Gambling Freak

One hour of painstakingly saving spirit stones, bankruptcy in just ten minutes.

Zhong Yi fell into deep self-doubt.

"Could it be... my strategy is flawed?"

Zhong Yi stroked his chin, lost in thought, and decided to step out and see how others played.

The livestream feature, under Lu Ze's continuous updates and iterations, had grown rapidly. Many rogue cultivators had built their fortunes through streaming, earning hefty sums.

With the launch of "Auction King," many channels in the "Spirit Abyss Continent Ops" section were now streaming this mode.

Zhong Yi caught sight of many people livestreaming in his friends list. He casually clicked into Zhou Qiaoling's channel.

"Hahahaha! I hit the jackpot, I hit the jackpot again~ Made another two million~"

[You have exited the livestream.]

Zhong Yi didn't even see what Zhou Qiaoling had pulled before he fled from the stream.

"I can't watch this; it messes with my state of mind... Switch!"

Clutching his chest in pain, Zhong Yi entered Mu Yawen's stream.

"One, two, three..."

Mu Yawen frowned deeply, counting on his fingers to calculate the cargo's value.

The character he chose was Bee Medic, whose skill allowed him to see the total value of all white, green, and blue collectibles from the start.

Mu Yawen crunched the numbers, and Zhong Yi found it hilarious because his calculations were all wrong.

"Heh, I'll just bid eighty thousand... Huh, what big fool is bidding eight hundred thousand?"

Mu Yawen stared at the displayed price, blinking in confusion, then his expression shifted dramatically.

Because the person who successfully won the bid for this batch of cargo was none other than himself.

"Ah!! How did I misplace the bid!"

"Hahahaha! That's our Junior Brother Mu!"

Zhong Yi laughed so hard his stomach ached, feeling his mood improve. He immediately gifted Mu Yawen a "Ten Thousand Sword Return."

"Thank you, Senior Brother Zhong, for the Ten Thousand Sword Return... Sigh, sorry to make you laugh, senior brother."

Watching the flashy effects drift across the stream, Mu Yawen's mood didn't improve; he still felt down.

Just then, the shipping container unexpectedly spun out a massive 3x4 red [Jade Screen].

"Huh??"

Mu Yawen snapped to attention.

The [Jade Screen] was worth 840,000, instantly turning his loss into profit.

Before he could even celebrate, just below the [Jade Screen], a 2x2 square spun for a long time before turning out another red item.

A 2x2 [Double Goat Zun], worth 560,000!

All the items together brought the container's total value to 1.7 million!

In one go, he had earned 900,000!

"Hahaha! It must be Senior Brother Zhong secretly speaking ill of me! Thank you, Senior Brother! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Mu Yawen laughed, flashing his white teeth, repeatedly clasping his fists toward the sky.

"???"

Zhong Yi's smile instantly vanished.

"Tch! How can everyone be this damn lucky!"

Cursing under his breath, Zhong Yi exited Mu Yawen's stream. He didn't come here to see this.

"Of course... it's gotta be this one!"

Zhong Yi sighed, locking his gaze onto Zhou Yue's stream. A sly grin crept across his lips as he happily entered.

"Holy crap?? Lao Zhou has 1.76 million in assets???"

Zhong Yi was stunned at first, then quickly realized.

"Oh, that's his Grave Robbery mode warehouse... Never mind, then."

At that moment, Zhou Yue had just exited "Auction King." His 1.76 million spirit stones were assets from his Grave Robbery mode.

For a Grave Robbery player, 1.76 million meant bankruptcy.

Watching Zhou Yue take a deep breath and trade in 1 million of those spirit stones into "Auction King," Zhong Yi felt even more relieved.

"I've come to the right place... This feels like home! Hahaha!"

Zhong Yi laughed out loud.

So Zhou Yue hadn't been avoiding "Auction King"; he'd already gone broke and had gone back to grab more cash.

Seeing his good brother struggling so much put his mind at ease.

Zhou Yue's gaze swept across the various auction maps for a long time, fixated on the high-level maps that were locked for now.

[Secret Auction] was available for a limited time, with an entry fee of 10 million!

The first to enter [Secret Auction] would undoubtedly be the strongest players of this mode!

Zhou Yue smiled lightly, filled with longing at the thought.

"You might not know what it means to turn 1.76 million into 10 million..."

"Using my hometown's way of putting it, there's only two words—"

"Betting freak!"

With that, he immediately selected [Secluded Mansion], a map with a 1-million entry fee, and went in.

Zhong Yi was shocked: "Damn, Lao Zhou's playing big?"

Entering a 1-million venue with 1.76 million meant that if he ran into a round with slightly high-value information, he'd have to go all in.

This, however, matched Zhong Yi's impression of Zhou Yue.

Back in the day, it was by constantly pushing the limits at the edge of life and death that Zhou Yue had broken his celestial calamity fate.

"Bring it on! There's no such thing as a kid crying every day, or a gambler losing all the time!"

