"Alright! Let's start the first game!"
The clown clapped his hands, a roulette wheel rose up behind him, and the clown said in a slightly disappointed tone, "Since our Mr. Takahiro only has two chips, we can only play the game twice, which is a shame!"
"Now, I'd like to invite you both to start on this roulette wheel behind me!"
Alfaro stood straight up while Takahiro hesitated and looked back once more at the little girl in the cage behind him.
"Mr. Takahiro, don't look away, when you stand before everyone's eyes, you have no choice."
The clown gave a pompous bow, while his tone was full of mockery.
Takahiro flushed, then gave a feeble deflation before standing across from Alfaro.
"What's the matter, Uncle? Not ready to come to the casino? Are you thinking too simply about betting your life?"
Alfaro wore a sarcastic smile on his face before saying.
Takahiro didn't say anything, just silently looking at the roulette wheel on the table.
"The first game, 'Roulette of Fate', the rules of the game are simple..."
The clown said with a smile, "That roulette wheel has 10 numbers on it each person has three chances to spin the wheel, as long as the As long as one person's total value exceeds 20, and one person's total does not exceed 20, the party with more than 20 will win! The game will allow two ties, and after two ties we'll switch to the next game!"
"Now! Some start!"
The clown waved his hand violently, then all the lights around them dimmed, only the lights above Alfaro and Takahiro's heads remained on.
"Uncle? Do you want to go first?"
Alfaro, who looked haggard and obviously overindulged, but by the sound of his voice, not too old for his size, said.
Takahiro didn't say anything, just silently took a deep breath, then shakily reached out and turned the dial.
There were stray gasps in the darkness, and everyone's emotions seemed to have lifted, tense and exciting.
Obviously it was just a simple game of addition and boring spinning of the wheel, but once it was also tied to one's fate and future, it instantly became an adrenaline rush.
The reels stopped in Takahiro's praying eyes...
"Oh~ '7', a number that just reaches the passing line, looks like the goddess of fate might not be very favorable to our Mr. Takahiro, huh? "
The clown came out of nowhere, then stuck his head out into the light before chuckling.
"Now, if Mr. Alfaro please!"
Alfaro casually held out his hand, then jerked it, and the turntable spun rapidly.
A little later, the dial slowly came to a halt, the bright red, blood-like needle pointing to '10'
"Oooooooooh! '10', the number 10! 'Lucky' Alfaro's luck seems to be as good as ever!"
Alfaro reached out and waved towards the unseen spectators, then turned back towards Takahiro, "Uncle! You're up!"
Takahiro nervously wipes a handful of sweat from his head, then after a gulp silently reaches out and spins the roulette wheel.
"Whoa! '10'! Looks like the Goddess of Fortune is still torn looking at these two lucky winners today. Who's going to win?"
Looking at that 10, Takahiro let out a sigh of relief as well... the next one, just needs to be a 3...
The smile on Alfaro's face tightened for a moment before two contemptuous white puffs of air escaped from his nostrils.
He reached out his hand, and once again threw it with vigor.
"Geez! Ten followed by nine???? Is our Alfaro mixing it up with Lady Luck?"
The clown exclaimed in surprise.
Another round of applause ensued.
The breath Takahiro had just let go lifted again.
"Mr. Takahiro, please." The smile on Alfaro's face bloomed again.
"Shut up! No need for you to remind me!"
Takahiro growled with red eyes.
Then he grabbed the roulette wheel and gave it an equally frantic fling.
The roulette wheel was slowing down, slower and slower, until it stopped...
"Sadly, only '2', it looks like Lady Luck chose the somewhat younger Alfaro, even though the guy doesn't look like he wants to last very long. "
The clown once again made a less than flattering joke.
"Now Mr. Alfaro, you may go reap your spoils."
The clown's hand went behind Takahiro's back, and then a light came on and the little girl's soft cries came out.
She didn't think she would cry anymore, but she did when the fate she faced went from unknown to tragic.
Though she may not have known what fate was. But she already knew that her life might not be going back to the old situation where her dad took her and her mother on a picnic in the park.
"Wait! Wait!!! He hasn't turned! He hasn't turned!!!"
Takahiro rushed to grab the clown's hand, looking flustered.
"Okay sir, take it easy, I'll let him turn."
The clown gently reassured.
"Mr. Alfaro, may I ask you to do me a small favor and let Mr. Takahiro die?"
The clown inquired gently looking up.
"With pleasure, haha!"
Said Alfaro, spinning the dial again.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, 2 points... not very lucky either... but still a win."
The clown said while yanking his arm out of Takahiro's hand.
"Mr. Takahiro, now that Mr. Alfaro is done spinning, please step aside, Mr. Alfaro is going to receive his loot."
The clown was still smiling gently.
Alfaro stepped away from the roulette wheel and then headed towards the little girl's cage.
"No! NO! No! We're not coming, we're leaving!"
Takahiro rushes to the cage and then clutches it, pounding on it as if to break it open and get out of here with the kid.
At that moment, two large, shirtless, muscular men came out of the shadows and grabbed Takahiro, dragging him away from the cage as soon as they could.
"Mr. Takahiro, this isn't quite right, we're all adults here, and when you first made the decision to participate in the game you seemed to decide very quickly.
And now you want to back out? It's too late."
The clown grinned, like a demon.
Alfaro whistled and then made his way over towards the little girl.
"Alfaro! Let me have the little girl, I'll give you 4 million dollars."
In the dark, someone in the audience suddenly spoke up.
Alfaro sniffed skillfully and bowed back, "I'll only charge you 1 million, but I'm going to play here once, what do you think?"
The man was silent.
"You can go home and play the role of a savior, then come back and do whatever you want after you've healed her wounds."
