Bab 38: Chapter 38 - Space Rift
Middendorffi and Eli were again brought into the midst of that deadly cacophony.
It was just as well that they either had powers or weren't human at all or else their hearts would be rendered wild by the environment.
The assistant had to stop when he brought them near the target roulette table. It couldn't be helped; that lucky guy had made a name for himself in the venue over the past few days, and everyone was watching to see what he would do - either he would take all of the vast fortune he had amassed over the past few days, or he would end up being severely cleaned up by the owner of the venue.
For now, everyone was still watching on the sidelines to see just how long he could win. The crowd, three layers inside and three layers outside, directly separated Middendorffi and the others from the outside. The assistant had no choice but to come to Middendorffi's ear and said, "Mr Brown, the one wearing the brown jacket inside is that Mike. It's not good for me to go in if I'm recognised by the familiar customers inside; they'll say that the boss is thinking of underhanded tricks to influence him."
Middendorffi nodded, then did the same, coming up to Eli's ear - though not needing to be that close, given the two of them - and muttering. Eli hung his head to listen, then slipped his arm around Middendorffi's waist and back, leading him into the crowd.
The assistant watched them go, smacking something in his mind, but he did nothing; he just stepped back and waited.
At the other end, Eli quickly squeezed into the first row of the looky-loo with Middendorffi.
All the seats at the table were total, and in the C-seat was Mike, the lucky winner of the casino. Not quite the same as the imagined "Chosen One", although Mike is only more than thirty, but also won a lot of money, but does not look so ... rich.
Probably because of many days in a row soaked in the venue, his beard was scruffy, and his hair also messy. Look at his face alone; it is difficult to imagine that he is only thirty, just emerging, only afraid to think that he is forty or fifty years old vagabond. As he sat there, he wasn't as excited as the others, but his eyes were bursting with sparkle, and his mouth was unconsciously plastered with one of those confidence-bursting smiles. He had a pungent stench of cigarettes and alcohol mixed with him, and there were several already empty glasses and ashtrays stuffed with cigar butts at hand. He may have purchased none of these things, which were most likely given to him by the people following him around and placing mindless bets.
Yes, the other guests sitting together at the table didn't want to bet much at all themselves. They all waited for Mike to make the first move, and then they just called.
No wonder Adonis was so angry. If this Mike went to play slots or cards, he would still win alone. Wouldn't everyone have to call if he came here to play roulette? Moreover, he didn't look like someone who was well versed in casino games, and it looked like he had got some highly sophisticated cheating device and came to have a crazy time. Adonis will have to fight him and the people behind him to catch him in the act.
Middendorffi and the others squeezed in just as the dealer let the participants place their bets.
The others, of course, were in no hurry to bet, all glancing at Mike. Middendorffi and Eli were across the table from Mike, staring at his every move in silence, out of tune with everything else around them.
Mike didn't notice the pair's stares - after all, plenty of people were looking at him at the moment - but just stared at the still-empty roulette wheel, seemingly thinking about something. After a few seconds, he grabbed a handful of five or six chips and placed them on one of the numbered squares. The other gamblers saw this and followed suit.
The small ball fell into the roulette wheel, and the ball and the roulette wheel spun up quickly, respectively. There was a ding, the roulette wheel gradually slowed down, and finally, the tiny ball fell in.
Mike didn't win the bet.
There were sighs of regret and staggering noises from the onlookers, but Mike wasn't in a hurry, and neither were the others at his table. As Adonis said, he would also lose a few small games. Combined with his big wins, the small losses were only intentional.
Seeing the result, Middendorffi inclines to Eli's ear, "I don't see anything unusual, do you?"
Eli practically protects him in his arms and sniffs with a slight shake.
After that comment, the two stopped communicating and continued to watch Mike place his bets. For the second game in a row, Mac was losing. He was still not in a hurry, and the other people who followed him to place bets finally started to get anxious, yelling, "Can you do it? Are you not going to win the bet!"
Mike glanced at the man, took out the ten chips in the chip box in front of him and then put all the rest onto one of the numbers.
When the crowd saw this, they thought he was finally serious about winning and hurried to follow suit. The gambler who had cursed Mike earlier also seemed to forget that he had just sworn and directly piled up all his remaining chips.
However, as soon as the results opened, he unexpectedly lost again!
"You ...!"
The gamblers who had pressed all their last chips were furious, staring fiercely at Mike as if they would rush up and punch him in the next second. Mike, however, was not afraid at all and even laughed recklessly, "Hahahahahahahahaha ... want to play with me? I still have a few boxes of chips upstairs. Do you guys still dare to call?!"
