I'm Not a Gambling Addict

What was all this supposed to be?

The first two were still manageable. Xiao Xiao had long since experienced the imposing presence of the Three Adorable Hounds. As for their house-destroying habits, he had heard their owner lose control and curse loudly in the room many times before.

As for the Old Record Player, Xiao Xiao had also heard it many times. He remembered that once, during the Spring Festival, it had played cheerful songs like "Congratulations and Prosperity," yet somehow forced them to sound like they came from the underworld...

But that Butcher...

...The City Will had just accidentally revealed some important information, hadn't it?

Had that Butcher really killed people? And was he in danger of being caught at any time?

He had once wondered whether the Butcher might be a pervert hiding somewhere on the streets. So his guess had actually been right?

Then shouldn't he report it to the police now?

If this had happened before everything else, Xiao Xiao would have called the police without hesitation.

But too many unbelievable things had happened around him in these past few days. He had even seen a Rat-Man. Adding another psychotic killer to the mix no longer seemed impossible to understand.

Especially since the entire city was already full of monsters. A psychotic killer seemed to be on his side.

He did not call the police. Instead, he unexpectedly remained calm and quickly began to think:

"Anything detected contains the possibility of aberration. There's some kind of substance in their bodies that counts as 'abnormal' to this city."

"But until these things truly undergo aberration, I'm not allowed to eliminate them."

"Otherwise, the city will treat it as murder or some other illegal act and deduct the points I currently have..."

"..."

He was used to thinking under pressure, and his thoughts felt especially clear now. "Veterans like Yang Jia and Ruan Ruan usually receive special attention or are tracked after being detected."

"Because once they're detected, these things often break through the critical point within a few days and become Aberrant Creatures."

"But I've lived here for a long time. They've always been here, always given me this intense sense of danger, yet they've also always stayed the same. They never became monsters like the Rat-Man..."

"So should I tell Yang Jia and the others about this now and have them eliminate these things as soon as possible, or..."

He remembered another option Ruan Ruan had mentioned before, and even he found it somewhat unbelievable: "Buy them?"

Could these three possibly become the special items Ruan Ruan had mentioned?

According to Ruan Ruan, anything that had been detected as "abnormal" and dangerous could be bought, then strengthened to observe whether it would undergo aberration.

If it underwent aberration, it would be cleared out in exchange for points.

If it did not, it could become an item with certain special powers—the "special items" that Collectors loved most.

Of course, the latter possibility was extremely low. That was one of the reasons the Collector route was so difficult and so prone to bankruptcy.

He couldn't possibly be lucky enough to find three of them at once, could he?

Yet as he stared at the three options flickering on the screen, he unexpectedly felt tempted. He had started with one hundred and thirty points, spent ninety, and had forty left.

He couldn't afford anything else, but those three dogs...

Xiao Xiao immediately thought of the three robust vicious dogs at his neighbor's house, their eyes dark red, drool constantly dripping as they stared fixedly at him...

In theory, spending thirty points to buy three vicious dogs was extremely unwise.

But during that painful memory, they had left such a deep impression on him. The fact that Xiao Xiao did not want to tell Yang Jia or Ruan Ruan about this also had something to do with that.

When a person had lived under the influence of fear from them for four whole years, it formed a strange kind of psychology.

Regardless of what these things were actually like, they had long since formed a unique concept in his mind.

He also had another obscure thought: "Since these things once brought me such deep fear, now that the entire world has turned into monsters..."

"If I buy them, make them mine, and then make other people feel afraid..."

"...wouldn't that feel great?"

"..."

This inexplicable sense of release meant that even though Xiao Xiao knew this could be a losing investment, he still could not suppress the urge.

He could not tell Yang Jia and the others about this, and they certainly would not approve.

"I'm not a gambling addict. I just have to give it a try..."

After agonizing over it for a long time, he became increasingly tempted. "I'll just buy the Three Adorable Hounds first and observe them."

"If those other two things undergo aberration afterward, or show signs of it, I'll tell Yang Jia and Ruan Ruan and quickly deal with them."

"But if..."

"If these three things really have the potential to become special items, even if only one of them succeeds, I'll still make quite a profit..."

