Chapter 445: Chapter 444: Diamond Game Hall

“You big battery, do you think everyone is like you?” Wang Hao laughed and scolded, “How do I have so much time to pick up girls and play every day?”

“Haha, that’s easy to say,” Sun Jian Country laughed, “Brother Hao, are you busy tonight? How about coming to my place to hang out?”

“Sure,” Wang Hao agreed immediately, “Send me the address, and I’ll head over.”

Soon after, Sun Jian Country sent the address. Wang Hao quickly went back to his room, got dressed, and grabbed his phone, keys, wallet, and cards–checking that he wasn’t missing anything–before setting off.

With the GPS, the journey was quick. In roughly twenty minutes, Wang Hao arrived at the address given by Sun Jian Country–beneath the Diamond Entertainment City.

It was a building that could be described as resplendent, a three-story structure with a huge spotlight at the entrance. A sign overhead read “Diamond Entertainment City” in big, flashy letters, radiating a sense of opulence.

Sun Jian Country, with his braided hair, was standing at the door. Spotting Wang Hao, he hurried over and said, “Brother Hao! Haha, I’ve been meaning to call you these past few days, but I figured you’d be pretty busy, so I hesitated.”

“Let’s skip the formalities between us brothers,” Wang Hao patted Sun Jian Country’s arm and then, looking at the grand sign of the entertainment city, smiled, “This place looks high-end! Investing in it must have cost a pretty penny, right?”

“Not at all,” Sun Jian Country scratched his head sheepishly, “This is a big boss’s property. The reason I’m here is because it’s easy to find. Actually, my buddies and I opened our venue over there…” He pointed to a small door next to them–Diamond Game Hall!

Wang Hao: “…”

Do you know what that’s like? It’s just like the difference between the Rose Hotel and the Rose Hotel in ‘Domestic Agent’…

One is five-star, while the other can’t even count as having stars…

“Sorry about that,” Sun Jian Country scratched his head again, feeling embarrassed, “We really didn’t have much capital. We only had enough to open a tiny game hall like this.”

“You must still be able to earn a fair bit in a day with this game hall, right?” Wang Hao slapped Sun Jian Country’s shoulder with a chuckle, “No worries, as buddies, there’s no need to be shy. This looks good to me. Does your friend know some people higher up? Running this kind of business won’t work without some connections.”

“Know some people? Please,” Sun Jian Country took out a cigarette, lit one for Wang Hao, and then lit one for himself, “My friend’s uncle is just a minor auxiliary police officer at the station; he can’t do much but give us a heads-up at most. There was nothing to be done. I didn’t learn much at school, couldn’t do much after graduation, so I took out all the money my parents had saved for my wedding–spent 160,000 to open this small game hall. It just about covers some pocket change of about ten thousand or so a month.”

“Well, that’ll do,” Wang Hao laughed, “At least it’s a money-making business.”

“That’s true; can’t always rely on my parents, right?” Sun Jian Country then led Wang Hao inside.

Once inside the Diamond Game Hall, Wang Hao took a brief look around.

The place was smoky, dense with the scent of cigarettes. There weren’t many game machines–about thirty or so. He didn’t see the usual King of Fighters series from his past life, but the types were similar: fighting games, platformers, shooter games, and some fruit machines used for betting coins.

At that moment, there were about fifteen or so people inside, mostly eighteen or nineteen-year-olds who seemed like high school students simply killing time with nothing better to do.

“These can’t earn much in a month, can they?” Wang Hao asked as he looked around, “How much purchasing power do these kids have?”

“Of course not,” Sun Jian Country led Wang Hao upstairs while saying, “This stuff is really just for show, a bit of misdirection. Those few fruit machines can maybe make a hundred or two a day, but for the others, even ten or so bucks a day is pretty good. Who plays arcade games nowadays with the rise of smartphones and computers? Our real money-makers are upstairs.”

Wang Hao was aware of this.

A game hall relying solely on arcade machines would starve its owner. The real money was usually made upstairs with fish game machines and poker machines–that’s where the significant income flow was.

The two of them reached the second floor, and sure enough, as Wang Hao had expected, there was a semblance of a casino vibe. A few fruit machines were scattered about, along with a Blackjack table and a high-low game, and there was even a Texas Hold’em table with a few players sitting in front of the dealer, waiting for the cards. In the distance, there were two fish shooting game machines and a poker machine, each with a few players engaged in play.

These were clearly professional gamblers, particularly those at the poker machine. One guy was hitting the buttons so hard it echoed, and the most impressive one had even taken off his shoes to use them to hit the keys…

“They’re really going at it, huh?” Wang Hao observed, “Could they be making thousands a day?”

“No way it’s that much,” Sun Jian Country shook his head, “Losing a thousand or a few hundred in a day is already quite good for them. This is a small establishment; we can’t afford to go too big, or else no one would be able to cover for us if real trouble started. Honestly, these people are here because they can’t afford to play in the neighboring Diamond Entertainment City. They just come here to satisfy their urge to gamble. If we ever went too large, my place would be trashed in no time.”

“That makes sense,” if the stakes were really high, they wouldn’t even need the local toughs to join in–the Diamond Entertainment City next door could take care of it by itself.

Since Wang Hao was there to support, he should also play something. Pointing at one of the fish game machines in front of him, which was a fish-catching game, he said, “I’m not really good at the rest; how about I give this a try?”