't press him and asked instead."Well... this can be told to you. Mainly as a warning, avoid that place in the future! That place is too dangerous; our mission location was where that car accident happ...Chapter 419: The Curse of the Bet (Part 2)

Suddenly, his phone rang. Xiao Yu took out the phone and saw that it was Erzhu's number; he hesitated for a moment before answering.

Soon after hanging up the call, Xiao Yu said something to his mother and sister inside the house and then left home.

After leaving home, Xiao Yu returned to the alley again. In the dark corner of the alley, there was a flickering light. Although Xiao Yu couldn't see as clearly at night as during the day, with his yin-yang eyes' black-and-white vision, he could still clearly see Erzhu in the darkness.

Erzhu, who was crouching in the shadow, saw Xiao Yu approaching and tears instantly flowed down his face. With a pleading look, he said to Xiao Yu: "Xiao Yu, Xiao Yu, help me one more time, please! Can you lend me some money for the last time"

As he looked at Erzhu, Xiao Yu's voice was calm and asked: "Tell me what happened."

Hearing Xiao Yu's words, Erzhu sat down on the ground and started to cry while telling him everything.

It turned out that last night when he went to the casino with money to pay off his interest, the loan shark said to him: "Don't be in a hurry. Why don’t you play another round"

Even though their words were tempting, Erzhu didn’t give in. Initially, he had to repay two thousand yuan in interest; however, since he paid on time, they gave him a 10% discount and left him with an extra two thousand yuan.

"Brother, you still have two thousand left. It’s not much use anyway, why don’t you play one more round Maybe your luck will turn around and you can win big! Then not only can you pay off the interest but maybe even the principal!"

The loan shark handed Erzhu the remaining two thousand yuan.

Erzhu thought about it and realized that these two thousand yuan were essentially free money. If he won, great; if he lost, at least he had already paid off the interest without any discount!

To his surprise, his luck was quite good. He won on the first try, turning his initial stake of two thousand into four thousand. Seeing that two thousand had turned into four thousand, he completely forgot about only playing one round and thought to himself: "If I lose these two thousand yuan, I will stop; if not, I will continue!"

After an hour of gambling, his money grew from the initial stake to twenty thousand. By three hours later, it had turned into forty thousand. Seeing how good his luck was, he felt that betting small amounts won slowly and started placing heavier bets.

But when he placed heavy bets, his good fortune seemed to have left him; all the money he had won over those hard-earned three hours was lost within an hour.

At this moment, the person took out another stack of money and placed it in front of him. If anyone was paying attention to Erzhu, they would see that his eyes had a tinge of red light. Without any hesitation, he wrote an IOU.

By now, Erzhu had lost all reason and recklessly continued gambling. Regardless of what he bet on, he kept losing until the money was gone again before regaining his senses.

After waking up, Erzhu deeply regretted it but everything was too late. Afraid to return home in the morning, he found a bridge hole and hid there for an entire day. He only returned at night to find Xiao Yu.

Xiao Yu looked at Erzhu who now appeared very haggard with deep-set eyes, and his aura of malevolence was even more intense than when they met the previous day.

Seeing this, Xiao Yu felt puzzled. When he treated Erzhu's son, there had only been a hint of malice in him; now after several days it had intensified instead of dissipating.

Although it didn't cause any harm to him at the moment, if it became too concentrated, people would lose their reason.

"Wait, losing one's mind" Suddenly, Xiao Yu thought of a possibility. His expression changed momentarily but quickly recovered.

"Erzhu, where is that casino" asked Xiao Yu as he looked at Erzhu sitting on the ground.

Hearing Xiao Yu’s words, Erzhu sitting on the ground suddenly stood up; his face showed a trace of anxiety: "Xiao Yu, you mustn't go gambling! This thing truly harms people! Look at my current state which is neither human nor ghost. You should know that gambling isn’t something good!"

Xiao Yu looked at Erzhu’s expression and was slightly surprised to find that he still had not completely lost his conscience.

"Don't worry, I won't participate in it; I just want to understand it," said Xiao Yu with a hint of smile after hearing what Erzhu said.

Erzhu let out a long sigh of relief and sat down again after hearing Xiao Yu’s words.

"Erzhu, this way! You go back first and talk to your family properly. When you come with the interest payment next time, I'll think of a way to help you get some money."

Xiao Yu thought for a moment before saying this to Erzhu.

After hearing Xiao Yu’s words, Erzhu secretly felt relieved. Although he knew it was not a long-term solution, he had to figure out how to explain to his family first. He could borrow no money now and had to let his parents think of ways to help him.

