(2/4)
Lucky Cruise
Chapter 556: Guaranteed minimum
“…” A dead silence filled the cramped elevator car.
Qi Qian and Chen Cheng stared blankly at Wen Jianyan, while the person being stared at let his gaze flicker around—looking at the ceiling, the floor, left, right—anywhere but at the two of them.
After a long while, Chen Cheng slowly took a deep breath.
“Alright, what do you need us to do?”
Things having reached this point, digging into the past was useless; on this front, Chen Cheng had always been a pragmatist.
Wen Jianyan’s smile instantly became sincere.
He blinked. “But there is a tiny problem right now…”
“The ghosts will only attack the owner of the Gachapon coins.” Qi Qian pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “By the same logic, only the owner of the coins can see them and attack them.”
Wen Jianyan: “Exactly, exactly.”
Chen Cheng: “…”
“It’s not impossible to deal with,” Qi Qian mused for a moment, then looked up at Wen Jianyan. “How many did you pull? What ranks are they?”
Wen Jianyan: “Two. One normal grade, one high grade.”
Qi Qian: “………………”
He pressed his temples. “Pretend I didn’t ask.”
Chen Cheng keenly sensed the apprehension in Qi Qian’s words.
“What, you’re that scared?”
“You’ll see for yourself in a moment,” Qi Qian retorted, none too friendly. “When my team and I came to this floor before, we encountered a similar situation… but there was only one Normal Grade back then, so I could barely handle it solo.”
One was already tricky enough. Now there were two.
What was more terrifying was… one of them was even high grade.
In the “Integrity First” live room chat:
[Actually, if it were any other top-ten anchor, there might be hope, but Wen Jianyan… yeah. Those who know, know.]
[Hahahahahaha!]
[Seriously, a frontal assault from an entity you can’t communicate with—that is literally the type of thing the anchor is worst at dealing with.]
[Hahahahaha, Anchor: Do you guys have any manners?]
“So what do we do now?” Chen Cheng crossed his arms and asked with a frown. “Are we just going to leave him in the elevator?”
Qi Qian shook his head. “Leaving aside whether the elevator can stay on the same floor for too long, the biggest issue is that this coin can’t be too far from the person. Once the distance opens up, it will automatically return to the original owner.”
“What about aura-masking items? Do those work?” Chen Cheng asked.
Wen Jianyan: “No. I tried.”
“However, a Scapegoat Doll might work?” Wen Jianyan looked at the two men before him. “Do you have one?”
Qi Qian: “…You don’t?”
Wen Jianyan blinked. “Not one of a high enough level.”
In the “Integrity First” live room chat:
[…Such righteous mooching.]
[How can someone beg with absolutely no psychological burden?!]
Chen Cheng spoke to Wen Jianyan, but his eyes were on Qi Qian, raising an eyebrow mockingly. “What, are you sure he has one? That’s doubtful.”
Qi Qian’s face instantly darkened.
He ignored Chen Cheng and simply opened his backpack, stuffing a Scapegoat Doll into Wen Jianyan’s hands.
Only then did Chen Cheng click his tongue and fall silent.
Wen Jianyan thanked him with a beaming smile.
He cut his finger and dripped his blood onto the doll.
After doing this, Wen Jianyan lifted his eyes and looked toward a spot only a few steps away from the elevator.
To others, it was just an ordinary empty space. But in Wen Jianyan’s eyes… the light in that area seemed to have been devoured by some invisible existence, replaced by a patch of incomparably cold darkness. Standing motionless in the center of that darkness were two figures. Wen Jianyan couldn’t see their faces clearly, but he could feel boundless terror radiating from them.
However… perhaps because they had been left on the B3 floor for too long, some strange change seemed to have occurred in them.
He just couldn’t see it clearly.
Wen Jianyan took a deep breath, suppressed his inner fear, and slowly stepped out of the elevator.
One of the figures remained completely still, maintaining its posture of staring into the elevator, but… the other, darker and colder shadow moved distinctly, slowly turning as if it were “looking” over.
The moment it turned its body, Wen Jianyan saw the so-called “change.”
Within the boundless shadow, its entire body was blurred and indistinct. The only thing clearly visible was the pale white hand hanging at its side.
“?!”
Wen Jianyan was shaken to his core and abruptly jerked backward.
“What, it didn’t work?” Qi Qian pressed.
