SOP 1
by Soothing JellyThe elevator descended slowly, like a shooting star falling into a sea of colorful neon signs.
Through the glass, a colossal steel metropolis could be seen. Countless steel bars twisted and coiled in spirals, dominating the earth like giant serpents. The lower it went, the more dazzling the neon signs became, their lights clustering together like strings of cheap glass diamonds. Acid rain poured down, carving deep furrows into the earth.
Two people stood in the elevator, the light outlining the figure of a portly man. He wore a gold-rimmed monocle and a blue-green silk robe depicting mountains and rivers, his neck hidden beneath layers of fat. Weaving this robe required numerous artisans changing tens of thousands of shuttles and took over a year. Yet this weaving art, once reserved for royalty, was now commonplace among the upper echelons of Spiral City, as time had become a commodity openly tradable.
The man toyed with a gold coin in his hand. The coin was tossed up and fell back down, the Penrose stairs relief engraved on it gleaming.
“Look, young man, this is the bottom level of Spiral City.”
When the elevator reached a certain point, the man suddenly spoke to the person next to him.
“It’s filthy and backward, the air is extremely stale, and it rains acid all year round. Even seedlings can’t survive here, let alone people. So all the people here are villains, bad seeds, and shameful rats in the gutter.”
The person beside him remained silent, gazing up at the sky through the glass, where a thin, transparent membrane stretched out, like a soap bubble enveloping the lower region. Beyond this membrane lay a place where sunlight could not reach.
“However, there’s something here that’s not in the upper levels. Do you know what it is?”
The elevator glass gradually glowed with the eerie and colorful neon lights, and the distorted exterior of the building was plastered with advertisements: “Win a century with one minute’s capital!” “‘Red-Eyed Roulette’ invites you to come; the seat of the millionaire awaits you.” The fat man licked his thick lips, revealing a greedy smile like a porcupine baring its teeth.
“That’s…fun.”
Countless bizarre and fantastical scenes flashed on the electronic screen; this was a casino where lifespan was the stake.
In today’s society, time has become a commodity and currency. People live in Spiral City composed of countless circular buildings. While the wealthy at the top can enjoy a lifespan of thousands of years, the poor at the bottom must earn an hour of life through arduous labor. Many people also take risks, gambling their limited lifespan on the roulette wheel in an attempt to gain tomorrow.
The elevator stopped, and a bright red number appeared on the display screen: “2026”. This wasn’t the elevator’s floor number, but rather a year marker.
The two stepped out of the elevator into a narrow, winding alley. At the end of the alley lay the most notorious time-based betting venue in the lower district—”Red-Eye Roulette.” Electrical wires crisscrossed like a spiderweb, with colorful fabrics woven with seaweed, leaves, and knotted patterns spread overhead, catching the relentless acid rain. A group of emaciated people from the lower class huddled in a corner, their skin covered in red spots, electronic collars flashing strings of numbers, a countdown to their deaths.
Hearing the footsteps, the lower-class people looked up helplessly, and when their eyes fell on the Penrose stairs emblem embroidered on the fat man’s chest, their eyes gleamed with a wolf-like green light.
Someone stood up shakily, his legs as thin as withered branches, and approached with a fawning smile: “Please, bosses, have mercy and spare us some time.”
The fat man’s gaze fell on the collar around his neck, which displayed the man’s remaining lifespan: 12 hours.
“While you’re begging for time, you’re also wasting my life. What good will pity do me?” the fat man said with a squinting smile.
“You two want to try your luck in the ‘Red-Eyed Roulette,’ right? If you don’t mind, you can use my life as a wager. If I lose, I will lose my life, and you two will not suffer any loss.” The man rubbed his hands together in a low voice. “If I win, I hope you can give me a small portion of what I win, just two or three hours of lifespan will do.”
The fat man listened, a half-smile playing on his lips. Just then, a disheveled woman stepped forward, carrying a dirty swaddled baby, flies buzzing around her. She smiled obsequiously:
“Sir, do you take in newborns here? The market price is three weeks of lifespan, but I’ll sell it to you cheaply. You can take it with you for just one week of lifespan.”
The fat man remained noncommittal; to survive, those at the bottom would stop at nothing. Just then, a cold voice suddenly came from behind him:
“Step back.”
Before the fat man could react, a flash of cold light tore through the darkness of the alleyway. A file-axe cleaved through the thin cloth in the woman’s hand. Inside, instead of a newborn, was a dagger.
Seeing that her assassination attempt had been foiled, the woman was terrified. She then furrowed her brows, her eyes filled with hatred, and gripped her dagger, lunging at the fat man.
