An invasion from the Abyss? I, a demonic cultivator, laughed.

Chapter 142 All-in
Norton stared in shock at the corpses scattered all over the ground.

As the only knight under the Baron, he was in charge of the town's security and defense, making him the de facto second-in-command.

But in the sixty years he had served the Baron, he had never seen such a horrifying sight.

The dried blood stained the streets dark red, bits of flesh clung to the walls, severed bodies were everywhere, and a large number of monsters hid in the city, like venomous snakes ready to devour their prey!
"What on earth happened?"

Before he arrived, he had already heard his subordinates' report and originally thought that at most it was just a crazy person who was high on drugs who burned down the warehouse containing the herb of ecstasy.

This is certainly a huge loss, but for Norton, it's not a particularly difficult problem to deal with.

Find the culprit, hang him in the most conspicuous place in town and torture him for three days and three nights, making sure every gambler can see him, and then execute him in the most cruel way. This will be enough to make these desperate people maintain a basic sense of awe towards death even after they are high on drugs.

So after instructing his guards to wear protective masks, he led four knights and his men to this place.

But the scene before him made him realize that things were far from simple!
This was a premeditated attack on the city!
"Hmph, what audacity! Daring to use such tricks under the watchful eye of the God of Gamblers?"

Norton snorted coldly, narrowed his eyes, and carefully examined the figures that were faintly visible in the red mist.

"The enemy should be mainly composed of warriors, but their numbers are extremely large, about the same as my guard."

"There are also a few of them at the Fierce Rank."

"But it seems these wandering fellows are not their leader yet."

After a moment's hesitation, Norton turned to the notary beside him and asked, "Can you intervene?"

The notary nodded mechanically: "My duty is to uphold the gambling rules. Any offensive tactics outside of gambling should be punished by the God of Gamblers."

Upon hearing this, Norton felt relieved.

In a world where people worship the God of Gamblers, each notary is incredibly powerful, far surpassing the gambler's own abilities, in order to ensure the fair conduct of the game to the greatest extent possible.

The notary public for the jazz gamblers possesses strength comparable to a general! His physique is also over a thousand!
Such strength is astonishing no matter where it is placed. With a notary involved, the intruders should be easily dealt with.

With that thought, Norton felt relieved. He turned to his men and shouted, "Everyone, prepare for battle! As long as we repel the invaders, everyone will be rewarded with three catties of Blissful Grass! For every Warrior-ranked soldier killed, we'll add another catty! Those who don't want the grass can exchange it for points!"

The Bliss Grass goes without saying, and the points can be exchanged for a lot of equipment, as well as the qualification to become a high-level gambler, which is extremely valuable. This immediately excited the members of the guard team.

With Norton leading the charge, the warriors stormed into the town. After cooperating for a while, they automatically formed combat teams without much explanation. With their combined efforts, the outermost monsters were easily cleared out, and more than a dozen were killed in the blink of an eye.

"It seems this intruder isn't as formidable as I thought," Norton thought to himself.

However, just as this thought arose, another loud bang suddenly came from the center of town!
Norton's heart tightened, and he looked in the direction of the sound. In the hazy red mist, it seemed as if a colossal creature rose from the ground and stretched towards the sky.

"What is that?" Norton narrowed his eyes, just about to go and investigate, when suddenly a scream came from beside him!
Suddenly, one of his warriors, a dragonman, was pounced on by a ferocious monster. Strangely, even though the dragonman had already plunged his sword into the monster's body, the monster did not immediately lose its fighting ability like the other monsters that the group had killed before. Instead, it turned around and bit the dragonman's neck!
Just as the others were about to come to their rescue, a large number of demons suddenly rushed out of the red mist, like a well-trained army, and directly stormed into their position!
This sudden attack threw all the guards into a panic.

"Sir! All the monsters in the city are gathering here!"

"And what's more, how come they're so hard to kill!"

