Cheating

Meanwhile, a flicker of uncertainty crossed Nonō's slightly stiff face. After watching the young Konoha Ninja in her eyes squeeze back into the crowd, she quickly regained her composure and continued her surveillance as if nothing had happened.

No one noticed that Yakushi Nonō, whose face had regained its calm, naturally flicked her clenched fist within her sleeve. A tiny folded paper ball had appeared there.

Xing Ran was not someone who dawdled. Once an opportunity arose, he would not easily let it slip away. Using Chakra sensing combined with Super hearing to confirm the footsteps following him, he immediately planned his next move. He swiftly slipped through the door, then, the instant he vanished from the target's sight, quickly hid behind it. The moment the target appeared, he stepped forward and transferred the paper ball, then toured the entertainment venue like a genuine customer.

In this, Nonō's reaction, with whom he had no coordination whatsoever, was the difficult part of Xing Ran's series of actions. If Nonō had possessed stronger combat ability, then even with Xing Ran using the speed he had reached at the elite Chunin level through the combination of Super speed and Chakra, an error might have occurred due to Nonō's resistance.

Xing Ran had analyzed this issue beforehand. In the original plot, Kabuto, who was not even ten years old, had been able to kill Nonō with a single Chakra Scalpel while catching her off guard. From that, it could be inferred that Nonō truly was not suited for battle. The positions of orphanage director and intelligence spy suited her far better.

Another difficulty was Nonō's reaction. If she did not remain silent after receiving the paper ball, there was also the possibility of exposure.

However, this had already been tested on Kabuto. As spies, when faced with a Konoha Ninja secretly slipping a paper ball into their hands, they definitely would not shout and draw attention to themselves.

That was also why Xing Ran had carefully hidden behind the stone artwork before daring to act when contacting Kabuto, yet had dared to approach Nonō so boldly amid such a crowded and watchful environment.

"One-one-four, small!"

"Damn it, lost again. My luck's terrible today. I'm outta here."

"Yellow Teeth, keep playing! If you're out of money, borrow some from Brother Scarface. I haven't had enough fun yet, hahaha!"

"Dealer, start the next round already! My luck's hot today. I'm gonna win back everything I lost before."

"..."

Having completed his good deed without leaving his name behind, Xing Ran's attention was finally drawn to the noisy surroundings. The opportunity was rare, and to make his earlier actions appear more natural, Xing Ran casually found a gambling table with an empty seat and sat down.

Superman's neural reactions were extremely fast, and his ability to absorb new things was beyond ordinary people. Even a severely underdeveloped Superman like Xing Ran, due to the sun, possessed enviable calculating ability.

In the few breaths it took him to walk over and find a seat, Xing Ran had already figured out the rules and methods of this establishment.

Large casinos, because their scale and connections were already well-developed, generally would not personally join the games. Instead, they operated by taking a cut. In each round, the winner took all, with the losers bearing all the money. The casino took a percentage as an operating fee, making it a business that guaranteed profit without loss.

Small Gambling Halls, on the other hand, had all kinds of business models. Some sat as the house themselves, and this model allowed casinos to make money the fastest. Some only provided usury loans, leaving every round entirely to the customers. Others copied the large establishments and took a cut, but due to limitations of scale, this model generally produced the lowest profits.

Of course, most were extremely unscrupulous: they acted as the house, took a cut, and offered usury loans all at once. However, such gambling houses usually only stayed in business for a while before no one went there anymore.

The establishment Xing Ran was currently in was a gambling house that acted as its own house while also offering usury loans. The reason it still had decent business in broad daylight was that it did not take a cut, allowing winners to earn more money.

Xing Ran did not place a bet in the first round. He needed to observe how things worked here. This was a dice table where players bet on big or small, but because the house was the establishment itself, there were many ways to play. Similar to his previous life, there was also a way to bet on specific numbers for higher odds.

Under normal circumstances, the house's methods would not be very clean.

Sure enough, in this round, the dice beneath the cup were clearly four-four-five, big, in Xing Ran's eyes. But because many people at the table had bet on big, when the dealer lifted the cup, the result became four-four-four—a triple, house takes all.

The corner of Xing Ran's mouth twitched. He had been watching with X-ray vision the entire time. The gambling equipment was made of materials that blocked Chakra, and the dealer had cheated entirely through skilled sleight of hand. This was rather sophisticated and not a game suited to his abilities.

But being unsuitable did not mean he could not play, nor did it mean that such an incredible cheating method as his had no place to shine.

Xing Ran placed a bet in the second round. The dealer's cup-shaking was highly entertaining, and soon the numbers inside were settled. The dice showed one-two-four. Not only was it small, but after cheating through a concealed vibration technique, it was difficult to alter the result too drastically.

This time, Xing Ran bet two hundred ryo on small. It was not that he was avoiding risk; he simply did not have much spending money. Previously, he had only been taking D- and C-rank missions. How much could one mission pay? The reward also had to be split among the other three members of the team, while the Chunin leading the team as captain took a larger share. In order to meet the nutritional needs of his daily training, Xing Ran had never had much in savings. This was also why he still readily accepted missions after awakening his Superman abilities. Without money, where would he get the capital to shut himself away and train?

Scholarship requires poverty; martial arts require wealth. That held true in every world.

"No more bets! Opening! One-two-three, a straight, small." The dealer shouted in his distinctive voice, sounding just like a crosstalk performer from Xing Ran's previous life reciting a menu.

However, after seeing the result, the corner of Xing Ran's mouth twitched again. This place probably would not stay open much longer. The house's greed was rather ugly. (PS: A word of warning to everyone: nine out of ten gamblers lose. It is not a joke. The author advocates resisting pornography, gambling, and drugs.)

Xing Ran had won money, but not much of it. The house had taken the lion's share. Though a straight also counted as small, it was first and foremost a straight. Since no one had bet on it, the house took half the stakes, and only the remainder was distributed among the other players who had bet on small according to their wagers.

Looks like I can only sip the soup today.

As Xing Ran silently thought this, a large, powerful hand suddenly slapped his shoulder.

"Why have you run off to a place like this again, kid? If Mr. Ryuzan hadn't reminded us, we wouldn't have noticed. We looked away for a moment, and you were gone." Yamaki Atsushi appeared behind Xing Ran with a dark expression, speaking as he reached out to pull Xing Ran away.