"..."

He steeled himself and made his decision.

Thirty of his forty points were deducted, and he purchased the Three Adorable Hounds.

Come to think of it, among the three options, the Three Adorable Hounds were the only ones he could afford. He could not buy the other two.

Besides, those two options were so expensive, and they gave off an unreliable feeling.

The Old Gramophone's ability was merely to make the opponent feel a little worse. What use could that possibly have?

What if making the opponent feel worse only made them hit him harder? Wasn't getting angrier and wanting to hit people more common?

And that Butcher...

...To be fair, he had the highest apparent combat power, and Xiao Xiao feared him the most.

Who wouldn't fear a Butcher who carried a chainsaw every day to cut up large animals?

But this man had already broken the law. What if Xiao Xiao bought him and he was immediately arrested by the Guard Hall? Wouldn't that be a complete loss?

While analyzing this in his mind, Xiao Xiao completed the transaction.

He watched helplessly as the forty points displayed in his field of vision flickered and became only ten.

Text appeared:

Transaction complete

The Three Adorable Hounds now belong to you. Whenever you need them, they will appear on the battlefield.

Friendly reminder: Don't lead them back to your home. Your neighbor will report you...

"They belong to me just like that?"

Xiao Xiao leaned out of the window as far as he could and glanced at the three hounds.

Then he saw that the Three Adorable Hounds were also crowded into the corner by the fence, each stretching its head forward as it looked at him through the window.

Their eyes seemed both familiar and strange.

Unlike before, they did not bark furiously the moment they saw him. They remained quiet, tilting their heads. He could even vaguely see the tails behind them trying their hardest to wag at him.

If he had to describe the scene, it was a confused face and three honest-looking faces silently staring at one another through the window.

"They really do seem much friendlier..."

Xiao Xiao felt a little more confident. If he walked past them now, they probably would not bark viciously at him like before.

After buying the three vicious dogs, he also noticed new information appearing:

Name: Three Adorable Hounds

Status: Strengthenable

Cost: 100 points/time

Note: After strengthening, their ferocity will far exceed your imagination. Their house-destroying abilities will also surpass your imagination...

"I have a faint feeling that I've been cheated..."

Xiao Xiao's heart sank slightly. The price of strengthening was much higher than he had expected.

Although the description was tempting, it would cost a full one hundred points. How many Rat-Men would he have to kill to earn that back?

Besides, even after spending those one hundred points, he would only be strengthening them to see the results. There was a very high chance the improvement would not be worth the cost.

But now that he had bought them, it was impossible for him not to strengthen them.

Otherwise, had he really spent thirty points just to buy three hounds?

Hounds whose house-destroying abilities were stronger than their combat abilities?

Xiao Xiao suddenly felt that the pressure was vaguely mounting. He silently pulled himself back, then sat down in front of the computer.

In the yard not far away, the three vicious dogs saw him disappear from the window and let out disappointed grunts in unison. Even their wildly wagging tails drooped.

As if deeply dejected, they turned around and began digging at the ground in the yard again.

The more he thought about it, the stranger Xiao Xiao found this whole matter. The nature of this purchase was difficult to understand.

He had already made a transaction with the city. On the city's level, these three dogs technically belonged to him now and were especially loyal to him.

Even if he were attacked by the city's malice again in the future, they would not participate in the transformation.

But on the "real" level—or, in other words, according to the city's laws and common understanding—the three dogs still belonged to his neighbor. If he wanted to lead them home and raise them himself, he would still have to be careful not to let his neighbor call the police and have him arrested.

If he had to describe it, beneath reality, the City Will had constructed another set of logical rules.

Seen that way, he had not really lost out.

It was not that he had spent money while the Three Adorable Hounds still belonged to his neighbor. Rather, the hounds actually belonged to him, while his neighbor merely had to raise them for him...

He felt much better.

After silently calculating, he realized that at least he now had three dogs in this twisted and vast foreign land.

But he had only ten points left.

He still had to adapt as quickly as possible. Compared with the omnipresent and terrifying malice of this world, the buffer provided by ten points was already incredibly weak.

The gambling-addict route really was impossible...