“You lackeys of the Time Entropy Group!” she roared. “You monopolized time-jump technology, trapping us in this cage! You came from other eras, stealing our sunlight, food, and clean water. Look at the lower levels; the time we earn in a day’s toil isn’t even enough to survive until the day after tomorrow!”
Many people from the lower classes harbor hatred for those in the upper classes, and assassinations are not uncommon. A moment of astonishment flashed across the fat man’s face, but just as the woman’s dagger was about to pierce his chest, the tip suddenly rusted rapidly, eventually shattering into pieces and turning into fine sand.
Everything the file-axe touched aged rapidly; when the fierce wind it stirred up struck the woman’s hand, her skin instantly became withered and cracked. At the same time, space distorted, and a loud explosion rang out in mid-air.
The woman screamed and fell backward, unconscious from the shock of the explosion. The gaunt man beside her, like a frightened bird, turned and fled.
A figure emerged from the darkness, a tall man wielding a long-handled file-axe. He wore a dark black, button-down robe and a black mask with red markings that burned silently like flames in the shadows. In the flickering neon lights, his sharply defined chin was faintly visible, his skin as pale as paper. He was a young man with an unstoppable aura, like a drawn dagger.
The fat man dusted himself off and sighed, “You truly deserve to be the most promising scavenger in the Time Entropy Group. Even the slightest hint of killing intent cannot escape your eyes.”
He puffed out his belly and looked at the young man. “Right, ‘Liusha1‘?”
The young man remained silent and began to walk. He was the companion the fat man had gone to great lengths to invite. “Liusha,” the Chief Time Scavenger of the Time Entropy Group.
The colossal corporation Time Entropy, which monopolizes time-jump technology, has taken control of the modern world. The Time Scavengers are ruthless killing machines it has cultivated. These hyenas, willing to do anything to protect the corporation’s interests, traverse numerous timelines, mercilessly eliminating any who resist.
“Being able to work with you is a huge bargain for me; I don’t even need to hire guards. This time you have a mission for the Group, to find someone in 2026, right?”
Faced with the fat man’s question, the young man known as “Liusha” remained silent. Holding a long-handled file-axe, his figure moving through the dark alley resembled that of the Grim Reaper.
“Hey, Mr. Scavenger, I’m a major client of Time Entropy Group. I paid a lot of money for the opportunity to travel with you. Don’t be so rude. At least give me a reply.”
The young man finally stopped: “Money.”
“What?”
“Voice service, extra charge.” Liusha glanced at him, the pupils visible behind the mask were an inorganic gray, mechanical and cold.
The fat man stared in disbelief, then gave an awkward laugh. But seeing the young man’s unwavering stance, he realized the other man wasn’t joking.
The fat man sighed, then extended his bracelet, a terminal with an implanted time chip. He granted Liusha’s account transfer permissions, and with a “ding,” he looked down at the bracelet and discovered that his lifespan had decreased by a week.
“It costs so much? This is outright robbery!” the fat man couldn’t help but exclaim.
“One.”
“I only asked you to say a few words, and you have the heart to rob and kill your customers like this?”
Liusha nodded, “My status is top-tier, and my service prices match my status.”
The fat man was speechless at his cold boasting. Just then, Liusha suddenly asked, “Mr. Xiongfeng2, is your stomach feeling any better?”
In the Spiral City, where there are no nationalities, everyone is addressed by code names. The fat man, whose name was “Xiongfeng,” awkwardly recalled why Liusha had asked that question. He was one of the upper-class people who loved to come to the lower classes for fun, and the “Red-Eyed Roulette” casino was their playground.
With the situation turbulent at the bottom, guards were essential when traveling. Although he had bought a chance to travel with the Chief Time Scavenger of the Time Entropy Group, he was late for a ridiculous reason, he had accidentally eaten a slice of cheesecake that was spoiling faster due to the chaos of time particles, and spent half an hour in the restroom. When the fat man saw the scavenger carrying a file-axe at the elevator entrance, he trembled with fear, as if pierced by the other’s sharp gaze.
“It’s…much better now.”
Liusha said, “If you need it, I can massage your abdomen.”
The file-axe handle pressed against his abdomen, and the fat man shivered, quickly saying, “No need, no need.”
“If you feel unwell, please let me know immediately. As I just said, my service is top-notch,” Liusha said calmly. “Also, be careful of attacks from the rebels; the woman who tried to assassinate you earlier might be one of them.”
Some of the lower classes, dissatisfied with the rule of the Time Entropy Group, gathered here to form a rebel army and attack the wealthy people from the upper classes.
Xiongfeng, however, didn’t take it seriously and burst into laughter, saying, “With Mr. Liusha around, no danger is worth mentioning!”
