Meanwhile.
Chen Mang had successfully led Biao Zi and the others to the first "entertainment city." The place was vast, resembling a castle at first glance. The spotlights from the rooftops of surrounding skyscrapers illuminated the castle's surface, giving it an air of opulence and decadence.
The castle was surrounded by a large artificial moat.
The architectural style wasn't medieval but rather futuristic. Huge billboards displayed photos of nude young women, and outside the castle, numerous staff members—all robots—were moving about. They were uniformly female, with strikingly beautiful faces, minimal clothing, and provocative movements.
"Let's go in and take a look."
There was no security.
Chen Mang twisted the throttle and drove toward the entertainment city. Before even reaching the main entrance, he saw scattered slot machines placed at the entrance.
"Does anyone know how to play these?"
"No."
Chen Mang didn't linger. He drove his motorcycle straight through the main entrance. He had never touched a slot machine before, only knowing the basic rule: pull the lever, and if three identical symbols appeared, you win.
The entertainment city had six floors.
The first floor, upon entering, was filled with hundreds of gambling tables. Each table was manned by a beautiful dealer in a red bikini. At that moment, nearly all the dealers turned their heads with smiles to look at them.
"Damn..."
Biao Zi instinctively took a step back, looking at the scene with a mix of awkwardness and unease. "Is this supposed to be sexy? Why does it feel a bit creepy to me?"
"If it weren't for the fact that this Fortuitous Encounter map is labeled as an entertainment map,"
"I'd think it was some kind of map with eerie elements."
"And where did all these guests come from?"
As soon as they stepped into the hall,
so many beautiful dealers turned their heads in unison to smile at them. The scene was indeed a bit unsettling. Fortunately, it was daytime, and the hall was well-lit. If it were nighttime, with flickering lights and eerie music playing,
they would have turned around and run without a second thought.
Hundreds of gambling tables.
Most were empty, but a small number had guests sitting at them. These guests looked red-eyed and highly emotional, constantly slamming chips onto the tables. The air was filled with the shouts of these gamblers.
"I don't believe it! Seven rounds in a row have been small. I'm going all in on big!"
"Hahaha, it's really big! It's really big! I've hit the jackpot!"
"I should've followed your bet."
"..."
Chen Mang scanned the gamblers and quickly came to a conclusion: "Without a doubt, these are probably the casino's shills—robots designed to create an atmosphere."
"Now that the city is empty, after being reactivated, these shills have started their work according to their programmed routines."
"But didn't the map indicate that the city's laws don't allow robots to fully mimic humans? They must display their mechanical organs in obvious areas."
"Look."
Chen Mang tilted his head toward the wall of the casino. "What does that sign say?"
"No smoking, no... no harassing the dealers?"
"Right."
Chen Mang nodded, pulled a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and exhaled a faint blue cloud of smoke. He then pointed toward a nearby gambling table where the occasional shouts of gamblers could be heard. "What do you think they're doing over there?"
"Dealing cards?"
At the table, there were four or five people. Three gamblers were excitedly raising their hands and shouting, while the fourth, clearly overly excited, stood behind the dealer, pressing the dealer's body firmly against the table. He kept grabbing chips and stuffing them into the dealer's clothes.
The dealer seemed quite cooperative.
If the entire entertainment city were packed with people, this scene wouldn't be too out of the ordinary. In fact, it would help stir up the guests' emotions. In an excited environment, people's emotions naturally rise, leading to more intense and faster-paced gambling.
But—
At this moment, the entertainment city was filled only with these plants, making the scene appear rather bizarre.
"I'll give it a try."
Biao Zi's eyes flashed with curiosity as he walked over to the nearest dealer. He mimicked the earlier actions, pressing the dealer against the table, when he heard the dealer's voice: "Sir, would you like to join? 100,000 points."
"Alright, you stay put, hands steady, legs still."
Biao Zi straightened the dealer and then returned to Lord Mang's side. "That's really expensive—100,000 points for one go. It's way pricier than those brothels."
"Here, what they're selling is the emotion."
