The loss caught Ma Shu and Zhuang Zhixian completely off guard. They hadn't even considered the possibility of losing. They were so focused on dividing the money that they hadn't even considered the possibility of losing!
After Gu Yuan drove the car out of the warehouse, Zhuang Zhixian almost went crazy!
Not only did his life become difficult afterward, Ma Shu was also dumbfounded. With Zhuang Zhixian gone, he was back to square one, and all the wealth he had painstakingly accumulated was lost in this gamble. What was he going to do now?
After Gu Yuan drove the car onto the street, Zeng Guoyu cursed first. Guo Zijie's betrayal had caught them completely off guard. If it weren't for Zhou Xuan's audacity in seizing two men's guns, and the fact that those two men's pistols and bullets happened to be capable of firing and killing, while the others' guns were just junk, they would have been lucky. Such coincidences had befallen them. And so their good fortune arrived!
Zhou Xuan naturally wouldn't explain it clearly: there's no such thing as a free lunch in this world; winning money is all that matters.
Zeng Guoyu cursed, then hugged Hua Guaxing and cheered loudly!
Zhou Xuan and Wei Haihong exchanged a smile, but they were squeezed together by the money box and couldn't move.
Gu Yuan drove to one of his private villas, a place where he kept a secret from his family and friends, let alone people like Zhuang Zhixian.
Upon arriving at the villa's courtyard, Gu Yuan drove the car into the garage, closed the garage door with the remote, and then turned on the garage lights. They were blindingly bright. As soon as they got out of the car, Gu Yuan, Hua Jianxing, and Zeng Guoyu hugged and embraced each other. They were truly excited!
This money was hard-earned. The embezzled public funds will be returned tomorrow, the losses from before have been recovered, and a large sum of money has been won. I can't help but feel excited!
To be honest, the three of them weren't entirely confident in Zhou Xuan after the previous test. Trust outweighed their fear of Ma Shu, and they felt Zhou Xuan was more capable. But today's first bet truly surprised them!
Zhou Xuan was killed by Ma Shu for 20 million as soon as he made a move, which terrified them, but there was no turning back!
Despite their worries, Zhou Xuan won the second game, deciding the entire outcome in one fell swoop. He won, but it was something they couldn't accept!
Guo Zijie, that damned bastard, also turned against them. Fortunately, fate was on their side. If Zhou Xuan hadn't risked his life to grab the gun and save them, the outcome today would have been unpredictable. But it seems Zhuang Zhixian had the upper hand. They had planned this all along, and their strategy was exactly what they expected. Their miscalculation was probably that they hadn't anticipated Zhou Xuan's victory, and that Zhou Xuan would risk his life to grab the gun. This cut off their prepared escape route!
The seemingly foolproof double insurance plan has now failed. In the end, Gu Yuan and his group, along with Zhuang Zhixian and his gang, will only think that it was God's help!
Gu Yuan, Hua Jianxing, and the other two reveled for a while, then stopped and looked at Zhou Xuan and Wei Haihong, giving them awkward smiles. In the end, all five of them chuckled, their unspoken understanding unspoken.
After laughing for a while, Gu Yuan said, "Young Master Hua, Old Zeng, we originally lost 300 million, but today's net profit is 700 million. There are five of us. I have a suggestion. Today's win was thanks to Brother Zhou, but the security issues were our own fault. If it weren't for Brother Zhou risking his life to steal the gun, we probably wouldn't have gotten a single penny back. I think this money is all thanks to Brother Zhou. How about we three plus Brother Hong each take 100 million, and the remaining 300 million goes to Brother Zhou alone? What do you think?"
Gu Yuan said this, then stared at Hua Jianxing and Zeng Guoyu.
Zeng Guoyu's face was flushed. To be honest, today's mistake could be entirely his fault. If it weren't for the problem on his side, and the fact that Guo Zijie and his group had turned against him, the situation wouldn't be so awkward now. If this mistake hadn't happened, their situation would be much better, and splitting the 700 million yuan equally among the five of them would have been reasonable.
Zeng Guoyu nodded several times without thinking, and then looked at Hua Guaxing.
Hua Jianxing, of course, wouldn't voice his opinion. He wasn't blind; today's success was indeed solely due to Zhou Xuan. Whether it was winning money or ensuring safety, without Zhou Xuan, there wouldn't have been that 700 million in profit. Adding that to the 1 billion they had prepared, plus the losses from before, it totaled 1.3 billion. All of that would end up in Zhuang Zhixian's pocket!
