Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Gao Peng didn’t want Zhou Tianmin and the others to know about this. It just wasn’t the sort of thing one would go around telling others.
If anyone knew what he was doing, they would probably suspect Gao Peng of abusing his position as referee to sway the matches in his favor.
Gao Peng hung up as soon as he told Goldie where to buy lottery tickets.
Goldie put its cell phone back into its bag and absently stood there for a few minutes, then came back to its senses and looked at the stack of crumpled bills inside its bag.
Does master want to steal from me? thought Goldie.
Then it shook its head. That’s impossible. Master Gao is the richest person I know! Goldie had always wanted to know how much Gao Peng had in his bank account, but the latter had remained tight-lipped on the subject.
The nearest betting shop was located near the mountain peak on Chinese Redbud Road. Goldie began waddling along the main street until a couple of extravagant-looking manors came into view. As the people living here were extremely rich, the betting shop had little trouble doing business, even during slow hours.
The betting shop was called the Happy Betting Shop, and it was one of the more renowned semi-legal betting shops in the Huaxia region.
To most people in the Huaxia region, everything sounded much better after slapping the word “legal” on it.
The store wasn’t huge. However, its interior was extravagantly furnished. There was also a heater running inside, and a wooden screen partitioned the store into two sections. One of them was a break room, where a projector was projecting the World Youth Trainer Championships on the wall.
Gambling would always be involved in any competition.
There were a couple of people watching the tournament right then on the sofa.
“Did you guys know that this Gao Peng boy lives near my place?” said a thick-browed man in a black shirt while pointing at Gao Peng, whose face was currently on the screen.
“Seriously?” someone said.
“Yeah, he lives in the mountains,” said the bushy-browed man, chuckling. He picked up his cup of tea from the table, blew on it a few times, and carefully took a few sips from it.
The man then said to the young man sitting behind the cash register, “Brother Chen, there’s no tea left in the teapot. Bring me the tea leaves that I left here last time.”
The young man put down his phone and hurriedly went to do what the man had asked. The man was He Zong, one of the shop’s big spenders. Even though he wasn’t the manager, everyone working there treated him like one, even the shop’s actual manager.
Just then, Brother Chen heard the curtains rustle near the entrance. A new customer had entered the shop.
Brother Chen turned around and saw a strange-looking child in a feathery yellow coat waddle into the place.
Aren’t you a bit too young to come to a place like this? he thought. The shop had a no-minor policy.
Brother Chen was just about to say something when he realized that something wasn’t right. He rubbed his eyes and took another look at Goldie.
Wait, you’re a… duck?!
He noticed the sling bag on Goldie’s shoulder.
It must have been someone’s familiar.
There was nothing odd about this. Brother Chen had seen familiars tend to their masters’ errands, like buying groceries, cigarettes, and even lottery tickets.
“Could you please wait there? I’ll get back to you as soon as I can,” said Brother Chen with a smile. He couldn’t risk angering an important customer like He Zong by putting off his order.
When he was done serving tea to He Zong, Brother Chen returned to the counter. “Are you here to buy lottery tickets?”
Goldie tilted its head at him, not understanding a word that Brother Chen was saying. It simply took its phone out of its bag and let him see Gao Peng’s message.
“Bet on Zhang Yi of the Huaxia region’s victory in the seventh match within ten minutes,” the message read.
Brother Chen was taken aback by how specific the duck’s bet was.
Zhang Yi’s opponent was the number one contestant of the Yagyuu Village of the Neon District, and he had performed quite well in the tournament’s first round. On the other hand, Zhang Yi had come in ninth place in the Huaxia region’s preliminaries and had barely scraped out a victory in the tournament’s first round. Almost no one believed that Zhang Yi could win the next match, which was the reason why his betting odds were 16 to 1 and 98 to 1 for a ten-minute victory.
“How much do you want to bet?” asked Brother Chen. After realizing that Goldie didn’t understand what he was saying, he took out an Alliance dollar bill and waved it front of the duck.
Goldie swallowed, then took out a stack of Alliance dollar bills from its bag and placed them on the counter.
Suddenly, Goldie put a dollar bill back into its bag. After looking at the stack of bills on the counter longingly, it squeezed its eyes shut and pushed it towards Brother Chen.
Gao Peng told me that one can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. I’ll be able to eat like a king for the whole month with his winnings. I’ll have three pieces of dried fish for every meal: one for my stomach, one to keep for a rainy day, and one to give Silly a good scare.
Brother Chen was stunned to see so much money before him. He began counting it.
After counting the duck’s money three times, Brother Chen said, “There’s 5,129.70 Alliance dollars here. Is this how much you want to wager?”
Goldie looked dumbly at Brother Chen.
Brother Chen repeated his question a few more times. However, the only response he received from Goldie was an empty stare. In the end, he simply gave up and printed out a lottery ticket for Goldie.
Goldie looked at the lottery ticket with a serious expression. He had no idea what was written on it. After placing the ticket inside its bag, Goldie waddled out of the shop.
The seventh match began at half past four in the afternoon.
Li Yu was refereeing the match, which the audience wasn’t particularly excited about.
However, the match’s outcome caused many jaws to drop. The match ended before it hit the ten-minute mark.
The contestant from Yagyuu village had lost.
Zhang Yi was truly the dark horse of the tournament. Not only was his familiar an Epic-grade Commander-tier monster, it was also a Fire-type, which countered the Yagyuu Village contestant’s Wood-type familiar, thought Gao Peng. He had predicted the match’s outcome from the start.
Back in the manor, Gao Peng’s familiars were all watching the results of the match on the television.
Goldie didn’t have a clue what was going on. However, it happily leapt up from the sofa when it received a call from Gao Peng. “Dried fish! Dried fish! Dried fish!” Goldie began running around the sofa like an excited child.
Silly looked strangely at Goldie. It didn’t have the faintest idea what the duck was so excited about. It simply took out a bottle of fruit juice from its portable space and let Stripey bite off the lid. It then skillfully inserted a straw into the packet and began happily drinking its fruit juice.
When Goldie finally calmed down, it took the lottery ticket out of its bag and closely observed it. It’s a bit ugly, it thought. Where are its feathers, anyway? Goldie then put the ticket back inside its bag and patted it contentedly. This was its meal ticket!
