Just as the tremors began, the walls surrounding the private rooms suddenly rose, connecting the grandstand that circled the arena.

“A fight between a human and a mutated beast, this is exciting!”

“How the hell can he win? Good thing I bet on him losing, hahaha!”

“Damn it! I bet five hundred million on him winning!”

“That thing, whatever it is, a shrimp or whatever, kill him! Kill him!”

The shouting and noise made Chi Yao a little irritated.

To distract himself, he leaned slightly toward Jing Xi.

“Is he the person you’re looking for?” Chi Yao asked in a low voice.

After a moment of surprise, Jing Xi calmed down.

“No.”

Chi Yao: “Then who are you looking for?”

Jing Xi picked up his tea, his eyes on the arena below. “If I tell you, will you help me find them?”

“I will,” Chi Yao chuckled. “As long as you can afford the payment, I’ll take any job.”

Jing Xi: “Three hundred and sixty thousand, is that enough?”

Chi Yao: “…”

In the arena, the young Alpha in a black vest had no protective gear except for a fifty-centimeter-long military knife in his hand.

The shell of the level two mantis shrimp was thick and solid. The only places the military knife could penetrate were the gaps between the shell segments.

Soon, he was covered in injuries inflicted by the mantis shrimp.

After observing for two minutes, Chi Yao lost interest.

This person wasn’t it.

Noticing Jing Xi’s clenched fist in his peripheral vision, he deliberately said, “This person is too weak. It looks like he’s going to lose.”

Jing Xi hesitated. “By what standard is the winner decided? Time?”

Chi Yao chuckled, “There’s no time limit. It’s a fight to the death.”

Jing Xi frowned. “You know a lot about this kind of game?”

Chi Yao propped his chin up and said unhurriedly, “I guess so.”

Jing Xi: “Is there any way to pause it? Can we pay?”

Chi Yao: “There are at least a thousand people in this circle. They’ve all placed their bets. Unless you pay for this whole round.”

Jing Xi’s eyes darkened.

The chips started at one hundred million. To pay for everyone would not be enough even if he sold the entire Flying Dragon.

Several streaks of crimson blood were dragged across the arena floor. Chen Yao was a mess of sweat and blood, his original appearance no longer discernible.

Twenty minutes into the fight, he finally found an opportunity to attack and stabbed the military knife into the joint of the mantis shrimp’s head.

The mantis shrimp thrashed and twisted violently on the ground, dying in a moment.

“Ah—! He won!”

A chorus of deafening cheers erupted.

Some people whistled and laughed wildly, while others cursed and threw things in anger.

Jing Xi only saw their obsession with winning and losing, but no one showed any sympathy for the young man covered in scars on the field.

“What, feeling bad for him?”

Chi Yao whispered in his ear, “He gets at least a million. He’s not pathetic at all.”

Watching Chen Yao walk back, clutching the wound on his abdomen, Jing Xi exited the operating interface and called a staff member.

Soon, two black-clad men walked over one after the other. “What can we do for you?”

Jing Xi said calmly, “Bring number 1 here.”

The black-clad man respectfully refused. “Casino rules state that contestants cannot meet with any guests. This is for the fairness and transparency of the game.”

Jing Xi: “Not even for a few words?”

Black-clad man: “I’m very sorry.”

After saying that, the two left.

Jing Xi was about to stop them, but Chi Yao prevented him.

“It’s no use.” Chi Yao grabbed a handful of melon seeds and played with them in his hand without eating. “If you keep going, they’ll get suspicious.”

Jing Xi paused, his eyes slightly dim.

He had a hunch that Chen Yao wasn’t the person, but what if he was?

Fireworks lit up on the virtual screen, and the one hundred million that was originally displayed turned into one billion.

They had inexplicably won another round.

The walls around them descended again, and the “lose” and “win” buttons reappeared in front of them.

The black-masked man’s voice came through the loudspeaker.

“The second round also uses blind betting. Please place your bets within five minutes, honored guests. If you exceed the time limit, five hundred million will be automatically deducted from your account.”

The rules had been updated.

If you lost, you were deducted money. If you didn’t bet, you were also deducted money. If you kept losing, you could easily end up owing the casino a huge amount.

Only a place like this would have such unreasonable rules.