Amidst the horrified screams of the crowd, Norton was shocked to discover that these monsters had somehow acquired a thick layer of bloody light. Whenever his teammates inflicted damage, that bloody light would quickly transform into powerful life energy, healing their injuries!
In particular, these monsters possess a bizarre ability to transform from physical form into a soul body, making it difficult even for a fierce-rank squad leader to kill them in a short period of time!

Norton had a bad feeling, but as a peak-level gambler with the blessing of the God of Gamblers, he was extremely confident in himself and instantly realized the core of the problem!
"The source of that blood-red energy is that giant thing that suddenly rose up in the center of the town!"

"This might be some kind of special tool that has created a recovery field."

"To catch the thief, first catch the king. As long as I destroy that behemoth, the remaining monsters will naturally be no match for the guards!"

With a notary in charge, he was confident that the leader hiding behind the scenes was no match for him!
With this thought in mind, Norton did not hesitate and rushed towards the town center, with his notary following closely behind.

In just a few breaths, Norton had covered hundreds of meters and had seen the entirety of the behemoth.

It was a blood-red vine that had sprung up from the ground, reaching the height of a five- or six-story building, and was still growing. Numerous tentacles extended outwards from its roots, engulfing the corpses of the town's gamblers and then swallowing them into its body, slowly crushing and absorbing them as its own nourishment.

"really!"

"Jamie, destroy those blood vines!"

As he finished speaking, the notary beside Norton pushed off the ground with both feet, leaping into the air with tremendous force. At the same time, a three-meter-long greatsword appeared in his hand, ready to slash at the blood-red vines!
However, at that moment, a cold voice suddenly rang in Norton's ear.

"You're really confident in yourself."

The moment Norton heard that voice, he felt a chill run down his spine. He looked up in horror and saw a figure that had appeared above him at some unknown time, with its wings spread and its body shrouded in black mist, looking like a demon!

Her dark eyes, calm as an ancient well, were looking down at him.

Almost the instant their eyes met, Norton felt an extremely dangerous feeling rise within him!

Before he could even think, a rapidly enlarging demonic fist appeared right in front of him!
He only had time to instinctively block before the fist slammed into him! The next moment, the excruciating pain of broken bones flooded his mind!

"boom!"

With a loud crash, Norton's arms snapped, and he flew backward like a rag doll, crashing heavily into the wall!
He lay limp in the ruins, his face still showing an expression of disbelief and horror. His mind was almost blank, and only the constant, intense pain throughout his body reminded him of how terrifying the power of that punch had been!
With just one punch, his peak-level ferocious skill, blessed by the God of Gamblers, was shattered!

"boom!"

Just then, another loud crash came from his side. The notary, who had been dismantled into scrap metal, was thrown over and smashed down a wall.

Now, even the last shred of hope in his heart vanished.

"Your Excellency, what kind of monster have you provoked?!"

In his final moments, Norton had only one thought in his mind.

"boom!"

A demonic hand descended from the sky and smashed his head.

A large number of items were dropped, and Chu Xiu casually waved his hand to collect them all.

"As expected of a knight, one person's net worth is a full six hundred chips, as well as a lot of equipment and items of high quality."

Chu Xiu smiled with satisfaction.

Of course, all of this was expected, but to his surprise, the effects of the blood vine far exceeded his expectations!

Chu Xiu could feel that under the power of the Blood Vine, the speed of his body's repair had reached an astonishing level, and he could now use demonic energy to infuse his body without any restrictions!
This is why he was able to deal with the notary, whose physical condition was as high as 1,000, so easily.

After all, notaries only have high basic attributes, but no tricky skills or traits.

What's terrifying is that, according to the information from the Blood Vine, its current growth rate is less than one-third!
"As expected of a mythical-level item!"

"And the limitation that it needs to be regenerated every time it is used makes its effect even stronger than that of ordinary mythical items!"

