Chapter 2366 — Taking the Offensive

Dealers in green uniforms wandered to and fro across the casino floor—what a lively scene it was!

The scale of the place surprised Wei Zhao somewhat. He had visited quite a few casinos in the course of his past missions, but this one was by no means small! It could not compare to casino cities like Macau or Las Vegas, yet among underground casinos it ranked among the very best.

"Distinguished guests, please exchange your chips over here." The man in the black suit gestured invitingly, indicating that Wei Zhao and the others could trade for chips at the counter.

"All right," Wei Zhao said with a nod. "Thank you."

"Enjoy yourselves, and may you leave with your pockets full." The man in the black suit smiled faintly, then went off to attend to his own affairs. Of course, that line about leaving with full pockets was mere courtesy; very few people actually won money in a casino—almost none at all.

"Don't exchange too much. Just a bit of fun is enough," Wei Zhao instructed Shen Yushu.

"Oh—then let's make it a hundred thousand," Shen Yushu said after a moment's thought.

Wei Zhao nodded. A hundred thousand was no small sum, but to Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu it was truly nothing; the pocket money Gu Pengzhan gave the two of them each month came to more than that.

Shen Yushu went to the counter and exchanged for chips, returning with an armful of thousand-denomination chips, rather excited. "Yaoyao, Brother Jianpai, what do you want to play?"

"I'm not playing." Wei Zhao knew that nine out of ten gambles were swindles, and he had not the slightest interest in gambling.

"You play. I'll just watch—I don't know how," said Gu Mengyao, who had never come into contact with any of this. She had come here out of pure curiosity and for no other reason.

"Fine." Shen Yushu did not stand on ceremony. She looked around at the entertainment facilities in the ground-floor hall and said, "Let's go play the slots—those are simple and fun!"

The full name of the slot machine was the coin-operated slot machine. It was a gambling device commonly seen in casinos; there were even entertainment venues devoted entirely to slot machines. They were extremely widespread—you could say almost every casino had such machines.

The rules were simple too: you dropped coins—chips—into the machine, and different symbols would appear at random. If, when the reels stopped, matching symbols or a specific combination lined up, you won according to the payout odds.

These machines were also called "fruit machines" or "777s." Because the play was simple, they were deeply favored by gamblers. Shen Yushu was not much good at any of the other gambling machines, so naturally this was the first one she fixed upon.

"Then let's go take a look." Wei Zhao and Gu Mengyao followed Shen Yushu to an area where an entire wall was covered in slot machines. Though there were plenty of visitors here and the place was buzzing, there were so many machines that vacancies still remained. Shen Yushu picked one at random and began to operate it.

This sort of thing was quick to pick up—even a novice could play. Shen Yushu fiddled with it for a while, and after losing a few thousand in chips she had learned how to operate it. Of course, you could also ask a dealer for novice assistance, but Shen Yushu preferred to figure things out herself.

Gu Mengyao was merely watching for the novelty of it, while Wei Zhao, having nothing to do, looked idly about at the casino's facilities. He had to admit the scale here was impressive—not at all like those crude, cut-rate underground casinos. From the number of security guards, the standard of the waiters' service, and the professionalism of the dealers, it was clear that the staff here had definitely been trained in legitimate casinos!

Whoever could open a casino like this must be no ordinary person; most likely some underworld boss of Donghai City. But Wei Zhao had no intention of kicking over the tables and making trouble. Gambling was a matter of one willing to stake and one willing to take; so long as no one cheated and no one was coerced, Wei Zhao did not care to play Spider-Man.

Shen Yushu played for a while, winning some and losing some. But at this point, Shen Yushu's clever mind and her knack as a "discoverer of Shu" came to the fore, and she began to study the patterns of the slot machines. In truth, any computer-controlled gambling machine would always follow certain patterns—only, an ordinary person could never discover them... Zhao Guangyin walked into this dilapidated old residential district and could not help but frown. Were it not for his father's wishes, he would never in his life have come to a place like this. Yet all he felt was disgust, not a shred of guilt. Chen Xi and her mother were as good as strangers to him; whether they lived or died was no concern of his whatsoever!

The hidden Zhao family was an extremely patriarchal clan, and this was precisely why Zhao Qibing, an illegitimate son, could rise to prominence while Chen Xi could only sink to become a cauldron vessel used as a gift.

"Knock, knock, knock..." Zhao Guangyin rapped on the somewhat battered security door. The decaying smell in the stairwell filled his heart with even greater disgust. What a godforsaken place!

"Who is it?" Mother Chen asked, rather puzzled. Today was Sunday; Chen Xi had gone with Grandpa Zhu to scavenge for scraps and pick through trash, and at this hour no one should be coming to call.

"It's me..." Zhao Guangyin did not know how to describe his own identity. He could only force down his inner disgust and, putting on a helpless look, gave a bitter smile. "Xiao Xi's father..."

"What..." Mother Chen's expression froze. The hand about to open the door stopped at once. Slightly dazed, she lowered her head with trembling care and peered through the peephole, and through it she saw a face that made her heart ache, that she had worried over, and that yet carried with it a touch of resentment...

It really was him! Mother Chen did not even know his name, nor who he was. She knew only that he had raped her, then casually tossed her a few thousand yuan to send her on her way, and afterward she had never seen this man again!

So Mother Chen would never in her wildest dreams have imagined that this man would appear before her once more. Was it fortune or misfortune? Mother Chen was kind-hearted, but upon seeing this man again, appearing out of nowhere at her doorstep, her excitement gave way to nothing but vigilance!

How had he found this place? And after all these years, for what reason had he come? The key question was: how did he know Xiao Xi's name? After all, when she had given birth to Xiao Xi, this man had known nothing about it!

"What... what do you want? I don't know you..." Mother Chen said instinctively.

"Open the door. I've come to talk about Xiao Xi," Zhao Guangyin said to himself: You cheap woman, still putting on airs? Don't know me? If not for the family's grand plan, do you think I'd be willing to come looking for you?

"Xiao Xi... what's happened to her?" Mother Chen was startled. Hearing that it concerned Chen Xi, she could not be bothered to doubt Zhao Guangyin's purpose any longer. With a clang, she pulled the iron door open! RQ