Home / System / The Gambling System / Chapter 57: Second Half
Chapter 57: Second Half
Author: Sam Shelby
last update2025-03-29 14:48:52

The second half was underway, and the air inside the stadium crackled with expectation.

Down on the pitch, the ten-man Madrid Imperials braced for the inevitable onslaught. The Manchester Titans, already a powerhouse, now had the numerical advantage and the deadliest weapon in their arsenal—their star striker, freshly introduced from the bench. He was a game-changer, the kind of player who needed only a sliver of space, a fraction of a second, to punish a defense. And Madrid, battered and shorthanded, had to somehow hold the line.

In the Viewing Centre, Peter sat frozen, every muscle in his body coiled with tension. The luxury around him—crystal glasses, velvet seats—was a distant blur. His world had been reduced to a single screen, to the flashing numbers that dictated his fortune. Every pass, every counterattack, every desperate clearance was a shift in probability, an invisible tug on the strings of fate.

✅ Madrid to Win or Draw → Still in play.

✅ Over 2.5 Goals → Already secur
Continue to read this book for free
Scan the code to download the app

Related Chapters

  • The Gambling System   Chapter 58 – The Third Round Begins

    The room was silent.A silence so thick, so absolute, it felt like the world itself was holding its breath.Peter’s pulse pounded in his ears, the weight of his last win still pressing against his ribs. 158.6 million euros. The largest victory of his career. A sum that would make even the most seasoned gamblers lose their composure.But Logan had won more.1.4 million more.It was a meaningless margin. A fraction of a fraction.And yet it meant everything.Logan sat across from him, perfectly composed. He wasn’t gloating. He wasn’t celebrating. He simply swirled the ice in his whiskey glass, watching Peter with that quiet, unreadable smirk. Not mocking. Not condescending. Just waiting.Waiting for Peter to break.A slow breath. A sharp exhale.Then, Peter leaned forward and slammed his palm onto the table.🔥 "Again." 🔥The words cut through the silence like a blade.Logan raised an eyebrow, his smirk widening ever so slightly. Amusement flickered in his eyes, but only f

  • The Gambling System   Chapter 59: Racecourse

    The Royal Derby Racecourse pulsed with an almost electric energy, the kind that surged through the veins of gamblers, enthusiasts, and dreamers alike. The grandstands overflowed, a living, breathing sea of bodies, each person adding their own voice to the chaotic symphony of cheers, laughter, and anxious whispers.Peter stood near the VIP betting lounge, the hum of high-stakes wagers and whispered strategies buzzing around him like static in the air. The scent of freshly cut turf mingled with the sharp bite of expensive cigars and the effervescence of champagne, a stark contrast to the raw tension tightening in his chest.His fingers curled around a glass of whiskey—untouched. Not out of hesitation, but because his mind was too consumed with the towering digital display above the racetrack, where odds flickered and shifted like the heartbeat of the betting world. Millions were on the line tonight.Race Conditions🔹 Track: Slightly damp, but good footing. The morning drizzle had s

  • The Gambling System   Chapter 60: Second Chance

    [Activate: Second Chance.]The moment Peter activated Second Chance, reality fractured.The world lurched backward, violently yanked by an unseen force. Colors bled into streaks of motion, sounds distorted into warped echoes, and then—everything reversed.The massive race screen played in high-speed rewind—jockeys sat upright from falls, dirt unscattered from hooves, horses uncrossed the finish line. The cheers of the crowd sucked inward, voices turning into alien syllables. Then came the pain.It was like his brain had been ripped from his skull, stretched, and shoved back in—fracturing, breaking, reforming. His lungs locked, his stomach twisted into a vicious knot, and the sheer weight of time itself crushed him.Somewhere, distantly, he thought he might be screaming.Then—Silence.Peter’s body slammed back into reality.His breath tore from his lungs, raw and ragged. His vision spun, his skin clammy with cold sweat. A familiar nausea clawed up his throat, and before he

  • The Gambling System   Chapter 61: The Gentleman’s Game

    The fourth round began.Victory still clung to Peter like a second skin, its warmth settling deep into his bones, its thrill a heady rush of adrenaline coursing through his every thought. He had won. Finally. A foothold in this war. A breath of control in the chaos.The score stood at 2-1—Logan still in the lead. But that didn’t matter. Not anymore.Because Peter had something far more valuable than a single win.A second chance. A guarantee.Second Chance had turned the tide in his favor, letting him rewrite his mistakes, glimpse beyond the present, bend fate to his will. But the side effects…A wailing storm inside his skull.A relentless pull, like a rubber band stretched too thin, on the verge of snapping.A constant gnawing at the edges of his mind, whispering of consequences yet to come.Peter gritted his teeth and shoved it all aside. Pain was irrelevant. Doubt was irrelevant. Only the game mattered.The wheel spun.Click-click-click.The symbols blurred—football, b

  • The Gambling System   Chapter 62: Scripted?

