Upon entering the Casino with beautiful dealers dealing online, Natsuki's gaze swept around, and he couldn't help but be greatly disappointed.
There were many dealers, but very few were beautiful.
In the Sin Park, not even dogs are innocent, so the dealers inside naturally wouldn't be human.
A beautiful dealer near the entrance had a pretty face and a charming smile, but unfortunately, she was a skeletal spirit—
A skeletal spirit in the true sense.
Looking from behind, Natsuki could see that the black skirt of this lady was empty underneath, even revealing ghastly white bones; what else could she be but a skeletal spirit?
Some dealers were entirely other species.
For example, next to the skeletal spirit dealer, there was another dealer who only had an upper body, but her lower body consisted of black spider legs, looking somewhat like Spider Girl, but far less cute.
Not far away, there was also something resembling a Medusa, whose face was very beautiful, but her hair was entirely made of wriggling small snakes.
Continuing to search for special beautiful dealers, Natsuki even saw an uma.
Her upper body was quite normal, looking like a high school student, but below was half a horse's body, only it was subtly decaying, clearly not a living creature.
In short, it was an eye-opener.
Natsuki was secretly marveling at the variety in the park when he suddenly felt his quest panel subtly vibrating.
He walked to a corner, opened it, and found that he had just unlocked a new hidden side quest.
[Hidden Side Quest: Evaluation Guide for Heterogeneous Pleasure Girls]
[You have encountered more than five types of heterogeneous females, and you decide to become a pioneer for humanity, compiling an evaluation guide for future generations]
[Quest Requirement: Engage in in-depth communication with at least five heterogeneous pleasure girls]
"..."
After reading the content of the hidden quest, Natsuki's mouth twitched slightly, and he silently closed the quest panel.
Vulgar!
Too vulgar!
Just how perverted must someone be to complete this side quest?!
He had some thoughts about the previous side quests, but for this one, he had absolutely none.
Even a pervert must have his own bottom line.
Withdrawing his gaze, Natsuki wandered around the Casino, secretly observing the game methods at each gambling table.
Blackjack, Pai Gow, Golden Flower, rolling dice... These were basically all real-life games.
Although Natsuki had never played any of them, he had seen them in movies, and there wasn't much difference from real-world Casinos.
However, the stakes here were sin coins, and besides sin coins, one could also use their body parts as stakes.
Natsuki circled the Casino and finally saw a familiar face.
"...Natsuki-kun!"
Seeing Natsuki appear, Mitsui, dressed in a black evening gown and working as a beautiful dealer, her eyes lit up, and her pretty face clearly showed excitement.
"Miss Mitsui, stay calm."
Natsuki nodded slightly, signaling with his eyes.
"Hmph..."
Mitsui nodded gently and quickly calmed down.
She had been involved in Strange Tale incidents before, and after the Strange Tales Management Bureau was established, she was one of the main persons in charge, not a clueless novice, so she clearly understood the importance of staying calm.
"Miss Mitsui, what is your daily performance target?"
Natsuki walked to the girl's side and asked in a low voice.
Mitsui bit her lip and whispered in reply:
"At least two sin coins."
"Got it." Natsuki nodded, then walked away, "Wait a moment."
"..."
Watching Natsuki's retreating figure, Mitsui's heart involuntarily settled down.
In the Door of Despair incident, Natsuki could even wreak havoc, so how would he earn sin coins now?5
Was he planning to cause a scene in the Casino?
However, Mitsui quickly saw from the corner of her eye that Natsuki actually sat down in front of a beautiful dealer not far away, took out two sin coins, and slapped them on the gambling table:
"I'm betting it all."
This gambling table mainly played dice, and Natsuki, as an "insider" and not a customer, and with only two sin coins, naturally wouldn't attract attention.
And then... the God of Gamblers returned.
There was no need for cheating or trickery; Natsuki activated Time Stop with his own ability.
He could pause time for three seconds every minute, which was absolutely invincible when used in a Casino.
In less than ten minutes, Natsuki successfully multiplied his initial two sin coins to two hundred sin coins.
His unbroken winning streak, always victorious, left the beautiful dealer opposite him dumbfounded and incredulous:
"You... who are you?"