After knowing that it was a fight between a person and a beast, Jing Xi didn’t move.

This game was constantly pushing his boundaries. He would not, and could not, actively participate.

Chi Yao saw it, smiled, and also didn’t move.

The second contestant was also a young Alpha, who looked a bit taller than Chen Yao.

His opponent was a level two mutated sea snake.

Having tasted the first victory, most people bet on “win.”

But only three minutes into the fight, the Alpha was strangled to death by the sea snake and swallowed whole.

A chorus of curses filled the air.

Jing Xi’s face was expressionless, but the hand on the armrest was clenched so tight that his knuckles turned white.

The third round, another young Alpha, whose opponent was a level two mutated octopus.

As soon as the metal net went up, the Alpha was the first to attack.

After half an hour of fighting, there was still no winner.

Chi Yao was bored, so he shelled a plate of melon seeds.

He only liked to shell them, not eat them.

He turned his head and saw his rival looking at the field below with a cold gaze, slowly eating the shelled seeds from the plate. It seemed to be an unconscious action.

Chi Yao: “…”

The third Alpha’s strength was decent. The octopus had three of its tentacles cut off, and its attack power was greatly reduced.

To escape the attack, the octopus scurried to the corner and quickly climbed up the wall.

A huge tentacle appeared in front of the audience.

“Ahhhhhhh—!”

“It’s climbing up!”

“Security, get your asses over here!”

The grandstand was in chaos.

To give the audience an immersive experience, there were no barriers in front of them after the walls went up.

The octopus’s tentacle twisted in the air and swung toward Chi Yao and the others.

Jing Xi’s eyes sank. He subconsciously reached for his lower back but found nothing there.

The casino did not allow any firearms. The most offensive things he had on him were the three miniature robots.

Seeing the octopus tentacle about to whip at them, his peripheral vision caught number 3 climbing up. Chi Yao unhurriedly took the ring off his middle finger and threw it at the octopus tentacle.

The ring rapidly deformed and expanded in the air, turning into a twenty-centimeter-long metal circle.

The metal circle flew past, and the octopus tentacle was cleanly cut off, falling heavily to the ground.

It made a turn in the air and flew back to Chi Yao.

Number 3 jumped up. He had just taken a step when his sleeve was accidentally torn by the returning metal circle, revealing the lumpy skin underneath.

Chi Yao held the metal circle between two fingers, his gaze sweeping over the man’s arm. He took out a handkerchief and slowly wiped it.

The protective shield over the grandstand quickly descended.

After Chi Yao cut off its tentacle, the octopus had no chance to get in. It could only stick to the protective shield and hit it repeatedly.

The chaotic scene was immediately brought under control.

Number 3, holding his military knife, strode across the entire grandstand. His menacing look scared a group of audience members out of his way. He took the exclusive elevator and returned to the field.

When he passed Jing Xi, Jing Xi noticed a few small bumps near his hairline.

They were very similar to what he had seen on the face of the gold-masked man that night.

His gaze moved down, scanning number 3’s upper arm, and found that the clothes at that location had been cut.

After the field was secured, number 3 quickly killed the octopus.

“Number 3 is so strong!”

“His eyes were so scary when he walked toward me just now!”

“I was startled too. I thought he was going to kill someone.”

“The person over there is the one who’s really strong. He cut off a tentacle as thick as a washbasin with just a circle. I wonder what that thing is, it’s so powerful.”

The people around them discussed animatedly, their gazes all moving to Chi Yao.

Security personnel were scattered among the seats to soothe the audience’s emotions.

“I apologize for the disturbance. Were you injured?”

The security personnel asked respectfully, but their eyes were uncontrollably drawn to the metal circle in Chi Yao’s hand.

The metal circle was very thin and fine, looking like an ordinary metal wire, but its lethality was astonishing.

Chi Yao wiped it repeatedly. He gently squeezed it, and the metal circle folded into an irregular shape, returning to the size of a ring, which he put back on his middle finger.

“If you can’t even guarantee the safety of your players, don’t hold these games. It’s embarrassing.”

The black-clad man’s face changed slightly, and he bowed and replied, “We are very sorry.”

The black-clad man next to him added, “To ensure the safety of all our honored guests, please hand over your ring for us to keep.”

