Soon, the suit-wearing man dismissed that thought again.
That method lacked precision; betting on a range was a safer bet for accuracy. Going all-in on a single number was too risky.
Seeing the copper ball about to stop, the suit-wearing man had to make a choice. In the end, he went with the safest option—shifting the center of gravity to the side. That way, even if the mechanism was flipped, the ball wouldn't land on zero.
Finally, the copper ball dropped in the direction he'd biased it toward, landing on 11.
"I survived!"
As the copper ball fell, the stone in the suit-wearing man's heart fell with it. His taut nerves finally relaxed, leaving him feeling a bit dizzy.
Only then did he realize his clothes were soaked with sweat. He straightened his suit, loosening it a bit.
Adjusting his smile, he looked at Loren:
"Still playing? Haven't lost all your money yet?"
He thought he'd seen through Loren's trick—it was all magnets.
If he swapped the iron ball for a copper one, Loren would be helpless.
Or maybe, even more absurdly, Loren was just lucky, and the ball's strange trajectory was only a fluke.
It was understandable for him to think this way, after all, they were far enough from the God of Bountiful Harvest's territory.
Even though he'd won one round, it couldn't make up for his earlier losses. He needed to keep provoking Loren until both Loren and that woman in red had coughed up all their money.
"It's all your fault! You made me lose everything I had!"
"Yeah! This is all your fault!"
"..."
Unlike the cheerful casino staff, the crowd of gamblers now felt as if they'd fallen into the abyss, utterly miserable, venting their emotions furiously.
They blamed everything on Loren, looking ready to skin him alive.
Veronica pulled out a small knife, pointing it at the crowd. If anyone dared get close to Loren, she'd fight them to the death.
Even though she was trembling with fear.
But they didn't dare make a move. At least, not the first move. Even outnumbering Loren two to one.
"Did I tell you to follow my bet? Do you have any brains? I went all-in on a single number and hit it once. How is that possible?"
"Anyone with half a brain could guess: I'm the house's shill, here to swindle all your money away."
Loren wrapped an arm around Veronica, crossed his legs, and sneered.
Hearing this, the gamblers' rage fizzled out instantly.
They could vent at Loren, but not at the casino. They knew the background of this place wasn't simple.
In the end, they had no choice. With their funds gone, there was no point staying at the casino, and one by one, they left.
Maybe they were leaving, or maybe they were going to borrow from loan sharks, trying to turn things around.
Either way, they wouldn't be doing anything productive.
The suit-wearing man smiled at Loren. In his eyes, Loren was just spinning a lie to save face, clinging to his pathetic dignity.
Soon, the only person left beside Loren was the woman in red.
Loren's words might have fooled the others, but not her.
"Alright, the nuisances are gone. Let's continue."
"The remaining ten gold coins. All on zero."
Seeing Loren place his chips, the suit-wearing man panicked again. He couldn't understand how Loren dared to do this.
In his plan, Loren would indeed keep betting to save face, but he hadn't expected Loren to go all-in again. Most critically, he was still so confident.
"Gambling addicts never end well. Those people just now were textbook addicts. There's no way I'd let them profit risk-free."
"So never become a gambling addict. Never do anything unless you're certain to win."
Loren took the opportunity to lecture Veronica, which only fueled the nameless rage burning in the suit-wearing man's heart.
The woman in red nearby also heard Loren's words and smiled. Her smile was rigid, as if carved onto a stiff corpse's face with a knife.
"I'll follow with a hundred gold coins."
The woman in red placed her chips beside Loren's. The suit-wearing man's heart, which had just settled, now hung again.
He consoled himself, telling himself Loren was just bluffing to save face.
But instinct told him this wasn't that simple.
"Start."
Loren crossed his legs again and spoke.
"..."
The suit-wearing man said nothing. With a heavy heart, he tossed the copper ball once more.
The roulette wheel spun again. Without the gamblers around, the atmosphere grew much colder.
A few gamblers gathered nearby, but this time, they didn't place any bets, just watching as spectators.
The suit-wearing man couldn't figure out Loren's trick. In the end, he gave up thinking and once again biased the center of gravity to the side.
The ball slowed down more and more. He closed his eyes. There was nothing more he could do. Life and death were now in fate's hands.
No, wait! He couldn't stop thinking!
The suit-wearing man snapped his eyes open. He realized: even if Loren guessed right, it wasn't a big deal. As long as he could catch Loren cheating, there was still a chance.
He stared intently at the ball. As it slowed, its trajectory became more obvious. And right now, the ball's trajectory was clearly off, different from what he had altered.
Finally, the ball followed a perfect parabola and landed on zero.
"The ball's acceleration changed... and at the very end, its trajectory changed significantly..."
The moment the ball landed, the suit-wearing man immediately snatched the roulette wheel, checking it over. But there was nothing wrong with this wheel either—still smooth and flat on the surface.
The suit-wearing man felt dizzy. Everything felt so unreal. He prayed it was all a dream, until Loren's voice brought him back to reality:
"What, taking the wheel away? Trying to welch? Pay up."
Loren stretched out his hand again, that sinful hand. Hovering in the air, it seemed to grip the suit-wearing man by the throat.
He looked around. All the gamblers were staring at him.
"Give them the chips... three thousand eight hundred and fifty gold coins..."
For the casino, this money was a big hit, but still within acceptable limits. Not for him, though.
But he had to pay. If he didn't, the casino's reputation would suffer, and that was something no amount of money could buy back.
Losing money, he might still survive. But damaging the casino's reputation? There was no coming back from that.
"Continue. Three hundred and fifty gold coins, all on zero."
Loren placed almost all his chips on the table again. His boldness stunned everyone around.
They began to regret not following his bet earlier. Loren saw right through them:
"Don't even think about it. If you dared follow, I'd just lose on purpose. There's no way I'd let you gambling addicts make money."
Loren spoke with a smile, freezing the hands of those who wanted to follow.
This time, the woman in red didn't add any more chips. Instead, she moved closer to Loren:
"Let's take the win and stop for now. I have a more profitable idea."
"The casino has a Sixth-tier Mage stationed here. If we push them too far, they might not be able to do anything to us in here, but once we're outside, that's a different story..."
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