4 PM.

The gambling stone house beneath the humble bungalow was already abuzz with people.

Despite the crowd, the seating areas were allocated based on status and connections.

Take Ye Chen from his past life, for instance—although he had attended this same stone-gambling spectacle before, he could only watch from the outskirts, either tiptoeing to get a view or staring at the back of people's heads.

But this time, thanks to Zhang Jingshan, he was positioned in the inner circle.

"Zhang, did you bring enough money? Care to add a little excitement during the stone-cutting?"

It seemed fate had a cruel sense of humor.

Li Mu was standing less than three meters away from Ye Chen and his group of three.

As rough stones were hauled out one after another, signaling the start of the stone-gambling event, Li Mu couldn't resist provoking Zhang Jingshan.

"Sure, why not? Who's afraid of who? I've been looking for a few weeds to trim anyway!" Zhang Jingshan sneered.

"Oh, come on. Isn't there one right next to you? He already lost a million at Maple Leaf Casino. You can't squeeze two or three million out of him?" Li Mu laughed mockingly, gesturing toward Ye Chen.

"Cut the crap, Li! Just remember you've always been the loser when it comes to me!" Zhang Jingshan barked, knowing full well he couldn't outwit Li Mu in an argument.

Li Mu smirked, his expression shadowy and playful.

When it came to stone gambling, he was confident that even ten Zhang Jingshans combined wouldn't be his match.

This time, knowing Zhang's competitive nature, he was already planning to set a brutal trap for him.

As the high-stakes game of "heaven or hell with one cut" began, the crowd erupted with waves of exclamations and sighs.

Someone who bought a kilogram of rough stone for just a few thousand yuan struck gold after a single cut, selling it immediately for tens of thousands.

Others, who spent tens of thousands, watched helplessly as the stones turned out to be worthless, losing everything.

Jubilant shouts and devastated groans filled the air, perfectly encapsulating the adage: one cut makes you rich, one cut makes you poor, and one cut leaves you in rags.

However, neither Ye Chen nor Zhang Jingshan's group, nor Li Mu's, had made any moves yet.

Gradually, Zhang Jingshan grew restless.

He wasn't here just to watch the action—his main goal was to test whether Ye Chen's so-called intuition was as sharp as it seemed.

Yet more than ten rounds had passed, and Ye Chen still hadn't done anything.

Even some stones that had gained tenfold or more in value didn't seem to pique his interest.

"Mr. Ye, what do you think? Any of these stones worth trying?"

After closely observing the stones and failing to spot anything remarkable, Zhang Jingshan couldn't help but ask.

"No rush." Ye Chen responded calmly.

"Number 16, a black Wusha stone from Mobangji. The asking price is 130,000 yuan. Anyone interested?"

The middle-aged host of the event asked awkwardly.

Wusha stones were notorious for having a nine-out-of-ten failure rate, so unless it was a special occasion, very few people would dare to take the risk.

This particular stone had been sitting unsold for a long time, dropping from 200,000 to its current price of 130,000.

Although some spectators examined the black Wusha closely, the host doubted anyone would actually purchase it.

"Old Huang!"

Suddenly, Ye Chen called out to an older man standing off to the side.

Hearing his name, the skinny Old Huang weaved through the crowd like a loach.

"What is it?" Old Huang asked, his voice tinged with nervousness. The money he'd scraped together from selling his homestead hadn't been spent yet, as he hesitated to make a final gamble.

"Do you trust me? If you do, buy this black Wusha stone and take the gamble!" Ye Chen said directly.

"What?!"

Old Huang wasn't the only one stunned by this declaration—everyone nearby froze, including Zhang Jingshan, Li Changfeng, and Li Mu.

Li Mu, in particular, had already written Ye Chen off as an amateur based on his clumsy and unprofessional attempts at appraising the stones earlier.

But now, hearing Ye Chen urge someone to buy the black Wusha stone, Li Mu was completely taken aback.

Not only was Ye Chen apparently eager to waste his own money, but he also wanted to drag someone else into it.

Was this the true nature of a lowly gambler?

"Since when did you become an expert in stone gambling? If I'm not mistaken, you've never dealt with this kind of thing before. Do you even know what a black Wusha is? It's a 90% failure rate!"

Before Old Huang could finish his protests, Ye Chen interrupted him.

"This is the only stone you can afford for your budget of 130,000 yuan. The others are all priced in the hundreds of thousands or millions—can you afford those? Besides, don't you trust my luck lately? Take the chance, I promise you won't regret it!"

Ye Chen's confidence left Old Huang momentarily speechless.

It was true: with his limited funds, this was his only viable option.

But the odds of success were abysmal!

"Even with a 90% failure rate, there's still a 10% chance of winning, right? Trust me!" Ye Chen urged, his tone firm.

Old Huang hesitated, torn between doubt and trust. Looking into Ye Chen's eyes, filled with composure and certainty, Old Huang felt like he was staring at a completely different person.

This wasn't the desperate gambler he used to know.

"Damn it! I'm going all in!"

Taking a deep breath, Old Huang shouted his decision.

"I'll take the black Wusha stone!"

The host, who had been worried no one would buy it, was ecstatic.

"Great! Would you like us to cut it now, or would you prefer to wait? Should we have our expert handle the cutting, or would you like to do it yourself?"

"Cut it now. Let your expert do it!" Old Huang replied, his voice trembling.

Although he couldn't believe he was trusting Ye Chen, the decision had been made.

This was absolute madness.

Across from them, Li Mu sneered.

"Zhang, is this the kind of brother you've sworn loyalty to? That black Wusha has been sitting unsold since it was priced at 200,000 yuan. It's practically collecting dust, and yet your buddy here is convincing someone to buy it? What's the deal—trying to scam your own people?"

Hearing this, Old Huang faltered.

Had all the real stone-gambling experts passed on this stone because it was worthless?

Could Ye Chen have seen something they didn't? That seemed impossible!

"You call that talking like a person? How can you say it's worthless before the stone is cut? What if it turns out to be valuable?" Zhang Jingshan snapped back immediately.

"Oh, you're that confident in him, huh? Fine, let's bet. If this stone gains value, I'll pay you 1 million yuan. If it doesn't, you owe me 500,000. How about it?" Li Mu taunted with a sly grin.