My name is Zuo Dao. My father hoped I would defy convention, but he never imagined I'd end up on the gambler's path to ruin: "Putting on a show at the card table, trading my life for money." My peers call me an "actor." The gambling table is a livestream with no rehearsals: win, and you live in a world of luxury; lose, and your "final act" is a leap from the twentieth floor.
To become a top card sharp, you need acting skills worthy of an Oscar: when you've lost everything, smile with the Mona Lisa's compassion; when you're holding a winning hand, tremble like a country bumpkin who's just arrived in the city. This isn't comedy. It's the law of survival on the edge of a blade. I once saw a fellow gambler get his hand nailed to the table. Blood pouring out, he still joked, "Boss, you've got a rosewood table and rusty nails. Don't give me tetanus." In the dead silence of the room, I understood the absurdity of this line of work: the closer you are to death, the more you have to joke about it.
Our daily life is a farce performed with our heads on the line. Which will come knocking first tomorrow, tomorrow itself or the silt at the bottom of the river? Nobody knows. But you have to be ready at any moment to meet the cruelest blade with the maddest grin.
The story begins with my first big bust. Pinned against the stone steps of the moat, feeling the cold of the water seeping into my shoes, I suddenly understood: those who walk the crooked path must dance a tap routine over broken glass, even on their way to hell. Dignity is an illusion; surviving is what matters.
A gamble is a play, and every move is a battle for life and death. When lies are woven into fine robes and blades press against throats, how can those who walk the crooked path balance on the tightrope between the cards and human nature? Behold this absurd survival story written in blood: some laugh as they fall into the abyss, while others hone the sharpest tricks in the mud. And I am only an ant with my name carved on the edge of the gambling table, waiting to see whether I'll become someone else's stake or the deadliest card in the deck.
It's written as if you are a child of luck