Qing Chen was stunned for a long time. This universal charger was indeed the thing he needed most.
He asked softly, "You've been looking for this for a long time, haven't you?"
Such a taboo item, so perfectly compatible with oneself, is not something one can easily find from a wilderness dweller.
Yangyang said with a smile, "It's good that you know."
At this point, Yangyang suddenly stood up straight and said nonchalantly, "Come on, let's go drink. The dance party on the cruise ship is about to start. I lost a lot of money playing Texas Hold'em yesterday. I'll borrow your brain today and help me win it back."
Qingchen walked into the cabin.
The Brilliant Pearl cruise ship will travel through island nations and Thailand before finally arriving in Mumbai, India. All hiking enthusiasts will then take a train to New Delhi and then a plane to Nepal.
Nepal is a paradise for overseas trekking enthusiasts from February to May, with more than 6,000 people climbing Mount Everest every year, and the country receives tens of millions of tourists.
This ship carries more than 3,100 tourists, all of whom will disembark in Mumbai.
There are still countless dangers lurking in Nepal and on the cruise ship.
Chapter 718, It's alright, I'm here.
"Shall we go to the casino?" Yangyang asked. "I lost more than 10,000 yuan at the casino during the day. Qingchen, can you help me win it back?"
“No, there are too many people and too many eyes there,” Qingchen said.
“Shall we go dancing? I see lots of people dancing there in pretty clothes, they look so happy,” Yangyang asked.
"I can't dance..."
"I can't dance either! We're just wiggling around randomly!"
"I'm not going..."
"Shall we go for a drink?" Yangyang asked.
Qing Chen: "I can't drink alcohol, I need to stay sober..."
"Ah, our honeymoon is so imperfect. It doesn't feel like a honeymoon at all. It's like we're still carrying heavy shackles," Yangyang muttered.
Qing Chen thought to himself, this is definitely not a honeymoon trip.
However, Yangyang did not blame Qingchen; she simply asked him to sit with her at the bar for a while.
She sat at the bar and had just drunk half a glass when she tilted her head slightly, looking at Qingchen: "Hey, we're both 'beta testers,' right?"
Qing Chen was stunned for a moment. This was the first time Yang Yang had openly admitted to being a beta tester.
He glanced at the bartender subconsciously to make sure the man wasn't eavesdropping before nodding in agreement.
Yangyang smiled and asked, "How many years have you been here?"
"15 years, what about you?" Qingchen asked in return.
“I’m also from 2015. Maybe we were even brought to the real world together by Yan Liuyuan,” Yangyang said with a smile. “Maybe we’ve already met back then: Wow, we met 15 years ago, doesn’t that sound cool?”
Qing Chen said seriously, "I've searched my childhood memories, and I was carried here alone. Also, you should have already joined Spades when you became a beta tester, so I guess you only became a beta tester in recent years..."
He had opened the top door of the memory palace and seen his memories from before he was two years old.
He saw Yan Liuyuan carry him away, humming a lullaby to him gently and cheerfully on the way.
Yan Liuyuan fed him and then lifted him above his head to make him happy.
Therefore, Qingchen never felt fear towards the person who was closest to the gods; on the contrary, he felt a sense of closeness to him.
“Boring,” Yangyang complained. “After I went to Luocheng Foreign Language School, I asked about you. I heard that quite a few girls liked you back then, but they were all turned away by your personality, Makka Pakka.”
Qingchen laughed and said, "Back then, I didn't dare to date. I couldn't even afford to eat during the day, and I had to do odd jobs at night to support myself. Other people who dated would go out and have fun, but I didn't have any money to go out. Later, I started playing chess with others, and my life gradually became more stable."
Yangyang shook her head: "Money is not the foundation of love."
“Yangyang, you must be living a good life after you came to the outside world. You can travel across borders, and you can train with firearms at the shooting range,” Qingchen said seriously. “So you don’t know how much impact being broke can have on your life. When you see things in shop windows, you will subconsciously avoid them. When your classmates say they want to go out and play, they have to carefully avoid you so as not to hurt your self-esteem. I only suddenly realized this when I was 15 years old.”
