Chapter 541: Casino Dilemma

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

The entrance was a mix of all sorts of people, with folks coming and going every second, which indicated that business was booming and the place was popular... but that wasn't where Chen Ling's focus was.

After his original [Secret Pupil] was integrated into [Painted Rouge], Chen Ling’s observational skills had become increasingly meticulous, and he had become much more sensitive to the gazes of others. Just as he had immediately sensed the gaze of the embroidery at the Suzhou Embroidery Museum, the moment he reached the casino entrance, he felt over a dozen gazes sweeping toward him from different directions.

Chen Ling chose not to enter. Instead, after stopping, he naturally crouched down, pretending to retie his shoelaces.

At the same time, he began to use his peripheral vision to track the directions from which those gazes were coming.

"The rickshaw puller across the street keeps looking at the entrance intentionally or otherwise. When a gambler passed by wanting a ride, he waved them off, saying he was waiting for someone..."

"The drunkard at the casino entrance, holding a few scattered chips, looks like he's passed out, but he’s actually squinting to observe the surroundings..."

"And that group of gamblers who just went in—they were clearly together, yet they didn't communicate, instead secretly observing the area. Their waists were bulging; they must be hiding guns..."

“……”

In the dozen seconds it took to tie his shoelaces, Chen Ling had pinpointed the source of these gazes, his brain working at high speed.

It seems the people of the Red Dust Realm have grown suspicious. To send so many people to monitor the casino—and what he had discovered were just the lookouts outside; there must be even more inside, likely disguised as gamblers. In a worst-case scenario, there might even be moles among the staff...

There was no doubt that this casino was completely under surveillance, inside and out.

"The disguises of these people are, at best, mediocre. They are most likely personnel from the police side... But if the main city of Red Dust is truly suspicious of this place, I can't rule out the possibility that [Floating Life Painting] is also involved."

Chen Ling finished tying his shoelaces and did not enter the casino. Instead, he walked past the entrance and continued down the road.

Seeing that Chen Ling wasn't heading for the casino, the gazes that had been fixed on him gradually shifted away, and his tense body finally relaxed.

In this situation, Chen Ling naturally couldn't risk going in, let alone heading to the second floor to rendezvous with Jian Changsheng and the others... If [Floating Life Painting] had truly locked onto this place, believing it to be a base for Twilight Society members, they would logically have mobilized personnel to suppress them all immediately. But that hadn't happened.

This left only two possibilities:

First, [Floating Life Painting] is unsure how many Twilight Society members are here or what their strength is. Given the "illustrious reputation" the Twilight Society currently holds across the nine realms, they are likely extremely wary and afraid to act rashly.

Second, [Floating Life Painting] believes they can handle all the Twilight Society members here, but they want to play the long game—using this casino as bait to lure more members into the trap, intending to wipe them all out in one go.

Chen Ling actually leaned toward the first possibility. After all, the strength of Twilight Society members is extremely high. If a real fight broke out and they decided to go down fighting, this entire block, or even half the main city, would be reduced to nothing. Even then, they couldn't guarantee they could take down every member...

In the eyes of [Floating Life Painting], this casino is like a nuclear bomb in the main city that could detonate at any moment. Touching it directly would trigger an explosion, but failing to find a way to dismantle it remains a major threat—a dilemma filled with frustration and helplessness.

"It's a stalemate..." Chen Ling muttered to himself. "Either we wait for the Twilight Society to make a move, forcing [Floating Life Painting] to act, leading to a massive battle; or [Floating Life Painting] is secretly brewing some grand scheme to wipe out the casino in one stroke... Of course, it's also possible I'm thinking too negatively. Maybe [Floating Life Painting] hasn't confirmed that this is definitely a Twilight Society stronghold?"

But regardless of which guess is correct, one thing is certain... Chen Ling absolutely cannot rendezvous with Jian Changsheng and the others right now.

Chen Ling pondered for a moment and cleared up the situation regarding the casino. The question was, what next?

He couldn't avoid meeting the other members forever; the stalemate at the casino had to be resolved... But as for how to resolve it, Chen Ling had no clue at the moment.

"Forget it... I'll find a place to stay where I can secretly monitor the situation at the casino first."

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

After walking a full circle, Chen Ling’s gaze landed on an abandoned opera house directly across from the casino.

The exterior of this opera house was quite retro, or rather, dilapidated. From a distance, it looked like a pavilion built of wood, except the main entrance and the second-floor windows were in a state of utter disrepair. Combined with the fact that no lights were on at night, at first glance, it was no different from a Chinese-style haunted house in a horror movie.

Not only was the facade old, but the location of this opera house was also quite poor. It wasn't that it wasn't on the street or lacked foot traffic; rather, diagonally across from it was a neon-lit dance hall. Forty percent of the pedestrians on this road were heading to that dance hall, its golden, glittering entrance swallowing up large numbers of young men and women, with a customer flow that didn't even lose to the casino.

Compared to that dance hall, this dilapidated opera house truly looked like a ruin from a bygone era, and even though it was right across from the casino, no one paid it any mind.

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

Creak—

The door to the opera house wasn't locked; a gentle push produced a piercing sound. To Chen Ling’s surprise, despite the dilapidated exterior, the interior was remarkably clean. Although it was empty and devoid of furniture, it was spotless, as if someone cleaned it every day.

Chen Ling scanned the surroundings with some surprise, and before he could examine it carefully, a voice sounded from the side.

"Who, who are you?! We don't have anything here for you to steal."

Chen Ling followed the voice and saw a boy of about fourteen or fifteen standing behind a tattered small door, looking at him vigilantly. He was holding a flower-tipped spear used for opera, the tip of the spear trembling with the nervousness of his hand.

Someone actually still lives here?

"I'm not a thief." Chen Ling raised both hands to show he had no malicious intent. "I was just passing by, saw an opera house here, and came in to take a look... Is it not open for business today?"

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

Seeing that Chen Ling didn't seem to have malicious intent, the boy’s expression relaxed slightly, but he still didn't put down the spear. He spoke again in a deep voice, "There's no opera to watch here... You should leave quickly. If you don't, I'm calling the police."

Chen Ling’s eyebrows raised slightly. He stared at the boy for a long time before suddenly asking:

"Then what if... I want to buy this opera house?"