It's already a bit cooler in Tokyo at the end of November.
Especially in the early morning, Inoue, who had just walked out of a small hot spring spa in the alleyway, tightened his collar subconsciously, and his cheeks were still warm from the indoor temperature. He looked rosy, but his mental state did not seem to be getting better.
He looked well rested, tired, sluggish, and a little sick.
The mission has been successfully completed, right? Nakajima and the others didn't call, which means they are on their way back now... Do you want to tell the truth to Nakajima? About monopolizing the assassination bounty, it shouldn't matter if you don't tell them... right?
No one knows that what he did is very clean. Besides, he is just a lone wolf...
After half a night of bathing and half a night's sleep, Inoue's thoughts were a little divergent, but he didn't think about it for long, and he didn't need to think about it too much. At most, he would just wait until the gambling debt is paid off and stop doing this kind of thing.
, anyway, Nakajima has completed the final trial and test, and he, as an agent, will get a commission from the tasks he accepts from now on. The good days are coming soon.
With this thought in mind, Inoue rubbed his palms twice and walked into the morning.
There is some fog, neither thick nor light. Along the clean street that goes straight up, there are big red mailboxes dotted on the left and right, and it stretches for who knows where. Most of the shops on the roadside are not open, and occasionally there are a few dimly lit light box signs.
It is a 24-hour laundry, as well as a fresh food store and breakfast shop that are busy early in the morning.
Pedestrians in twos and threes on the street, most of whom are neatly dressed, old and young, all in uniforms and leather shoes, look energetic and decent. But that is just a courtesy habit to show off to others, and the actual profession they are engaged in may not be so dignified, like
The guy who walked towards me looked like him. He was wearing a windbreaker and black trousers. He had a tall figure and a handsome face but could not hide his tiredness. He was probably an employee of some Cowherd shop. He could only escape in a hurry when the real owner came back early in the morning.
Already...
Haha... Lifting up his belt, which had slipped slightly due to his fat belly, Inoue guessed maliciously.
He passed by a breakfast shop and bought some breakfast. Inoue continued walking along the street. He didn't stop until he walked up a slope with some difficulty. His eyes wandered on the sign of the pachinko parlor next to him, and he paused for a moment.
Hesitate, step in decisively.
I'm just looking for a place to have breakfast and play some fun. Pachinko... doesn't count as gambling...
Across the door, there are two completely different worlds inside and outside the store. The store is extremely lively, not the noise of people, but the mixed sound effects of various pinball machines running continuously. There are people in front of almost every machine.
There were players sitting there, both men and women, not interfering with each other, each looking at the screen in front of them, all looking serious and devoted.
Perhaps due to the atmosphere, the worries and uneasiness he had on the way here were instantly forgotten by Inoue, and he simply paid for a card. The amount was not large, but it was enough to pass the breakfast time. He also teased the young female clerk a few words, but
The latter's reaction was average with a professional smile on his face, and Inoue didn't care at all. He took his breakfast and looked around for his own place, mainly to close his eyes, preferably the kind of machine that you can tell at a glance that 'you will definitely win money'.
Soon, Inoue found a new machine in a corner, with several scantily clad cartoon girls in the background.
Yes, Inoue still prefers the two-dimensional painting style compared to those three-dimensional idol stars.
Insert the card, and a steady stream of small steel balls emerges from the bead outlet at the top of the machine one by one. While biting his breakfast, Inoue moves his fingers and presses the button at will, which is used to adjust the speed of the small steel balls ejected. On the table
There are various small nails and obstacles that will affect the falling path of the small steel ball. Control the speed and try to make it hit the key point. If certain conditions are met, the machine will enter the lottery mode, just like now.
Ding-dang-dang——
The melody sounded, the marquee flashed, and the preset computer screen kept spinning and jumping. Finally, three identical cartoon girls appeared on the screen, ogling Inoue who suddenly paused, and a large amount of water suddenly poured out from under the machine.
Small steel balls scrambled to fall into a small red basin.
Hit it!
This was obviously beyond Inoue's original intention, but his emotions were instantly aroused. He put down his breakfast and leaned on the machine platform. Just like the men and women around him, he stared at the screen with bright eyes and carefully pressed the button again.
button.
Wow…
It has to be said that Inoue was very lucky today. He hit a few hits in a row. Although there were some misses later on, the majority of the hits were still hits. Soon, three red basins full of small steel balls were piled up next to him, which undoubtedly made him feel happy.
Inoue was very excited and became more engaged.
At this time, the middle-aged man sitting next to him suddenly raised his hand and hammered the machine table, murmured and cursed, got up unwillingly, and walked away frustrated. No one cared, and Inoue beside him didn't even glance at this.
It was normal in the bead shop, it was going on almost all the time, and soon, a new player came and sat down.
Inoue also didn't pay attention until a black glove reached over and tapped on the countertop in front of him. He turned his head in displeasure and was slightly stunned. He was wearing a windbreaker and black trousers that seemed similar to him, and his face was so handsome that it made people jealous... That Cowherd
Store employee?
