Apocalypse: System of lotteries



Late at night, in the basement of the Ground Floor of a Trading Company in the Trading Town.

Laughing, Masaru Tatsuryu stated, "Capture all that can be caught, let the performance unfold, Mr. Guteman, come on~"

Ming punched Masaru Tatsuryu and knocked him to the ground. He then dragged him down to the fifth level, into a prison cell, and tossed him into a room. Within it, seven generals from the Great Sun Empire were shackled firmly to the wall with pure gold cuffs.

Ming also shackled Masaru Tatsuryu. A little adversity like this was nothing for someone who wanted to become king. 

"You bastard! How dare you capture us!"

"Don't you want to live anymore? We are the Eight Great Generals of the Taiyang Empire!"

"Release us immediately!"

"Bah!"

"..."

Ming was not angry at all. Making money was a very happy thing. 

Bang!

With a thump, he punched the man who had cursed, collapsing his nose. Uncivilized people who used foul language were due for a lesson. which had nothing to do with whether he was angry or not. It was mainly to make man more civilized, and the effect was obvious. He had already shut up and stopped talking, just spit out a few more teeth.

"You!"

"..."

The others glared at their bleeding companion, gritting their teeth in fury.

"Quiet down, no grinding of teeth~" Ming swept the room with a look, exiting the prison cell. He glanced at the cell across, which similarly held seven or eight important figures locked in shackles.

He tossed Lopene out of his space and commanded, "After I leave, take all their money away and leave nothing behind!"

"Hehe~"

[Your Lopene nods...watching you leave and standing in the corridor center, launching collective fundraising toward the people in the cells on both sides...]

[…]

Ming arrived at the fourth level of the basement, heading towards a room deep within the hallway. It was neatly adorned with radiant flowers, making the room bright and transparent. The furnishings were simple: a table and two chairs facing each other.

At this moment, Hengichi Kagawa, who had just been brought in, was sitting on the chair against the wall. He looked up slightly at the newcomer and asked, "Who are you? Why have you captured me?"

Ming pulled over a chair, sat down, and smiled, "I'm a man who earns a living through hard labor. I captured you merely to make a bit of money."

"Heh~"

Hengichi Kagawa scoffed coldly, now more certain than ever that the man before him must be from the Guteman family. What surprised him was the way these people had chosen to respond to the kidnapping of one of their own. Such an approach was quite effective, he had learned something.

What surprised him more was that despite the secrecy of his and the others' residences, this man knew them like the back of his hand. The Guteman family truly was fearsome!

Traitors deserve to die!

With a crisp slap, Ming withdrew his hand.

"You!"

Hengichi Kagawa stared blankly at the man before him, exclaiming, "Why did you hit me?"

Ming smiled. "I don't know why, but hitting you makes me very happy. Strange, isn't it?"

"Aren't you supposed to use me to make money?"

"Hitting you doesn't prevent me from making money."

Ming slapped him again, standing up and pounding fist after fist into Hengichi Kagawa's face. 

Bang bang bang!!!

After a while.

Ming straightened up, stepping back to look at Hengichi Kagawa curled in the corner, then walked forward and kicked him in the abdomen, continuing to pound him with consummate legwork!

What joy!

"Ah~~"

Hengichi Kagawa was very uncomfortable and in great pain. Hey, didn't you get the kidnapping process wrong? 

Don't you want ransom and just want to tear up the ticket directly?

That woman of yours is still in our hands!

Bang bang bang!

Thud! Thud! Thud!

...

In the trading company lobby, David frowned, pretending to be helpless and sympathetic as he said to Hotta Ichishu across from him, "How can you be sure it's 109 people who caught your people? Oh, since your people are missing, shouldn't you hurry to find them instead of telling me this? It wasn't us who did it. Besides, I'm still anxious and desperate over Miss Clos' matter~"

"..."

Hotta Ichishu glanced at the table next to them, at the meticulously arranged feast-like array of delicacies. He really couldn't see where the desperation was in the person across from him. 

In fact, Hotta Ichishu knew clearly in his heart that we caught your people, and you caught our people too. It was just that everyone was pretending to be dumb.