With the Blood Vine as his backup, Chu Xiu had no worries at all. He didn't believe that anyone could kill him within the Blood Vine's domain in a mere Fierce-Rank Trial.

Without further hesitation, Chu Xiu rushed out and began to hunt down the town's guards and the remaining four knight gamblers.

While maintaining his demonic energy throughout, his killing efficiency reached an astonishing level. In no time, he annihilated all the enemies, and their souls caused the number of ferocious ghosts to surge again, approaching three hundred!

The physical body naturally became nourishment for the Heavenly Blood Vine, allowing it to grow further.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the huge city was completely turned into a ghost town!
"Now then."

Chu Xiu looked towards the castle.

"Only one last problem remains to be solved."

Meanwhile, in the Golden Hall.

The game is getting more and more intense, and it has already reached the twenty-third round.

Ever since Lin Ji made a fortune in that one hand of all-in poker, his luck in gambling hasn't stopped; on the contrary, it's gotten better and better! He's been winning non-stop!
This gave him over six hundred chips, and he became more and more confident in his gambling, raising the stakes every hand. Several times, even with a terrible hand, he managed to scare the Baron into folding simply by using his aura.

He seemed to have become the protagonist in the Golden Hall.

"You've won quite a bit, it's about time to stop." Song Linchuan patted him on the shoulder.

"What's the rush?" Lin Ji said excitedly. "Even if we lose, we'll still get tokens, so we won't lose anything." "I'm on a winning streak right now, let's play a few more rounds! We can always leave when we lose!"

Song Linchuan didn't try to persuade him further, but a hint of worry flashed in his eyes. He felt a vague unease, as if he had missed something important. His intuition told him that the Baron was brewing some kind of conspiracy.

But upon closer reflection, Lin Ji's words made a lot of sense. Even if everyone lost all their chips, as long as they had enough to pass the trial, everyone would still make a huge profit.

And in so many games, the Baron really didn't show any signs of cheating, so he couldn't find any evidence to support his "intuition".

And as he pondered, the twenty-fourth inning began.

As soon as the cards were dealt, Lin Ji eagerly picked up his hand and almost burst out laughing.

Another big hand, two Jacks!

"Raise the bet!"

He generously bet ten chips, and Song Linchuan and Bian Guanyue exchanged a glance and folded, while Baron chose to call.

After all, there are five community cards. Before the community cards are revealed, the information you can get from your hand is very limited. Many people will look at the community cards before folding, even if they have small cards.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the notary dealt three community cards: 4, 10, and Q. The suits were mixed, which was of little use to Lin Ji and left him somewhat disappointed.

But his eyes darted around, and he pushed his chips forward, shouting, "Raise! Fifty!"

In the previous rounds, the Baron would usually fold when he saw how confident Lin Ji was, but Lin Ji was no longer satisfied with the normal game strategy and started to try to bluff and play psychological warfare.

This time, however, the Baron did not fold; instead, he calmly chose to call.

This made Lin Ji's heart tighten.

However, when the fourth card was dealt, Lin Ji swallowed all his worries.

The fourth card was another Jack!

This gives him three Jacks! And based on the community cards, no matter what the fifth card is, or what the Baron's hole cards are, it's impossible for him to form a flush, four of a kind, or any other hand.

In other words, he is almost certain to win this time!

"One hundred chips!"

Lin Ji laughed and pushed out the chips in front of him. At this moment, he was actually glad that the Baron hadn't been tricked by him before.

The baron opposite him gave him a half-smile, then calmly chose to call.

Soon, the fifth card was dealt, a 3 of clubs.

This put Lin Ji's mind at ease.

Now, a full house is no longer possible; only a straight can beat him.

In other words, the Baron's hand needs to be a combination of 89, 9K, or KA.

However, the combined probability of drawing these three card types is less than five percent!

"Two hundred chips!"

Lin Ji directly bet most of his remaining wealth on it.

The Baron simply smiled and said, "Yes."

"Great!" Lin Ji shouted excitedly, "Let's reveal the cards!"

