"Which one should we choose?" Ling Yun asked Xiao Rou with a smile. "Rock, paper, scissors?"
Chapter 344 The Devastating Casino
"Left!" Xiao Rou said simply. She had never played games like rock-paper-scissors before and had no interest in them. It didn't matter which one she chose, as long as she was with Ling Yun, that was enough. As for life and death, that was not even on the girl's mind.
“Okay, let’s go to the left.” Ling Yun took Xiao Rou’s hand and they walked into the left-hand portal one after the other. The moment they stepped in, they were already in the same row to avoid the accident where one person had already entered the portal while the other was still blocked in front of it. The instant he stepped into the portal, Ling Yun clearly felt a strange force acting on his body, but it was only a light touch and passed by so quickly that he didn’t even feel it stop.
With two soft thuds, their footsteps landed on solid ground. The sight before them stunned Ling Yun and Xiao Rou as they passed through the portal. Ahead lay endless void, and the two stood on the bright blue plane, gazing at the two enormous portals. After passing through the left portal, they were back in the same spot, with the hall's seal, shrouded in black, behind them.
"Oh?" Ling Yun turned to look at the seal at the entrance of the hall, a thoughtful expression on his face. "How could this be? Are they playing us?"
As Ling Yun passed through the portal, he considered almost everything: he might be facing an illusion, a more dangerous world, nothing at all, or perhaps a fiery sea of lava. Since he was inside the barrier's hall, anything was possible, and Ling Yun was almost fully prepared. However, the portal's strangeness still exceeded his expectations. Stepping out of the portal, he was back at the starting point! This was the only situation Ling Yun hadn't anticipated.
Ling Yun thought to himself that the fourth hall wasn't testing luck, otherwise such an illogical phenomenon wouldn't have occurred. There must be a hidden world on the other side of the light gate, but he just hadn't found it because he didn't know the right way. Could it be in the light gate on the right? No, impossible. Logically speaking, any setup has a purpose, and why would the light gate be a mere formality before knowing which option the two had chosen? Unless the test in the fourth hall was too boring and involved doing something meaningless, but the probability of that was negligible.
If it's not a test of luck, then what is it testing? Why offer two choices at all?
"Shall we go to the right?" Xiao Rou suddenly pointed to the light gate on the right. She didn't think much of it. Since the light gate on the left was blocked, she would choose another one.
"I'm afraid the right side is the same." Ling Yun smiled wryly, but still took Xiao Rou's hand and stepped into the light gate on the right. Sure enough, the two of them stepped out of the light gate and returned to the starting point. It seemed that the light gate was just a transparent existence, and one could see from the other side.
"What do we do now?" Xiaorou was at a loss. If she were alone, she could try one thing after another, but now that she and Lingyun were two people, they needed to make a new decision.
"What else could it be but luck?" Ling Yun thought for a moment. "Does it mean we have to be tested separately?"
“That’s possible,” Xiaorou said. “There are two gates of light. Maybe the fourth hall set them up for us on purpose. Honey, it seems we have to separate.”
"Alright." Ling Yun sighed. After thinking it over, this was the only possibility. He didn't want to be separated from Xiao Rou. If the test was to be conducted separately for the two of them, it would mean that they wouldn't be able to take care of each other. Although Xiao Rou's current abilities were in no way inferior to his, Ling Yun was still a little worried.
Xiao Rou suddenly leaned over and gently kissed his lips: "Honey, don't worry about me. You should take good care of yourself. This is the last test. I will silently wish you well."
As she spoke, she suddenly transformed into a streak of silver light and entered the right-hand portal without looking back. This time, the girl's figure did not reappear at the original point. It seems that the portal does indeed have some inexplicable function, allowing only one person to pass through at a time.
Ling Yun silently watched her slender figure disappear into the portal, feeling a sense of loss. The fragrance and unique aroma of the young girl lingered between his lips and teeth, as if Xiao Rou was still by his side. He stretched out his arm, wanting to grab onto something in vain, but after a long pause in mid-air, he futilely pulled it back.