"Fine."
The man spoke. It seemed very pleased with Alfaro's offer.
"Thank you for your understanding!"
With that, Alfaro walked towards the cage once again. The clown handed him a key, looking at the little white rabbit-like girl in the cage, Alfaro smiled and said, "Your father is so good to me, little girl, he's a driven man, if you want to hate, go ahead and hate him."
Alfaro said about to open the cage.
The little girl could not suppress her sobs at last and bawled. But there seemed to be laughter coming from the audience.
On the other side of the cage, a glimmer of compassion passed through the eyes of the bimbo woman.
"Here, let me see..."
Alfaro's hand grasped the little girl's, a sardonic smile spreading across his face.
Then...
A nosebleed suddenly oozed from his nose, and then he collapsed to the ground...
He collapsed so abruptly that the arena quieted down quite abruptly as well.
"You guys, what is this?"
A gruff voice came out from somewhere in the corner.
"May I suggest that we turn on a light...how about having a chat face to face?"
Another voice spoke from another corner.
"Mishiki, turn on the lights..."
In yet another corner, another female voice said.
The next thing that happened was a bright light flared up, and the entire venue was illuminated. There were no more hiding places for dark shadows.
Under the dazzling glare, the audience coincidentally raised their hands to block the bright lights above their heads.
"So many lights..."
I don't know who said.
"Too many lights..."
said an unknown person.
There were three standing in the audience, three just about in a triangular booth.
One was alone, and the other two were both followed by someone standing slightly behind them.
All five were fairly familiar with each other.
The lone woman on the far left lifted a sneer at the corner of her mouth.
"You're just watching?"
She remained the topic of conversation to the man in the center.
"I'll do it if you don't. That said, why are you here?"
"Don't need you to mind! Just mind your family's Cynthia Champion. Hmph!"
The woman turned her head away from him big enough to look at him a few times as if she was angry and wanted to be coaxed.
The man shook his head, then turned his head to look at the other two women and said, "You don't know about this?"
When the head of the woman's expression cold, or face like frost.
"You knew about this place knew even earlier than I did."
The woman's every word carried a chill that could freeze the air.
At least that's how the clown standing on the stage felt.
"Which, three of you, this is 'Paradise' on S.S. Anne, we are directly under the chairman of the board, are you all trying to cause trouble?"
"Incidentally, which one of you hacked into our light control system?"
The clown said this with very little gravitas, but the content was still considered intimidating. After all, he was genuinely unfamiliar with the three in front of him. Although the mask was only symbolic, it was still quite useful to the unfamiliar.
The lone woman snorted coldly.
"Then look who I am?"
The woman lifted the mask off, revealing a cold, frosty, naturally condescending look, but one that did not allow the slightest sense of dissonance, as if the woman was born to be that way.
"Saffron City, Saffron Gym Sabrina, welcome your chairman to my trouble, to Saffron Gym's trouble."
The clown man was dumbfounded, pointing his finger at Sabrina, unable to speak with a 'gulp' in his throat.
It was true that he hadn't seen much, but he had heard of behemoths like Saffron Gym.
Able to take over the League.
To be able to suppress all the corners of Saffron City with his own strength. Such a person was by no means someone one could afford to mess with, and even, even the entire company could not afford to mess with him.
"Ah !!!!"
The clown covered his fingers in pain.
In that instant just now, his index finger snapped in half.
"I hate being fingered, and while there are a few exceptions, apparently you're not."
Sabrina said condescendingly.
"You..." said Rope as he shook his head helplessly, then proceeded to similarly remove his mask, with Whitley beside him doing the same.
Rope didn't bother to look at Sabrina but instead looked over at Ming who had removed his mask over there.
"What are you going to do about it?"
Ming pursed his lips and said, "Leave it to me, I'll take care of it."
"If the ending isn't satisfactory, I'll be goddamned if I'm going to get League involved in the investigation, and I'll return your shares as well."
Rope's tone carried coldness and arrogance. I also don't know if it was infected by Sabrina...
Hearing this, Ming's lips pursed tighter.
"Let's go out first." Rope said towards Whitley and Sabrina.
Whitley nodded then followed Rope. sabrina snorted coldly at Rope...
Then followed...
After the three of them left, a crowd of spectators who didn't dare to utter a single breath were trying to get up and leave.
"Mishiki, make a register for the ladies and gentlemen. We won't do business with such people in the future."
Ming said coldly.
The moment these words came out, the audience, which had just been a bit noisy, instantly quieted down.
They marveled at Ming's decision.
"Interesting, being a whore and wanting to set up a house of cards? Old me driving a dark whore's daughter to punish the john. You shipping companies are really something."
A man in a navy blue suit got up. By the sound of his voice, he was the man who had just said that he would buy the little girl for 4 million dollars.
"You... "Ming's face became very ugly.
"What's wrong with me? Still won't let anyone talk." Said man also took off his mask, revealing a face that was young and filled with hostility.
"I'm the airline's good horse. If you want to find fault with me, feel free to accompany me. But I don't have the time to play the blacklist trick with you."
Saying that, this youth called Liangma was about to get up and leave.
But the moment I got up, he suddenly screamed in agony, frantically slapping his body, his mouth slurring as he shouted "It's hot!!!"
"Coincidentally, I don't think you are either..."
Rope's voice ghosted in from the doorway.
"It's better for someone like you to let me out of my misery."
Rope's words were still cold...
And Ryouma clearly had no intention of answering him.
He rolled on the ground in agony, thrashing and rolling from his position to Alfaro's, and then full on lost his voice.
The eye was also dead.
Ming looked at the young lord in front of him, who was almost the same level as himself, and for the first time, it seemed as if he shouldn't be so hostile to Rope...