Chen Mang rubbed his temples in frustration before heading toward the second floor. "Let's go. Maybe we can find a way to make some money upstairs. This mechanical civilization is pure capitalism—everything costs money."
Just then—
A burly man in a pink tank top approached them, holding a glass of champagne, his face friendly.
"Oh?"
Chen Mang's eyes flickered with surprise. The intelligence level of these plants was impressive. He wondered if it was programmed behavior, with the ability to interact with guests. The robots he had encountered in this city were far less intelligent than Xiao Ai and even those he had met in the Fortuitous Encounter map of the Tower of Heaven.
Most of them were rigidly programmed, staying in their designated spots, waiting for customers to enter their range before executing their service routines.
This was the first robot he had encountered that could actively interact with guests.
Although the burly man looked no different from a human, in this long-abandoned city, he could only be a robot.
The man in the pink tank top approached Chen Mang and his group, raised his hand in a delicate gesture, and then draped his arm over Biao Zi's shoulder. With a drunken look in his eyes, he bit his lip and offered the glass to Biao Zi.
"100,000 points, and you can lie down on that table over there."
"Huh?"
Biao Zi stared at the man in disbelief, instinctively wanting to throw a punch. But then he remembered that in the mechanical parts store, a "Zombie Siege" map chip cost only 50,000 points.
With 100,000 points, he could buy two.
His eyes slightly red, he clenched his teeth and was about to turn to Lord Mang to say something when he saw Lord Mang already kicking the man.
"Thud."
The pink burly man, who had taken a solid kick, stumbled back uncontrollably and fell to the ground with a thud. After muttering a few words, he got up and wandered off again into the casino.
"Lord Mang."
"I think you might have a screw loose too."
Chen Mang let out a weary sigh and patted Biao Zi on the shoulder: "Next time something like this happens, don't hesitate. It's just 100,000 points. I don't want my right-hand man to have been defiled by some pink burly guy."
"That would make it hard for me to look at you straight in the future."
"Let's go, let's check out the second floor."
"At least it proves our guess was right. There are indeed opportunities to make money in this Fortuitous Encounter map, but you have to dig for them."
"Though if I'd known this would happen, I would've brought a better-looking burly guy from the Survivors. And—"
He gave Biao Zi a strange look.
"You don't look effeminate at all. You're clearly a rough guy. Why did he take a liking to you?"
"Maybe it's the beard. I'll shave it off when we get back."
Biao Zi spoke with a deliberately calm expression, though inside he was already jumping for joy. This was the first time Lord Mang had called him his "right-hand man." Those two words carried far more weight than his position as the captain of the Guardian squad. It seemed Lord Mang had been paying attention to his performance all along!
Right-hand man, huh? Heh.
I'll go back and sound out Lao Zhu, see if Lord Mang has ever said those words to him.
The name of this entertainment city was "Sun City."
The second floor was filled with various shops.
Half of them were open for business. The shops here were relatively normal, just your average "handbag stores" and "clothing stores."
The only thing abnormal was the prices.
"..."
Biao Zi stared in disbelief at the seemingly ordinary short-sleeved shirt in front of him, then turned to the shop assistant in shock: "This shirt, how much is it? 880,000?"
"Are you fucking serious?"
The shirt didn't have a price tag; he only found out the price after asking.
The shop assistant's eyes flashed with a hint of human-like disdain as they pointed to the sun-like logo on the shirt: "See this? The brand is Lieyang. It's top-tier luxury, got it?"
"Do you even know what top-tier luxury means?"
"Hey!"
Biao Zi couldn't help but laugh in exasperation, turning to Lord Mang: "Lord Mang, this guy's actually mocking me."
"Let's go."
Chen Mang waved his hand dismissively: "Generally, luxury stores train their staff to show a bit of superiority when dealing with customers who look poor, to stimulate purchases. But such blatant disdain? Probably a glitch in the program settings, or maybe it's just the unique culture of this mechanical civilization."
"Though those eyes are impressive. They can actually convey disdain."
"Too bad this map prohibits attacks. Otherwise, I'd dig them out and take them back for Xiao Ai. He'd probably like something like that."
