Chapter 3 - Not Tempted (1/2)

The evening sea breeze brought some coolness to Haizhu City.

“What? Xia Lei was discharged?” Ma Xiaoan was so surprised his mouth hung open as he stood at the Nurses’ Station in the hospital.

“His eye is fine and the hospital is short of beds, so we let him be discharged,” said the nurse.

“His… His eye’s fine?” Surprise upon surprise was sprung upon Ma Xiaoan.

“What’s with you?,” grumbled the nurse as she then said impatiently, “If you have any questions you can ask him directly. I’m busy here, so don’t interrupt my work.”

“I’m sorry.” Ma Xiaoan turned to leave. He fished his mobile phone out and made a call to Xia Lei but Xia Lei had his phone switched off.

Ma Xiaoan stopped at the lift doors, mumbling to himself, “What is this guy doing?”

The lift doors opened suddenly and Chen Chuanhu stepped out with some young men.

At the sight of Chen Chuanhu, Ma Xiaoan nervously turned to leave but he was surrounded by the youths Chen Chuanhu had brought with him.

“Wh-What are you doing?” Ma Xiaoan’s voice was shaky.

“Doing?” Chen Chuanhu smiled meanly. “Fuck, you and Xia Lei worked together to cheat me of my money. I just called to ask the doctor about him and he told me Xia Lei’s eye had no problems at all and that he’s been discharged. He ruined my electric welding machine and my transformer. He even cheated me of 10,000 in hospital fees. What do you think I’ll do?”

“This is… is a misunderstanding.” Ma Xiaoan bravely ventured.

“Misunderstanding? Fuck you!” Chen Chuanhu said angrily, “Beat this guy up first, then take him and look for the other bastard, Xia Lei. He couldn’t have gone very far!”

The youths converged, punching and kicking Ma Xiaoan. They were merciless and brutal and Ma Xiaoan soon fell to the ground. However, they did not lessen their assault. The youths surrounded Ma Xiaoan and kicked at him aggressively.

Ma Xiaoan held his head in his arms and curled up and he silently thought, “Lei, run away quickly… Don’t stay at home…”

Xia Lei could not see what was happening. At the time of Ma Xiaoan’s suffering, Xia Lei had just walked through the doors and into the hall of Hotel Lisboa’s Casino in Macau.

Haizhu City and Macau were separated by just a body of water and it was easy to get to Macau. Even if you did not have documents to cross, you can pay 200 to cross illegally on a boat. Xia Lei had gone to Macau via one of these boats. He had also switched his mobile phone off before leaving Haizhu City as he did not want anyone to know he had gone to Macau.

Coming to Macau’s casinos was the quickest and most direct way to make use of the X-ray vision.

Xia Lei exchanged 8,000 for chips and headed to the blackjack tables.

A woman in a black evening dress was playing at the table and she had excellent curves on her waist and bottom. She was cool, beautiful and sexy but too aloof for people to approach easily. Xia Lei did not dare to look at her too much lest he triggered his X-ray vision and waste his chance to earn money.

The woman in the black evening dress glanced at Xia Lei, but only for a second. Xia Lei was quite handsome but he was dressed too plainly to warrant a second look.

When Xia Lei walked over, she had just finished playing one round with the dealer. The dealer had 19 while she had 17. The dealer won.

“What bad luck! I didn’t win even once. I’m not playing anymore.” The woman in black grumbled to herself, frowning. She looked quite dissatisfied.

Xia Lei sat at the table and placed his 8,000 yuan chips carefully on the table.

“Would you like to play, sir?” The female dealer smiled.

Xia Lei nodded.

“Please place your bet.” The female dealer maintained her smile.

Xia Lei did not hurry in placing his bet but stared hard at the card shuffler in front of the female dealer. In that instant, his left eye saw through the card shuffling machine and he saw the first card. The back of the card wavered between opaque and transparent as the numbers and card suit flashed in and out of his sight. The first card was an ace of spades.

“Sir?”, prompted the dealer, “Please place your bet.”

Xia Lei smiled, “I’m thinking how much to bet.”

The female dealer looked at his pathetic pile of chips and the corners of her mouth turned down in despise. To her, Xia Lei looked like a young worker from the mainland, here to try his luck. These sort of people always took a long time to think and consider before betting because the money they bet was their life and blood and if they lost, they would have nothing.

While the dealer was quietly looking down on Xia Lei, he was using his ability to look at four cards in the card shuffling machine. First was an ace of spades, nine of hearts second, king of spades third and ace of hearts fourth. According to the sequence of dealing cards, he would get a blackjack and receive triple the payout!

Xia Lei looked away from the card shuffling machine and pushed all his chips forward. “8,000. All in.”

The creases in the corners of the dealer’s mouth grew deeper. She dealt the cards to Xia Lei, all the while envisioning him leaving the table in defeat.

Xia Lei knew what his cards were going to be but he still pretended to be a gambler. He covered the hidden card with the upturned card and slowly inched the upturned card away while chanting to himself, “Ace of spades, ace of spades…”

The woman in the black evening dress looked at Xia Lei with a trace of mockery in her gaze.

“Ha-ha! Blackjack!” Xia Lei revealed his hidden card excitedly.

The female dealer looked at her cards and saw that she had 20 points. She looked as if she had swallowed a fly.