MDT Chapter 184 (Patreon)

Chapter 184: The Sun Entertainment City

Chen Mang had already led Biaozi and his group to the first "Entertainment City." The massive complex resembled a castle, its surface illuminated by spotlights from the surrounding high-rises, creating an immediate, overwhelming sense of decadent luxury.

An artificial river circled the castle's exterior. The architecture wasn't medieval but futuristic. Huge billboards displayed photos of nude young women, and numerous staff—all female robots—moved about outside. Their faces were exquisite, their clothing minimal, their movements provocative.

"Let's take a look inside."

No security in sight. Chen Mang revved his engine and drove toward the entertainment city. Even before reaching the main entrance, he saw slot machines scattered around the doorway.

"Anyone know how to play?"

"Nope."

Chen Mang didn't linger. He rode his motorcycle straight through the main entrance. He'd never even touched a slot machine—only had a vague idea of the rules: pull a lever, get three matching symbols, and you win.

The entertainment city had six floors.

The first floor was filled with hundreds of gambling tables, each attended by a beautiful female dealer in a red bikini. As they entered, nearly half of the dealers turned to look at them with beaming smiles.

"What the hell..." Biaozi instinctively took a step back, eyeing the scene with awkwardness. "Is this supposed to be sexy? Why do I find it kind of creepy and terrifying?"

"If this encounter map wasn't labeled as an 'entertainment map,' I'd think we'd walked into some kind of horror map."

"And where did all these customers come from?"

Hundreds of beautiful dealers turning to look at them in unison with beaming smiles—the scene was indeed bizarre. Thankfully, it was daytime and the hall was brightly lit. If it had been night, with flickering lights and eerie music, they would have turned and run without a second thought.

Hundreds of gambling tables. More than half were empty, but the rest were occupied by numerous customers, their eyes bloodshot and emotions running high as they constantly threw chips onto the tables. The hall was filled with the shouts of these gamblers.

"I don't fucking believe it! Seven times in a row it's been small! All in on big!"

"Hahahaha, it's big! It's really big! I've won big this time!"

"I wish I'd bet with you."

Chen Mang scanned the gamblers and quickly reached a conclusion. "If I'm not mistaken, these are all shills for the casino—robots designed to create atmosphere."

"This city is empty now. After restarting, these shills just began their programmed work."

"But didn't the map say that the city's laws forbid fully realistic robots? They're supposed to have visible mechanical parts, right?"

"Look." Chen Mang tilted his head toward a wall in the casino. "What does that sign say?"

"No smoking, no... screwing the dealers?"

"Mm-hmm." Chen Mang nodded, pulled a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and exhaled a long plume of pale blue smoke. He then pointed to a table where gamblers were shouting. "What are they doing at that table?"

"Scre... screwing the dealer?"

Four or five people clustered around that table. Three gamblers were excitedly raising their hands and shouting, while the last one, clearly overly excited, stood behind the dealer, pressing her firmly against the table. He was constantly grabbing chips and stuffing them into the dealer's clothes. The dealer seemed quite cooperative.

If the entertainment city were packed, this scene wouldn't be unusual; in fact, it would effectively hype up the customers. In an excited environment, people's emotions get amplified, which naturally leads to bigger bets and faster play.

But with only these shills in the entertainment city, the scene looked rather bizarre.

"I'll go give it a try." A flicker of doubt crossed Biaozi's eyes. He walked over to the nearest dealer and, just as he pressed her against the table in a similar fashion, the dealer's voice sounded in his ear. "Interested, sir? 100,000 points."

"Alright then, you just keep standing there. Don't let your hands shake, and keep your legs steady." Biaozi immediately helped the dealer back up and walked back to Chen Mang. "Damn expensive. 100,000 for one go. Way more than those brothels."

"They're selling emotion here." Chen Mang rubbed his temples with a slight headache and headed for the second floor. "Let's go. Let's see if there's any way to make money on the second floor. This mechanical civilization is a pure capitalist system. Everything costs money."

Just then, a muscular man in a pink tank top, holding a glass of champagne, approached Chen Mang's group with a friendly expression.

A flicker of surprise crossed Chen Mang's eyes. The intelligence of these shills was decent. He wondered if it was a programmed routine, complete with guest interaction. The robots he'd encountered in this city so far were far less intelligent than Xiao Ai, and not as advanced as the ones in the "Babel Tower" encounter map. They were basically executing rigid programs, staying in their designated spots, and waiting for a customer to enter their range before starting their service routine. This was the first robot he'd met that could actively interact with a guest.

Although the muscular man looked completely human, only robots could be in this city. The city had been abandoned for a long time.

The muscular man walked up to Chen Mang's group, raised his hand in a delicate orchid-finger gesture, then draped his arm over Biaozi's shoulder. His eyes were full of drunken allure as he bit his lip and offered the champagne to Biaozi.

"100,000 points. Go lie down on that table over there."

"Huh?" Biaozi stared at the muscular man in disbelief, his first instinct to throw a punch. But he quickly remembered that in the Mechanical Accessory Shop, a "Zombie Siege" map chip only cost 50,000 points. 100,000 points could buy two of them. His eyes reddened slightly, and he gritted his teeth, about to turn and say something to Chen Mang, when he saw Chen Mang had already kicked the man.

Thump.

Taking the solid kick, the man in pink stumbled back a few steps and fell to the ground. He muttered something, then got up and began wandering through the casino again.

"B-Boss Mang."

"I'm starting to think you've got a few screws loose, too."

Chen Mang sighed wearily and patted Biaozi's 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 be defiled by some guy in a pink tank top."