Zhou Yue's eyes locked onto the shipping container.

His character was [Deep Blue], commonly known among players as the Shield Dog.

As an instructor, Deep Blue's skill was the same as the original game's Labu: [Light of Enlightenment].

Its effect was that at the start of each round, it would randomly reveal the outline and quality of two completely unknown collectibles.

This was a character with steady returns every turn. By revealing outlines, he could potentially secure key information early on and successfully steal a win.

"This is my first time entering the million-tier rounds. Let me see what the drop rate is like..."

As Zhou Yue spoke, the first round's ability activated, and his breath hitched.

Because before him appeared a red-quality, massive collectible taking up a staggering 15 slots!

The stream's comments exploded.

[Holy crap! Ten gods?? Fifteen slots and red?]

[That's gotta be at least two million!!]

[All in! All in!]

[Has the streamer been possessed?? This can't be a match Zhou Yue runs into!]

[Seeing such a huge red right off the bat—his sister must be playing!]

"Kiss my ass! Like hell my sister's playing!!"

Zhou Yue laughed off the comments, quickly calming his excitement.

This round, he had a far bigger informational edge than anyone else. Victory was within his grasp!

"Stay calm, stay calm..."

Zhou Yue checked the others' characters.

Two Mai Xiaowens and one Bee Medic—all basic characters.

Without items, the Bee Medic couldn't see the red's info.

The Mai Xiaowens might sense there was a red, but there was no way they'd know it was this massive.

"To secure it in one go, I'd need to go all in... No, that wouldn't net much profit."

Zhou Yue resisted the urge to snap it up immediately.

Once a Mai Xiaowen spotted a red, their bid wouldn't be low.

Securing it in the first round would require paying double the second-place bid, which came at a steep price.

So he decisively chose to bluff.

Zhou Yue tossed out a bid of 380,000. This was to keep the Mai Xiaowens from jacking up the price and stealing the container, while also pretending he'd seen a red, but just a cheap small one.

When the first round's auction results came in, Zhou Yue breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Because Player 1 Mai Xiaowen had bid 600,000, clearly having seen the red.

If his bid had been lower, Player 1 Mai Xiaowen would have stolen it.

If he had quoted a higher price, the other party would have known about the big red item.

“As expected! Good thing I’m so cunning and calculating—this is what a gambling master looks like!”

Zhou Yue laughed triumphantly, proud of his guts.

“This round, I won’t go easy on you!”

Zhou Yue sneered and abruptly raised the price to one million!

Even if the other side still offered 600,000, he would win it for sure.

But the result disappointed him.

“What?? He raised it to 800,000???”

Zhou Yue was stunned.

Clearly, he had faked it so well in the first round—how had he been seen through?

“Could it be… he saw two red items?”

Zhou Yue immediately made the deduction, but analyzing this now was useless.

Because all four participants in the match knew that this shipping container was a payday!

In the third round, the competition grew fiercer.

Everyone’s bids exceeded one million!

Even Zhou Yue offered 1.5 million, yet still couldn’t secure it.

By now, Zhou Yue was losing his cool.

Red.

Big red.

A fifteen-slot big red item.

He had never seen anything so awesome in his life!

“Fine, fine…raising the stakes like a sky lantern, huh? Come on! Let me see just how rich you all are!!”

Zhou Yue’s eyes were bloodshot, and he simply bet his entire fortune!

1,917,563!

“All in!”

Zhou Yue pressed the bidding key with grand pride.

At this point, the other players’ wallets were indeed too thin. Zhou Yue’s 1.91 million stood out like a crane among chickens, and he successfully won the container.

“Hahahaha! Got it! Got it!”

Zhou Yue felt euphoric, like a champion in life.

He slowly watched the goods inside the container rotate one slot at a time.

Just as he had expected, the container held more than one red item. The first row had a one-slot small red item, but it was cheap—worth less than 100,000.

After several rows, the total value of the whole container hadn’t even reached 300,000.

Still, Zhou Yue was not in a hurry, because the fifteen-slot big red was at the bottom!

“Fellow cultivators, even a small profit is profit… This is the first step of my gambling master career!”

As the container neared its end, Zhou Yue’s eyes almost popped out.

At that moment, he finally understood what it meant to “strain one’s eyes with longing.”

“Here it comes, here it comes… Everyone, get ready to take a screenshot!”

“Let us witness together the birth of the first fifteen-slot big red item!”

“It is…”

“…[Big-Eyed Tuna]? What the hell is that??”

Zhou Yue rubbed his eyes, thinking he was seeing things.

One, two, three, four…

He counted over and over.

It really was fifteen slots, colored red.

It was a huge fish.

Its price was 294,000, with each slot worth less than 20,000.

Zhou Yue’s face instantly turned redder than his 1.2 million loss.

“Damn!!!”

“Let’s pause the stream for a bit…”

“I’m going to the Soul-Burial Sea to kill some fish demon!!!”