Chapter 272: Playing A Mind Game

Asmodeus intentionally added oil to the fire as he said, "But of course, I know you won't dare to challenge me. A runny kid like you doesn't have the courage and ability to fight me. Ha ha ha!"

"Who said I didn't dare to fight you?" Mikhail was provoked by his nemesis' insult this time.

"I'm just stating the fact, why are you even mad at me?" Asmodeus smiled. "Didn't I often beat you on many things? I'm just afraid that your guts are as small as an ant now."

He then continued, "Alright then, what if we don't gamble our money in this? Rather, let's put our business contract agreement or family land at stake. Isn't that more exciting?"

Mikhail hesitated again. But Asmodeus kept provoking him. "If you're afraid then that's fine, don't hesitate to admit it. Like a turtle, you'd better stick your head in your little hole,"

"Who said I was scared?" Mikhail was hooked again, this time Asmodeus immediately seized this opportunity. "In that case, good!"

"Let's select an empty table, shall we?" Asmodeus went ahead.

Then the two of them walked over to the empty table. Asmodeus said to Mikhail, "Let's just play the easy one, we took turns shuffling the cards and after that, each of us took 4 cards in turn. After getting the card, we can only exchange 1 card for a new card. After that, we add up the cards. Bigger card, big winner. Ace is 1 and King is 13,"

"Okay." 

Mikhail could no longer step back. Even though he had been to the casino before, he didn't really like gambling. He just liked watching people play for its thrilling sensation. However, in order to maintain his image and name, he had to accept Asmodeus' challenge.

Asmodeus smiled then shuffled the card before he gave it to Mikhail. After he finished shuffling the cards, he put in the middle of the table and they took them one by one in turn.

"So, what's going to be the prize?" Asmodeus said as he took the card casually. For the record, they might take cards at random so they don't have to take the top one.

Hearing this, cold sweat started to flood Mikhail's forehead. He didn't bet with his own money but his family's money.

"Before we open the cards, we should first decide what is at stake. Oh right, I'll also propose a best of 5 so whoever wins 3x, he is the winner. I will bet my family's land near the new city development district. How about you bet your land in the shopping district in the middle of the city?"

It sounded like a fair bet, but actually Asmodeus was playing a mind game on it. He knew where and what his aim was.

The city of Avalerion was already a mega city in Crimea. The development was very fast and soon it would match Batavia and Almeria. Could you imagine how expensive the land in the heart of the city was when that happened? What's more, the land that Mikhail put at stake was an exclusive block for gold and jewelry shops. Hundreds of million dollars worth of transactions took place in that place almost every day.

Initially, Mikhail's family built their strength from the shopping district. Asmodeus realized this and tried to seize their power.

Mikhail bit his tongue. Of course he knew he was putting a crucial asset at stake today, but he couldn't back down.

"DEAL!"

"Okay, open your card," Asmodeus snorted coldly as he opened his card. After discarding a card, the four cards showed 10 diamonds, a jack of spades, 6 hearts and a queen of hearts totaling 39 points. Meanwhile, Mikhail's card had less than 25 points.

"Then I'll take the win in our first round," Asmodeus smiled, it looked like he would throw a big party with his family tonight.

Cold sweat started to flood Mikhail's back, then they returned to shuffling the cards and took 4 cards at random.

Then, having reopened their cards, Mikhail lost again.

The score now was 2 for Asmodeus and 0 for Mikhail.

At this time, Ryan was walking around and suddenly saw Mikhail. He then decided to walk over to him. To his surprise, he realized that Mikhail seemed to be playing against some people.

"Why? Are you afraid to lose?" Asmodeus was laughing out loud. "If you are afraid then just go back to your father's arms and don't come here again!"

"Who said he's scared?"

Suddenly, someone came over to their table and stood beside Mikhail. 

"Who are you? Don't interfere with my business, go away!" Asmodeus didn't like to be bothered in the midst of his win.

The pale-faced Mikhail was happy when he saw Ryan, as if he was seeing his savior. 

Ryan ignored Asmodeus and asked Mikhail what really happened. Before Mikhail answered, he stood up and told Ryan to sit in his place.

Seeing Mikhail stand up and gave up his chair, Asmodeus was a little surprised. Then he glared at Mikhail. "Are you sure you want this person to replace you? Let me remind you that the score remains the same,"

"Sure thing."

Seeing Ryan's face that looked stupid and calm, Asmodeus then explained his game again.

"Then King is the highest?" Ryan asked.

"Correct."

Ryan nodded and started to shuffle the cards. Asmodeus then said in a sarcastic tone, "I'll give you the opportunity to choose 4 cards first."

Ryan did not hesitate, he quickly took 4 cards from the pile. And without waiting for Asmodeus to pick up his card, he had already opened all four cards.

"Four Kings?" Asmodeus' friends couldn't believe what they saw.

Asmodeus himself was surprised when he saw the card that Ryan had, his face became gloomy. It looked like his opponent was not just a random person this time.

"Once again," Asmodeus tried to calm himself down, this time he gave a long shuffle. To be honest, he won against Mikhail using tricks like Second Deal, which was deceiving his opponent by making himself look as if he was picking a random card but actually the cards below it, and peeking at the cards when people around him didn't pay attention.

After the cards had been shuffled properly, they took turns taking them.

But Asmodeus was wrong when he underestimated his opponent this time. The person in front of him was Nergal the God of War, so this card game was as easy as annihilating 100 people.

When Asmodeus tried to take a card, Ryan's hand moved quickly and took one card. Asmodeus was surprised then turned to him, but Ryan used this moment to take the remaining 3 cards.

Very fast!

When he tried to get his first card, Ryan had already opened the card and everyone was shocked again.

"Impossible, four more kings?!!"

Everyone was shocked and Mikhail was already smiling broadly from Ryan's side.

Seeing the four kings, everyone watching this match was completely shocked.

"Impossible, that guy took 4 kings so easily!"

"Cheating, he must be cheating!"

"Could he be the card mechanic that people are talking about?"

"Stupid! That's not possible, Asmodeus also shuffled the cards right?"

Their minds were still filled with question marks. It wouldn't be exaggerating to say Asmodeus had already lost before he even took all four cards. Everyone was wondering what kind of trick that Ryan might have used against him.

Asmodeus's face was grim to the extreme!

His opponent this time really was an expert!

Standing behind Ryan, Mikhail was very happy in his heart. Now he really believed in the man in front of him. At first, he came here with Ryan to make better friends, but now he turned out to be his savior.

If Asmodeus won this match, his family would sue the result to weaken his family. And of course, his father would not comply and war between the two families would break out.

"Do you still want to continue?" Ryan said casually.

"You must be cheating! We better report this person for daring to cheat!" One of Asmodeus's friends said.

Asmodeus' face had gone completely cold, he then said to his bodyguard, "Call Darby for me." 

His bodyguard who was standing beside him nodded and immediately left, while Asmodeus still glared at Ryan. Everyone was already holding their breath, the atmosphere around this table was completely tense and heavy.

However at this moment, a quite embarrassing voice could be heard.

Tutttttt.

A long, loud voice, in this quiet atmosphere, could be heard clearly.

In an instant, Ryan's calm face turned to show disgust. "I don't mind if you glare at me like that, but you don't need to fart like that right?"

Ah?

Asmodeus did not answer, while the people around him had stepped back from him. These people couldn't stop thinking about Asmodeus, why was he trying to kill them?

"That was not me!" Asmodeus' face was red and angry. Mikhail already laughed with satisfaction in his heart as he saw this. For the first time, he could see his nemesis so desperate.