"It would make it very hard for me to look you in the eye after that."

"Let's go. Let's check out the second floor."

"At least it proves our guess was right. There are definitely opportunities to make money in this encounter map; we just have to find them."

"But if I'd known this would happen, I would have brought a better-looking muscular guy from among the survivors. And besides..." He gave Biaozi a strange look over his shoulder.

"You're not exactly effeminate. You're clearly a rough-looking dude. Why would he pick you?"

"Maybe it's the beard. I'll shave it when we get back," Biaozi said, his face a mask of calm, but inwardly he was leaping with joy. This was the first time Boss Mang had called him his right-hand man. That title meant a lot more than 'Captain of Sentinel Team One.' 

Right-hand man, hehe...

……

The name of this entertainment city was "Sun City."

The second floor housed all sorts of shops. Half of them were open, and they were relatively normal—unremarkable "handbag shops," "clothing stores," and the like.

The only thing that wasn't normal was the prices.

Biaozi's jaw dropped as he stared at an unremarkable T-shirt. He looked at the attendant in disbelief. "This T-shirt... how much is it? 880,000?"

"Are you fucking serious?"

The T-shirt had no price tag; he only learned the price after asking.

The attendant shot him a look of disdain and pointed to a sun-like logo on the shirt. "See this? The brand is 'Blazing Sun.' This is luxury, understand?"

"Do you know what luxury is?"

"Hey!"

Biaozi was so angry he almost laughed. He turned to Chen Mang. "Boss Mang, this guy is mocking me."

"Let's go," Chen Mang waved dismissively. "Luxury shops are usually trained to show a bit of superiority to poor-looking customers to stimulate a purchase. But this level of direct disdain is probably a programming error, or maybe it's just part of the mechanical civilization's culture."

"But those eyes are impressive. They can actually convey disdain."

"A pity this map prohibits attacks, or I'd dig them out and take them back to Xiao Ai. Xiao Ai would like that."

They had seen the second floor. There was nothing they could afford—all luxury shops.

An unremarkable comb, with the labels "handcrafted" and a brand name, was priced at 1.28 million.

Absurd pricing.

Chen Mang guessed that in the mechanical civilization, many products came from "accessory production lines," and everyone used the same things. In that case, handcrafted goods would become a powerful gimmick, and using such items would be a way to show status.

Not bad. Any ordinary gambler who managed to win some money on the first floor would probably lose it all here.

Money that comes with the wind often leaves with the wind.

There were still no opportunities to make money on the second floor.

Until they reached the third floor—

The view suddenly opened up. It was filled with all sorts of small games, similar to carnival stalls he'd seen at fairs in his past life—ring toss, balloon shooting, and the like—but packaged to look more high-end.

Beside each stall stood a beautiful woman in a bikini, and the hall was filled with rhythmic music.

Since ancient times, only three things could truly stir human emotions: sex, violence, and death. And the carriers of these were often words, audio, and visual experiences. The latter two were the simplest and most brutal.

Clearly, this "Entertainment City," to better stir the customers' emotions, had beautiful women in bikinis everywhere. Through visual and musical stimulation, they constantly aroused people's emotions to a state of excitement.

The air was also filled with a faint fragrance.

His train's oxygen generator was always on, so he could clearly feel that the oxygen level in the hall was very high, keeping him in a state of high oxygen. These factors, combined with the hot and crowded atmosphere...

The environment was designed to overwhelm the senses completely. Chen Mang could see how it would affect most people—even the most disciplined person would struggle to maintain composure in this sensory assault.

Chen Mang scanned his surroundings, then leaned on his cane and walked toward the first stall. He didn't feel much of anything. It wasn't that he was a saint, but he had been to too many places like this in his past life. He had experienced all the excitement, experience, and luxury he could.

With his threshold raised infinitely high, coming to a place like this again didn't have much effect.

Especially since there were only a few of them here—the atmosphere wasn't hot enough.

If it were a young man, he would have been red-faced and wide-eyed by now.

Like Li Shiji.

Chen Mang stood at the first stall, turned to look at Li Shiji, and was about to say something when he saw Li Shiji standing there, red-faced, looking at one of the women in a bikini, his breathing slightly accelerated.

"Sigh."

After a light sigh, he looked at Biaozi beside him. "Bring that guy over. And I have a mission for you. When we get back to the train, take him out to play more."

"A man who can't even walk straight when he sees a woman will never amount to much."

Sex is a natural human desire. To ask a man to remain calm in the face of beauty is anti-human.

There are only two solutions: Get used to it, or become impotent.

"Understood! Boss Mang."

Soon, the cornered Li Shiji stood awkwardly beside Boss Mang. He was about to say something when Boss Mang interrupted him.

"It's normal for a virgin to be like this."

"Look at the rules of this game. Are you confident?"

Li Shiji was slightly stunned, then carefully studied the game rules on the screen in front of the stall.

[Sun Entertainment City Small Game]

[Game Name: Quick Eyes, Quick Brain]

[Game Rules: Minimum bet 1,000 points, maximum bet 10,000 points.]

[A 3D cube containing 18 golf balls will appear on screen for exactly three seconds. You must memorize their positions.]

[After the screen goes dark, recreate the arrangement by placing physical golf balls into the box on the table in the exact same positions.]

[Perfect placement = double payout. Any errors = total loss.]

[No assistance allowed during the placement phase or automatic failure.]

Become an Enforcer on my Patreon to unlock early access chapters for all my translated novels. Read ahead now!

Please leave a 5-star rating on Novel Updates!

[Chapters List]

[Prev]  ||  [Next]