    As the final wicket fell, as Australia erupted in celebration and England trudged off in defeat, Peter leaned back in his chair. He exhaled, slow and measured.Logan leaned back in his seat, his posture relaxed, his smirk just shy of arrogance. The dim light of the viewing center caught the sharp angles of his face, the smooth glint of his whiskey glass as he tilted it slightly in his fingers. The ice clinked.“Are you kidding me?” Logan mused, shaking his head. “What a waste.”Peter didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he exhaled slowly, as if savoring something unseen. The weight of the race still hummed in his bones, the echoes of the crowd, the pounding of hooves, the adrenaline-fueled final stretch—it was all still there, just beneath the surface.But Logan?Logan had no idea.Peter rolled his shoulders, stretching his fingers against the polished wood of the table. His body still felt heavy, like he’d been run over, his nerves raw from the strain of what had just happened—w

  • The Gambling System   Chapter 63: The bar

    The bar Logan chose was nothing like the one before. This wasn’t just luxury—it was an exhibition of wealth so obscene it bordered on arrogance. Crystal chandeliers hung like frozen lightning, casting fractured light across the obsidian marble floors. The air carried the scent of aged whiskey and untouchable status.Logan led the way, his movements slow, calculated, every step a statement.Peter followed, masking the pain clawing through his body with every step. The Second Chance ability had taken its toll, an invisible knife slicing through his nerves with each passing second. But he couldn’t show it. Not to Logan. Not now.They reached the private lounge, a secluded alcove bathed in dim gold lighting, where silence held more weight than words. Logan gestured toward the pristine leather seats, his expression unreadable.Peter sat, forcing himself to exhale slowly.The pain was getting worse.It felt like his bones were vibrating with a frequency not meant for the human body, l

  • The Gambling System   Chapter 64: The Restroom

    Peter’s vision swam as he gripped the sink tighter, his knuckles turning white against the porcelain. The pain wasn’t fading—it was evolving. What had begun as a dull, relentless pounding was now a knife twisting behind his eyes, burrowing deeper into his skull like a parasite feeding on his thoughts. His breaths came slow and heavy, each inhale laced with nausea, each exhale trembling with the effort of control. He wasn’t sure if this was just the aftermath of Second Chance or something deeper. Something breaking inside him. It felt like his mind was splitting apart. Like his reality was fracturing. Two pasts. Two futures. Two versions of himself fighting for dominance. His body still remembered the crushing weight of defeat. But his mind clung to victory—the flawless counterplay, the rewinding of time itself, the win that shouldn’t have been possible. Both realities bled together. Neither willing to be forgotten. Peter squeezed his eyes shut, fighting against the spiraling tho

  • The Gambling System   Chapter 65: Round 5

    Pain.It was becoming a constant. A companion he never invited but could no longer shake.Peter’s head pulsed with it, a dull throb behind his temples that refused to ease, no matter how much he tried to steady his breathing. The world around him felt strangely off—too bright, too loud, too fast.Peter’s head was pounding.The ache had settled behind his eyes, a dull, unrelenting pressure that refused to fade. Every breath felt heavier, his body sluggish, his thoughts running in loops. The encounter in the restroom still clung to him, but he shoved it aside. He had to focus.The moment he and Logan stepped back into the Viewing Center, the grand display walls flickered to life. Screens stretched across the room, wrapping them in a high-definition arena of color and movement. The very air hummed with the weight of high-stakes betting.Peter barely registered it.His fingers twitched at his sides. His breathing was slow but uneven. The pain wasn’t fading—it was building. Growing sh