The words had barely left his mouth when a sharp gust of wind swept by, the file-axe grazing the fat man’s cheek before crashing heavily into the wall. A chilling murderous aura spread through the air, and the fat man’s knees buckled, nearly wetting his pants.
The young man in black stared coldly at Xiongfeng through his mask.
“I am also a danger that can take your life.”
The fat man broke out in a cold sweat; for a moment, he thought he was about to die. Liusha easily pulled the heavy file-axe from the wall and said:
“Here, do not trust or rely on anyone, including me.”
The lower levels were in chaos, fraught with danger. The fat man felt a lingering fear, knowing this was Liusha’s warning. Liusha was undoubtedly a top-tier scavenger; every move was concise and powerful, solely for reaping lives. This man was not his servant, but a vicious wolf ready to retaliate at any moment.
After his initial shock subsided, the fat man wanted to continue the conversation and find out the Scavenger’s purpose in the area, but Liusha’s mouth was like a locked box, and he couldn’t pry out a single sound.
The two walked through the dappled night sky. Liusha’s gaze lingered on the graffiti on the wall: flamboyant gold splashed like shattered sunlight, against a white background sketching a figure standing with legs spread wide, holding a top hat in one hand and a playing card: the 8 of diamonds in the other. Below was a line of cursive English: “Have the world by its tail!”
“Sir, forgive my bluntness, but is this the person you’re looking for in this era?” Xiongfeng stopped in front of the graffiti. He dared not neglect this executioner-like young man any longer and switched to polite language.
Liusha looked up at the graffiti, and a flash of light appeared in his eyes. The image on the wanted poster in his memory overlapped with the graffiti.
The fat man, used to his silence, spoke up on his own:
“The most cunning and dangerous swindler of this era, capable of turning the world upside down with a mere gesture. Rumor has it that he stole a massive amount of time from the Time Entropy Group, far exceeding several centuries. Mr. Scavenger, this is a formidable prey.”
Liusha turned his head, his gray eyes coldly staring at Xiongfeng.
“You’ve seen him.”
Xiongfeng wiped his sweat and laughed, “He’s quite famous at the bottom. Although he’s elusive, you can occasionally see him at ‘Red-Eyed Roulette’ and play a little game with him.”
“If I go to the ‘Red-Eye Roulette’ now, will I be able to see him?”
Xiongfeng said cautiously, “It depends on whether your schedule matches his. What do you need to see him for?”
Liusha looked up at the graffiti on the wall. Xiongfeng guessed correctly; he had agreed to accompany him because he had a mission, to come to 2026 and eliminate a person.
The man, known as “Fangpian,” was a swindler who had orchestrated numerous outrageous scams and was a thorn in the side of the Time Entropy Group.
Liusha said:
“I need to deliver a letter to him. A death notice.”
***
Outside the “Red-Eyed Roulette” casino, many people from the lower classes sat dejectedly on metal benches, their skin wrinkled and aged like tree bark, this was the fate they had suffered in this game of time-based gambling, where they staked their lives, only to often lose and become the lowest of the low.
The two entered through a door decorated with twisted lines in a modern art style. The walls were slanted, and many glass boxes were embedded in the walls. Suspended in these boxes were time crystals in the shape of geometric paradoxes, which shone with a rainbow of colors like laser glass. Countless parallel universes could be seen through the crystals.
The mechanical receptionist recognized the Penrose stairs emblem embroidered on the fat man’s chest, a mark of the extremely powerful and wealthy upper class—mostly the managers of the Time Entropy Group. Liusha, on the other hand, presented the Time Scavenger’s identification: a pocket watch engraved with the emblem.
The two were led into a small room with a soft magnolia scent. Inside, there was a cherry wood wheel, and the room’s decor displayed a retro style.
Xiongfeng walked over, and the mechanical waiter set out antler chairs for them to sit in, offering them the exchanged chips. Liusha stood to the side carrying his file-axe. The fat man, feeling extremely uncomfortable, quickly said:
“Please have a seat, Mr. Scavenger.”
“I’m not here to play games with you. Where is the swindler?” Liusha asked coldly, his muscles tense.
Sweat beaded on Xiongfeng’s face. “Oh dear, what a coincidence! We just happened to run into each other. Please sit down for a while. I’ve already sent my men to gather information in this era.” He seemed very nervous, and his fingers slipped, dropping the gold coin he was tossing onto the table. The coin rolled slowly under the table, and Xiongfeng hurriedly bent down to pick it up.
Liusha stared at him for a long while, then turned to leave. Just then, a magnetic and deep voice suddenly came from a corner of the room:
“Are you two looking for me?”
