Volume Four: Withering in the Mortal World - Draw a Card

"Sorry to keep you waiting, here's your bottled water."

Thank you.

"And what you wanted... was that also bottled water?"

"Yes..."

"Excuse me, please enjoy your meal."

The waiter left two glasses of mineral water and then turned back several times, because the two guests were so eye-catching that it was hard to look away once you saw them—that description is not an exaggeration at all.

However, why would these two girls, who possess beauty that can be described as a treasure of human culture, only order mineral water in a coffee shop? What's even more bizarre is that the cool and aloof punk-style girl initially wanted plain water, but only settled for mineral water when she heard that plain water wasn't on the drink menu.

In fact, plain water has always been Xiao Wu's main drink. She knows nothing about popular beverages and can't even name the most common types of coffee.

Even Sin Annihilation than that, she doesn't even need to drink water normally. The reason she orders bottled water is because she's imitating Xiao Wu.

"..." "..."

"... Say, shall we order something to eat?"

"Alright then..."

Drinking mineral water face-to-face was silly enough, so Xiao Wu started trying to start a conversation. Usually, she was the one being "forced" to start a conversation, but what could she Sin Annihilation when there was this guy, Miku, who never said a word?

"Waiter, the menu!"

"It's here, please take a look."

Xiao Wu and Sin Annihilation flipped through the menu the waiter had handed them. Since it was just a cafe, the menu only had small items like sandwiches, salads, cheesecakes, puddings, and cakes, and the prices weren't very friendly.

"What? The food is obviously poorly made and tastes mediocre, yet it's so expensive... Oh well, it's a coffee shop after all. Is there anything you'd like to eat?"

"Meat."

For the Sin Annihilation that do not require basic food intake, simply consuming some meat regularly is sufficient.

"Meat? Let me see... how about a sandwich with bacon and ham?"

As Xiao Wu spoke, she pushed the menu over. Sin Annihilation took it and glanced at it, her eyebrows furrowing slightly.

"The amount is so small..."

"That's all we have here. What kind would you like?"

"A big piece."

"... Could you elaborate?"

"Fresh or rotten, young or old, fat or lean, hard or soft, it doesn't matter, as long as there's enough of it."

"Rotten or too old food is obviously inedible, right?!"

"It's okay, you won't get sick."

"How could that be? You're not me..."

That being said, when Xiao Wu was a child, she did undergo some kind of hellish training from her mother, during which she was forced to eat only rotting flesh infested with maggots for a month to stave off hunger. According to her mother, this was to train her mental fortitude in extreme environments... I guess so.

"Xiao Wu... you're worried about me?"

You're overthinking it.

Reject it immediately! But Sin Annihilation won't care about that.

"But judging from your actions, combined with objective facts and common sense... rescuing a complete stranger from the sheriff, buying her clothes, and taking her out to eat—that's what a so-called kind-hearted person would do, right?"

"Hypocritical bastards would do the same thing. I'm not helping you out of kindness or bored sympathy."

"That's it... Ah, I see."

Sin Annihilation seemed to suddenly understand and nodded.

"So that's how it is, he's a repeat offender."

"... ah?"

"That's true... They use a policy of appeasement and material inducements to gain the trust of young women, thus lowering their guard, and then they take advantage of them. First, they lure them into bed, and after they've had their fill, they sell them at a low price to brothels or wealthy men with unusual sexual preferences..."

"Stop, stop, stop! I have no interest in that!"

"Who knows?"

"I'd rather break than bend! Unlike those deadbeat lesbians, I would never do something like tricking someone of the same sex into bed!"

"So, it's really done?"

"No way! If I can buy you such expensive clothes, why would I be greedy for the little money I make selling them to you?"

"Ah... yes, uh."

Indeed, it doesn't make logical sense.

So... this woman named Xiao Wu really just wanted to help me?

Unbelievable, and incomprehensible...

"Ahem," the waiter coughed lightly, noticing that the two hadn't placed their order yet. "Would you like to order anything else?"

"Oh, excuse me, then I'll have a... bacon sandwich."

"I want the same as Xiao Wu."

"... Sorry, bacon sandwiches are not available today."

"Then let's make fish sticks."

Sorry, fish and chips are not available today.

"Then a small cake."

"Sorry, pastries are not available today."

"... And what about the potato salad? Don't tell me—"

"Sorry, supply is temporarily suspended."

"--You don't even have this?! What's the point of you being open today?!"

"I'm sorry, sir. We're in a difficult situation too. Just a few minutes before you arrived, that strange man caused some trouble here, and now we're out of food except for porridge and the like."

"Huh? What does this have to do with someone causing trouble?"

"It wasn't about causing trouble. That man... initially just made a bet with us, saying that if we won, he would give us a tip of several hundred Tong Coin, but if we lost... all the food in the shop would be his. By the way, he seemed very hungry."

"So you lost?"

"Manager, all of us staff members, as well as the customers who came here for coffee before, have lost to him. Nobody can beat him. His only requirement for customers is that if they lose, they should obediently leave the store."

"No wonder there aren't many customers here... I see."

Xiao Wu looked around; most of the tables were empty, with only a few occupied by customers who had entered at the same time as them. And among them—

"Uh, that guy's back again, it's him."