Hua Guaxing nodded. He said, "The allocation is fine. I have no objection to giving Brother Zhou a little more. I just don't understand, Brother Zhou. Could you tell me how that bastard Ma Shu cheated? I just find it strange; he definitely cheated, but I just can't tell!" (To be continued)
Volume 1, Chapter 284
The two swordsmen truly couldn't understand it; in fact, they weren't human either. Zeng Guoyin was equally baffled. With their experience, it was impossible for them to comprehend it, since such miraculous skills only existed in movies and legends; where had they ever actually witnessed them?
Zhou Xuan smiled, looking at the three of them with puzzled expressions, and said, "Actually, I discovered Ma Shu's secret by chance. His abilities have exceeded my expectations. You can play around with him from now on, but please don't gamble with Ma Shu anymore. If you continue to gamble, you will still lose badly!"
"So what exactly happened?" Xiao Hua Jianxing asked, increasingly distressed, his mind filled with the desire to know the answer. Zhou Xuan was undoubtedly the one who knew Ma Shu's secret perfectly well, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to beat Ma Shu. "Hehe, of course I'll tell you, don't rush," Zhou Xuan replied with a smile. "Ma Shu doesn't have any particularly high or profound gambling skills. What he's good at is actually an ability, which we would call 'special ability'."
Zhou Xuan's words greatly surprised Gu Yuan, Hua Jianxing, Zeng Guoyu, and Wei Haihong; it was completely unexpected!
Actually, Wei Haihong was the most surprised. He knew Zhou Xuan truly possessed some special abilities, and in his mind, Zhou Xuan was unique in the world; it was impossible for anyone else to have similar special abilities. But Zhou Xuan's statement that Ma Shu also had special abilities greatly astonished him!
Gu Yuan couldn't help but ask first, "Brother Zhou, you said Ma Shu is a person with special abilities. Does that mean he can turn cards into cards, grab objects from a distance, and kill people without them even being seen in the movies?"
Zhou Xuan smiled and shook his head slightly, saying, "It's not that ruthless. Those things probably only happen in movies. This Ma Shu just has 'mind-reading' abilities!"
"Mind reading?" The group paused, then Hua Jianxing asked, "Mind reading? Is it the ability to see through everyone's thoughts?"
Zhou Xuan nodded, then shook his head. "As the name suggests, Ma Shu's mind-reading ability is the ability to read other people's thoughts, but it's not something he can do at will. He can't just read the thoughts of whoever he wants to read. There's a limitation to this ability. He has to see the eyes of the person he wants to read, and their eyes have to meet. If you don't look at him, or if he doesn't see you, then he can't see or read your thoughts!"
Gu Yuan and the others were stunned for a moment. What Zhou Xuan meant was a bit hard for them to accept. If Zhou Xuan had said that Ma Shu had used some kind of super-fast method to steal or switch the cards, they could have accepted it more easily. But now, it was said to be special abilities, mind reading, or something like that, which was hard to believe!
After a moment of surprise, Hua Jianxing asked again, "Brother Zhou, how did you know? Do you also have special abilities?"
Hua Jianxing's words weren't meant to imply that Zhou Xuan had special abilities, but rather that he didn't believe Ma Shu could truly read minds. So he deliberately used this analogy to imply Zhou Xuan's abilities. Of course, that was part of the meaning, but it was just because they didn't believe such abilities truly existed in the world. It wasn't that they disliked Zhou Xuan. They had all witnessed what happened today. If it weren't for Zhou Xuan, they would have lost everything long ago and would be hiding somewhere in a sorry state like Zhuang Zhixian and Ma Shu are now!
Zhou Xuan chuckled. He had anticipated Hua Jianxing and Gu Yuan's thoughts. He smiled and said, "Of course I don't have that ability. I just have some research on gambling techniques. Plus, I observe and think a lot. If we're only talking about gambling skills, Ma Shu is very, very bad. I've specifically trained in gambling, so I'm quite sensitive. When my eyes met Ma Shu's, I had that feeling of being spied on. After losing 20 million in the first round, I was very careful. In the second round, when I had four twos, I went all in. Ma Shu was staring at me. At that moment, I imagined my hole cards were a pair of twos and a pair of fours. Ma Shu must have a strong hand. After reading my hole cards, he immediately went all in too. And the result, hehe, you all saw it, proving my thinking was correct!"
