Several seasoned-looking guests sat around the table, cigars between their fingers and piles of ivory-colored chips in front of them.
After taking a seat, Ling Chu pulled out some blue chips and asked the dealer, "How do I exchange chips? What are the basic rules? What are the payout odds?"
The guests at the table glanced at her, their eyes growing more dismissive.
Anyone who asked that was clearly a beginner, here to lose her money.
The dealer was a blonde woman with a cool expression. "Just give me your chips. The basic rule is to get a higher total than the dealer without going over 21. An ace counts as 1 or 11. J, Q, and K count as 10. A regular win pays 1 to 1, and blackjack—an ace plus a 10-value card—pays 1.5 times your bet. If you split or double down, a win still pays 1 to 1."
Ling Chu handed ten chips to the dealer. She exchanged the blue chips for white ones and pushed them into the betting circle.
To ensure fair play, once blue chips were brought to the table, they were exchanged for white ones.
The dealer dealt the cards. Her face-up card was an [A]. Ling Chu received an [8] face up and a [9] face down, for a total of 17.
It was an awkward total. Hitting was risky, since she could easily bust, but standing might mean losing to the dealer's higher total.
"Hit," Ling Chu said calmly.
The dealer flicked a finger, sending a card sliding in front of her—it was the [4], the card with the lowest chance of appearing!
21! Perfect!
The dealer turned over her hole card. It was a [9], giving her a total of 20. She lost by a narrow margin.
In the second round, Ling Chu got two [8]s. That wasn't a very good hand either.
"Split." She made her decision and separated the chips into two piles.
The dealer dealt a card to each of her [8]s. The first was a [Q], giving her 18. The second was another [Q]! Another 18!
The dealer's face-up card was a [6], and her hole card was a [10], for a total of 16.
The rules required the dealer to hit again.
The dealer turned over her next card: a bright, unmistakable [7]. She busted.
In the third round, Ling Chu's face-up card was a [10] and her hole card was a [7], for a total of 17—another borderline hand. The dealer's face-up card was an [8]. If her next card was worth less than 9, Ling Chu would win. According to probability, standing was the best choice.
As Ling Chu hesitated over whether to stand, she heard Hemlock's voice beside her again.
"Hit. His hole card is a 10."
Ling Chu's eyelid twitched as she realized Hemlock had possessed her blindfold again. How could he see the dealer's hole card? Had he possessed an object on the dealer during that brief moment earlier?
Ling Chu's luck could only affect herself. For instance, when she had a high total, she was less likely to bust, and when she had a low one, she was more likely to draw a high card. But she couldn't affect anyone else's luck. If she stood and the dealer happened to draw a higher total, her luck couldn't help her.
Now she had Double Luck, as well as Hemlock as a remote cheat code.
It would be a disgrace if Ling Chu didn't win.
"Hit. Double down."
Ling Chu spoke softly.
Just as everyone expected her to play it safe and stand, she pushed forward the chips for a double down.
A faint gasp went around the table. Doubling down on a total of 17 was practically suicide!
The dealer expressionlessly dealt a card. It was the smallest card possible: a [4]!
Ling Chu's 17 instantly transformed into an unbeatable 21!
The pressure shifted to the dealer. She turned over her hole card—it was a [10], bringing her total to 18. Normally, that would have been just enough to beat Ling Chu's 17.
But against the [4] she had miraculously drawn, that 18 was powerless.
The dealer paid Ling Chu double her bet. The crisp clatter of the chips sounded especially loud at the silent table.
The dealer, sitting across from her with a cigar between his lips, wiped the sweat from his temple and muttered, "That's just unnatural."
He looked at Ling Chu with scrutiny and confusion.
She wasn't relying on skill. Her play looked like that of someone who had just started playing, yet every seemingly risky decision brought her the one card that could create a miracle.
She had even doubled down at a time when she shouldn't have, and still managed to draw exactly the right low card.
That girl was unbelievably lucky.
"Again."
The dealer reluctantly pushed another pile of chips into the pot.
At first, the gamblers nearby paid little attention, assuming Ling Chu was just enjoying a beginner's streak of luck. But as the chips beside her grew higher, more and more people gathered to watch.
The dealer's composed expression gradually vanished. After losing a crucial hand, he tapped the table lightly with his fingers and studied Ling Chu's seemingly calm face, as if looking for any sign of cheating. In the end, he found nothing.
Perhaps he was overthinking it. Anyone who dared cheat at the Golden Finger Casino met a terrible end.
He leaned back slightly, and played more cautiously from then on.
The dealer remained professional, but the pace of dealing seemed to slow by the tiniest bit. She glanced at Ling Chu several times, and every time she dealt her a card, her movements were so precise they seemed measured with a ruler.
Before long, a crowd had gathered around the table.
"Look at that girl! She's on fire!"
"Has she won five hands in a row? How can she be that lucky?"
"Is she cheating? Why isn't the dealer doing anything?"
"Doesn't look like it... Look, she barely says a word. She just checks her cards, hits, and collects her chips."
Ling Chu ignored the chatter. She had one clear goal: to win the chips from all the "fat sheep" at the table.
When the dealer finally stood up to leave, his face pale with anger after losing all his chips, a brief silence fell over the table.
Ling Chu knew when to quit.
She counted her winnings. She had started with more than fifty blue chips and won nearly two hundred white ones.
Exchanged for Sea Shells, the chips were worth over twenty thousand.
Sure enough, gambling was the only shortcut to getting rich!
She ignored the curious, envious, and even somewhat hostile looks around her, and gathered up her chips. An observant attendant immediately came over, organized them, and placed them in a heavy tray.
When a guest had enough chips, a dedicated attendant would help carry the tray.
Ling Chu moved on to Baccarat and Three Card Poker. She wanted to exchange all her remaining blue chips.
After that, wherever she sat, it took less than five minutes for gamblers to crowd around her in layers. The towering stacks of chips and her decisive, brisk playing style stood in stark contrast to her young, girlish face.
Word spread among the guests that a Goddess of Luck had arrived aboard the ship, wreaking havoc in the casinos on the first and second floors.
Her high-profile behavior soon caught the attention of a certain important figure aboard the ship.
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