Preparation Below

"Pay attention, everyone, don't accidentally bump or knock anything over." Ya Midie directed ten porters as they moved a batch of custom-made tables and chairs into the shop.

Inside the shop, over a dozen workers were busy installing exquisite hanging chairs woven from rattan.

Individual treated green vines were hung from hooks already reserved on the ceiling, lifting the rattan chairs off the ground and suspending them in mid-air.

They were just like swings.

These were temporary workers Ya Midie had recruited from the South Gate Logistics Market. With a daily wage of 500 ryō paid out on the spot, many villagers waiting for work at the market had scrambled to sign up.

Meanwhile, at Hiruko's research base, twenty half-grown children were also busy having the time of their lives. Stack after stack of assembled brick-sized "Fruit Slot Machines" were being packed into crates, ready to be transported to the shop on East Street.

These twenty children had all been selected from the Konoha Orphanage, having signed long-term contracts and non-disclosure agreements akin to indentured servitude.

Any violation of the contract would result in punishment equivalent to that of a village traitor.

No one doubted the authenticity of these contracts, for at the very bottom were the signatures of Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen and his advisor, Shimura Danzō. This was a valid, legal contract initiated by Danzō after he had reviewed Xian Yu's entire business plan, and it had received unanimous approval from the upper echelons of Konoha.

While serving as assistants to Hiruko, they were also future reserve research personnel. Although their current monthly salary was not high—only 5,000 ryō—the benefits were quite generous.

The "Five Protections and One Subsidy" concept proposed by Xian Yu—old-age security, medical security, unemployment security, work-related injury security, maternity security, and housing subsidies—left these twenty children with no further worries.

The preparations did not stop there.

Early this morning, Shinozaki Ayumi had gone to collect the thirty custom-made promotional banners she had commissioned from a craftsman. After Xian Yu emerged from the Hokage Building and notified her, she began hanging them all over the streets of Konoha.

"Xingxin Internet Cafe is opening soon! Giving away 500 'Fruit Slot Machines' for free! First come, first served, while supplies last!" In the bottom right corner of the banner, the shop's address was written: 7 East Street Konoha.

"Xingxin Internet Cafe? What kind of shop is that?"

"Fruit Slot Machine? Is it for juicing fruit?"

"Wow, they're giving them away for free! Let's go take a look."

"There are only 500 of them! I'd better hurry and go see."

The villagers of Konoha, seeing banners like this for the first time, were soon buzzing with discussion.

Some expressed disdain: "Nothing good ever comes for free! A bunch of commoners."

Human curiosity is a terrifying catalyst. Before long, thirty or forty villagers had gathered in front of the shop at 7 East Street, which bore the plaque "Xingxin Internet Cafe," to join in the excitement.

This plaque also bore the mark of Xian Yu. Considering that the internet cafe would eventually operate all day, lights were installed inside the plaque, and the exterior was wrapped in a layer of fluorescent paper. At night, it would cast the four characters "Xingxin Internet Cafe" in colorful hues, looking quite spectacular.

"Please, those who wish to receive a 'Fruit Slot Machine,' line up. Do not crowd. Collect them in order." A girl of about thirteen, wearing a hood and sporting golden-chrysanthemum-colored hair, maintained order among the onlookers with a smile.

At the Xingxin front desk, two children aged seven or eight and Samo were busy distributing the machines to those in line and explaining how to use them.

The machines contained an app specifically designed to introduce the usage methods, so the children only needed to teach people how to open the app to watch the tutorial.

"Please register your name here, thank you. Once you've registered, you can receive a Fruit Slot Machine for free. If you are willing to leave your home address, we will send some small gifts to your house whenever we hold events in the future." Aunt Ya was in charge of registration at the front desk; once people finished registering with her, they could go to the three children nearby to collect a machine.

"Excuse me, didn't you already collect a Fruit Slot Machine just now? You are...?" Just then, the hooded girl maintaining order at the entrance spoke to a young man in the queue.

It was precisely because of her exceptional memory that she had been assigned to this task.

The people around them heard this and cast looks of contempt.

The people of Konoha were generally simple and honest; as long as they were willing to work hard, they could get by even in tough times, so such behavior was rarely seen.

The young man hurriedly shook his head in embarrassment and said, "No, that's not it. I'm not trying to get another machine. May I ask, can I top up the gold coins for this Fruit Slot Machine game here at the front desk? I queued up again just to ask this."

Looking at the Fruit Slot Machine screen the man was shaking, which showed a balance of 0 gold coins, the hooded girl suddenly realized. Everyone's 'Fruit Slot Machine' started with 100 gold coins. Clearly, this young man must have been in the first batch to receive a machine and had already gambled away all his coins.

There was a hint of surprise in the hooded girl's eyes. When the boy with the cross-shaped scar on his chin had asked her to come help give things away for free and claimed it would be very profitable, she hadn't quite believed him.

At the time, she had been skeptical, but he had handed her 8,000 ryō directly, saying it was her first month's wages.

One had to know that even if she were lucky enough to find work every day at the market, 5,000 ryō a month would be considered a very good income.

Out of kindness, she had worriedly reminded him at the time: "If you give things away like this, won't you lose money?"

Now, seeing a customer come to hand over money so quickly, although she didn't fully understand it, she began to believe. Perhaps this was a job she could keep for a very, very long time...

"If you want to buy a top-up card, that's over there. See, over there." The hooded girl pointed to a solid wood round table inside, where a young man was sitting, looking bored.

Everyone entering the shop had swarmed the front desk, leaving his side feeling rather deserted by comparison.

"Thank you." The young man thanked her and walked over to the solid wood round table, asking, "Hello, may I ask if I can buy top-up cards here?"

Xian Yu opened his eyes, which had been on the verge of drifting off to sleep, and took a stack of paper cards from the drawer under the round table. "How much do you want? I have 100 ryō, 1,000 ryō, and 10,000 ryō denominations."

The young man pondered for a moment and said, "I'd like to ask first, is what the 'Fruit Slot Machine' app introduction says true? Can the gold coins inside be spent here at any time? Even the coins won in the game?"

"Yes, that's right. Look, over there, they are already selling drinks, chicken legs, and rice. You can exchange the coins inside directly for these. The price is the same as using ryō. We will add more items for exchange in the future," Xian Yu said.

The young man looked at the small corner stall where snacks were indeed being sold, and said, "Then I'd like three 1,000-ryō top-up cards."

Taking the 3,000 ryō in banknotes from the man, Xian Yu pulled out three cards of 1,000-gold denomination and handed them over.

The young man examined the top-up cards carefully and asked, "The characters drawn on these cards are really beautiful. Do they have any special meaning?"

Xian Yu didn't mind the man's fussiness and explained patiently, "Before long, you will be very familiar with the characters on these cards."