THE DISCARDED SON-IN-LAWS GOD-LEVEL DOMINION SYSTEM

Chapter 16

Harbor Nine Casino stood at the end of the east docks like a gaudy ship that had run aground.

Red and gold lights flashed across its front. A huge neon tiger glared down from the roof. Dozens of expensive cars filled the parking lot. Men in dark suits stood at the front doors with earpieces and cold faces. The smell of salt and engine oil drifted across the water, mixed with cigarette smoke.

Ethan stepped out of the car in a fresh black suit. It was one of the six from Marquis & Daughters. Mr. Marquis had delivered it personally at noon with a bow and a bottle of sparkling water. The suit fit as if it had grown on his body. The cloth was soft and heavy and quiet. He wore no tie. His collar was open and the jade pendant lay against his chest.

Daniel hurried to follow. "Mr. Cross, please. Let me call more men."

"Stay with the car," Ethan said. "If I am not out in an hour, call the police."

"Sir, an hour is..."

"Daniel."

Daniel closed his mouth and nodded.

Ethan walked across the parking lot. The men at the entrance watched him come. The tallest of them, with a thick neck and a shaved head, stepped forward to block the door.

"Private club," he said. "Members only."

"I am here to see Rao Hu."

The man's eyes narrowed. "Nobody sees Boss Tiger without an invitation."

"Tell him that Ethan Cross is at the door."

The name hit the guards like a slap. All four of them straightened. The tall one's hand drifted toward his belt. His eyes went to Ethan's face and stayed there. The whole parking lot was suddenly very quiet.

"Wait here," the tall guard said hoarsely. He spoke into his earpiece. A pause. A long one. His face grew pale. "Yes, boss. Yes. He is alone." Another pause. "Understood."

He lowered his hand and stepped aside.

"Boss says to bring you up."

Inside, the casino was a huge hall full of noise and light. Slot machines chimed. Dealers called numbers. Rich men and women in silk and diamonds sat around long green tables with stacks of colored chips in front of them. Cigar smoke hung in the air like low clouds. Waitresses in tight red dresses moved between the players with silver trays.

Ethan walked through the center of the floor. People noticed him slowly, one table at a time. Conversations stopped. Whispers began. A man in a cream suit stared at him with his mouth open and dropped his cards.

Ethan reached a tall table in the middle of the room where a dealer stood behind a stack of black chips. He stopped.

"Mr. Cross," the dealer said politely. "Would you like to play?"

"Yes." Ethan took out the black card and laid it on the felt. "Put everything I have on the table. All of it. I will bet it in one hand."

The dealer's eyes dropped to the card. His hands froze in the air. "Everything, sir?"

"All of it."

A tall woman in a gold dress who stood nearby gasped. The whisper spread across the room like fire in dry grass. A crowd began to gather. The manager of the casino pushed through the circle, sweating, and bent to the dealer's ear. The two of them spoke in a low voice. The manager looked at the card. Then at Ethan. His face went the color of old paper.

"Mr. Cross," the manager said in a shaking voice. "The table limit is five million dollars."

"Then I will play twenty hands," Ethan said. "Starting now."

He sat down at the table. The dealer, his hands trembling, shuffled the cards. The whole casino had gone silent. Hundreds of people stood in a wide ring around the table and watched. Somewhere a glass fell and shattered, and no one turned to look.

The first hand began.

The System glowed quietly at the edge of his vision.

[Host function: Unlimited Wealth Generation.]

[Gambling luck bonus: Active.]

Ethan turned over a pair of kings. The dealer had an eight and a four. The dealer drew a card. A queen. He was bust. Five million dollars slid across the felt toward Ethan in a stack of black chips.

The crowd murmured.

The second hand. The third. The fourth. Ethan won every one. Chips rose in tall black towers in front of him. The dealer grew pale and sweaty. By the tenth hand, he was wiping his hands on his vest. By the fifteenth, the manager had called the owner twice.

When the twentieth hand ended, a hundred million dollars in chips sat in front of Ethan. The casino's cash vault was nearly empty. The manager looked like he might faint.

