The Gambling City

"Welcome to Las Vegas! The great capital of The Space!" A corpulent, balding white man stood before Kirk. At Kirk's feet was a teleportation device, which had brought him here directly from The Space.

"Is there any difference between this Las Vegas and the one in reality, in America?" Kirk asked, a little curious.

"Child, let me put it this way: that Las Vegas is a shoddy imitation, a base plagiarism of our creativity. Compared to the great Las Vegas of The Space, the one on Earth is just a country bumpkin!" The fat man, holding a cigar, exhaled smoke rings disdainfully.

Kirk chuckled, "So, this is The Space?"

"More precisely, it's the headquarters of The Space. You can find anything you want here, as long as you have money..." The fat man roared with laughter.

"Money?"

"Survival points, lots of survival points. Equipment, especially high-level gear, is even better. Skill points, attribute points, rare items – anything that can be exchanged for survival points..." The fat man said with a smile, "You look like a newbie."

Kirk instinctively took two steps back, a half-smile on his face, "Are newbies discriminated against here?"

"No, no, no! God as my witness." The fat man quickly explained, "I hate anyone who discriminates against newbies! If anyone bullies you, I'll stand up for you!"

"You're that nice?" Kirk sounded unconvinced, "There's a saying back home: no profit, no early bird."

"You're absolutely right, I'm just an early bird." The fat man chuckled, "I'm a professional broker, and I can also work as a manager. I'm here to welcome newcomers. Your arrival brings endless vitality and wealth to this great city! Therefore, at least in the eyes of us natives, you newbies are the most lovable people. Any act of discrimination or bullying against newbies will be ruthlessly punished by The Space. Of course, you must also be careful not to be swindled. If you willingly suffer a loss, The Space can do nothing."

"So, what are your specific services?" Kirk was still a bit confused.

"Information, information." The fat man laughed heartily, "I'm here to welcome you, just like a greeter in a mall. Then I can take you on a tour of the city and introduce you to things, so you don't waste your precious 24 hours. Heaven knows why newbies only have 24 hours to stay..."

"What happens after 24 hours?" Kirk asked.

"You go home, of course. Good heavens, didn't they ever give you the Newbie Guide? Young people nowadays are less and less diligent." The fat man was indignant, "Listen carefully, child, I'll only say this once. The Space is a vast concept. It's said to have been created by the Creator God, who knows? What we're in is the Las Vegas headquarters of The Space. There are other headquarters, but few people have the chance to go to them. Teleportation here mainly focuses on American TV shows, HBO, Fox, and so on. Of course, there are also individual movies. You contractors need to travel between various plot dimensions, complete the tasks assigned by The Space, bring back as many resources as possible, and then come here to enjoy life."

"Then why would I, a Chinese person, be teleported into the space of American TV shows?"

"We don't really understand the principles by which The Space absorbs newcomers, but the fact is, you're here now, and I don't see you going anywhere else." The fat man shrugged and continued his explanation, "You contractors are like mercenaries. You might travel through time and space in movies, games, and various dimensions, constantly surviving and evolving. The elimination rate is very high, I'm sure you've experienced it deeply in your newbie plot."

"I know." Kirk thought of the dozen or so newbies who entered The Walking Dead, and only a handful returned to The Space.

"So, what can Las Vegas offer?" Kirk asked curiously.

"It depends entirely on what you need. Every desire you have can be satisfied here. Women? Girls? Girlfriends? Drugs? Mansions?..." The fat man said animatedly.

"What about equipment and skills?" Kirk interrupted him.

"Equipment and skills, yes, yes, yes, that's the most important thing, of course. You can buy them, from other contractors and from The Space's shops. Supermarkets sometimes have sales. However, these are all common goods. You can trade for them, from other contractors. You can auction them. You can gamble!" When he said "gamble," the fat man's eyes lit up with excitement.

"Yes, just like the name of this great city, gambling is everything!" The fat man handed Kirk a piece of paper.

The paper was clearly torn from the Newbie Handbook. It read:

"The Space headquarters you are in is a gambling city called 'Las Vegas.'

Here, as long as you have enough survival points, you can buy anything, even a second life. Your every desire can be satisfied – beauties, wealth, enjoyment, all are available. This is a paradise for the strong, but a hell for the weak and poor. However, the biggest highlight of Las Vegas is its developed and complete gambling system. Anything can be gambled. You can gamble with the keys you've captured, equipment, spirit stones, and anything else. You can even gamble with your own life. The Space takes a cut, and it's not cheap. But if you have good luck, everything belongs to you.

'Gambling Keys' involves taking out keys from plot characters, plot monsters, and killed contractors, and gambling them directly against other contractors without opening them. Transactions can be done face-to-face or through bidding auctions. The Space will provide approximate information about the killed contractor and the weighted fair value of the key (i.e., the value of various rewards * the probability of obtaining the rewards, with the sum of probabilities being 100%), for gamblers to refer to. The house auctions without a reserve price; the final transaction price is determined by supply, demand, and bidding. A light blue key might fetch a high price simply because the contractor information released by The Space appeals to the buyer, or the contractor has equipment the buyer highly desires.

