Winning Games with Ease

The moment that the door closed, the beauty's face slowly distorted. A face stained with millions of black dots appeared, along with the bountiful hair on her head turning into those black dots as well. When juxtaposed against the ashy white pigment of her face, it gave Metro discomfort.

Metro could feel that the lift had started to descend, even though this was the ground floor. This made his stomach fill with butterflies. There was no way out for him now, unless he was to play the game set by the woman.

Metro pursed his lips. "What's your name? I believe I haven't met you before." Metro's eyes hardened as he looked towards the woman. He had a feeling that demons didn't like bootlicking people.

"Oh, don't put on your tough guy act after using your Abyssal Eye to cheat out money from me!" The demon did not put on any pretender anymore, and her hands turned into demonic pink claws that swiped against Metro's chest, creating deep scratch marks.

"Ugh! Agh!" Metro let out a few grunts of pain, but other than that, he tried to keep himself under composure. He was sure that the scenario would not dare to kill him off directly, after presenting him with such a linear pathway.

"My claws contain concentrated love type carnal energy, so I doubt that an unspecialised contracted like you can assimilate it. You will lose consciousness and become my slave in approximately 1 hour." Just like the demonic woman said, Metro was already feeling the effects of the carnal energy at work.

It greatly reduced the amount of carnal energy he had, and the Abyssal Eye was struggling to contain it from spreading through Metro's soul. Taking a look at the Death Clock watch again, Metro found that he had around 30 minutes left. He had spent around an hour gambling away.

"That's a pretty nice watch you got there. On account of that and the fact that you were once a contracted, I will give you a chance. I need some entertainment to wait out the grand finale that will come soon. So, how do you want to gamble?" The woman's palm opened, revealing a dice, then repeated her actions to reveal a crumpled Joker card, and finally, a golden mahjong tile. They all laid on the same hand.

"Three options... Dice it is." Picking up the dice, he handed it to the woman. The woman clapped once, as her fangs interlocked together in a grin. The lift came to an abrupt stop as soon as Metro made his choice. She did not collect the dice, and shoved Metro out of the lift directly.

"Good luck. You will have nine cheaters to beat. Here is 10 units of chips. If you lose them all, you will wait as you agonisingly become my slave. If you can point out how they're cheating, they die and you win instantly. Isn't it so exhilarating?" Using a sultry tone, her voice interfered with Metro's perception for a few seconds, and the lift was gone by then.

"Demons are really all bat shit insane! Luckily, this time it's to my advantage." Metro breathed out heavily. If he was right, this game was also built for him to rack up his kill count from all the cheaters here. Could this be considered a blessing for him?

In front of Metro was an empty space surrounded by purple rocks. Metro tried knocking his knuckles on the walls to check for hollow spaces, but it was all solid. There didn't seem to be hidden mechanisms, so Metro strifes forward confidently.

A cooling sensation rippled through Metro's entire body as he passed through an invisible barrier. The empty space in front of him transformed perfectly into the Golden Lucky Casino's theme, perfectly relocating its interior. There were three tables in front of him. One was dice, one was blackjack, and the last was a mahjong table. White lights hung above, illuminating everything.

"This NPC is so tricky. Giving me the illusion of choice... Forget it. This doesn't affect me in any way." Metro sat at the chair prepared for him. The cheater that was sitting opposite to him was a broad muscular man.

"Big or small?" The man asked Metro. The voice of the woman spookily appeared out of nowhere at the very moment, "The rules of dice is simple. Big is 7 or more dots, small is 6 or less dots. Two dices are rolled in a cup and you bet on them."

"Too easy. There's only one way to cheat. Loaded dice." Metro rolled his eyes as he picked up the dice and felt it. It was sufficient evidence of cheating. The burly man dropped to the floor with a thud, looking like Metro's victims outside the casino earlier. Metro did not want to wait for the man to start shaking the dice, since he was on a time limit.

"Don't be so cocky. It will get much harder after this appetiser. You will need to pay 5 credits if you get the cheat wrong too." The woman's voice remained calm and confident, as if unperturbed by the death of the cheater.

Metro looked at the watch and found that it had turned back by 3 minutes. It was not much, but it was enough. Striding over to the next table, he took a seat again. "Finally, I get to play some blackjack. I missed out last time." Metro talked to his opponent, who was looking at him in the eyes.

"Let me ask you. Do you know about the disciplines of the Cheater's Guild?" The opponent gets was facing this time was a schoolgirl who appeared to be younger than 12. However, her hands were marked with callouses, showing the intense training that she had received.

However, the callouses formed on her hands had a ripple pattern that differed from the shapes of normal human hands. She raised her palms upwards, giving Metro a better look. The ripples had joined together to form an image that kept repeating in Metro's mind.

