Around the year 2000.

In every well-known star-rated hotel across the country.

Over ninety percent of them had gambling rounds inside.

Some even had small to medium-sized gambling partners.

Some were set up by the hotel’s own people.

Others were outsiders who rented a few suites.

Or an entire floor to set up their games.

These games gave off a feeling.

Safe, yet classy.

Huilin Hotel was no exception.

Otherwise, the manager wouldn’t have agreed to my request so readily.

I stayed in the hotel all day.

In the afternoon, Old Chef Zheng and Old Qian each sent someone to deliver a million to me.

Since the room’s safe was too small to hold two million in cash.

I asked the hotel to bring another safe.

By a little past eight in the evening.

Footsteps and voices echoed down the hallway.

I knew that people from both sides had started to arrive.

They had booked the suite at the end of this corridor.

I remained in my room.

Quietly waiting.

After about half an hour.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

Upon opening the door.

I saw the lobby manager standing at the entrance with a smile.

“Sir, their card game is about to start. Would you like to go now?”

I nodded.

Following the manager, we arrived at the suite booked by Old Qian.

I knocked and entered.

In the outer living room.

There were people standing and sitting everywhere.

Old Qian and Old Chef Zheng were sitting on the sofa next to the coffee table.

Both were all smiles.

Sipping tea and chatting away.

To the uninitiated.

One would think they were old friends for many years.

But in reality.

Behind their smiles, both harbored murderous intent.

Standing beside them.

Were Old Chef Zheng’s top thug, Quick Knife Zhao Ping.

And by Old Qian’s side were Yin Wu and Centipede.

Unlike their bosses’ jovial conversation.

These subordinates.

All had grim faces.

Looking ready to draw swords at any moment.

Especially Zhao Ping and Yin Wu.

The two exchanged glances from time to time.

Their eyes full of defiance and provocation.

On a sofa in the corner, a man and a woman sat side by side.

I hadn’t seen these two before.

They must be the ones from Fengtian.

The man was in his early forties.

Tall, with thick eyebrows and big eyes.

His hair slicked back, shining brightly.

He had a serious face.

Looking more like a leader from some organization.

The woman, around twenty-seven or twenty-eight.

She was quite attractive.

With phoenix eyes and willow-leaf eyebrows.

Her gaze was affectionate and teasing.

She wore a light yellow tight-fitting long dress.

With a deep “V” neckline.

At the neckline, her bosom was half-exposed.

Most eye-catching.

Was the red rose tattooed between her breasts.

The rose was bright red.

Contrasting with her snow-white skin.

It was hard not to let one’s thoughts wander.

Old Chef Zheng and Old Qian looked up at me and the lobby manager.

Old Qian pretended not to recognize me and asked:

“Do you need something?”

The lobby manager immediately replied respectfully:

“Old Qian, Boss Zheng. This gentleman is a guest at our hotel. Since his game didn’t start today, I brought him to see your game. I wonder if it’s convenient for him to play a few hands with you? However, I must clarify with both of you in advance, he’s just a hotel guest who wants to play cards. As for winning or losing, it has nothing to do with me…”

The manager was quite clever.

He was worried that if I won.

Old Qian and Old Chef Zheng might mistake him for bringing in The Swindler.

He cleared himself of any involvement.

Old Qian didn’t agree immediately.

He pretended to look at Old Chef Zheng, seeking his opinion.

Old Chef Zheng still had a smile on his face and said to Old Qian:

“Old Qian, you decide, I have no objections…”

The two old foxes were outdoing each other in acting.

Old Qian then pretended to scrutinize me.

“It’s not that you can’t play, indeed, four people are a bit few. But, we play big. Each person shows a million in cash, no stopping the game midway, until two people lose everything. If anyone is caught cheating, we take the money and chop off hands. Brother, can you handle this game?”

On the surface, he was speaking to me.

But in reality.

Old Qian was addressing the two from Fengtian.

It was a tactic.

To put psychological pressure on you.

Either you dare not cheat.

Or, under too much pressure.

You make a mistake while cheating.

I nodded and said indifferently:

“It’s fine, it’s about the same as what we usually play!”

“Alright then, show your money, and let’s start the game…”

I went back to my room, took out a million in cash from the safe.

When I returned to their room.

Four people were already seated in the suite’s Mahjong room.

Next to each person was an open leather case.

Inside were bundles of crisp banknotes.

And the extra people in the room had been sent away.

Apart from the five of us.

Only Old Qian and Old Chef Zheng remained.

Having wandered the world alone for half a year.

This was my first time playing such a game.

Not because of the amount of money involved.

But because all five players in this game were swindlers.

Let me briefly explain this kind of Swindler rounds.

Actually, everyone at the table knows what’s going on.

There’s not a clean person here.

Of course, this also means.

No one dares to cheat casually.

Because you don’t know the level of The Swindler techniques of the others at the table.

Once exposed.

At best, you lose a hand, at worst, you lose your life.

In such a game.

It’s the real skill that’s tested.

Simple tricks like stealing, switching, or hiding cards.

Don’t even make it to the table.

We were playing Three card poker.

One thousand, five thousand, with a cap of a hundred thousand.

The card game began.

Almost as I had anticipated.

Everyone was cautious.

No one made any unnecessary moves.

All played by the book.

This was a period of probing.

Everyone wanted to see what the others had up their sleeves.

Although they didn’t dare to cheat.

I did.

For two reasons.

One was my confidence in my own Swindler techniques.

The other was that the other four at the table all considered me one of their own.

He Huan and the man with the hooked nose thought I was Old Qian’s man.

The man with the slicked-back hair and the woman with the rose tattoo thought I was Old Chef Zheng’s man.

Even if there were top Swindler Sect experts among them.

If they saw me cheating, they would consider me one of their own and not catch me.

Of course, I didn’t believe there were such top experts among them.

Otherwise, Old Qian and Old Chef Zheng wouldn’t have needed me to join the game.

I was the dealer for this hand.

As I shuffled the cards.

All four were staring intently at my hands.

As fellow swindlers, they also wanted to see how good my technique was.

I didn’t shuffle much, just twice.

Then, I let them cut the cards.

The man from Fengtian with the slicked-back hair cut the deck several times horizontally.

His way of cutting the cards.

Seemed no different from a normal cut.

But in reality, it was quite sophisticated.

Every time he cut the deck, he would shuffle that portion of cards, mixing them into the other half.

Of course, his hands moved quickly.

So fast that you would think it was just a normal cut.

This technique, in The Swindler techniques, is called “Flower Insertion.”

Its main purpose is to disrupt the order of the cards that someone else has pre-arranged.

But this move was useless against me.

When the cards came back to me.

I could restore the pre-arranged order with one hand.

Even a Swindler Sect expert wouldn’t notice a thing.

Master Liu once told me.

This move in The Swindler techniques is considered top-level.

Known as “Return of the Gods.”

It also has a more down-to-earth name, “Everyone Goes Home.”

You might wonder.

The man with the slicked-back hair thought I was Old Chef Zheng’s man.

Why would he use “Flower Insertion” when cutting my cards?

Actually, he was probing.

Of course, not probing me.

But probing He Huan and the man with the hooked nose, to see if they could detect his technique.