Ch29 - Paper Gold

Li Yinhang asked the question in her head, “Isn’t that just self-service?”

Yu Tuisi didn’t talk about it and just smiled. “You’ll know when you see it.” 

The simple gathering was over. Jiang Fang and Nan Zhou went to pay the bill while also opening the trading system. Yu Tuisi and Chen Sufeng planned to find a place to rest. The conversation just now aroused the fitness trainer’s interest. He was eager to try out Douzhuan Casino but Shen Jie’s sharp eyes decisively persuaded him to retreat.

Everyone was clear that they weren’t on the same path at all. Once they separated, they were afraid there would be no chances to meet in the future.

Jiang Fang stood at the door of the coffee shop and asked Yu Tuisi, “Have you ever thought about teaming up with us?”

Yu Tuisi was a rare smart person. If there was a possibility of development then Jiang Fang still wanted to work hard. 

Yu Tuisi placed his hands on his legs and laughed. “I thought about it but I can’t do it. I’m already dragging down Xiao Feng. I don’t want to trouble anyone else.”

Chen Sufeng whispered, “No, that isn’t the case.”

Jiang Fang nodded and didn’t ask any more questions. Shen Jie heard Jiang Fang’s invitation. She thought of her own failed invitation and couldn’t help smiling. She instinctively glanced at Nan Zhou and found he was standing behind everyone and fiddling with something.

Shen Jie thought that this action was familiar. The next moment, she showed an incredulous expression. Nan Zhou actually took the small lock out of the instance. He was still tirelessly practicing how to unlock it.

The thin monkey and fitness trainer were looking for a place to stay. Shen Jie walked up to Nan Zhou and laughed. “Why are you still playing with this?”

Nan Zhou’s answer was still consistent. “I’m practicing my skills.”

Shen Jie let out a sigh. “It is a pity that I couldn’t pull you into my team.” Then she lowered her voice. “I want to try again.”

“Huh?” 

“Can you and Jiang Fang go with us? I can let you or Jiang Fang be the captain.”

“Why?”

Shen Jie answered, “Of course, I want to increase the chances of survival.”

Nan Zhou finally raised his head and stared into her eyes. “The question I asked you is that since this is your second time making the request, why didn’t you think about changing the conditions?” 

Shen Jie was surprised. “What?”

Nan Zhou asked back, “What if I, Brother Fang and Yinhang agree to join your team on the premise that you remove one of your team members. Will you agree?”

Shen Jie was stunned for a long time. Just then, the thin monkey called out to her. “Sister Shen, we will go to Dilong Hotel in the east. That place is cheaper!”

Shen Jie responded positively and headed toward her teammates. The moment she was a few steps away, Shen Jie didn’t turn around but waved to Nan Zhou in a silent answer. 

…Forget it.

The other two groups disappeared into the night in different directions.

Li Yinhang stood under the bright and colorful lights and felt a sense of confusion. “Where are we going?”

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.

Nan Zhou’s answer was simple and powerful. “Eat self-service.” 

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Aljcu Mjcu ibbxfv ja atf mbibgoei ‘Gbehtejc’ rluc bqqbrlaf atfw. “Tfr.”

Lf kjr tfjvlcu abkjgv atf mjrlcb ktfc tlr jgw kjr ugjyyfv. Rjc Itbe abiv tlw, “Tbe vbc’a tjnf ab ub lo sbe vbc’a kjca ab.” 

Jiang Fang was slightly startled and couldn’t help touching his face. He couldn’t figure out how Nan Zhou had seen through him. He was acting very actively and his expression management was perfect. He smiled. “I didn’t say I don’t want to.”

Nan Zhou insisted. “You don’t want to go.”

Nan Zhou didn’t know the reason. Jiang Fang’s face didn’t show anything but Nan Zhou had a feeling that this person didn’t like it. Jiang Fang wanted to deny it but once the words reached his mouth, he stopped. A moment later, he changed his attitude and chose to be honest. “I… I really don’t like casinos very much but it is fine if we are just eating.”

Nan Zhou nodded. “Okay. Then don’t look at it and just look at me.” 

Jiang Fang’s heart felt like it had been gently pinched. This itchy feeling made him feel slow for a moment. Then he laughed. “You’re right.”

Jiang Fang’s eyes and mouth were curved up when he turned around. He struggled to control it but he couldn’t help smiling.

They each paid the 200 points admission ticket and received a wristband-like recognizer. Then they were led by the well-dressed NPC waiter into the casino. The wristband was only issued after payment. There was one for each person and it would be invalid once they left. There was a special scanner in the casino. If a person had no wristband then the NPC would quickly remove them and force 500 points to be deducted as punishment. This was to prevent someone from putting their teammate in an item slot and bringing them in.

