Using Pai Pai as a Wager (Revised)

Only then did Cordis finally arrive.

The instant Bowenbo saw Cordis, he looked as though he had discovered some rare treasure.

He puckered his lips and cheered nonstop.

He raised his fleshy hands over his head.

Staring at Cordis with a crazed expression, he murmured,

"Silver hair! So beautiful! I can hardly wait to gobble you up!"

Watching Bowenbo spray spit everywhere whenever he spoke, Cordis was thoroughly disgusted.

He edged closer to Hisoka, revulsion written all over his face.

After hearing Bowenbo's words, Hisoka's perpetually smiling face instantly turned serious.

"That won't do. Pai Pai is my target, you know."

But Bowenbo, sitting opposite them, seemed not to hear him. He even tried to move his obese body toward Cordis.

Unfortunately, he was so fat that his legs could no longer support his weight.

Even with every ounce of strength he could muster, he couldn't get out of his enormous chair.

After struggling for a long time, Bowenbo finally accepted reality.

He settled back into his chair, panting.

Taking out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his face, he said to Hisoka,

"Tell me, what do you want to play?"

Hisoka leaned back in his chair, toying with Cordis's slender fingers with apparent indifference.

"Anything's fine~"

Hearing Hisoka's answer, Bowenbo grinned so widely that the corners of his mouth nearly reached his ears, chuckling nonstop.

Looks like this fellow's here for the first time.

Doesn't he know the ironclad rule? Never let Bowenbo choose the game.

What an idiot. In that case, I'll enjoy myself.

"All right, then I'll decide. By the way, how much money did you bring?"

Hisoka shook his head.

"None~ Not a single cent~"

That sent another surge of excitement through Bowenbo.

None! Doesn't that mean... I can ask him to put something else up as his wager!

Bowenbo pointed at Cordis beside Hisoka.

"If you haven't brought any money, wager that little beauty beside you."

Rather than answer, Hisoka asked Bowenbo a question in return.

"And you~ What will you wager~?"

Bowenbo snapped his fingers, and the beauties beside him brought out six leather suitcases.

As the cases opened, stack after stack of cash appeared before everyone's eyes.

To put it into perspective,

Each suitcase held nearly a billion in cash.

Six whole suitcases.

Six billion!

Hisoka nodded in satisfaction at the sight, his eyes narrowing.

"No problem~"

As he spoke, he gave Cordis a shove.

"If you win~ I'll give him to you~"

"But if I win~ You'll give me that money~"

Cordis was rather unhappy about that.

Why did they have to use me as the wager for their game!

Of course, that wasn't what annoyed him most. If Hisoka won, he would get a whole six billion JN!

Yet the bastard was only willing to give him five hundred thousand.

What a cheapskate!

After hearing Hisoka's words, Bowenbo spread his hands apart.

Then he clapped them together hard.

A violent gust of air swept toward everyone.

The blast was so strong that they couldn't keep their eyes open.

When they opened their eyes again,

They found themselves in an enormous pitch-black space, with a gigantic round table in its center.

Floating above the middle of the table was a winged fish.

It stared blankly at everyone.

With a deafening crash overhead, Bowenbo dropped from above.

He landed in his chair on one side of the round table.

Cordis and Hisoka exchanged a glance, then walked toward the table.

If Cordis wasn't mistaken,

This was Bowenbo's Nen Ability. No wonder he had become the ruler of the first floor-his Nen Ability had something to do with gambling.

But there were only three of them. What were they going to play?

With that question in mind, Cordis stepped up to the round table.

Bowenbo soon put his doubts to rest with another snap of his fingers.

The table, previously occupied by only three people, was instantly filled.

The people filling those seats were the beauties who had surrounded Bowenbo earlier.

The three women looked around in terror. Some tried to escape, but their feet seemed frozen in place, refusing to move.

Apparently, they were just ordinary people.

At the sight, Cordis couldn't help biting his lip. Involving ordinary people was a cardinal taboo for Nen users.

He would rather Bowenbo fight them outright than watch these ordinary people suffer.

But it was already far too late.

Hisoka, beside him, showed no reaction. They were only ordinary people; there were plenty more.

One or two deaths wouldn't matter.

Suddenly, all the lights went out. When they came back on, a woman's corpse had appeared on the previously spotless table.

The woman lay before everyone, stripped naked and in a horrifying state.

There were clear strangulation marks on her neck, and her hair was still dripping wet.

It looked as though someone had strangled her and then dumped her in a river.

But for some reason, Cordis found her strangely familiar.

As though he had seen her somewhere before.

He instinctively glanced at Hisoka beside him and saw that he, too, looked thoughtful.

And it wasn't just the two of them. Everyone had the same expression.

Just then, the winged fish in midair suddenly spoke.

[Between four and five last night, an unidentified woman's body was recovered from the river. Her death was confirmed to be a homicide.]

[And the killer is one of you.]

[If you identify the killer, the killer will be punished, and everyone else will be acquitted.]

[But if you identify the wrong person, everyone except the killer will be punished, and the killer will be acquitted.]

After hearing the fish's announcements, Cordis finally dredged up his memories of the woman.

He remembered that, when he first arrived at Heavens Arena, he had wanted to satisfy his curiosity.

So he had wandered all over Heavens Arena.

At close to four o'clock, he had indeed seen this woman, though only in passing.

But that brief encounter had been enough to leave a strong impression.

Although the woman had a sweet face, it had been covered in bruises of varying shades.

Some had clearly just been inflicted.

Of course, Cordis wasn't particularly inclined to help others. He had merely glanced at her and left.

Bowenbo's Nen Ability uses a game format similar to Danganronpa.

Don't ask me what Nen category Bowenbo belongs to.

Even if you ask, I don't know.

Could you leave a few more comments, folks?

I've got to eat, too.

Without comments, I have no damn motivation to write.

Enough talk. Hurry up and praise me.