In the corner.
Natsuki and the girls successfully reunited.
"President, Kaguya-chan, Yukino-chan, Hanamori-chan, and Mitsui, how did everyone complete their performance quota?"
Chika asked curiously, hands on her hips:
"I exchanged food with an uncle next door and finally got a sin coin."
Except for Mitsui, who was a beautiful dealer, everyone else started as a scammer.
Kaguya spoke softly: "I'm the same as you."
Yukino calmly said: "The computer next door was broken, I helped fix it, and they gave me three sin coins."
...
Hearing that Yukino actually got three sin coins, Kaguya's cheeks puffed out slightly for a moment.
Ever since that chaotic scene erupted, the two of them hadn't made up and had been secretly competing.
Now that Yukino helped someone fix a computer and received compensation, Kaguya had only one thought in her mind:
Damn it!
I actually lost!
I have to win it back no matter what!
Hayasaka blinked, saying nonchalantly: "I'm different from everyone else; I earned ten sin coins in one go by chatting."
Natsuki looked at Hayasaka, raising his hand curiously: "Hanamori-sama, teach me, I want to learn."
"Me, me, me." Chika followed, "I want to learn too."
Hayasaka crossed her arms, saying casually: "Well, it's actually very simple; you just need to prescribe the right medicine... On the desktop of the computer I was working on, there was a customer's avatar that was a very familiar anime game character."
"I said I was Raiden Shogun from Inazuma, and during a battle with the Heavenly Principles, I accidentally shattered the void and ended up in another world. If they gave me money, once I returned to Teyvat, I would give them Yae Miko to warm their bed."
Hey, hey, this kind of scam is too low-level, surely no one would actually fall for it!
Chika asked curiously: "And then? And then?"
Hayasaka sighed: "Then that customer refused."
"Eh, eh, eh?"
"That guy said..." Hayasaka paused slightly, "He was Kamisato Ayaka's dog, and he told me to give him Kamisato Ayaka to warm his bed, and even gave me ten sin coins as a deposit for it."
Did he actually fall for it!
Natsuki mused:
"Generally speaking, extracting performance from customers is the most common way to go about it."
"But..." Chika blinked, whispering, "But that's a scam, right?"
"The people who get scammed out of money must be very desperate and in pain, right?"
Hayasaka said calmly: "The question is, this is a dungeon. What are the chances that those guys on the other side of the computer are human?"
Natsuki said from the side: "The chances of them being human are almost zero."
"Oh, if they're not human, then there's no problem..."
Chika quickly let go of her psychological burden.
Although she was naturally kind, she hadn't reached the point of caring for evil spirits too.
"Then I'll say it," Natsuki whispered. "Working part-time is out of the question. It's slow money and hard work. I went straight to the Casino and entered 'gambling frenzy' mode."
Natsuki sighed, "No wonder so many people are addicted to gambling. The money comes in super fast, and it's quite enjoyable. I've only been out for a little while, and I already feel my hands itching again."
Hearing this, Kaguya and Yukino both frowned.
Although they knew Natsuki was saying it on purpose, they still felt a bit concerned.
Of the three vices—gambling, prostitution, and drugs—the first one was barely acceptable, but the latter two were the worst of bad habits and absolutely not to be touched. Once ordinary people got involved, there was basically no turning back.
"President," Kaguya frowned, "Don't get addicted."
"It's normal for a high school student like me to have insufficient self-control, right?" Natsuki looked at Kaguya innocently. "Unless Kaguya is always by my side to supervise me."
"I refuse."
Kaguya's pretty face hardened, and she turned her face away, unwilling to let Natsuki have his way.
Natsuki turned his head helplessly and looked at Yukino, his eyes questioning.
"What about Yukino?"
Facing the inquiry, Yukino looked disgusted and only gave a single syllable:
"Heh."
"..."
"Ahem, I trust the President," Chika whispered. "He definitely won't get addicted to gambling."
