Chapter 176 - Remember, You Owe Me One Hundred Billion!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Worried, Miranda grabbed Clarence’s arm. “Clarence, don’t bet on it.

“We’ll just pay them the one billion dollars. You have no chance of winning against Astral in stone gambling.”

Clarence smiled as he looked at Miranda. “Are you worried about me?

“What about the one billion dollars?”

His heart melted. This woman was still worried about him; she was not completely indifferent to him.

Miranda laughed wryly. “Isn’t Dragon Soar Heights’ Villa One worth a billion dollars? We’ll just sell it.

“It never belonged to the Murphy family anyway, so we might as well sell it now.”

When Peony heard that her daughter was going to sell Dragon Soar Heights Villa One, she immediately objected. She repeatedly declared, “No. No way!

“We own Dragon Soar Heights’ Villa One. Why should we sell it?

“I’ve already gotten used to living there. I don’t want to go back to the Murphy family’s old villa.”

It was easy to go from a frugal lifestyle to a life of luxury but difficult to go the other way around.

Having enjoyed the luxury of Dragon Soar Heights Villa One, Peony had long fallen in love with it.

With Villa One, she could play poker with her friends on weekends and admire the beach and the sunset from the rooftop.

It was also wonderful to have a maid bring her a cup of coffee.

Compared to Dragon Soar Heights’ Villa One, the Murphy Family’s original villa was like a slum.

Peony would rather be killed than sell off Villa One.

Miranda felt helpless. “Mom, how are we going to survive this crisis if we don’t sell Villa One?”

Peony narrowed her eyes as she looked at Clarence. There was a smile on her face, and she looked as if she had confidence in him. “We’ll let Clarence bet on stones, of course. Clarence’s so good at it that he’ll be fine.”

Miranda looked at her mother in horror. “Mom, Clarence will be left with nothing if he loses.”

Peony patted her chest as she promised, “I’ll let Clarence come back to the Murphy family as a son-in-law, even if he loses everything.

“We can take care of him anyway!

“We’re not selling Villa One, no matter what.”

Belle nodded. “Don’t worry, Miranda. Clarence will be fine.”

Melody smiled obsequiously. “Miranda, we have to believe in Clarence. Let’s not sell Villa One.”

Neither of them wanted to move out of the comfort of Villa One either.

Over the past couple of weeks, many of their friends had been envious of them owning Villa One. They were dying of envy.

Would people not make fun of them if they moved out?

They did not want to sell Villa One, no matter what.

Miranda finally saw her family’s true colors. “Don’t… Don’t you care about Clarence?

“If he loses, he loses everything. He’ll be finished, yet all you’re thinking about is Villa One?

“What’s more important, a person’s future or their villa?”

It was as if they were strangers.

She had always thought things in line with the Murphy family’s perspective, siding with her mother, Belle, and Melody. She had never understood Clarence’s point of view.

Now that she was divorced from Clarence, Miranda was able to put herself in Clarence’s shoes and realize how way out of line her family was.

Peony did not seem to care. “Doesn’t Clarence like you?

“Is he not willing to take such little risk?

“I don’t care about Villa One. I just want to test Clarence.

“If Clarence wins, I promise I’ll let Clarence start over with you.”

Miranda was about to go crazy with anger.

However, Clarence shook his head in indifference. He had been long aware of Peony and her daughters’ true colors.

He was used to it.

His eyes turned to look at Astral. “How are we going to bet?”

Astral’s eyes narrowed, the chill in them intensifying instantly. “Boy, we’re playing wheel war today!”

“Wheel war?” Clarence looked puzzled. He knew nothing about stone gambling.

Armstrong’s face grew even paler when he heard the phrase ‘wheel war’. “Wheel war’s one of the cruelest stone gambling methods. It’s an extreme test of one’s ability.

“The so-called wheel war is where both sides take turns cutting stones!

“Whichever of the two players cut stone first, the other player will have to wait until the first player can’t cut out any jade. After that, they can start cutting.

“If they can’t cut out any jade, the first player will resume cutting. It’s just like snooker—the other player will continue to play if you don’t score.”

“It will last until they’ve finished cutting the raw jade stones of the value they’ve bet on. The winner will be the one who has cut out the jade with the highest value.”

For example, Clarence would start cutting his stone. He managed to cut out a jade from the first stone, so he can move on to the second. Then, if he can cut out another jade from the second stone, he can move on to the third. Astral will only be able to wait for him to finish.

If Clarence failed to cut a jade from the fourth stone, it would be Astral’s turn to cut his stone.

Likewise, Astral would begin to cut stones until he missed out on getting a jade.

Then, it would be Clarence’s turn.

Once both parties finished cutting stones equivalent to the amount that they had bet beforehand, they would have to calculate the value of the jade they had found.

The player with the highest value would win.

It was a very tough game.

Not many people in the world of stone gambling dared to play it!

Astral had pulled out such a cruel trick as soon as he arrived. He had never intended to give Clarence a fair fight.

He sneered. “You know a lot.”

He looked at Clarence. “We’ll cut raw stones worth one billion dollars! Will you take on the challenge?”

With Astral’s skill, he could definitely cut out something worth at least one billion dollars after finishing with all one billion dollars worth of raw stones.

If what Clarence cut out was worth less than one billion dollars, he would lose.

According to the compensation rules that Mr. Cooke had set, the loser had to pay the winner ten times the value of the jade the winner had cut out.

Clarence would have to pay Mr. Cooke at least ten billion dollars, or perhaps more than ten billion!

He would go bankrupt!

They had been setting Clarence up since the beginning.

It was a hell of a move. They were trying to drive Clarence into his grave.

Mr. Cooke looked at Clarence with amusement. “Boy, pay me one billion dollars and f*ck off if you don’t dare.”

