A grand underground casino on the Barren Planet?
Who had the money to build this?
Could this have been one of Hurst's enterprises?
Chloe pondered for a moment and felt that it was not impossible.
After all, Hurst was the kind of person who would go to any lengths for money - just by looking at him, you could tell he had no bottom line.
If he could open something as harmful as an arena for gladiatorial combat, setting up an underground casino must have been no big deal for him.
"What do you think, shall we go in?" Qin Huaibei asked in a low voice from behind.
This casino didn't seem very safe; although decorated lavishly with gold and jewels, the people inside looked haggard, with many missing limbs.
At this point, the money bags were no longer important.
Chloe had developed a great interest in this casino.
She turned her head to look at her little companions and asked,
"Do you want to go in?"
The younglings exchanged glances, and finally nodded hesitantly.
Being of an age of great curiosity, how could they resist going in when the casino was right in front of them?
Especially since it seemed to be completely unguarded.
Chloe and the others decided to sneak in and explore.
Before entering, however, Chloe opened her terminal and sent her location to both Ren Yunying and Xavier, in case anything went wrong and they needed rescuing.
After doing all this, Chloe led the way into the casino.
It turned out that observing from the outside and actually being inside the casino were completely different experiences.
From the outside, one could at most find it absurd, but being inside, feeling the frenzied, pulsating atmosphere, one could not help but be drawn in.
The ambiance here was so strange that the younglings didn't dare to scatter, spontaneously sticking close to Chloe as she wandered around.
All around them were the ramblings of gamblers who had lost their minds:
"I... I still have money, I have a child at home, I'll bring them here tomorrow to pay off my debts!"
"Deeds, I still have deeds, I just bought a house yesterday, I can use that to pay off my debts!"
"If nothing else works, I still have my wife, my wife can come too!"
Those who won big laughed uproariously, while those who lost everything wept bitterly.
These two extremes of great joy and great sorrow were commonplace in this underground casino.
Anderson touched his nose uncomfortably: "...This place makes me very uneasy."
Chloe offered no objection.
This place was indeed unsettling, but often, the faces here encompassed all the struggles to survive of people in this world.
Those who came to the casino initially might have just wanted to win some money for a decent meal, or to buy some jewelry and snacks for their wives and children, or to pay off debts.
But no matter what the reason, the insatiable greed fostered by the casino would only grow.
Seeing themselves sink deeper into the quagmire, eventually burdened with immense debts, trapped with no way out.
Thinking of this, Chloe turned to Qin Huaibei and said solemnly, "You must never come to places like this and get mixed up in them."
Qin Huaibei: "...I'm not that stupid."
He liked money, but it wasn't like he would die without it.
At the very least, his parents would support him if needed.
As the group moved forward, looking around for any trace of the little thief, suddenly there was a commotion nearby.
"I... I have a child! I'll put them up as collateral for my debt!"
A man with deep-set eyes abruptly grabbed Anderson and held him, nervously saying:
"This is my child, you can inspect them, their teeth and skin are all in good condition, and they're good-looking too, I guarantee you can sell them for a good price!"
Anderson, caught off guard by being seized: "..."
The other younglings, watching Anderson being grabbed: "..."
Perhaps it was novel to them that someone would actually bring children into a casino.
The man opposite, with yellowed teeth, laughed and eyed Chloe's group, tilting his chin:
"Are these all your children too?"
The thin man looked at the younglings who had somehow appeared by his side and quickly nodded:
"Yes! Yes, these are all my children!"
Without the slightest hesitation.
Anderson, held in the thin man's grasp, turned an unpleasant shade of green.
He raised his hand and gripped the thin man's wrist, applying a bit of force.
The man felt a twinge of pain in his wrist and instinctively let go.
Anderson tumbled to the ground.
Seeing this, the yellow-toothed man laughed meaningfully, "Are they really your children? Doesn't look like it to me."
"Look, they don't even acknowledge you."
The thin man's face turned green as he smiled ingratiatingly and tried to grab Anderson again:
"No, no, children are just mischievous, they must have been scared... Come here, you little brat!"
Anderson pursed his lips, and just as the thin man was about to touch him, he swiftly drew the large blade from his mustard seed ring and viciously hacked off the man's arm.
"Aaaaahhhh!"
The severed arm caused pandemonium to break out in the casino.
The thin man's horrific screams echoed overhead, the gamblers opposite who witnessed it all looked terrified, and even the yellow-toothed man backed away.
Anderson gave them a cold look, ignored them after that, and retreated behind Chloe.
In the silence that followed, eyes glinted openly or secretly at the group of younglings.
Chloe bared her teeth threateningly at them, then turned to leave.
After the thin man recovered, clutching his severed arm, he shouted furiously:
"Wait! You brats, you..."
Anderson had no desire to waste more words with them, tilting his head slightly and saying softly:
"If you keep randomly claiming to be other people's fathers, I really will cut off your head."
His voice was not loud, his expression showing not the slightest ripple, but for some reason, the thin man broke out in a cold sweat.
He belatedly remembered his severed, still throbbing arm.
He immediately let go.
All sorts of people could be found on this Barren Planet.
A few younglings with vicious skills suddenly appearing didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary.
The thin man gritted his teeth, no longer challenging them, and instead picked up his fallen arm, crazedly saying:
"Pawn this! Use my arm as collateral for my debt!"
The yellow-toothed man recovered, glancing disdainfully at the scrawny arm before nodding reluctantly, "Fine."
...
Chloe watched this dramatic scene coldly, quickly looking away.
Disgusting.
She turned her head and suddenly felt a lack of interest: "...why don't we leave, there's nothing fun here."
As the words left her lips, Chloe saw her companion's expression turn alert.
In the next instant, she felt an arm drape over her shoulder.
She froze for a moment, then slowly turned her head.
It was a man in a black cloak, his face obscured.
Even in the bright lights of the casino, all she could make out was his slender, pale chin:
"Kids, maybe you're looking for this?"
He raised his hand, two long fingers pinching the drawstring of a money pouch, swaying it gently in the air.
