Spy-x-War Showdown
Chapter 256 - 255: The Camera

Chapter 256: Chapter 255: The Camera

Yang Yi requested a piece of white paper and a pencil and began to sketch a portrait of Zhang Yong.

To Boer, Yang Yi’s actions didn’t raise much interest, but once Yang Yi started his drawing, Xiao Ran said with genuine curiosity, "You can draw too?"

"Yeah, I’ve been learning since I was a kid. My mom insisted on it and even hired a very good teacher for me, but..."

"But what?"

Yang Yi paused his pencil, and after a brief moment of bewilderment, he shook his head and said, "Nothing much, my teacher said I was like a human photocopier, but I lack the most important trait of an artist—creativity. So no matter how much I practice, I’ll always be just a human photocopier, never becoming an artist."

In truth, Yang Yi wanted to say that he stopped learning to draw after his mother passed away, but eventually, he shared a different sentiment.

Some things, Yang Yi didn’t want to share with anyone else.

Picking up the pencil again, Yang Yi continued working on Zhang Yong’s portrait. Although Zhang Yong wasn’t in his presence, for Yang Yi, it hardly made a difference whether the person was there or not.

After watching for a while, Xiao Ran started to get bored because Yang Yi’s sketching was slower than average. So she lay down on the bed and said, "I’m going to rest for a bit. Call me when you’re done."

Yang Yi drew very slowly. Over an hour later, he finally finished the sketch.

"Done."

Yang Yi was very pleased, admiring his own work, and Xiao Ran came over, enthusiastic, and said, "Let me have a look."

With just one glance, Xiao Ran immediately expressed her astonishment, "You really deserve the name of a human photocopier; this is incredibly well done."

Yang Yi had captured Zhang Yong at the card table, even depicting his expression vividly. It could be said that what Yang Yi had created was a black and white photograph.

Xiao Ran looked at Yang Yi’s artwork, then at Yang Yi, and couldn’t help but say, "What exactly can’t you do?"

Yang Yi shrugged and replied, "Given my talents, after finishing elementary, middle school, and university, and spending three years furthering my studies at Pelican Bay University, I probably know more than you’d imagine."

Xiao Ran pouted and said teasingly, "You start panting at the mere mention of being fat."

Yang Yi didn’t argue with Xiao Ran. He picked up the drawing and went to Boer’s bedroom, handed the drawing to Boer, and said gravely, "It’s this guy. Please inform all the casinos in Las Vegas that this man is a cheater and quite skilled at it. I believe casinos have a mutual notification rule, right?"

Whether it’s the casinos in Las Vegas or anywhere else, none of them like to see their money being won away. An occasional win is fine, of course—no problem with that—but memory masters like Yang Yi must be blacklisted.

A typical case involved a memory master named Dominic, who won the World Memory Championships eight times. Then, of course, he went to the casinos hoping to use his talent to win some money, but it wasn’t long before he was blacklisted by all casinos worldwide. Those that he had visited, needless to say, even the ones he had never set foot in, refused him entry.

If legitimate winners can’t go to casinos to win money, all the more so for cheats that rely on deception. Whether acting alone or in a group, every casino has a policy of taking down cheats as they are discovered, without leniency.

Although casinos are in competition with each other, they share an unusually unanimous stance on cheats—that is, once discovered, they are immediately banned and reported to other casinos. This unwritten rule is followed in most cases by all casinos because letting a cheat exploit a competitor is far less important than maintaining the casinos’ very foundation.

So, even if the manager of the Tarra Casino Hotel alerts his counterparts in Las Vegas, Zhang Yong would quickly become the public enemy of all casinos in the city. No one would plot to kill him, but Zhang Yong would no longer be welcomed in any of them.

This move was indeed too damaging; it cut off Zhang Yong’s future access to casinos, so unless absolutely necessary, Yang Yi really didn’t dare to use it.

What did Yang Yi have to fear, that Zhang Yong would beat him up?

But now there was no other way; he had to leave Las Vegas as soon as possible, and it was not just a matter of choice. Therefore, Yang Yi had to resort to this ruthless tactic. However, given Zhang Yong’s gambling skills, keeping him away from the casinos wasn’t actually harming him.

Boer took the portrait of Zhang Yong and said listlessly, "What then, after I find him?"

"Tell me where he is, or if you could get him to give me a call, that would be even better."

Boer nodded and said, "So you just want to make contact with him, right? No problem, that shouldn’t be too hard to do. Just wait."

Boer used the hotel’s phone to dial a number, spoke a few words, and soon a casino director came over. Boer didn’t show his face, and Yang Yi directly passed the message to the director. With that, he didn’t have to worry about the matter anymore.

Having accomplished a major task and sent the casino director on his way, Yang Yi once again knocked on Boer’s door.

"Can I get some rest? I’m really tired."

Boer’s voice was very impatient, and Yang Yi said in a heavy tone, "I have something very important to tell you."

Boer seemed to know what Yang Yi wanted to say, so after he opened the door, he said irritably, "What do you want to talk about?"

Yang Yi sat down and addressed Boer, "Now we have some time, so you need to tell me what exactly happened. Why did Reddick suddenly ask you to leave, and why were you attacked? What did you find out that made you decide to leave our game all of a sudden? Did you know you were going to be attacked?"

Boer frowned and said, "That’s none of your business. Besides, do you really want to know?"

Yang Yi said solemnly, "Knowing too much is not good, but knowing nothing is even more dangerous."

Boer heaved a sigh and said in a low voice, "Reddick came to me all of a sudden because the FBI searched my house, and the Financial Crime Enforcement searched my office."

After thinking for a moment, Yang Yi said, "That’s not right. I can understand why the Financial Crime Enforcement would search you, but why would the FBI be investigating you? And why did they search your house?"

Boer was silent for a moment, then said in a low voice, "Because my wife is dead. She died in our home, shot to death."

Yang Yi stood up abruptly, stunned, and said, "What did you say? Your wife is dead? Did you kill her?"

Boer replied angrily, "I really wanted to kill her because she tried to kill me. That stupid idiotic woman tried to take my life more than once, but if I really wanted her dead, I would have done it long ago. Why would I need to shoot her in my own house!"

Yang Yi said in distress, "That’s not right; I thought it was your wife who sent someone to kill you, but now she’s dead."

Boer said with disdain, "She had some money, but she couldn’t have orchestrated today’s events. She didn’t have that much money, nor the means to find those desperados. She was just a foolish woman, nothing more, but her death has backed me into a corner, the damned fool!"

Boer appeared angry and frustrated, but Yang Yi didn’t want to delve into Boer’s wife any further. So he said gravely, "If it wasn’t your wife, then who is trying to kill you now!"