The two looked up and saw a robust man sitting in the corner. His beard was neatly trimmed into a heart shape, and his figure was as large as a small mountain. He wore a well-tailored white suit, and a top hat lay beside him. When the man stood up, the two were astonished to find that he was over two meters tall and was made up of various prosthetics: a thick arm like that of a silverback gorilla, a titanium prosthetic arm, and his feet made a metallic thud when they touched the ground. A delicate, classically human-shaped prosthetic eye was embedded in his rugged face, which added a touch of feminine grace to his appearance.
Xiongfeng stared in astonishment. The burly man smiled gently; contrary to his rugged appearance, he was polite and gentlemanly.
“Fangpian3…” the fat man couldn’t help but whisper, grabbing Liusha’s sleeve. “He is… the swindler ‘Fangpian’!”
This is a face occasionally seen in “Red-Eyed Roulette” betting rooms; Xiongfeng have also encountered him a few times. Rumor has it that he appears in numerous top-tier situations, rarely making a mistake, and once won two centuries in a single minute.
Despite his reputation as a “swindler,” no one has ever been able to see through his scams. He openly admits that if anyone can expose his tricks, he will give away his entire fortune. Yet, to this day, no one has been able to bring him to a complete defeat.
“Yes, it seems Mr. Xiongfeng remembers a few enjoyable games we played together. But this is the first time I’ve met the gentleman beside you. Here is my business card, please accept it.”
The burly gentleman smiled and handed Liusha a business card. It was the 8 of diamonds in a deck of cards, with his name written on the back.
The diamond suit, representing wealth, is associated with the number “8,” which resembles the structure of a Möbius strip. “Eight of Fangpian” is a common code name used by con artists when they are working at the bottom of the social hierarchy.
The next moment, a fierce wind suddenly came, and Liusha stepped forward and swung his file-axe with lightning speed, chopping at the man in front of him!
The playing card was split in two, and the burly gentleman stepped back, calmly dodging his attack.
The fat man was so frightened he nearly wet himself, shouting, “Mr. Scavenger!”
The humanoid mechanical waiter emitted a red light and a loud alarm, and the chaotic footsteps of guards could be heard from afar.
The gentleman remained calm and smiled, saying, “Sir, why are you so rude to me upon our first meeting? Have we met before?”
“I’ve only seen your face once,” Liusha said calmly, recognizing his exceptional skills. “It was in the wanted poster.”
“Judging from the emblem on your companion’s clothes, you must be a scavenger from the Time Entropy Group, right? It seems the group has some reservations about me. Although the environment here isn’t as nice as the upper floors, it’s not a place the group can easily interfere with. Making too much of a commotion could lead to being disturbed by some tactless guest.” The gentleman placed his hand on his chest and bowed politely, but his large size meant that his bending over pushed aside all the tables and chairs.
Xiongfeng shouted, “Are you threatening us? Is this casino also colluding with the rebels?”
The gentleman smiled and said, “I did not say that. I just felt that rather than resorting to violence, it would be better for us to resolve the dispute in a more peaceful way.”
He pulled up an antler chair and sat down. “Please sit down, Mr. Scavenger. There’s a roulette wheel right here. Why don’t we play a game? If you win, I’ll go with you; but if you lose, please leave the ‘Red-Eyed Roulette’.”
Betting one’s life on the roulette wheel is a common act among the desperate criminals of the lower classes. Liusha silently observed the robust gentleman. His hearing was exceptional; he could hear rustling footsteps in the corridors and alleyways, as if a group had surrounded the betting parlor. The newcomers were likely the “Clepsydra,” a rebel army gathered from the lower classes, an army hostage to the Time Entropy Group. Although he was confident he could break through the encirclement alone, he wanted to avoid trouble as much as possible and, incidentally, witness the trickster’s methods.
“I’m not playing,” Liusha said coldly. “You’re an expert; I can’t beat you.”
“Mr. Scavenger is very modest.”
“This isn’t modesty. Everyone has their own specialty. You’re good at lying, and I’m good at hitting people.”
The gentleman laughed heartily. “It seems the game’s prize money isn’t attractive enough to warrant your presence for a round.” He snapped his fingers, removing his wristwatch with a built-in time chip, which the humanoid mechanical waiter immediately took. “How about this, Mr. Xiongfeng over there can be my opponent. I won’t use any cheating techniques in this round; you two can check as you please.”
His dark, deep eyes met Liusha’s, as if two whirlpools were hidden within them. “Isn’t it easier to take the target’s life without bloodshed and complete the mission assigned by the Group with just one throw of the ball?”
The fat man tugged at Liusha’s sleeve and said guiltily in a low voice, “Mr. Scavenger, this guy is definitely cheating. Why don’t you just arrest him?”