The defense mechanisms in Metro's mind instantly triggered, pulling his attention away from the image. "This is that skill! A Cheater's Hands!" Metro was horrified by the influence of the hands. No wonder that woman did not care much for the earlier cheater. With this power, it would be too easy to overpower him.

"Evidence! I need evidence to prove that she's cheating!" Metro's mind focused intensely for a second, trying to observe the possible scenarios that could occur. "Or I could just cheat better than her."

"I have no time for cheap tricks, I bet 10 chips on this game!" It was the whole sum of his credits, which meant that he was betting his whole life on the game. The schoolgirl was unflustered, only distributing two cards to him. Silently, the both of them knew that only the winner could leave alive.

"Two cards!" The schoolgirl shouted out, slipping the cards into Metro's hand. Then, she drew two cards for herself. Metro looked at his cards and declined to draw more. With a smug smile on her face, the schoolgirl then quietly muttered under her breath, "Blackjack."

Flipping over both her cards, the schoolgirl looked eagerly for Metro's reaction, but he put on a stoic face. Suspecting that something was wrong, she looked back at her cards. Her ace was matched with a seven of clubs. It was at most an 18.

Metro then flipped his cards over. A queen and 9 of spades. 19 beat 18! The schoolgirl pointed at him and yelled at a high pitcher voice, "You cheated! How could you beat me at cheating! Cheater! Cheater!" Lunging towards Metro, she wanted to throttle him! She had no idea when he had beat her rigging technique!

"Meta gambling. It was too simple." The schoolgirl has already internally admitted her own defeat, and her breath stopped the moment she touched Metro. Metro let out a sigh of relief. Just by exploiting her cockiness, he had used the extra dexterity he had to switch cards on the table while she was distracted just now.

So simple, and yet, it was deadly. Metro moved onto the final table, where an old lady had arranged mahjong tiles neatly on a table. "Mahjong should be played with four people for optimal fun." Metro sat down. He did not bother to check his watch, since he was sure that killing someone with a skill would give him a large amount of time.

"Then you are inexperienced." The old lady spoke with a hoarse voice that indicated many years of chain smoking, with an ashtray that was besides her. However, when she stopped moving her lips, the mahjong tiles started to mix up with her hands guiding it!

The golden backs of the mahjong tiles reflected light into Metro's eyes, blinding him for a few seconds, as his eyesight readjusted to the amplified light. However, his hands were on the mahjong tiles as well, shuffling them around! Metro knew that the old lady must have a trick up her sleeves regarding the organisation of these mahjong tiles!

Their battle was like a tumultuous storm, filled with wildness and calculation. The mahjong tiles were resilient, creating numerous "click" sounds as they hit each other as high speeds. The old lady had also maintained her body well, as she was able to catch up to Metro's speed with ease.

Metro decided to use push the mahjong tiles against her in one final move, and slammed a wave of mahjong tiles towards her direction. A sly grin appeared on the old lady's wrinkled face as she accepted the mahjong tiles. She started picking them up, forming her own lines already.

"Oh, so it's like that." Metro only had two possible guesses now. It was somehow even easier than the skill of the schoolgirl before. "First guess, she is sensitive to the mahjong tiles and adds a certain weight to pick them out?" 5 credits promptly disappeared. "She uses magnets to attract the iron fillings inside?"

Metro started picking up the mahjong tiles and crushing them on the ground with his feet. A shiny powder emerged from some of them. The old lady's face froze into a position, unable to do any actions.

"How long have they been kept here? So outdated." Metro dismissed the cheater high table, who instantly dissolved into powder. Strangely enough, the three corpses were now where to be found.

"Behind you." A light tap on Metro's shoulder alerted him, and he swung back to come face to face with the old lady. The old lady let out a genial smile, and turned back into the beauty he had saw in the casino.

The demonic woman was back in her human form, which made it significantly easier for Metro to communicate with her. "Can I have the prize now?" Metro asked with a soft voice, trying not to agitate her. She had an annoyed expression on her face, unpleased with the fact that Metro was the winner.

Opening her mouth, dark strands of energy were lifted from Metro's body, returning to the demonic's woman body. "Now, go away. I even gave you some carnal energy to recharge your pathetic Abyss Eye." The woman walked away from Metro, and the area around him turned into a lift.

"I was in the lift all along, huh?" The lift opened with a "Ting!", as Metro adjusted his clothes. Walking out of the lift, he realised that he was not in the casino anymore, but a fancy hotel. Crystal chandeliers adorned the ceilings, and many people were at the reception desk.

"This is that twin hotel I saw earlier? How are they even connected? You know what, I don't care. Time to lead that damned Light Church into dealing with my problem for me." Looking at the new callouses on his hand, Metro walked out of the hotel confidently.

[Sidequest: Casino of Despair

Event Ended

-Encountered main character, Demon Queen Taxidermy

-Calculating rewards based on player's completion

Rewards: Basic Cheater's Hands]