The majestic voice echoing around the ruined temple now carried a hint of reprimand.

Ethan Brooks withdrew the knee that was about to kneel, propping his chin with his right hand as he looked around for the source of the voice.

“Young one! If you do not kneel, you will suffer disaster...”

This time, the majestic voice sounded a bit anxious.

Ethan Brooks focused his attention on the fist-sized shadow behind the offering table. If he hadn’t spent years following his old man in cons and tricks, he really might have been fooled by that shadow.

“By the way...” Ethan Brooks stared at the fist-sized shadow. “Are you just pretending to be all high and mighty?”

The shadow fell silent, feeling quite awkward at that moment!

The demonic voice it had just used, though a bit weak, was still powerful enough to instantly hypnotize ten ordinary people, yet the other party had easily shaken it off. It seemed the plan to first crush the other’s confidence and quickly establish an unattainable image to make them obey had failed!

“Very good! Excellent judgment! You have passed the test, young man!” The shadow quickly tried to cover up its embarrassment.

Buzz!

The floating shadow suddenly trembled, projecting a beam of light from within. On that light screen, one scene after another related to Ethan Brooks began to play.

“Don’t miss out as you pass by, Three Immortals Return to the Cave, bet big or small, guess right and win ten times your bet.”

At the temple fair, Ethan Bruce was running a stall, three bowls upside down on the table, enthusiastically calling out to the passing visitors.

Seven- or eight-year-old Ethan Brooks, wiping his nose, stood in front of the stall pretending to be a participant: “Uncle, uncle, can I play?”

Ethan Bruce shrugged and made a dismissive gesture: “What’s a kid doing here? This is hard, how much money do you even have?”

“I have ten yuan, just let me play one round, please.”

“Fine, fine, you win! Go ahead, guess!”

“I guess the ball is under this bowl.”

“You actually guessed it! Alright! Ten yuan pays a hundred!”

“I’ll bet another ten!” Ethan Brooks placed another ten yuan on the middle bowl of the Three Immortals game.

Second round, third round, fifth round, ninth round... tenth round...

Each time, Ethan Brooks bet ten yuan, and each time he guessed the right bowl with the ball. The crowd grew larger and more excited, with many shouting, “He got it! Guessed it again! What a prodigy!”

“Kid, I’ve already lost a thousand to you.” Ethan Bruce clasped his hands and begged, “I’m begging you, please stop playing, okay?”

“But I want to bet a thousand...”

“No way! I won’t accept your bet!”

From the crowd, a righteous-looking middle-aged man stepped out: “Why not? He’s just a kid, let him play if he wants! Am I right, everyone?”

The crowd immediately echoed the righteous man, making it clear that if Ethan Bruce didn’t let Ethan Brooks play, they’d wreck his stall.

“I said no! I won’t accept his bet!” Ethan Bruce crossed his arms stubbornly. “The kid’s got sharp eyes, I admit defeat. As long as he bets, I won’t accept it!”

“He can’t bet, huh? Then I’ll bet, that’s fine, right?” The righteous man pulled out several red bills from his wallet, turned to Ethan Brooks and said, “Kid, which bowl is the ball under? If I win, I’ll give you a red bill.”

Ethan Bruce pointed to the middle bowl. The righteous man turned to the crowd and shouted, “What are you all waiting for? Here’s your chance to make money! Time to bankrupt this crook!”

With his shout, the crowd went wild, piling red bills onto the middle bowl. In no time, there were several thousand yuan on the table.

Ethan Brooks looked at the excited people and asked, “Will you share with me too?”

“The kid already made a thousand, isn’t that enough?”

“Share what? I put up the money, why should I share with a little brat like you?”

Ethan Bruce glared at the excited crowd, his face dark: “You all... you all...”

“What about us? Hurry up and reveal it!”

“Yeah! What about us? Open it already!”

“Fine! I’ll open it!” Ethan Bruce lifted the middle bowl. The ball that had appeared every time before was nowhere to be seen—this time, it was an empty bowl.

A smile brighter than any flower bloomed on Ethan Bruce’s face, while the crowd grumbled at Ethan Brooks in disappointment.

One scene ended, then another, and another—over a dozen scenes passed, and then another one appeared.

This time, Ethan Bruce was tightly shielding Ethan Brooks beneath him, surrounded by several burly men beating him up. He never let his son get hit.

“Damn fortune-teller! Telling my wife I cheated! Got me caught in the act! If you’re so great, why didn’t you see you’d get beaten up by me today?”

“You little brat! Tattling again!”

“Beat him hard!”

Ethan Brooks remembered this beating, because before it happened, his old man had happily told him that after years of saving, he’d finally scraped together enough money for his son’s kidney transplant.

Those scenes were from the years when his old man was running cons at his peak, all just to get his son a working kidney, so he wouldn’t need dialysis two or three times a week.