“I’m a novice. Didn’t you come here to have some fun too?” Liusha grabbed his wrist, his fingers as hard as iron, making it impossible for Xiongfeng to break free. “You try him out.”
Xiongfeng was practically forced into a chair, recalling his previous matches against this robust gentleman. He wondered if the man had been holding back; overall, he’d had his wins and losses, and this time he might have a chance to triumph. Liusha stood to the side, holding the file-axe, like a doorman. The fat man wiped his forehead with a handkerchief, bluffing:
“I’ll play along with you, even if it’s on behalf of Mr. Scavenger. If you cheat, we’ll deal with it the rules and remove your prosthetic limb!”
“I’d give you my life, let alone a hand or two?” The gentleman smiled amiably. “The rules of the game are this: we each place a bet, we only throw the ball once, and whoever wins the most time at the end is the winner.”
How much to bet?
“10 years of lifespan”.
The fat man’s eyes flickered. To place such a large bet so calmly right from the start, the other party was certainly no ordinary person.
Liusha gave a silent approval with his eyes, but when the mechanical waiter stepped forward to take the lead, he suddenly stomped its toes, and the long-handled file-axe, like a leaping carp, landed in his hand. In an instant, the axe blade swept out, shattering the mechanical waiter’s head.
The mechanical waiter collapsed to the ground. The others were startled by this sudden turn of events. Liusha gripped the axe handle, his killing intent palpable, and coldly said, “This is a robot from your ‘Red-Eyed Roulette,’ I don’t trust it.”
He strode out of the room. The corridor was crowded with mechanical waiters who had rushed over because of the earlier commotion, emitting a blinding red light. Liusha grabbed a skinny, lowly man outside the “Red-Eyed Roulette” door, the very man who had offered his life as a bargaining chip to curry favor with Xiongfeng. Liusha said coldly to the man:
“Let’s play a game, you throw the ball.”
The thin man, unaware of what was happening, stood there trembling. The gentleman said, “Mr. Scavenger, you are much more domineering than I imagined.”
The young man in black spoke in a flat tone: “I’m even more ruthless when I’m about to take someone’s life.” He added, “Check under the table.” The gentleman replied, “Please.”
Liusha carefully inspected the table; nothing seemed amiss. The robust gentleman simply smiled, his expression perfectly composed. Suddenly, Liusha said, “Let me see the ball.”
The gentleman was taken aback. Liusha said, “There’s probably some kind of mechanism inside the ball, right? Like a built-in motor that can stop the ball by flipping a remote control button.”
“Haha, if such a mechanism exists, I will immediately give this arm to you.”
The fleeting panic in the gentleman’s eyes did not escape Liusha’s notice. The man’s appearance was indeed identical to the portrait on the wanted poster, but could he really be the swindler “Fangpian”? A flicker of doubt crossed Liusha’s mind. To be able to see through his prey so easily, if this too was a trap set by Fangpian, was he already caught in it?
Regardless, he could tell the opponent’s strength at a glance. He inspected the ball; it was undamaged and rolled smoothly without deviation. He said, “We can begin.”
Under the pressure of Liusha, the skinny man obediently spun the roulette wheel clockwise and began to throw the ball. Liusha said, “Place your bets.”
The ball spun, as if frantically trying to escape from a roulette-like cage. Xiongfeng, his thick lips pressed together, was agitated. He decided to adopt a James Bond strategy, dividing his lifespan into 7 years, 2 years, and 1 year bets on high numbers, the six-line betting area, and 0 respectively. This gave him a 67.57% chance of winning, and if successful, a minimum return of 17 years of lifespan. He glanced furtively at the robust gentleman, only to be astonished to find that the gentleman had bet 10 years of his lifespan on the number 8.
“Are you going to place a straight bet?”
The gentleman smiled kindly: “Yes, ‘8’ is my favorite lucky number.”
The straight bet odds are 35:1, the highest possible return in roulette, but the odds of winning are only 2.67%. If this person actually wins, he will have won 350 years, Xiongfeng gasped. What kind of confidence allowed this fraudster to make such a desperate gamble?
“What a reckless bet! What tricks have you been up to behind the scenes?” Xiongfeng’s expression turned somewhat ferocious.
The gentleman simply tapped the table with his metal fingertips and smiled slightly: “It’s not cheating, it’s just that I’m more inclined to believe in the favor of Lady Luck than you are.”
That unfounded confidence unsettled Xiongfeng. The ball rolled three times and began to slow. The red and black squares melted into one color as it spun, then gradually became distinct again. The entire process, lasting only a few seconds, felt maddeningly long.
Then, as if by magic, the ball slowly stopped and rolled into the number “8”.
An eerie silence descended upon the room.