"Your trust is too heavy," Natsuki squinted. "I'm going to gamble again right now."
"Oh, President, don't be childish," Chika chided. "What should we do next?"
Natsuki glanced at the dispersing stooges and pondered, "Everyone should first explore the park to get familiar with its environment. Besides the work area, there also seem to be a cafeteria and dormitories..."
Before he could finish speaking, a strange girl suddenly appeared, unreservedly hugging Natsuki's arm and excitedly saying, "I finally found you!"
Facing the sudden uninvited guest, the girls all raised their eyebrows.
Natsuki quickly pulled his arm away and explained, "She's a the passerby player player from the same studio as me. I helped her submit her performance earlier."
"Are you players too?" The girl's eyes lit up, and she quickly introduced herself, "My name is Suzuki Ryoko. Nice to meet you, please take care of me!"
"Hello, Ryoko-chan," Chika extended her right hand and smiled. "Since we met in the instance, we are companions."
When encountering the passerby player players in an instance, as long as there are no conflicts of interest, they can usually form an alliance.
The two sides simply exchanged names and mentioned their respective instance clear counts. Ryoko quickly widened her eyes and exclaimed, "Wow! You're all so amazing, unlike me. I've only cleared the instance twice and don't know anything. Luckily, I met Natsuki-sama, otherwise I would have been punished."
"Hmm?"
Kaguya was slightly startled. She felt that there was something strange about the girl's words.
"Um..." The passerby player lifted her small face, her eyes wide, looking over pitifully, and quietly pleaded, "I've only cleared the instance once, and I don't understand anything... Can I move with everyone?"
Chika put her right hand on her hip and said, "Of course you can! Meeting in the instance is fate, so of course we should help each other."
"Thank you, everyone," the passerby player breathed a sigh of relief, clenching her fists and saying, "I know I'm not very capable, but I'll definitely be obedient and try my best not to cause trouble for everyone."
"Continuing our previous topic," Natsuki said, "Let's explore the park first."
"..."
The park was very large, its main body surprisingly a school, and old classroom layout maps could still be seen on the walls.
The cafeteria and dormitories were on the east and west sides of the teaching building, surrounded by an open playground.
The sky was dim and gloomy. Looking into the distance, one could see thugs patrolling everywhere on the playground. Many of them were leading hellhounds with blood-red eyes and drooling mouths.
"The security is very tight," Hayasaka whispered. "Visually, it's at least five hundred meters from the school gate."
Chika complained, "There are so many thugs patrolling, it feels like not even a fly could escape."
"The distance is indeed a bit far," Natsuki nodded. "Dark Shadow can't sneak that far... There are many ways to escape the park. The instance has just begun, no need to rush."
The group turned and headed to the cafeteria.
However, as they passed a secluded corner, a tall evil spirit suddenly emerged from the shadows.
"Stop..."
Natsuki stopped and looked at the speaking evil spirit.
This guy was tall, only half a head shorter than the thugs, with a fierce face full of scars. He only had one left eye, his right eye a black, empty socket.
"Brother, what can I do for you?"
Natsuki spoke neither obsequiously nor arrogantly.
The burly evil spirit extended his right hand, looked at Chika, and said in a low voice, "Rob... Robbery..."
"I see," Natsuki turned to look at Kaguya and the others, explaining, "One of the rules of the park is that you can't rob in public. It doesn't matter in secluded places."
Chika blinked and said, "Is this what they call the law of the jungle?"
Hayasaka said from the side, "Well, that's why pitiful people must have hateful aspects."
"Um..." The passerby player's face turned pale, and she couldn't help but whisper, "Is this the time to be saying such things? Should we run?"
"Don't be nervous," Mitsui said calmly. "Just stay quiet."
"Oh..."
The passerby player agreed while looking around, searching for an escape route.
She didn't know where these people got their confidence. If a fight really broke out, she would definitely turn and run immediately.
In an instance, only surviving is the only important thing!