"slow."

However, at this moment, the Baron interrupted him again.

"I want to raise the bet."

"Add more?" Lin Ji was somewhat taken aback. At this moment, he suddenly realized that this scene seemed very similar to the previous high-stakes gamble.

At that moment, the Baron's voice, tinged with a hint of amusement, rang out.

“Great, I’ll raise the bet.”

"I want more—"

"One thousand chips!"

As soon as the Baron finished speaking, the gambling table fell silent; everyone looked on in astonishment.

Lin Ji stood up abruptly, exclaiming incredulously, "A thousand chips??? Where would I get so many chips?"

"If you don't have enough chips, you can exchange them for other things."

"Or if you're confident enough—"

The Baron gave Song Linchuan and Bian Guanyue a half-smile.

"You can also borrow it from your companion."

Upon hearing this, Lin Ji's expression immediately darkened.

A thousand chips wouldn't be enough, even if you added up all of Song Linchuan and Bian Guanyue's chips; you'd have to exchange all their legendary equipment for them!
"Are you trying to force me to fold this way?" Lin Ji sneered. "But don't forget, Texas Hold'em has an all-in rule."

All-in means betting all your chips. This way, even if you don't have enough chips, you can continue until the reveal stage. Of course, the chips won in this way are not 100% guaranteed. They will be recalculated according to a set of conversion rules.

In fact, given Song Linchuan's thoroughness in considering things, he would naturally not have overlooked this point. He had confirmed the validity of this rule beforehand before proceeding with the betting.

Otherwise, if the Baron were to bet a thousand chips every hand, there would be no need to gamble at all; he could force everyone to fold every hand.

So you're going all-in?

Lin Ji's words did not cause the Baron any panic; he simply asked calmly.

Now it was Lin Ji's turn to hesitate.

This is all his chips! Even if the odds of winning are over 90%, how many people would have the courage to gamble their entire fortune?
If he loses, it means all his previous efforts will be in vain. In fact, since he has already gotten back his forty chips that guaranteed him to pass the game, whether he can pass the game after losing is unknown.

But if he gives up now, it means all his previous investments will go down the drain—that's almost four hundred chips! Losing that would basically mean going back to square one overnight.

If he wins, his assets will double! Enough to buy that [Legendary] quality equipment!

“Lin Ji, let it go,” Song Linchuan said in a low voice. “I feel something is wrong. Although I can’t figure out what the problem is, my intuition tells me that the Baron is definitely plotting something.”

"You are the third young master of the Lin family. There is no need to risk your life for a [legendary] piece of equipment. If you can clear the game safely, don't cause any more trouble."

Song Linchuan was right. Although Lin Ji, as the third young master of the Lin family, was not as talented as his older brothers and sisters and was not the main heir, the resources he could obtain were beyond the imagination of ordinary people.

A legendary piece of equipment is certainly valuable, but it's not to the point where he would risk his life for it.

but.
For some reason, Lin Ji was as if possessed at this moment. Even though he clearly understood the principle, he just couldn't bring himself to say the words "fold." Every time the words were on his lips, it felt like hundreds of hands were tearing at his heart. Countless voices seemed to be repeating in his mind, "What if the Baron is bluffing you?", "You have such a strong hand, you're sure to win!", "The Baron is bluffing you!", "If you give up now, you'll regret it for the rest of your life!"

The cacophony of voices made his mouth dry. He stared intently at the card table, his eyes practically bulging out of their sockets, his heart pounding wildly as if it might explode in his chest at any moment!
The voice in my mind grew louder and more unified.

The Baron is bluffing you, the Baron is bluffing you, you will win, you will win!
"Oh!"

Lin Ji slammed his hand heavily on the card table.

Under the complex gazes of Song Linchuan and Bian Guanyue, he pushed out all the chips in front of him.

"All-in".

His eyes were red as he spoke slowly, but firmly.

(End of this chapter)