The fat man was struck dumb and suddenly stood up.
After a long silence, he said in a trembling voice, “8?”
The gentleman smiled but remained silent. Xiongfeng was almost speechless. “You…you won 350 years?”
“Impossible… This is impossible! You must be cheating!” Xiongfeng reached out to grab the gentleman’s collar in a panic, but the gentleman easily dodged him. The gentleman smiled and said, “Whether or not I can redeem the prize in this time is another matter. Mr. Xiongfeng, I have won now. Please leave the ‘Red-Eyed Roulette’.”
“No, this can’t be the result. You rigged the ball!”
“Mr. Scavenger has already checked it.”
“When you throw the ball, you must have calculated the landing point using physics formulas, right? Is there a high-speed camera hidden in your prosthetic eye?”
The gentleman removed his own prosthetic eye, showed it to them, and shook his head with a smile, saying, “This is just a regular prosthetic eye.”
“That’s a 2.67% chance…”
“Since it’s not 0%, it’s not absolutely impossible. We are also desperate people, chasing the tiny possibility of tomorrow on the roulette wheel.”
“What methods did you use to disguise the roulette wheel? Holographic projection? Nano swarms? Is this roulette wheel not like the one I saw, with 00s in addition to 0?”
“Sir, please calm down. What you have seen is true.”
Xiongfeng seemed to have lost a part of his soul, slumping limply in his seat.
At this point, the gentleman stood up, picked up his top hat and put it on his head, and bowed to them politely: “I have had a very enjoyable time tonight, so sirs, I shall take my leave now.”
The fat man was shocked to see a gold coin with a Penrose stairs engraved on it tossing in his hand. When he reached into his pocket, he was horrified.
“As for the identity token you obtained from the Time Entropy Group, I will gladly accept it.”
It turns out that the gentleman set up the betting game not to test their behavior, but to steal the gold coin when they weren’t looking.
Xiongfeng immediately broke out in a cold sweat. The gold coin contained an authentication chip that could open the elevator between floors, and it was also his identifier as a customer of the Time Entropy Group. If this item fell into the hands of someone on the lower floors, it would undoubtedly cause a lot of trouble. He frantically lunged at the platform, shouting, “You little thief, wait, wait, give it back to me!”
The gentleman was large in stature, yet agile and nimble; he leaped up and instantly appeared at the doorway. However, at that moment, a clear, cold voice rang out:
“Sir, please wait a moment. You haven’t played a game with me yet.”
In an instant, the gentleman bent his upper body 90 degrees backward, dodging a fierce attack. The file-axe whistled like a wild beast, carving a deep gash in the wall. Liusha stood beside him, his gaze calm and unwavering.
The thin man sitting nearby was startled again and fled outside on all fours.
Within seconds, a fierce clash erupted between Liusha and the gentleman. The young man in black displayed astonishing explosive power, wielding the heavy long file-axe with the agility of a butterfly. Cold light flashed, leaving dazzling silver arcs in the air. The gentleman dodged several times, finally managing to take a blow head-on. Liusha was astonished by the gentleman’s incredible strength; his prosthetic limbs, a blend of beast and machine, granted him superhuman arm strength.
Just then, out of the corner of his eye, Liusha suddenly caught a glimpse of a dark shadow hurtling towards him. He took a step back, and the shadow crashed to the ground; it was Xiongfeng that had been thrown by a mechanical waiter.
“Mr. Scavenger, I am no match for you, so you needn’t see me off any further. If fate allows, we will meet again at the bottom of the road.” The gentleman smiled slightly, then seized the opportunity to propel himself forward and dashed into the night.
The two were surrounded by a group of mechanical waiters, making it impossible for them to move. Xiongfeng cried out in pain, got up and grabbed Liusha’s trouser leg, saying pitifully, “Mr. Scavenger, please hurry and chase after him! All the machines in this betting place are on the cheater’s side. Without that identification, I can’t take the elevator back to the upper floor, and I can’t contact the Group anymore.”
“Add more money.” Liusha looked down at him.
“How much do you want?” Xiongfeng had lost the arrogance he had when they first met, and tears welled up in his eyes.
“Give me a number that you think is sincere.”
Xiongfeng gritted his teeth and, after a long while, re-enabling account access on his bracelet. Another crisp “ding” rang out, and he looked down to see that Liusha had deducted a year from his lifespan account.
***
A figure swept through the corridor like a storm, shattering the silver-white shells of countless mechanical devices in its path with the immense impact. The young man in black, wielding a long-handled file-axe, cut a path through the flying metal debris like a demon from hell.
