Lu Bingkun, sitting by the gambling table, was undergoing a completely different transformation.
He could feel waves of warmth surging into his body. Vitality, like a rising tide, rapidly filled his decaying frame.
His shriveled muscles filled out bit by bit, and his sagging skin became tight and elastic once more. His gray hair turned from white to black, and his fallen teeth grew back one by one.
The soreness and dull pain throughout his body vanished into thin air, replaced by a sense of inexhaustible strength.
“I... I’ve become young again?”
Lu Bingkun couldn't wait to stand up. He strode to the full-length mirror in the corner of the entertainment room. The mirror reflected a man in his early twenties.
He had pitch-black hair, a ruddy complexion, sharp eyes, and a tall, upright posture.
“Good! Good! Good!”
Lu Bingkun spoke the word three times toward the mirror, his voice loud and full of vigor. He had truly become young again!
This feeling of regaining what was lost was ten thousand times better than earning billions of dollars.
Without so much as a glance at his children pleading and struggling on the floor, he turned back to the gambling table.
Looking at the empty chair opposite him, the fire in Lu Bingkun's eyes grew hotter. The longevity of three of his children had made him decades younger.
It wasn't enough. It was far from enough.
He had nine children, plus four illegitimate sons and three illegitimate daughters. Added together, there were thirteen members of the Jian generation.
If he won all of their lifespans, how young could he become? He had already mastered the pattern; he wanted to win more!
He wanted to live for a hundred years, a thousand years, ten thousand years! At the thought of this, the blood throughout his body began to boil.
“Continue.”
Lu Bingkun slapped the table, his voice carrying an irrepressible excitement. “In this round, I bet all of my children.”
“There are thirteen members of the Lu family's Jian generation, both legitimate and illegitimate. All of them.”
“If I win, the remaining lifespans of all of them belong to me. If I lose, their lives, as well as all of the Lu family's industries, assets, and connections, are all yours.”
He spoke as if it were a trivial matter.
The dice cup remained silent for a few seconds, as if weighing the trade, hesitant to begin.
Lu Bingkun had correctly guessed the results for over a dozen rounds and had returned to the peak of his physical condition; his confidence had reached a point of extreme inflation.
He seemed to sense the underworld messenger's hesitation and spoke up impatiently.
“I’ll bet my life—I’ll bet my life with you. Add my life to the stakes. If you win, you take everything I own.”
A few seconds later...
“Clatter, clatter, clatter—”
The dice cup floated up again. This time, it shook even more violently, the sound causing the tabletop to tremble slightly. It had accepted the bet.
This was an even greater gamble.
A confident smile curled on Lu Bingkun's lips. Gamblers always loved big stakes. The bigger the game, the more thrilling it was.
And he was one hundred percent certain he would win.
...
The dice cup vibrated in the air for the final time.
This time, the sound of the shaking was gentle and lingering, carrying a familiar rhythm. Lu Bingkun focused his hearing, concentrating entirely on the sound.
As he listened, he actually fell into a bit of a daze. This method of shaking the dice was far too familiar.
It was so familiar that it was etched into his youthful memories, something he could still recall decades later. Long-buried memories flooded into his mind uncontrollably.
...
Over fifty years ago, in an old house in Hong Kong.
Red candles flickered on their wedding night. A young and gentle Chen Shulan, dressed in a bright red wedding gown, sat opposite him with a tense face.
He had coaxed her with soft, gentle words: “A’lan, don't be so tense all the time. It's too tiring. I'll shake the dice, and you guess high or low. If you guess right, there's a prize; if you guess wrong, there's a penalty, okay?”
Although Chen Shulan still held a slight anger, she clearly relaxed. Chen Shulan, the only daughter of a gambling merchant, was a master at shaking dice.
After their marriage, the two of them had spent a sweet period of time together. Sometimes, Chen Shulan would even leave a flaw, intentionally letting Lu Bingkun guess the points correctly to accommodate his fragile self-esteem.
...
This familiar technique was clearly Chen Shulan's unique dice-shaking habit!
The sudden fragments of memory caused Lu Bingkun's mind to waver, his thoughts becoming cluttered. Why would he suddenly think of a dead person?
Distractions arose, and his focus wavered; he missed a single second. It was just a coincidence, he told himself. It was only similar.
Lu Bingkun shook his head. Based on where the dice landed, he was one hundred percent certain—the points this time were on the higher side. It had to be high.
