Chapter 335: Encountering Sun Ce (1/2)
This casino hotel was called ”Tiger's Den”. It was the main tourist attraction and the core of Jianye City's economy. This place hid the Sun Clan's merchant guild, which was responsible for distributing their local products to retail merchants and lesser noble clans.
The first floor was for the reception and the lounge, while the second floor was reserved for restaurants. A mini-shopping mall was on the third floor. The fourth to the tenth floor were offices of various associations and subordinate clans under the Jiangdong White Tiger Sect. As for the eleventh floor to the hundredth floor, they were all residential zones.
The underground floor, aka casino zones, could only be accessed through customer elevators. They categorized their customers into five levels – Shrimp, Salmon, Dolphin, Whale, and Megalodon.
After Miaomiao had exchanged two essence cores into gambling chips and paid for the room fees in advance, he got a shrimp emblem, which could activate one of the casino elevators. His rank was still [Shrimp] as he was still new to this place.
To get the Salmon Rank, Miaomiao needed to exchange at least 10 essence cores or 10 million refined stones into the non-refundable casino chips. Dolphin required 100 essence cores, Whale Rank needed 1,000, and the last rank added another zero to the number.
Since Miaomiao didn't care about gambling or his status, he didn't mind having the ordinary status among the customers here.
After Miaomiao had finished the check-in procedure for a two-bed room in front of the reception counter at the first floor lounge area, the clerk told him that they would register him and Gan Ning for the exam, and they would give them the exam ID cards tomorrow morning.
”Would you like to see your room first? Or would you like to play in our casino first?”
Gan Ning jumped in joy, being excited to see the famous casino, ”Father, let's go! Let's go see the casino, woof!”
”Stop calling me FATHER already. That was a joke.”
”Okay, woof!”
”Also, stop barking.”
”… Say, do you want me to be your kid, or do you want me to be a good dog, make up your mind!”
”Just shut up for a moment.”
”Aye!”
Miaomiao turned back to the clerk, ”Our room first, please.”
A bellman in a red robe with a squire headwear walked toward them. He pushed a tray cart, carrying 2,000 green chips, and greeted the customers.
”Here are your chips, sir. Please follow me. I'll guide you to the room.”
Miaomiao nodded as he gave a tray of 1,000 green chips to Gan Ning, ”We'll check our room first, and you can go play. If you cause trouble, I'll disown you.”
”Yes, boss!” Gan Ning took the chips in glee.
Each chip was worth a thousand refined stones. However, as they were non-refundable chips, the casino forced their customers to play and win the house's exchangeable chips.
This trick was common even in modern casinos. Miaomiao was aware of the ploy, but he didn't care. After all, this was how casinos made money from whales.
…
30 minutes later, both Miaomiao got to their room. They got the room FSDSS-206, which was odd for a hotel room number.
Gan Ning immediately excused himself and asked the bellman to lead him to the underground casino. As for Miaomiao, he entered the bathroom and took a hot shower after he hadn't taken a bath for a couple days, after which he put on a wool bathrobe and fell on the spring bed.
It had been a while since Miaomiao had last slept on a modern hotel bed with clean sheets. He missed the Poseidon Spa House lifestyle that he could coop in a modern room all day without worrying about the world.
”Hah… This is heaven.”
He buried his face in a white pillow and enjoyed his nap. Nothing was better than a good nap in a hotel room after a good bath.
…
While Miaomiao had been sleeping, Gan Ning visited the B1 level, which was the playground for Shrimp Rank customers. Many noble clansmen and young masters from semi-wealthy families gathered here to have fun.
The casino offered several kinds of games. Each game was protected by a Qi-sealing array, which prevented every cultivator, including the dealers, from using their techniques or Qi to cheat the games.
One of the games that Gan Ning was interested in was Hi-Low Dice, which was similar to modern roulette. The dealer would toss three dices in a sealed bowl. Then, players could make a bet if the total score was low (3 to 10) or high (11 to 18). Other special bets, such as triplet, double, or specific points could also be bet for high pay.
However, Gan Ning was a simpleton. He was only interested in either High Bet or Low Bet.
Currently, the dice table was crowded with many players. Fortunately, one of the players decided to quit and left his seat.
Gan Ning immediately sat down on the empty seat and put his chips on the table. He began betting after he had read the rules on the signboard behind the dealer.
”1,000, HIGH!”
…
An hour later, Gan Ning stared at the table with bloodshot eyes. He yelled, ”Come on, HIGH!!”
The expressionless dealer opened his bowl and revealed the result.
”One, Two, Four… Seven Low!”
”FUUUUUUUUCCCCKKKKKK!!”
Gan Ning kept on betting high every game. He won some and lost some. Also, he used a newbie strategy by doubling his bet every time he lost.
Unfortunately, the house had a countermeasure to prevent that. There was a maximum bet ceiling of 10,000 chips on this table, and Gan Ning couldn't increase his stake.
In the end, he kept on losing his money after he started betting 10,000 every game. The losses piled up, and Gan Ning was frustrated.
He had already lost 70% of the non-refundable chips, but he gained 300,000 exchangeable chips. In short, he had 600,000 refined stones remaining.
Seeing how Gan Ning was on a losing streak, the table dealer offered him a piece of advice before the youngster could cause trouble, ”Sir, would you like to rest a little? We have a bar over there. All food and wine are on the house, sir.”
This was a common psychology strategy that casinos dealt with angry customers, offering them free stuff to calm them down and keep them satisfied with their professional services.
Gan Ning glared at the dealer as he downed a shot of pure brandy. He collected his remaining chips stomped toward the free bar.
The bare-chest teenager sat at the counter and ordered several bottles of Black Sheep Vodka at once. He kept on drinking and eating whatever the bartender had served him.
As Gan Ning was still overwhelmed with various emotions, a young man in crimson robes with a white tiger embroidery emblem behind his back sat on the counter chair next to him. He ordered a glass of beer and snickered, ”Having a bad day, Gan Xingba?”
Although Gan Ning was drunk, he was still sober enough to maintain his rational thinking. He inspected the young man next to him with the corner of his eyes.
As soon as Gan Ning saw the guy's face, he widened his eyes and turned toward the man.
”L-L-Lord Sun Bofu!?”
Sun Bofu, aka Sun Ce, was the eldest son of Sun Wentai. As a famous young master of the sect master and the city lord, nobody wouldn't recognize the young man.
However, Gan Ning had never talked with Sun Bofu before. It was odd for the son of the city lord to know his name.
”Y-You know me, sir?”
”To be honest, I don't know you, but my sworn brother told me to come and find you. I wonder why as well.”
”Huh?”
Gan Ning didn't know what Sun Bofu was talking about. Aside from Miaomiao and the taverns that he always visited, he didn't know anyone else in the city.