As he spoke, he glanced at the roulette wheel seemingly casually. Just one glance, just one second, and as his head turned back, Middendorffi tugged at Eli's sleeve.
Eli hung his head self-consciously and attached his ear.
Middendorffi immediately asked, "What was that just now?"
Eli knew he could feel it too and turned his head to his ear, "Discuss later."
Middendorffi nodded and added, "He's going to win this round."
Eli nods in agreement but doesn't pick up on it anymore.
As they discussed in hushed tones, Mike had tossed the remaining ten chips in a grid seemingly at random. With his casual make-and-spend look, the crowd dared not call again. Mike snorted, cursed "soft", and waited for the result.
However, the ball landed on the roulette wheel, and the result came out - he had won again!
The crowd erupted as they finally realised that Mike was playing them and that he could manipulate his winners and losers!
***
Middendorffi and Eli return to the box when Adonis follows. He was about to ask when Eli said coldly, "Yes, there is a problem, but let's discuss it first."
"... Okay." Adonis was stunned for a moment and quickly agreed, saying as he exited, "I'll have someone prepare some Las Vegas speciality catering for the two of you. It's what our hotel chef above produces, absolutely clean; two of you wait a little, ha."
The two didn't refuse again, and Adonis just went out and closed the door.
"What the hell was that?"
Middendorffi didn't say any words and got straight to the point: "The last time he looked at the roulette wheel, I suddenly felt an extreme energy fluctuation on him. But it was just for a moment, and when I tried to look for it carefully, it disappeared. Did you feel it?"
"Felt it." Eli joined him on the couch, returning, "I thought it looked like something we knew. Did you realise?"
"Something we recognise ...?" Middendorffi lowered his eyes for a moment before suddenly responding, "You mean, a space rift?!"
It was rare for him to realise some emotional excitement. But this was already very restrained because even Eli, when he thought of this point below just now, was stunned in his heart for a while.
"Exactly the spatial rift." Eli returned, "When he tried to cheat, an energy fluctuation like a spatial rift appeared on his body. I felt a very short, intense tremor, but it was instantaneous and should not have been felt by an ordinary person or any instrument."
"But none of us saw the actual space rift." Middendorffi pointed out, "And with a spatial rift that is engulfing, it would have been difficult to resist that force even if I had been close enough. Even if that rift only unfolded for a split second, it's unlikely that everything would still be in place unharmed."
"So, it should be something similar, but I don't know what it is. It's so few and far between, so rare, that I can't find any similar spells in my memory." Eli said, "I have a feeling it unfolded near his head, don't you?"
"Well, I feel it was there too. It was too fast for me to lock on." Middendorffi said, "But I'm sure it should have been outside his body, with no superimposition on the man himself. I could probably see if I was staring right next to him, and he unleashed it again."
"Then let him cast it again." Eli said, "He has a card game to attend anyway. This won't affect many people; we can stare at him from behind."
"Good." Middendorffi didn't think he should, then remembered something else, "Also, don't you think his age doesn't quite match his appearance?"
"Hmm?" Eli said, "You mean, Adonis says he's supposed to be thirty-four, but doesn't look it?"
"Hmm." Middendorffi nodded, "And another thing, before and after this space rift-like thing unfolded, his signs of ageing were too obvious. I could completely topologise what a human would look like, and I'm pretty sure he suddenly had many more wrinkles on his face after that moment."
"So, this thing is draining the life out of him." Eli wasn't surprised that something that "ate human life" existed; he wondered, "But this thing, how exactly did it help him cheat?"
Middendorffi wasn't too hung up on the question, "Either capture the thing or force it on Mike, and we'll find out."
He said it with such cruelty and naivety that Eli looked at him and thought he was even cuter. When Eli had savoured a few seconds on his own, and Middendorffi began to wait quietly for his answer, Eli then said, "I've heard that humans have machines that can take bone ages to determine the true age of the body. Have Adonis take him to measure his bone age, and if he's ancient enough to be exaggerated, we'll be on the sidelines, and we may not be able to blow up his truth."
After a pause, Eli added, "We're also unknown to him. Are you afraid if he uses that thing to predict us?"
"No fear." Middendorffi was calm, "If he unfurls that thing at us, it might be easier to catch it."
"Good, that's decided then." Eli had just nodded when there was a knock at the door; Adonis's assistant had called for someone to return with the speciality catering.
Eli didn't even look at the trolley full of delicious food and said straight away, "We've confirmed the programme."
The assistant froze and asked, "What must we do?"
Eli said: "Take him to have his bone age measured."
Assistant: "... Huh?"
Status Power Mingguan
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