There was absolutely no mistake!
“High!!”
Lu Bingkun's eyes were bloodshot. He was completely immersed in his extremely inflated desires, letting out muffled, beast-like grunts.
The shaking of the dice cup stopped abruptly.
“Thud.”
The cup landed on the table but didn't open immediately.
Lu Bingkun looked at the closed cup, a triumphant smile appearing on his face. He had won.
He had won again. This final all-in round would settle everything. If he won, he would live for eternity, remaining young forever while possessing endless wealth!
From then on, he would be able to escape the cycle of reincarnation, presiding over a billion-dollar family business and living in leisure for generations!
Lu Bingkun lunged forward, his fingers gripping the cup lid tightly as he suddenly flipped it open!
In the next second, the smile froze on his face.
Three dice lay quietly at the bottom of the cup. All three were ones—a triple that swept the board.
In the next second, within a thousand miles, numerous hidden anomalies erupted simultaneously in every corner of Jiangcheng.
In the Lu family's detached villa, in the VIP booths of top downtown nightclubs, in five-star presidential suites, in private high-end club rooms, and in the backseats of luxury cars returning from overseas—
Every single member of the Lu family's Jian generation, without exception, suddenly collapsed without warning.
One second, they were indulging in luxury and pleasure; the next, their bodies were convulsing violently, they were unable to speak, and their pupils suddenly dilated.
“What's happening?!”
“Young Master Lu! What's wrong with Young Master Lu?!”
“Quick, call an ambulance! Someone's having a seizure!”
“Someone's dead! Someone's dead! Look at his face!”
“There's a ghost! Call the people from the Special Investigation Bureau!”
Under the terrified gazes of the onlookers, the Lu family members, who were all in the prime of their lives, instantly turned into elderly people on the verge of death.
...
Lu Bingkun's blood froze instantly, and his mind went blank. He was even a bit dazed.
How could he have lost? He had heard it clearly; it was definitely high!
How could it be three ones? How could it be a triple that swept the board?
“No... impossible...”
“You must have cheated! You're cheating!”
Lu Bingkun was so enraged that he vomited a mouthful of blood, repeatedly pounding his chest. “You lied to me! You played a trick on me!!”
Why? Why on earth?!
There was no response, but since the gamble was over, it was time to collect the stakes.
In the next second, an irresistible, massive force suddenly crushed down. It felt as if a pair of invisible, giant hands had seized Lu Bingkun's limbs and were violently dragging him backward!
“Let me go! I don't accept this! I want to bet again! One more round!!”
He struggled frantically, his eyes filled with unwillingness. “I still have daughters, I still have grandchildren, I still have money! Gamble with me! Gamble with me!”
But all his struggling was in vain.
Thud!
Lu Bingkun was slammed heavily onto the marble floor. Immediately after, all the longevity he had just borrowed was being stripped away at ten or a hundred times the speed.
He was given a taste of the sweetness only to have it all taken away at once.
In just a few short seconds, Lu Bingkun seemed to relive the process of aging all over again. From a young man in his twenties, he rapidly regressed back to his previous near-death state.
The acceleration of the aging process brought about the pain of bone contraction and organ failure, layers upon layers of agony that made Lu Bingkun wish for death.
He lay paralyzed on the ground, unable to move. Even his breathing became weak, as if he would draw his last breath at any moment.
Beside him, the elderly faces of Lu Jianmin and her two brothers simultaneously showed expressions of satisfaction.
It was unclear if it was a hallucination.
As the crystal chandelier overhead flickered, an illusory shadow slowly emerged. Judging by the figure, it seemed to be a woman, wearing an old-fashioned white shroud with her hair tied up, her face covered by a smooth piece of white cloth.
The white cloth concealed her features and eyes, revealing no expression whatsoever.
Even though her expression couldn't be seen, one could feel it: she was smiling. She was laughing wildly.
On the other end of the shattered phone on the floor, the anxious voice of his personal secretary rang out.
【Chairman Lu, did you receive my message? Your call finally went through.】
【Master Zhang and his disciples were in a car accident as soon as they got off the plane yesterday. They're being resuscitated in the hospital...】
【They didn't make it. When he died, his mouth, eyes, and ears were full of cement... The Special Investigation Bureau has already taken over the investigation... Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?】
If Master Zhang was dead, then who was the person staying in the mansion?
