To my surprise, besides the homeless Xian Yu brothers and the always belligerent Cheng Ming Lang, even Han Jin Lun spoke up this time, wanting to join the fray.
Of the four of them, not a single one was a coward!
Seeing this, I waved my hand and replied, "No need for so many! This is a risky game, not a life-or-death gamble."
"Yu Shuang knows how to protect her subordinates, let alone you are all my brothers?!"
"However, the group of people she hired from Wenzhou are not simple! Ordinary scuffles will likely not intimidate them!"
"So, I need people who dare to risk their lives and understand how to do it, to take the lead and put on a show of desperation to scare off the helpers Yu Shuang brought from this side!"
"Of course, this can't be achieved by just acting; it requires a real show of fake action, and fake action of real intensity!"
Upon hearing this, Xian Yu, whose brows had been furrowed, immediately understood and said, "So, it means to act with a desperate spirit, and then when we encounter people, we genuinely hack and fight, going all out?"
"Exactly!" I nodded heavily and replied in a deep voice, "That's right!"
"Moreover, they can't be discovered! To put it more plainly, it's a group brawl with momentum!"
"Only by driving away these bothersome flies will Yu Shuang's pawns reveal themselves."
"Without knowing where her main base is hidden, this is the only way to further force her and her surrounding pawns out one by one!"
"When that time comes, it will be the real life-or-death game!"
"If I remember correctly, Yu Shuang has two very capable fighters by her side!"
After I finished speaking, the previously noisy private room instantly fell silent.
In fact, from the beginning, I never intended for anyone else to do this; I had already set my sights on Cheng Ming Lang.
But unlike before, this time the Xian Yu brothers' homes were targeted. If they weren't allowed to participate, and if Cheng Ming Lang didn't handle it properly, it would only invite criticism.
"Every man for himself, or heaven and earth will destroy him!" This is an eternal and unchanging truth.
Therefore, I first stirred up their enthusiasm, and then dissected the potential dangers hidden within. As for whether they would go in the end… it was entirely up to their own choices!
As expected, after a moment of silent contemplation, the Xian Yu brothers, who had been clamoring for revenge just moments ago, especially the gambler Yu Fei, suddenly deflated.
Engaging in real combat, constantly being on the verge of hacking and being hacked, was not something a gambler could muster the courage for.
After the most vocal Yu Fei fell silent, Xian Yu also went quiet.
Of course, Xian Yu going quiet was quite normal.
This was because what he excelled at was never fighting and killing.
Just now, I had merely seized the opportunity to douse his fervor.
Thus, after the brothers involved fell silent, I directly assigned the task of leading the charge to Cheng Ming Lang and Han Jin Lun.
As for Xian Yu and Yu Fei, they had other uses.
Now, I was no longer in a state of being able to feed myself and not worry about others.
After a series of spending a lot of money on trivial matters, the balance in my bank account was decreasing at a visible rate.
Although this risky game wouldn't result in fatalities, bloodshed and injury were inevitable.
Under these circumstances, after settling the eighteen thousand for heads, expenses like medicinal fees and lost wages would likely be unavoidable.
Therefore, I needed to find a way to make some money.
Otherwise, relying solely on the money left in my account, I might not even have enough to settle the final accounts with Old Man Zou.
So, after calling Shen Meng Qing to ask for leave, I had the Xian Yu brothers rack their brains and find me some places to make money.
These two brothers were local experts, and with one being a junket operator and the other a gambler who repeatedly fell into debt, they would certainly know better than me which places were suitable and which were not.
...
An hour later, I, along with the Xian Yu brothers, appeared at a derelict factory in the northern part of the city.
This was a casino that Xian Yu had found through an old client, utilizing his identity as a junket operator.
As soon as I entered, a dilapidated gambling table surrounded by gamblers immediately caught my eye.
The reason this gambling table attracted my attention was not because of the crowd, but because they were still playing an old-fashioned lottery game!
The so-called lottery game, in the early 1990s, was popular among itinerant con artists who traveled across various towns and villages.
After a period of popularity, many people began to imitate it.
Later, even in remote villages with limited information, returning migrant workers would set up lottery games in their own villages to swindle acquaintances.
After two waves of popularity, by the early 2000s, lottery games were mainly found on streets with high foot traffic and at train stations.
Wherever there were scams, train stations were always a prime location!
After that, as people's vigilance increased, lottery games gradually withdrew from the grand stage of con artistry.
I never expected to encounter it today!
To be honest, for a con artist who understood the ropes, the lottery game was a pure amateur's game.
Although it could swindle money, it was definitely not a lot.
Moreover, although the lottery game was simple, it required more than one stooge to warm up the crowd.
Therefore, most con artists were unwilling to engage in it.
This was because the money earned was not much to begin with, and a significant portion had to be shared with others.
Of course, the lottery game run by this casino had many differences from those outside.
For instance, outside, it was mostly scratch-off tickets or lifting covers, and they would run off after swindling.
The one this casino was running was a roulette-style lottery game, similar to Da Le Tou and Shuang Se Qiu.
Gamblers could randomly choose a number from one to nine as the winning number and place their bets on the table.
After the gambler placed their bet, the dealer would spin the roulette wheel to determine the outcome.
Ultimately, whichever number the pointer landed on would be the winning number for that round.
If the gambler bet on the correct number, they would win, and the payout would be multiplied according to the number.
If they lost, they would forfeit their stake.
A one-in-nine chance of winning, with doubled odds for a win, seemed wonderful, but in reality… it was a pitfall everywhere!
Firstly, the large roulette wheel had not just nine slots numbered one to nine, but a total of 72 slots!
Of these, 27 slots were empty, and 45 slots contained nine '1's, eight '2's, seven '3's...
And so on. The true nine-times jackpot was only the "9" in the very center slot.
Winning the nine-times jackpot was as difficult as reaching heaven!