"What happened on the day I turned 15?" Yangyang asked curiously.
“I forgot,” Qingchen said with a smile.
"How boring. If you don't want to talk, then don't. With your memory, what could you possibly forget?" Yangyang said helplessly as she downed a large glass of whiskey in one gulp.
...
...
Ten minutes later.
“Hey, if you can’t hold your liquor, then don’t drink,” Qingchen said, carrying Yangyang down the long corridor. “I thought you had a really high tolerance for alcohol. You chug such a big glass of whiskey down your throat, but you couldn’t last more than three minutes.”
Yangyang lay obediently on Qingchen's back, motionless. This girl rarely remained so quiet; usually fierce like a tiger, she was more like a little rabbit at this moment.
She nuzzled her head against Qingchen's back: "Qingchen, are you tired?"
"It's tiring, who isn't tired of living?" Qing Chen said with a smile. "After transmigrating, I was busy surviving, then I was captured and taken to the A02 secret military base, and I had to think about how to escape. Now that the disaster in City 10 has just passed, I have to think about how to develop it."
Yangyang suddenly said, "I'm tired too."
Qing Chen fell silent.
Yangyang, clinging to Qingchen's back, continued, "Actually, I awakened when I was one year old, isn't that amazing? My whole family saw me as their hope for the future. When I was just four, they went through all sorts of hardships to send me to the hearth, hoping I could bring them honor. Every time I came home, they didn't treat me like family anymore, but worshipped me like a god. They would tell the other villagers in the settlement that I was born a great person. Then the villagers would bring their most precious things, like wild boar hind legs, to ask me for blessings or for me to help them solve their problems."
Yangyang continued, still drunk, "Every time I go home, it's in a rush. I don't even have time to say anything to my parents before I have to leave again. Spade needs me too. I don't dare to be affectionate with them because that would frighten them... You might find it hard to understand the mindset of a wilderness person. For ordinary wilderness people, the fire pit and the members of Spade are like gods, no longer family."
"The identity of a Force Field Awakener is like a curse, tearing me apart from my family and making me a high and mighty person. Later, Yan Liuyuan came and asked me if I was willing to go to the surface world. At that time, I really wanted to leave there and get rid of the way people looked at me as a 'Force Field Awakener'. He promised me that it wouldn't be long, at most three years, so I agreed."
“After I came to the surface world, he sealed away part of my memories,” Yangyang said. “I had a very easy time during that period. I went out to sea and went wherever I wanted. I had no responsibilities.”
"After transmigrating, my memories gradually returned, and I returned to the Spade faction. What followed were various missions and responsibilities. Then I learned that... during the three years I was in the surface world, the settlement where I was born was destroyed in a clearing operation by the Federation Army Group, and my parents were taken by the Chen Clan's forces to explore the Forbidden Land No. 008, where they died."
Yangyang said casually, "I was thinking, if I hadn't become a beta tester, they wouldn't be in this situation. If I hadn't awakened my force field ability, I could have spent another ten years or so with them..."
Qingchen suddenly understood why Yangyang was so determined to overthrow the conglomerate's rule; it turned out that hatred was her driving force.
He had also lost loved ones, so he knew what hatred felt like.
He carried Yangyang through the long corridor of the ship's cabin until it reached the end.
Yangyang continued, "I don't know Yan Shen either... well, that's what Huotang and Heitao call him. I don't know how he sealed my memories, and my memories haven't fully returned yet. If I have the chance to see him again, I really hope he can seal my memories again."
Qing Chen suddenly said, "It's the forbidden item ACE-046, the dull scissors. This forbidden item is in his hands."
The Federation has two famous scissors: one is the ACE-026 silhouette, and the other is the ACE-046 dull scissors. The former is used in battle, and Qing Chen plans to give it to Chen Zhuoqu. This female scroll king has extraordinary abilities, and it is a pity that she can only control herself. Giving her a silhouette will allow her to unleash her greatest potential.
The latter can be used to sever memories; simply cutting off a strand of hair can make the target forget many things.
