<h4>Chapter 176: Remember, You Owe Me One Hundred Billion!</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion <strong>Editor: </strong>EndlessFantasy Trantion


    Worried, Miranda grabbed rence’s arm. “rence, don’t bet on it.


    “We’ll just pay them the one billion dors. You have no chance of winning against Astral in stone gambling.”


    rence smiled as he looked at Miranda. “Are you worried about me?


    “What about the one billion dors?”


    His heart melted. This woman was still worried about him; she was notpletely indifferent to him.


    Mirandaughed wryly. “Isn’t Dragon Soar Heights’ Vi One worth a billion dors? We’ll just sell it.


    “It never belonged to the Murphy family anyway, so we might as well sell it now.”


    When Peony heard that her daughter was going to sell Dragon Soar Heights Vi One, she immediately objected. She repeatedly dered, “No. No way!


    “We own Dragon Soar Heights’ Vi One. Why should we sell it?


    “I’ve already gotten used to living there. I don’t want to go back to the Murphy family’s old vi.”


    It was easy to go from a frugal lifestyle to a life of luxury but difficult to go the other way around.


    Having enjoyed the luxury of Dragon Soar Heights Vi One, Peony had long fallen in love with it.


    With Vi One, she could y poker with her friends on weekends and admire the beach and the sunset from the rooftop.


    It was also wonderful to have a maid bring her a cup of coffee.


    Compared to Dragon Soar Heights’ Vi One, the Murphy Family’s original vi was like a slum.


    Peony would rather be killed than sell off Vi One.


    Miranda felt helpless. “Mom, how are we going to survive this crisis if we don’t sell Vi One?”


    Peony narrowed her eyes as she looked at rence. There was a smile on her face, and she looked as if she had confidence in him. “We’ll let rence bet on stones, of course. rence’s so good at it that he’ll be fine.”


    Miranda looked at her mother in horror. “Mom, rence will be left with nothing if he loses.”


    Peony patted her chest as she promised, “I’ll let rencee back to the Murphy family as a son-inw, even if he loses everything.


    “We can take care of him anyway!


    “We’re not selling Vi One, no matter what.”


    Belle nodded. “Don’t worry, Miranda. rence will be fine.”


    Melody smiled obsequiously. “Miranda, we have to believe in rence. Let’s not sell Vi One.”


    Neither of them wanted to move out of thefort of Vi One either.


    Over the past couple of weeks, many of their friends had been envious of them owning Vi One. They were dying of envy.


    Would people not make fun of them if they moved out?


    They did not want to sell Vi One, no matter what.


    Miranda finally saw her family’s true colors. “Don’t... Don’t you care about rence?


    “If he loses, he loses everything. He’ll be finished, yet all you’re thinking about is Vi One?


    “What’s more important, a person’s future or their vi?”


    It was as if they were strangers.


    She had always thought things in line with the Murphy family’s perspective, siding with her mother, Belle, and Melody. She had never understood rence’s point of view.


    Now that she was divorced from rence, Miranda was able to put herself in rence’s shoes and realize how way out of line her family was.


    Peony did not seem to care. “Doesn’t rence like you?


    “Is he not willing to take such little risk?


    “I don’t care about Vi One. I just want to test rence.


    “If rence wins, I promise I’ll let rence start over with you.”


    Miranda was about to go crazy with anger.


    However, rence shook his head in indifference. He had been long aware of Peony and her daughters’ true colors.


    He was used to it.


    His eyes turned to look at Astral. “How are we going to bet?”


    Astral’s eyes narrowed, the chill in them intensifying instantly. “Boy, we’re ying wheel war today!”


    “Wheel war?” rence looked puzzled. He knew nothing about stone gambling.


    Armstrong’s face grew even paler when he heard the phrase ‘wheel war’. “Wheel war’s one of the cruelest stone gambling methods. It’s an extreme test of one’s ability.


    “The so-called wheel war is where both sides take turns cutting stones!


