Chapter 2368 — Troublemaking

But none of that mattered anymore, because no matter what, Wei Zhao was going to rescue Chen Xi. He knew full well this was a trap set by Leader Zhu, yet he had no choice but to walk into it—he could not simply stand by and watch her die.

If anything happened to Chen Xi, he would have a hard time answering to Ying Ziyu, let alone to Feng Xiaoxiao! After all, this was the girl Xiaoxiao had decided to help back then. Xiaoxiao was gone now, and if Wei Zhao failed to take good care of her, Xiaoxiao would surely be unhappy when she returned.

There was no help for it—Wei Zhao would have to go and meet this Pu Huotai.

"Xiaoshu, Yaoyao, you two play here for now. I have a bit of business to take care of—I need to go down to the second basement level," Wei Zhao said to Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu.

"Okay, Arrowhead Bro, go do your thing!" Shen Yushu was thoroughly enjoying herself. She had more or less figured out the pattern of the slot machines; now she could win at least two or three times out of ten, though she had already managed to break even without losing money.

Wei Zhao nodded. The casino's security force was quite formidable—so long as Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu did not stir up trouble, there generally would not be any problems. After all, the people who came here to play were all wealthy; if the place were unsafe, who would come back to gamble next time?

"Yaoyao, keep an eye on Xiaoshu. Don't let her go looking for trouble and provoke others—just play your own games," Wei Zhao instructed Gu Mengyao.

"I know. Don't worry," said the young miss. She was a sensible girl and would certainly not indulge Xiaoshu in making trouble.

With that, Wei Zhao turned and headed for the casino's second basement level. The first floor was mostly ordinary public gambling games, nothing special, while the second floor was the VIP floor for high-stakes stud poker—the entry stake alone was in the millions.

That Mother Chen, prompted by Leader Zhu, actually knew Chen Xi was on the second basement level—and even knew the exact private room number. Clearly there was a great deal wrong here. Mother Chen had simply been too panicked to notice these details, but Wei Zhao was different: this whole affair was most likely engineered by Leader Zhu!

"Hello, sir. The floor above is the VIP area. You'll need to show a membership card or exchange a one-time chip purchase of one million yuan," two attendants said politely as Wei Zhao was about to go downstairs, blocking his way.

"I'm going up to see someone," Wei Zhao said, a thought stirring in his mind. He had originally planned to simply exchange chips and go up, but it suddenly occurred to him that if this business was Leader Zhu's doing, there was surely something wrong with it—and Leader Zhu would be only too eager for him to hurry over!

If Wei Zhao were held up over the matter of chips, that was probably not what Leader Zhu wanted to see. So Wei Zhao decided to test the waters.

"See someone?" The attendant was slightly taken aback, then asked, "Who are you looking for, sir?"

"VIP Room Number One of the Heaven Series—the gambling king Pu Huotai!" Wei Zhao said. "I'm looking for the person playing him heads-up."

"Oh?" The attendant who had spoken was slightly startled and was about to say something when the other attendant cut him off, directly gesturing for Wei Zhao to proceed. "Sir, please go downstairs!"

Wei Zhao sneered inwardly. Just as he thought—someone must have already tipped this attendant off. Otherwise, he could not possibly have violated the casino's rules, neither asking for a membership card nor making Wei Zhao buy chips, but simply letting him go downstairs!

True, inside a casino, VIP members could bring people to the second-floor gambling area, but that could only happen when the VIP member was present in person. A situation like Wei Zhao's would never be permitted under normal circumstances—yet this attendant had done exactly that.

"Heh..." Wei Zhao smiled faintly, rode the escalator down, and walked straight toward Heaven Room Number One.

The Southeast Asian gambling king naturally deserved the treatment of the Heaven Series' Number One Room. However, at the door of the room, Wei Zhao was stopped.

"Who are you? What's your business here?" A burly man in black coldly extended an arm, blocking Wei Zhao's path, and demanded.

This man was merely an ordinary bodyguard, not even a Yellow-rank expert—Wei Zhao naturally did not take him seriously. But before Wei Zhao could reply, another man in a white suit said to the man in black, "He must be a friend of Brother Du. Please, come in!"

Wei Zhao's eyes narrowed slightly. A peak late-stage Mystic-rank expert, and he was merely a door guard? And deliberately saying something about being "a friend of Brother Du" to muddy the waters—did he think Wei Zhao really did not understand what was going on here?

Moreover, his words made it clear that he had been waiting for Wei Zhao to arrive—not the coincidence Mother Chen had described, of Chen Xi being seized by an enemy.

Indeed, Wei Zhao had already reached the door, and Zhao Guangyin's people no longer needed to hide anything. In their eyes, since Wei Zhao had come here, he was a dead man walking. One man with a special ability plus a peak late-stage Earth-rank expert trained in both internal and external arts—that was a hundred percent guarantee they could keep Wei Zhao here!

This was also Zhao Guangyin's intent. Since Wei Zhao had come, there was no need to keep up appearances. His whole performance had been a trick to fool Mother Chen, and Zhao Guangyin knew it could not possibly fool Wei Zhao.

"Oh, thank you." Wei Zhao patted the shoulder of that peak late-stage Mystic-rank expert, appearing to thank him, but in truth directly unleashing the first stance of the Frenzied Flame Eight Trigrams Palm!

And so this woeful peak late-stage Mystic-rank expert, Zhao Qisan, died on the spot without even a chance to resist! For he could never have imagined that Wei Zhao would strike at him so silently, and that the very first blow would be a killing move. He died with his eyes wide open in resentment.

Seeing Wei Zhao strike and kill, the man in black was about to say something, but Wei Zhao seized him by the throat as well and easily choked the life out of him.

Since he had come looking for trouble, Wei Zhao did not bother to pretend anything. Mercy? There was no need for mercy at all. Wei Zhao had long found Leader Zhu an eyesore. If not for the uncertainty over just whose faction Leader Zhu belonged to—and the fact that Wei Zhao had not previously been his match—Wei Zhao would have dealt with him long ago!

Of course, another reason Wei Zhao had not moved against him was that Leader Zhu was at Chen Xi's side. He surely had some purpose, but at least he could protect Chen Xi—that was why Wei Zhao had left him alone for the time being. Only now, was it finally time to act?

Wei Zhao kicked open the door of the private room and strode in. The two groups of people inside were both startled—except that the two in one group showed a flicker of delight in their eyes, while of the two in the other group, one wore a calm expression, and the other, a young man seated at the gambling table, furrowed his brow: "Brother Du, what kind of security do you have in this casino of yours? How is it that any stray cat or dog can just walk in and kick up a fuss?"