…Although normal people wouldn’t do this, it just happened to prevent Nan Zhou’s idea. 

Nan Zhou, “……” Alas.

After entering the casino, Nan Zhou’s curiosity seemed to be scratched by a cat’s paws. He endured and endured it but he finally couldn’t bear it any longer. “Why don’t you like it?”

“…Hah.”

Nan Zhou wondered, “Why are you laughing?” 

Jiang Fang told him, “I was betting on how long it would take you to ask me.”

Nan Zhou, “?” Then he repeated, “So why?”

They went to the elevator. As they waited for the elevator to descend, Jiang Fang briefly summarized the reason for his disgust. “Casinos are people eaters. This type of place will eat a person clean and step on the bones.”

“However, it is mutual consent. Someone bets and the casino makes money.” 

Jiang Fang refuted it. “It isn’t mutual consent. That is just wishful thinking.”

Nan Zhou hugged Nanji Star and listened carefully.

“The slot machines and small steel balls all have their probability set by the casino. How much you get depends on the boss’ mood. In big and small, a skilled dealer can shake it to get whatever number he wants and in Texas hold’em, it is possible to do sleight of hand.”

“Of course, these casinos won’t tell the players that what they think is fairness is actually just false.” 

Li Yinhang tentatively said, “I heard that casinos will give preferential treatment to newcomers. At first, they will let you win. Once you win, can’t you just leave and not indulge?”

Jiang Fang told her, “It is hard. Gambling destroys a person’s perception of money.”

Li Yinhang, “……” She didn’t understand.

“Let’s put it this way.” Jiang Fang asked, “Yinhang, what is your monthly salary?” 

“Not good. The basic salary for customer service is quite low and depends on the number of calls. If the monthly number exceeds 3,000 then every call is 8 mao. If the satisfaction reaches 80% then it becomes one yuan. Once satisfaction reaches 95% then one call is 1 yuan and 5 mao. It is paid at the end of the month.”

She carefully used her fingers to calculate it. Customer service positions generally had a reward mechanism. Once employees reached a certain number of calls, they could get prizes such as an electric fan, color TV and projectors. Li Yinhang was an excellent worker. She could sell these things to idle people and get extra income. She already had a small ledger in her mind. After adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing, she quickly came to a conclusion. “On average, it is a bit more than 9,000 yuan a month.”

The elevator was coming. The three people entered the elevator. The elevator only went to two floors. Jiang Fang pressed a button and kept speaking to her. “You have worked hard for a month and earned 9,000 yuan. Then you became lucky and it was increased tenfold in the casino. You earned 90,000 yuan overnight. Now what do you think?”

Li Yinhang thought about it and felt it was really cool. “Isn’t it good?” 

Jiang Fang asked back, “Then what is your hard work in the previous month compared to it?”

Li Yinhang thought about this and suddenly felt a chill go down her spine.

“Will you still be able to work with peace of mind? You will feel that hard work is meaningless. It is better to relax in the casino.”

“This is how the foundation of a person is slowly broken.” 

“In this game where it is possible to die at any time, a person is still thinking of digging at the foundations…” Jiang Fang murmured, “I don’t like it.”

Jiang Fang’s voice finished as the elevator doors slowly opened. A lot of noise was mixed with the cool breeze carrying the smell of cold beer toward them.

***

Like Nan Zhou, there were a few people who specifically came for the snacks and beer. Snow-white tables were set up with exquisite desserts and a wide variety of dishes. 

Nan Zhou was very satisfied. He took what he liked while examining the layout of the casino. He gradually had an idea in his heart. The desserts here really were free. The snacks were mostly melon seeds, dried fruits and some small snacks. This meant that although beer was provided, there weren’t many other things to drink. They could order hot food here. They just needed to spend a bit of points and the prices were very low compared to the rest of Paper Gold.

The problem was that there were no chairs or TVs except in the gambling area. There were no other entertainment facilities apart from the ever-changing gambling charts and all types of gambling equipment. If they wanted to eat and drink then they could only stand and watch others play.

Therefore, many people who were determined to just eat or drink could only hold their beer and eat melon seeds while watching others gamble. If they watched too much then it was inevitable to feel itchy.

In addition to the careful design of the restaurant, Douzhuan Casino had other tricks. The casino had three floors. The first and second floors were the casino. If they wanted to go upstairs then they had to take the elevator. There were no stairs. 

The entire third floor consisted of guest rooms exclusively for guests. The check-in conditions were very relaxed. A guest could stay there for a relatively cheap price after a small bet. However, from the second floor to the third floor, there was no elevator, only the stairs. The elevator and stairs were far away from each other. If they wanted to go from the elevator to the stairs then they had to pass through the loud casino. It meant that there would be countless temptations seducing guests to bet here when returning to their room.

