Ren Yi stared at the waiter, who stood stiffly nearby with a face full of resentment, then glanced at Ren Man, who stood beside him with a look of pure innocence and clear eyes.
The confusion that had been swirling in his mind for a long time finally began to untangle.
To put it simply, he had accidentally stumbled into the corridors of power.
The reason for the entertainment city's sudden change in attitude was most likely because the "direct superior" his brother had contacted was exerting pressure.
This was what had caused this drama-loving Anomaly—who previously enjoyed watching the chaos and fanning the flames—to instantly retract all its arrogance, becoming docile, respectful, and barely daring to breathe.
However, Ren Yi still didn't quite understand its current behavior.
Why was it so single-mindedly focused on making him agree to the Battle-Damaged Guy's challenge? It was even willing to "betray" Dr. Zhao, whom it had been on relatively good terms with before.
While Ren Yi frowned, his mind a mess of wandering thoughts, Ren Man suddenly gave his sleeve a gentle tug.
Ren Man's gaze first swept over Dr. Lin and Dr. Zhao, who were still bickering and arguing incessantly nearby, then turned back to Ren Yi.
"No, not that," Ren Man said. It seemed he had realized his previous actions had caused a misunderstanding for Ren Yi and quickly spoke up to explain.
His tone was slightly halting; it was clear he was working hard to organize his words.
Ren Yi was taken aback, realizing he had indeed misunderstood.
So, the conversation between his brother and the big boss wasn't about the trivial matter of Dr. Lin and Dr. Zhao fighting?
Ren Yi let out a breath of relief.
Good, good. I was thinking, how could anyone make such a big deal out of nothing?
"A work target... was missed. I gave a reminder," Ren Man explained further, slowing his speech.
Ren Yi pondered these words for a moment and soon understood what his brother meant.
His brother meant that the entertainment city had accidentally overlooked its own work target.
When his brother discovered this, he probably found it strange and feared there might be some oversight, so he casually asked his superior, Enke.
Well, to put it bluntly, he had reported the entertainment city's work error directly to its supervisor.
Ren Yi's mouth twitched.
Wasn't that operation a bit too... unfriendly?
However, that probably wasn't Ren Man's intention. He likely just felt something was off and simply wanted to clarify, without thinking about "reporting" them, let alone making things difficult for the entertainment city...
But wait.
"Brother, isn't the job of these Instance bosses just to manage the casino and maintain order in the Instance?"
Ren Yi was somewhat confused.
Shouldn't the so-called "work target" be all the Participants who entered with an invitation?
Then what did "missed" mean? Was it referring to the Battle-Damaged Guy?
But the Battle-Damaged Guy was a stowaway—someone who had accidentally stumbled into the Instance and wasn't supposed to be here.
Logically, a stowaway should be an "extra" burden, not a "missed" target.
The logic seemed a bit strange.
Ren Man shook his head. "More than that."
Meaning the entertainment city's work wasn't just about maintaining the Instance.
In that case...
A flash of inspiration struck Ren Yi. He suddenly realized he might have been wrong.
Aside from the operation of the permanent Instance itself, the entertainment city indeed had additional "work targets."
Since the entertainment city needed to be managed uniformly by the Alliance high-ups and fell under the jurisdiction of a Calamity, this work target was most likely not the Instance itself, but an extra task assigned by the Alliance.
Thinking of this, Ren Yi suddenly remembered that he had made a similar conjecture before.
The entertainment city's extra task should be to specifically deal with holders of top-tier talents, like 【Luck】.
Ren Yi whipped his head around to look at the Battle-Damaged Guy, who was still waiting for him, a wave of shock rising in his heart.
Could the reason for the entertainment city's abnormality be that the Battle-Damaged Guy also possessed a top-tier talent comparable to 【Luck】?
But because the Battle-Damaged Guy was a "stowaway," the entertainment city hadn't noticed him, which led to the superior's reminder about "missing" him.
But if that were the case, new doubts followed immediately.
The biggest question was: if he possessed such a top-tier talent, why would he accidentally wander into a permanent Instance due to lack of information and fall into the predicament of being a stowaway!
Looking at the example of 【Luck】, since he arrived in the Instance, everything had been smooth sailing for him; even the entertainment city itself couldn't do much against him.
Ren Yi scrutinized the Battle-Damaged Guy, and the more he looked, the more things felt off.
This guy had first managed to quickly earn a case full of chips in a short time, demonstrating extreme capability.
Immediately after, he had precisely located Ren Yi and unhesitatingly requested his help to initiate the God of Gamblers challenge.
Even Ren Yi, a "local Anomaly," didn't know the rules for challenging the God of Gamblers.
Nothing about his actions looked like a stroke of luck; instead, it looked like he was well-prepared and had planned this for a long time.
What exactly was he trying to do?
Could it be that he was overconfident, believing his talent could defeat the God of Gamblers who possessed 【Luck】, so he came here specifically to make a fortune and build capital for the subsequent challenge?
But then, what was the deal with the entertainment city?
If the Battle-Damaged Guy really succeeded in the challenge and got the invitation, wouldn't that be equivalent to letting him escape?
It was a complete contradiction.
Ren Yi frowned, re-evaluating his train of thought.
If the Battle-Damaged Guy was the entertainment city's target, the waiters should be eager for him to die or disappear as quickly as possible.
How could they possibly take the initiative to facilitate his challenge and help create an opportunity for him to leave?
Unless... the Battle-Damaged Guy wasn't the target at all, but a—
Tool.
A tool used to deal with the real target.
As soon as this thought appeared, Ren Yi felt a sudden clarity. He quickly turned to ask Ren Man to confirm his suspicion.
"Brother, is the entertainment city's work target this person?" He pointed at the Battle-Damaged Guy.
Ren Man shook his head.
Well, it seemed his theory was correct.
If the entertainment city wanted to deal with someone, the target had to be inside this Instance. It couldn't kill people outside across Instance boundaries.
He quickly ran through all the people and Anomalies he could name in his head.
Dr. Lin, Dr. Zhao, the waiter, the Battle-Damaged Guy, himself, his brother... after excluding all the impossibilities, the one who remained was obvious.
The God of Gamblers.
Rate on N.U.