Wen Jianyan didn’t answer immediately. He was panting slightly, subconsciously looking toward the direction he had just faced.
After he retreated back into the elevator, the two figures had returned to the shadows, but those pale hands seemed to still be searing his retinas.
Wen Jianyan knew where this sense of deja vu came from.
Floor B7.
The paintings in the corridor of Floor B7 also had such blurred faces and such pale hands.
“Hello?” Qi Qian’s voice came from beside his ear.
Wen Jianyan collected himself. “…No, not entirely.”
“The normal one seemed to be deceived, but the higher-ranked one wasn’t affected.”
Hiss.
This was getting troublesome.
Qi Qian: “Since one could be affected, it proves the principle of the Scapegoat Doll works. But the other one wasn’t affected, which means the level still isn’t high enough.”
He frowned. “But as far as I know, the highest level for a Scapegoat Doll is S-rank. It doesn’t go higher.”
“…Fine.” Chen Cheng’s face was grim. “Then it looks like this is the only way.”
“?”
The two of them turned their heads to look at him in unison.
Wen Jianyan: “What? You have a way?”
“I have an item that should be able to do it.” Chen Cheng looked rather reluctant.
“You have a High Grade item with a similar principle?” Qi Qian seemed to still be holding a grudge; he sneered. “Anyone can talk big.”
“At least it’s better than your Scapegoat Doll.”
Chen Cheng glared viciously at Qi Qian, stepped forward, took out some unknown object, and shoved it directly into Wen Jianyan’s hand. “Hold this.”
In the “Integrity First” live room chat:
[…Wait? Why are you guys fighting over this?]
[I can’t understand it. Why are people fighting to be the sucker getting mooched off of?!]
[Wait a minute, is this the reason the anchor insisted on putting the two of them in one team? Too vicious!]
[Is this also within your calculations, Wen Jianyan!!!]
Wen Jianyan looked down. It was a prop that looked like half a piece of jade.
“Drip blood on it,” Chen Cheng commanded coldly.
Wen Jianyan followed his instructions. He saw Chen Cheng also take out half a piece of jade that looked like it would fit perfectly with the half in his hand. Immediately after, Chen Cheng also cut his finger and dripped blood on the piece in his own hand.
The next second, a strange sensation enveloped Wen Jianyan.
It was as if… his body, his fate, his everything had been replaced and swapped.
He felt strong and full of vitality, filled with impatience toward the outside world.
It was almost like…
Chen Cheng himself?
Wen Jianyan turned his head to look at Chen Cheng in surprise—
The other man’s face was currently full of discomfort; he seemed to be feeling the exact same thing.
Wen Jianyan understood the situation almost instantly.
Indeed, the principle was consistent with the Scapegoat Doll.
But this time, it wasn’t an item doing the replacing. Instead, using the item as a medium, another person replaced his fate—no wonder Chen Cheng was unwilling to use it at first.
This was equivalent to him voluntarily becoming Wen Jianyan’s scapegoat.
Furthermore, the feeling of being influenced by another person wasn’t pleasant—even if the essence remained unchanged, one could undoubtedly feel the interference from another existence.
Chen Cheng frowned and looked Wen Jianyan up and down.
“Not to be rude, but isn’t your body a little too weak?”
Wen Jianyan: “…Hey! I work out.”
As someone who cared deeply about appearances, in order to maintain a physique that was sufficiently beautiful with graceful, unexaggerated lines, he was very disciplined in the real world.
“In a combat sense,” Chen Cheng glanced at him.
“Oh.”
Now Wen Jianyan had nothing to say.
In the “Integrity First” live room chat:
[Understood. Just a pretty face.]
[Understood. All show, no go.]
[Understood. Good to look at, useless in action.]
[Really? I don’t believe it unless you show me.]
[ ? The abacus beads from the person above just hit me in the face.]
“Alright, stop wasting time,” Qi Qian said. “Since it’s an item, it must have a time limit. Let’s move.”
The group left the elevator. Wen Jianyan glanced into the darkness—perhaps it was an illusion, but in his eyes, the two figures were no longer as clear as they had been a moment ago. Instead, they looked like blurry phantoms, and he could no longer feel the constant, chilling threat.
When he left the elevator, they didn’t make any moves.
But the moment Chen Cheng left the elevator, they immediately followed.
