Cousin, Want to Work on Infrastructure?

Neon lights can never penetrate the dark alleys of the backstreets.

The Gambit caught up with Sing Sing pulled out a cigarette.

A flash of purplish-red light from his fingertips ignited the cigarette with a "hiss".

He didn't rush to speak.

Leaning against the wall, he squinted and scrutinized Sing Sing for a full ten seconds.

White suit.

Suitcase.

Pig Butchering Knife.

And what the manager was muttering about "Spatial Teleportation" earlier.

"Mon ami," the Gambit exhaled a smoke ring, pulled three playing cards from his inner pocket, and twirled them between his fingers in a dazzling display of skill.

"Want to play a little game?"

Guess the heart, and you can take the money in the box with you.

He tilted his head, his smile languid.

"If you can't guess... tell me, how the hell did you do that just now?"

Sing Sing's eyes lit up. "Play cards? Great! I especially love playing cards too!"

"I played cards with a guy named Pi'er Kasong before, do you know him? I heard he's the 'God of Gamblers' in France."

The Gambit was overjoyed.

Throughout his many years in the gambling world, no one has ever dared to utter the words "God of Gamblers" in front of Remy LeBron.

He was about to use a classic line to regain his composure—

"How about we play Dou Dizhu?"

"... What?"

"Dou Dizhu! A national treasure of China!"

Sing Sing Chow counted on his fingers. "Four wild cards, three of a kind with two extra, and a royal flush doubles the winnings. Do you know how? If not, I'll teach you, I guarantee you'll learn it."

"I'm not discussing this with you..."

"We're one short for the three of us, can you call someone else? How about that group leader from before? Oh, he got knocked out. Never mind then."

Sing Sing shook his head, answering his own question with deep regret.

"One bet to decide the winner, and the stakes... let's do it in a more refined way. The loser introduces the other side to three high-quality Mutants, how about that?"

The Gambit' forehead twitched.

He threw away the cigarette butt and stubbed it out with the tip of his shoe.

"I wasn't discussing playing cards with you!"

Before he could regain the initiative, Sing Sing moved closer to him.

His expression was incredibly sincere, and his eyes were full of enthusiasm.

"We don't have to play cards. Cousin, I see you can precisely control the explosion's radius, directionally release kinetic energy, and even delay the detonation time..."

"How do you know it can be delayed? I haven't even..."

"When you were blasting the coffee table, you were two seconds slow in posing for yourself. I've been watching people use firecrackers to blow up fishponds at the market since I was three. I can tell that much from the trick!"

The Gambit was momentarily speechless. He was about to retort when Sing Sing cut him off again.

Sing Sing pulled out a small notebook. "Does not rely on gunpowder or detonators, is green and environmentally friendly, and has high blasting precision."

"Our country desperately needs this kind of talent! You're worth thirty imported rock drills plus two blasting engineers, cousin!"

"Come back to China with me? I'm a specially appointed expert in infrastructure blasting, with Five Insurances and One Housing Fund, weekends off, and free meals and accommodation! You might even get a safety production award at the end of the year!"

Hey, I'm here!

The Gambit looked at him with the same expression he'd given a patient who'd escaped from a mental hospital.

"I'm a thief." Gambit twirled his long stick in his hand. "My abilities are only used for self-defense and making money."

"Making money? You call this making money?"

Sing Sing's tone conveyed a sense of heartache, like an older generation seeing their juniors take the wrong path.

"I won a ton of chips, but before I even left the casino, security surrounded me! I won three times, and they called in thugs to chop me up!"

"At best, you could call it 'losing all your assets after dealing with criminal gangs,' you didn't even have a chance to break even!"

You do the math!

He counted on his fingers. "The casino takes a 5% cut, the tips are 15%, and the chance of being robbed is 30%—your actual return is negative! You might as well go work on a construction site! At least you won't get beaten up!"

The Gambit was speechless for three seconds.

He was seriously considering whether to knock the chatterbox unconscious with a metal rod and then carry him to a roadside trash can and throw him away.

"Da da!"

Footsteps echoed from both ends of the alley.

A dozen or so gangsters wielding machetes filed in, completely blocking the alley.

The leader was clearly Mutants at a glance.

He is over two meters tall, and bone spurs have protruded from his shoulders, spine, and elbows.

She wasn't wearing a shirt; there was no way she could put it on.

He was dragging along a familiar face covered in blood; it was the same person who had previously surrounded Gambit and Sing Sing.

This guy tossed the half-dead team leader into a corner like he was throwing away trash. "On my turf, dereliction of duty and stealing are both capital offenses."

He reached across his left arm with his right hand and pulled out a Bone Spear.

"Click!"

The Bone Spear grazed the team leader's ear and pierced through the brick wall.

"Kid, I'm in a good mood today. Hand over your winnings, kneel down and kowtow three times, and I might consider letting you leave alive."

The metal rod extended in his hand, Gambit pulled out a few playing cards and held them between his fingertips.

"My friend," he said to Sing Sing in a low voice.

"This guy's nickname is Boneforge. He can generate bone weapons from his body, has bone armor all over his body for defense, and the most infuriating thing is—he can absorb kinetic energy."

The Gambit spoke incredibly fast, "My explosions are basically useless against him. The harder you explode, the more he absorbs. So I suggest you quickly take out that blade that can cut through iron like mud."

Sing Sing didn't bring a knife.

He was also writing in his notebook.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute, it'll be ready soon."

"Boneforge. Abilities: bone hyperplasia, Kinetic Energy Absorption." The pen nib scratched on the paper.

Potential applications: live reinforcement of tunnel supports, stress testing of seismic structures...

"What the hell are you writing?!"

"Write work notes."

Sing Sing closed the notebook.

"Talent assessments must be conducted while the initial enthusiasm is high; otherwise, they become inaccurate."

The Gambit takes a deep breath.

He retracted his long staff and flung out dozens of playing cards filled with purplish-red energy with his hands, like butterflies flitting among flowers.

"Thump thump!!"

The series of explosions shattered into a mass in front of the Boneforge body.

Bricks and stones flew everywhere, and smoke and dust filled the air.

Boneforge strode out of the firelight, laughing wildly.

Upon closer inspection, his body was covered in a layer of impenetrable bone armor.

Is that all you've got?

Boneforge grinned maliciously and waved his hand. "Kill them!"

Gang thugs swarmed in.

The Gambit wielded his long staff in a flurry of motion, unleashing bursts of energy.

He was extremely agile, but there were too many of them, and among these thugs were even a few Mutants.

They were forced to retreat step by step.

On the other side...

"Ouch! Don't hit my face! Don't hit my face!"

Sing Sing, clutching the box, swayed from side to side like a drunken penguin.

A cleaver came down, and he happened to be bending over.

As the iron rod swept across, he was tripped up and the rod struck another thug directly in the face.

Five seconds later.

"Pat-pat, pat, pat..."

The belts of seven or eight burly men snapped in unison, and they all stumbled and fell over, pulling up their pants.

Upon seeing this scene Gambit of Cards nearly dropped his stick.

What the hell is this? Cutting a belt?

Who cuts their belt while fighting?!

Boneforge glanced expressionlessly at the pile of his men on the ground, who were struggling to get up, and then at Sing Sing, who was clutching his briefcase and looking completely innocent.

With his legs bent, his half-ton body crashed down like a cannonball.

"Get out of the way, you idiot!" Gambit roared.