Chapter 352: Your Miss Is Going to Die!

Just as Lu Yibei and his group were moving from the middle three floors to the upper three floors, deep within the No Return Place of the Dream Come True Entertainment City.

The sky was deep, the earth pale, in this world seemingly reduced to black and white, a small lake, clear as a mirror, was embedded like a sapphire in the pale sand dunes.

At the edge of the lake, gray-white stones were carved into various complex and ornate shapes, embedded with giant gears, threaded columns, and indiscernible fragments of metal structures.

Clusters of blooming flowers, a magnificent manor, warriors clad in armor, and demons with ferocious faces… surrounded the lake, like a scroll encompassing various artistic styles from different eras.

A man in a black tailcoat stood by the lake, wearing a pale mask on his face, with black lines outlining the features. The face, drawn with extreme simplicity, looked like a smiling face at first glance, but the slightly downturned corners of the mouth seemed to hold a trace of sorrow.

“When will such trials ever end?” the man murmured to himself.

It seemed like aimless self-talk, yet also like a question posed to some mysterious existence.

After a long wait with no response, the man slowly removed the white glove from his left hand, revealing a terrifying hand.

The shriveled skin clung tightly to the slightly deformed bones, the dark red skin covered with hideous scars and burn marks.

As the five fingers gently rubbed together, the fragile skin immediately tore open, and the blood, like molten iron, dripped into the bottomless lake.

The clear lake water rippled, and in an instant, a high-pitched screech erupted from the depths of the lake, the water boiling violently.

Amidst the screeching and the roar of the rolling water, bizarre shadows rose from the lakebed, transforming into outlines resembling fish.

Those fish, like ink paintings, swam swiftly in the water, their outlines continually collapsing and reshaping, gradually evolving into vibrant colors.

Colorful koi, tropical fish, plump flounders, goldfish with tumor-like growths, fierce and menacing great white sharks…

Various kinds of fish, like phantoms, filled the lake, half-real and half-illusory, their bodies emitting a faint glow, chasing the man’s seemingly unquenchable blood, rolling and fiercely battling in the water.

Smaller fish constantly exploded, their bodies turning into fragments like glowing coins, merging into other fish.

The man watched a particularly large fish, its scales snow-white like jade, its side fins like fairy ribbons, and squinted slightly.

That large fish rampaged through the school, tearing apart many smaller fish as it passed.

As the glowing coin-like fragments continued to merge into its body, it grew ever larger, moving through the school like a prehistoric beast.

Suddenly, the snow-white fish leapt from the lake, scattering a spray of crystal-clear droplets in mid-air with a splash, then crashed down heavily, shattering another large fish with red and black stripes. Amidst the flying coin fragments, its size became one of the largest in the pool.

“Heh, impressive…” the man chuckled softly to himself, “Looks like I’ll be able to meet Miss Jiang Li again soon.”

“I wonder if this time, she can end my suffering?”

“Truly something to look forward to!”

As he spoke, the man suddenly noticed a bizarre fish, resembling a white sturgeon, but with luxurious gold and red striped bands on its sides.

The white sturgeon, also known as the Chinese swordfish, is one of the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world, but this bizarre fish showed no signs of ferocity.

Unlike the other fish chasing the man’s blood, it swam slowly and aimlessly at the lake’s edge, as if it were not quite right in the head.

Just as the man wondered why it acted this way, a school of small fish swam past it, and it suddenly moved, swift as lightning, swallowing all the small fish in one gulp, its size instantly swelling several times, then it fell silent again.

“…” After a brief silence, the man chuckled lightly, “Heh, seems like an extraordinary fellow has appeared!”

Meanwhile, in a private room on the upper three floors of the Entertainment City.

A haunting with a body covered in mottled evil spirit tattoos and a double-faced head stared coldly at the silver-haired girl sitting opposite it.

“Little girl, don’t think that just because you’ve won many times recently, you can bluff me! I never fold until the end.”

