Chapter 269: Bizarre Gambling House, Auction of Frenzied Blood-Plague Meat Worms!

Duan Rongshi was about to say something when Li Qingluo hurriedly pulled Zheng Mama and said, "It's fine, let's hurry."

She didn't want to cause trouble because of herself, so she quickly followed Prince Su across the street and then swaggered into the gambling house.

Li Qingluo's attire already made her gender hard to tell, and she was followed by several tall, sturdy young men; upon entering the gambling house, no one noticed her, so she easily blended in.

This was Li Qingluo's first time coming to such a place; everything she saw was very fresh and even strange.

In the main hall, several tables were set up.

In front of each table stood a scantily clad beauty who personally dealt the dice or tossed the screening tool.

The bustling waiters carried trays laden with wine or snacks.

Yet in this gambling house, it wasn't just smoky gambling; there were also scenes of half-naked women slumped in men's arms.

Li Qingluo hadn't even had a chance to look twice before someone covered her eyes with a wide sleeve.

"What are you looking at? Is it nice to see?"

Duan Rongshi hissed lowly at her, "Look again and I'll gouge out your eyes."

Li Qingluo: ……

Although he is a prince, is he meddling too much?

Moreover, having entered the gambling house, does she still need to walk with her eyes covered?

Li Qingluo, fuming, wished she could pull his arm aside to look again, but Prince Su suddenly hardened his resolve, grabbed her arm and completely shielded her inside his sleeve; then the group quickly left the hall and went up to the second floor.

Zheng Mama could only stare wide-eyed in astonishment several times, just watching.

This, this, this—Prince Su's words and actions toward her young lady are overly intimate, aren't they?

This, this, this—can this old thing of hers even watch?

Ah??

After returning, how will she explain to the Old Lady?

And what about that guy Lao Deng—why couldn't he give her a heads‑up earlier, at least letting her mentally prepare?

Good grief, her old heart almost stopped just now.

She now reasonably suspects that the men's shoe the young lady previously "picked up" was Prince Su's!

Nan Gongdi, hands behind his back, saw his disciple being managed by Prince Su and actually had no intention to intervene; instead, he strolled along calmly, still watching even in the upstairs hallway.

After watching with relish for a while, Nan Gongdi said, "I've never seen such a scene in any gambling house—it's a gambling house yet resembles a brothel, with an upstairs teahouse and a downstairs inn. Indeed, it's quite strange."

"Being able to combine these several trades into one, the mastermind behind this gambling house is rather interesting."

At this moment, Li Qingluo and her companions had already entered an empty private room.

Hearing how lively it was, Li Qingluo wished she could go out and see for herself.

Seeing a hint of anxiety on her face, Duan Rongshi reached out to stop her, "What's the rush? Later you'll have plenty of time to look."

After saying that, he then properly sized up Nan Gongdi with a few glances—this person's insight and alertness are not to be underestimated.

The shopkeeper finally came over, beaming, and greeted, "Oh, it's Lord Fifth! Just now downstairs was crowded and chaotic; I hadn't had a chance to see you clearly before you came up."

"It's my fault for being slow and not greeting the Fifth Lord in time; please forgive me, Fifth Lord."

"Since you're the Fifth Lord, shall we go to the VIP platform? We've already reserved a spot for you."

Saying that, he then led Li Qingluo and her group to the VIP room where opening the window lets one see everything in the hall below.

"May I ask, Fifth Lord, what service would you like today? Play a few rounds at a small table, have a few drinks, or shall I summon some courtesans to attend the honored guests?"

Li Qingluo instantly understood.

This waiter was asking whether they wanted to gamble, drink, or engage with courtesans.

She felt a faint excitement; this kind of scene was something she had never seen in her life.

She wished Prince Su would shout all of these out so she could broaden her horizons today.

But before her excitement could fully surface, Prince Su actually refused them all.

"Serve tea."

The shopkeeper's smile instantly froze.

"Fifth Lord, you've always been pure and chaste, yes, yes..."

"But if you stay so unsullied by the world, why come to this place?"

Leng Dian snapped, "What are you standing there for? Do whatever you're told! Besides tea and snacks, just add some fruit—wouldn't that be enough?"

After saying that, Leng Dian tossed out a large ingot of silver; the waiter then forced a fawning smile and hurried out.

"Our lord knows that today your Macau has an auction, so we came just to see the excitement; if we like something we'll bid, and we certainly won't take up your space for nothing."

Li Qingluo: "Auction? What auction?"

Zhui Yu explained, "This Macau gambling house holds an auction every three months."

"The items up for auction are all extraordinary."

"Sometimes it's a few breathtaking foreign women, sometimes it's gold and silver jewels no one has ever seen, sometimes just a few precious calligraphy and paintings, and sometimes it's marine life or plants salvaged from the sea that no one has ever seen before."

"But it's still locked up in our prince's mansion and hasn't been shown to the world."

"There are even stranger things, like hand‑washing soap, glass mirrors, cement… all these oddities have been auctioned before."

Li Qingluo gasped in amazement: "That's impressive?"

She had actually heard of soap before—her grandmother had even sent her a few bars.

As for glass mirrors, they're said to be even better, reflecting a person more truly than a bronze mirror.

And cement, it's said, can be used to build the most sturdy houses in the world.

These things have not been mass‑produced, so Li Qingluo has only heard of them.

Who would have thought they all came from this Macau gambling house?