"... he?"

Inside a corner of the café, someone was sobbing softly.

It was a boy who looked no more than ten years old, sitting at the table with teary eyes, and the person sitting opposite him was—

"Hey little brother, as the saying goes, you have to accept the consequences of your bet. Crying and whining like this isn't manly."

A middle-aged man sat there, wearing a dusty overcoat that looked like that of an unemployed person, and tattered trousers that were obviously very old. He had an ordinary appearance, the kind you'd forget after seeing him once, and his thick stubble made him look slovenly. But what was most striking was his rather stout body; his torso and limbs were almost twice the size of a man his age, making him look like a comical clay figure when he sat there.

"Waaah... You cheated!"

"You have to accept the consequences of your bets. Don't you even understand such a simple principle? Anyway, I advise you to do something before you completely lose, whether it's picking up money from the ground or calling for help. If you keep going like this, you'll really lose everything."

"Waaah..."

Between the two men were several scattered playing cards, each holding a deck of cards in their hand. The man had a relaxed expression, while the boy looked tense.

"If you don't hurry up, I'm going to draw a card."

"Wait, wait! I, I, I--"

The boy looked around in despair, his eyes widening when he saw Xiao Wu looking in his Sin Annihilation. His expression darkened, and his lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but he didn't.

"... Indeed, never mind, let's draw the cards."

"Wow, accepting defeat with equanimity is also a king's courtesy. Then I won't hold back."

The man reached for the deck of cards, his fingers tracing the cards one by one, as if deliberately trying to provoke the boy.

"Let me guess... the Joker, the Joker, which one is it? This one? This one? But if you ask me... it's definitely not this one."

The boy's expression darkened further. The man swiftly pulled out a card, held it up to his eyes, and glanced at it—

"Ha! I knew it, this brings me one step closer to victory."

The man had two cards left, while the boy had three.

The Joker was in the boy's deck.

The boy's face was deathly pale, as if this wasn't a game of drawing jokers, but a real life-or-death struggle. His trembling hand reached for the man's deck—in that instant...

"Wait, what's going on?"

A long, slender hand grasped the boy's arm.

"Oh dear? Miss, don't you know it's very impolite to barge in and disrupt a gambling game?"

"A betting game? What betting? I think you're just bullying a kid."

How do you know that?

"Hello..."

Seeing the man's shameless and scoundrel-like demeanor, Xiao Wu was speechless. A middle-aged man gambling with a boy who wasn't even ten years old, and seriously putting pressure on the boy, making the boy's hand tremble as he drew cards—wasn't this bullying a child?

"I never expected that a casual game with the child would lead to such a righteous person as you. Seeing how enthusiastic you are, are you perhaps going to help him?"

"I'm neither a champion of justice nor someone like you, I just find you all too noisy—uh, okay, I guess I just can't stand it anymore." Seeing the boy's face, which had just been radiating hope, turn gloomy again, Xiao Wu quickly changed her tune.

"Oh? So you mean you want to help him play?"

"It's just a simple joker draw; at worst, I'll cover his losses."

Xiao Wu disdainfully took the cards from the boy's hand. Sure enough, there was a joker among the three cards, which would become very dangerous if it wasn't removed quickly.

"Big sister, you really--"

"Shut up, brat. Don't flatter yourself. I'm helping you because I don't like him."

"But, if we lose—"

"Isn't winning enough?"

As Xiao Wu spoke, without any hesitation, she drew a card from the man's deck and paired it with her own three of clubs. When she discarded these two cards, she was left with only a joker and a seven of diamonds, while her opponent was left with only one card that could be paired with the seven of diamonds.

In other words, when the man draws his next card, he wins as long as he doesn't draw the seven of diamonds.

"Heh heh~ Let me tell you, I have pretty good luck and observation skills. Although statistically, the probability of drawing one card from two cards is only fifty-fifty, your subtle expressions and—"

"Stop talking nonsense and just draw your weapon!"

"Yes, yes... She's really fierce. Be careful she won't be able to get married in the future."

The man continued his banter, casually drawing a card without hesitation or selection, not even glancing at Xiao Wu's expression as she drew the card, completely relying on a one-in-two chance of winning or losing.

"Ah! I won!"

The man tossed down two pairs of cards, leaving his hand empty, while the Joker ended up in Xiao Wu's hand. Compared to the jubilant man, the boy was truly ashen-faced, deeply regretting bringing this kind and beautiful older sister along!

"We won! We won! We won!"

"Ugh, you're so annoying! So what if you won by drawing Jokers? Fine, just tell me, it's all about the gambling money, right? How much?" Xiao Wu impatiently showed her wallet. Anyway, Ye had given her enough Tong Coin; she'd find a chance to pay her back later.

"Money? Ah, don't be so vulgar. In gambling, money is both currency and a tool for excitement. I generally don't like to use money as a wager, so when the game started, what I bet with this boy was—something else."

What happened next was so sudden.

"I'll accept your hand, Urahara Sakura Dance."

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After defeating this mini-boss, the groundwork laid in the early stages of Volume 4 is officially finished, and like Volume 3, the rest of the book is packed with high-energy moments.

Just asking for a Monthly Votes ~