Chen Cheng stared tightly at that room, his expression dark—after the “swap” was complete, he could now see the shadows too.
“Fifteen minutes.”
“You only have fifteen minutes, understand?”
“Okay.” Wen Jianyan nodded hurriedly.
The group began their operation almost immediately.
Wen Jianyan and Qi Qian sprinted toward the interior of Floor B3, while a pitch-black Tang sword appeared in Chen Cheng’s palm.
Perhaps because he was carrying the special coins, the moment they entered Floor B3, Wen Jianyan spotted the blood-red special Gachapon machine and Hawk, who was already standing by the side, smiling.
This time, without giving Hawk any chance to speak, the two of them rushed straight for the Gachapon machine and shoved the blood-red coins, which were gradually becoming heavy and cold, into the slot.
The machine whirred and spun, and soon, a capsule rolled out.
Wen Jianyan grabbed it and twisted it open.
He didn’t hear the sound of an item, but it wasn’t a countdown slip either.
Thank god.
Wen Jianyan let out a sigh of relief. Without even taking the time to focus on what he had pulled, he quickly stepped aside to let Qi Qian insert his coins.
Qi Qian had two coins on him.
The first coin clattered into the machine, and a capsule quickly rolled out.
“It’s an item.”
Qi Qian reported briefly, then immediately shoved the next one in.
The second capsule rolled out.
The moment he opened the capsule, his expression changed.
It was a countdown.
“What rank?” Wen Jianyan asked urgently.
Qi Qian gritted his teeth. “High Grade.”
“But it doesn’t matter. Our coins are used up, let’s just go,” Qi Qian said.
Unexpectedly, Wen Jianyan shook his head.
“Wait—we haven’t pulled the invitation yet.”
The reason Chen Cheng agreed to come to Floor B3 with them this time was to get the auction invitation. But now, without the invitation, having played scapegoat for fifteen minutes for nothing… it sounded incredibly unfair no matter how you looked at it.
“Wait.” Wen Jianyan dropped one word and rushed out.
The hall outside the elevator was already in chaos.
The blood-red carpet had split open, and there were jet-black spray patterns of blood on the walls. Chen Cheng looked a bit bedraggled, but at least all his limbs were intact.
One black shadow had vanished, seemingly killed, but the other one still remained.
“Ten minutes left!!” He yelled upon seeing Wen Jianyan.
Wen Jianyan: “Would you rather get the invitation from this floor, or from Dan Zhu?”
Chen Cheng: “…This floor!”
Wen Jianyan: “Can you still hold on?”
Chen Cheng gritted his teeth. “Yes!”
Fine.
After getting the affirmative answer, Wen Jianyan ran toward the counter.
After obtaining five coins, he returned to the Gachapon machine.
Qi Qian had already left the spot—like the current Chen Cheng, he was facing a similar danger.
Wen Jianyan started spinning for capsules again.
First coin: Ghost.
Second coin: Item.
Third coin: Ghost.
Fourth coin: Ghost.
From outside came Chen Cheng’s broken roar: “What the f*ck are you doing in there???”
In the “Integrity First” live room chat:
[Hahahahahahahahahahaha!]
[Ahhh I can’t take it, Chen Cheng is really a bit too miserable!!!]
[Mainly because he can’t use other people’s coins. Qi Qian is dealing with his own trouble, and if he uses Chen Cheng’s coins, Wen Jianyan would be the one getting chased. They don’t have anyone else available, so this is the only way.]
[Logically speaking, the invitation isn’t that hard to pull, but… the only variable lies in the fact that using Wen Jianyan’s coins means using his luck…
And he is honestly a bit too unlucky.]
[Chen Cheng. Tragic.]
[Really, too tragic.]
Seeing that four coins in a row produced nothing, cold sweat began to seep from Wen Jianyan’s forehead. He took a deep breath and shoved the final coin in.
Clatter, clatter.
The coin rolled inside.
The machine opened, and the final capsule rumbled out.
Wen Jianyan grabbed it and opened it.
It was a small glass bottle. Through the brownish-tinted glass, he couldn’t see what was inside.
Hawk’s exclamation came from beside his ear: “It’s actually Special Grade.”
Wen Jianyan: “!!!”
Hawk continued, “Guest, this was your tenth pull, right? Looks like you hit the pity system guarantee.”
Wen Jianyan: “…”
I want to die.
