Everyone present—not just at their table, but gamblers at the other tables and the casino’s thugs alike—had their attention drawn by his furious shout.
“Good! So that’s how you drew an A—you’re cheating! Give me back my money!” The woman screamed hysterically as she charged over. She raked shallow nail marks across Wu Hao’s face right away and, like a woman possessed, tried to flip his cards.
Ou Yu stood up with a darkened expression. He shoved the woman aside with one hand and pried Wu Hao’s fingers open. That hand clung to Xiao Fen’s wrist like it was welded there, refusing to budge.
“Let go! Today I’ve finally seen what they mean by striking first and crying foul.” He was always so gentle by nature, but now his gaze turned icy, forcing Wu Hao to stagger back two steps involuntarily. “A cheating swindler doesn’t hide properly but instead shouts ‘stop thief!’ like a thief crying to catch a thief.”
“I’ll fucking kill you, you hear me!” Wu Hao bellowed with empty bluster. “Got any evidence? Kid, do you know what happens in a casino if you slander someone for cheating?”
“Didn’t you just slander me?” Xiao Fen glanced nonchalantly at the Sleazy Man standing nearby. “How about we call over one of the casino bosses?”
“Just afraid you won’t dare face him.”
“Someone dares cause trouble in my casino?”
“Brother Zhu.”
A man emerged, flanked by several thugs. He looked to be in his early forties, with a large black mole at the corner of his mouth. He wore glasses and a suit, giving off a very civilized air.
“You dare smash up my place?” Brother Zhu asked with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
“No dare. Just good luck tonight. Wu Hao has no evidence but insists I cheated,” Xiao Fen said.
“Tonight’s cheater was Wu Hao.” Ou Yu recounted how Wu Hao had swapped his cards—from what to what—detailing over a dozen rounds without missing a single detail.
“You’re in cahoots with him. Just spouting random card faces and expecting us to buy it?” Wu Hao yelled. “Brother Zhu, let’s stick to the facts. I lost money all night. Only he kept winning nonstop. You really think his luck was that good?”
At that moment, Ou Yu noticed the Sleazy Man who had sat at their table all evening standing across from them. He subtly shook his head at Brother Zhu.
Later, Ou Yu learned that the casino had marked Xiao Fen the moment he started winning big on the first floor. People like the Sleazy Man were experts the casino hired, known as Dark Lamps. When they sensed something fishy, they disguised themselves as gamblers, played along while watching for cheats, and teamed up with the dealers to rig things themselves—keeping the game from going too lopsided one way.
Even Ou Yu had no idea how Xiao Fen still walked away with nearly a million in winnings.
“You know the rules for cheating in a casino, right?” Brother Zhu said slowly, eyeing their expressions the whole time.
“I know.” Wu Hao glared coldly at Xiao Fen. “You’re a newbie, probably not familiar. Anyone who cheats here—no matter if they’re the king of heaven or old man earth—has to cough up the cash, sign an IOU for compensation, and lose a hand.”
Ou Yu spotted a thug approaching from the corner, axe in hand. Anger flashed in his eyes as he positioned himself between Wu Hao and Xiao Fen. “Returning the money is enough. Crippling someone is a crime—you’ll all end up in jail.”
Laughter erupted from those around them.
Only then did Ou Yu realize he’d said something idiotic.
Xiao Fen pursed his lips in a smile. “Airhead.”
That playful scolding landed light as a feather but tickled right in the heart. Ou Yu savored the word in his mouth before lowering his head.
“Roll up your sleeve,” Brother Zhu ordered.
Wu Hao didn’t wait for Xiao Fen to move. He yanked the sleeve up himself.
A slender, pale arm slid out from the shirt cuff.
“What’s this!” An odd corner poked from the cuff bunched at the elbow. Wu Hao swiftly grabbed it and pulled.
It was a Clubs Ace.
“See? I told you! He’s cheating!” Wu Hao brandished the card for all to see.
Ou Yu’s eyes widened, the black mole beneath his eyelid quivering faintly.