I didn't expect they all came out of this Macau casino?

Who exactly this boss is, Li Qingluo has become increasingly curious.

"What kind of person could possibly do all this?"

Duan Rongshi: "A genius so extraordinary and shocking can also be called a monster."

It seems Prince Su, Your Highness, does not like the boss behind this gambling house.

Zhui Yu: "I heard the boss of this gambling house will show up today, so Your Highness brought the miss here."

So it's this?

Li Qingluo looked at Duan Rongshi and involuntarily broke into a faint smile.

Duan Rongshi, however, tightly furrowed his brows: "Don't smile, it's ugly."

Li Qingluo: "..."

Just then, strains of string and bamboo music began to sound.

Zhui Yu heard the outside noise and hurriedly said: "It seems to have started."

He pushed the window open again and looked down; the gambling tables from just moments ago had somehow all been cleared away.

Moreover, there was nothing Li Qingluo couldn't stand to see anymore; the venue had been cleared out completely clean.

All the guests had already moved to the sides.

The entire second floor had a total of eight VIP rooms; besides the one Li Qingluo and his party occupied, all the others were already fully occupied.

Zhui Yu suddenly saw: "Your Highness, Prince Yun and Prince Jin have both come. It looks like they arrived together as companions."

Prince Jin is the third prince; his birth mother is still merely a concubine to this day.

Therefore, in the presence of the legitimately born third prince, even though Prince Jin is the elder brother, he has always been accustomed to playing a lowly, subordinate role.

Also, the eldest son of the Zhongyi Hou Fu.

The Qu family has also sent two representatives.

Even the Prince Consort is here?

In any case, the VIP rooms on the second floor are all occupied by people of considerable background.

Li Qingluo thought to herself: "It's really lively; we're almost gathering everyone."

Only one room remains, its doors and windows tightly shut to this day; no one knows what background lies inside.

Duan Rongshi let out a cold laugh: "In a few days, it will be my fourth older brother's birthday; he's also come to join the fun this time, probably eyeing some valuable item, waiting for someone else to personally bid it for him."

Prince Jin's mother consort was merely a merchant's daughter, and the wife he married is the eldest daughter of the Qu family.

Thus, although Prince Jin's status is not high, his wealth is absolutely the greatest among all the princes.

And Prince Yun only became close with Prince Jin after taking a wife from the Jin prince.

No sooner had those words fallen than a commotion arose downstairs.

It turned out that the items for today's auction had finally been brought up.

All the items were arranged and displayed in order in the main hall.

One by one, the treasures also had their veils finally lifted.

Today there is a sword inlaid with gems, a pink stone, a Southeast Asian ladyboy, and an exquisite wine flask from the Western Regions.

And placed in the most central, conspicuous, and mysterious spot is a huge iron cage.

Inside the iron cage, there is only a square object covered with black cloth.

When someone swept away the black cloth, the square object turned out to be another iron cage, and inside that cage was a transparent glass bottle the size of a spittoon!

Inside the glass bottle was a mass of pinkish substance; before anyone could get a clear look, someone shouted: "What is this?! It actually moves!"

A boneless pink flesh worm!

Li Qingluo immediately reacted and looked toward Nan Gongdi.

"Master, is that the thing?!"

Nan Gongdi: "You mean the worm that was taken away by the Western Regions witch, the source of the blood frenzy disease?"

The master and disciple were exchanging riddles here, but Duan Rongshi didn't understand.

He looked at Li Qingluo: "Do you know what this is?"

Li Qingluo: "Your Highness, I'll explain in detail later. But the thing inside this jar might be the source of the strange illness that the senior duke will contract."

The senior duke should have a witch by his side; that witch brought this worm out of a village completely afflicted with blood frenzy over thirty years ago.

Afterward, that witch followed the senior duke, but this time the senior duke was taken away by Pei San, and it's said only the two of them were involved, yet the witch has vanished without a trace.

Now this flesh worm has appeared here, but where is that witch?

Duan Rongshi: "You mean, if we capture that witch, we can find out exactly what the senior duke's blood frenzy disease is all about."

Moreover, this worm must not fall into just anyone's hands.

Li Qingluo: "Exactly! If someone accidentally ingests this worm's eggs, they will contract an incurable, unstoppable blood frenzy disease."

If they want to stay alive, they'll end up like the senior duke—neither human nor ghost, not only uncontrollably craving human blood but also needing to take pills made from the blood of the opposite sex.

Yet each day they live, they may be controlled by the madness.

Zhui Yu and Sha Lei both turned deathly pale upon hearing this.

What kind of thing is this, so powerful?

If it falls into enemy hands, harming us would be easy as pie.

Indeed, that is true.

If someone wanted to use this to harm someone, it would be incredibly easy.

But over these years in Jinling City, how come we've never heard of anyone else having this condition?

Li Qingluo suddenly thought: "Wait! Could this gambling house belong to that witch?"

Otherwise, how could this worm possibly be taken out for auction?

Unless that witch maiden has already defected to someone else, or the flesh worm has been stolen by someone, or the witch maiden is already dead, so this worm fell into this gambling house.

However, because this worm is too disgusting, no one wanted to look at it.

Until a masked young man dressed all in black, with his hair tied in a high ponytail, walked out and clapped his hands, instantly drawing everyone's attention, did Duan Rongshi then say: "He's here."

Li Qingluo: "Who?"

Duan Rongshi: "Behind this gambling house, the true owner."