Becoming the Richest Man Alive

Harold looked unwell when he lost the game. Now, he had to give sixty million all by himself.
He tremblingly took six pieces of chips out of his stack as if it was not the chips but his heart.
At that moment, it was not a gambling technique showdown, but a competition to see who had a stronger heart. Casper worriedly
looked at Harold’s ashen face as if the latter would faint in the next second.
When it came to the last two rounds, it was all silence. Eugene stopped smoking and stared at the cards on the table like a
scanning machine.
Harold glanced at Michael, signaling the latter to give him a cover so he could start cheating.
It would be dangerous and risky to cheat in front of Eugene. However, he reckoned that even King of Cheats was just a human,
and a human could naturally be distracted. Once Eugene lost his focus, Harold would risk it all in desperation.
Yet, Michael’s facial expression revealed his reluctance. How can I distract Eugene when he has his full attention on the table?
Michael trembled uncontrollably as Harold stared at him threateningly.
Casper was aware of their eye contact, but he did not speak out. If he could notice these little tricks of them, Eugene must be
alert as well. Noticing that the latter wasn’t making any moves, Casper remained silent.
As long as they keep their little tricks off the cards, everything will be fine. If they have special abilities that allow them to share
their cards with each other using their brainwaves, I will have no choice but to admit defeat.
But the truth was, the cheaters had their own signals to report their cards using their facial expressions. Though it was very
complicated, it could be as precise as the Morse code. Casper was new to this, so it was obvious that he would not know about
that.
“Ouch!” Michael screamed suddenly and slumped to the ground holding his belly. Casper gave him a quick sidelong glance, but
Eugene never flinched a bit with his eyes fixed at the table.
He is such a tough nut to crack. Harold panicked. But to play along with Michael’s act, he quickly stood up and asked, “What’s
the matter, Michael? Is it your usual stomachache?”
Casper frowned slightly. Stomachache at this moment? They are up to something!

“Stop acting. Sit back and continue playing seriously!” Casper raged at Michael. Feeling helpless, Harold helped Michael to get
up and return to their seats. Harold could not find any chance to cheat as Eugene had never shifted his gaze away from the
table, even for a second.
However, Eugene got his chance instead.
He stared at his cards. He had one tile that was useless as it couldn’t be connected into any combinations. However, at the turn
of events, that single tile had become his trump card to winning after he switched it for a different one in secret. He could win at
any time now.
As of now, the game payout was calculated according to the player’s points. The minimum bet was ten million, and players were
betting hundreds of millions now. So, a winning of a million wasn’t considered a big win.
Harold had no idea that his little scheme had backfired. Eugene asserted a lot of pressure on him, and he couldn’t stop wiping
his sweat. Harold was so stressed that his judgment was no longer sharp. He lost his focus on the game.
Initially, Casper was thinking of lending Eugene a hand in winning the game. However, after taking a glance at Eugene’s next
move, it was apparent that he was one step from winning the game.
“I don’t need you to light my cigarette for me. Do you understand me?” Eugene looked at Terrence and spoke suddenly. He then
swept a meaningful glance toward Casper.
This is such an obvious signal. Doesn’t need help to light up the cigarette? He’s trying to say he can win the game by himself,
right? Casper mused.
At the thought of that, Casper almost smacked himself in the head. What was I even thinking? Help Eugene? That’ll be doing
something that’s not necessary. The object of the game is to get the most points. The object of each hand is to get rid of all the
cards in hand. If I help him win this game by keeping the most cards in my hands, I will have the biggest face values, which will
cause me to lose points. Now, it seemed obvious that there were only two teams gambling on the table, which were team Harold
and team Eugene. It didn’t matter if Eugene or Casper won the game, as they could win all of the chips. However, if Casper held
the most cards, he could lose the game and pay out all his chips to the others. So, he should try to lay off most of his cards and
remain the smallest values in hand.
After finally coming back to his senses, he started thinking about how to reduce his cards. Eugene would win the game anyhow.
So he would just let Harold be the one with the most cards in hand.

On the other hand, Harold gave up the hope of winning the game but tried hard to reduce his cards as well.
Luckily, all of the Joker cards were on the table, so Eugene would not win easily by using the wild cards to represent any card in
a meld.
The game continued until the players almost ran out of cards. The crowd was nervous when Eugene picked up his last tile.
However, the man was smiling.
“Harold, Lady Luck’s on my side,” Eugene teased. Just like that, he had won big.
Harold and his men had no idea Eugene had cheated by swapping his useless tile when he and Michael put on their little show
earlier.
“Two hundred and ten million...” Harold mumbled in shock. Then, he quietly gave out his chips worth seventy million.
“It’s the last round. Anyone wants to say anything?” Eugene lay back against his chair and lighted up his cigarette. He then
asked, “By the way, Harold, how many assets do you have here?”
Harold gave him a cold glare. “It’s none of your business. I don’t need you to worry about that. I can still afford it. Come on, win
or lose, let’s finish the last round.”
Eugene nodded and said to Casper, “Did you hear that? Prepare your multi-hundred million assets. Harold is going to play
seriously right now.”
Casper wondered what multi-hundred million assets he had. But he could not say that, so he replied, “Just a few hundred
million? It’s nothing to me.”
Eugene then said to Michael, “I almost finished my packet of Hemsworth. Why don’t you buy me Liesfield back then?”
Michael glared at Eugene. “You said you wanted a good one. Isn’t Hemsworth cigarettes better than Liesfield?”
“Well, I think I’ve changed my mind. I want Liesfield cigarettes right now. Do they sell them?”
Michael ignored Eugene, but the latter seemed to be unusually demanding. “Hey, are there any? If there are, I can get one when
I head out later.”
“Yes!” Michael huffily replied.

It’s the last round. Win or lose. Live or die. Instead, this wicked Eugene remains so calm and unruffled. Apparently, he wants to
infuriate Harold and Michael on purpose. It’s definitely clever to mess with someone’s heart and mind first.
Casper was proud that he learned something new from the gambling geezer. However, he did not know that the conversation
between Eugene and Michael was insinuating something else.