This was a divine weapon, so much so that few people in the Federation today remember Yan Liuyuan.
Qingchen said, "If I have the chance to see him again, I'll ask him if he can help you..."
"No need," Yangyang nestled her head against Qingchen's back, wiping away her tears. "It's all in the past. I still have a lot to do and I can't lose my memory. I'm sorry, I had ulterior motives when I approached you. I know you could sense it, but I want revenge."
Qingchen suddenly realized that this little girl was actually the same as him. They had both shouldered responsibilities that they shouldn't have had to bear at a young age, and had been needed by others all the way.
From the moment she transmigrated, Yangyang was constantly organizing various parades and was also responsible for building a bridge between Spade and Knight.
After recognizing themselves, they became their own protectors.
He went to the island nation to rescue Maki and himself, and went to the Barents Sea to be his protector.
Even when traveling with someone, the other person must shoulder the responsibility of being a protector and be needed by you.
But this seemingly strong girl also has a soft spot in her heart. She misses her parents just like a little girl and needs someone to protect her.
Qing Chen suddenly stopped in the corridor: "You want to win the money back, right?"
"Hmm?" Yangyang asked, puzzled.
Qing Chen suddenly turned around and strode towards the casino with her on his back.
"Aren't you afraid of too many people and too much attention?" Yangyang asked, puzzled.
“I’m not afraid,” Qingchen said. “I’ll do whatever you want to do today. If you want to win money, I’ll do it with you. If you want to dance, I’ll go with you. Although I can’t dance, I’m not afraid of making a fool of myself. I don’t know Texas Hold’em and haven’t learned it yet, but I can win blackjack all night long. This game seems to be a gamble between you and the dealer, but in the end, it’s just a math game for you alone. Probability is the key to winning.”
Yangyang suddenly asked with a smile, "What if the casino sees you've won too much and won't let us off the ship?"
Qing Chen said, "If someone can fight their way out of the A02 secret military base, are they afraid of not being able to escape the casino?"
Upon arriving at the casino, Qingchen's strange appearance carrying Yangyang on his back attracted the attention of many people.
He didn't care about anything else. He just stood in front of the 12 blackjack tables, his pupils suddenly narrowing as he kept calculating the points, number of cards, and probabilities of each table.
The number of playing cards is limited, and the dealer will split two new decks of cards each time, allowing the gamblers to inspect them.
Then the dealer will shuffle the cards and start dealing. You get two cards, and the dealer gets two cards.
This means that the total number of cards is limited, and the cards that are played will disappear from the table.
The cards that have been dealt represent the past; the cards that haven't been dealt represent the future.
Qing Chen smiled and said, "I've found a suitable card table."
Yangyang asked in confusion, "Why are you so skilled?"
“My father was a gambler. I learned what he liked to do, then beat him, and tried my best to show him that only geniuses and the house can win money at this gambling table.”
Yangyang asked, "And then what? Did he listen to your advice?"
Qingchen laughed and said, "No, he only remembered my last sentence: you can only win money if you are the banker, so he tried to become the banker... Gamblers are hopeless."
He carried Yangyang on his back, placed the girl on a chair in front of a card table, and sat down next to her, tossing over a chip he had just exchanged.
A white man nearby burst into laughter, saying in English, "Little brat, you brought your girlfriend here to play adult games. Don't come crying home later."
Qing Chen glanced at him calmly and replied in fluent English, "You've just lost $310,000. If I were you, I'd check how many chips I have left and then go back to my room. You have ketchup from free fries on your cuffs and spilled champagne on your clothes. I bet you've been eating free meals on the ship for the past two days, haven't you?"
The dealer deals the cards, and Qingchen wins.
Qingchen lost another chip, the dealer dealt the cards, and Qingchen won again.
In just two rounds, the dealer realized something was wrong, especially after what Qing Chen had said to the fat white man.
At this moment, the middle-aged dealer, wearing a white shirt, broke the rules and opened two new decks of cards, putting them into the dealing box.
This is a tactic casinos use to deal with 'card counting players'.
Every casino has its share of exceptionally talented players with outstanding card-counting abilities.