Shadow Empire

Chapter 853 The First Step into Hell

Morris grew up in a casino, an illegal private casino.

It can be said that his growth has been accompanied by the changes in the gambling table, from the earliest ordinary wooden gambling table without a tablecloth to the current gambling table with marble and clay paved like a billiard table.

Even now, he still works in the casino.

People in Jingang City have been exposed to gambling and gambling tables since childhood, and Oger is no exception.

The first thing he did after he became an adult was to check out the casino.

In fact, the first thing most Jingang people do after they become adults is to go to the casino.

Pull the slot machine, watch the pictures spin and let out a heavy sigh, or a sharp cheer.

They would also go to the gambling table and watch for a while to see how the games were played.

There is a very interesting phenomenon.

It may take three to one week for a person to learn a simple technique.

However, if a person wants to learn a gambling game that he has never been exposed to before, learn it quickly, master it, and start to have his own experience, it only takes one night.

The two guys on the next bed were talking about how much money they had made recently in the casino, which made Oger feel a little itchy.

He also plays cards and has been to casinos. When he was lucky, he won more than 60 yuan a day, and when he lost, he lost 20 yuan.

So it seems that he wins more than he loses in the casino?
He thought back to the local travel magazines and newspapers, which always told people that some lucky person had made a fortune in the casino today. It seemed that every day there would be a lucky person who achieved financial freedom in an instant.

He turned sideways and lay on the bed, recalling the games played at the gambling table in the past.

Two days later, some workers in the hospital who were in the same situation as him once again spontaneously went to find Vice President Walter. They thought that Mr. Walter could provide them with some help, but unfortunately, they did not get what they wanted.

Mr. Walter suggested that they go to the bank for a loan, which would help them get through their current difficulties.

But getting a loan is not that easy, so Oger went to the bank to inquire.

The first is the issue of current interest rates.

There is a lot of real estate stock in Jingang City, and the mortgage interest rate in Likalai State is slightly higher than that in the central region of the federation.

The reason that ordinary people can understand is that the financial industry in the Golden State and the central region of the Federation is relatively developed, and real estate tends to be more of a "financial product."

However, in the southern region and industrial economic pillar areas, where the financial industry is slightly backward, real estate has lost its financial attributes, and banks will be more cautious when dealing with real estate mortgages.

The loan amount is small and the interest rate is high.

The market price of Oger's house is about 1,200 yuan. The bank's initial assessment only allows a loan of 500 yuan, with an interest rate of 18%, and the loan period is only three years.

The interest rate is over 50%, so even if you only borrow 500 yuan, you will eventually have to pay back 750 yuan.

Furthermore, even if he was given 500 dollars, it would not help in solving his current situation at all, as he could not afford the other 50 dollars.

And the bank manager told him that even if he planned to mortgage his house, it would be impossible to give him the loan immediately.

The bank has its own set of rules and regulations. They will first send someone to investigate the specific circumstances of the house and then check whether Oger has the ability to repay the loan.

In fact, from the bank's point of view, the best solution would be that Oger cannot exchange the money, but the process is the process.

He must have the ability to repay the loan before the bank will lend the money. This is a kind of protection to prevent the bank from breaking free from its shackles and becoming a man-eating monster.

Even if he is willing to lend money, the loan will be disbursed at the end of May or the beginning of June.

This completely cut off his thoughts. Now he couldn't rely on anyone but himself.

With two days left before the hospital would charge him for his medical treatment, he once again heard the patient in the next bed talking about how he had earned a few hundred dollars in the casino.

It seems like he has been winning these days?

Oger turned around and looked at the other man, "How much did you win?"

The patient in the next bed was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "About a thousand yuan."

When Oger heard this number, his heart couldn't help but move. If he had more than a thousand dollars, he could solve his current troubles.

In fact, he no longer cares so much about the refugee attackers. What he cares about is how to keep his house, the result of twenty years of hard work!

"You won so much, you must have a lot of capital, right?"

In his opinion, if you want to win more, you must have more capital.

The patient in the bed next to him shook his head and said, "I actually only had fifty yuan at the beginning, and then I was lucky. By the end of the first day, I turned fifty yuan into more than two hundred yuan!"

"Oh my god!" Og couldn't help but sit up, "How did you do it?"

The man laughed and said, "Don't think this is difficult. Look, if you can win once with fifty dollars, it's one hundred. If you can win twice in a row, it's two hundred!"

"If I can win three times in a row, that's four hundred!"

The patient showed a slightly morbid satisfaction on his face. "If I can win four times in a row, it will be eight hundred. Five times will be one thousand six hundred!"

"Brother, it's only five times!"

"is it hard?"

He shook his head and immediately denied what he had just said. "It might be difficult. Otherwise, I wouldn't have gone from 50 to 200 on the first day. It should have been 400, or even more."

“It’s normal to have wins and losses.”