'Gambling Equipment' is when, upon equipment appearing, high-level equipment requires an appraisal scroll, appraisal spell, or appraisal by The Space (contractors cannot master appraisal skills). The contractor who obtains the equipment may choose not to open its attributes and not to appraise it. The equipment will remain shrouded in mist, with only its grade known. For 'Gambling Equipment,' you can choose 'Big Gamble' or 'Small Gamble.' Big Gamble means that besides the equipment's grade, you don't know what the equipment is or its specific attributes; it's a no-reserve bidding gamble. Small Gamble means you can reveal some information, or even some attributes, and gamble on the remaining attributes or information. A piece of dark gold equipment might have 3 attributes revealed, and gambling on just the 4th attribute could increase its value tenfold or more. Since all equipment gambling is notarized and supervised by The Space from the moment the equipment appears, there's no possibility of the house playing tricks, making it sought after by human contractors.

'Gambling Skills' is somewhat similar to gambling equipment. Monsters sometimes drop skill scrolls, which are gambled without appraisal. Skills have good and bad ones, with high and low grades, which can cause prices of skills of the same grade to differ by tens of times, creating room for profit from reselling.

'Gambling Life.' With money in The Space, you can buy anything – big-bottomed girls, drugs, fine wine, mansions, even your life! There are always plenty of guys indulging in pleasure who become degenerate gamblers. After losing everything, all they have left is their life. Don't worry, The Space will give you a chance to turn things around. You just need to fight in underground boxing matches or choose an enemy to fight, or fight against other contractors or monsters. There's also a chance to turn your fortunes around, and the rewards are very generous, as long as you can survive. If you die, you'll truly be gone without a trace. If you fight against an enemy, you can even inherit a large portion of their assets! Other contractors can place bets.

Kirk finished reading. The fat man rubbed his hands and said with a smile, "Considering I, Pang Leisi, have spent so much time talking to you, how about patronizing my business? For only 100 survival points, you can hire me for a day. I'll lead you through Las Vegas most efficiently. I told you, you only have 24 hours in this enchanting city. This will determine whether you can survive the next plot world. Every minute is worth thousands of gold!"

Kirk was moved and transferred 100 survival points. A white light flashed in the fat man's eyes, and he smiled even more brilliantly.

"Ah, my dear client, Mr. Kirk, where would you like to start? The casino? The auction house? The hotel? Or the Moulin Rouge, where beautiful girls with big butts line up their legs? That's paradise." The fat man rubbed his hands lecherously.

Kirk glanced at him, surprised that this fat man, besides being a broker and manager as he introduced himself, might also be a pimp. This was quite interesting.

"I want to see the room The Space has arranged for us." Kirk thought it was most important to see his own place first.

"Room?" The white fat man was taken aback, then burst out laughing, "Mr. Kirk, you've watched too many 'infinite flow' novels like many newbies, haven't you? There are no private rooms for you newbies in this Space!"

"Then where do we live?" Kirk was shocked.

"Hotels. Temporary ones." The fat man exhaled smoke rings, "There are various options."

"Does it make a difference to our strength improvement?"

"There's a difference in health and energy recovery speed, but the difference is very small."

"What about safety?"

"No difference, very safe. No one can enter your room before you check out, unless you are killed and your blood-red room card key is taken by someone else, and they execute a [Plunder] to loot your private property. Otherwise, any entry will be considered an offense to The Space, leading to severe consequences."

"Then I'll check into the cheapest hotel." Kirk was straightforward.

The fat man was speechless for a moment. He got a commission for bringing newcomers to any hotel, but the commission from the cheapest hotel was the least. However, newcomers were generally not wealthy, so choosing the cheapest hotel was the vast majority.

"Alright, Mr. Kirk. We'll head to the Sword Bay Hotel now." The fat man listlessly led Kirk onto a transporter. Then Kirk felt his body lighten, and when he came to his senses, he had already appeared in front of a hotel that seemed to be from a forgotten kingdom era. Outside, it was decorated with a crest of a greatsword rising from a lake, and the text indicated this was the Sword Bay Hotel.

From the open door, he could see that it was incredibly noisy and chaotic inside. Beautiful blonde waitresses, like butterflies, darted among the extremely rude drinkers, smiling charmingly as they collected various tips and other fees with their deep cleavage.

The fat man had originally intended to lead Kirk to this dirtiest and most chaotic hotel to dissuade Kirk from staying in a cheap hotel. He didn't expect that Kirk, an otaku who loved the Baldur's Gate series the most, would have his eyes light up the moment he saw it and immediately decide to stay.

The fat white man was speechless.

It seemed he had truly encountered a miser or a pauper this time, with not much profit to be made.

After leading Kirk to the bar to pay 500 survival points to the sultry, tall, long-legged proprietress, Kirk was taken to his room.

"This room has been paid for 10 plot world stays. You can stay here, choose various services, and you can choose to charge it to your account. If you can't pay it back, The Space will deduct your equipment." The fat man seemed to have decided not to have any further dealings with this pauper, tossed a Newbie Survival Guide at him, and left.

Finally, he said one sentence: "Mr. Kirk, a word of advice: in this damned Space, survival is the most important thing!"