Chapter 540: Casino Dilemma

Author: Sanjiu YinyuWord Count: 1178

Chen Ling's gaze swept over the casino entrance, and his heart sank.

The casino entrance was a jumble of people, with a constant flow of individuals entering and exiting. This indicated a bustling business and high popularity, but Chen Ling's focus wasn't on that.

After his original Mystic Eye integrated with the Crimson Canvas, Chen Ling's observational abilities became even more precise, and he grew more sensitive to others' gazes. Just as he had immediately detected the embroidery's scrutiny at the Su Embroidery Museum, upon reaching the casino entrance, he felt a dozen or more gazes sweeping over him from various directions.

Chen Ling chose not to enter. Instead, he stopped, naturally squatted down, and pretended to retie his shoelaces.

Simultaneously, Chen Ling's peripheral vision began to track the directions from which the gazes originated.

"The rickshaw driver across the street was subtly observing the entrance, and when gamblers approached for a ride, he waved them off, claiming he was waiting for someone. The drunkard at the casino entrance, holding a few scattered chips, appeared intoxicated but was actually squinting and observing his surroundings. And the group of gamblers who just entered, although together, didn't interact. Instead, they covertly observed their surroundings, their waistbands bulging, likely concealing firearms."

In the ten-odd seconds it took him to tie his shoelaces, Chen Ling ascertained the sources of these gazes, his mind racing.

It seemed the people from the Mortal Realm suspected something, dispatching so many to monitor the casino. What he'd spotted were only the lookouts outside; there were likely many more inside, probably disguised as gamblers. Worse still, some internal staff might be informants as well.

Undeniably, the casino was thoroughly under surveillance, both inside and out.

"These people's disguises are rather ordinary, most likely police personnel... But if the Mortal Realm's main city truly suspects this place, it's possible the Ephemeral Canvas is also involved."

Chen Ling finished tying his shoelaces. Instead of entering the casino, he continued straight past the entrance, following the road forward.

Seeing that Chen Ling was not heading into the casino, the gazes on him gradually shifted away, and his tensed body finally relaxed.

Given the circumstances, Chen Ling naturally couldn't risk entering, much less go upstairs to meet with Jian Changsheng and the others. If the Ephemeral Canvas had truly pinpointed this location and believed there were Twilight Society members here, they should have immediately mobilized forces to suppress them all. However, that wasn't happening.

This left only two possibilities:

First, the Ephemeral Canvas was unsure how many Twilight Society members were present, or what their strength was. Given the Twilight Society's "illustrious reputation" across the nine realms, they would likely be extremely cautious and dare not make a move.

Second, the Ephemeral Canvas believed it could eliminate all Twilight Society members here, but they wanted to play the long game, using the casino as bait to draw more members into their trap before annihilating them all at once.

Between these two possibilities, Chen Ling leaned towards the first. After all, Twilight Society members were exceptionally powerful. If a full-blown confrontation occurred, leading to a lose-lose situation, the entire block, even half the main city, could be reduced to ashes. Even then, they couldn't guarantee capturing all the members.

In the Ephemeral Canvas's eyes, this casino was like a nuclear bomb in the main city, ready to detonate at any moment. To proactively engage it meant certain explosion. Yet, failing to dismantle it left a major hidden danger, causing them internal conflict and helplessness.

"It's a stalemate..." Chen Ling muttered to himself. "Either the Twilight Society makes a move, forcing the Ephemeral Canvas to act, leading to a massive battle; or the Ephemeral Canvas is secretly preparing a major move to eliminate the casino in one go... Of course, maybe I'm thinking too negatively, and the Ephemeral Canvas hasn't even confirmed this is a Twilight Society stronghold yet?"

Regardless of the speculation, one thing was certain: Chen Ling absolutely could not rendezvous with Jian Changsheng and the others right now.

After a brief thought, Chen Ling grasped the current situation at the casino. The question was, what next?

He couldn't avoid meeting the other members indefinitely; the casino's stalemate had to be resolved. But how to resolve it, Chen Ling had no idea at the moment.

"Never mind... First, I need to find a place to settle down where I can secretly monitor the casino."

With his mind made up, Chen Ling began searching the street.

After walking around, Chen Ling's gaze fell upon a seemingly abandoned opera house directly across from the casino.

The opera house had a very vintage, almost antiquated, appearance. From a distance, it resembled a wooden pavilion, but its main door and second-floor windows were dilapidated. As no lights were ever on at night, it looked remarkably similar to a Chinese haunted house from a horror film.

Beyond its worn facade, the opera house's location was quite poor. Not due to a lack of street frontage or pedestrian traffic, but because directly across and diagonally from it stood a dazzling, neon-lit dance hall. Seventy to eighty percent of the pedestrians on this street were heading to that dance hall, whose lavish entrance seemed to swallow up a constant stream of young men and women, boasting a clientele flow comparable to the casino's.

Compared to the vibrant dance hall, the dilapidated opera house truly seemed like a ruin from a bygone era. Even being directly across from the casino, it attracted no attention.

Chen Ling paused at the opera house entrance for a long time before finally stepping inside.

Creak—

The opera house door was unlocked and creaked loudly with a gentle push. To Chen Ling's surprise, despite its rundown exterior, the interior was remarkably clean. Although empty, it was spotless, as if someone cleaned it daily.

Chen Ling glanced around in surprise. Before he could examine further, a voice spoke from nearby.

"You, who are you?! There's nothing in our house for you to steal!"

Chen Ling looked in the direction of the voice and saw a fourteen or fifteen-year-old boy peering cautiously from behind a dilapidated small door. He held a prop spear used in opera, its tip trembling with his nervous hand.

Someone actually lived in here?

"I'm not a thief." Chen Ling raised his hands, indicating he meant no harm. "I was just passing by, saw this opera house, and came in to look... Is it not open today?"

"It hasn't been open for a long time. The opera house is about to be sold."

Seeing that Chen Ling seemed to have no malicious intent, the boy's expression relaxed slightly, but he still didn't lower the prop spear. Instead, he spoke again in a low voice, "There's no show to see here... You should leave quickly. If you don't, I'll call the police."

Chen Ling's eyebrows raised slightly. He gazed at the boy for a long moment, then suddenly asked:

"What if... I want to buy this opera house?"