Chapter 503: Ball

The first round ended: Hou Jue Glassley 9 gold stars, Count Talancan 8 gold stars, Viscount Forderman 8 gold stars, Mr. Spears 9 stars, Xia De 11, Referee 5.

The second round began. The Hou Jue controlled the smile at the corner of his mouth, and Count Talancan took a deep breath to adjust his mindset.

After everyone got their first hidden card, perhaps because they already knew the general rules, this time they all threw out two gold stars for betting.

But Xia De hesitated:

"There are 8 on the table now, Mr. Mark has 5, totaling 13..."

He counted out 10 stars from his own and threw them out, leaving only one to prevent accidents.

The people watching immediately discussed enthusiastically. Hou Jue Glassley, who organized this card game, frowned and asked:

"Knight, did you draw a King or Queen?"

"Of course not, I'll continue to draw."

Xia De shrugged:

"I don't have the Count's luck."

Although this was a compliment, Count Talancan, who was mentioned, twitched the corner of his mouth; he clearly didn't like being mentioned.

For the second card, Xia De got a Star 9 and continued to draw. Among the other four, Viscount Forderman and Mr. Spears chose to stop drawing. The former hesitated for a long time and threw out 1 gold star as an additional bet.

"He's either 17 or 18. If it were higher, he would choose to add two."

Mr. Spears whispered, but the Viscount smiled without saying a word.

In the third round, Xia De got a Flower 4 and chose to continue drawing. Count Talancan looked at his hidden card nervously and then sighed:

"Luck has run out."

He threw out a Star 13; he had clearly busted.

"I'll continue to draw too."

Hou Jue Glassley said, observing Xia De's expression, wanting to know the reason for his confidence.

In the third round, Xia De got a Moon 4.

"Detective, are you still not stopping?"

Hou Jue Glassley asked. Xia De nodded:

"Yes, continue to draw."

The Hou Jue looked at his hand:

"So confident... Well, okay, I'll draw too. If you have this courage, I have it too."

So both sides got the fourth card, and very coincidentally, they were exactly the same card, Sun 13.

The Hou Jue was stunned:

"Damn it."

Revealing the hidden card, totaling 25 points.

"Mr. Hamilton, don't tell me that in the case of getting 13 points, you haven't busted yet."

"No, I busted."

Xia De admitted.

"Then I win!"

Viscount Forderman, who had increased the bet, said loudly, revealing his hidden card; the points were really 17.

"No, no, no."

Xia De said hurriedly:

"But my hidden card is a special rule card."

He revealed his hidden card, holding it with two fingers and showing it to his opponents:

"Flower 7, Founding: Balance. Using this card, if the points exceed 21, the points return to zero, all own hand cards are discarded, and cards are redrawn. Hou Jue, I dared to continue drawing cards because I had this card. Why did you follow me to the fourth card?"

"What?"

Hou Jue Glassley couldn't care less about being induced by Xia De to draw cards:

"Isn't it Founding: Silver Moon?"

He widened his eyes, and Count Talancan on Xia De's left was even more exaggerated, almost sticking his face to Xia De's hand.

The crowd watching at the table went silent, and then the discussion that broke out almost made others in the banquet hall think a riot had occurred here.

"Please deal cards to me again."

Xia De said.

"Wait, Knight, I want to confirm one thing, is this 【Founding: Balance】?"

Count Talancan asked hurriedly.

"Yes."

"Founding: Silver Moon is also in your hand?"

Viscount Forderman widened his eyes.

"Of course, the rumors are true."

Xia De nodded.

"In other words, if you win against us, you will have three Founding series cards in your hand?"

Hou Jue Glassley finally realized this fact.

Xia De shrugged, watching the cards enter his hand one after another.

Moon 7, 【Northern City: Coldwater Port】, didn't trigger special rules; Star 13, ordinary card.

Under the crystal lamp overhead, the young outlander had a smile on his face. The body reshaped by divinity, desire flesh, and the outlander soul was so handsome and extraordinary. He didn't realize the supernatural charm his body was gradually possessing, nor did he realize how attractive he was at this moment.

Xia De smiled, straightened his tie, and then held a card in each hand, holding them up to show his opponents:

"20 points, sorry, I win again."

The second round ended, Xia De had 21 gold stars in his hand.

(Little Mia is running...)

"So, what tricks did you play?"

At 9:30 PM, the indoor ball on the second floor officially began. Because it had just started, there weren't many people dancing. The weather was very good today, and most people were currently watching the night view in the courtyard and garden of Yodel Palace.

"Tricks?"

