A real killer playing a villain; the guy surnamed Zhen in Detective, run!

Beneath the tabletop, an electromagnetic coil embedded in the wooden planks of the gambling table was activated.

Advanced cheating techniques utilize fine-tuning devices. The magnetic ink on the back of the cards produces subtle differences in heat at specific frequencies, allowing trained dealers to accurately determine the suit and rank of each card through tactile sensation with their fingertips.

By combining different card dealing techniques, a specific person can be given any card they want, or any card they don't want.

The dealer's fingers glide across the cards, the second joint of his index finger resting on the back third of the card. Thermal feedback: Two of Clubs, Seven of Diamonds, dead card.

He slid this dead hand into the Saudis' position.

Lu Yuan picked up the corner of the card with his right hand and put it there without looking at it.

The black lacquer on the tabletop reflected a very faint light under the crystal chandelier overhead. Each time the dealer dealt cards, there was a 0.2-second pause with his fingertip as it passed over the magnetic control area; that was when he was reading the cards.

Normally, dealers do not need to read the cards.

Lu Yuan placed the dead card face down on the table. "Discard."

The next hand, the dealer dealt him another marginal hand, neither strong nor weak. Lu Yuan called a small bet, then precisely folded after the flop, minimizing his losses.

In three consecutive hands, he avoided all the dead cards dealt by the dealer with minimal cost.

Lu Yuan had been observing the betting rhythm of the five accountants at the same table.

The essence of money laundering is "winner-lose distribution." Who loses to whom and how much is all calculated in advance. The raising size, calling timing, and folding order of each hand constitute a hidden money transfer protocol.

Lu Yuan spent six hands decoding the operating logic of this protocol.

On the seventh hand, the dealer dealt a good hand to accountant number five. According to the script, accountant number three should have bet all their cards to him after the cards were flipped to complete a "transfer" of two million.

Lu Yuan bet everything before Accountant No. 3 did.

Accountant number five hesitated. This scene wasn't in the script. He looked at the dealer, whose eyelids twitched.

Call? Nobody knows Lu Yuan's hand. Don't call? Fund transfer is interrupted, the chain is stuck.

Number 5 gritted his teeth and called. The cards were flipped over, and Lu Yuan's hole cards were the Ace of Hearts and the King of Spades.

When did he change his cards? Nobody saw it. Two million four hundred thousand euros in chips were pushed in front of Lu Yuan.

In the monitoring room, the technician's voice trembled: "The net outflow of funds from the No. 3 table's capital pool has exceeded 80 million."

The clerk's fingers gripped the handrail tightly.

......

Forty minutes later, the chips in front of Lu Yuan had piled up into a small mountain.

The syndicated funds at Table 3 have less than 30 million left. If another round of withdrawals occurs, the entire money laundering chain will collapse from the middle, like a bridge with a broken main beam.

The clerk came out of the monitoring room, took off his coat, straightened his shirt cuffs, and walked into the VIP lobby.

Behind him followed a new dealer with long, slender fingers and dexterity far exceeding that of ordinary people. This was the top-tier cheater that the Syndicate had been training for twelve years.

"Sir," the clerk said politely as he sat down opposite Lu Yuan, "you've got good luck."

Lu Yuan crossed his legs, flipping the chips between his fingers: "Luck is something God gives you."

The clerk smiled, stared at Lu Yuan's face, and began to scan him frame by frame using the micro-expression analysis system.

The frequency of pupil dilation, the amplitude of orbicularis oculi muscle contraction, and the slight trembling of the skin on both sides of the nose are all emotional signals that anyone will reveal during high-pressure situations.

The new dealer took his seat, shuffling the cards with fluid, effortless grace. In his hands, the cards weren't just pieces of paper; they were weapons.

"Blind shuffle swap" involves using a slight movement of the muscles at the base of the thumb during the third bridge of the shuffle to swap the bottom card with the seventh card. The entire process takes less than 0.3 seconds; even in slow motion (10x), it appears as a blurry afterimage.