Latest Chapter

  • Chapter 105: Weaker hand

    Gasps rippled through the crowd like a sudden gust of wind.“Weaker hand?”“Is he insane?”“Who the hell bets one chip and chooses weak?”But Peter didn’t flinch.He wasn’t playing for approval. Not anymore.He kept his eyes on Viktor.That one twitch — the faintest shift in posture — was all he needed.He’d seen it in Naomi once, too. That subtle crack in the armor. That brief moment of calculation derailed by unpredictability.Peter had learned something Naomi never realized: the one thing people like Viktor feared wasn’t strength.It was chaos.Because chaos couldn’t be controlled.And chaos couldn’t be predicted.“Weaker hand it is,” the dealer confirmed, still unsure whether she should be impressed or terrified. “Reveal your cards.”Peter laid them out carefully:Ace of Spades. Joker. 7 of Hearts. 6 of Clubs. 4 of Spades.Unorthodox. No pairs. No combos. A high card and a wildcard. A hand that could’ve gone either way — but in this game, it was weak.Very weak.

  • Chapter 104: Viktor's fury

    The sound of Naomi’s heels echoing off the stage faded into stunned silence. For a few seconds, no one moved.Then—Viktor stood.Slowly.Deliberately.Like a storm rising.The air in the room thickened. The crowd that had moments ago gasped at Naomi’s surrender now sat paralyzed, unsure whether they’d just witnessed a victory, a rebellion… or the beginning of something much worse.The dealer blinked. “Mr. Viktor—”Viktor raised a hand.She fell silent.He didn’t speak.He just stared at Naomi’s retreating figure. His jaw clenched. His eyes darkened.Then, finally, he turned his gaze to Peter.And smiled.But it wasn’t the smug smirk of a man in control. It was thinner now. Stretched tight across his face like a mask trying to hold together a crumbling expression.“You’re clever,” Viktor said.Peter didn’t answer.“You didn’t beat her with cards. You beat her with memories. With feelings.” He said the word like it was an insult.“I didn’t beat her at all,” Peter replie

  • Chapter 103: The Mirror Breaks

    Peter didn’t speak.He didn’t fidget. Didn’t sigh. Didn’t crack a joke.He just stared at his chips, at the rising tower across the table that now belonged to Naomi.And behind her…Viktor.He hadn’t said a word since sitting on stage. He hadn’t offered a nod, a smirk, or a twitch of condescension.He simply watched.Like a king at court.Like a god behind glass.Peter had never feared silence until now.Because in that silence—there was no reassurance.No mockery to sharpen his edge.No reaction to push against.It was Naomi’s game now.Naomi, with her red ruby necklace glinting under the stage lights.Naomi, who once trembled in his arms after a stormy night.Naomi, who now looked at him like a rival she intended to erase.The dealer reshuffled."Next round," she said simply.They both submitted their participation chip and the cards were dealt. Naomi gave up one card.Peter stared at his hand.9-Spade, 9-Heart, 7-Diamond, 3-Club, 2-Spade.Another pair.Anot

  • Chapter 102: Another Break

    During the break, the crowd buzzed with unease, trying to make sense of the exchange. Naomi had won the round, yes—but barely. And not convincingly. She didn’t celebrate. She didn’t even smirk. She simply gathered the chips with a mechanical hand, her mind elsewhere.Peter could see it. The flicker behind her eyes. The tremble she was trying to bury beneath bravado.And that’s when Viktor moved.He didn’t speak. He stood.Slowly. Deliberately. Like a king rising from a throne he never doubted was his.The lights of the hall seemed to bend toward him. Eyes turned. Voices hushed.Even the dealer, ever expressionless, paused mid-shuffle to watch.Viktor stepped onto the edge of the raised platform, not breaking eye contact with Peter. The distance between them was wide—but somehow, Peter felt like the man was breathing down his neck.“You’re clever, Peter,” Viktor said softly.His voice didn’t need to be loud. It carried.Too well.The crowd leaned in.Naomi’s spine went rigi

  • Chapter 101: Hunting

    The next round began with the quiet tension of a lit fuse. The crowd, now too stunned to keep up their commentary, watched in breathless silence. Naomi’s win had widened the chip gap again — Peter’s stack sat noticeably shorter, Viktor’s calm presence looming larger behind Naomi’s chair like a shadow.But Peter wasn’t fidgeting anymore.He sat still. Thinking. Observing.No more frantic energy. No more reactive betting.This time, Peter was hunting.They both dropped their participation chip for this round and the dealer laid down the cards, smooth and methodical. Five cards each.Peter didn’t even glance at his hand right away.Instead, he studied Naomi.She shifted her chair an inch back. Adjusted her sleeve. Looked at Viktor for a brief second — and in that blink, Peter saw something she didn’t mean to show.Uncertainty.She was no longer gambling for herself.And it was breaking her.“Will you trade?” the dealer asked.Peter didn’t hesitate. “One card.”Naomi blinked

