章節 45: Chapter 45: Receiving the First Mission
William and Prince Wilson walked to the card table. Smiling at everyone, William said, "I think I'll pass. I don't want to end up taking all your money and getting cursed at. Haven't you seen the news? I'm a memory genius. I can remember an entire deck in just 20 seconds."
"Hey, William, would it kill you not to brag? How do you know you'll win without playing? And what does memory have to do with poker? Poker is about patience, psychology, and skill," Gareth retorted.
"Alright, my mistake. I shouldn't have tried to be clever in front of you, Gareth. Can't you let me show off a bit in front of our new friends? They don't know me yet, so let them think I'm a pro," William complained as he sat down next to the dealer.
Attending this kind of gathering for the first time, William didn't act coy and took a seat directly.
Everyone laughed at William's joke. Only Arthur nodded in agreement with William, saying, "Maybe, William really is that good. You guys better watch out, don't let him fool you."
Knowing Arthur's reputation, the group realized that William had been joking and engaging in psychological tactics from the start.
Today's game had a buy-in of 2,000 pounds per person, with no rebuys, and the stakes were 10-20 pounds.
In his previous life, William often played Texas Hold'em with friends, even if it was just small stakes. After playing for a long time, he picked up some strategies. Plus, he had a cheat: he could sense his opponents' cards whenever they looked at them.
This allowed him to avoid traps during showdowns and bluff successfully when opponents had weak hands. Consequently, his opponents found playing against him very frustrating.
After two hours, only William and Arthur remained. William's straight flush beat Arthur's full house, ending the game.
No one expected William to be as good as he claimed. The seasoned players were taken down by an apparent amateur, all with looks of disbelief.
They typically played these games for hours, but today, within two hours, William had cleaned out everyone's chips.
Prince Wilson, who had been watching William closely, was impressed. He noticed that several times William folded when his opponents had better hands, almost as if he knew their cards.
Maintaining his composure, Prince Wilson asked eagerly, "William, how did you always avoid your opponent's traps? Like when you had a pair of Kings and my father had QJ, with the community cards showing QQ47. How did you know he had a Queen and fold without seeing the last card? What if the last card was a King?"
"Ah, Your Highness, poker isn't just about your cards, it's about what your opponent might have. Subtle actions, reactions, and facial expressions might not reveal much, but the eyes and muscles can't lie. When the fourth community card was dealt, I noticed Prince Charles' pupils constricting and his body slightly twitching—a sign of a strong hand. The rest was just probability."
William wouldn't tell Prince Wilson that the other two Kings were already out of play, making a King impossible.
"Probability is a bit complex, Your Highness. Let's not get into that now. It would take hours to explain, and I doubt you'd enjoy hearing about math formulas in a pub."
"Alright," Prince Wilson replied, losing interest at the mention of math formulas.
The others laughed and jokingly cursed William, "Next time we play, we should wear sunglasses and act like statues to throw you off."
"Yeah, I never thought you could read opponents' eyes and body movements. You must have other tricks too. Teach me, William. I've never won at these games," Gareth pleaded.
William shook his head, "It's called a secret for a reason. If I tell you, what do I play next time? I won't give away my unique tricks."
William would never reveal that he could use his mental powers to see his opponents' cards when they looked at them. This ability was incredibly advantageous in poker and even more so in other games like five-card draw.
As it approached 6 PM, Prince Charles got up to leave with Prince Wilson for dinner. Princess Diana was very strict with Prince Wilson.
After seeing the two princes off, Gareth and Commander Richard Bloomley pulled William to a corner of the pub.
Once the waitress brought them a bottle of whiskey, Gareth asked, "William, have you completed recruiting for the W team?"
William glanced at Commander Richard Bloomley, remaining silent.
"Relax, Richard is one of us. Your identity is an open secret among our people. Everyone knows the Devonshire family is taking over W team. Richard is the head of the Anti-Terrorism Special Operations Unit. He needs some help."
William recognized Commander Richard Bloomley—he was the black commander from the movie *The Foreigner* with Jackie Chan. So, Jackie Chan exists in this world? Should I recruit him too?
"I've completed the recruitment, but I can't tell you how many or who. You know the rules," William nodded.
Gareth and Commander Richard Bloomley nodded.
Richard Bloomley spoke, "I need your help, William. I need people unconnected to our department to find someone."
"Who?" William asked.
"A mercenary named Carlos from Madagascar. We suspect he's planning to blow up the Tianxing S570. We've captured several mercenaries who were contracted to bomb the Tianxing S570, but we haven't found the mastermind. Many of our people have mysteriously died."
"So, we suspect there's a mole in the English police system. I need an unknown group like your W team to secretly investigate Carlos and find the mastermind."
William thought, where have I heard of the Tianxing S570?
"Do you have any information?" William asked.
Gareth handed him a file.
William opened the file to see a picture of a large aircraft, bigger than any he had seen before, with four engines but an odd appearance.
Commander Richard Bloomley explained, "This is the new four-engine large passenger aircraft developed by Tianxing Company. It can carry over 600 passengers, 200 more than the current largest planes. Our national airline has a 30% stake in the S570 project, so we can't let anything happen to it. Any problem would cost us billions of pounds."
William looked at Gareth, questioning why MI6 wasn't handling this. If the police had moles, MI6 should step in, right?
Gareth hesitated, "William, we suspect there's a mole in MI6 too."
"You must be joking," William replied incredulously.
Gareth quickly said, "For years, the Security Committee has suspected a mole in MI6. We've had numerous leaks in Europe and Africa but couldn't find the source. This is one reason the committee approved you to reestablish the W team. We need an independent unit to investigate internal issues."
William realized there were no free lunches. They had given him special operational rights, allowing him to investigate anyone for a reason.
"Alright, when do I start?" William asked.
"As soon as possible. The S570's test flight is in a few days," Commander Richard Bloomley said anxiously.
"Okay, I'll issue the mission to my team today. They can go to Madagascar tomorrow to capture Carlos," William said, tapping Carlos' photo in the file.
He took a photo of the file and sent the details and mission order to Barney of The Expendables.
"Now, let's talk about my compensation, Gareth," William said.
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