As he spoke, his face showed an expression that he wanted to share, "I have an idea that may be useful to you."

“If you have fifty dollars and you split it into two twenty-five dollars, if you lose the first bet, there is a high probability that you will win the second one.”

"Don't bet on low-probability bets. Just bet on big or small. The odds of winning or losing are half!"

"If you win, you have seventy-five in your hand, and you keep breaking it up and keep betting, so you always have a chance to get a guaranteed bottom."

"You only need to win twice and you'll have a hundred bucks!"

"But you have to remember one thing, quit while you're ahead!"

Hearing the other party's plan, Oger was moved, with a touch of emotion on his face, "Is it really possible?"

The patient in the bed next to him continued laughing and said, "Don't ask me if I can do it, just look at how much I won!"

Some of the patients in other beds were somewhat interested, but some were not interested in his theory as they all had their own theories.

Oger said thank you and thought for a while, then left the hospital in the afternoon.

He returned home, took out his passbook, and withdrew another sixty yuan from the bank. Together with the money he had on him, the total was one hundred yuan.

He asked reporters to help support him, and he went to the casino on crutches. This might be his last resort.

He didn't know if it was an illusion, but the moment he entered the casino, he felt his mind became much clearer.

He stood in the casino and looked back at the sunny street outside the gate. It seemed like here and outside were two different worlds.

He was in a daze when he was outside, but the moment he entered here, he felt like he was reborn.

Maybe... this is fate!
The reporter was watching from the side. In fact, the guy in the next bed was specially invited by someone just to stimulate him and make him come here.

The editor-in-chief told them that award-winning reports must be able to shock society.

If you don't sting society, society won't feel the weight of your words. Why would you win an award if your words are not heavy enough and your reports are not profound enough?
It is not uncommon in the news industry to fabricate and create news in order to win awards.

People say that the entertainment circle, political circle, and financial circle are places of fame and fortune. In fact, any circle that can be linked to interests is a place of fame and fortune!

When the casino lobby manager saw Oger, he had someone bring a wheelchair over. The casino is barrier-free, with both stairs and elevators available for going up and down the stairs.

After saying "thank you", Oger went to the counter and exchanged chips for a hundred dollars.

He followed the recommendation of his fellow gambler and asked for two twenty-five-dollar chips and one fifty-dollar chip. Then he went to the most common dice table to bet on the size.

Originally he was going to bet fifty dollars, but after a moment of hesitation, he bet twenty-five dollars. When the round ended and the answer was revealed, he slapped the edge of the table and cursed!
It's not that he lost, it's that he won!
The dealer pushed his chips along with another twenty-five dollar chip in front of him, and although he had clearly won, he did not look very happy.

If he hadn't just gone crazy and put down a chip worth twenty-five dollars, he would have seventy-five dollars now!

Fake!

Instead of placing bets continuously, he waited for a while. After four consecutive small numbers, he thought that this time it would definitely be a big number.

He directly placed fifty dollars on the big number, but unfortunately, the small number came out again.

He cursed again.

Regardless of whether he won or lost, he seemed to be in a bad mood. When the dealer took his fifty dollars, his palms began to sweat and his mouth became dry.

He looked at the five small openings in a row and saw that this time it would definitely be a big opening.

But he was worried, what if he had another accident?
He didn't know what an "isolated incident" was, but he knew it was possible.

He had heard of things like opening the small bet ten or twenty times in a row before, so he hesitated again and put twenty-five dollars on the big bet.

If he loses this time, he will bet all on big next time.

He was lucky and won again this time, but he still cursed himself and even slapped himself.

why?
Why can't he be braver?
He looked at the chips in his hand with dissatisfaction. There was a total of one hundred yuan. He won twice and lost once. It was all in vain.

He did not hesitate this time and bet fifty dollars on the big number. He thought that since the small number had been drawn so many times in a row, the big number should be drawn this time as well. However, he soon discovered that he was not very good at guessing the big and small numbers.

"Five o'clock, little..."

The dealer began to clear the table, and Oger's breathing began to become rapid. He clenched his fists as he watched the other party take away the chips in front of him.

He didn't know why, but as long as he bet twenty-five dollars, he would win, but as long as he bet fifty, he would lose.

Could it be that... God wants him to bet twenty-five dollars every time?

He hesitated and bet twenty-five dollars, but obviously he guessed wrong, that was not what God meant.

He only had twenty-five dollars left.

Five minutes later, he looked at the gambling table with a dazed look in his eyes, and a gentleman next to him asked with a smile, "Are you still playing?"

"friend!"

Oger came back to his senses. He looked at the other person for a few seconds and said, "No, no more playing."

He asked the reporter to push him away from the gambling table. In less than twenty minutes, he lost a hundred dollars.

In addition to the 40 yuan given to him by the editor-in-chief, he saved the other 60 yuan for almost half a year.