    “Whichever of the two yers cut stone first, the other yer will have to wait until the first yer can’t cut out any jade. After that, they can start cutting.


    “If they can’t cut out any jade, the first yer will resume cutting. It’s just like snooker—the other yer will continue to y if you don’t score.”


    “It willst until they’ve finished cutting the raw jade stones of the value they’ve bet on. The winner will be the one who has cut out the jade with the highest value.”


    For example, rence would start cutting his stone. He managed to cut out a jade from the first stone, so he can move on to the second. Then, if he can cut out another jade from the second stone, he can move on to the third. Astral will only be able to wait for him to finish.


    If rence failed to cut a jade from the fourth stone, it would be Astral’s turn to cut his stone.


    Likewise, Astral would begin to cut stones until he missed out on getting a jade.


    Then, it would be rence’s turn.


    Once both parties finished cutting stones equivalent to the amount that they had bet beforehand, they would have to calcte the value of the jade they had found.


    The yer with the highest value would win.


    It was a very tough game.


    Not many people in the world of stone gambling dared to y it!


    Astral had pulled out such a cruel trick as soon as he arrived. He had never intended to give rence a fair fight.


    He sneered. “You know a lot.”


    He looked at rence. “We’ll cut raw stones worth one billion dors! Will you take on the challenge?”


    With Astral’s skill, he could definitely cut out something worth at least one billion dors after finishing with all one billion dors worth of raw stones.


    If what rence cut out was worth less than one billion dors, he would lose.


    ording to thepensation rules that Mr. Cooke had set, the loser had to pay the winner ten times the value of the jade the winner had cut out.


    rence would have to pay Mr. Cooke at least ten billion dors, or perhaps more than ten billion!


    He would go bankrupt!


    They had been setting rence up since the beginning.


    It was a hell of a move. They were trying to drive rence into his grave.


    Mr. Cooke looked at rence with amusement. “Boy, pay me one billion dors and f*ck off if you don’t dare.”


    “Why wouldn’t I dare?” rence was confident.


    “Haha, idiot.” Mr. Cooke looked pleased that his provocation had worked.


    Miranda tried to stop rence, but Peony grabbed her.


    “Okay, who’s going to start?” Astral’s face darkened slightly.


    rence shrugged nonchntly. “Why don’t you go first?”


    Astral looked at rence as if he was not afraid of him. “Then I shall go ahead.


    “This one. Cut it open!”


    Astral raised his hand and pointed at a raw jade stone worth ten million dors.


    First Pavilion’s old stonecutter stepped forward and cut the raw jade stone open.


    “I spot something green. It’s ice jade and worth at least fifty million dors.” The old stonecutter told everyone his evaluation.


    Everyone cried out in surprise.


    He had gotten fifty million for only ten million. He had made a lot of profit.


    The Murphy family’s eyes twitched. ‘This is amazing. The first jade is already worth fifty million dors?’


    ‘That’s a fivefold increase.’


    ‘Can rence beat him?’


    Mr. Cooke sat nearby, watching leisurely as a young woman behind him peeled grapes for him.


    Astral did not stop. He pointed to another piece of raw jade stone. “This one. Cut it open!”


    First Pavilion’s stonecutter went forth and cut the stone.


    There was something green inside. It was waxy jade, worth thirty million dors.


    “This one. Cut it open!”


    “Bergamot jade, worth forty million dors!”


    “This one. Cut it open!”


    “ssy jade, worth eight million dors.”


    “Cut...”


    “Hibiscus jade, worth twenty-five million.”


    “Cut...”


    It was as if he was blessed. Astral cut open a dozen raw stones in a row, not even one of them not containing jade.


    The Murphy family’s faces grew grimmer. The jade Astral had cut out was already worth more than five hundred million.


    Not to mention, it had all been cut out in a row.


    Mr. Cooke looked smug. “rence, why don’t you just give up?”


    rence smiled calmly. “Why would I lose?”


