LWDC Chapter 162

by Volare

One Hundred and Sixty-Second Chapter – Opening Bets on Life and Death

Two days later, the casino updated a string of names under “Devil Ning Fei’s Execution List.”

All of them were from the church, and not even high-ranking, just some quasi-saint types, genuinely unknown figures. Most of them hadn’t even made it onto the adjacent odds table.

The reason was obvious—these people hadn’t escaped the fire that engulfed the church estate in the dead of night, perishing in the blaze.

“Not a single ‘sacrifice’ from the palace, huh? They really all ran away?” Ning Fei glanced at the list the casino had updated on the wall, draped his arm over Duan Yunhong’s shoulder, and leaned close to whisper, “In the past, these people made such a fuss about leaving the palace, as if they wanted the whole world to know. This time, they snuck away quietly. Is it about saving face, not wanting to cause panic, or purely abandoning the other nobles to run for their lives, trying to use others as cannon fodder?”

Duan Yunhong turned his head to glance at him: “Aren’t you tired in that posture?”

The man was a bit taller than Ning Fei, yet Ning Fei insisted on resting his elbow on his shoulder. One could imagine how awkward the posture was. But Ning Fei just had to go to all that trouble, replying, “Not tired at all. Aren’t you well aware of how tired I’ve been up there these past few days?”

“…” Faced with such innuendo, Duan Yunhong couldn’t immediately come up with a crude retort, so he steered the topic back, “As a king, to flee without a fight, his position is basically over.”

“Ha, here you go again. Don’t forget that this world has a very excellent ‘matching mechanism’. The king doesn’t have much strategic foresight, do you expect others to be smarter than him?” Ning Fei scoffed, “By the way, seeing your name climb from the corner to below mine, how does that feel?”

“It’s what I deserve,” Duan Yunhong continued to ignore the implications in Ning Fei’s words, replying, “But they still don’t know that I shot Duke Bartley and his son, that’s why they’ve set my odds so low.”

Ning Fei had been complaining about his own low odds a few days ago. Now that Duan Yunhong had been identified as his accomplice, with odds less than half of his, Ning Fei finally felt cheerful.

“That’s because the casino’s information sources are inadequate, or maybe the person who reported you didn’t say anything. You were practically parading around with that big bow back then…” Ning Fei finally felt his arm getting sore and lowered it, leaning on the man’s shoulder and chuckling, “Why don’t you start a rebellion now while the king is away from the capital? That would definitely skyrocket your odds.”

“I have nothing better to do than waste my effort on that?” Duan Yunhong turned his head to look at him, “Unless, you order me to do so.”

“Hahaha… I knew you wouldn’t think it was impossible, only question the decision. But, ‘I have nothing better to do than waste my effort on that?'” Ning Fei mimicked the tone perfectly, “Rather than ordering you to start a rebellion, I’d rather have you tonight…”

“Hey, did you hear? Prince Fane has mobilized heavy troops to the capital, and he’s coming himself!”

“Really?”

Someone suddenly interjected with this conversation behind them. Ning Fei and Duan Yunhong exchanged a subtle glance, not making a sound or changing their posture, focusing their attention on the back.

The people behind them were probably also there to look at the odds table, approaching while chatting, their tone casual: “It’s true! I just went out of the city this morning, and there’s a whole stretch of tents outside. And a lot of soldiers walking around, not letting anyone get close, not even letting them look, very fierce! And I have channels, saying that the prince has already entered the city, I don’t know if the king called him to kill Ning Fei together, or if he wants to take advantage of the chaos to…”

The words trailed off, but those who heard it knew what he wanted to say.

Ning Fei put his mouth close to Duan Yunhong’s ear. Duan Yunhong thought this person was going to say something important, like how Prince Fane would come to hunt him down. But Ning Fei said, “These gambling addicts don’t have any ‘channels,’ they’ve probably just had a drink with the gatekeepers, all exaggerating.”

Putting on such an act was just to complain, and Duan Yunhong actually found it a little funny because of this pointless behavior. Just as he was about to laugh, Duan Yunhong suddenly realized that he was really in trouble.