Zhou Xuan revealed the result after mentally planning it out. He didn't mention that his own hand was also a Fulhouse hand designed for Ma Shu, but much smaller than Ma Shu's. This also matched the three cards Zhou Xuan had revealed: a pair of twos and a four, plus two face-down cards. Zhou Xuan was thinking of three twos and a pair of fours. When Ma Shu read this hand, he was overjoyed and immediately went all in with his cash.
Ma Shu suffered because he thought that there was probably no one else in this world with such special abilities as him. He didn't realize that Zhou Xuan had already seen through his abilities and had a plan, so he just followed Zhou Xuan's lead and fell for his trick!
Zhou Xuan certainly wouldn't tell Gu Yuan and the others the whole truth. Aside from the fact that Ma Shu could read minds, everything else was fake. That way, they would only think of his breed and not that he also possessed special abilities.
Zhou Xuan wouldn't let Gu Yuan and the others think in that direction. Looking at the stunned group, he smiled and said calmly, "But you don't need to be too nervous. There's probably no one else like Ma Shu in this world. If you meet him again in the future, he'll probably worry that you'll reveal his secrets and won't win your money anymore. Besides, you already know his secret, so there are ways to protect yourself from him!"
Hua Jianxing, Gu Yuan, and the others were all taken aback, then asked excitedly, "Is there any way to avoid his mind-reading ability?" Zhou Xuan smiled and held up one finger, saying, "Ma Shu's ability works through his eyes. If you don't look into his eyes, you can prevent it, but completely avoiding his gaze is still a bit difficult. Second, if you make eye contact with Ma Shu, you must immediately concentrate and imagine that your hand is very small and think about what those five cards are. At that moment, Ma Shu will read your thoughts, which is what you are thinking. Thirdly..."
Zhou Xuan paused when he got to the third point. He hesitated for a moment, then said, "To be honest, even with the second point, it's still very difficult for an ordinary person to fight Ma Shu. Ma Shu's abilities are undeniable, and the longer time goes on, the stronger he becomes. When he reaches a certain level, it's not just that he can see whatever you're thinking. When his abilities are strong enough, the moment his eyes meet yours, he will have already seen the deepest and most hidden things in your mind, let alone the illusions you're imagining. You won't be able to hide that from him."
However, judging from the current situation, Ma Shu's ability is not very strong. Compared with his ice energy ability, it is far inferior. But in Zhou Xuan's opinion, Ma Shu's ability is still very valuable because in the real world, such an ability is actually a legend, like the legend of ghosts and gods. You can only hear about it and never see it with your own eyes!
Zhou Xuan hesitated for a moment, but seeing that Gu Yuan, Hua Jianxing, Zeng Guoyu and the others were all looking at him expectantly, he thought for a moment and then spoke up: "Third, if you think your willpower is strong enough, build a protective wall in your mind, just like a firewall in a computer. This can prevent the intrusion of abilities like Ma Shu's. But like antivirus software, the protective wall can certainly prevent ordinary and weak viruses, but it cannot prevent viruses that are more advanced than antivirus software. The same principle applies here. If you want to ensure that you do not lose, the best way is still there!"
"What's the solution?" Gu Yuan and the other two asked in unison.
"No gambling!" Zhou Xuan answered decisively, then smiled and said, "As long as you don't gamble, it's like not going online. If you don't go online, even the most powerful virus can't get in, right? Hehe, don't you think?"
Hua Jianxing scratched his head, sheepishly saying, "This method... well, for people like us... well, there's an old saying, isn't life all about eating, drinking, whoring, and gambling? If you can't even have these basic hobbies, what kind of life is it? What's the point of such a life?"
Zhou Xuan smiled, shrugged, and said nothing more. These young masters like Hua Jianxing were born into such wealthy families, and living a life of luxury was their way of life. How could they possibly be expected to follow the rules and regulations like monks?
Zhou Xuan understood this principle. For example, he had seen many of the construction contractors in his hometown who, after making a fortune, would flaunt their wealth. They were as if they were afraid people wouldn't know they were rich, like they were wearing fancy clothes and walking down the street at night. Who could see them? That was all he said. In fact, there was no use in saying more. Ma Shu's abilities would only increase in the future, not decrease. These ordinary people could not stop him. The only way was not to gamble.
Looking at the boxes full of money in the car, Zhou Xuan continued, "Regarding this money, I don't deny that I just happened to contribute a little more, but we all agreed beforehand that it's not that I don't like money. We're all friends, and no matter who contributed more or less, we should all be happy. Let's divide the remaining 700 million, excluding the 300 million you lost, into equal shares among the five of us, 140 million each!"