KEIGHTY: Thank you so much for the ko-fi, Evelyn! 🫶✅ (Extra Chapter 2/3)
The early morning sunlight shone through the blurred glass. The mottled light and shadow swayed slightly as the chilled wind blew through the trees. The moist and cool air after the rain seeped in through the half-closed windows.
Shen Kong’s eyelids moved as he woke up.
He raised his head, rubbed his aching forehead, and then supported himself to get out of bed.
Suddenly, soreness spread along his muscles and bones. His whole body felt as if it had been run over by a car. Shen Kong couldn’t help but let out a slight “hiss”, which was a little new for him for a short while.
You know, it had been a long time since he felt this kind of soreness after making excessive movements.
He looked up at his narrow room and saw that the room was empty. All the water stains on the floor had already dried out. The quilt on the sofa had been neatly folded, including the dry towel he had handed to Han Li before. They were all folded into a square piece and placed neatly on the quilt.
Shen Kong’s eyes sank slightly.
He didn’t even notice Han Li leaving——Probably because he had just changed his body, his alertness seemed to be much more relaxed than before.
Shen Kong stood up and stretched his sore and stiff limbs. He moved his neck, his spine and bones making a stretching “cracking” sound.
He sighed——
It seemed that it was extremely urgent to improve his physical fitness.
At this moment, Shen Kong’s eyes were attracted by a dark box on the table. He was stunned for a moment. He walked to the table and reached out to open it.
There was a brand new mobile phone lying inside the box. The metal cover and glass screen, with glossy and smooth lines, shone in the light. Shen Kong didn’t recognize the brand, but he could briefly tell that it was customized. It was worth a lot of money.
——It seemed that this kid still knew how to return his kindness.
He played with the cell phone in his hand with some novelty for a while, and then put it into his pocket with peace of mind.
According to Shen Kong’s philosophy of life, there was no need to pay if there was no service given, and as a top figure in the industry, his asking price was very high. If it weren’t for this Three Views Rectifying Studio threatening his life, Shen Kong wouldn’t bother to do all this for nothing.
——However, it was also quite good to get a little extra income.
Shen Kong blew a long whistle as he put his hands in his pockets. He wandered into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator.
As expected, the refrigerator was empty, with only a few yellowed and wilted vegetable leaves lying on the bottom shelf and a carton of milk that had already been opened.
Shen Kong wrinkled his nose in disgust and forcefully closed the refrigerator. Then he took out his new phone, plugged in his old phone card, and checked the bank deposits of his current identity:
123.3 yuan.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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He made a somewhat frustrated “tch” sound as he put his cell phone in his pocket. He complained in his mind: “Why? It’s obviously the money that I earned justly and honestly!”
System: “……”
…That was the ransom for kidnapping the task target!
Its straightforward mechanical voice couldn’t help but sound with a bit of gritted teeth: “After the rectifier departs, the temporary identity will be returned to its original owner. Any behavior that implicates the rectifier with the previous temporary identity will increase the risk of exposing the studio. Once the studio’s existence is known to anyone, it will be ejected from the book world by the world trajectory. Simultaneously, the host’s accumulated points will be cleared, and the real body kept in the studio will be destroyed.”
Seeing that his life might be in danger, Shen Kong sighed and reluctantly gave up this idea.
At this moment, he seemed to suddenly think of something. He turned on his phone once again and started searching online:
Where is the largest casino?
The system saw Shen Kong’s search, but it didn’t bother to say anything. While it was thinking deeply about what kind of jackpot it had won by being assigned to such a difficult-to-deal-with rectifier this time, it was also exhausted both physically and mentally, wanting to return to its previous state of pretending to be dead.
.
The blazing lights were bright under the tall and high European-style dome, the sparkling crystal lights hanging low in the air. The huge red velvet decoration poured on the ground like flowing water. White and gold were the main hues of the entire casino. It looked luxurious and gorgeous under the well-lit and bright lighting, as if the air were filled with an atmosphere of wealth and luxury.
This was the largest legal casino in the entire City B. No matter what day it was, it was always overcrowded with people.
Among the bustling crowd, there were some in splendid attire and some in simple civilian clothes, but the same look twinkled in the corners of everyone’s brows and eyes——the desire for money and opportunities, either implicitly or conspicuously, was deeply engraved in their hearts. The lines on everyone’s face and hands were suffused with rising steam that filled the warm and fragrant air.
Shen Kong walked in leisurely from the entrance.
Fortunately, Cheng Chen went to school at a relatively late age. He was already eighteen years old in his second year of high school. Otherwise, it would have been quite difficult for him to walk in so swaggeringly.
He walked steadily towards the depths of the casino, but before he had taken a few steps, he was stopped by the attendant standing by.
The attendant had a formulistic smile on his face, but there was a hint of contempt deep in his eyes. He bowed and said:
“Hello. I’m sorry, but the places further inward have chip limits, the minimum is 100,000.”
Shen Kong lowered his head and looked at the white-washed jeans and the torn sneakers under his feet. He immediately realized what was wrong.
He himself had never had this kind of trouble before. He always walked directly to the place with the highest stakes. This time, he suddenly changed into a poor and blank person, so he really didn’t think about the chip limit this time.
Shen Kong showed him an understanding smile: “Many thanks.”
After saying that, he turned around and left neatly, wandering towards the slot machine and blackjack gambling table.