Xiongfeng followed panting, his breath coming in gasps. Twisted lines were drawn on the tilted walls of the “Red-Eyed Roulette,” like a bizarre musical score no one would ever play. After bursting through the gate, the lower-class people, slumped on the benches, scattered in terror at the commotion. Xiongfeng noticed that Liusha wasn’t heading in the direction the robust gentleman had fled, but rather towards the alleyway.
“Mr. Scavenger, where are you going?”
“Go after the scammer.”
“But he didn’t escape in this direction…”
Liusha didn’t stop, turning his head to the side, his gray eyes staring mercilessly at Xiongfeng. “That’s not the real swindler. How could a prey known for his lies appear openly before us?”
“Then, what should I do with my gold coin?”
“Go after him yourself.”
The fat man jumped up and down: “I paid you!”
Liusha said, “There has to be a proper order of arrival.”
The fat man was furious, knowing his time had been wasted; he wouldn’t get his gold coin back until Liusha caught up with the real swindler. But given the disparity in strength, he could only say, “Fine, fine, you go ahead with your business, I’ll go get my lost item. But afterwards, I’ll have to give the company some feedback!”
Liusha stared straight ahead: “Go ahead and complain about me, I’m not afraid.”
Xiongfeng angrily ran off in the opposite direction. Liusha, on the other hand, plunged headlong into the inky darkness of the night.
In the alley, electrical wires crisscrossed like the roots of an old tree, and neon lights lay obediently in the puddles. Liusha rushed like the wind to the alley corner, where a thin figure appeared in the dead end.
Liusha gripped his long-handled file-axe and stepped forward.
Step by step, puddles splashed beneath his feet, light and shadow flickering. The figure turned around; it was the gaunt man he had seen just as he exited the elevator, the one who had just been pulled into the “Red-Eyed Roulette” to be the dealer.
“Swindler ‘Fangpian,’ nice to meet you,” said Liusha, his eyes gleaming like a hawk’s as he stared intently at the man.
The man looked anxious and uneasy, his back hunched, as if crushed by the burdens of life. He looked timidly at Liusha.
“How…how did you find out it was mine?”
After a long silence, he spoke in a trembling voice. His appearance bore no resemblance to the legendary, notorious con artist.
Liusha calmly said, “There’s no need to pretend anymore. The first time I met you, I already noticed your unusual obsession with Xiongfeng’s coin. Even though you’ve concealed it very well, you still have a sharp edge that’s different from ordinary people.”
“After that game, I checked the ball and found it was 0.3 grams heavier than the ball I had checked before. It seems you switched the ball when you threw it. Did you hide it in your sleeve?”
The man remained silent, rubbing his hands together, a small ball rolling between his fingers. Sure enough, he was a seasoned betting expert, cheating without anyone noticing.
“When we first entered the room, my companion accidentally dropped a gold coin he was playing with on the table, and it slid down. That was one of the traps you set up,” the young man in black calmly stated his deduction. “The room we’re in, is it tilted? To me, it’s tilted at about 15 degrees. So the ball will eventually land back on the number ‘8’ square.”
The man remained silent for a long time before finally letting out a timid laugh:
“Mr. Scavenger, you are very clever. There is no good end to surrendering your life on the roulette wheel, but it is the only way for us common folk.”
“The cheating method you described is both correct and not entirely correct. The real mystery is, that small room is a slice of time.”
“Slice of time?”
“Yes, the result of the roulette wheel there is fixed; it’s the number of points from a particular game. The betting venue saves the time it took to arrive at that result. The weight of the ball is completely irrelevant; the game that guests play in the room is simply a reenactment of the past.”
The young man in black seemed unmoved by these words, only letting out a soft sigh. “I see.”
“In today’s world, time is no longer fair to us. We, the lower classes, are forced to rely on lies to survive, sometimes being deceived by time, and sometimes deceiving time. But then again, Mr. Scavenger, there is another lie that will be revealed here.”
The thin man seemed to hesitate for a moment.
“I… am not the swindler.”
Liusha’s gray eyes slightly widened.
“I was just bait to lure you away. You met the real swindler from the very beginning.”
***
Acid rain left mottled marks on the gray walls, fluorescent paint glowed in the dark alley, and a fat man in a blue-green landscape silk robe ran panting through the alley.
The colorful neon signs formed a maze, and Xiongfeng stumbled around like headless flies. He stopped at a telephone pole, leaning on his knees and panting heavily. When he looked up again, he saw a figure standing not far away.
This was a deserted alley. The gentleman who had taken his gold coin strolled slowly and gracefully under the streetlights.
“Give it back to me,” Xiongfeng gasped.
The gentleman grinned, revealing his teeth: “Haha, you’re quite the dedicated actor. But there are no other audience now, so you don’t need to perform anymore.”
