Chapter 840: Gambling God Xiao He, the Situation Reverses!
Is this possible?
At that moment, the casino was so deathly silent that a pin drop could be heard. The cold air from the air conditioning seemed to freeze in mid-air. A mountain of massive chips lay quietly in the center of the gambling table, attracting no one's attention. Everyone held their breath, their gazes locked tightly on the two face-down hole cards at Xiao He's fingertips.
A complex array of emotions swirled in their hearts; for a moment, they couldn't tell if they felt more anticipation or schadenfreude while watching the show.
Joyce stared fixedly at Xiao He, not daring to look away for even a second, as if doing so would allow him to maintain control over the situation and turn Xiao He's current actions into nothing more than a bluffing, death-throes struggle—
Yet, under these circumstances, Xiao He remained indifferent, his expression calm and unruffled. He leisurely and unhurriedly pinched the top hole card, even dragging it out with a hint of deliberation, imperceptibly making everyone's heart jump to their throats.
Then, he finally raised his hand and flipped over his first card—the 8 of Clubs.
The first hole card in Xiao He's hand was the 8 of Clubs!
It wasn't a Spade!
A subtle commotion rippled across the table. Some breathed a sigh of relief, while others became even more vigilant.
Joyce's gaze fell on the last hole card beneath that 8 of Clubs, and a bad thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
—He was going to lose.
A voice came from the bottom of his heart, with unprecedented certainty. That intuition far surpassed his usual confidence and arrogance. It was as if he had already seen his own ending. There was no point in continuing the game.
"Gulp—"
Someone in the air seemed to swallow hard.
The young man heard the sound but didn't mock it. Instead, he briskly flicked the card with his fingertips, revealing the final, crucial hole card to everyone—
On the face of the card, the classical European queen stood in profile. She wore a crown, dressed in magnificent court robes, and held a weapon. Her posture was graceful yet carried an imposing aura. The cold, hard lines combined with the deep Spade pattern, casting a dark luster under the lights.
A faint, elusive arc lingered on the queen's lips, and her eyes swept across the room with disdain, as if openly declaring war or perhaps carrying a hint of condescending mockery. Even just lying quietly on the dark green gambling table, that noble, cold, and arrogant aura still rushed towards them, steady and eye-catching, making everyone present feel a tightening in their chests.
Joyce's face turned deathly pale in an instant, all color draining away. Yet, the heavy stone in his heart seemed to finally settle at this moment, allowing him to lean back against his chair and relax every nerve in his body.
A person who had foreseen their own defeat had finally received the inevitable result. The other shoe had finally dropped. He had lost.
The final hole card in Xiao He's hand was indeed the Queen of Spades.
It was the only card in this game that could beat the Jack of Spades in his own hand. It was also the card he regretted missing the most.
From the moment he failed to get the Queen of Spades and felt regret over it, he should have realized that the Queen of Spades would appear in Xiao He's hand.
If he could have obtained that Queen of Spades, he would have achieved the first Royal Flush of his life, and might even have become one of the rare guests to hit a Royal Flush on the Xiangsheng Cruise Ship in all these years, leaving behind a legend of his own here.
However, his defeat had been held in Xiao He's hands from the very beginning. Xiao He had held this hole card from the start, so he was destined to never get the Royal Flush and never win this game.
Interestingly, the Queen of Spades represents Pallas Athena, the ancient Greek goddess of war and wisdom. She is the only queen among the four queen cards who holds a weapon, symbolizing wisdom and highlighting Athena's intelligence and heroism.
It was as if, in the unseen depths of fate, Xiao He had already responded to the speculation in his heart—he was just that free and unrestrained in balancing the game, keeping everyone's chips in check, and emerging victorious from it all, imperceptibly dragging his targets into losing their heads until he finally achieved his goal.
It was all such a coincidence, wasn't it? A person with wisdom should know when to stop.
Joyce stared quietly at the playing card on the table. All the astonishment, reluctance, shock, and disbelief had now completely faded away, and his mind was clearer than ever before.
At that moment, he suddenly realized that he had jumped into Xiao He's trap from the very beginning. He thought he had discovered Xiao He's secret manipulation and thought he was the one actively provoking, but little did he know that all of this might also have been Xiao He's suggestion.
"I lost."
Following the man's words, the chips on the table clattered again. From this moment on, all of Joyce's chips ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) were handed over to Xiao He, including the astronomical amount of chips bet by the others, all pushed in front of Xiao He. Those chips piled up like a mountain, clattering as they stacked; even two chip cases couldn't hold them, and in the end, some were even about to fall to the floor.
Consequently, the observant staff members nearby walked over and began to help Xiao He organize the chips.
In the blink of an eye, the value of Xiao He's single case of chips had multiplied several times over. Now, there were over ten million in chips piled up in front of him.
This was a staggering amount, a result that none of those present had ever imagined.
Yet Xiao He didn't even glance at those chips. He just slowly raised the ice water beside him, took a sip, and then continued to rest his head on his hand, watching the few people in front of him with an indifferent expression.
Joyce, who had successfully contributed all his chips to Xiao He, no longer felt much reluctance. He just looked at the mountain of chips, couldn't help but smile bitterly, shook his head, and then stood up straight.
"It seems I will be returning empty-handed tonight."
Hearing Joyce say this, it was clear that he had no intention of continuing to gamble tonight.
"Hey, you're leaving already? Don't you plan to get your revenge? That's too lame."
Bao Wenqi leaned back, resting his hand on the back of his chair, instinctively trying to stir up trouble again.
Although it was an all-in, it was only an all-in of the chips currently on hand. He didn't believe that anyone present couldn't afford to lose these few million.
The game hadn't been going on for long; if he left now, it would be too embarrassing. At the very least, Bao Wenqi didn't think Joyce was the type to quit so quickly.
Hearing Bao Wenqi's words, Joyce just gave him a meaningful look, then said nothing, shrugged, and walked away from the gambling table, looking as if he really intended to leave.
Beside them, Zheng Ji took another drag of his cigarette and exhaled slowly, then actually stood up from his seat and said, "Joyce, Director He, and I have indeed been playing for quite a while. You saw the situation when you arrived; we actually just finished one round, and this counts as the second round we've put together. However, it's getting very late now, so I think I'll head back as well."
This Zheng Ji was actually preparing to slip away too. Clearly, his sharpness was no less than Joyce's, but it was a pity that Joyce had traded all his chips for this lesson, while Zheng Ji had only watched from the sidelines and already sensed how formidable Xiao He was.
At the gambling table, one doesn't fear encountering extreme gamblers who have gone red-eyed. What one fears is encountering an opponent who is clear-headed and whose flaws you simply cannot find.
At least in the short while Zheng Ji had been watching, he hadn't figured out why Xiao He was so certain he would win this round, and had even forced Joyce to go all-in. But if he couldn't afford to provoke him, he could at least afford to avoid him.
Xiao He glanced at Zheng Ji, quite satisfied with the man's tact. Originally, he had only intended to drive Joyce off the table, and taking one more with him was fine. Then, his gaze fell back onto Dong Huai and Bao Wenqi. —His goal had remained unchanged from beginning to end.