“You know the casino rules, right? Cheat, and this hand gets chopped off and fed to the dogs!” Wu Hao’s gaze turned sinister, thick with malice.
Ou Yu pulled the man half into his embrace, shielding him completely. His usual calm, gentle demeanor shattered, replaced by a deep, chilling coldness in his eyes.
He faced the hostile crowd encircling them without flinching. “Brother Zhu, we can settle this in a milder fashion.”
“These are the casino rules. You cheat, there has to be blood!” Wu Hao’s eyes gleamed viciously, like a vulture eyeing fresh meat. He stared at Xiao Fen with smug greed.
“I’m Ou Yu. Name your price—I’ll pay it.” Ou Yu said. “Just don’t hurt his hand.”
“Is that the famous Ou Yu?!” Even people who didn’t follow dramas knew the name.
Brother Zhu burst into laughter and clapped his hands. “What a rare guest! A big star no less—we have to give face. Here’s the deal: return all tonight’s winnings, plus ten times compensation. Can’t pay today? Casino interest at eighty cents per dollar.”
“Fine,” Ou Yu agreed without hesitation.
Brother Zhu perked up instantly. At that rate, even seven days would net him over a hundred million in cash.
A windfall from the heavens!
“Words mean nothing—leave some proof.” Deeper greed flickered in Brother Zhu’s eyes.
“What proof?”
“Sign the contract. Then come to a room with me for some nude photos.”
Ou Yu’s lips trembled with rage. “Don’t push people too far!”
“Or else how do I know you won’t renege? If you won’t give me something to hold over you,” Brother Zhu waved a hand, and over a dozen burly men closed in, “then fork over ten million tonight.”
“Hold on.” Xiao Fen cut in. “Casinos are about fairness. If we cheated, we compensate like this. If Wu Hao cheated, he has to do the same!”
“No ifs about it—you’re the cheater now!” Wu Hao shot back.
“Brother Zhu, if Wu Hao won’t compensate like that, then at most we’ll return tonight’s winnings. Nothing more.”
Wu Hao laughed. “Still trying to frame me for cheating?”
“If you didn’t cheat, why so guilty?”
“I’m not guilty.”
“Good. If you did cheat, same terms apply.”
“Sure—who’s scared? Brother Zhu, chop his hand off quick, then make them sign the contract and take the nudes!”
Xiao Fen tapped the cards on the table in front of him. “Don’t rush—I haven’t revealed yet.”
He handed his three cards to Brother Zhu.
Brother Zhu shot him a venomous glance, stuck his cigarette in his mouth, and fanned out the cards.
With a smack, all three hit the table.
Wu Hao peered closely. Three Aces.
“Luck’s insane—another Three of a Kind.”
“Skinny Wu, explain this,” Brother Zhu said, pinching his cigarette and exhaling a smoke ring as he slanted a look at him. “When would you ever cheat by palming three Aces… then swap in another A?”
Mad envy and jealousy surged in Wu Hao’s eyes. Deeper still lurked thick fear. His fingers shook uncontrollably.
“Then he swapped all three cards! Those two—strip ’em and search!” Wu Hao jabbed a finger at Xiao Fen and Ou Yu.
“Don’t keep staring at me,” Xiao Fen said leisurely. “Somehow, Brother Wu’s cards look like they’re short one.”
Wu Hao lunged for his former seat. A thug blocked him while another nimbly flipped the cards on his table.
A Clubs 9. A Diamond 2.
Only two cards.
Xiao Fen plucked the A from Wu Hao’s hand and set it beside them. “There, all complete now.”
The room’s atmosphere turned to ice.
Wu Hao stared in disbelief.
“I… it wasn’t me.”
“You used your own cards to frame me.”
“Not me!” he roared.
Where had that Clubs 9 come from?
He’d only had the Diamond 2 and two off-suit As, scraping together a pair.
Seeing another loss looming, he’d doubled down: grabbed Xiao Fen’s wrist, yelled about cheating, and flicked an A into his sleeve with a sleight of hand.
In the ensuing chaos, everyone would fixate on Xiao Fen’s body for cards—who’d check his table?