As it spoke, a strong psychic energy fluctuation burst from its body.

“Call, I want to see your cards!”

With that, the haunting pushed its chips to the center of the table, flipped over its hole cards, and slammed them onto the table.

A heart A, a heart J, and with the community cards of heart Q, heart 10, heart 7, formed a flush, a fairly strong hand in poker.

On the other side of the table, Jiang Li, with her Spirit Pattern fully unfurled, her silver-white hair gently waving behind her, her eyes flickering with a nearly tangible pale blue flame.

She gazed at the haunting opposite her, slowly raised her slender arm, not bothering to count the chips, merely tilting her chin slightly in a confident manner, and revealed her hole cards.

“Sorry, I’ll be taking your chips.”

Heart 9, heart 8…

Her hole cards, combined with the community cards, formed a smaller straight flush, surpassing the haunting’s simple flush, winning the chips.

“Impossible, you must have cheated! Cheating in front of me, courting death!”

The haunting roared, suddenly twisting its neck with a series of cracking bone sounds, revealing a ferocious face.

In an instant, a massive shadow emerged behind it, as if rising from the depths of hell. The silhouette bore a face reminiscent of Buddha, etched with golden-red ravines, and several robust arms waved, scattering burning embers.

In the end, the entire private room was engulfed in an eerie darkness, with every corner covered by omnipresent blazing firelight.

And that haunting, surrounded by terrifying fantasies, appeared as if the king of the world had descended upon this place, so majestic that no one dared to look directly at it.

The black-clad guards stationed around the room were intimidated by this majesty, their movements slowed by half a beat. By the time they snapped back to their senses and attempted to stop the haunting, Jiang Li had already moved.

She leaped from her seat, landing lightly on the gambling table as if weightless.

Her long legs, encased in silver armor, seemed to tap a light rhythm as they stepped over the scattered chips. Her figure flashed forward like a streak of lightning.

Then, with a flash of silver light, a long blade emitting a ghostly blue glow was raised over her shoulder, poised at the haunting’s neck, piercing the skin and drawing out a few strands of black blood.

Then…

Hydra’s venom was released, and the haunting’s body convulsed a few times before collapsing to the ground with a “boom!”

At this moment, the black-clad guards rushed forward and subdued the haunting.

The leader of the black-clad guards approached Jiang Li and bowed slightly, “Miss, we apologize for the fright you experienced. We…”

Jiang Li waved her hand to interrupt the guard leader, saying calmly, “It’s alright, I’m used to hunting hauntings. It can’t harm me.”

“Instead of apologizing to me, why don’t you do me a favor and call over two bunny girls to help me count the chips? I think, after winning this round, my chips should be back in the top three.”

The guard leader was momentarily stunned, then bowed slightly and said, “Thank you for your generosity. I’ll go call them right away.”

With that, he hurriedly left the private room.

Watching the guard leader leave, Jiang Li waited for the door to close again before jumping down from the table and slowly walking to the corner restroom of the private room, entering and locking the door behind her.

The moment she locked the restroom door, her body suddenly convulsed violently as if electrocuted, and then, as if all her strength had been drained, her legs gave way, and she slid down the wall to sit on the floor.

“Huff-huff-!”

Her vision blurred, and she clutched her chest, which was heaving violently, trying her best to draw as much air into her lungs as possible.

Once the intense discomfort subsided slightly, she used her trembling hand to retrieve a vial resembling a test tube from her pocket, uncorked it, and poured the mercury-like potion into her parted lips.

After consuming the potion, she slowly stood up, supporting herself on the sink, and watched as the color gradually returned to her pale face in the mirror. She sighed silently.

“…”

She had known it would be like this…

The fifteen days mentioned by the Big Boss of the Entertainment City were actually not fifteen days. Jiang Li thought.

It wasn’t that the Big Boss had deceived her, but rather that the fifteen days he mentioned referred to fifteen days for an ordinary, healthy human.

