"Sure. Sure. We're playing one round right now, so you have to wait for the next round." The three men had jovial smiles on their faces. They were dressed up in all manners of attire. Metro pulled out the chair and sat down on it. All the chairs were standardised to be as comfortable as possible.
The first of them had slicked back red hair and a Hawaiian shirt. The one that was on Metro's right had light brown skin and was wearing a tidy tuxedo. As for the last man, he was a wizened old man, who smoked a thick cigar.
The old man tapped on the table, and a card was dealt to him. As the old man received a card, he tapped two times on the table, and the dealer nodded. The rest of the table also looked satisfied with their hands, so the dealer requested for them to show their cards.
In the end, the old man got 19, the tuxedo wearing man got 20, and the redhead got 16. The old man took the bets that were on the table without saying a word. The atmosphere grew heavy as the two men glared at the old man. However, the old man was impervious to their gaze, flipping a chip in the air, before catching it accurately.
"Why do you guys look so gloomy? In a casino, sad people are often cursed to have bad fortune. You must be happy to win big! That is my philosophy!" Metro interrupted this silent standoff with a firm loud voice.
"Alright then, newcomer. Show us how good you really are then. 200." The redhead appeared to be an expert gambler, as he tossed out a few chips on the table. The other gamblers also subsequently threw out their own chips. There were no raised stakes.
"Don't underestimate me. I'm also quite confident in myself too." Metro's hand lifted half the chips he had and tossed it out. Seeing that everyone was done, the dealer shuffled the cards. Metro could see that this dealer was not as good as the one at the other table, but that was to be expected.
As the dealer gave out cards, Metro sat there silently, closing his eyes. However, he was actually attracting carnal energy towards him. Since this casino was not interested in low quality carnal energy, then he would gladly clean up for them.
In a way, he was also doing the public a service. Without him, the extracted carnal energy would be unknowingly absorbed into the body of potential seedlings, corrupting then further. This was perhaps the reason for the outburst that had happened earlier.
"Are you a drug addict? Why do you look so skinny? Not to mention your behaviour." The brown skinned man teased Metro. "The quality of the Good Fortune casino has deteriorated lately, allowing such desperadoes to enter."
"Nice joke! But don't you think I would have too much addictions to support? I already have a gambling addiction, a drug one would knock me out financially for good." Metro picked up his cards and put a hand over them, shielding them from the gaze of the other gamblers.
"A gambling addiction? That sounds so unrefined. An acquired taste for thrill sounds much better. Don't you agree with me?" The old man spoke slowly with a hoarse voice, but there was a slight quiver in his tone when he said the word "acquired". This was met with raised eyebrows by the other two gamblers.
"The famed gambler, Old Man Howard, this is the first time I heard you talking. You sounded exactly like I expected, smoking those cigars must have taken a toll on you." The redhead took this opportunity to take a jab at Howard.
"I don't care about your opinion of me. I care about him." Howard looked at Metro with both fear and reverence in his eyes. His red eyes looked around anxiously. As Metro observed the conversation, a message was conveyed to him through his mind.
"You can rob these two fools for all I can. I'm out of here!" Oh? Metro bit his lips. The Abyssal Eye could actually be used to contact other tainted individuals. Still, what really worried Metro was that he could not detect Howard's influence before. It was as if there was a field that prevented detection. In that case, who knew if the demon could hide himself at any moment?
That also meant that there could be errors in the information that he received. He had not found out about all these information during the conversation he had. The loophole that he had created for his own benefit had came to bite him in the back.
Putting on a weathered hat, Howard said, "I'm done for the day." He retreated from the table, drawing out shocked reactions out of the gamblers.
"Goddamn it! I wanted to just wipe that smug bastard's smile off his face!" The redhead slammed a fist on the table in anger. His pale skin now matched his hair's colour, as his face was filled with a deep frown.
"Calm down, Edward. We will get him one day. After all, we have enough money to the point that we can use them for toilet paper." The brown skinned man patted his partner's back.
"Have you guys forgotten about me? I want to play too. It's not my problem that guy is gone." Metro rolled his eyes. He started tapping on the table to express his annoyance.
"Tsk! I don't want to play anymore, I'm going home." The two gamblers left with each other, leaving Metro alone at the table. The bets had still remained on the table, so Metro took it all, amounting to a hefty 1000 dollars.
"Well, I should be able to play with you." Metro looked towards the dealer, who nodded in response. "How much do you want to bet, Sir?"
"All in!" Metro pushed all his chips forward, making the dealer smile in his heart. He had seen many gamblers who wanted to act rich and go all in, but they always lost to the casino in the end. Dealing out the cards, the dealer held a poker face.
"I'm good." Metro did not waste any time, flipping over his cards the moment he received it. He had already connected his mind's desire to the dealer's brain, so that it would be reflected in the dealer's vision.
This was how the Abyssal Eye worked. It had one function at the basic form, which was to amplify the desires in others, but when Metro upgraded it, he was able to use his own desires to create illusions for others to see by connecting the Abyssal Eye to their soul, which appeared as a white light with carnal energy tainting its brightness.
The dealer nearly bit his tongue out of shock at Metro's card. It was only the first dealing of cards, and there was already a blackjack! Their casino promised to double the amount of the bet whenever someone scored a blackjack. However, the dealer did not think much of this, considering that it was just beginner's luck in his mind.
"All in again." Metro smiled. Another blackjack soon popped up, quadrupling Metro's original bet. "Sorry, sir, but I have to check if you are cheating." The dealer checked all the cards on the table, but there were no marks or anything on them. The cards themselves came from the casino, so they couldn't be tampered with.
Metro's body had already been searched outside, so there was nothing that was incriminating him. Meanwhile, the casino only had cameras installed in the corridors and entrance. There was no way to expose Metro easily.
With a smug smile on his face, Metro continued gambling, from 800 became 1600, 1600 to 3200, 3200 to 6400.
The numbers skyrocketed to an extreme, and gamblers were already surrounding Metro, egging him on. Metro was constantly drawing carnal energy around, fooling everyone around him.
It was only when Metro reached a million dollars that the lift suddenly descended, all the way until the ground floor. When the lift's door opened, a woman dressed in black walked out of the lift.
Her eyes were stern but slightly softened when she saw Metro. Striding up to Metro, the gamblers moved out of her way, charmed by the beauty of the cohesiveness of her outfit and figure.
"You. Me. Now." Grabbing Metro's hand, her petite hand contained an incredible strength, so Metro followed her voluntarily in order to not get dragged across the floor. They returned back to the lift, and the last anyone saw of the mysterious, incredible gambler was inside that lift, with that otherworldly beauty.