After Erzhu left, Xiao Yu returned home and took out 50,000 yuan from his bag. He then informed his mother and sister before heading to the street corner where he hailed a cab and arrived at the casino that Erzhu had mentioned.

The casino was located in the basement of a three-story shop building. As Xiao Yu descended through the stairs, when he reached the end, a large iron door appeared ahead of him.

Xiao Yu knocked on this iron door several times. Soon after, a small window opened up and someone asked, "Who are you looking for"

"Haha, I'm here to play! Erzhu introduced me here!" Xiao Yu replied with an honest and harmless smile.

Surprisingly, Xiao Yu had a natural talent for acting. Although he had practiced this smile for over two months, even people like Grandpa Li who had lived past a hundred years were deceived by it, showcasing the power of his performance.

After speaking, Xiao Yu took out 50,000 yuan from his pocket and waved it in front of the person at the door.

The person saw that Xiao Yu had brought money and noticed how honest he looked. He concluded that Xiao Yu was not there to crack down on gambling operations, so he relaxed and opened the door for him.

"Sorry brother, we have to be careful with such a business," the man said after letting Xiao Yu in.

"I understand, I do!" Xiao Yu nodded repeatedly in agreement.

"By the way, why isn't Erzhu here" The person asked casually as he led Xiao Yu inside.

"Oh, he's short on money and is trying to gather some. If not for borrowing from me, I wouldn’t know this place existed! Frankly speaking, playing small stakes at home with them doesn't interest me," replied Xiao Yu.

Although the man asked casually, Xiao Yu could see in his eyes that he didn't believe him. So, Xiao Yu flashed another harmless smile and said:

"Oh, right! He's been unlucky recently but who knows He might turn things around soon!" The man felt relieved upon hearing this and added a quick explanation to ease any worries about Erzhu’s losses.

“I get it. That guy is just timid, always losing more than he wins. How could I be compared to him when I'm guaranteed to win whenever I bet”

Xiao Yu said nonchalantly.

"Yes, yes, gambling relies on luck. Without it, everything is in vain! It's right ahead. Bro, if you want to play anything, go ahead!"

The person complimented Xiao Yu after hearing his words and pointed forward at Xiao Yu.

Xiao Yu walked in the direction the man pointed out while the latter maintained a smile on his face. After Xiao Yu turned the corner, he muttered under his breath, "Fool! If luck were useful, wouldn’t we starve to death" He then sneered and glanced at where Xiao Yu had disappeared before turning around and walking back to sit by the door.

Once Xiao Yu entered the corner, the smile on his face gradually faded away as he resumed a calm expression.

Xiao Yu looked around but frowned slightly when he didn’t feel any煞氣 (malevolent energy). He felt somewhat disappointed and thought to himself that maybe he was mistaken. It shouldn't be like this!

A hint of confusion flashed across Xiao Yu's face as he continued down the corridor, making several turns before arriving at a large hall filled with bright lights, loud noises, and various odors such as smoke and sweat. The people there seemed oblivious to their surroundings, shouting and laughing when they won or shaking their heads in disappointment when they lost, revealing all sorts of human desires.

The moment Xiao Yu stepped into the room, a faint煞氣 (malevolent energy) greeted him. After sensing this malevolent energy, he paused for a second before stepping back out to the door. Indeed, despite being just one door away, there was no trace of煞氣 outside while inside, it lingered faintly.

Feeling this malevolent energy caused Xiao Yu’s brows to furrow as he thought that although this place had some malevolent energy, it wasn’t enough to influence anyone's mind.

The confusion on his face vanished instantly, and his expression returned to calmness as he looked around again.

There were three types of gambling here: Pai Gow (Nine Cards), Poker, and Roulette. Although this place was called a casino, it was more like a small betting den, and the people who came here weren't wealthy individuals but ordinary folks.

Xiao Yu approached the Pai Gow table where seven or eight people were gathered around, shouting excitedly whenever cards were dealt out as if their shouts could change the outcome of each hand.

After observing for a while without finding any obvious source of煞氣 (malevolent energy), Xiao Yu frowned slightly.

"Brother, what do you want to play" When Xiao Yu was seen walking around inside, one person came out from the corner and asked him.

“Hmm, I’ll just take a look for now!” After circling the room once, Xiao Yu saw he didn’t know how to play anything but Pai Gow because of some old men playing it in his neighborhood when he was young.

Xiao Yu couldn't find any source of煞氣 (malevolent energy) and decided to wait a bit longer. He recalled Er Zhu’s detail about him becoming irrational every late night, lacking all sense.mediated with the victim's family and settled the matter privately with a large sum of money.Although the police had filed a case, due to the intervention of the government and the fact that the victi...