Chapter 43: The Chips Are Not the Key, Exchange Is the Key
According to legend, Noah’s descendants once built a tall tower, hoping to touch the brilliance of the divine, but ultimately brought about their own doom.
After that bold speculation surfaced in her mind, Luxianbei looked again at the white spiral staircase visible from nearly every part of the third floor of the entertainment city, suddenly feeling it resembled the Tower of Babel.
The guests who arrived here eagerly ascended the staircase, seeking ways to fulfill their wishes, unaware that their desires had already been secretly priced by the Big Boss.
When they returned from their journey in the Dream Come True Entertainment City, misfortune would strike, aligning perfectly with the records in the Siye Society archives.
Luxianbei originally thought that those satisfied guests who left with their wishes fulfilled chose to commit s*icide due to madness, but it now seemed likely that they were corroded by the world’s malice, leading to their demise.
If these chips could be destroyed, would that mean…
Wait, that might not work!
Although she did not understand why the Lan Zhe Inn’s custom shop and Dan Sha Gu’s Great Pharmacy treated these chips as the main circulating currency, both establishments were backed by the ancient destroyers, who couldn’t possibly be unaware of what these chips represented. Their continued use of these chips must carry a deeper reason.
If she recklessly destroyed these chips, it could provoke their wrath—if she couldn’t handle one BOSS, adding two more would likely mean she wouldn’t leave here alive.
While Luxianbei was pondering, Liu Banxian emerged from the bathhouse, now dressed in clean clothes, stopping beside her and clasping her hands.
“Girl, there’s still an hour until the last train departs. I must be going too. Take care of yourself in this hellhole. Our Green Hills won’t change…”
“Wait!” Faced with Liu Banxian’s farewell, Luxianbei suddenly recalled something important, interrupting, “Banxian, please don’t rush off! I have something important to ask you!”
If Liu Banxian left now, who knew when she would return to Mudan Street? If she never returned, their next meeting might be ages away.
Therefore, there was a question Luxianbei had to ask; she feared that if she didn’t, she would miss her chance.
Liu Banxian sized up Luxianbei, noting her reluctant and expectant demeanor, and reluctantly said, “Girl, you’re not planning to keep me here, are you?”
“What’s the situation in this hellhole? You know I’m afraid to stay here any longer!”
“If you need me to help with something, the only thing I can do is give you a fortune.”
“No, no!” Luxianbei waved her hand and, after a moment of hesitation, leaned closer to Liu Banxian and quietly asked, “This ability of yours to withstand hits… is it… known to others?”
Finding out the Big Boss’s secret, being ambushed by black-clad guards, and still managing to escape alive—this was no ordinary feat.
If she could learn this life-saving skill, her defenses would be maxed out. Wouldn’t that make her invincible?! Luxianbei thought excitedly.
Liu Banxian, “???”
Is this girl out of her mind?
What do I have that can withstand hits?
How about… let her go read fortunes on the overpass and get beaten up?
———
Luxianbei followed Liu Banxian all the way from the Dream Come True Entertainment City to the train station, using threats, seduction, setup schemes, and a cute demeanor, yet she couldn’t extract anything useful.
Accompanied by the whistle of the giant train leaving the platform, she left the train station dejectedly.
Outside the train station, a tram had just departed, leaving the tram stop heading to the Dream Come True Entertainment City empty.
Standing by the station sign, Luxianbei gazed at the resplendent skyscraper in the distance, shrugged, and stepped forward.
The distance from the train station to the entertainment city wasn’t too far; she decided to walk back, taking the time to sort through the swirling thoughts in her mind.
It was evening, yet the city was devoid of sunlight, with clouds piled thickly in the sky. A continuous light rain seemed never to have stopped, and the cold wind carried a humid breath through the city, causing the gray-white walls of buildings to sprout strange-colored molds, resembling graffiti from a prank.
Many parts of the streets were flooded with dirty water, debris was strewn about, and disheveled homeless people hid in corners, secretly observing something.