"One sin coins per person..." The burly evil spirit's voice quickly grew impatient, and he directly reached out and grabbed Natsuki's neck, "Give it to me quickly, otherwise..."
Slap.
Natsuki grabbed the other party's wrist and smiled, "Otherwise what?"
This burly evil spirit was tall, and with the basic magnification of an evil spirit, his strength was about twice that of an ordinary person. Unfortunately, in front of Natsuki, it was completely insignificant.
"Too weak, truly too weak," Natsuki shook his head and sighed, while pushing the other party's right hand down. "You only have this much strength, how dare you block the road and rob?"
"Damn it!"
The burly evil spirit's single eye flashed with a crimson light, clearly entering an enraged state. His muscles began to swell, looking even more ferocious. "I'll twist off your head!"
Natsuki said calmly, "Then you'll have to keep trying."
The burly evil spirit's gaze was ferocious: "I'll tear apart all the women behind you!"
Boom!
A roar suddenly sounded.
The passerby player quickly looked over, and her eyes widened in disbelief.
Meow meow meow?
What just happened?
She only looked away for a second, how did that terrifying evil spirit just kneel down?
"What did you just say?" Natsuki looked down, expressionless. "Say it again."
"..."
Having been completely crushed in terms of power, the burly evil spirit finally understood that the short guy in front of him was not to be trifled with at all. Especially that last sentence made it feel a deep and terrifying crisis—if it didn't answer well, its head might very well be distorted off.
The burly evil spirit hesitated for two seconds, and finally chose to be cautious, directly performing a standard dogeza, kneeling obediently in front of Natsuki and the others.
"I'm sorry, please forgive me."
"..."
The girls were all speechless.
One could only say, as expected of a Japan evil spirit.
Even though it was dead and had become an evil spirit, it still remembered the standard posture for apologizing with a dogeza.
Natsuki extended his right hand, mimicking, "Robbery, hand over all your sin coins."
"..."
A moment later.
Natsuki took the five sin coins and then led the girls away.
"Natsuki-sama is amazing!" The passerby player's eyes sparkled, her hands clasped in front of her chest, exclaiming, "That evil spirit just now was so scary, I didn't even dare to breathe! Natsuki-sama could actually make it perform a dogeza, he must be a super awesome player, right?"
"That's right," Chika put her hands on her hips, raising her chin proudly. "The President is super amazing."
Natsuki complained, "Stop praising me, I'm going to float away if you keep praising me."
"It's not an exaggeration at all, Natsuki-sama is indeed super amazing," the passerby player said admiringly. "Unlike me, I can't do anything."
"..."
Listening to the interaction between the two, Kaguya slightly frowned, feeling that something was amiss.
Yukino's expression was calm, as if she didn't care at all.
Hayasaka, on the other hand, had her arms crossed over her chest, her expression a half-smile.
Talking all the way, the group soon arrived at the park cafeteria.
The light was dim.
The air was murky and foul-smelling.
The stooges, who had previously been like walking dead, were all wolfing down food, burying their heads and eating wildly.
"Those foods are so disgusting..." Chika wrinkled her dainty nose, whispering her complaint. "Just looking at them makes me lose all appetite."
"Some things look scary, but might taste quite good," Natsuki said casually. "Like century eggs, or stinky mandarin fish... Want to try some?"
"No! Absolutely not!" Chika quickly shook her head. "I'll eat the food from my backpack later, I definitely don't want to eat strange things!"
Mitsui pushed up the glasses on her nose and said softly, "These guys seemed like walking dead before, but now they feel super fanatical and excited."
Yukino softly explained, "Evil spirits usually have no sense of touch, only endless emptiness... These foods must be very special, they can make them feel alive again."
"I see," the passerby player showed a look of sudden understanding. "Yukino-chan is so amazing, she knows so many things, unlike me, I've only been a player for a short while and don't know anything."
Yukino glanced at her indifferently, then looked away without speaking.
The passerby player's smile stiffened slightly, and she returned to Natsuki's side.