They had already seen everything on the second floor.
There wasn't a single thing they could afford.
It was all luxury goods.
A seemingly ordinary comb, labeled "handcrafted" and bearing a logo, was priced at 1.28 million.
An utterly absurd price.
Chen Mang speculated that in the mechanical civilization, many products likely came from "component production lines," meaning everyone used the same items. In such a context, handcrafted goods became a powerful selling point, and using such products was an excellent way to flaunt one's status.
Not bad.
Ordinary gamblers, even if they were lucky enough to earn some money on the first floor, would probably end up spending it all on the second floor.
Money blown in by the wind often gets swept away by the wind as well.
The second floor still offered no opportunities to make money.
It wasn't until they reached the third floor—
That the scene opened up before them.
There were all kinds of small games, somewhat similar to the booth games he had encountered at fairs in the past, like ring toss or balloon darts, but these were packaged to look much more upscale.
Beside each booth stood a beautiful woman in a bikini, and the hall was filled with rhythmic music.
Since ancient times.
Only three things have been able to stir human emotions.
Sex, violence, and death.
And the carriers of these emotions have always been words, audio, and visual experiences.
Among these, the latter two are the most straightforward and brutal.
Clearly, this "entertainment city" was designed to better stimulate the emotions of its guests. The bikini-clad women were everywhere, as if they cost nothing, using visuals and music to continuously arouse people's emotions to a state of excitement.
The air was also filled with a faint scent of perfume.
The oxygen machine in his train was always on, so he could clearly feel that the oxygen levels in this hall were high, keeping everyone in a state of hyperoxia. Combined with the bustling, heated atmosphere of the crowd.
Just stepping into this place.
Was enough to fully stir up one's emotions. Even a monk who had eaten vegetarian meals for ten years would come here, clasp his hands together, and silently recite:
"Wine and meat pass through the intestines, but Buddha remains in the heart."
"..."
Chen Mang glanced around, then leaned on his cane as he walked toward the first booth game. He didn't feel much about these things—not because he was a saint, but because he had been to too many places like this in his previous world. He had already experienced all the excitement, indulgence, and luxury he could.
With his threshold for stimulation raised infinitely high, coming to a place like this no longer elicited much of a reaction from him.
Especially since it was just them here, and the atmosphere wasn't heated enough.
If it were a young man in his place, he would already be flushed and flustered by now.
Like Li Shiji.
Chen Mang stood at the first booth, turned to look at Li Shiji, and was about to say something when he saw Li Shiji standing there, red-faced, his breathing slightly accelerated as he stared at one of the bikini-clad women.
"Sigh."
After letting out a light sigh, he turned to Biao Zi beside him: "Go get that guy for me. And I'll give you another task—when we get back to the train, take him out to have some fun."
"A man who can't even walk straight when he sees a woman."
"He'll never achieve anything great."
Food and lust are human nature. Asking a man to remain calm in the face of female allure is inherently against human nature.
There are only two solutions.
Get tired of it.
Or lose interest.
"Understood!"
"Lord Mang."
Soon, Li Shiji, who had been dragged over, stood awkwardly beside Lord Mang, about to say something when Lord Mang cut him off.
"All virgins are like this. It's normal."
"Take a look at the game rules. Think you can handle it?"
Li Shiji was momentarily stunned, then carefully examined the game rules displayed on the screen in front of the booth.
"Sun Entertainment City Mini-Game."
"Game Name": Quick Eyes, Sharp Mind.
"Game Rules": Minimum bet of 1,000 chips, maximum bet of 10,000 chips. You will then see a three-dimensional image of a cube on the screen in front of you. Inside this cube, there are 18 golf balls arranged in a specific pattern, which will be displayed for three seconds.
You must memorize the positions of the golf balls.
After the screen goes dark, you must place the golf balls on the table in the exact same arrangement as shown on the screen into the cube on the table.
If all the balls are placed correctly, your bet will be doubled.
If there are any mistakes, your entire bet will be forfeited.
During the placement phase, no one other than the participant is allowed to give any verbal hints, otherwise it will be considered an immediate loss.
(End of Chapter)