Merchants set up food stalls on the filthy ground, with flies buzzing around them, seemingly wanting a share.
A moment ago, a street musician was playing guitar, and the next moment, they could pull out a weapon from beneath the guitar and rob.
On the streets of this city, one could see more and more large and small illegal gambling schemes.
The streets were relatively wide, but clearly lacked order; violent crimes and malicious fraud were rampant. For her own safety, Luxianbei had already released her Spirit Energy Fluctuation early on to avoid a fate of getting knocked out from behind.
However, if any foolish person dared to jump out and ambush her, they would face her upgraded Alchemical Bomb, which had long been ready to unload…
Walking in the city, Luxianbei kept pondering.
She felt her previous assumption might have some inaccuracies.
Would directly materializing the world’s malice and stripping it away be a bit too exaggerated?
According to Black Peony, the world’s malice was elusive and profound; if the Big Boss could truly capture and strip it away, he wouldn’t need to hide here; he could transfer misfortune to others in the outside world using that method.
If he was hiding here, it meant he couldn’t directly strip the world’s malice and forcibly transfer it to others.
Could it be… that these chips aren’t the key issue? Luxianbei considered.
From the Siye Society’s archives, those who left the Dream Come True Entertainment City encountered misfortune only after their wishes were fulfilled, at which point they should have no chips on them.
On the other hand, many guests left their journey in the entertainment city without spending all their chips, yet they didn’t encounter misfortune during that time.
Could it be that…
Luxianbei was mulling this over, and just as she felt she was grasping the key, a sudden soft call interrupted her thoughts.
“Hey you! Wanna gamble with me?”
The shout, tinged with youthfulness, came from a short distance ahead. Turning towards the sound, a girl, even smaller and more fragile than Luxianbei, blocked the path.
Her small face was grimy, yet couldn’t hide her delicate features. She wore a ragged cloak of an indiscernible color, with a pair of mottled hooves peeking out beneath it, nervously tapping the ground with a “tap tap” sound.
Her Spirit Energy Fluctuation was too weak, slightly weaker than D-Rank Urban Legends, to the point where Luxianbei hadn’t even noticed her entering the range of her spiritual awareness.
Luxianbei looked at the girl, tilted her head slightly, and couldn’t help but mutter to herself.
Is this a cow-headed person, or a dairy cow girl?
The moment the girl noticed Luxianbei was indeed looking her way, a flicker of panic crossed her eyes, and a blush crept onto her waxy face as she hurriedly held up a playing card in front of her face.
Seeing Luxianbei didn’t seem like the people on the street, she had initially just wanted to test her luck, but now she was flustered as the other party actually responded.
“Uh… Big sister, would you like to gamble with me?”
Luxianbei sized up the playing card in the girl’s hand, frowning slightly.
It was scribbled with the words, “Flower Card Betting, Small BÓ for Big! 1 Chip per Round.”
She even learned Pinyin? From Z Country? Luxianbei thought, looking at the girl with interest, “Flower card betting? How do you play this?”
Having never tried the street gambling games here, it seemed worthwhile to give it a shot.
Perhaps she could discover something new? Luxianbei mused.
Staring at the girl with an alarming Spirit Energy Fluctuation, the girl swallowed nervously and began to explain hesitantly.
“Uh… it’s just that I have a deck of flower cards depicting flowers, birds, insects, and fish, as well as spring, summer, autumn, and winter. I’ll deal three cards, and you guess; if you guess the four seasons right, it’s double, peony triple, and if you guess peacock, it’s…”
“Ah, right, five times!”
Luxianbei, “…”
Little sister, it seems you’re not very experienced with this business?
You dare to come out and set up a street gambling game like this? There must be some trick involved!
Forget her; let’s win a few rounds first. I won’t go easy on her just because she looks cute!
Luxianbei thought, raising an eyebrow at the girl, “Then let’s get started!”
As she spoke, she pulled out some chips from her pocket, leftover from playing slots.
Though only two or three hundred chips, it was more than enough to join the girl’s gamble.