Natsuki pushed up his non-existent glasses on his nose, and said in a deep voice:
"Please call me the God of Gamblers."
The dealer lady: "..."
Losing everything in a Casino is ignored, but a continuous winning streak is not allowed.
Having only won two hundred sin coins, Natsuki noticed the fierce glares from the thugs nearby, and with only a dozen minutes left until closing time, Natsuki knew when to quit while he was ahead.
"See you tomorrow."
Natsuki waved to the dealer lady, collected all the sin coins on the gambling table, and turned to leave gracefully.
As he passed Mitsui, Natsuki activated Time Stop again, grabbed a handful of sin coins, and stuffed them into Mitsui's pocket.
"In your pocket."
Natsuki reminded her in a low voice, then walked away as if nothing had happened.
Feeling the heavy sensation in her pocket, Mitsui immediately breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed.
Her pocket was already full, and completing the main quests for the next few days should be very easy, directly removing any worries.
This was the joy of clinging to a powerful figure!
Leaving the Casino, Natsuki prepared to return to his studio, but he hadn't gone far when a muffled growl sounded behind him.
"Stop!"
Natsuki stopped, his face calm as he turned around.
He saw a thug, two meters tall, with a mouth full of fangs, carrying a mace covered in shredded meat, lumbering over, his eyes fierce as he said:
"You actually dared to cheat in the Casino..."
"I know the rules."
Before the other party could finish speaking, Natsuki directly pulled out a handful of sin coins and stuffed them into the guy's hand.
"..."
The thug brother looked bewildered.
Such a straightforward and clean method of bribery completely stumped him.
After several seconds of stunned, the thug brother tightly clutched the sin coins, his eyes fierce as he said:
"You actually dared to bribe me..."
"Who said it was a bribe?" Natsuki's expression became serious, and he said earnestly, "It was clearly money you just dropped."
The thug brother was stunned: "I... money I dropped?"
"That's right." Natsuki said solemnly, "When you just walked over, money fell out of your pocket, and I happened to pick it up..."
As Natsuki spoke, he took out another handful of sin coins and put them into the thug brother's pocket:
"I'm just returning what belongs to you now."
"..."
Money, that thing, is easy to earn, so naturally, it doesn't hurt to spend it.
The thug brother was stunned for a while, then his gaze towards Natsuki finally softened.
Natsuki smiled:
"Brother, what's your name?"
The thug brother's voice was muffled, and he didn't seem very intelligent:
"My name is Natsuki..."
"Good name!"
You didn't even listen to the whole thing!
Natsuki asked in confusion:
"Natsuki-nii, you seemed to say just now that I was cheating in the Casino?"
"You heard wrong." Natsuki-nii tucked the sin coins into his pocket, his voice deep, "I said to come play at the Casino more often in the future."
"I will definitely come to play." Natsuki smiled, "Please take care of me tomorrow, Natsuki-nii."
"Leave it to me."
Their eyes met.
Everything was unsaid.
After scattering two handfuls of sin coins, the originally ferocious thug became exceptionally gentle, and to prevent Natsuki from being extorted by others, he even specially escorted Natsuki to the studio door before turning to leave.
Natsuki returned to his seat and started slacking off.
The kidney-deficient brother with a bleeding forehead turned his head and whispered a reminder:
"If you don't complete your daily performance... you'll be punished..."
Natsuki extended his right hand and said:
"Then can you lend me one sin coin?"
"..."
The kidney-deficient brother immediately clutched his black box tightly, then turned his head away.
Lending a life is one thing, lending money is impossible.
"Tsk."
Natsuki withdrew his gaze, trying to find the figures of Kaguya and others, but still had no luck.
Aside from encountering Mitsui in the Casino, he still hadn't met Kaguya, Yukino, or anyone else.
Several minutes later.
A whistle suddenly sounded in the eerie, dim studio, and all the walking dead sitting in front of their computers stood up one by one; it was clearly quitting time.
Natsuki followed suit, noticing that the scammers did not swarm out but instead lined up, walking towards the exit one by one.
A row of fierce-looking thugs stood at the door, holding weapons and scanning everyone with malevolent gazes.
First and foremost, everyone had to meet their basic performance quota.