"You're lucky." The visitor said with a standard accent, a local Tokyo accent, pointing to the red basin full of steel balls at his feet.
"It's okay." Inoue said vaguely and perfunctorily, his attention still on the screen in front of him, and he obviously had no intention of exchanging ideas.
But the visitor continued: "Let's make a bet. I bet you will lose all your marbles."
"Hmm...huh? Baga!" Inoue turned his head angrily.
"Don't believe it? Then add more chips. At the current frequency of playing steel balls, if you can't lose it in an hour, I will leave. If you lose it, you will die."
Inoue was stunned when he heard the words, and subconsciously looked at the other party again. He thought of something and showed an angry look: "I will repay the debt I owe you. I have already made an agreement with Brother Hu. In the past few days..."
"It seems that you owe a lot of debt." The visitor smiled and said, "Let me introduce you. I am indeed here to collect debts, but I am not a tiger brother. I am just a lone wolf."
After the words fell, "You, you, you..." Inoue's plump body suddenly trembled wildly, and his face turned earth-colored.
"It seems you have remembered, good, let's play." He waved his hand, and the person who came, well, it was Tang Chao who flew from Chiang Mai to Tokyo overnight, and rushed here without any time to rest.
As for why we were able to find this place so accurately, it was because we located Inoue's number on Nakashimagawa's mobile phone. It was a normal number used for contact. As an agent, the relationship between the two parties was closer than the temporary middleman in the Tang Dynasty.
.
"Yes...I'm sorry..."
"No, it's too late to talk about this now, isn't it?"
"I will pay you back the money." After the initial panic, Inoue managed to calm down and gritted his teeth and said, "Kill me and you will get nothing!"
"Oh, I forgot to mention that I transferred the bounty you put in the card a long time ago. Didn't you notice the card you spent in Thailand?" Watching Inoue turn from red to white, and then from white to pale.
With a look on his face, Tang Chao nodded clearly, "It seems you really didn't notice, which is really a pity."
"please……"
"Forty seconds, you have already wasted forty seconds." Tang Chao interrupted directly and said calmly, "Add a rule, if you waste more than one minute, the game is over!"
He picked up Inoue and placed his trembling palm on the button on the machine table, and said gently, "It's now time. Let's take a gamble. What if we win?"
"I..." tremblingly pressed the button, "...I can win!"
"Very good!" Tang Chao let go of his arms and spread his hands, "Please start your performance."
…
The performance didn't go very smoothly.
The arrival of the Tang Dynasty seemed to instantly dispel the good luck that had surrounded Inoue. The latter missed several lottery opportunities in a row. Each time, two identical big-breasted cartoon girls came out first, and finally the middle one.
But suddenly a long-legged girl appeared. Although she was equally charming and sexy, but...
I don’t want long legs, I want big breasts!
Inoue, who hammered the button with a faint trace of sweat on his forehead, screamed crazily in his heart.
Unfortunately, gambling luck is like this sometimes. What you want will not come, and what you don’t want will come but you will keep moving towards it. Soon, Inoue lost all the small steel balls in the machine and sat on the bench blankly until the two
An employee in the store passed by and complained that the old-fashioned surveillance probe was broken again. He woke up suddenly, glanced at Tang Chao with his arms wrapped around him, wiped the sweat from his forehead, leaned over and picked up a basin of small steel balls and poured them into the machine, and continued to fight.
As time passed by, the marbles in the red basin gradually decreased, but the beads of sweat on the forehead continued to increase.
A quarter of an hour later, a basin of steel balls was lost.
This time, Inoue did not daze, nor did he wipe the sweat from his face. He just wiped the sweat from his palms carefully on his thighs and trousers, and then, with his head sullen, he picked up the basin of steel balls and poured them into the machine again.
Twenty minutes later, another pot of steel balls was lost.
Crash, the last pot of steel balls was poured into the machine by Tang Chao, "Thank you..." He opened his mouth subconsciously, and Inoue didn't even turn around to look at Tang Chao. He probably didn't know what he was saying, and his eyes were fixed.
He stared at the machine table and never left it for a moment.
This one was faster. Ten minutes later, with the final press of the button, the steel balls in the machine disappeared and the red basin was empty.
Bang, a punch hit the machine operating table. Inoue was still staring at the machine table. There was no trace of fear or fear on the faces of those cartoon girls who were ogling, only the anger that had been lost.
Reluctant and annoyed...
"It's a pity that you lost everything."
"Ah?" Inoue turned his head blankly, his bloodshot eyes were unusually blank, as if he was looking at a stranger.
This is a gamble gone in... Tang Chao shook his head, it was a lucky thing, he no longer had to feel the fear of death... He walked behind Inoue, placed his hands on both sides of the latter's head, exerted force, twisted, click -
After the crisp sound of bones breaking, he recovered and placed Inoue's head on the machine console. He looked like he had fallen asleep after being tired from playing.
After doing all this, he glanced around. The melody remained the same, the marquee flashed, and the dynamic sound effects of small steel balls falling and jumping. Everyone was immersed in the machine table less than two feet away. No one noticed what was happening here, even if they were close.