"I clearly dealt you two black spade nines..."

The dealer girl's gaze suddenly sharpened, focusing on Xu Xiaoyou's hand. She looked down at the table and saw that the nail clipper, which had been beside her earlier, was now in the girl's hand. The latter was looking at the structure of the nail clipper with great interest.

The dealer girl suddenly realized something and frantically threw herself onto the table, rummaging through the cards in a panic, her eyes constantly searching for something in the pile.

"Gone..."

"Gone..."

A few casino security guards came forward and pressed her against the table, the girl's voice growing sharper as she struggled violently, her eyes bloodshot, staring intently at Xu Xiaoyou.

"How did you take them away? How did you take them away!" 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"Take away? I don't understand what you are talking about."

"It's just that your bosses had bad luck and both busted, is that surprising to you?"

"She's cheating; she must have two black spade nines on her!"

The girl was on the verge of collapse. She couldn't figure out when Xu Xiaoyou had managed to pull the two black spade nines from the deck.

Being a dealer, she needed to practice all kinds of 'skills' to help the casino make money. Once caught cheating or losing her usefulness, her only fate would be destruction.

Her nail clipper was actually not a problem.

She was able to deal specified cards to the Fox Woman and the Catfish because she used the clipper to carve a 'v' groove on her fingertips. When shuffling, if she reached a specific card, she only needed to press lightly with the groove to leave a small mark. She could then shuffle again to locate these marked cards and deal them in the desired order.

By controlling the depth of the marks, she could distinguish between the first round cards and those to be dealt next.

She had made marks on four hearts six and two black spade nines before the first round began.

During the second shuffle, she was sure only six cards were marked, so why, when trying to deal the two deeper marked black spade nines, did they become a black spade king and a club king?

Wait a minute...

Black spade king and club king?

Those were the cards she dealt to Angelina and Xu Xiaoyou in the first round!

The opponents had seen through her tricks early on and had pre-marked those two cards with identical signs.

What she couldn't figure out was where those two black spade nines went.

If the two black spade nines weren't removed, there were supposed to be a total of eight marked cards in the deck. Why were there only six?

The opponent never reached toward the table or came near her, so how could they silently remove two black spade nines...

Lost in thought, Xu Xiaoyou opened her hands, allowing security to search her, and although reluctantly, Angelina cooperated with the search as well.

No black spade nines were found on them.

The dealer girl stared blankly at this scene.

Until she was taken away, she couldn't figure out the question.

Where on earth had those two black spade nines gone?

"Tsk, what a useless thing."

The Fox Woman reluctantly pushed all her chips to Xu Xiaoyou and left.

For the casual player, a bust meant early exit; the dealer wouldn't need to continue, and would win this round directly.

That's why Xu Xiaoyou said there was no need to look at her cards.

As long as the Fox Woman and the Catfish busted before her, there was no need to worry whether the dealer would mess with her cards.

Seeing her walk away, the Catfish quickly got up, hurriedly fawning and cooing compliments.

Xu Xiaoyou watched them leave, toying with a gold chip between her fingers.

In just a few simple games, her assets had risen from an initial 10,000￥ to 500,000￥.

Those two black spade nines certainly weren't on her.

Nor were they on Anya.

They weren't in the casino at all.

They 'vanished into thin air'.

To be precise, in the process of the girl shuffling, they were burnt to ashes by Angelina's Ash Burning Domain.

Angelina's 'Ash Burning' domain, once activated, doesn't just apply ash burning to all objects within its range; it can precisely target any small object, even if the target is as small as two black spade nines mixed within the cards.

With the tacit understanding between Xu Xiaoyou and Angelina, no communication was needed; a simple glance would let each know the other's intent.

Angelina came over: "Half a million, enough, shall we find them first?"

Xu Xiaoyou: "This is just the beginning. I aim for ten times that."

After witnessing the Fox and Catfish's lesson, gamblers now knew Xu Xiaoyou was not ordinary. They avoided her like the plague; wherever Xu Xiaoyou went, crowds dispersed.

She searched around but couldn't find anyone willing to play a round with her.

Xu Xiaoyou wasn't in a hurry, choosing a conspicuous table and sitting down, gently tapping her chip on the table, waiting with closed eyes.

Before long, a smiling figure approached her.

It was a Dogman, dressed in a black and white manager's suit, rubbing his hands together with a grin.

"Esteemed guest, our manager would like to play a few rounds with you. Would you oblige?"

"Of course." Xu Xiaoyou smiled and nodded.

With her answer, the Dogman manager breathed a sigh of relief and stepped aside. A girl with exquisite makeup in a violet goose down gown emerged.

Her eye corners sparkled with glitter, the tight corset highlighting her elegant waistline, and lace frills at her neck and cuffs secured with several buttons.

"Tao Lin."

Upon arrival, the girl introduced herself in a cold tone.

Xu Xiaoyou looked at the familiar face of the girl.

Those in the know understood she was competing with Assassin's Creed, while those who didn't know might think she was against Queen's Armament.

The previous Chen Chou was Chen San's alternate counterpart, and the Tao Lin before her was Tao Shier. Both were officers of the Dawn Society.

Oasis wouldn't arrange these plots out of thin air; every NPC was constructed from people with similar memories and experiences in the players' minds. She must have met the two under similar circumstances.

Yet recalling her encounters with them, there seemed to be no similar scenes.

Her first meeting with Chen San was during the Star of Art mission pursuing the Puppet Master Yorick, in an underground conference room.

As for Chen San, he was worlds apart from the image of the thug Chen Chou.

Tao Lin and Tao Shier's temperament wasn't far off, but their first meeting had been at the Tree of Eternal Life club, where the other had disguised as a member and extended an invitation.

Tao Lin sat in front of her, along with the casino's deputy manager, a man named Ox.

Xu Xiaoyou looked at Angelina.

The latter twitched her lips, sighed lightly, and took a seat in the vacant spot.

"What are we playing?" Xu Xiaoyou asked.

"Texas Hold'em."