Another Encounter with Lorina at the Casino, 320,000 Star Coins

A little after ten in the morning, at the Linjiang Licensed Entertainment District.

Wearing a long black hooded raincoat and a mask, Gu An walked into the Lanting Clubhouse.

His outfit was somewhat strange today.

But an upscale clubhouse like this had no shortage of guests who valued their privacy.

After verifying his identity, the staff simply issued him an anonymous token.

Gu An exchanged 5,000 Star Coins for chips and quickly found a table for betting on big or small.

The dealer shook the dice cup and set it down on the table. The betting countdown lit up.

Gu An did not rush to place a bet.

He waited until the final few moments before betting closed, then focused his gaze on the dice cup.

The next instant, a scene from the future flashed before his eyes.

The dice cup was lifted, revealing three dice lying still beneath it.

Fifteen points, big.

By the time his vision returned to normal, the betting period still had not ended.

Gu An placed his chips on big.

The result held no surprises.

"Fifteen points, big."

The dealer pushed his winnings over. He took the chips, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.

It worked.

For the other gamblers, whether the result was big or small remained unknown until the cup was lifted.

But he could see the result a few moments in advance.

Even if it was only an infinitesimal bit of feedback from the Shi Chen Great Dao, using it to deal with a game like this was practically bullying.

Gu An tried a few more times.

Whenever the scene of the future was clear, he placed a bet.

If it was blurry, he simply skipped that round.

Once he had accumulated enough chips, he moved to a table with a higher betting limit.

Some people noticed his winning streak and gave him a few extra looks, but nothing out of the ordinary happened as a result.

The Lanting Clubhouse handled far more than this every day. A win or loss of a few hundred thousand Star Coins was nothing unusual here.

Gu An himself, however, gradually felt a stabbing pain between his brows as he used his foresight time and again.

He did not push himself any further.

This was enough.

He had already done the math before coming. Three hundred and twenty thousand Star Coins was enough to buy four portions of ordinary Creation Origin, with nearly 50,000 Star Coins left over.

There was no need to make himself ill just to earn a little more.

So, when the final round ended, Gu An headed straight for the cashier's window.

[Star Coins settled this time.]

The staff checked his chips and identity token according to procedure. Once everything was confirmed, they transferred the money into his account.

The whole process was uneventful.

Gu An was quite satisfied as he looked at the deposit notification.

Only yesterday, he had been worrying about a loan of 68,000 Star Coins. Today, he had saved enough to buy four portions of Creation Origin.

This time, he finally would not need to borrow money from Senior Shen Tang.

He put away his terminal, pulled down his hood, and prepared to leave.

But as he passed through a corridor by the VIP area, a group of people approaching from the other direction made him instinctively slow down.

Among them was a girl with waist-length silver hair, dressed in a dark black dress. Her delicate face had a cool, aloof beauty. It was Lorina.

Beside her was a beautiful, distinguished-looking woman whose features bore a considerable resemblance to hers.

Gu An had not expected to run into a classmate in a place like this. In particular, the two of them had only made a bet yesterday, and he did not want Lorina to recognize him now.

Fortunately, his hood and mask covered him well.

He stepped aside to let them pass, acting as though nothing were amiss.

At the same time, a middle-aged manager in a suit and polished shoes hurried over and gave the beautiful woman a slight bow.

"President Luo, the data you requested has been delivered to your office."

"Mm, leave it there. Have Manager Chen preside over this afternoon's meeting for now. I'm going out with Lina for a while."

As the woman spoke, she turned to her daughter, her voice softening.

"Weren't you still short a few Moonlight Crystals? The batch of materials I asked someone to order has arrived. We'll go take a look in a little while."

Lorina nodded gently and continued forward with her mother.

Gu An felt a stir in his heart as he listened.

President Luo?

He had looked up information on the Lanting Clubhouse before coming and knew it belonged to the Luo family's considerable business holdings in Linjiang. He had not expected Lorina's mother to be the clubhouse's owner.

No wonder the Silvermoon Elf World of this silver-haired campus beauty had been able to maintain such an abundant supply of resources.

Of course, Lorina had certainly relied on more than those resources to take first place in the grade's simulated world creation.

As Gu An was thinking, Lorina suddenly looked back.

The outline of that retreating figure... For some reason, it inexplicably reminded her of the guy who had solemnly demanded in the Creation Hall yesterday that she call him Daddy if she lost.

How could that be?

The absurd thought had barely appeared before Lorina snuffed it out without hesitation.

Gu An had still been taking out a loan to buy Creation Origin yesterday. How could he possibly have come to the Lanting Clubhouse today?

"Lina, what's wrong?" the woman asked, noticing where she was looking.

"Nothing."

Lorina looked away and thought no more of it.

After leaving the Lanting Clubhouse, Gu An found a quiet spot and called Shen Tang.

"Senior, is ordinary Creation Origin still in stock? I'd like to buy four more portions."

On the other end of the call, Shen Tang was organizing customer data. When she heard that, her hands immediately stopped.

"Junior Gu An? You've already used up the portion of Creation Origin you bought yesterday?"

When he confirmed it, she could not help being a little surprised.

Yesterday, Gu An had still been worrying about the price of 68,000 Star Coins and had only completed the transaction after applying for an outstanding student loan. Yet today, he wanted to buy four portions at once.

Shen Tang had done plenty of business in world-creation resources, so four portions of ordinary Creation Origin was naturally not a large order.

But for Gu An, the change was a little too fast.

"Junior, isn't your cultivation speed a little frightening?"

The woman smiled as she pulled up the inventory and added a reminder. "Let me say this first: you still haven't paid back yesterday's loan. If you're planning to borrow more, you'd better think carefully about the pressure of paying it back."

"I don't need a loan," Gu An said with a smile. "Four portions of Creation Origin, 272,000 Star Coins in total. I'll pay in full."

"In full?"

Shen Tang glanced again at the name on the screen.

"Junior, weren't you just crying poverty to me yesterday? It's only been a day. How has the whole style changed?"

"I got lucky and made a little money."

"Then it seems your luck really was good."

Shen Tang did not press him about where the money had come from and soon sent over the transaction order. "All four portions of ordinary Creation Origin are in stock. They'll be delivered as soon as you confirm."

"But I have to remind you, Junior: when cultivating a world, you can't just keep pouring resources into it. You still need to look at how it's actually evolving."

"I know," Gu An said. "Don't worry, Senior."

"Four units, payment in full. Accept it, Junior~"

Shen Tang soon sent the transaction confirmation.

Gu An completed the payment, and four portions of pure Creation Origin came through the innate connection authenticated by the trading platform. For the time being, they remained in his sea of consciousness, waiting for him to put them into the world himself.

[Ordinary Creation Origin ×4, delivery complete.]

Seeing the resources arrive, Gu An felt a surge of anticipation.

Four portions of Creation Origin.

Last time, a single portion had allowed Yang Mei to cross the gestation threshold and sparked a conflict between the daos of time and space.

Even the sleeping Pangu had revealed a trace of Opening-Heaven Axe Intent.

Now that he had obtained four portions at once, he naturally wanted to know what Mythic Chaos would evolve into next.

But he was still outside, so Gu An did not rush to put them in.

He checked the time and turned toward a nearby store.

He still had not bought the peach candy he had promised Gu Xi.

Thinking of the little girl who had clung to his arm and acted spoiled that morning, Gu An could not help smiling a little more.