Half a year's hard work was wasted in an instant, and he hated himself very much.

"Want to go back?"

reporter asked.

Oger put his hand on his chest, his eyes were hurt, and there was a kind of cruelty, "Push me to exchange chips..."

The reporter paused, "You've already lost a hundred dollars."

Oger turned around and looked at the reporter fiercely, "Push me to exchange chips!"

The reporter had a complicated expression, and he finally nodded, "No problem."

He pushed Oger to the place where chips were exchanged, and Oger handed over the passbook, "Take out everything."

The girl behind the counter took one look and said, "I need to call and check."

Oger didn't object, and soon the girl put down the phone. "There's thirty-seven dollars in it. If you need to take it out, you need to sign here."

She took out a license agreement and pointed to the underlined part at the end.

After signing here, the casino staff are authorized to withdraw the money from the passbook. This is a legal protection. In fact, they can withdraw the money even without this authorization.

Federal banking services only recognize passbooks and withdrawal receipts. In other words, as long as they have the password or some kind of receipt, anyone can withdraw money from the bank.

Oger signed his name quickly, and then the girl handed the passbook to the person next to her. There was a bank nearby, and although it was an interbank bank, it was able to handle these transactions.

She also put thirty-seven dollars in chips on the counter. Oger didn't say thank you. He took the chips and let the reporter push him back to the edge of the gambling table.

In less than ten minutes, the thirty-seven dollars disappeared, leaving only a dazed Oger.

Perhaps seeing his current "dilemma", a well-dressed gentleman came over and said, "You need money."

He looked at Og, who turned back to look at the man.

He had heard that there were people in the casino who were specifically responsible for providing funds.

These are all usury.

He shook his head. "I don't need the money."

The man was not annoyed, but smiled and said, "I can see that you need money."

"If you can change the money within a week, we won't charge you any interest. Just consider it as making friends."

"If you cannot pay it back within a week, the interest and principal will be calculated at a compound rate of 2% of the total amount every week."

He spread his hands. "If you want money, it only takes a few minutes for us to confirm that you have collateral to borrow the money, and a few signatures, and the money will be in your hands."

After listening to him, Oger still shook his head and said, "Sorry, I don't need the money."

"It's okay, you can always find me here if you need anything."

After he finished speaking, he waved his hand, said goodbye to Oger and left.

Back in the hospital, he tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep. He lost one hundred and thirty-seven dollars in one day, and he lost all his remaining money.

His wife should still have a little bit, a few dollars, or a dozen dollars, but that's the limit.

He didn't sleep the whole night, and only fell into a drowsy sleep after dawn.

During the day his wife came and brought him some food and asked him if he had seen the passbook.

She was running low on money, and it was the end of the month and time to pay the bills.

Oger was stunned for a moment. He was suddenly startled and his whole body seemed to start sweating in an instant. He could even feel that every pore of his body was secreting sweat!

He shook his head pretending to be calm, "I didn't see it."

His wife sighed, said a few soothing words to him, and then left.

She wanted to go back and look for it again, but what she didn't know was that the passbook was right under Oger's pillow.

At noon, the administrative doctor came again and said, "Oger, we have given you a long period of grace. If you still can't pay the fee the day after tomorrow, then we will have no choice but to sue you."

This time the doctor's attitude was very bad. After he finished speaking, he left without looking back, with a look of impatience on his face.

He couldn't maintain a good attitude towards patients like this who were in arrears with their medical bills.

In a job like his, if someone fails to pay medical bills, it will be considered as a work mistake and his bonus and salary will be deducted. How can he possibly smile to these people?

After he left, Og silently got up, went to the bathroom, and hit his face with cold water.

He looked at his disheveled self in the mirror, and a voice already appeared in his head.

Two days later, the people from the hospital were going to take away his house.

So why not give it one last try before the hospital takes his house away?
If he was unlucky, he would lose his house anyway.

If he's lucky, he might not only be able to keep the house, but also make a fortune.

In the afternoon, he asked the reporter to push him back home. His wife was not at home. He took the property certificate and went to the casino.

He found the gentleman from yesterday and handed him the property certificate. "How much money can I borrow from you?"

The gentleman had a sunny smile on his face. As he checked the documents, he asked, "What's your name, sir?"

"Ogg, just call me Ogg."

"Okay, Og, do you have an idea of ​​what the market value of your house is?"

Oger nodded, "One thousand one hundred or two hundred dollars."

The gentleman shook his head and said, "Actually, I can't give you that much. If it can really be sold for 1,100 or 200 yuan, you can try to list it for that much and see if you can sell it."

"I can assure you that you won't be able to sell it!"

"One thousand dollars, or nine hundred and fifty, is the right price for it. I can give you six hundred dollars, and you have six months."

"If you can't give me nine hundred and fifty dollars in six months, this house will become mine. Is there a problem?"

(End of this chapter)