If psychic energy was used during this period, the time would be significantly shortened.

However, it was impossible to win on the upper three floors without using psychic energy.

According to her calculations, these fifteen days were actually only about a week.

Fortunately, she had taken less than four days to win enough chips to be in the top three of the Entertainment City, leaving her just enough time to gamble once more with the Big Boss.

Returning to her thoughts, Jiang Li turned on the faucet, splashed her face with cool water, carefully dried it with a tissue, and then left the restroom with her head held high.

Before entering the No Return Place to gamble with the Big Boss, according to the rules of the Entertainment City, she had one more troublesome task to complete.

“Squeak-!”

As the door opened with a soft sound, two beautiful bunny girls in golden outfits immediately approached.

“Miss Ah-Li, everything is ready downstairs. We’re just waiting for you to come down and ring the bell,” one bunny girl said.

The other bunny girl held out a finely crafted pink and white evening gown to Jiang Li, “Miss Ah-Li, this is the dress we’re gifting you this time. Would you like me to take you to change now?”

“Yes.” Jiang Li nodded slightly, “Thank you.”

After speaking, she noticed the expectant look in the bunny girl’s eyes and frowned slightly, adding, “After the bell is rung, you can have this dress.”

Upon hearing this, the bunny girl was momentarily stunned, then exclaimed joyfully, “Uh… ah? Thank you, Miss Ah-Li, thank you!”

Dream Come True Entertainment City was indeed very generous. Almost every time a guest won enough chips to ring the bell, the Entertainment City would gift a beautifully crafted, well-made, and uniquely designed dress.

And in previous instances, after the ceremony, Jiang Li would always give the dress to the bunny girl who served her.

After all, she never knew when she might enter the No Return Place and never come out again. Keeping such things in her possession might just be a waste.

Although these dresses were insignificant compared to the chips in her hand, their value was still enough to drive the bunny girls wild.

However…

Jiang Li looked at the bunny girl jumping for joy in front of her, and at the two bouncing, snow-white mounds on her chest, and rolled her eyes.

However, this dress would probably need some drastic alterations for them to fit into it.

“Whoa? Whoa! Whoa!?”

Standing in front of the upper three floors’ hall, Lu Yibei exclaimed three times in succession as she gazed at the opulent surroundings. The hall was lavishly decorated with gold and gemstones, a display of extravagance that was overwhelming.

“Is there really a need to be so surprised?” Ah-Hua glanced sideways at Lu Yibei, smirking, “Isn’t the decor here similar to downstairs?”

“Besides, aren’t you claiming to be a student of the College of Liberal Arts? How come you’re relying on ‘whoa’ to get by?”

Lu Yibei turned her head and rolled her eyes at Ah-Hua, “What do you know? The decor downstairs, with its garish reds, purples, and golds, feels tacky to me…”

Ah-Hua looked around, bewildered, “Isn’t it the same here?”

“No, it’s completely different!” Lu Yibei said earnestly, “The difference is that downstairs uses gold plating, paint, and glass, while here it’s pure gold, mineral pigments, and natural gemstones. It’s even more vulgar.”

“Then why…”

“But the greater the vulgarity, the greater the elegance! This place is so elegant!” Lu Yibei said seriously, reaching out to touch the pure gold mermaid statue in front of her. Just then, a bell rang from the hall ahead.

“Dong-Dong-Dong-!”

The bell sounded like a dragon’s roar, shaking the soul.

Lu Yibei’s outstretched hand quickly retracted, “I wasn’t, I didn’t, I wasn’t planning to take a piece away, I just wanted to conduct academic research!”

Liu Seer, “…”

Is this girl really the same person who almost conned all the psychics and hauntings in the middle three floors earlier? Why does it feel a bit embarrassing?

Ah-Hua, “…” The mischievous Wang Buliuxing is offline, and the timid Lu Yibei is online, right?

