The Greasy Gambit

As the world-famous Gambling City, Las Vegas never lacked tourists from all over the world, no matter the time.

These tourists might not have come dreaming of getting rich overnight.

However, they would not mind playing a few hands in the casinos to see whether they could become one of the lucky winners who left with full pockets.

Although he had only put on sunglasses and a baseball cap without concealing his flowing, silky silver hair, Richard discovered that, just as he had expected, the pedestrians around him merely glanced at his silver hair before looking away.

Even the few pedestrians who kept studying him seemed to regard him as an eccentric, chuunibyou teenager.

Seeing that the pedestrians had reacted roughly as he expected, Richard began wandering around Las Vegas like any other tourist.

As a globally renowned tourist city, Las Vegas also had a branch of the Department of Mutant Affairs.

However, unlike the branches in other cities, the Mutant Agents at the Las Vegas branch had an additional responsibility.

Preventing mutants from using their superpowers to cheat in casinos.

Strictly speaking, this was not a regular duty of the Department of Mutant Affairs.

But in Las Vegas, the Mutant Agents did not mind taking on this job.

The reason was simple: these casinos paid far too well.

The Department of Mutant Affairs paid much more than ordinary police departments, but the annual salary was only around two to three hundred thousand US Dollars.

Although that was undeniably a high income in the United States, it was not particularly high for Mutant Agents.

After all, their work involved considerable danger to their lives.

If they were merely arresting ordinary Unregistered Mutants, it would not be too bad.

But the problem was that not every Unregistered Mutant was easy to deal with.

There might not be many Top-tier Mutants with strength like Magneto's or Richard's, but there was no shortage of Beta-level Unregistered Mutants.

And most Mutant Agents were only Beta-level themselves.

This meant that in one-on-one situations without additional support, Mutant Agents did not hold much of an advantage in individual combat power.

After wandering through the city for over half an hour, Richard arrived at a fairly famous casino.

Although he was currently an S-Class Fugitive wanted by the Department of Mutant Affairs, he encountered no obstruction and entered the casino as easily as any ordinary tourist.

After exchanging several thousand US Dollars for chips, he wandered around the casino with them.

Then, he sat down at a Texas Hold'em table.

Compared with blackjack and roulette, Texas Hold'em was relatively niche.

Before crossing over, Richard had played small Texas Hold'em games online and knew how the game worked.

After sitting down, he began his first real-life game of Texas Hold'em.

Since he had not come to make money, he did not use Telepathy or X-ray Vision. Instead, he simply enjoyed competing against the other gamblers in "poker skills."

Calling it poker skill was really just a contest of calculation and psychological warfare.

Calculating who held the advantage between himself and his opponents, using different betting strategies, expressions, and gestures to mislead them, observing their microexpressions, and so on.

Although he had not used Telepathy or X-ray Vision to cheat, perhaps because he was lucky, or perhaps because he was relaxed enough—

Richard, who was playing live Texas Hold'em for the first time, actually won far more than he lost. Before long, the several thousand US Dollars' worth of chips before him had turned into several tens of thousands.

As his chips increased, his betting strategy gradually shifted from conservative to aggressive.

Normally, once his betting became aggressive, he should have quickly gotten a taste of crushing defeat.

Many gambling addicts lost their heads at this stage and ended up losing everything.

Perhaps Richard truly was favored by the goddess of luck today. Even with his aggressive betting strategy, he still did not lose.

Not only that, the pile of chips in front of him grew higher and higher.

Could I really be a Texas Hold'em genius?

Watching his chips rise from a few thousand US Dollars to nearly one hundred thousand, this thought involuntarily crossed Richard's mind.

Perhaps having witnessed his superb "poker skills," quite a few gamblers chose to avoid confronting him and headed to other tables to look for weaker opponents.

"This seat looks pretty good. It should bring me some good luck!"

A middle-aged man's voice, full of magnetic charm, rang out.

Following the voice, Richard saw a man who looked like a carefree playboy, radiating an uninhibited air from head to toe. He wore a black cowboy hat and held a metal cane in his hand.

Although it was their first meeting, Richard recognized him immediately.

Gambit!

Remy LeBeau!

If this had been the X-Men Film Universe, Gambit, Remy LeBeau, should have been an old man in his sixties or seventies by now.

But this was not the X-Men Film Universe, so he was much younger, appearing to be only in his early forties.

Richard gave Remy LeBeau a brief look before withdrawing his gaze.

Although he had not expected to encounter him here, he did not mind playing a few hands of Texas Hold'em with him.

At the same time, he recalled Remy LeBeau's abilities.

Infusing objects with potential and kinetic energy, Mental Isolation, illusion abilities, precognition, and physical enhancement.

According to mutant classification standards, Gambit was a textbook Alpha-level Mutant: he had no mutation traits, his superpowers had no side effects, and he excelled at combat.

Although he was an Alpha-level Mutant with five superpowers, Gambit's normal strength was not particularly impressive.

Especially in the X-Men Film Universe.

But in the comics, he was much stronger.

In the comics, once all his potential was unleashed and his superpowers functioned normally, Gambit could transform from flesh and blood into an energy being composed entirely of pure energy: New Sun.

After becoming New Sun, he could control every individual that stored potential energy.

Not only that, he could control targets with telekinesis alone without touching them, making them either come to a complete stop or remain in perpetual motion.

Furthermore, in his New Sun form, he could compress time and space, allowing himself to travel freely through different times and dimensions.

His New Sun form was already extremely powerful, but that was not even his limit.

Besides the New Sun form, his comic counterpart also possessed the form of Death.

In his Death form, his ability to infuse and control potential and kinetic energy evolved into the powerful ability to alter the properties of matter.

For example, turning air into poisonous gas.

Anyone touched by him in his Death form would have their consciousness invaded by Death and become a puppet completely obedient to him.

If he completely devoured someone with his own energy, he could even seal them inside a playing card.

In the comics, Gambit would be a very troublesome enemy.

But in this universe, Richard was not particularly worried that Gambit could cause him much trouble.

More than that, if Gambit provoked him, Richard would not mind making Gambit's superpowers his own.

After sitting down, Gambit flashed a smile that could make women swoon but seemed somewhat greasy to men, and casually began sizing Richard up.

The instant Gambit looked at him, Richard knew that he deeply disliked Gambit's greasy smile and gaze.

Just as he was about to speak, new mission information suddenly appeared before his eyes.

Mission: One-Winged Angel (II)

Task content: Rescue the "Scarlet Witch," Wanda, and "Quicksilver," Pietro, who are being held captive by the Hellfire Club

Task reward: Shadow Flare

Task deadline: 1 week