Xia De asked in surprise while dancing with Miss Galina. The first dance was played by violin and piano, and the rhythm was unusually slow. Xia De didn't know how to dance to this rhythm, so the witch let Xia De hold her and sway slowly.

"Founding: Darkness is in your pocket, and you didn't play tricks?"

Miss Galina said with a smile. Looking at her smile at close range, Xia De was dazed for a moment. Even though he had seen 【Desire】 in the pool, the witch's charm was still not to be underestimated.

"I won it properly; I got exactly 25 gold stars in three rounds."

Xia De bet 4 gold stars in the third round. Even though Viscount Forderman and Mr. Spears drew special cards in this round, the First Permanent Secretary of the Council, because of the special rule of the special card 【Ancient Fairy Tale: Mermaid's Song】, adjusted his points to 21 after throwing a 20-sided die and hitting 20 twice in a row.

But Xia De still won, because before Mr. Spears revealed his hidden card and announced he had 21 points, he revealed 【King's Order: Substitute】.

When drawing this card, one could swap this card with the opponent's unrevealed hidden card, but one couldn't stop drawing in this round.

The 2 points were swapped with the opponent's 7 points, turning 21 points into 16. And in the subsequent card drawing, Xia De stopped at 20 points with four cards, and the other four all busted.

That First Permanent Secretary, who was rumored to be suave and politically capable, covered his face for a long time after the card game before letting that gentle and polite smile appear on his face again:

"I will definitely remember this card game for many years. First special cards, then two 20s were thrown, and I could still lose..."

In short, Xia De only used three rounds of cards to win. Although the fact that all three Founding series were in his hands was exposed, getting 【Founding: Darkness】 made it all worth it.

"All of this is the luck brought by the Thousand-Change Cards."

Xia De whispered.

"No, no, Xia De, I want to correct your mistake. It's not that no one has owned Founding series cards before, but I have specifically inquired, and the luck they bring absolutely wouldn't be as obvious as yours; otherwise, the special nature of the cards would have been discovered long ago."

The witch whispered, and the perfume on her body smelled very good. While talking to Xia De, she looked sideways at the sofa on one side of the banquet hall. Several princesses were sitting there, chatting and laughing with friends, or waiting reservedly for invitations from some young gentlemen. Lei Qianya would occasionally look here, clearly quite concerned about the two people dancing.

"Don't you feel that the way you won just now was too exaggerated? That state of yours just now... how to describe it?"

Miss Galina was actually about the same height as Xia De in high heels, and Miss Xivi Avrora was about the same.

She exerted force with her arms, which were wearing long gloves, meaning she wanted Xia De to hold her and start spinning:

"It's like being favored by the God of Luck or the God of Gambling. But I was there at the time, and that 'Iron Right Hand' was also there, and no one found anything unusual about you."

"Is that so?"

Xia De was a bit surprised:

"Maybe this luck is more obvious here with me..."

But fortunately, he really knew the "God of Gambling." After using the time key of 1784 for the last time, maybe he could try to communicate with that god. The information provided by Priest Augustus showed that this god wasn't an evil god.

"Just know your own abnormality; but just having good luck in playing cards isn't a big deal."

The witch said, and the hand on Xia De's shoulder exerted force. Xia De immediately understood she was reminding him to slow down his movements.

The witch's golden eyes looked at him:

"Speaking of which, since I became an adult, I really didn't think I would have a chance to dance with a man."

"How does it feel? I must admit, my dancing skills aren't good."

"Oh, Detective, do you think I care about dancing skills?"

She smiled, leaning close to Xia De's cheek:

"What I care about is this matter itself. It's really interesting; fate sent you to me. Think about it carefully; it seems like Tarot cards sent you to me. That night I went to the Lucky Southern Cross Club to find two special cards, and you went there to find the boy who played cards. Even when I discovered you, it was because you used a miracle to look at the cards."

"Seems like it."

Xia De nodded, controlling his feet to move according to the beat.

"Then did you use your miracle tonight? The story Tifa brought a few days ago was quite good. I know your eyes have become different from before. I didn't detect any traces of your miracle tonight; is it because the miracle is already out of my detection range, and you really drew shallow marks with blood on the back of each card?"

"No, I don't cheat when playing cards."

Xia De emphasized immediately, and the red-haired witch laughed immediately. At this moment, she was really happy:

"Alright then, let's just say you were really lucky tonight. I will have Tifa send the 【Box of Darkness】 to you tomorrow or the day after. But for now, Detective, let's have a good dance." ===== CHAPTER 504 =====