Without Xiaorou by his side, Lingyun suddenly felt as if something was missing. It turned out that, without realizing it, their understanding and affection had deepened to an unparalleled level; even being apart for a short while felt unsettling. Lingyun suddenly understood the meaning behind Xiaorou's decision not to look back before entering the portal—she was afraid that if she turned back, she wouldn't be able to let her go.
With a sense of melancholy, Ling Yun slowly walked into the light gate on the left. This time, the strange power lasted much longer and grew stronger. Ling Yun did not use his mental energy field to resist it. He guessed that this was the loading process of the world behind the light gate. The strange power had a very strong effect on his mind. If he was right, there should be another environment similar to illusion behind the light gate. Once he entered, Ling Yun would forget everything and become a character set up in the illusion.
Consciousness first became blurred and heavy, then remained silent in the darkness for a long time before gradually becoming clear again. The bright and dazzling white scene gradually disappeared, revealing a crystal-clear real world.
...
"big!"
"Small!"
A cacophony of sounds, like buzzing bees, emanated from the filthy space, creating a chaotic and unsettling noise. However, the noise-makers were oblivious to the garbage they were creating; their minds were completely absorbed in another intoxicating activity: a deafening subwoofer blasting the poignant "Woman Flower" by Anita Mui. Ling Yun didn't like the song, finding it too gentle, but now, compared to the gamblers' frantic shouts, Ling Yun even found "Woman Flower" more pleasant than celestial music.
He was standing in a spacious casino, a ground-floor building with luxurious decor. Waiters and scantily clad waitresses moved back and forth among the bustling crowd, occasionally serving glasses of champagne and red wine on trays. Some leisurely gamblers, dressed in impeccable suits, chatted politely with equally elegant ladies in gowns.
The entire casino is opulent and magnificent. From the interior design to the artistic taste, it exudes a grand and aristocratic atmosphere. If you didn't see the dense gambling area, you might even mistake it for a banquet for high-society European dignitaries. Everything is so striking and eye-catching.
However, in stark contrast to the casino festivities, and even in a highly discordant scene, staff members in white uniforms and white gloves were seen rushing into the casino carrying stretchers and then transporting blood-soaked corpses out. Judging from the manner of death, the vast majority of the bodies had died from gunshot wounds, and almost all of them were suicides caused by a single shot to the head.
The gamblers seemed unfazed by such a gruesome and horrific scene. No one commented on it, and no one even glanced at the corpse, as if it didn't exist. Whether they were gentlemen or elegant ladies, they chatted and laughed in front of the horrific corpse oozing brains and blood. They even occasionally ate the small red pastries brought by the waiters and drank large gulps of red wine that was almost indistinguishable from the blood.
The bodies came from gamblers in various gambling areas. There was no dealer in these areas; regardless of the type of gambling, only one casino staff member wearing a purple vest was in charge. His main job was to meticulously implement the gambling rules and provide each gambler with the necessary betting services. Under the staff member's arrangement, the gamblers bet in a certain order, without any concept of taking turns as the dealer.
Each gambler has no money in front of them, not even the chips usually provided by casinos. The only thing they can bet on is their life. In any form of gambling, the outcome is decided in one go; the winner lives, the loser dies. It's that simple.
Therefore, in every gambling area, gamblers die from losing money at any time. Losers must commit suicide by shooting themselves in public. If there are no handguns available, casino staff can provide them. If a gambler who has lost his life tries to escape or resists with a handgun, the staff standing next to each gambling table with a handgun with the safety on can kill him at any time.
Ling Yun looked around blankly, completely unaware of why he was there or what he was supposed to do. He recognized casinos, but this one seemed unusual. The way it involved gambling with one's life was something he would never see in any other casino, unless there was a deep-seated hatred between the parties or it was an underground operation. It was unbelievable that a casino like this, a grand event, didn't have any betting funds and instead used the lives of its gamblers as stakes. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, Ling Yun would have found it hard to believe that such a casino existed in the world.
Human life is worthless or extremely valuable here because everyone only has one chance, and the probability of death and survival remains equal in the next round of gambling. Very few people can win continuously unless the probability of good luck is extremely high. However, after a gambling game ends, even if the final winner survives, he will be immediately assigned to another gambling table by the casino, thus further increasing the difficulty of the probability.