–Tsk…

It must be the problem with the Light magic.

Ning Fei didn’t know what Duan Yunhong was pondering. He was still listening to the gambling ghost’s “watered-down intelligence exchange.” After finishing their speculation about the “Prince’s coup,” the two were commenting on the casino’s “lagging odds,” saying: “The prince brought so many troops, shouldn’t his odds increase? It’s so difficult to kill him, I think it’s not a problem to be higher than the king.

“And Ning Fei’s odds, I feel like they’ve risen too much in the past few days. He didn’t even show his face during those fires that night, who knows if he set them. Anything bad is pinned on him, isn’t that just increasing his fame for nothing? This time, they should take the opportunity of the Prince’s troop increase to lower it, after all, with so many soldiers, if he dares to show his face, it’ll be hard for him to escape!”

“Hahaha, I think you’ve bet too many times that he’ll be killed, lost too much!” The person next to him mocked mercilessly, “If you think he’ll be killed by the Prince, just keep buying that he’ll die, buy more. Anyway, his odds are so high now, once he dies, won’t you make a big profit?”

“Buy, I’ll buy! I don’t believe it, is that Ning Fei really that amazing? It’s all hype! Maybe some powerful people were assassinated by others, and it’s all blamed on him…”

These two were recklessly talking about Ning Fei dying behind their backs, Duan Yunhong finally came to his senses. Although he knew Ning Fei wouldn’t take the words of such nobodies to heart, Duan Yunhong still turned his head to look at Ning Fei’s reaction. Ning Fei was very calm, and when he found Duan Yunhong looking at him, he turned his head to meet his gaze, mouthing to him, “Bet him to death.”

Duan Yunhong: “Huh?”

The next second, Ning Fei turned his head and said to the gambling ghost who was talking so loudly, “Hey, stop exaggerating. I’ve been listening to your nonsense for so long, are you really betting or not? Don’t talk like you’re the most knowledgeable person in the whole place, but you don’t even dare to bet, you coward, get out of here early, okay?”

“What did you say?!” The provoked gambling ghost immediately jumped up, “What are you? I dare to bet, do you dare to bet?”

“Oh, you want to compete, huh?” Ning Fei’s tone was full of sarcasm, “Okay, you bet and I’ll bet. I don’t even ask you to bet double my amount, just bet the same amount as me, you playing?”

“Bet, I’ll bet now! You come with me…” The gambling ghost said, reaching out to grab Ning Fei. Ning Fei took a step back, Duan Yunhong’s eyes narrowed: “What do you want to do?”

“Aren’t you saying you want to bet? Let’s go now!” The gambling ghost pointed at the betting counter, yelling, “Coward, get out of the casino!”

“I’m going, I don’t need you to drag me.” Ning Fei raised his foot and walked towards the betting counter, the gambling ghost followed, and other gamblers joined in to watch the fun. The gambling ghost seemed to want to show his ambition and decisiveness, surpassing Ning Fei in three steps and standing in front of the betting counter first: “I want to bet that Ning Fei will be killed!”

“Okay.” The staff was registering, “How much do you want to bet?”

The gambling ghost pointed at Ning Fei, who was coming leisurely, without hesitation: “He bets how much, I bet how much!”

The staff looked at Ning Fei: “Then, may I ask you…”

Clang.

Ning Fei threw something onto the betting counter, calmly saying: “I also bet that Ning Fei will be killed.”

Everyone looked closely, it was actually a gold coin!

Bright and golden, spinning on the table several times before lying down.

This casino required using money to exchange for chips to bet, but gold coins were an exception, they could be used directly as chips. This was the “honor” of gold coins.

The gambling ghost was dumbfounded, the crowd burst into an uproar. Only the staff, after being surprised for two seconds, called their superior to verify the gold coin, and then registered Ning Fei and issued a ticket as usual.

Ning Fei held the betting ticket with two fingers, shaking it lightly: “It’s your turn. If you don’t have gold coins, 24 large silver coins, or 60 small silver coins are also acceptable. Don’t tell me you don’t even have that much money? You’re not going to go back on your word, are you? Speaking of which, can you cancel a bet and withdraw here? It seems that the casino’s rules are that if you cancel a bet and withdraw, the principal will be confiscated, plus the person will be thrown out, right?”

