Following the black-haired ape, Feng Qi was led to a new buyer.
The buyer was a completely black, floating black orb-like lifeform.
This time, there was no unexpected turn of events. After inspecting the soul orb that Feng Qi handed over and confirming its value, the black orb lifeform promptly tossed out a bloodstone card.
Feng Qi took the bloodstone card and looked at it closely.
It was a semi-transparent, blood-colored crystal card, with an energy crystal embedded in the center. The blood-colored lines spread across the upper half of the card, forming a series of characters.
Noticing Feng Qi's confusion, the black-haired ape immediately began to explain the purpose of the bloodstone card.
This card, in Fate City, was known as the Wealth Card. It primarily serves to record wealth and doesn't have much inherent value itself. It's not a spatial item that can store or transfer resources acquired through trade.
The special symbols on the upper half of the card were a proof of the Wealth Card's value.
In Fate City, all gambling games are paid for using these bloodstone cards or rewarded with them.
After all, gambling games involving tens of millions or even billions of bloodstones are very common in Fate City. It would be impossible to use physical chips for every game. Large-scale betting games require mountains of resources, which is highly inefficient and time-consuming.
The lord of Fate City thought of this problem long ago, which is why they set up a special institution within the city called the "Wealth Center," similar to a bank in the human world.
This institution does not store physical resources except for general-use chips. Any visitor can spend one thousand bloodstones to create an anonymous Wealth Card. Any general-use chips can be stored on the card.
When visitors want to retrieve their stored wealth, they can present their Wealth Card to the Wealth Center, where the bloodstone value is deducted from the card's numerical code, and physical bloodstones are given out, which can be taken with spatial items.
As for whether the spatial items a gambler carries can hold the bloodstones, that's not a concern of the Wealth Center.
If the gambler can't carry all the bloodstones at once, they can choose to withdraw the amount in batches or continue storing it on the card.
As long as Fate City is still operational, the wealth stored in the Wealth Center won't be lost.
The method to use the bloodstone card is also simple: just insert one's consciousness into the card, and a transaction panel will appear. From there, transactions can be completed by tapping the cards against each other.
With the black-haired ape's explanation, Feng Qi had a clearer understanding of the bloodstone card, especially the numeric symbols, which were essential for using the cards; without understanding these, completing transactions would be impossible.
After the black-haired ape finished his explanation, Feng Qi tried inserting his consciousness into the bloodstone card. Instantly, countless illusory red codes appeared in his field of view.
He snapped back to focus and touched the black-haired ape's bloodstone card with his own. As his consciousness manipulated the red codes, the numbers on the card changed.
After transferring 500,000 bloodstones, his own bloodstone card still had 52,500,000 regular bloodstones.
Coming back to his senses, he handed the black-haired ape's bloodstone card back.
"Thank you. If you ever have anything else to sell, feel free to find me. Integrity is the foundation of my dealings here, and I hope to earn your trust."
Looking at the genuinely sincere expression on the black-haired ape, Feng Qi nodded with a smile.
After the black-haired ape left, Feng Qi turned to the civet cat messenger, who had been standing by.
"Take me to the upper levels, especially the Illustration War Game."
"As you wish, guest," the civet cat messenger said with a nod and a swish of its feather fan.
Next, Feng Qi followed the civet cat messenger to the end of the central trading area, where they ascended a set of crystal stairs.
The stairs were of exceptional quality, with interior colored clouds of crystal, translucent and sparkling.
Under the light, the colors shone brilliantly.
Soon, they reached the third level, where advanced gambling games were offered.
Feng Qi saw various forms of mental domain creatures participating in gambling at the tables. Their appearances varied: some resembled jellyfish-like mental creatures, others resembled floating black orbs, and so on. These beings typically used their tentacles to control the gambling pieces.
There were also a few flesh-and-blood lifeforms participating in advanced gambling with the mental creatures.
The scene in the area stretched far, and Feng Qi couldn't even estimate how many gamblers were there.
He wasn't interested in staying on this level, so he followed the civet cat messenger up the stairs.
Curious, Feng Qi couldn't help but ask along the way:
"Aren't there any elevators here?"
"What's an elevator?" The civet cat messenger looked puzzled.
"A fixed lift system that can quickly take you to the floor you want," Feng Qi explained.
"Oh, so it's something like that. But the device you described is outdated. The Fate City lord once considered installing stable spatial transmission devices between the floors of the grand hall, but he quickly abandoned the idea."
"Why?"
"The Fate City lord thought that such convenient transportation wouldn't be good for the gambling process."
"I don't understand why," Feng Qi replied, puzzled.
Stopping, the civet cat messenger twirled its feather fan and smiled.