After submitting the basic quota, the next step was a fifty-fifty split of the scam proceeds; there was no thought of secretly hoarding, as every scammer's income was recorded by the computer.
Scammers who failed to meet their basic quota would also be punished.
Natsuki blended into the line and soon saw what the punishment was.
Smack!
A scammer whose box was completely empty, clearly having no income, was directly kicked to the ground, and then a thug brandished a whip and lashed out.
With one whip, skin immediately tore and flesh flew.
The whip must have been some kind of special tool; even the insensible evil spirits wailed and writhed under the whip.
However, apart from this unlucky fellow, everyone else remained indifferent, not saying a word, truly minding their own business.
"Indifference, the people in the park are truly too indifferent."
Natsuki sighed, then idly withdrew his gaze.
The joys and sorrows of humans are not interconnected, let alone the joys and sorrows of humans and evil spirits.
Moreover, every single scammer, without exception, deserved to be hanged on a gallows; they were not worth an ounce of sympathy or pity.
"Hmm?"
Natsuki suddenly noticed that among the queuing crowd ahead, there was a girl trembling, her face pale and filled with panic and fear.
"Is she a the passerby player?"
Natsuki raised an eyebrow slightly.
The dungeon wasn't opened for just one person, so it was normal for the passerby players to appear.
It was just that the passerby player in front of him seemed to be a novice and hadn't completed her performance quota for the day, otherwise she wouldn't be trembling with fear.
Natsuki pondered for a moment, left the line, and then quietly walked in front of the passerby player.
Cutting in line is illegal in reality, but in the dungeon, no one cared at all.
Natsuki half-turned his head, looked at the female the passerby player behind him, and whispered:
"Let me ask you a question."
"Eh?"
The female the passerby player looked up blankly.
Natsuki whispered:
"What time did Japan discharge nuclear wastewater?"
The female the passerby player was startled, then her face showed excitement, and she quickly replied:
"One o'clock! One o'clock Tokyo time!"
Natsuki asked again:
"Who was the company that presided over the discharge of nuclear wastewater?"
The passerby player: "It was East Power!"
Natsuki said:
"What crime do you think should be judged?"
The passerby player:
"Crimes against humanity! Mass hanging!"
"Very good, a perfect answer." Natsuki nodded slightly, reaching his hand behind his back.
The female the passerby player looked down and saw three sin coins in Natsuki's hand, immediately becoming excited. She quickly and carefully took the sin coins, exclaiming excitedly:
"Thank you so much!"
So far, the game has not featured any player-versus-player combat dungeons; the factions have always been two-sided.
One side is human, the other is Strange Tales and evil spirits.
Therefore, after the Strange Tales Management Bureau was established, it called upon all players to help each other and overcome difficulties together when encountering other players in the dungeon.
Of course, even without the Strange Tales Management Bureau's appeal, Natsuki would not hesitate to casually help a novice passerby.
It is precisely because he has been drenched by the rain that he wishes to hold an umbrella for others.
You can choose not to hold one, but it's completely unnecessary to mock those who do.
The line moved very quickly.
Before long, Natsuki arrived at the payment counter.
His performance quota for the day was zero, so he only needed to pay the basic income. Under the watchful eyes of a group of thugs, Natsuki calmly took out coins and paid his share for the day.
Seeing Natsuki pay, the group of thugs said nothing and simply waved him away.
It was clear that as long as you paid, you could avoid physical punishment. As for where the money came from, whether it was stolen or robbed, it was all irrelevant.
In a park, the number of scammers was the highest, just like worker ants in an anthill. Besides the studio where Natsuki was, there were several other studio exits open, and countless scammers poured out of them.
Before long, Natsuki finally saw the first familiar figure.
"President! President!"
Chika stood on her tiptoes, waving happily in the line.
Natsuki nodded, holding out a sin coin as if to ask:
"Do you have money?"
"Don't worry, President."
Chika made an OK gesture, completely unfazed.
"That's good."
Natsuki relaxed.
Except for Mitsui, who was a novice, Kaguya, Yukino, and the others could all handle themselves and didn't need excessive worry.
A moment later.
Natsuki then saw Kaguya, Yukino, and Hayasaka emerge from other rooms, and with Mitsui coming out of the Casino, the team was successfully reunited.