BATTLE FOR STARS

During the years Belina had spent on Earth, she had developed a particular interest in little magic tricks and street performances. So when she spotted one here on Planet Boman, she immediately stopped to watch. Since the train still hadn’t arrived, the three of them decided to kill some time.

“Which card are you picking?” Little Chubby asked the crowd gathered around the table.

“That one!”

“No, this one!”

“How many Latir are you betting?” Little Chubby asked.

“One.”

“Alright then. Reveal.”

Honestly, Little Chubby’s movements weren’t even that fast. Everyone could clearly see where the turtle card ended up.

“Whoa! It really was that one!”

“Told you I got it right.”

“Pay up.”

Little Chubby waved his wristband and transferred the money smoothly before grinning again.

“Another round?”

“Of course!”

Surprisingly, Little Chubby lost the next two rounds as well.

Ding Yufei found it strange. The trick looked completely transparent. There were no high-tech devices involved, and everyone could clearly follow the movement of the cards. So how was Little Chubby supposed to win?

“You three want to try?” Little Chubby asked them.

“Us?” Ding Yufei blinked in surprise.

Even though it looked easy, he knew something had to be wrong. He had always followed the rule of watching but never participating.

“I’ll do it! I’ll do it!” Belina said excitedly.

To an ordinary slave, even one Latir was worth something. But to her, it was basically pocket change.

“Don’t play. These games aren’t easy to win,” Lina warned quietly.

She knew tricks like this always had something shady behind them, but openly exposing it would only cause trouble.

“It’s fine. Just a little gambling.”

On Planet Boman, gambling could be found practically everywhere.

But Ding Yufei and Belina had never really cared about it. Aside from the two matches Emperor Hogan had forced them to bet on, they had never participated in any kind of gambling before.

And now, somehow, they were sitting down for a round.

“Alright.” Little Chubby started moving the cards again.

Ding Yufei couldn’t stop Belina from joining, so he could only stare intently at the cards. Even if he didn’t know the trick behind it, watching carefully was all he could do for now.

“Which one?” Little Chubby asked after finishing the shuffle.

“This one.” Belina pointed confidently at the middle card.

She had seen it clearly.

“How many Latir?”

“Fifty.”

Belina answered without hesitation. To her, even ten Latir was an absurdly tiny amount. She cared more about the fun of playing than the money itself.

But the surrounding crowd quietly gasped.

Around here, two or three Latir was enough for a decent full meal. Five Latir could buy a high-energy premium meal. Fifty Latir was equivalent to an entire week’s living expenses for many slaves.

By Earth standards, it was like casually tossing down several hundred yuan.

“Deal!”

Little Chubby flipped over the middle card.

It wasn’t the turtle.

It was a bird.

“Huh?” Belina froze.

She already knew Little Chubby might be cheating somehow, but with so many eyes watching the table, she still hadn’t expected to lose track of it.

“Pay up,” Little Chubby said with a smug grin.

“Wait,” Belina interrupted.

“What? Trying not to pay?” Little Chubby’s expression darkened instantly.

Gambling was completely legal on Planet Boman. As long as both sides agreed, any kind of wager could be made. Fraud, however, was another matter.

Several people nearby immediately stepped closer. Whether they were Little Chubby’s associates or not, they clearly looked ready to back him up.

“I never said I wasn’t paying.” Belina smiled calmly, though she made no move to take out her wristband.

“A bet’s a bet. You watched the cards yourself. I didn’t cheat you.”

“What I mean is,” Belina said leisurely, “let’s play one more round. I’ll settle everything afterward.”

“Fine by me.” Little Chubby glanced at her carefully.

Seeing no fear or nervousness on her face, he relaxed a little.

“Miss, seriously, don’t keep playing,” Lina urged again from the side.

She knew people running these games always had their own tricks. Outsiders rarely won.

Now that Belina was her friend, she didn’t want to watch her throw money into a pit, even if the amount itself meant little to her.

“It’s okay. One more round.” Belina smiled reassuringly at Lina before turning back toward Little Chubby.

“This time, I’m betting one hundred Latir. But I have one condition.”

“What condition?”

Little Chubby’s eyes brightened slightly.

Fifty Latir was already a sizable amount. He usually needed several days to earn that much. If he won again, he’d walk away with one hundred and fifty Latir total—a very profitable day.

“Bend this card slightly.”

As she spoke, Belina lifted one corner of the turtle card upward just a little.

The corner only stuck up at about a thirty-degree angle, but that alone made it completely distinguishable from the other two cards.

“Well?” Belina challenged him. “Still willing to play?”

Little Chubby stared at the marked card for a moment, thinking carefully.

“Sure. Just remember your bet.”

Playing with a marked card was practically like taking an open-book exam. It should have been impossible to lose.

Little Chubby had been running this stall for a long time, yet he had never played under conditions like this before.

The crowd immediately began whispering among themselves, though it was hard to tell whether they were worried about Little Chubby or Belina.

“No problem. Go ahead,” Belina said.

Little Chubby started shuffling again.

This time, the cards moved far faster than before. They flew through his fingers in a blur, almost impossible to follow.

Clearly, he hadn’t been using his full skill earlier.

Pap! Pap! Pap!

Three crisp sounds rang out as the cards slapped onto the tabletop.

One of them very obviously had a bent corner sticking upward.

“Which one?” Little Chubby asked while staring at Belina.

“Obviously that one.” Belina pointed directly at the bent card.

This time she had watched the entire process carefully, and the card itself had been marked. There was no way she could have mistaken it.

Ding Yufei had also followed the entire shuffle closely.

It really was that card.

And yet, something still felt off.

Of course, for Ding Yufei and Belina, exposing the trick would actually be very simple. Ding Yufei’s glasses and Belina’s retinal scanner both had built-in recording functions. If they asked their Personal AI Assistant to analyze the footage frame by frame, finding the trick wouldn’t be difficult.

But Ding Yufei wasn’t familiar with using those functions, while Belina simply thought using them would ruin the fun.

As for the surrounding slaves and civilians, they didn’t possess technology that advanced in the first place.

Without saying a word, Little Chubby flipped over the marked card.

It still wasn’t the turtle.

This time, the card showed a six-legged beast.

“What?!” Belina stared blankly at the table.

Then a thought suddenly crossed her mind.

Had he switched out the card entirely?