Chapter 25: Earning Thirty Million

"In that case, why did you choose to gamble?" I asked.

"I thought I could control myself. I thought I was different from the others. I’ve always loved playing cards, and I’d often fantasize about being a master of deception, sweeping through the tables. I never had the chance before, but after seeing the secret techniques left behind by our master, I felt I had finally found my opportunity. I practiced those techniques relentlessly, and with the help of the underworld jargon and connections he left behind, I met many people in the trade. We became friends, exchanging skills and insights. Two years later, I finally stepped out into the world of casinos."

"Relying on those techniques, I truly became a force to be reckoned with. In the next two years, I won over thirty million."

"This money not only paid off all my debts, but it was also enough to keep me comfortable for the rest of my life. I began searching everywhere for our master to repay him; without him, I would have achieved nothing. But I could never find him near the pedestrian bridge again. People who knew him said he wasn't a local—he came and went like a shadow. I left my phone number, asking them to tell him to call me if they saw him. But the call never came. Looking back now, he simply didn't want to see me. He couldn't be bothered because he already knew my future!" he said, his voice trembling with emotion.

Thirty million.

It was a figure I couldn't even imagine.

What was my monthly salary? Three hundred and twenty, plus a fifty-yuan housing allowance. How many years would I have to work to save thirty million?

I couldn't even calculate it.

My heart surged with excitement.

But I could already guess the ending—from his sobbing and his words, I knew it couldn't have ended well.

"Did you lose it all later?" I asked.

"The very first lesson our master gave regarding the trade was eight words: 'There is always someone better, and there is always a sky beyond the sky.' But back then, everything was going too well for me. I had seen many famous card sharks, and none could beat me. I thought I was the sky, the god of the casinos!"

"Now I realize that when we first met, he had already pointed out the fatal flaw in my character: arrogance when in power. But I was already consumed by it, having long forgotten that 'whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad.' I had completely ignored his warnings. After making thirty million, I kept traveling to casinos across the country, wanting to earn a hundred million, until I was caught in a crucial game. That game was actually a setup specifically for me. The gamblers involved had backgrounds that reached the heavens. Everything I had gained was stripped away. They didn't kill me, but they drowned my wife and child in a concrete-filled barrel right in front of my eyes."

"I thought about death, but they wouldn't even grant me that right. They threatened that if I dared to commit suicide, they would skin my parents alive. They wanted me to live in agony for the rest of my life! Those people are capable of anything!"

"Junior brother, do you understand now why our master tore up the records of the trade? It’s because of me—I broke his heart! Because human greed is infinite. Once you learn those techniques and enter the underworld, it’s like smoking opium. Once you’ve tasted how fast you can make money that way, you lose the will to do anything else!" he said.

"Why didn't you stop back then?" I sighed.

"Stop?" he gave a bitter laugh. "You can't stop! Once you enter the trade and learn the craft, there is only failure, never a 'stopping point.' Junior brother, walk a different path. Never, ever follow mine. No one can conquer the greed in their heart, and never try to challenge human nature! The master's books contained thousands of paths; this one seems the fastest, but it is the most treacherous. He left this number perhaps so you could reach me, to know my fate and take it as a warning. Since he tore those things up, just pretend they never existed."

"Senior brother," I lit a cigarette and called out to him.

"I'm here," he replied.

"If the master only wanted to warn me, he could have written your story in the book, or simply not written anything about the trade at all, or not left your number—I wouldn't have had any expectations then. But he chose to leave it. I don't think it’s what you think it is."

He was silent for ten seconds, then asked, "What do you mean?"

"The master must have checked on you, gotten this number from those old men at the bridge, and known everything you suffered. If he gave this number to me, could it be that he intended for us to join forces?"

"Impossible. Junior brother, I know what you're thinking. You want to learn the gambling techniques, you think you can just make some money and quit, to be set for life. I’ll say it again: don’t try to challenge human nature. You have no idea how powerful the master’s techniques really are. His craft has three levels: borrowing the setup, borrowing the technique, and borrowing the ghost. Forget it, why am I telling you this? I won't help you, and I won't teach you anything."

"Senior brother, do you remember the master's words?" I asked.

"Which ones?"

"'Borrow the momentum, and you shall break through like bamboo.' I’m in Guangzhou. I’ll send you the address. I won't make you gamble, and I won't entrust my fate to the casinos. I just want to borrow the momentum to widen the horizons of a poor kid from the mountains, so I can see a higher, broader sky. Helping me is, in a way, helping yourself—to walk the path the master pointed out, one more time."

He did not reply.

I recited the address to him.

"Senior brother, if you come, we can start over. Let what the master tore up see the light of day once again."

He didn't answer immediately, only saying he would think about it.

After hanging up, I checked my balance. My ten-yuan phone card had only three yuan and twenty cents left.

Looking at the bustling crowd outside, I felt as if I were waking from a dream. Even the events of the last few days felt unreal—meeting a sage-like senior named Liu Qingshan on the train who said I had the "Triple Crown of Energy," though I didn't know what that meant; I only remembered something about "three flowers gathering at the crown" from martial arts novels.

Then there was the fight, meeting a retired underworld boss, studying the craft, and listening to a senior brother who once had thirty million tell his story through tears.

I pinched my cheek and muttered to myself, "Zhang Zhicheng, if you really made thirty million, could you stop?"

Then I answered myself, "Only an idiot wouldn't stop. I'd stop at three hundred thousand."

As I finished speaking, a chubby guy passing by rolled his eyes at me and laughed to his friend, "Look at this idiot, still asleep, dreaming while standing up!"

I glared at him and retorted, "I said I'd make thirty million in hell money, is that okay?"

After I cursed, he wanted to fight me, but seeing my bandages, he realized I wasn't someone to mess with, so he backed down and left.