The last sentence was of course asking the staff, who respectfully replied: “Yes, sir. But this gentleman hasn’t given the money yet, so we can’t confiscate the principal. If he runs away… we will ‘invite’ him back, teach him a lesson and then throw him out.”

“Oh–” Ning Fei dragged out the long sound in a strange tone, and looked at the gambling ghost, waving his hand, “Then, please.”

He saw that the gambling ghost was still hesitating, even starting to clap his hands in rhythm and shouting: “Give the money quickly, give the money quickly.”

The others who came to watch the fun immediately joined in, clapping their hands around the gambling ghost and shouting: “Give the money quickly! Give the money quickly! Give the money quickly!…”

Even Duan Yunhong, who was usually too lazy to participate in such activities, stood behind Ning Fei, clapping his hands together with a playful expression.

The gambling ghost froze in place. Where did he have so much money? Even if he pawned everything on his body, he could only scrape together two large silver coins at most. But this was already a lot of money for a commoner gambler. Many people bet one chip at a time, which was only worth ten copper coins!

How could this person, dressed so plainly, be so rich?!

The gambling ghost’s first reaction was to run, but he looked left and right, surrounded by people. These people all had expressions of not being afraid of trouble, the huge cheers surrounding the gambling ghost. The casino hated this kind of sound the most, it seemed to have magic, making people who didn’t have money, who originally didn’t want to spend any more money, gradually lose their minds and empty their wallets.

At this moment, the staff also “thoughtfully” took out a document: “We can also directly apply for a loan here, it’s very simple, just sign and put your fingerprints here…”

The people around were still shouting “Give the money quickly! Give the money quickly!”, Ning Fei had a sarcastic smile on his face, everything was stimulating the gambling ghost. He finally couldn’t stand this pressure, burying his head on the table to put his fingerprints: “I’ll borrow! I also want to bet a gold coin! Ning Fei must die! He must die for me!!!”

When he shouted the words “Ning Fei must die,” his voice was hoarse, but the cheers of the others drowned it out. He finished putting his fingerprints heavily, and took the betting ticket from the staff, straightening up to glare back at Ning Fei triumphantly. But when he looked at the long-haired young man, he saw that the other party was whispering closely with his partner. Noticing the gambling ghost’s staring gaze, the young man and the man’s eyes both turned over, their faces still showing mocking expressions.

No, in fact, the young man’s smile was even more obvious, not concealing his malice at all.

The gambling ghost wanted to question him about what he was laughing at, but the senior foreman who had been standing nearby and hadn’t left approached Ning Fei and Duan Yunhong, asking in a tone that the noisy bystanders couldn’t hear: “You two, we just opened a more exciting betting project, also related to Ning Fei. And it uses a ‘sudden death’ system, are you interested?”

Ning Fei’s expression didn’t change, calmly responding: “Tell me about it.”

“It’s betting on who will be the next name written in Central Square. Once the name is written, it’s settled.” The foreman replied, “You two don’t know yet, do you? Someone tried to break into Central Square to write names in the early hours of this morning.”

Ning Fei raised his eyebrows slightly: “Oh?”

The situation in the square was so tense that it was like a “witch hunt,” and someone still went to write. It seemed that they were really not afraid of death, wanting to exchange a noble’s life for a glimmer of hope.

“It’s true, and there was more than one person, it seems to be organized and scaled. Although those people were killed this time, we estimate that this kind of organized attempt will happen again next time, and the probability of success is not small.” The foreman continued, “We have set up observation points near the square to ensure the information is real and timely. What do you think, are you interested in playing?”

Ning Fei could come up with “Killing Seven Days of Fun,” and these people dared to open bets on anyone’s life and death. It was really hard to say who was more indifferent, who was more like a “devil” who regarded human life as worthless.

“…Yes.” Ning Fei took out a chip equivalent to a large silver coin and threw it to him, “Also, can the observation point get a viewing spot? Find me some fun.”

The foreman took the silver coin and smiled slightly: “Of course.”