    “Haha. You can keep on being stubborn. I hope you can still smile when you’re kneeling at my feetter.” Mr. Cooke grinned coldly.


    “This one. Cut it open!”


    Astral pointed to another raw stone.


    After First Pavilion’s stonecutter cut it open, it was seen to be empty. There was no jade inside.


    “What a pity. Astral made a mistake.”


    “What’s so strange about that? He cut out a dozen jade in one go. Would anyone else be able to do that?”


    The spectators around them discussed among themselves.


    Astral stepped aside and looked coldly at rence. “It’s your turn.”


    rence slowly got up, walked into the stone garden, and randomly pointed at a gambling stone worth five hundred thousand dors. “Cut this open.”


    First Pavilion’s stonecutter cut open the gambling stone. There was jade in it. It was worth two million dors.


    Mr. Cookeughed contemptuously. “It’s only two million dors, boy.


    “How many pieces would you have to cut out to match even one of Master Astral’s?”


    Astral curled his lip. “That little guy’s pretty lucky.


    “You’ll only cut three more pieces at most before it’s my turn again.”


    “Really?”


    rence smiled and shook his head. He pointed at another raw stone. “Cut.”


    The raw stone was cut open. Gold silk jade. It was worth five million dors.


    “Cut!”


    Oily green jade. It was worth seven million dors.


    “Cut!”


    rence was choosing raw stones worth three hundred thousand to five hundred thousand dors.


    The jade inside was worth ten to twenty times the price of the raw stones.


    The raw stones Astral had cut open were worth ten million to twenty million, and while the value of its contents was high, it was actually only double the initial cost at most.


    Everyone was stunned. A strange idea entered their minds. “Is he trying to win by leveraging numbers?”


    “Is the boy out of his mind?”


    “Although it’s a smart move, he can’t always cut out a jade, can he?”


    “He’s going to lose if he misses one, since then it’s Master Astral’s turn to cut stones again.”


    The customers of First Pavilion shook their heads.


    However, rence was still cutting stones open.


    Ten pieces.


    Twenty pieces.


    Thirty pieces.


    Fifty pieces.


    Fifty pieces of raw stones had been cut open, and there had been jade in every single one of them.


    “How is this possible?” Astral’s expression changed, and he could no longer sit still.


    rence was still confident as he went on with ease. “Cut.


    “Cut...


    “Keep on cutting!”


    The number of stones rence had cut open had skyrocketed to over a hundred pieces now.


    He had not misstepped with a single piece. All raw jade stones he had chosen had been priced at less than five hundred thousand dors.


    Each piece had jades worth millions of dors.


    He had cut out ss jade, water jade, ice jade, waxy jade, hibiscus jade, and bean jade.


    Mr. Cooke’s smile froze.


    Carrie, the owner of First Pavilion, stood stiffly in ce.


    Peony and the others’ eyes were almost popping out of their sockets.


    Miranda felt like she was watching rence transform into a different man.


    The Reed siblings held their breath.


    Astral was dazzled.


    rence was the only one in First Pavilion’s stone garden who could actually move.


    “Cut!


    “Cut open!


    “This one.”


    There was dead silence in the stone garden.


    Only rence’s voice and the sound of the outeryers of stones being cut remained.


    For four hours, rence did not make a single mistake.


    rence cut more than five hundred pieces of raw stones in one go. Each raw stone had been priced at around hundreds of thousands of dors, but the jades he had cut out were worth millions, which was more than a tenfold increase.


    When thest raw stone was cut open, rence’s one billion dor wager waspleted.


    The people of First Pavilion could not help but gasp after everything was calcted. “The total value of these jades is 10.5 billion dors.


    rence nodded slightly and looked at Mr. Cooke. “10.5 billion dors. Let me calcte that for you.”


    “Now, ording to the rules, you now owe me one hundred billion dors!”


    “What?”


    Mr.. Cooke’s teacup nged to the ground.