He looked at the panting, fat man in front of him and called out his name:
“Fangpian”.
The fat man slowly straightened up. Those two words sounded like a slang term from the martial arts world, and suddenly, the aura surrounding him shifted dramatically. He caught the gold coin the gentleman tossed to him and put it in his pocket. His arrogant, servile demeanor vanished completely.
“I finally managed to fool the Chief Time Scavenger of the Time Entropy Group, and I want to play a little longer,” the fat man said. He pressed on his neck, and a real-time voice changer the same color as his skin came off, and his voice changed back to that of a lazy, casual young man.
“How did you get the name ‘Xiongfeng’?” the gentleman asked.
“I tricked an upper-class person, slightly adjusted the expiration date of his cheesecake, and took his place while he was taking care of his business in the bathroom, it was that simple.”
“Every time I have to play along with your game, I’m filled with trepidation,” the gentleman sighed, shaking his head. “Especially when I have to impersonate you. By the way, what did you think of my performance before?”
The fat man blinked, his face gradually changing. His body was covered in swarms of nanobots carrying color-changing units, capable of completely transforming him into someone else’s appearance. One eye reverted to its original form first, a cunning, all-knowing eye, like that of a fox.
“You imitated it somewhat, but not completely. Hongxin4-ge, I didn’t show as much energy and spirit as you.”
“Haha, so, did we achieve our goal this time?”
“Thanks to Hongxin-ge’s help, everything went very smoothly. Not only did we outwit the Chief Time Scavenger, but we also got our spoils.”
The swindler, disguised as a fat man, chuckled and popped a piece of chewing gum into his mouth. As if by magic, a platinum pocket watch engraved with a Penrose stairs appeared in his hand.
“It’s a symbol of the Time Scavengers’ identity; they can use it to open the elevator to the upper floors and go to the nearest branch of the Group. This trip has been very fruitful.”
Upon entering the “Red-Eyed Roulette,” Liusha showed the pocket watch to the mechanical waiter. It was then that the con artist, disguised as Xiongfeng, had already set his sights on it.
When Liusha threw the mechanical waiter, it secretly took the item during the few moments when it touched Liusha’s body.
The gentleman laughed heartily, “The Time Scavengers are like hounds that never let go. If you take his things, he will return them tenfold.”
“It’s alright. The Time Scavengers only play hunting games, and I’m used to it.”
“What’s your impression of that scavenger?”
After thinking for a moment, Fangpian finally gave a flippant smile.
“Being deceived by such tricks ultimately comes down to having strong limbs but simple minds.”
He stretched and said, “Let Mao come and pick us up. It’s time to end our entertainment for tonight.”
Just then, the two suddenly heard a metallic scraping sound.
The sound came from the end of the dark alley, sharp and cold, as if it could tear one’s eardrums apart. The two of them shuddered and turned around.
They saw Death standing under the five-colored lights.
A night fog rose, soft and gentle, like a thin veil. And Death, carrying a long-handled file-axe, walked towards them step by step.
The bait had clearly led him in the opposite direction, but with his powerful legs, he arrived here like a gust of wind. A slight tremor ran through the gentleman’s voice: “Fangpian, our tail has been bitten.”
“Mr. Xiongfeng.”
A chilling voice rang out. The Scavenger’s gray pupils stared at them like icy abyss, sending a shiver down their spines.
“Is your stomach still upset? I can provide you with a massage service,” Liusha said, this time pointing the axe blade at the two people in front of him instead of the handle, his murderous aura radiating. “After all, my service is top-notch.”
Unexpectedly, his companion along the way turned out to be a con artist who had changed his identity, and Liusha felt a long-lost sense of unease. The other party’s acting skills were superb, and he didn’t reveal a single flaw.
He heard a soft chuckle, and then the swindler turned around.
“No need, can I unsubscribe from this service?”
The next instant, as the nanobots de-colorized, the fat man’s figure gradually disintegrated before his eyes, and Liusha saw a glimpse of the con artist’s true face.
Beneath the chaotic neon signs, the person’s soft white hair was also stained with vibrant colors, and a dazzling rhombus-shaped red diamond stud adorned beneath one of his cunning and frivolous eyes.
It was an excessively young and handsome face that momentarily captivated Liusha. Behind the young man, Liusha once again saw that flamboyant graffiti about a swindler. Dressed in a white suit and holding a top hat, he was like a ray of light that would attract all the insects of the night.
“Welcome to 2026, our glorious era.”
When Liusha finally realized what was happening, he found a cold gun barrel pointed at his head. The conman drew a Mauser pistol from his waist, a mysterious smile on his face.
“Nice to meet you, stranger from the future.”
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