This is a skill that only the most skilled gamblers can achieve.

Lu Yuan picked up the cards, and the clerk stared intently at his facial muscles.

Below Lu Yuan's right cheekbone, a very thin muscle fiber twitched for a fraction of a second.

The clerk caught the signal. A textbook example of a "stress micro-expression"—the other person was nervous and had been dealt a bad hand.

The clerk raised the stake to twenty million. Lu Yuan hesitated for a moment, then placed the bet.

The clerk added another fifty million. Lu Yuan's breathing rate increased by four percent.

Lu Yuan continued to play. The cards were flipped, and three community cards were revealed, putting Lu Yuan at a disadvantage.

The clerk bet everything. The entire pot totaled over 120 million euros.

Lu Yuan tapped the edge of the table twice with his left index finger. "Follow."

The clerk breathed a sigh of relief; the fish had taken the bait. All the micro-expressions he had just read pointed to the same conclusion: the other party was putting on a brave face.

The last community card is turned over.

"Show your cards." The clerk turned over his bottom cards, a full house of red. The dealer's blind shuffle had given him a perfect hand.

Lu Yuan pushed his hole card to the center of the table: a royal flush!

The clerk's smile froze on his face. He stared at the two cards, as if something had snapped in his mind!

The dealer has checked the arrangement of the hole cards; this outcome is impossible. Unless... unless someone changed the cards again after the dealer had already changed them.

But when? The clerk's eyes never left the other person's hand.

Lu Yuan stood up, finished the last sip of whiskey in his glass, and said, "Gentlemen, thank you for your hospitality tonight."

The chips totaled 120 million euros. Adding the previous wins, the total is close to one billion.

The syndicate's money laundering pool was exposed tonight.

......

The clerk took three minutes to regain his composure; he couldn't let the money leave the ship.

The 1.2 billion hole was supposed to be filled with tonight's betting, but not only has it not been filled, someone has also stolen 1 billion. Will the elder statesman give him a chance to explain?

"Sir," the clerk approached Lu Yuan, his voice low, "settling this amount of chips requires captain-level authorization. Please follow me."

Lu Yuan glanced at him. He knew it was a trap, but he needed it.

To make a move in the VIP lobby? There are over two hundred guests on the sixth deck, more than thirty armed security guards, and the surveillance is comprehensive. Even if he kills the clerk, he won't be able to leave this ship.

A sealed room is the cleanest place. There are no surveillance cameras, no witnesses, and no third-party signals entering or leaving.

After killing someone, they can simply vanish into thin air on the cruise ship, as long as it's done cleanly enough.

"Please." Lu Yuan adjusted his cufflinks.

In the secret room on the ground floor, the lead door was closed. The clerk turned around, and two heavily armed bodyguards had already drawn their silenced Glocks, pointing the muzzles at the back of Lu Yuan's head.

"Sir, the game is over." The clerk's tone returned to the cold indifference of the interrogation room. "Put down your chips, and you can leave alive."

Lu Yuan didn't turn around. "Aren't you curious about who I am?"

The clerk frowned, and Lu Yuan made a move.

He lowered his body, shifted his weight forward, and transferred all the force of his right foot pushing off the ground to his left elbow. The elbow struck the bodyguard's ribs on the right, a shot rang out, and the bullet embedded itself in the ceiling.

Without pausing, Lu Yuan gripped the gun barrel with his left hand and pressed down, while his right palm slammed into the bodyguard's temple. Before the bodyguard could fall, Lu Yuan had already moved on to the second one.

With his right hand, Lu Yuan gripped the opponent's wrist holding the gun and twisted it outwards. "Crack!" The radius bone broke. The gun slipped from the opponent's hand. Lu Yuan then seized the opportunity to grab the back of the opponent's neck and thrust his knee down, dislocating the cervical vertebrae.

Two and a half seconds before and after!