Crack!
A bolt of lightning flashed. Lu Bingkun pulled the protective talisman given to him by "Master Zhang" out of his pocket, only to find it was just a handful of paper money.
He pieced the whole thing together, his face twisting into a mix of crying and laughing.
“A’lan, A’lan, it's you... It's been you all along...”
He understood. From beginning to end, the underworld messenger was Chen Shulan. There was no bribing of gods and ghosts, no borrowing of longevity against the heavens, and no changing of fate through gambling.
From the arrival of "Master Zhang" last night to the feast of a hundred ghosts in the game room, to the gambling table where they bet wealth and lives, to the destruction of the entire clan—it had all been Chen Shulan's plan from start to finish.
She wanted the Lu family's line to end; she wanted Lu Bingkun to have no descendants! Aside from her, who else could have done this?
She knew everything about him. she knew that in his youth, he had made a living in casinos and could listen to the dice. Similarly, she knew Lu Bingkun's cold-blooded greed better than anyone else.
That was why Chen Shulan hadn't taken his life directly. Instead, she had piqued his greed bit by bit, indulged his madness time and again, and watched him lose all his family wealth step by step.
She gave before she took; she indulged before she killed. There was no greater way to destroy a man than to crush his soul before taking his life.
...
“Shulan... you're cruel, so cruel...”
Tears welled up in Lu Bingkun's clouded eyes, his smile looking worse than crying. “I... I was wrong...”
“Spare my life... I know I was wrong...”
“I'll give it all back to you... I'll give everything back... Let me go...”
He struggled with difficulty, wanting to kowtow and beg for mercy, wanting to atone for his sins and beg for his life.
But the white figure standing under the light remained silent and motionless from beginning to end. Her face was covered in white cloth, devoid of any emotion. There was only indifference.
...
“Heh... heh... heh...”
Lu Bingkun's struggling gradually weakened, and his convulsions slowly stopped. He was dead.
After dominating Hong Kong for half his life, the cold-blooded helmsman of the Lu family finally died beside the gambling table he had set up with his own hands.
The white figure beckoned, and an unformed soul emerged from the corpse's mouth. For Lu Bingkun, death was not the end. The true torment was only just beginning.
The white figure slowly faded into the void as dawn approached on the horizon.
...
Daylight filtered through the gaps in the floor-to-ceiling windows, faintly entering the room. By the door, three elderly people with hair as white as frost lay paralyzed on the floor.
Lu Jianmin, Lu Jianye, and Lu Jiancheng.
The three of them were kneeling on the floor, weak and covered in tears and snot, repeatedly repenting and begging for mercy.
“First Mother, it has nothing to do with us... The grudges of the previous generation... have nothing to do with us...”
“We didn't know... We didn't do anything evil... Please let us go.”
“We are innocent... please... spare our lives...”
They claimed they had never participated in the grudges and entanglements of the previous generation, nor did they know about Lu Bingkun's actions in causing the death of his first wife. But under the pen of karma and reincarnation, there was no such thing as an innocent person.
When the parents commit evil, the children bear the guilt. To enjoy the benefits is to bear the consequences.
The breathing of the three became weaker and weaker as their vitality drained away bit by bit.
Lu Jianmin lay quietly by the cold door panel. She took one last look at her biological father's corpse and passed away with a laugh. Following her, Lu Jiancheng and Lu Jianye's limbs also stiffened as they completely lost their life force.
In the entire entertainment room, only the surveillance camera in the corner faithfully recorded everything.
After an unknown amount of time, hurried footsteps finally came from outside the main building.
“Quick! Break down the door!”
“We're still tallying the victims. First, confirm the status of Lu Bingkun, Lu Jianmin, Lu Jianye, and Lu Jiancheng—”
“Found them! They're in here!!”
The Special Investigation Bureau personnel, having received the news, rushed into the main building and conducted a floor-by-floor search. Finally, the closed door of the entertainment room on the first basement level was violently forced open.
Sunlight flooded in, illuminating the room. The spacious and luxurious entertainment room was as tidy as ever, without any signs of a struggle.
By the gambling table, Lu Bingkun lay dead. By the door, three white-haired elders lay stiff and lifeless. The entire room was filled with the stench of death.
“First, confirm the cause of death,” the lead agent said, taking a deep breath. “Something big is about to happen.”
...
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