face had suddenly turned pale and even had a bit of fear on it, with confusion, "What's wrong with you? Did something happen?"

Since Nana was taken away, Xiao Ai had been their pillar of support. However, the expression that Xiao Ai was showing at this moment made Mia feel scared.

Xiao Ai's lips trembled. She slowly put down the bottle of potion and tried her best to maintain her composure, but her voice was trembling slightly, "It's nothing..."

"It's nothing, I'll be leaving for a moment. You help me apply medicine to Jenny."