334: What do you want?

"I... I was staring at you the whole time just now!"

Atapong's voice rose slightly, carrying an urgency as if he were desperate to prove something.

"There's no way you could have cheated! I shuffled the cards! I was watching! How... how did you do it?"

He asked the most crucial question, the same one currently on everyone's mind.

If she hadn't cheated, how could she have manipulated the game so that he got the highest Triple while she got the smallest 2-3-5—the only hand that could beat it?

This had already exceeded Atapong's understanding of "gambling skills" and "luck."

He felt a deep sense of powerlessness and... fear.

If this wasn't luck but the result of human manipulation, then this young woman's methods were simply supernatural!

“How did I do it?” Lei Jun repeated indifferently, her calm gaze shifting toward Atapong and sweeping over Su Cha, Songphong, and the others who were listening intently.

“As long as you want to learn, you can find a way in anywhere.”

Her tone was as casual as saying, "As long as you want to cook, you can find a recipe anywhere."

Atapong grew anxious. “How could this be something you just pick up! Ms. Lei, your... your methods...”

He couldn't find the right words to describe it.

Lei Jun shook her head and interrupted him. “In the eyes of a true expert, these...”

She pointed to the cards.

“Making someone get a specific hand, especially such extreme contrasting hands, is just the lowest, most basic trick. One could even call it a third-rate move.”

She was telling the truth.

A true master of card sharking values invisibility—long-term control of the game and psychological crushing. They make you lose without knowing how, leaving you thinking it was just bad luck.

This kind of deliberate "performance" created for a strong contrast was used more for intimidation, or... teaching.

“Lowest? Most basic? Third-rate?” Atapong was incredibly shocked.

“Ms. Lei, are you joking! You call this simple? You call this basic?”

He waved his arms excitedly.

“Just that move you pulled! It would be enough to make an ordinary person like me, who thought he knew a thing or two, lose everything overnight! I wouldn't even know how I died!”

He was truly terrified in hindsight.

If Lei Jun had used such methods at a gambling table... He shuddered, not daring to think further.

Lei Jun remained noncommittal toward his excitement.

She reached out and pulled the deck of cards they had just used toward herself.

The cards were face down, stacked neatly in a pile.

Her fingers were slender, and her movements seemed casual yet possessed a unique rhythm.

“You think this is incredible only because you've seen too little.”

As Lei Jun spoke, she pressed her thumb against one side of the deck and flicked the back of the cards with her other four fingers. The entire deck spread out smoothly like a fan and then closed with a soft "shua" sound.

“Throughout history, there have been countless talented individuals at the gambling table. There are far more gambling and cheating techniques that you can't imagine or understand.”

Then, she did something that made everyone hold their breath again.

Using her right hand, she drew two cards from the spread-out fan with her index and middle fingers.

There was no choosing motion; it was just a casual draw. Then, she gently flipped the two cards over and slapped them on the table.

Two Aces.

The Ace of Spades and the Ace of Hearts.

A collective suppressed gasp rose from around the table.

Atapong's eyes were immediately glued to the two Aces.

“Atapong...” Lei Jun looked up at him. “What do you want? A Triple?”

Before she finished speaking, her fingers reached into the card fan again, drawing another card just as casually, flipping it over, and setting it down.

The third Ace.

The Ace of Diamonds!

Three Aces now lay side by side on the table!

They were exactly the same as the three Aces she had revealed after dealing the cards earlier!

Atapong's breathing stopped completely.

He stared fixedly at those three Aces, his mind a complete blank.

This... this was even more terrifying than getting three Aces during the deal!

Earlier, there had at least been a process of shuffling and dealing; he could lie to himself with words like "luck" and "probability."

But now? Right under his nose, Lei Jun had casually "taken" three Aces from the deck like pulling candy from a pocket! How was this possible? She had just gathered the cards; she hadn't even reshuffled them!

How did she know where the Aces were? Or rather... could she control where the cards were?

He swallowed hard.

Absolutely godlike!

Only those words remained in his mind.

This was no longer gambling skill; it was practically magic! A stage trick! No, even stage tricks required props and preparation. He couldn't find any logical explanation for this.

The slight defiance and frustration he had felt toward Lei Jun earlier were now crushed to dust, replaced by profound shock and a near-instinctive fear.

However, it wasn't over yet.

Lei Jun's fingers moved again.

She didn't even look at the fan of cards. With a casual pluck, a fourth card was drawn and flipped over.

The fourth Ace.

The Ace of Clubs.

Lei Jun's movements didn't stop.

Her fingers reached into the card fan for the fifth time, drawing a card and flipping it over.

The fifth Ace.

An... Ace of Spades.

But hadn't the Ace of Spades already appeared?

Atapong was completely bewildered.

He felt as if he had fallen into an absurd nightmare.

Five Aces in a single deck?

And a duplicate suit?

This completely defied common sense!

A deck of cards has fifty-four cards, thirteen of each of the four suits. There is only one Ace per suit—that is an ironclad rule!

How did Lei Jun conjure five Aces?

And with a duplicate suit? This was... too terrifying!

This had completely exceeded all the limits of his knowledge of card sharking! If the previous 2-3-5 against the Triple Aces could be barely explained by extreme coincidence or profound card control...

Then this Ace appearing out of thin air, especially a duplicate suit, was something from an entirely different dimension!

This wasn't skill; this was... a magic trick?

No, magic tricks required props, and this was the same deck they had been using all along!

He felt a chill rush from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, and his teeth began to chatter uncontrollably.

Looking into Lei Jun's calm, emotionless eyes, he felt for the first time that this overly beautiful, cold woman was unfathomably deep—even... a bit frightening.

“Ms... Ms. Lei...” Atapong's voice shook violently. “How... how can this deck... have five Aces!!! This... this is impossible!”

His worldview had been smashed to pieces tonight by Lei Jun and a few playing cards.

His mind was now a mess, filled only with primal shock and questions.

Lei Jun gave a faint smile.

“Five Aces?”

She casually brushed the five Aces on the table aside, then used both hands to close the fan of cards completely, reorganizing them into a stack in her hand.