Hotta Ichishu took a deep breath and said in a roundabout way, "My purpose in coming here is to remind everyone that someone must be sabotaging things, trying to make us suspicious of each other, wanting to stir up war between us. We solemnly declare that the kidnapping of your family members was absolutely not our doing, but we will spare no effort to investigate this matter. We will pray for Miss Clos' safety and health, and also hope for the safety and health of our own people."

"Hmm~"

David smiled. They were actually playing such petty tricks with him. He immediately responded, "Don't worry, your people will come to no harm, they have the protection of heaven. Our Miss Clos will definitely be fine too, right?"

"!"

Hotta Ichishu caught the subtle message in David's last sentence and nodded slightly. "We all hope they're okay."

...

In the imperial palace of the Sun Empire late at night, Wu Teda Tsugai smashed the teapot in front of him with a punch. The shards flew everywhere, brushing past the faces of the three men in front of him. None of them dared to dodge, allowing minor cuts to appear on their faces as they remained knelt with their heads lowered. 

Wu Teda Tsugai furiously asked, "Hotta Ichishu and the Eight Generals and so many others have all been captured. Are they all idiots? Are their guards all idiots too?"

Facing such a question, the three people looked at each other. If they weren't fools, such a thing wouldn't have happened, right?

"There must be a traitor among us!"

One of them lifted his head, stating firmly, "How could those two know the exact locations of so many people? There must be a traitor helping them, making it so easy for them to capture our people!"

"And also..."

Another said, "Even with a traitor's help, don't forget those Generals are powerful people, yet they were easily captured by just two... That's enough to show those two are strong, and very likely one is 109's... Guttman!" 

"Hmm~ There is a high possibility."

The one who had stayed silent finally spoke up and nodded in agreement. 

"..."

Seated at the head of the table, Wu Teda Tsugai took a deep breath and then chuckled. "He dares to come here alone, what a self-assured person."

"Indeed~"

"Also very strong~"

"He's quite daring~"

The three kneeling underneath all nodded in agreement.

Slap!

Wu Teda Tsugai slapped the table angrily. "You three! Is this the time to admire and praise that man? What do we do now? Speak!"

"..."

The three kept their heads down, staring at their knees in thought.

After a while, one said, "How about...we release that woman?"

"..."

"Idiot!"

The person next to him immediately scolded, "If we let that woman go, will those 109 people release our people? You're really naive. Let me tell you, if we do that, they will be even more unscrupulous in their blackmail!"

"We can't let her go!"

Another said, "Now, neither side has admitted to kidnapping the other's people, but everyone knows clearly. Since it's so, we should negotiate directly with them - use this woman to exchange for our people!"

"No way!"

The person who spoke earlier directly denied it, saying, "If we admit it, isn't that a complete declaration of war? Although we will attack them in the future, the timing is not right now. Therefore, we absolutely cannot admit that we kidnapped that woman!"

"Yeah, who confesses without being beaten?"

"Ah~"

"..."

The three fell silent again, simultaneously raising their eyes carefully toward Wu Teda Tsugai.

"You three..."

Wu Teda Tsugai suppressed his anger, leaned forward, and said, "You've been talking for so long, but you don't have a single solution, right?"

"..."

The three lowered their heads again. Releasing the woman was not an option, killing her wasn't either, and neither was trading her for their own people. But they couldn't just abandon those captured generals and other individuals! After all, they were the backbone of the empire's strength. Losing one wouldn't matter much, but losing all would be a heavy blow to the empire!

Without them, what could they use to dominate the world? They'd likely get taken advantage of! What they understood most clearly was that the fundamental crux was their strength wasn't great enough! If their strength was enough to crush the opposition, there'd be no need to agonize here.

Therefore, they had to swallow a bitter pill! As for which one to choose, the decision was not in their hands, but in Wu Teda Tsugai's.

At this moment, one of them raised his head and said, "They captured our people to establish a balance of power with us. Now, we need to take a step ahead and break this balance!"

"Oh? How to break it?"

Wu Teda Tsugai and the others all turned their heads to look at him.

"It's simple. Our goal is to kill Gutman. The only way now is to advance the agreed time and location! Let them have no time to consider their next step... We cut off one of the woman's fingers and send it over, making them extremely anxious. I believe if they truly care about that woman, they will definitely show up for the meeting! Then we can attack their nest in the chaos!"

"Heh~"

The person next to him sneered, "Your idea is wonderful, but have you considered, if they receive the finger, won't they send us a dozen more in return?"