In the “Integrity First” live room chat:
[…]
[It’s actually the pity guarantee.]
[Good news: Hit pity. Bad news: Even the pity wasn’t the invitation.]
[Hahahahahahahaha I can’t, I’m dying of laughter. What kind of content is this?]
Wen Jianyan couldn’t exchange five more coins.
It wasn’t that he was out of money, but if a few more monsters spawned, Chen Cheng, who was being chased outside on his behalf, might just need to be buried right there.
He gritted his teeth, stuffed the item into his pocket, called out to Qi Qian, and the two of them ran toward the exit of Floor B3.
The main hall was a wreck. The carpet was crushed to powder. Except for the counter, almost nothing was intact. Pitch-black liquid was everywhere, mixed with human blood. Chen Cheng was currently in an utter mess; the Tang sword in his hand was stained with black-red fluid, making it impossible to tell if it was his or the shadow’s.
“Go go go!!” Wen Jianyan shouted at the top of his lungs as he sprinted for the elevator.
The elevator opened with a ding.
After struggling to disengage from the fight, Chen Cheng rushed into the elevator. The next second, Wen Jianyan quickly slammed the elevator doors shut.
It was over.
At least for now.
Only the sound of rapid panting could be heard in the elevator.
All three of them looked ragged.
Qi Qian leaned against the wall, his clothes and hair messy. But Chen Cheng was obviously the miserable one. He sat on the floor, forehead glistening with sweat, his body covered in cuts large and small. Half his body was dyed red, and his face had streaks of black blood. The hand that had been gripping the long sword had turned a gruesome greenish-black at some point, seemingly eroded by some force.
Considering he had faced five shadows at once, looking like this was actually getting off lightly.
Among the three, the one with the lowest combat power turned out to look the most energetic.
The effect of the item was finally fading away.
Chen Cheng poured potions into his mouth, drinking four bottles in a row before he finally stopped looking half-dead.
He lifted his eyelids to look at Wen Jianyan, his voice still weak:
“Those troublesome coins are all used up? None left, right?”
Wen Jianyan: “Yeah.”
“You got the invitation too?”
Wen Jianyan: “Umm… about that…”
In the “Integrity First” live room chat:
[Hahaha!]
[Hahahahahaha!]
Listening to Wen Jianyan’s “explanation”, Chen Cheng’s face grew worse and worse. Finally, after Wen Jianyan finished, he propped himself up against the wall to stand, speaking slowly, word by word:
“So you’re saying, after I played your scapegoat for fifteen minutes and fought five ghosts—five!—the one thing I wanted, you didn’t get??”
In the “Integrity First” live room chat
[Hahahahahahahahahahaha!]
[Super massive sucker!!!]
[Finally, the ‘Getting scammed by cooperating with Wen Jianyan’ classic event has its most tragic victim yet. Turns out it’s you, Chen Cheng! Hahahahahaha!]
Wen Jianyan was also very depressed about this.
“I can’t control things like luck…”
Chen Cheng stared death at him, looking like he wanted to eat him alive.
Seeing the other party’s expression getting scarier, Wen Jianyan hurriedly pivoted:
“But don’t worry, your invitation is on me—this auction lasts for three days, and the items get better later on. I swear, I will definitely get you one!”
After Wen Jianyan pointed at the sky and swore oaths, guaranteeing it a thousand times, Chen Cheng finally withdrew his gaze with a dark face.
However, seeing Chen Cheng suffer a loss, Qi Qian was clearly very pleased.
Although he had also just experienced a dangerous time, this scene was obviously worth the price of admission.
Ding.
The elevator stopped.
Qi Qian smiled and waved at Wen Jianyan. “See you at the auction tonight.”
Chen Cheng: “…”
He walked out of the elevator with a dark face and stomped away furiously.
Qi Qian nodded and left with satisfaction.
Watching the backs of the two men, Wen Jianyan finally let out a slow breath.
He leaned against the wall and blinked.
He hadn’t planned on contacting Dan Zhu… but to repay this favor to Chen Cheng, it looked like he had no choice but to go to Floor B10 and have a chat with Dan Zhu to see if he could get another invitation.
Wen Jianyan wiped his face, looking weary.
What a headache.
After parting ways with Qi Qian and Chen Cheng, Wen Jianyan arrived at Floor B4.
He had spent more time than expected.