The girl timidly approached Luxianbei, pulling out a yellowed deck from her ragged cloak, laying the cards on the ground, squatted beside it, and pretended to shuffle for a few times before dealing three cards.
Seeing this, Luxianbei squatted down, placed a chip on the cards, then reached out to reveal one of the playing cards.
The card displayed a fully fanned peacock.
Gazing at the card, the girl seemed so entranced she didn’t move. It wasn’t until Luxianbei spoke to remind her that she snapped back to reality.
“Looks like I guessed right? Shouldn’t you give me five chips now?”
“…” The girl’s expression turned quite ugly as she fished five chips from her cloak, reluctantly handing them over, her small hands reluctantly tugging at the chips, Luxianbei had to exert a lot of effort to “snatch” them from her.
“Let’s continue!”
With that, Luxianbei placed the five-chip stack back on the card.
The girl bit her lips until they turned white but gathered her courage to shuffle again, dealt three new cards in front of Luxianbei.
The next moment, Luxianbei selected a spring card from the three.
Winning chips from the girl was extraordinarily easy; besides employing some simple cheating techniques, she didn’t use any special abilities. Luxianbei only had to predict slightly to know which card was the winning card among the three.
Yet the girl didn’t detect anything unusual and seemed somewhat captivated. After paying the chips, she shuffled and dealt again, her eyes slightly red, saying to Luxianbei, “Again!”
“No, I don’t want to continue.” Luxianbei replied, picking up the chips on the ground and tucking them away, turning to leave.
She hadn’t discovered anything different from the entertainment city in this street gambling scheme; continuing further seemed pointless.
As the girl watched Luxianbei’s departing figure, she called out in a voice tinged with tears, “Wait! Big sister, please, let’s play one more round?!”
However, her call was met with ridicule from other street gamblers who were watching not far away.
“Orange, I think you should stop calling; clearly, she’s much better than you. Even if your half-dead dad came, he’d still lose!”
“Yeah, yeah, take a look at who she is; if you keep pestering, you might lose your life.”
“I think you’d better try your luck at the entertainment city; there are more chances to fulfill your wishes there.”
…
Wishes?
Luxianbei, who hadn’t gone far, paused at this word, contemplating for a few seconds before turning back to the girl.
Seeing Luxianbei return, the girl hurriedly said, “Big sister, are you reconsidering? Do you want to gamble with me again?”
“Mm.” Luxianbei nodded, “But before we gamble, I need to ask you a question. Why are you running this game? What wish are you trying to fulfill?”
“I…” The girl opened her mouth, looking down, then mumbled softly, “To help my dad get better, to make sure my little brother has enough to eat… and… to get a new outfit.”
“Then why don’t you try the entertainment city?” Luxianbei pressed, “They can accomplish the same things there, right?”
Besides, gambling machines have a higher probability of winning than setting up a street gambling game here, Luxianbei thought wryly.
“No way, no way!” The girl’s eyes widened, urgently shaking her hands. “My dad got sick after exchanging something there; he even said he wished he had just spent the chips!”
“If I go there, I might also suffer.”
Got sick only after exchanging something… just spend the chips!
Luxianbei mulled over these two sentences, a sudden flash of realization struck her, and she felt somewhat enlightened.
So that’s how it is!
These chips are likely just a medium.
The chips are not the key; the exchange is the key!
Luxianbei thought, pulling out two ten-chip pieces and placing them in front of the girl, turning to look in the direction of the Dream Come True Entertainment City. “Alright, let’s get started?”
“This…” The girl looked at the twenty chips in front of her, growing pale.
Twenty chips—if she lost them, she might need to sell herself just to cover the debt.
But…
At this point, there was no other way.
Thinking about it, the girl tremulously shuffled the cards and dealt three cards to Luxianbei.
Luxianbei examined the girl expressionlessly, her finger lingering momentarily on the card she predicted would be the peacock, then shifted slightly, flipping over the card depicting the cricket…
(Ultimate Card Writing Day…)
