Setting aside Ren Yi for a moment—whose understanding and worldview were once again being silently reshaped—nearby, Dr. Lin stood with a expression that had been relatively calm until he suddenly seemed to remember something of vital importance.
An irrepressible smile began to spread from the corners of his mouth, creeping higher and higher until he could barely keep his composure.
He took a step forward, his voice trembling with suppressed excitement.
"I say, has someone forgotten something?"
Dr. Zhao slowly turned his head. Seeing Dr. Lin's grin practically splitting his face from ear to ear, he immediately chuckled.
"What's the matter, Classmate Lin?" He arched an eyebrow, teasing with a half-smile. "Your face is about to crack from all that grinning."
"Who hurt you so badly? Tell me, and let your big brother here avenge you."
"The only thing tough about you is your mouth," Dr. Lin snorted. He couldn't be bothered to bandy words any further and went straight to the point.
"The bet. Our previous wager—you've already lost!"
His voice rose at the end, becoming clearer and louder, laced with the excitement and anticipation he had been holding back for so long.
"I lost? What did I lose?" Dr. Zhao's mouth fell open as he deliberately put on a look of extreme shock. He let out an exaggerated "Ah?" with a face full of innocence.
"Are you really trying to welch on the debt at this point?" Dr. Lin ground his teeth.
"Me? Welch?" Dr. Zhao instantly wiped away his exaggerated expression, becoming dead serious.
He spoke with righteous indignation, as if upholding some supreme creed: "I, Zhao, never welch on a debt."
Before Dr. Lin could press him further, his tone shifted as he leisurely tossed out a question.
"But why don't you think back carefully... what exactly was the nature of our bet?"
The triumph on Dr. Lin's face suddenly froze. His eyes flickered, and a hint of inexplicable hesitation crept in.
"Zhao..." he began slowly, a trace of imperceptible panic in his voice as his mind raced to recall the original agreement.
"You don't think these scare tactics will work on me, do you?"
"Sigh, Classmate Lin, let me help you jog that memory of yours." Dr. Zhao extended a finger and tapped his temple, looking pityingly at him as if to say 'your memory is truly terrible.'
"What I said back then was—if this human wins and successfully leaves the Entertainment City, I will compensate you for his final value, down to the last cent."
He cast a nonchalant glance at the empty, clean, and polished floor nearby—so spotless it could reflect a person's image—and spoke in a light tone, yet every word cut like a knife.
"Tell me, which of his feet successfully left the Entertainment City?"
Dr. Lin's mouth twitched violently. He opened his mouth to argue, but ultimately, not a single word came out.
Before him, Dr. Zhao's provocation continued.
"Like I said, the moment Classmate Lin got involved, I knew I was destined to win!"
At that moment, Dr. Lin could no longer endure it.
He slowly took two steps back, gently removed his black-rimmed glasses, and placed them with utmost care and reverence onto a nearby, intact gambling table.
Dr. Zhao watched him, somewhat confused, still grinning with a face full of mockery.
In the next instant...
A fist the size of a mallet suddenly filled his entire field of vision.
Thud—!
A heavy, muffled impact exploded within the noisy Entertainment City.
Ren Yi silently took two steps back, looking somewhat hesitantly at the calm Waiter beside him.
"They're fighting again." Seeing that eye contact was useless, he had to speak up to remind him.
To his surprise, the Waiter simply tilted his head up slightly. His tone remained steady, carrying a professional kind of warmth and composure.
The exposed corner of his mouth curved up slightly in a way that left no room for criticism.
"Please rest assured," he said softly. "Neither of them can actually kill the other."
Ren Yi hesitated. He wanted to try his old trick of getting the Waiter to separate them, but the Waiter seemed to have anticipated this.
"Mr. Zhao has already acknowledged the losses he caused you. I will supervise him as he writes a debt note."
He simply blocked whatever Ren Yi was about to say.
Suddenly, he lifted his chin slightly, gesturing for Ren Yi to look to the side.
"Look."
The area previously cleared by the waiters had, at some point, become crowded with figures again.
The customers, Participants, and Anomalies who had just backed away were now crowding back in like they were drawn by a magnet, their eyes burning as they stared at the two men brawling on the floor.
Emotions of excitement, curiosity, and the thrill of watching a spectacle washed over the area.
Without realizing it, the Waiter's tone took on an exceptionally stirred quality.
"I love a good spectacle."
"The crisp sound of tables and chairs overturning, the curses, the screams, mixed with the clatter of rolling dice... How beautiful it sounds."
"There are always those who stay in the venue, winning constantly, sitting as steady as Mount Tai. They make the whole place feel dead and stagnant. Where is the fun in that?"
"A quiet venue has no soul. The louder the commotion, the harsher the arguments, the more heated the fighting—it only proves this place has vitality, it has life."
"Whether winning or losing, arguing or fighting, as long as this bustling energy never stops..."
"It represents prosperity."
Ren Yi blinked. Countless clues in his mind suddenly snapped together in that moment.
"So... you did it on purpose after all..."
Rate on N.U.
