45 Test Water

Chen Fan smacked his lips. "This ship is at least 50 million RMB!" As a kid who grew up by the sea, he had a rough gauge of the price of various types of ships. The truth was not far from Chen Fan's guess. Excluding the casino facilities and renovation, this "Star Neptune" which flew a Hong Kong regional flag had a factory price of over 45 million RMB.

"Holy sh*t, this Wei Qing is really damn rich. His three ships are already worth 150 million RMB, and that's excluding the other small boats and cash flow." Wang Bing's eyes were beaming. "This fellow's assets are worth two to three hundred million RMB!"

Two to three hundred million...what an astronomical number! Under normal circumstances, there were hardly any situations where this number would be used other than describing the number of sperm in the testicles.

"Good morning gentlemen, welcome to 'Star Neptune'!" A lady escort in a white shirt and red vest immediately came forward the moment Chen Fan stepped on the deck. "Is this your first visit, gentlemen?" The lady escort smiled sweetly.

"Mm…" Chen Fan did not say much. "Here to play a few rounds to kill time."

"Sure, this way please!" The lady escort realized that Chen Fan was the real boss and straightaway ignored Wang Bing who was behind. The ship was over one hundred meters long, both the upper and lower levels were casinos, and inside the cabin was accommodation for the gambling customers.

"Gentlemen, we'll need to have your belongings go through the security check." Two staff members holding metal detectors came forward immediately when they reached the front of a door inlaid with gold patterns.

"What a lousy rule!" Chen Fan opened his arms and laughed. "I see that Wei Qing is becoming more timid!" The two had already hidden the pistols in the front of the car before getting on the ship. It was not easy to make trouble on a gambling ship on international waters. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger would have to admit defeat if he brought along two Gatling guns, let alone two pistols. To give an exaggerated analogy: A gambling ship on the sea is like a moving gold mountain of which armed forces are needed to stand up against green-eyed monsters.

After the check, the two staff members bowed and apologized before opening the door behind them.

"This...this is really damn grand…" Chen Fan the country bumpkin seemed to have entered a mystical and bizarre world the moment he stepped on the thick red carpet. All the specialized gambling tables which could only be seen in movies and the different kinds of people shuttling back and forth constantly reminded Chen Fan of how overly-extravagant and depraved everything in front of him was. 

Wang Bing did not chime in. From the time he went into the army at the age of eighteen until now, the most extravagant and most advanced gambling game that he had played was the fruit machine when he was still in middle school.

"Ahem, ahem!" After being dazed for a few seconds, Chen Fan regained his senses and coughed twice to remind Wang Bing who was also in daze.

"Ah...oh…" Wang Bing regained his senses and swallowed his saliva before saying, "Boss, let's change some chips and have a game!"

"Let's go, I've long wanted to experience this bedazzling gambling ship! Let's enjoy ourselves before sending this ship to meet its doom." Chen Fan smoothed his hair before moving to the counter. Large-scale casinos do not accept cash to gamble with. One has to change cash into gambling chips at designated locations, and then change them back to cash again before leaving. There were two advantages to doing this. First, it looks more high class and second, it puts an end to counterfeit notes.

"Sir, how much you would like to change?" the three refined-looking young men at the counter politely asked the moment they saw Chen Fan walking over. Chen Fan did not answer but took a glance at the display on the counter before knitting his brows and said, "Don't you accept credit cards here?"

"I'm really sorry sir, we don't accept credit cards here!" The young man said apologetically. "Processing credit cards requires the use of the network to connect to the bank and the international waters do not even have a phone signal, let alone network"

"So unprofessional." Even a fool could sense the disdain in Chen Fan's tone. "Don't you have satellite network here?

"Sor...sorry, we...do not have it!" The young man stammered, blushing with embarrassment.

"Forget it, I didn't bring much cash today, gimme 100,000 RMB worth of chips!" Chen Fan waved his hand as a signal for Wang Bing to take out the money. The coin-size plastic chips in green, yellow and red had a value of 10, 100 and 1,000 RMB respectively. And the diamond-shaped, man-made black crystal chip the size of a bank card had a value of 10,000 RMB.

After changing his chips, acting like a rich guy, Chen Fan felt a little awkward. The gambling game he was best at was playing QQ poker card games online. As for the rest, he only had superficial knowledge of them.

"Boss, how do you play this?" Wang Bing was also not familiar with the casino, and he was totally clueless about the rules and regulations printed on the tables.

"Let me walk around first to see if there's any that I know." Chen Fan observed as he walked. There were various gambling games on the ship; Show Hand, Baccarat, Roulette, Sic Bo… After walking two rounds, his eye finally targeted a seat at a Blackjack table .

"I know this!" Chen Fan mumbled softly to Wang Bing, and then sat casually on the empty seat without removing his shades. Chen Fan had played Blackjack on the computer a few times. The rules were very simple. After placing the bets, the dealer first distributes two cards to everyone in order. After looking at the cards, everyone has the right to ask for another card. A picture card is 10-points, an ace can be either 1-point or 11-points, and a picture card together with an ace is 21-points, which is the highest. Others will be arranged in numerical order, and above 21-points is considered a bust.

There were two women and three men sitting around the three-meter-long table. The two women both looked dainty and coquettish, the three men all had a beer belly and the fatty in a suit seated in the middle was balding.

Others brought their mistresses, but Chen Fan brought his bodyguard. Not only did the two mistresses run their seductive eyes over Chen Fan, even the female dealer who stood opposite, stole a few glances at him. This couldn't be helped. In the eyes of others, this young man whose bodyguard was also in Versace was much more attention seeking than those beer-bellied bosses whose assets were over hundreds of millions. 

After shuffling the cards, the female dealer in a black uniform said to the people in front of her, "Alright, please place your bets." The two mistresses were sitting at one side purely for decoration, and the three gaudily-dressed bosses were the real players. The three probably felt that Chen Fan stole the limelight. Without even

looking, the three of them threw out two 10,000 RMB black crystal chips unanimously.

"Ooh...argh…" Chen Fan suddenly frowned. "I have a stomach ache. I'll go to the washroom first. Wang, sit down and play a few rounds for me." With this, he held onto his stomach with his left hand and passed the chips into Wang Bing's hand with his right. No matter how Wang Bing tried to signal to him with his eyes, he ignored him totally.

"Young man, why are you still hesitating? Place your bets quickly!" The balding fatty in the middle had his arms around his mistress as he urged Wang Bing who was still standing. If those people could see Wang Bing's eyes through his shades, they would realize that he looked more abashed and nervous than a lady who was about to enter the nuptial chamber!

However, even though his eyes looked lost, his face still remained solemn. It was easy for others to mistake him as an experienced senior bodyguard. "I'll use 10 RMB to rest water first!" Wang Bing sat on the chair and popped out a green plastic chip.