As they discussed, a crowd gathered around, and David Carter suddenly snapped back to his senses. There wasn’t that much credit in the arcade machine, so he had to find the boss and have him come over to take a look. By this time, the boss had already come over. He had approached with a smile before, but when he saw the numbers on David Carter’s machine, his expression immediately changed.

“Boss, I’d like to cash out…” Seeing the situation, David Carter quickly stood up to cash out. At the same time, he gathered up the tokens that had already been dispensed, putting them neatly into a small box meant for tokens. Only after counting did he realize there were quite a lot of tokens already dispensed, and together with those still in the machine, there were over 6,100 in total.

David Carter did a quick calculation in his mind—this was a total of 2,060 yuan.

“You haven’t been here long, right? Is this machine broken…” The boss’s face looked very unpleasant. He angrily slapped the machine, as if he wished he could smack the numbers right off it, then claim the machine was malfunctioning.

At the same time, he looked at David Carter with a pained expression. Seeing that David Carter wasn’t carrying any bags, and having heard that some people use tools to tamper with machines—though those things are usually pretty big—he glanced at the machine and saw it hadn’t been tampered with.

“If someone wins money and you refuse to pay, Boss Brooks, that’s really not cool of you…”

“Yeah, I won’t dare come here to play next time.”

“No wonder I only ever lose and never win. There must be something wrong. Now that someone’s won, you won’t even pay up…”

…

A few of the people who had lost money saw Old Brooks’s reaction and realized he didn’t want to pay, so they immediately started mocking and jeering. As they stirred things up, even more people gathered to watch. The boss’s surname was Chen, and everyone usually called him Old Brooks. Seeing the crowd gather, his face twitched a few times—he was really feeling the pain.

At this moment, Old Brooks was feeling extremely conflicted and miserable inside. He didn’t want to hand over the money, but he had no choice. With so many people watching, if word got out, it would ruin his reputation and hurt his business, which was a much bigger problem.

“Stop making a fuss! My shop, Old Brooks’s place, is totally fair. I’m not afraid of you little punks winning money.” Old Brooks shouted loudly, then started counting out money for David Carter from the pouch at his waist. He had a big fanny pack, bulging with cash. In his heart, he cursed—David Carter had quietly walked away with so much of his money. It wasn’t the first time someone had won; even at the mahjong machines, some people had won thousands, but those people came often and would eventually lose it all back.

They might win once in a while, but they lost much more often, and over time, they’d already lost plenty. With Old Brooks’s experience, he could tell at a glance that this guy wouldn’t be coming back, and that’s what really bothered him.

“Two thousand is enough, the rest is on me for everyone to play.” Seeing Old Brooks count out the money, David Carter took it, but left the remaining sixty or so yuan.

“Nice, awesome! Give me some too, maybe I’ll win it all back…” Hearing David Carter say this, the guys who had been jeering got excited and immediately crowded around Old Brooks asking for tokens.

Seeing Old Brooks surrounded, David Carter quickly squeezed his way out and hurried out of the arcade. Once outside, David Carter let out a long breath. Although he’d managed to stay calm before, he’d gotten a bit carried away at the end. If he hadn’t been seen by others, and kept winning, no one would believe he wasn’t cheating. Hitting the jackpot every time—who would believe that wasn’t cheating?

Still, he felt pretty happy inside. At least he’d found a temporary way to make money. With this, paying the rent shouldn’t be a problem.

“Old Brooks, want me to get it back for you?” After the crowd dispersed, a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old youth with a mohawk came over, casually took a cigarette from Old Brooks’s pocket, and lit it for himself.

“What’s the rush? If word gets out, people will really think I only let people lose and never win. Besides, it’s not worth it for this little bit of money.” As Old Brooks spoke, he lit a cigarette for himself too, though he still felt the pain. The punk next to him was called Little Brian. Old Brooks paid protection money to a local boss, and Little Brian usually came by to keep an eye on things. He ate and drank at Old Brooks’s place, and thinking about the money just lost, Old Brooks changed his tone.

“But that kid really is a bit suspicious. I suspect he did something to the machine. Here’s what you do: take some guys and teach him a lesson, rough him up a bit, let him know that my money, Old Brooks’s money, isn’t so easy to take.” Old Brooks knew these guys would definitely try to rob him. Rather than say they were helping him get the money back, it was more like Little Brian was just jealous.

“Heh… no problem at all…” Little Brian stubbed out his cigarette, a look of delight on his face. He called out two more guys from inside, and, thinking that David Carter looked pretty strong, he also called some brothers from the arcade at the end of the street.

Chapter 7: One Against Five

On his way back, David Carter did a quick calculation. The salary he’d just received was 2,800 yuan, plus the money he still had left, and the 2,000 yuan he’d just won—he now had a total of 6,000 yuan. He still needed another 6,000, but now David Carter wasn’t too worried. At least he’d found a way to make money.