“Why wouldn’t I dare?” Clarence was confident.

“Haha, idiot.” Mr. Cooke looked pleased that his provocation had worked.

Miranda tried to stop Clarence, but Peony grabbed her.

“Okay, who’s going to start?” Astral’s face darkened slightly.

Clarence shrugged nonchalantly. “Why don’t you go first?”

Astral looked at Clarence as if he was not afraid of him. “Then I shall go ahead.

“This one. Cut it open!”

Astral raised his hand and pointed at a raw jade stone worth ten million dollars.

First Pavilion’s old stonecutter stepped forward and cut the raw jade stone open.

“I spot something green. It’s ice jade and worth at least fifty million dollars.” The old stonecutter told everyone his evaluation.

Everyone cried out in surprise.

He had gotten fifty million for only ten million. He had made a lot of profit.

The Murphy family’s eyes twitched. ‘This is amazing. The first jade is already worth fifty million dollars?’

‘That’s a fivefold increase.’

‘Can Clarence beat him?’

Mr. Cooke sat nearby, watching leisurely as a young woman behind him peeled grapes for him.

Astral did not stop. He pointed to another piece of raw jade stone. “This one. Cut it open!”

First Pavilion’s stonecutter went forth and cut the stone.

There was something green inside. It was waxy jade, worth thirty million dollars.

“This one. Cut it open!”

“Bergamot jade, worth forty million dollars!”

“This one. Cut it open!”

“Glassy jade, worth eight million dollars.”

“Cut…”

“Hibiscus jade, worth twenty-five million.”

“Cut…”

It was as if he was blessed. Astral cut open a dozen raw stones in a row, not even one of them not containing jade.

The Murphy family’s faces grew grimmer. The jade Astral had cut out was already worth more than five hundred million.

Not to mention, it had all been cut out in a row.

Mr. Cooke looked smug. “Clarence, why don’t you just give up?”

Clarence smiled calmly. “Why would I lose?”

“Haha. You can keep on being stubborn. I hope you can still smile when you’re kneeling at my feet later.” Mr. Cooke grinned coldly.

“This one. Cut it open!”

Astral pointed to another raw stone.

After First Pavilion’s stonecutter cut it open, it was seen to be empty. There was no jade inside.

“What a pity. Astral made a mistake.”

“What’s so strange about that? He cut out a dozen jade in one go. Would anyone else be able to do that?”

The spectators around them discussed among themselves.

Astral stepped aside and looked coldly at Clarence. “It’s your turn.”

Clarence slowly got up, walked into the stone garden, and randomly pointed at a gambling stone worth five hundred thousand dollars. “Cut this open.”

First Pavilion’s stonecutter cut open the gambling stone. There was jade in it. It was worth two million dollars.

Mr. Cooke laughed contemptuously. “It’s only two million dollars, boy.

“How many pieces would you have to cut out to match even one of Master Astral’s?”

Astral curled his lip. “That little guy’s pretty lucky.

“You’ll only cut three more pieces at most before it’s my turn again.”

“Really?”

Clarence smiled and shook his head. He pointed at another raw stone. “Cut.”

The raw stone was cut open. Gold silk jade. It was worth five million dollars.

“Cut!”

Oily green jade. It was worth seven million dollars.

“Cut!”

Clarence was choosing raw stones worth three hundred thousand to five hundred thousand dollars.

The jade inside was worth ten to twenty times the price of the raw stones.

The raw stones Astral had cut open were worth ten million to twenty million, and while the value of its contents was high, it was actually only double the initial cost at most.

Everyone was stunned. A strange idea entered their minds. “Is he trying to win by leveraging numbers?”

“Is the boy out of his mind?”

“Although it’s a smart move, he can’t always cut out a jade, can he?”

“He’s going to lose if he misses one, since then it’s Master Astral’s turn to cut stones again.”

The customers of First Pavilion shook their heads.

However, Clarence was still cutting stones open.

Ten pieces.

Twenty pieces.

Thirty pieces.

Fifty pieces.

Fifty pieces of raw stones had been cut open, and there had been jade in every single one of them.

“How is this possible?” Astral’s expression changed, and he could no longer sit still.

Clarence was still confident as he went on with ease. “Cut.

“Cut…

“Keep on cutting!”

The number of stones Clarence had cut open had skyrocketed to over a hundred pieces now.

He had not misstepped with a single piece. All raw jade stones he had chosen had been priced at less than five hundred thousand dollars.

Each piece had jades worth millions of dollars.

He had cut out glass jade, water jade, ice jade, waxy jade, hibiscus jade, and bean jade.

Mr. Cooke’s smile froze.

Carrie, the owner of First Pavilion, stood stiffly in place.

Peony and the others’ eyes were almost popping out of their sockets.

Miranda felt like she was watching Clarence transform into a different man.

The Reed siblings held their breath.

Astral was dazzled.

Clarence was the only one in First Pavilion’s stone garden who could actually move.

“Cut!

“Cut open!

“This one.”

There was dead silence in the stone garden.

Only Clarence’s voice and the sound of the outer layers of stones being cut remained.

For four hours, Clarence did not make a single mistake.

Clarence cut more than five hundred pieces of raw stones in one go. Each raw stone had been priced at around hundreds of thousands of dollars, but the jades he had cut out were worth millions, which was more than a tenfold increase.

When the last raw stone was cut open, Clarence’s one billion dollar wager was completed.

The people of First Pavilion could not help but gasp after everything was calculated. “The total value of these jades is 10.5 billion dollars.

Clarence nodded slightly and looked at Mr. Cooke. “10.5 billion dollars. Let me calculate that for you.”

“Now, according to the rules, you now owe me one hundred billion dollars!”

“What?”

Mr. Cooke’s teacup clanged to the ground..