"That will be enough," Ethan said.

A heavy voice came from the top of the grand staircase at the back of the hall.

"Enough indeed, Mr. Cross."

Every head turned.

A huge man stood on the stairs with both hands resting on the gold railing. He was nearly seven feet tall, built like a stone wall, with a shaved head and a thick black beard. A white scar ran across his left eye. He wore a black silk shirt open at the neck. A heavy gold tiger hung on a chain against his chest. Behind him stood a line of armed men in dark suits.

"Rao Hu," Ethan said.

"You bring a great deal of noise into my house," Black Tiger said. His voice was deep and slow. He started down the stairs, one step at a time. The floor seemed to shake with each stride. "You beat my men on the river road. You break my tables. You humiliate my casino in front of my guests. Do you know what happens to men who do that?"

"I do not care."

The huge man stopped at the bottom of the stairs. The crowd drew back. He looked at the hundred million dollars of chips. Then at Ethan's calm face. His thick eyebrows drew together.

"You are not afraid," he said.

"No."

"Everyone is afraid of me."

"I know about the debt," Ethan said.

The casino went completely silent.

Black Tiger's face did not move. But his hand on the railing tightened until the knuckles turned white.

"One hundred and forty million dollars," Ethan continued, in a voice that carried across the hall. "Owed to six lenders. Two of them very patient. Four of them not. You told your men the casino was making record profits. You told them every payday was safe. You have been borrowing from one lender to pay another for three years."

A murmur ran through the guards behind Tiger. They looked at each other. One of them took a step backward.

"That is a lie," Tiger growled.

"I bought your debts this morning," Ethan said. "All six of them. As of noon today, every lender answers to me."

He took a folded paper from his jacket and held it up. The crowd leaned forward. The paper shook a little in the air from the cold of the air conditioner.

"Starting tonight," Ethan said, "I own your house. I own your casino. I own your boats. You are standing in a building that belongs to me."

Black Tiger's face changed. For the first time, something like fear moved behind his eyes. He looked at his men. They would not look back at him. One of them had set down his weapon quietly on a chair.

"You cannot do this," Tiger said. His voice had lost its depth.

"I just did."

The huge man let out a roar. He lunged across the floor with both hands like a charging bull. The crowd screamed and scattered. Tables went over. Chips scattered across the carpet like black rain.

Ethan stood up calmly from his chair. The War God Template was still sleeping. It would not be ready for hours. He did not need it.

Tiger's first punch came like a wrecking ball. Ethan stepped to one side and let it pass. The second came lower. Ethan caught the fist in his palm. The sound was loud as a gunshot. The huge man's eyes went wide. He tried to pull back. He could not.

"Where is the old man who called you?" Ethan asked quietly.

"Go to hell."

Ethan twisted. Bone groaned. Tiger fell to one knee with a strangled cry.

"I will ask again. Who called you?"

Tiger gritted his teeth. Sweat ran down his face. His voice came out in a hoarse whisper. "I never met him. He only sent money. A hundred million, half in advance. He said bring the pendant to the Silver Pavilion on the first of next month."

"The Silver Pavilion," Ethan repeated.

"That is all I know." Tiger's whole body shook. "Please. I am a dead man if you say my name."

Ethan let go. Tiger fell forward onto his hands and breathed in short harsh gasps. The guards watched in silence.

Ethan turned to the room.

"Everyone in this building works for me now," he said. "Anyone who wants a job may stay. Anyone who wants to leave may leave. The gambling debts of every guest here tonight are forgiven. Go home. Tell your friends that Harbor Nine is under new management."

For a moment no one moved. Then a woman in a gold dress began to clap. A man beside her joined her. Within seconds, the whole hall was applauding.

Ethan walked out through the middle of the cheering crowd with his hands in his pockets. Behind him, Black Tiger Rao Hu knelt on the casino floor and did not lift his head.

The System chimed softly.

[Mission complete: Black Tiger Gang crushed.]

[Reward: Underworld Dominion Token.]

[New location discovered: The Silver Pavilion.]

He stepped out into the cool night air. The neon tiger on the roof flickered once and went dark.