Looking at Shen Kong’s back, the smile on the attendant’s face fell instantly. He raised his hand to straighten his slightly crooked tie. The disdain in his eyes overflowed. He curled his lips and turned to face the other two standing nearby. The attendant said in a low voice: “Another poor guy who overestimates his own abilities dares to run here without even knowing how much he weighs. He even wants to go to a high-end place… Tsk, I think they should just claim that they’re poor after playing slot machines and losing a few thousand or a few hundred.”
A few of them snickered a few times and made some mocking comments about those gamblers who didn’t know what the world was like.
Before their interest dissipated, they heard a loud and clear cheer from the crowd not far away, which startled them all.
The attendant was surprised, turning to look in the direction where the sound came from. Before he could guess the reason, waves of cheers came from that direction once again.
Many people were attracted by the sound and looked up curiously. The flowing stream of people gathered in the direction of the cheers.
The cheers sounded once again.
The attendant was pacing in place a little irritably. For some reason, he always had a strange feeling in his heart, as if there was something obvious that he had overlooked. This kind of feeling was like a thorn in his back, causing him to neither sit nor stand still.
He whispered a few instructions to the other two people beside him, and then squeezed in the direction from which the sound came.
The atmosphere of the entire casino was ignited. Cheers and applause were mixed together, twisting into a noisy clamor and charging straight towards the high dome. More and more people gathered around. Everyone was attracted. People craned their necks to look into the crowd, eager to know what was going on inside.
The attendant struggled to separate the crowded group of people and finally moved forward into the tightly surrounded central gaming table——
The gambling game on the gambling table had just been halfway through, but the croupier standing behind the table was already dripping with cold sweat. He barely had a polite smile on his pale face, but his pupils were already stained with panic.
A lazy voice came from across the table:
“ALL IN.”
The attendant looked up in the direction from which the sound came and saw that the poor guy, who overestimated his own abilities and had just walked in, was sitting at the other end of the gaming table. He was still wearing a white-washed T-shirt and pitiful jeans. He was leaning carelessly and casually on the back of the chair, his eyes half-narrowed, looking absent-minded and in no mood to enjoy himself.
All the gamblers surrounding him waited with bated breath.
The croupier finally couldn’t help it anymore. He raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, then stretched out his white-gloved hand to slowly turn over the cards on the table.
Before the attendant could see the cards on the table clearly, his ears were already numb from the sudden burst of cheers around him. More people crowded in this direction, squeezing him so hard that he staggered and subconsciously bent over the green tabletop.
Shen Kong, who was taking the chips on the table into his arms, raised his head and recognized his face.
He greeted the attendant enthusiastically: “It’s you, ah.”
The attendant froze in place, not knowing how to respond for a moment.
Shen Kong lowered his head and picked out the chips in his arms. He tossed two out into his hands and then asked with a genial smile on his face: “Is that enough now?”
The attendant looked at his face and nodded blankly.
Shen Kong stood up. He stretched his sore waist muscles from sitting for a long time and then leisurely walked through the still-excited crowd holding the chips.
The attendant, who was still in a daze, stared blankly at his back as he disappeared into the crowd. He heard people talking happily in his ears:
“…What just happened?”
“It’s so exciting. It’s a pity that you didn’t see it. That young man won 800,000 in 10 minutes!”
There was a little bit of boredom in the person’s voice who asked the question: “Eight hundred thousand, isn’t this common in casinos? What’s the surprise?”
The other man shook his head. He sneered: “What if I said that this young man’s initial capital was only one hundred yuan?”
“What?” The man instantly pulled himself together and pretended to say calmly, “Although this kind of thing doesn’t happen often, it might just be good luck.”
“Tch, good luck? Can you try going ALL IN every time and win every time?”
The person on the other side was rendered speechless.
But no matter how excited the discussion was, it calmed down as the protagonist left. The crowd that had enthusiastically gathered together slowly dispersed.
At this moment, Shen Kong walked into the inner venue where he had been blocked out just now. The decoration inside was more low-key than the outside, and the number of people was smaller. It was divided into private rooms. Famous and precious tobacco and alcohol were generously placed on the trays to let the guests make use of them as they pleased.
Shen Kong smoothly took a pack of cigarettes and walked to the scattered gambling tables. He casually gambled twice, losing 400,000 in the blink of an eye.
He shrugged: “It seems that the goddess of luck has left me.”
Then Shen Kong swayed with the remaining chips and went to the counter to withdraw cash.
Ever since the commotion started, the obscure gaze that had been watching him from upstairs finally turned away.
The big-bellied, fat young man looked away from the monitor screen and showed a kind smile to the young man sitting opposite him:
“Sure enough, heroes have always been born from young men since ancient times. Whether it is being bold but cautious when winning, or timely stopping losses when losing, this young man’s psychological quality is not simple. I think he and you should be the same age.”
Han Li retracted his gaze from the monitor and lowered his eyes, shaking the wine glass in his hand:
“Many thanks for the compliment, Mr. Zhang.”
“What compliment? It’s a fact. It’s a fact, ah.” The man named Mr. Zhang shook his head repeatedly. He paused for a moment and asked with a smile: “What do you think of the deal we just proposed?”
Han Li did not answer. He just emptied the amber liquid in the glass in one gulp, then pointed the shiny and clean base of the glass towards the opposite side, revealing a faint smile on his face:
“——It’s a pleasure to work with you.”
