2026-09-27 14:01:32"Evan!" Glitch shrieked, running around the chair and grabbing Evan’s arm.
"Kid! Talk to me!" Marco yelled, pulling Evan back up into a sitting position.
Evan groaned. He opened his eyes. The world was spinning. The golden lights of the Colosseum looked blurry and smeared. He wiped the heavy blood from his nose with his torn blue sleeve. His white shirt was completely ruined, stained bright red.
"He is right," Evan gasped, breathing heavily. "I am
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Chapter 415
The Queen of Spades rested face up on the green velvet table. It was just a small piece of thick white paper with black ink. But in the dim, amber light of the underground VIP room, it was the heaviest object in the world. The crowd of rich elites in the high glass balconies was completely silent. A few seconds ago, they had been screaming. Now, their mouths hung open. They stared down at the table in absolute, mind-shattering shock. Evan Kennedy had won. He held the Straight Flush. He had beaten the monster. Across the wide table, Jax sat frozen in his large leather chair. The terrifying Syndicate Boss looked like a broken toy. The glowing red cybernetic lens on the left side of his face had completely stopped spinning. The tiny, invisible laser was dead. Thick, gray smoke poured slowly from the broken exhaust vent on his neck, smelling like burnt plastic and old copper. Jax looked at his own cards. The King of Spades. The King of Clubs. A Full House. He looked at Evan’s cards.
Chapter 414
"You..." Jax gasped. His human eye filled with tears of pure, absolute despair. "You knew. You knew the Queen was coming.""I knew," Evan nodded slowly. Jax looked down at his own side of the table. His massive mountain of black chips was completely gone. There was nothing left. Just the green velvet, and the burning cigar hole. He had bet his life. He had bet his empire. He had bet his organic organs. He had zero balance. "Zero," Jax whispered. The realization hit him like a physical blow. He was bankrupt. He was empty. "Elimination confirmed," the Dealer announced loudly. From the dark shadows behind Jax, the five faceless guards stepped forward. They did not hesitate. The rules of the Obsidian Tournament were sacred. The House always collected its debts. The guards raised their long spears. The bright blue plasma energy hummed loudly. They aimed the sharp, burning tips directly at Jax’s back. Jax did not try to run. He did not scream. He did not beg for his life like the y
Chapter 413
The laugh died instantly in Jax’s metallic throat. It sounded like an engine sputtering and choking on bad oil.The thick, expensive brown cigar slipped from between Jax’s synthetic silver teeth. Jax did not even try to catch it. The cigar fell through the air. It hit the green velvet table with a soft thud. The burning red cherry at the tip of the cigar touched the soft cloth. A thin wisp of dark gray smoke rose into the air. The fire burned a small, black, ugly hole directly into the beautiful green velvet. Jax did not notice the burning table. He did not notice the screaming crowd. Jax stared at the five cards on the board. He stared at the two cards in front of Evan. Eight. Nine. Ten. Jack. Queen. All Spades. Jax’s single human eye was bulging out of its socket. The pale, greasy skin around his eye was twitching violently. On the other side of his face, his glowing red cybernetic eye was spinning completely out of control. The tiny mechanical lens zoomed in on the cards.
Chapter 412
The rich brokers in the balconies looked at the Eight and the Nine. They looked at Jax’s Kings. They thought Evan had lost. "He has nothing!" a man in the crowd yelled. "He has Eight-high!"But the Dealer in the black tuxedo was a professional. He was a machine trained to read cards instantly. The Dealer looked at Evan’s cards. He looked at the five community cards on the board. The Dealer’s eyes widened. For the very first time in his entire career, the emotionless Dealer actually gasped. His mouth fell slightly open. The Dealer looked at the board: King of Spades, Jack of Spades, Ten of Spades, Queen of Spades. The Dealer looked at Evan’s hand: Nine of Spades, Eight of Spades. Eight. Nine. Ten. Jack. Queen. All Spades. The shockwave hit the room. It did not hit slowly. It hit instantly, like a physical explosion of pure disbelief. "Straight Flush," the Dealer whispered. His voice actually shook. He cleared his throat and spoke louder, his voice echoing through the massive,
Chapter 411
Jax picked up the cigar with his human hand. He placed it between his synthetic silver teeth. He bit down on it happily. The waiter quickly pulled out a heavy golden lighter. He flicked the lighter open. A bright orange flame popped up. The waiter held the flame to the end of the cigar. Jax puffed slowly. The end of the cigar glowed a bright, angry red. Jax inhaled deeply, filling his remaining human lungs with the rich smoke. He blew a massive, thick cloud of gray smoke straight across the green velvet table. The smoke curled and twisted in the warm amber light, floating directly into Evan’s face. Jax was utterly, completely convinced that Evan’s luck had finally run out. "Look at you, boy," Jax sneered. He pointed his smoking cigar at Evan. "Look at your dirty clothes. Look at your bloody nose. You really thought you could come into my city and beat me? You thought a garbage draw could beat a Full House?"Behind Evan’s chair, Marco was weeping. The tough, old grifter had tears
Chapter 410
Evan had closed his eyes during the small, boring hands. He had listened to the sound of the paper cards spinning inside the black metal box. He had memorized the sound. He had realized that the shuffling machine was not perfectly calibrated. It had a tiny, microscopic flaw. The small rubber wheel inside the machine, the wheel that pushed the cards from the left side to the right side, was slightly worn down. It was old. Because the rubber wheel was worn down, it slipped exactly once every fifty-two shuffles. It was a tiny error. A normal human would never notice it. But Evan’s mind was trained to see patterns. Because the left rubber wheel slipped, the shuffling machine did not create a perfectly random deck. It created a repeating mathematical sequence. It grouped certain suits together. It pushed the high Spade cards to a very specific spot in the deck. Evan had spent the last three hours mapping that invisible wave in his head. He had watched the Dealer’s white-gloved hands p