“What, are you afraid I’ll cut off their heads?” Chi Yao scoffed. “If I wanted to kill them, could you stop me?”

The two black-clad men looked at each other and left sullenly after quietly asking their superior.

After the fifth round, the game was over.

Everyone’s account balance was re-evaluated. Those who had a negative balance had to pay off their debt within three hours.

At the lunch table, everyone was discussing the unusual gambling game.

The chaos in the middle not only didn’t dampen their enthusiasm but made them enjoy it even more.

“I wonder what other games they have. If I could live here, I’d be willing to pay any amount!”

“Impossible. You can only stay for three days per invitation.”

“The stakes are too high. It’s either heaven or hell. It’s so damn awesome!”

“An average person can’t handle it after the second day.”

Six games would be arranged over these three days. Each person had to participate in at least two, which was equivalent to mandatory spending.

If they could guarantee they won every time, after three days, they could move up a hundred places on the rich list.

But with this game mechanism, very few people could actually make money and leave.

The organizers brought these people who had won a lot of money in the underground casinos to the underwater casino and used highly deceptive and stimulating games to fleece them.

The real winner was only the casino.

Chi Yao ate and listened, paying attention to the surrounding movements.

“Yaoyao.”

Hearing those two words, Chi Yao was stunned, but he quickly realized that Jing Xi was using his nickname to mock him.

Jing Xi elegantly used his knife and fork. “I’m a little tired. I’ll go back to the room to rest after eating.”

Chi Yao raised an eyebrow. “You won’t be tired after I hold you and we take a nap.”

Jing Xi looked at him. “I’m afraid I’ll crush you.”

Chi Yao smiled. “Then you can get on top.”

Jing Xi snorted and said nothing more.

He was far too different from Chi Yao in terms of shamelessness.

There were three hours of rest time in the afternoon.

The two returned to their original suite.

After closing the door, Jing Xi used his terminal to check and confirmed that no AI surveillance was installed before speaking. “That number 3—”

“Number 3 is indeed good.” Chi Yao interrupted him, pulling him toward the bedroom. “But he’s still far from being as good as me.”

Jing Xi immediately stopped talking and instantly realized something was wrong.

Chi Yao pushed him onto the bed, pulled the blanket over them, and covered them.

“Don’t think about number 3. Go to sleep.”

Under the blanket, there was a forearm’s distance between them.

Jing Xi took out a miniature robot and had it fly out from under the blanket to perform a more detailed check of the entire room.

“Is number 3 the person you’re looking for?” Jing Xi mouthed.

Chi Yao raised an eyebrow, but didn’t answer.

To Jing Xi, this was a tacit admission.

He continued, “Want to cooperate?”

Compared to him, Chi Yao knew more about the situation here.

Chi Yao: “Cooperate?”

Jing Xi: “The people you and I are looking for are both here. Let’s find a way to get them out first.”

Chi Yao was unenthusiastic. “Why don’t you just commission me to do it? It’s so much less hassle.”

Jing Xi said with a poker face, “No money.”

Chi Yao: “…”

He was so stingy in a place like this.

From his angle, he could see Jing Xi’s beautiful eyelashes. They were long but not very curly, fluttering, which made him want to reach out and touch them.

Chi Yao never liked to hold back. As soon as he thought it, his hand was already reaching out.

But his hand suddenly stopped halfway. He looked at the hand resting on his neck and lied, “The act needs to be complete.”

Jing Xi’s eyes narrowed slightly. “How far do you want to go?”

Chi Yao patted the spot in his arms. “Come here and be my pillow.”

Jing Xi: “…”

Chi Yao said seriously, “In your case, I’ll allow you to pay with your body.”

Jing Xi’s fist, which he had been holding back for almost a month, still swung out.

A moment later, the blanket suddenly shook violently.

Inside the main ship of a large fleet, a white-haired old man sat at the command seat, looking at the constantly shaking blanket on the virtual screen. He didn’t know whether to be angry or to laugh.

“Getting so intense?” the officer behind him exclaimed.

The white-haired old man’s eyes shot over. “Hmm?”

The officer quickly apologized. “I’m sorry, it just slipped out.”

The white-haired old man: “…”

He’s learned how to play, but unfortunately, he’s playing with an Alpha.

Sigh.