  • Chapter 100: Just Pressure

    The next round was quieter.No shouts from the crowd. No big swings of excitement.Just pressure.Thick.Heavy.Alive.Naomi shuffled her cards with perfect grace, but her hands betrayed her — just slightly. A tremble in the thumb. A hitch in the wrist.Peter caught it all.This was new.Naomi had always thrived under risk. But now? The weight wasn’t just the money or the game. It was Viktor.The puppet strings were showing.Peter leaned back in his chair, deliberately casual, stretching his arms like he was lounging at a café.“I have to admit,” he said, eyes on Naomi but voice aimed at Viktor. “I thought you’d be scarier than this.”Viktor didn’t rise to the bait.But his fingers paused their motion along the rim of his untouched glass of water.Peter had noticed that too.No alcohol. No erratic behavior. Viktor didn’t gamble like Naomi.He didn’t chase the thrill.He chased the certainty of power.The illusion of invincibility.And illusions?Peter was learning

  • Chapter 99: After the Break

    The 10-minutes break elapsed soon enough and the dealer reset the table.Cards shuffled. Chips stacked. The next round loomed like a guillotine blade, swinging lower and lower with each tick of the clock.Naomi’s fingers tapped lightly on the felt table. Her ruby necklace — the same fake one she’d worn since childhood — glinted under the spotlight. It was a small, meaningless trinket to anyone else. But to her, it was a reminder:You chose this life. You chose the gamble.Peter was silent, staring at his untouched chips.He had 75 billion left.Naomi had over 200 billion.It was a massacre waiting to happen.But Naomi didn’t look smug this time.She looked… hungry.“Shall we?” the dealer asked, almost too polite.They both dropped their participation chip for this round and the cards were dealt.Five each.No words exchanged.Peter peeked at his hand. Two pairs. Not bad. But nothing to write home about.Naomi looked at hers and — to Peter’s shock — laughed.Not a polit

  • Chapter 98: The Cornered King

    The moment Viktor declared his 200 billion euro investment, the auditorium detonated in sheer chaos. Screams. Gasps. Phones snapping pictures. Some students stood in shock, others cheered like they were watching a high-stakes sports final. "Two hundred billion?!" "Is this real life?" "Who the hell has that kind of money just sitting around?" "That’s not gambling. That’s a declaration of war!" "Bro… this isn’t a game anymore. This is a massacre." Even some of the professors seated in the higher rows murmured uneasily, their whispers blotted by the crowd’s explosion of disbelief. A girl near the aisle dropped her soda and didn't even notice. A guy in a leather jacket muttered under his breath, "That’s more than the GDP of a small country." Katherina leaned forward in her seat, eyes wide with twisted delight. "Ooooh, it’s happening. The stakes are no longer just life or death — they’re legacy. This is beautiful." Grant, meanwhile, sat frozen in place — mouth parted, mind racin

  • Chapter 97: A Battle Beyond Money

    The crowd exploded again.If Peter’s bet had been a bomb, Viktor’s was a nuclear strike.People screamed.Chairs clattered against the floor.Someone in the back actually fainted."TWO HUNDRED BILLION?!""IS THIS EVEN LEGAL?!""WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?!""THIS IS MADNESS!"It wasn’t just a gamble anymore.It was warfare on a scale none of them had ever witnessed.---And in the center of it all —amid the chaos and disbelief —Peter and Viktor locked eyes.No words.No smiles.Just two forces of nature colliding —and only one of them would walk away.The second Viktor’s voice cut through the air —"Two hundred billion." —the reaction was cataclysmic.The arena didn't just erupt — it detonated.It was as if the very walls trembled from the shockwave of noise.A thousand voices screamed at once, the sound bouncing off the ceilings and hammering into the floor.Some people laughed hysterically, others yelled in disbelief, and still more sat frozen, mouths gaping like broken machines."TWO

Explore and read good novels for free
Free access to a vast number of good novels on MegaNovel app. Download the books you like and read anywhere & anytime.
Read books for free on the app
Scan code to read on App