Chapter 12: Win

Shang Ying kept feeling a cold sensation on her back. Turning around, she didn't spot anyone suspicious, so she resumed eating the portion of tiramisu in her hand, having already finished more than half of it. It tasted decent. After all, if a dessert chef couldn't even make tiramisu taste good, they might as well pack their bags and go back to farming in their hometown.

The roulette wheel began to slow down. The little ball spun along the edge while the green numbers on the display screen rapidly shifted. After making two more rounds around the outer rim, the ball bounced into the inner ring. Instantly, the hearts of the players placing bets jumped into their throats.

The next second, the white ball came to a steady, solid stop on Red 13. Everyone standing around the gambling table was utterly stunned, because the number Shang Ying had bet on was precisely Red 13.

With 700,000 yuan in chips bet at odds of 35-to-1, Shang Ying won over 20 million yuan outright in this single round. Adding her original principal, she now held 30 million yuan in hand.

In a great mood, she let out a cheerful whistle. Grabbing a handful of chips from the table, she placed them outside the table line, nodding and offering a warm smile toward the dealer lady.

"For the dealer."

The dealer lady's eyes were filled with sheer shock, and she felt a surge of bashful excitement from Shang Ying's flirtatious gesture. Forcing her emotions down, she silently pressed an alarm button to notify the surveillance control room while offering Shang Ying a polite smile and thanking her.

Shang Ying was undeniably generous. When players on the first floor tipped the dealer, they typically pulled out one or a few chips, rarely exceeding five. Yet, the handful of chips Shang Ying gave was easily a six-figure amount.

Meanwhile, the guy standing beside her experienced a violent twitch in his eyelids. The moment he saw where the ball had landed, his heart nearly leaped out of his chest, making him look even more shocked and excited than Shang Ying herself. He was practically on the verge of jumping up.

Seeing his reaction, Shang Ying calmly comforted him.

"Calm down, calm down."

The guy's face was flushed red with excitement, deeply dissatisfied with her calm demeanor.

"Girl, you won two straight single-number bets in a row and you're not even excited?! Sigh, look at my heart. It makes me look like I've never seen the world before."

Well, she actually did think he looked like someone who had never seen the world before, though she wasn't going to say it out loud.

Winning two rounds consecutively transformed the surrounding crowd's perception of Shang Ying from initial disdain into awe, surprise, and admiration. Quite a few people even wanted to approach her to strike up a conversation, convinced she had some "special trick" up her sleeve.

However, while some sought to flatter her, others raised suspicions, accusing Shang Ying of cheating. This was especially true for the players who had lost in this round. Their eyes were filled with doubt and bitterness.

"This makes no scientific sense... This is completely unscientific!"

"How is this possible?! Are you colluding with the dealer, or using some high-tech method?! Otherwise, how could you possibly win two rounds in a row?!"

The dealer lady: Σ(˚ ⊿ ˚) ‘I'm an honest citizen!’

"Where's the manager? Get the manager over here! This girl must be cheating! Acting like she's in a movie. This is way too fake!"

"Holy crap, I'm seriously losing my mind. Is she possessed or what? To be this insane without a trick. I don't buy it! Taking flexing way too far!"

"Holy crap! She actually won! She really won!"

At this moment, Cui Heyuan's shock far surpassed the pain of losing the suburban development rights. He even shook his head, doubting whether his ears and eyes were playing tricks on him.

How on earth was she this insanely good?!

As the winner, Xie Tuo held a casual, easygoing smile.

"Ah, won by accident."

Cui Heyuan shot him a sideways glance, completely speechless. Getting a bargain while acting innocent. Only someone as thick-skinned as Xie Tuo could pull that off, though Cui Heyuan only dared to think this in his mind without saying it out loud.

"Wait, something's not right."

Wei Yanyi looked down at the increasingly chaotic scene on the floor below, his brows knitting together.

"That kid's situation doesn't look good. She's probably suspected of cheating."

Oh?

Xie Tuo took a step forward, leaning out to look down.

The shouting below was loud and aggressive. Shang Ying had originally intended to grab her chips and leave, but she was blocked by the crowd, who insisted on demanding an explanation from her.

What explanation could she possibly give? Wasn't it just applying a bit of physics? Calculating the ball's final landing area based on its starting point, computing the angle of the roulette wheel's spin over that duration, estimating the landing zone, and topping it off with a bit of luck?

This crowd was simply too noisy. A large number of people had already gathered around the roulette table, and with the commotion, even more onlookers swarmed in. The main hall was poorly ventilated with heavy odors in the air, and being surrounded by a packed crowd made it even more uncomfortable.

‘Irritating. So damn irritating.’

BANG!

The crowd went dead quiet in an instant. Shang Ying retracted her leg from the table leg, glaring impatiently at these blocking fools. Her patience pushed past its limit, leaving no need to hold back any longer.

"Shut up, all of you! What are you screaming like headless chickens in a wet market for? Can't handle losing, or what? Are noobs not allowed to see someone far better than them?"

"Did you never read a book growing up? Never heard that there's always someone better? Covered in gold and silver, yet screaming like a plucked chicken the moment you lose some money. Don't you feel embarrassed?!"

These people were all long-accustomed to being in positions of power, used to venting their temper on others rather than being cursed directly to their faces. Being publicly berated by a young girl left them feeling deeply humiliated and instantly enraged.

"How dare you talk like that?! Do you have any manners? Call your parents over! This isn't over today!"

"Yeah! Do you know who I am to dare speak like that? Who gave you the nerve!"

The guy who had been standing beside Shang Ying stepped forward, shielding her behind him, thoroughly displeased by these adults picking on a kid.

"You're grown adults making a fuss with a kid. She won fair and square because she's skilled. What's the point of throwing a tantrum here?"

Losing a few million or tens of millions in a casino wasn't rare, especially in an establishment like this. The guy genuinely couldn't understand why they had to make such an ugly scene.

Shielded behind him, Shang Ying added ominously, "Because they lost to a woman~ and a young woman at that~"

Hearing this, the guy turned his head to look at her, his expression somewhat complex.

Having their true feelings exposed, the men grew even more humiliated and angry, sputtering non-stop. Shang Ying delivered another fierce kick to the gambling table. The loud noise surpassed the previous one, forcing the group to swallow their words back down.

The dealer lady had long retreated far away from the table, terrified of getting caught in the crossfire.

The guy swallowed his saliva, feeling relieved that he hadn't provoked this young girl. With a kick like that, getting hit on the body would mean needing an ambulance instead of a driver to take you home tonight.

Shang Ying swept her cold gaze over the surrounding crowd, pulled her hat back on irritably, and said, "Are you letting me pass or not? If you don't, I'm calling the police to come and bust this entire place."

The outer ring of onlookers dispersed in an instant. Watching drama was fine, but getting hauled off to the police station was a definite no-go.

However, one guy still refused to submit and yelled out, "We still need to bring the manager over to verify that you didn't cheat before you can leave!"

Summoned by the commotion, the manager did not disappoint the crowd and arrived quickly, eyeing Shang Ying, the godlike figure who had just won two consecutive rounds, at first sight.

Upon receiving the dealer's report earlier, they had immediately pulled the surveillance footage from every angle, carefully inspecting it multiple times in slow motion. Afterward, all of them had fallen silent, wearing expressions as if they had seen a ghost.

Because they couldn't spot a single issue. Aside from scrolling on her phone and eating cake, the young girl hadn't made a single suspicious movement.

Thus, there was only one conclusion left: this young girl won through sheer, genuine skill.