Chapter 383 - 352: Gambling City Las Vegas

Back at the villa, Wu Yun simply sent a routine message back home to say he was going to be busy, then turned on his computer.

Wu Yun first spent one million in the System Store to purchase the event details and plans for the Titan Game.

However, Wu Yun wasn’t just going to copy it wholesale. After all, if he wanted to turn it into a tournament known around the world, some changes were definitely needed.

For example, he made a few changes to the prize money for the intercontinental and grand championships.

Wu Yun tentatively set the prize for the intercontinental champion at 1 million USD, while the grand champion would receive 5 million USD.

This prize pool was an astronomical sum for most competitive events. After all, even a top-tier UFC fighter like Connor only earned that much for an appearance fee—not counting his major crossover fight with Mayweather, of course.

After modifying the plan, Wu Yun washed up and went to bed.

The next day, Wu Yun called Dwayne Johnson, only to find out that Johnson had to attend promotional events for *Fast & Furious 7*. They had to call off the in-person meeting, agreeing instead to talk after the movie’s premiere.

So, Wu Yun decided to check out of his hotel and head straight for San Francisco.

At the headquarters of Industrial Magic Light, perhaps thanks to George Lucas, Wu Yun received an enthusiastic welcome. He was given a tour of the company’s history in movie special effects, including their work on *Star Wars*, and watched a live demonstration of their effects production techniques.

There was no denying it: Industrial Magic Light’s technology was truly the best in the world. Huaxia’s special effects industry would need to invest a great deal of money and time to catch up.

Of course, the quality of the effects was directly proportional to the investment. After learning about Industrial Magic Light’s production costs, Wu Yun figured he should also check out the technology of He Yongzhi’s team, or perhaps compare them with the company that made *Shushan* back in the day.

However, filming for *The Immortal Ascension* and *Heaven’s Cover* wasn’t urgent. He could look into it after returning home from the United States.

After resting for a night in San Francisco, the group got on the interstate the next day and headed straight for Las Vegas, one of the most famous gambling cities in the world.

Wu Yun had no interest in visiting the Hoover Dam, which they passed on the way. The dam was over three hundred meters long and had been built eighty or ninety years ago, but it was just a fraction of the size of China’s Three Gorges Dam.

Las Vegas, the largest city in the US state of Nevada, is famous for its massive tourism, shopping, and resort industries, all centered on gambling. Nine of the world’s ten largest resort hotels are located here. It is one of the most renowned vacation destinations on earth, earning the nicknames "Entertainment Capital of the World" and "Marriage Capital of the World."

Las Vegas transformed from a giant playground into a truly living, breathing, vibrant city. It underwent a complete rebirth between 1990 and 2000, evolving from a small village a century ago into a mega-tourist city.

This gambling city in Nevada, once derisively called "Sin City," has gradually matured into a true metropolis.

After a journey of several hours, they arrived in Las Vegas in the afternoon.

Just half an hour ago, their car had been driving through a brown desert dotted with camelthorns, a place that felt like a land of the dead.

But upon entering the city proper, Wu Yun and his companions were greeted by a completely different scene: rows upon rows of buildings in wildly different architectural styles, graceful tropical and subtropical trees swaying in the breeze, the gentle tinkling of flowing water, and fountains of all shapes and sizes appearing at every turn.

Huaxia has no shortage of big cities, but none of them were built in the middle of a desert like Las Vegas.

Las Vegas wasn’t too hot at this time of year, so the streets were bustling with cars and people after they entered the city. Wu Yun saw many young couples walking along the streets, which inevitably reminded him of Las Vegas’s other nickname: "Marriage Capital of the World."

Last year, the gambling mecca of Las Vegas had become the top honeymoon destination for newlyweds worldwide.

Of the 38.9 million tourists who now visit Las Vegas annually, the majority come for the shopping and fine dining; only a minority come specifically to gamble.

However, Wu Yun was one of that minority. (Please refrain from gambling. It is forbidden. I, Huang, am a sworn enemy of gambling!)

If you don’t get mixed up in gambling, Las Vegas is truly an earthly paradise of food, drink, and entertainment.

But once you touch that darkness, the hell on earth hidden in the shadows will reveal itself to you.

In recent decades, some of China’s own corrupt officials have come here to satisfy their urges, feeding the wealth they squeezed from the common people into the voracious jaws of the slot machines, only to have their own souls devoured in the end.

Every casino in Las Vegas is constantly and greedily sucking up the world’s wealth, devouring the wallets and credit cards of the weak-willed. Every day, it creates miracles, allowing a few lucky paupers to strike it rich and enter a seeming paradise. At the same time, it constantly manufactures sin, dragging those who gambled on a lucky break down into a living hell.

Looked at another way, playing the stock market is quite similar to gambling. Only a few ever make money, while the vast majority just become fresh "leeks," ready to be harvested.

When you come to Las Vegas, you have to talk about its mega-resorts.

Before his trip, Wu Yun had read the materials Wang Hao gave him. Of the ten largest hotels in the world, more than half were in Las Vegas.

The hotel Wu Yun had booked, the Venetian Hotel, was right on the Strip and was one of the largest hotels in the heart of the city.