[WP] Chapter 32, "Cheating"

[WP] Chapter 32, "Cheating"

Hearing the fat chef's request, Shade frowned. He looked at the man called "Mr. Nit" who collected the money, and the latter shook his head.

"This is a matter between you. The club will not stop him from leaving, but you have to convince Fat Jack."

"I have no money."

Shade pulled out the pockets on both sides of his coat. There was indeed nothing in it except the keychain and notebook because his money was in the inner pocket.

"I didn't expect that he could owe so much money."

Little Franklin had stood up, lowered his head, and said nothing beside Shade. Although he was a bit of a bastard, he also knew that he had to rely on this person who looked no older than him to leave.

"No money?"

The fat chef bent down angrily and picked up four scattered Rhodes cards on the ground, showing the suits to Shade, which were Sun 1, Sun 8, Star 13, and Emperor.

The Emperor and Queen are independent cards outside the four suits, somewhat similar to the big and small kings in Shade's world, but they have a very interesting role in the Rhodes card game similar to "21 points.".

"Draw one from the four cards. If you draw the Emperor, you take him away. If you don't draw, he will leave all his clothes, and you will leave your shirt."

The fat chef spoke in a muffled voice and began to shuffle the cards with his hands behind his back. Then, with his bloody teeth-marked hands, he held four cards with their backs facing forward and spread out in a fan shape:

"Don't say I'm a bad person; he bit me."

He said angrily, motioning for Shade to draw the cards quickly.

Shafe blinked and reached out to stop Little Franklin, who wanted to reach out:

"If you are lucky enough, I won't have to redeem you here."

As he spoke, the life ring in his soul slowly turned; the soul urged the elements, and the elements affected reality. There were some subtle red marks on his right eye, and the echo of blood made the blood marks reflected in Shade's eyes.

The world in his eyes changed, and everything was covered with a wonderful halo. Even though Little Franklin just sprayed a little blood on the cards, and all of them were sprayed on the front, the spell of "Echo of Blood" still allowed Shade to see the faint red marks in the air and the different red mist luster around the four cards in the fat chef's hand.

He just saw that the blood content of the "Emperor" was the highest, so he almost immediately knew that the card he needed to draw was the second card on the left hand.

"Am I bullying people? I just became a ring wizard; this is not right."

He thought absentmindedly, examining his moral values.

Then he stretched out his finger and put it on the rightmost card. His eyes did not look at the back of the card but stared at the fat chef's face. The fat chef immediately tightened his fat face and tried not to make any expression.

Mr. Nit and Little Franklin on the side were attracted by this scene.

"This one is not."

Shade said softly, put his finger on the second card from the right, and stared at the chef's face for a few seconds:

"This one is not either."

Shade shook his head and changed to the correct card this time. After several seconds, he slowly pulled it out in the fat chef's suppressed surprise:

"This time it is."

The card slowly turned over, and it was "Emperor.".

"This should be considered bullying ordinary people."

He also thought in his heart.

"Damn, I didn't realize you were an experienced gambler."

The fat chef was surprised for a moment, then threw the other three cards in his hand to the ground in a rage:

"Take this damn kid away. If he doesn't pay back the money next time, be careful not to let him fall into my hands."

The accountant's son smiled with relief on his pale face, and Shade nodded. He didn't comment on other people's behavior, but he knew that the spell [Blood Echo] was really helpful for detective work.

He gave Shade a receipt. To prevent Shade and the dejected little Franklin from running around in the club, the man wanted to send the two of them outside the club. But the three of them had just walked to the second-floor stairs and were about to go downstairs when they were stopped.

It was a woman in her thirties dressed as a maid. She looked very ordinary, but her temperament was very good.

She came down the stairs from the third floor:

"That lady wants to see you."

She looked at Shade and nodded slightly to him.

"Is there anyone behind me?"

Shade thought and looked behind him immediately, but there was no one behind him.

"Me?"

"Yes, sir, please follow me; your friend can wait for you on the first floor for the time being."

The woman said, Shade didn't understand, and looked at the man leading the way, who shrugged:

"There is only one distinguished guest on the third floor tonight. If it is that lady, you'd better follow her up. She is a very distinguished lady. As for him, I will help you keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't get close to the gambling table."

As he spoke, he patted Franklin's shoulder twice very hard, and the latter was almost knocked down, but he didn't dare to object to Shade's departure.

"May I know who that lady is?"

Shade asked hesitantly, suspecting that it was someone like the owner of the club or even Mr. Lawrence's "mistress," Mrs. Lasoya, who found him.

But he didn't understand why the other party was looking for him. The previous detective only had contact with this place last time when he came to pick someone up. Apart from that, Shade had no other social relationship that might be associated with this club.

He was still thinking about the cat at home and wanted to go home as soon as possible to prevent the new cat from defecating on his bed or desk.

"That lady is a titled noble, and she is our most distinguished guest tonight. For her reputation, you cannot know the lady's identity for the time being."

The woman dressed as a maid said in standard Delarian Common Language, and Shade nodded slightly.

"So what is the matter with you looking for me? Sorry, I don't seem to know anyone with such a distinguished status."

"Please follow me."

The woman who led the way turned and walked upstairs. Shade hesitated a little and followed her.

Compared to the relatively quiet second floor, the third floor is absolutely quiet. Judging from the decoration, if Shade had not walked downstairs, he would even believe that this was a floor of the art gallery.

He followed the maid, looking at the paintings on both sides of the wall while walking forward along the carpet in the corridor. He stopped in front of a golden double door, and the maid helped to push the door on the left open enough for Shade to enter.

"The lady is waiting for you inside."

Shade nodded again, waited for a second, and did not wait for the woman's voice in his mind to prompt the "element" to appear, so he entered the room.

The maid closed the door from the outside, and Shade turned his back to the door and looked at the empty reception room.

The layout of the room here is very similar to the doctor's reception room and clinic.

The bookshelf occupies an entire wall, and the floor of the room is covered with carpet. The desk, coffee table, sofa combination, and closet are all brown wooden products, which look very business-like.

It's just that the brass metal box on the coffee table is a bit eye-catching. It looks like a so-called gear mechanism box. You need to rotate the six large and small gears on the surface to a specific arrangement to open it.

The steam pipes and gas pipes on the wall are well integrated with the paint color of the painted wall. There are two angel trumpet-shaped gas lamps on each of the surrounding walls. The warm yellow light is not brighter than the crystal chandelier hanging from the top of the head.

The three windows on the wall facing the door are covered by heavy red-brown embroidered fabric curtains, but Shade does not consider the possibility of hiding behind the curtains.

It was so quiet that Shade felt creepy. Someone was peeping at him, but not in this room.

PS: Just a reminder; remember the captain in the previous chapter. This should not be considered a spoiler.

(End of this chapter)