As she grumbled internally, she patted Lu Yibei’s shoulder and said irritably, “Wang Buliuxing, that bell means someone has won one of the top three chips in the Entertainment City, earning the qualification to gamble with the Big Boss.”

“There should be a celebration soon.”

“Huh? It’s not an anti-theft alarm?” Lu Yibei patted her chest and straightened her back, “You should’ve said so earlier, scared me to death.”

“By the way, you mentioned a celebration? What do you mean?”

“Hehe.” Liu Seer chuckled at her words, “It’s literal, tonight the whole venue is on the house by a big shot, drinks are free-flowing, food is abundant, beauties… cough cough, you’ll know once you go in.”

“Oh, I see…” Lu Yibei nodded thoughtfully and stepped towards the hall. As she brushed past the mermaid statue, she discreetly took a piece of emerald scale from its tail…

Upon entering the hall, Lu Yibei immediately noticed the distinct difference between the upper three floors and the middle and lower floors.

A pitch-black vortex hovered beneath the ceiling over thirty meters high, with a pure white spiral staircase leading directly into the vortex, quite conspicuous.

“Is that the passage to No Return Place?” Lu Yibei pointed at the pure white spiral staircase and asked.

Liu Seer saw the emerald in her palm that she couldn’t hide in time, his mouth twitched slightly, and he replied, “Yes, that’s it. It’s said the Big Boss is up there.”

“Can I go up and take a look?” Lu Yibei pursued.

“How could such a place be casually visited?” Liu Seer patted her shoulder, “Fellow, don’t even think about it. Only guests with chips in the top three have the qualification to gamble with the Big Boss.”

“Exactly!” Lu Yibei nodded seriously, “It says chips in the top three to gamble with the Big Boss, but it doesn’t say you can’t go up if you don’t have enough chips, right?”

“I’ll just go up and take a look, not gamble with him, so I don’t need to be in the top three, right?”

“This…” Liu Seer was momentarily speechless, silent for a while, muttering, “Never heard of anyone doing that, nobody’s tried it, there must be a reason.”

“…” Lu Yibei didn’t continue speaking, just squinted slightly, looking at the pure white spiral staircase, lost in thought.

Meanwhile, a girl dressed in a pink and white gown, her silver hair meticulously pinned up, walked gracefully onto the central stage of the hall, leaning on a cane adorned with a Unicorn decoration, standing beside the demon with Succubus power in the haunting.

“Unexpectedly, it’s Miss Ah-Li again…”

Upon hearing “Miss Ah-Li,” Lu Yibei and Ah-Hua’s pupils contracted simultaneously. After exchanging glances, they almost simultaneously stood on tiptoe, peering over the crowd towards the stage, where they saw Jiang Li’s familiar face.

“Yes, it’s my miss!” Ah-Hua exclaimed.

Lu Yibei, “…”

Liu Seer, who also stood on tiptoe to look at the stage, was stunned upon hearing this, puzzled, “You really know this Miss Ah-Li?”

“Of course! Didn’t we tell you earlier?” Ah-Hua said.

“Tsk tsk, if that’s the case, you better go persuade her? Although I don’t know what she’s planning next, judging by her physiognomy…”

Liu Seer paused halfway, then continued, “There’s a saying, full of literary talent is useless, martial skills don’t satisfy hunger, always aiming high, but when luck doesn’t favor, it’s just futile anxiety…”

“What does that mean?” Ah-Hua asked Liu Seer.

“It roughly means she can do everything, but can’t achieve what she wants.” Lu Yibei interjected, “Seer, am I right?”

“That’s about it, and also…” Liu Seer furrowed his brows slightly, looking at Ah-Hua, “Your miss is going to die, at most she can live for four or five more days!”

Upon hearing this, Lu Yibei suddenly felt as if her heart was being tightly gripped by an invisible hand, inexplicably tense, momentarily stunned, completely unaware that Liu Seer had already been chased away by Ah-Hua…