The cards were cut and spread out. As Ah Yao eagerly drew the first card, revealing the one he had secretly locked onto, the vicious smile on his face vanished instantly.
It was replaced by boundless fear, shock, and utter disbelief.
"Why... why is it like this!?"
"Why isn't it the Ace of Spades!!!"
Nearly driven mad, Ah Yao collapsed the moment he saw the card revealed was the Two of Hearts.
His face contorted with disbelief, Ah Yao scratched his ears and beat his chest, stamping his feet.
It seemed he couldn't accept it, nor was he prepared for this reality.
Seeing this, I remained silent, watching him with a cold smile. I then drew a card from the deck and slowly revealed it.
A winning card.
The card I revealed was precisely the Ace of Spades that Ah Yao had been desperately searching for but failed to obtain!
After revealing my card, I lit a cigarette, took a puff, and said indifferently, "What are you looking for? Is it this Ace of Spades?"
Hearing this, Ah Yao first froze. Then, snapping back to reality, he pointed at me and shouted, "You cheated! You're a cheat!"
"This round doesn't count! Let's play again!"
"No!!! The previous three rounds shouldn't count either! We need to redo them all!"
"I'll shuffle, cut, and deal. Your hands can't touch the cards the entire time!!!"
Damn it! He's got some nerve!
He openly used the eight-character shuffle, thinking I wouldn't recognize it, and was showing off like an idiot. Why didn't you just blow yourself up then?
I only cut the cards once. For the vast majority of the time, the cards were in your hands. Now you're yelling about me cheating?
And you want to replay, forbidding me from touching the cards!? You're utterly shameless!
Facing Ah Yao's practically thieving statement, I chuckled contemptuously and said to him coldly, "You know the jump shuffle, the false shuffle, and the eight-character shuffle, as well as the 'Hundred Flowers Hand' cutting technique..."
"Speaking of which, you're practically from the Thousand Gates. Why do you have so little ambition?"
"Losing is not shameful! What's truly shameful is refusing to admit defeat when you've lost!"
Upon hearing me enumerate the shuffling and cutting techniques he had used, Ah Yao stared at me intently, his expression becoming extremely grim.
Ah Yao wanted to deny it, his lips parting and closing several times, but ultimately, he could only express his silent rage.
After a few minutes...
Looking at me deeply, a hint of fear surfacing in his eyes, Ah Yao suddenly asked, "Did... did you cheat?"
"Yes, I did," I replied decisively.
My concise answer immediately deepened the fear in Ah Yao's eyes, "But why couldn't I see it?"
Meeting Ah Yao's somewhat fearful and evasive gaze, I replied calmly, "There are mountains beyond mountains, and people beyond people. Where there are people, there is a martial world."
"Anhai isn't that big, but it's certainly not small either! Naturally, there must be more than just you making a living in this world!"
Hearing this, Ah Yao frowned and said, "Can you tell me what technique you used..."
Before Ah Yao could finish, Yu Shuang, who had been watching from the side, suddenly stood up and cast a cold glance at him, "Stop the nonsense! Admit your loss as agreed."
"Do what you're supposed to do, and then you can leave!"
At these words, Ah Yao's face changed drastically. He then glared at me with extreme hatred and resentment.
"You want me to kneel... Impossible! I can't do it!!!"
Ah Yao exclaimed, his eyes wide with anger.
"Heh. A true man keeps his word! This is all you have left."
"Leave the money and get lost quickly!"
I sneered and said no more.
Since Ah Yao refused to kneel, I couldn't exactly pull out a gun and point it at him, saying, "Kneel down and call me master!"
After all, Ah Yao wasn't Feng Biao, who knew when to advance and retreat, and when to endure humiliation.
And I wasn't Liu Huaqiang, capable of such boldness, forcing people to kneel at the slightest provocation.
I initially thought Ah Yao was shameless for reneging on the kneeling.
But to my surprise, this guy... was far more shameless than I had imagined!
"I don't have any money!"
This was Ah Yao's direct response when I asked him for the money.
In fact, when I impulsively agreed to the bet with Ah Yao in a fit of anger, I hadn't thought much about it.
After all, his elimination was caused by me, and it was I who had actively proposed to Yu Shuang to replace him in the thousand-person game.
My initial thought was that after defeating Ah Yao, if his attitude of admitting fault was better, and he said a few conciliatory words, then the matter would be dropped.
As for his issues with Yu Shuang... that wasn't something I could control.
But now, not only does he refuse to back down, but he's also determined to be a scoundrel to the end. In that case, I won't stand for it!
It was my prerogative to let him off, but it was my duty to hold him accountable!
But you, on the other hand, are pushing your luck... What does that even mean?
I stubbed out the cigarette butt in the ashtray and turned my gaze to Ah Yao's pocket, reminding him calmly, "You have a card in your pocket, you can go withdraw money."
"Heh. Withdraw money!?"
With a disdainful laugh, Ah Yao contorted his face and said coldly, "It's good enough that I'm not asking you for money, and you dare to ask me for money?"
Hearing Ah Yao say this, Yu Shuang on the side gave him a meaningful look.
Ah Yao then stood up on his own, cast a cold gaze at me, and said in a deep voice, "Da, believe it or not, if I go to Wang Yu and the others right now to report you as a cheat, you'll be beaten to death immediately!?"
After speaking, Ah Yao stared at me intently, a cunning glint in his eyes, seemingly confident that I wouldn't dare argue with him.
Unfortunately for him... he was disappointed.
I stared back at him directly and sneered, "I believe you! Go ahead and report me! Don't dawdle."
My words instantly stunned Ah Yao, "Da Jianming, you, you... aren't you afraid of death?"
Too lazy to waste more words on this jerk, I withdrew my gaze and pointed to the door, "Hurry up, go report me! I'll wait for you here."
Yu Shuang, who was watching the spectacle, gave me a look of approval, and her red lips curved into a slight smile.
Seeing this, the clueless Ah Yao mistook it as Yu Shuang making some promise to me. His acne-ridden face instantly turned red with anger.
Grinding his teeth, Ah Yao, without a word, strode to the door. Just as he was about to step out of the room, Yu Shuang's cold voice suddenly echoed.
"Zhang Tianyao, born May 12, 1985. Resides at Room 2, Group 14, Xiaman Residential Committee, Dongru County, Tongnan City, Sujiang Province."
"Your father died early from illness, leaving only your mother and sister at home. Am I correct?"