Jiang Fang was right. Douzhuan Casino was a well-designed bottomless hole dedicated to catching every psychological change in players. The gravity of this bottomless hole affected even Li Yinhang.

“600 points.” Li Yinhang tasted bitterness and murmured sadly, “600 points…”

They got the S-grade rewards in the last level and only received 1,000 points per person. Now hundreds of points were thrown away in the blink of an eye. She felt so pained that she couldn’t help casting her eyes toward the mahjong room not far away. She used to play mahjong with her mother and aunts during the Spring Festival… 

As her mind drifted to the edge of danger, Nan Zhou’s voice was heard in her ears. “What are you thinking about?”

Li Yinhang was shocked. Was she just thinking about gambling? She hurriedly fed herself a piece of the cake while feeling shock. There was nothing wrong with Yu Tuisi’s words. The atmosphere of the casino made it really easy to indulge. She could only do her best to shield herself from the surrounding sounds while eating.

Nan Zhou was much more attentive than her and had a clear goal. No matter how noisy the surroundings, he only focused on the plate full of cream cakes in front of him while occasionally raising his eyes to look at where Jiang Fang had gone.

The moment Jiang Fang arrived on the second floor, he let the two of them go to eat obediently while wandering around to check out the various gambling areas. 

Li Yinhang was surprised. “If he doesn’t like it then why is he looking?”

Nan Zhou ate a perfect cream flower and his mood was good, so he patiently answered, “Qu Jinsha is second in the rankings. This might not affect us now but no one knows if he will be an enemy or ally in the future. Brother Fang is checking the situation just in case.”

Li Yinhang listened and nodded while casually eating the pistachios.

*** 

People always imagined the appearance of a big boss like Qu Jinsha, who made a fortune by running a casino and was second on the individual rankings. At the very least, he should be in a suit and sunglasses. The reality was that he had a mediocre appearance. His figure was slightly fat and he wore a loose-fitting dark gray sweater and jeans. He was a middle-aged man with a nice smile on his face. He stood by and watched the ever-changing gambling rankings in real time, his face gentle. If he had a thermos then he would look like a gossipy uncle next door.

Suddenly, a bit of silver entered his vision. The moment he noticed the abnormal hair color, he raised an eyebrow with interest and took the initiative to greet this person.

Jiang Fang had wanted to see the difference in the structure of the slot machines here and in reality when a hand was placed on his shoulder from behind. “Brother?”

He glanced back. 

Jiang Fang’s facial features were foreign and this made Qu Jinsha more interested. “A foreigner?”

Jiang Fang replied, “Half and half.”

“I thought so.” Qu Jinsha’s smile became even stronger when he heard the Chinese with the correct pronunciation. “Previously, I guessed that foreigners should be playing in their own district or else why haven’t I seen a foreigner before? I was shocked to see your hair color and thought I guessed incorrectly.”

Jiang Fang smiled gently, a bit shy. 

Qu Jinsha looked at the slot machine Jiang Fang had been observing. “Do you want to play?”

Jiang Fang declined. “My lover won’t let me.”

Qu Jinsha followed his gaze and saw Nan Zhou who was indulging in desserts and Li Yinhang who was addicted to pistachios. The girl was quite pretty but she looked honest and like she had no thoughts. He didn’t reveal anything as he looked back at the tall, young and beautiful man in front of him.

Qu Jinsha persuaded him. “It isn’t hard. Try it.” 

Jiang Fang looked flustered. “I… won’t.”

Qu Jinsha showed a kind smile. His voice wasn’t high as he spoke softly, “If you’re afraid of losing then I can lend you a bit.”

Jiang Fang murmured, “This…”

“There is no need for you to pay it back and I won’t collect interest.” Qu Jinsha was generous. “You are a guest. If you just come here and don’t play then it is a pity. Isn’t it a waste of 200 points?” 

Jiang Fang blinked. “You are…”

“I’m the boss.” Qu Jinsha smiled softly, “Just call me Old Qu.”

Jiang Fang stared at the smiling middle-aged man in front of him. He had met many bosses. He had seen Qu Jinsha’s type as well. They always gave generously, lending a bit of gambling money to young people who entered the casino to let them taste the sweetness of gambling without spending anything. Then it would go out of control. After that, the boss would smile at the crying gambler and say, ‘Look, it isn’t that I didn’t help you. You just owe so much and I can’t do anything.’

Jiang Fang faced this amiable smiling face and showed just the right facial expression. “This… is this okay?”