There were probably only ten or so minutes left before the so-called “two-hour” time limit.
As soon as he got off the elevator, Wen Jianyan was surrounded by his teammates.
“Did everything go smoothly?” Wen Ya looked Wen Jianyan up and down. Only after confirming he didn’t seem to have any open wounds did she breathe a slight sigh of relief.
Wen Jianyan thought for a moment. “It was okay?”
Strictly speaking, it went quite smoothly for him.
Not only did he pull Gachapons and obtain many rare items, but he even hit the big pity guarantee—of course, for Chen Cheng who bore the cost for him, that might be a different story.
Everyone present breathed a sigh of relief.
“By the way,” Chen Mo spoke up, “while you were gone, the ticket office started selling tickets—entrance tickets.”
“There are three tiers: Spectator, Regular, and Box seats.” Chen Mo pointed to the row of chairs outside on Floor B4 and said, “Spectator is right here; it seems you can only watch and cannot take any other actions.”
“As for the other two types of tickets, it seems you need to enter these two doors.”
Chen Mo pointed to the two ends of the hall, respectively.
On the left was a heavy pitch-black wooden door; on the right was a golden metal gate.
“Since you hadn’t arrived, I took the liberty of buying a Regular entrance ticket.”
Saying this, Chen Mo handed an entrance ticket to Wen Jianyan.
It had a pitch-black background with blood-red text.
There were large areas of blank space, with only three words written in the top right corner: Entrance Ticket.
Just then, shouting came from not far away: “It’s admission time! Everyone with a ticket, hurry up!”
The pitch-black door and the golden gate opened simultaneously. Inside was pitch-black darkness; nothing could be seen clearly.
The group exchanged glances, and Wen Jianyan nodded.
Together, they walked toward the entrance.
A ticket taker with a pale face stood at the door. Every time he glanced at the ticket in someone’s hand, he would shout, “Next!”
The feeling was somewhat absurd.
Wen Jianyan stuffed the checked ticket into his pocket, thinking.
It was almost like going into a theater or watching a movie in the real world.
Passing through the pitch-black door, a massive hall came into view. Seats were arranged from high to low like a stadium, and in front of the seats was a huge open space.
There was also a giant black screen above.
There were numbers on the screen.
[09:01]
It seemed to be a ten-minute countdown.
Wen Jianyan walked inside with his teammates and found a spot not too far and not too close to sit down.
Other anchors trickled in one after another. They maintained vigilance toward one another, with every team keeping a certain safety distance between their seats.
After sitting down, “Blond” finally couldn’t hold back his curiosity. He lowered his voice and asked:
“Captain, what exactly are we supposed to do on this floor?”
Wen Jianyan glanced toward the large open space not far away and shook his head. “I’m not sure.”
But whatever the answer was… it didn’t seem like it would be anything good.
Time ticked by, and more and more people sat in the hall. As soon as the ten-minute countdown ended, the heavy doors behind them closed with a boom.
Everyone was startled, and a commotion rippled through the seating area.
The next second, the overhead lights dimmed.
In the entire venue, the only place still lit was the massive empty ground not far away.
Wen Jianyan silently raised his eyes and looked in that direction.
He had an ominous premonition in his heart.
Suddenly, the screen hanging overhead lit up.
Appearing on the screen was a woman wearing a [No. 9] badge on her chest. She looked tall and had a bright, cheerful smile.
A loud female voice boomed from the overhead speakers:
“Good evening, everyone! I am the dealer responsible for this floor, Ashley!”
“Welcome to my racecourse!”
Horse racing?!
Hearing this, everyone was shocked.
The content of Floor B4 was actually horse racing??
As the voice faded, a rumbling sound came from the front. A gigantic stone gate slowly rose under the gaze of the crowd. Immediately after, a familiar, eerie clanking sound came from within.
Ten people were driven out from inside.
Or rather…
Ten “horses.”
They wore no clothes on their upper bodies. Their shoulders and collarbones looked as if they had been broken, then strangely elongated by some force to become the same length as their hind limbs. Their entire bodies could only crawl on the ground like beasts, becoming deformed horses, their expressions terrifying and ferocious.
Watching this scene, Wen Jianyan’s pupils constricted.
He recognized one of the anchors who had been dragged away by the Debt Collector on Floor B1…
These people who owed the casino usurious loans they couldn’t repay were the horses to be raced on this floor!
