Chapter 132: Journey to the Treasure Island (5)

Fang Yu stood up after speaking, gave a few final instructions to Lu Zhen and Zhao Bin, and then hurried to the entrance of the hotel to hail a taxi.

"Hurry, take me to 250 Wanhai Road."

The taxi driver, assuming he was a tourist, started the car with a cheerful chuckle. "Heading out to play some pachinko, young man? A tourist from the mainland, I presume?"

"Oh? How did you know?" He straightened his posture slightly. Taxi drivers were usually living maps of the city and would certainly be familiar with such establishments.

"I can tell by how you’re dressed. But if you ask me, the parlors on Wanhai Road are actually pretty decent. They’re run by local syndicates—fair prices, honest dealings, no cheating children or elderly..."

The driver kept rambling on, spraying spit as he spoke. Fang Yu understood clearly: most of the pachinko parlors in the Shawan area were operated by local gangs, meaning the people he was dealing with were involved in organized crime.

These places naturally offered loan services. The local gangs were quite welcoming to guests from the mainland; firstly, because these visitors usually had some spare cash and were generous with tips, and secondly, because they were strangers in an unfamiliar place—easy marks from whom one could squeeze blood from a stone.

Twenty minutes later, the taxi pulled up in a mountain hollow. Fang Yu got out and looked around. There were quite a few vendors hawking their wares nearby, and at the entrance of the shop stood a massive toy figure with the words "Welcome" emblazoned across it.

He took a deep breath, pushed open the doors of the pachinko parlor, and stepped inside. The air was thick with smoke, no better than the Seven Stars Internet Cafe.

However, while the internet cafe was filled mostly with youths and students, this place was different. There were teenage delinquents who looked barely eighteen, alongside balding middle-aged men, all staring at their machines with intense, nervous focus, far too preoccupied to notice anyone else.

Cheng Chen was not in the main hall. Fang Yu pulled out his phone and called back. "Cheng Chen, I’ve arrived. Where are you?"

It wasn't Cheng Chen's voice that came from the other end. "Mr. Fang is indeed a man of his word. I’ll send someone to fetch you immediately. Please head to Exit 2A." The caller hung up.

He glanced at the signs overhead and quickly found Exit 2A. This area was clearly different from the main hall, guarded by two burly men who looked like trouble.

"Sir, this is the VIP area. You cannot enter without a VIP card," one of the brutes said, though his tone was relatively polite as he blocked the way.

Fang Yu nodded and pulled a cigarette from his pocket, lighting it to soothe his nerves.

About three minutes later, the door to Exit 2A opened, and a lean young man stepped out. He looked at Fang Yu and nodded. "Mr. Fang, right? Our boss would like to see you." He gestured for Fang Yu to follow.

Fang Yu tossed his cigarette butt aside, exhaled a cloud of smoke, and followed the young man inside.

Once through the door, Fang Yu realized there was more to this place than met the eye. It was actually a basement. After walking down a short flight of stairs, he could hear the distinct sound of shuffling cards.

The basement was nearly as large as the main hall. He could see plenty of locals playing cards, and they showed no surprise at his arrival, though a few women cast provocative glances his way.

Following the young man through the basement, they soon arrived at a private room. Cheng Chen and Li Jing were huddled in a corner of a sofa, shivering. The air conditioning was set very high, yet both had visible beads of sweat on their foreheads—clearly from sheer terror.

"Damn it, Fang Yu, you're here!" Cheng Chen jumped up excitedly the moment he saw him. The four security guards standing nearby made no move to stop him.

"Damn it, you’re always causing me trouble. Tell me, how much did you lose?" Fang Yu let out a long sigh of relief. It appeared Cheng Chen and Li Jing had no physical injuries; though they looked haggard, they didn't seem to have been tortured.

Cheng Chen scratched his head sheepishly. "I won a little at the beginning, maybe a hundred thousand or so. Then a waiter asked if I wanted to play in the VIP room. I thought I’d try to win more, but I got carried away. In the end, I borrowed 400,000 from them."

Fang Yu’s expression darkened. Four hundred thousand—that was roughly eighty thousand in mainland currency. Cheng Chen had gotten in way over his head.

Just as he was calculating his own emergency funds, the door opened and a man in a black shirt walked in. He looked to be about twenty-five or twenty-six, roughly the same height as Lu Zhen. He had a buzz cut that made him look menacing, yet he wore a professional smile.

"Mr. Fang is quite punctual. My name is Tian Jisheng, and I am the owner of this shop. Your friend borrowed 400,000 in Wanhai currency from us. Our Triad isn't unreasonable. Seeing as you are tourists from the mainland, how about this: leave your travel permits as collateral, and we can calculate the interest in three days?"

Fang Yu waved a hand and sat down calmly. "That won't be necessary. If I pay off his debt today, how much is it?"

Tian Jisheng was slightly taken aback; he hadn't expected such a bold tone from a youth who looked under twenty. "Easy. If Mr. Fang is willing to clear the debt, since Mr. Cheng just borrowed the 400,000 today, we won't charge any interest. Just the 400,000 principal will do."

Fang Yu was stunned. He hadn't expected these syndicates to be so different from the ones in movies and television; they actually had their own principles.

He did a quick mental calculation. He had about fifty or sixty thousand in cash in his private stash—advertising fees from Zhang Hao’s last payment. Eighty thousand wasn't a small amount, but for someone with "Qinglu" and "Baoleme" behind him, it wouldn't be a crippling blow.

However, telling Zhang Hao about this would be somewhat embarrassing. Fang Yu looked at the poker cards and dice on the table, and in a moment of heat, he pointed at the tabletop. "Gambling debts should be settled at the gambling table. Surely Boss Tian has heard that saying?"

Tian Jisheng laughed heartily; he had seen plenty of guests like this. "Mr. Fang has guts. We run a business, so we certainly welcome guests to play. I just wonder, how many chips does Mr. Fang intend to exchange for?"

Fang Yu took a Visa card out of his wallet. "Start with 200,000!" He figured that since Cheng Chen had been able to win over a hundred thousand before coming to the basement, this amount should be enough.

Tian Jisheng was likely surprised that a young man like Fang Yu could produce so much money at once. He paused for a moment before turning to the men behind him. "A-Bing, go get a POS machine."

One of the burly men grunted, retrieved the machine, swiped the card, and nodded at Tian Jisheng. "Boss, the card is fine."

"Haha, good. Give Mr. Fang 200,000 in chips. And what would Mr. Fang like to play?"

As a thirty-five-year-old in a young man's body, Fang Yu had some experience with these things. He looked at the people around him, pondered for a few seconds, and said, "Let’s keep it authentic. How about Blackjack?" He didn't dare play dice or other games here—heaven knows if they were rigged.

Tian Jisheng smiled and nodded. "Fine, straightforward. Go, call Jin Da and Jin Er to come and play cards with Mr. Fang."