“Then both of us strip and get searched.” Xiao Fen stripped off his T-shirt right there and gave it a shake.
“Your turn.”
Wu Hao stumbled back a step.
Just moments ago, as the thug shoved him away, his body had bumped something hard and shell-like—not cloth.
His own sleeve had a card stuffed in it too.
“You little shit—you set me up! You’re the real cheater!”
A burly thug kicked him flat and dragged him into a room.
No need for words—everyone saw Wu Hao’s guilt. Refusing a search, framing others.
“Brother Zhu, I was wrong! Spare me—I got framed too… The money I loaned you tonight, I’ll double it in ten days. Two hundred thousand, two hundred fifty thousand…”
Ou Yu sensed what was coming and rushed to the room door to stop them. He saw one man with an axe while two others yanked Wu Hao’s hand out onto a table.
His limbs went limp. He tried to shout, but no sound escaped his throat.
Little Fen, Little Fen… they were going to…
A stench of urine filled the air, wafting from Wu Hao. His whole body convulsed.
“Ah—!”
They chopped Wu Hao’s left hand clean off at the wrist. Blood sprayed onto the cuffs of his white sweatpants. Ou Yu had no idea a guy that skinny could bleed so much.
Xiao Fen stood by the door too, a smile just curling at his lips. “Hm?”
His body swayed. A hand pressed his head into a warm neck hollow.
He froze for a moment.
His nose filled with nothing but crisp lemon-sea-salt freshness—clean, bright, warm, and embracing, just like Ou Yu himself.
The body shielding his own trembled without cease but never let go.
The room echoed with Wu Hao’s gut-wrenching howls, underscored by the twisted faces of the underlings and their savage, unrestrained laughter.
The thug pinning him down let go in disgust. Wu Hao writhed on the floor in agony, his severed hand flailing wildly in the air with every tortured scream.
Ou Yu’s face drained to ashen.
The hand wasn’t cleanly severed.
Whether the thug was hollowed out by booze and women or the axe was too dull, it hadn’t cut through on the first go—leaving thin flaps of flesh and skin. Blood soaked the Skinny Guy’s clothes. His face was a mask of gore, bloodshot whites bulging as he fixed a death stare on the two of them, hand outstretched toward them.
Ou Yu couldn’t help clutching the man tighter and retreating two steps. He squeezed his eyes shut.
But that half-severed hand kept swinging in his mind’s eye. Red vessels and muscle at the stump writhed like living things, groping for its missing mate.
White tendons dangled stickily from the arm. Marrow oozed steadily from the bone.
Blood gushed from the bowl-sized wound, drenching the man entirely. He bared jagged yellow teeth, demanding Ou Yu’s life.
“Ah!” Ou Yu jolted, eyes snapping open in horror.
It was Xiao Fen patting his shoulder, lifting his head from the embrace.
The room brimmed with delinquent thugs. Heart-rending screams filled the air nonstop. The underlings remained utterly unmoved—instead, they hooted like it was a show.
One grabbed Wu Hao’s remaining good hand, dipped it in his own blood, and pressed a print onto a contract.
Brother Zhu eyed Xiao Fen and the others with a mocking half-smile. The bloody axe lingered in a little thug’s grip, as if ready to carve into them next.
His casino had finally landed fat sheep like this.
“Still need those nude photos, right?” Xiao Fen said, seemingly oblivious to the scheme.
Brother Zhu waved irritably. His men stripped Wu Hao naked—worthless rags—and snapped a few careless shots before dragging the bare body out another door.
“Stick around for two more hands. I’ll deal personally. Deal?”
That huge haul had slipped away. He irritably ground out his cigarette on the glass table. Tonight, he was determined to slaughter them.
Xiao Fen set his money bag on the table.
Brother Zhu lifted a brow.
“If memory serves,” he pointed at the stacks of cash, “these… aren’t nearly enough, are they?”
Xiao Fen sat across the table, tore open a pack of cigarettes, stuck one in his mouth unlit, and shot him a piercing glance. His eyes gleamed coldly.
“Not payback. Just need a small favor.”