Because the mortality rate is too high and the deaths are too quick, the number of gamblers is decreasing drastically. However, new gamblers quickly fill the gaps. The idle gamblers are like customers waiting in line at a bank. As soon as a vacancy opens up, someone will immediately fill it, like an assembly line operation. It's just unknown who among the gamblers who enter the casino can survive by sheer luck.
In fact, according to the way gambling works in casinos, it is impossible for any gambler to survive, because the new gamblers who keep joining the game will infinitely increase the difficulty for the winners of the previous rounds to survive. Unless they are great figures like the God of Gamblers or the Saint of Gamblers with superb gambling skills, most people will often have to shoot themselves to death in the first round of gambling because they lose.
As Ling Yun seemed to be idling around, a staff member wearing a purple vest quickly approached him: "Sir, do you have a sorting list?"
"What do you mean by sorting?" Ling Yun countered.
"Those are the serial numbers held by the gamblers. If a seat becomes vacant, they will enter the casino in the order of their numbers to fill the vacancy." The staff member pointed to the long queue of gamblers on the right.
At the very front of the line was an LED electronic marker. Every time a gambler's body was carried out by the workers in white uniforms, the number on the electronic marker would change. At the same time, a cold, synthesized female voice would call out the serial number of the latest gambler. Then, the gambler with the same serial number would be guided into the gambling area by a beautiful woman in a miniskirt uniform.
"Oh..." Ling Yun looked at the long line of gamblers with a hint of understanding. The gamblers all seemed calm, entering the gambling area one after another, appearing quite obedient. It was unclear whether they were already prepared to die or simply numb with despair in the face of impending doom. Although the gamblers were very orderly in their queue, a dozen or so staff members were still watching them intently. Some of them even drew their pistols and pointed them at the gamblers, ready to shoot anyone who resisted.
"What are those people doing?" Ling Yun pointed to the men and women who were smiling and chatting amicably, looking like celebrities. They seemed very elegant and natural, but they didn't look like staff members.
“They are our casino’s VIP gamblers.” The young and handsome staff member shrugged. He was a young man under twenty years old with neatly cut blond hair and deep blue, melancholic eyes. He looked very shrewd and capable, and very patient, but the coldness and ruthlessness in his eyes made people feel very uncomfortable.
"VIP gamblers?" Ling Yun was somewhat surprised, not expecting that gamblers would be divided into regular and VIP. "What's the difference between VIP and regular gamblers?" he asked.
The young staff member continued to explain patiently: "VIP customers are all well-known gamblers. If they can survive twenty rounds of gambling, they can become the lowest level of VIP. As the casino provides VIP customers with the best treatment, they can freely choose when to enter the casino and freely choose their gambling opponents and gambling methods, and the opponents cannot refuse."
"What's the highest VIP level?" Ling Yun asked after thinking for a moment. If that's the case, the highest VIP level is equivalent to the ruler among gamblers. Ordinary gamblers and low-level VIPs would naturally be in grave danger when facing high-level VIPs.
Chapter 345 More Brutal Than the Brutal
“There is no highest level, sir,” the young staff member replied succinctly. “The more times you gamble, the higher your VIP level will be, as long as you don’t die. There is no end to going up. The highest VIP level is often the God of Gamblers. But even the God of Gamblers must participate in gambling. That’s the rule of the casino. No one can be a free tourist here.”
"But there is a big difference in gambling skills between high-level VIPs and ordinary gamblers. If it's a life-or-death situation, wouldn't it be very unfair to the ordinary gamblers who are unlucky enough to face VIPs?"
"This world is inherently unfair." The young staff member smiled faintly, revealing a set of fine, white teeth. "Many children die shortly after birth or before reaching adulthood. Has this world ever been fair to them? Besides, even the God of Gamblers and VIPs fought their way out of piles of corpses. If they are unfair to others, were they originally in a fair environment? Gambling only offers one chance, and luck often plays a large role. So even the God of Gamblers cannot guarantee that he will definitely win."