"It's because the gamblers need to climb the stairs to move between floors. The process of walking up and down the stairs presents many temptations, and the thought of quitting quickly turns into the decision to continue."
"For example, when a gambler wins a large amount of wealth on the 88th floor and wants to leave, they must walk down the stairs, one level at a time. Along the way, they'll inevitably see many exciting games, which can easily cause temptation. The decision to leave may quickly change into the decision to continue gambling."
Upon hearing this, Feng Qi finally understood the Fate City Lord's reasoning.
"This is a scam, isn't it? Originally, you win a huge fortune on the 88th floor, but by the time you descend to the first floor, you might not be able to resist the temptations along the way, leading to losing everything."
"Yeah, such guests do exist. But there are also guests who, as they descend, manage to turn their wealth into a snowball effect, multiplying it several times by the time they return to the first floor. Not all results of temptation brought by gambling are bad."
Feng Qi nodded at the civet cat messenger's point.
What makes Fate City special is its fairness. There is no "house" that takes a cut of the profits or sets traps in the odds. The platform only provides the venue for the games.
So, there's no possibility of a "house" designing probability traps.
Compared to the gambling cities in the human world before the Cataclysm, winning in Fate City is both more likely and fairer.
The Fate City Lord's decision not to install simple transportation devices stems from the desire to keep the gambling process ongoing, not from an intent to exploit the gamblers.
Soon, they arrived at the fourth level of the palace.
Passing through a barrier that was as transparent as rippling water, the noise of the crowd immediately filled their ears.
Feng Qi found himself standing at the top of a circular stadium. In the center of the arena, surrounded by a transparent barrier, was a gladiatorial combat arena the size of two football fields.
Numerous gamblers, like himself, stood on the circular platform, watching the arena and shouting loud cheers.
Even though he wasn't participating in the game, Feng Qi could feel the excitement of the gamblers around him.
His gaze shifted to the arena, where two figures were locked in combat.
Due to the distance, Feng Qi narrowed his eyes and focused, zooming in his vision to get a clearer view of the situation in the arena.
At that moment, two warriors were engaged in a brutal fight.
The process of their life-or-death battle was extremely bloody, with one of the duelists already having half of his body torn off. Yet, driven by a strong survival instinct, he continued fighting, trying to turn the tide.
But his struggles didn't bring him victory. When his head was torn off, the stands erupted in a mix of cheering, curses, and roars.
Just from this one battle, countless gamblers who had placed their entire fortunes on the line were now left destitute.
The second battle soon began, with another two figures stepping onto the battlefield.
Feng Qi didn't linger here. He followed the civet cat messenger as they ascended the next set of stairs.
The next 5th to 8th levels were all arenas for combat games.
At each level, Feng Qi witnessed another intense and bloody fight. The combat was fierce, and the atmosphere was madness both inside the arena and outside with the gamblers.
As he observed, Feng Qi noticed a distinct feature of the participating gladiators.
They all possessed exceptional combat skills, and it was clear that these skills were the key to their success in the battles.
The 4th to 8th levels had a strict vetting process, where the participants' combat abilities were assessed and rated. Only participants of roughly equal strength were allowed to engage in combat games.
In such cases, combat skills became the deciding factor.
Those daring enough to risk their lives for a reward were clearly confident in their combat skills; otherwise, participating would be no different from walking into certain death.
Here, he saw all kinds of brutal fighting techniques, with every strike designed to be a lethal move.
Blood, sweat, and death—the visceral excitement was one of the reasons gamblers got so addicted to these games.
As Feng Qi walked up the stairs to the 9th floor, he couldn't help but reflect on what he had seen on the 4th to 8th floors.
Looking at the civet cat messenger in front of him, he couldn't help but ask:
"Is it possible for a visitor to just watch without betting?"
Hearing this, the civet cat messenger responded without turning around:
"There are no restrictions on the combat games on the 4th to 8th floors. If someone just wants to watch without betting, that's fine. But after watching for a while, with so many stories of people suddenly becoming rich right in front of you, it's hard to resist joining in."
"Once you start betting, whether you win or lose, it's already laying the foundation for becoming a seasoned gambler... there are plenty of visitors who initially swore they'd never bet and just wanted to watch. But after they delved deeper into the combat games and developed their own methods for judging the strength of participants, they naturally became gamblers themselves."
"You have to understand, there's no shady business going on here. A lot of these gamblers are able to consistently make profits, but there are also those who, after several wrong calls, get carried away and end up making big bets, only to lose everything."
The civet cat messenger's explanation gave Feng Qi some clarity.
Next, they passed through a purple transparent curtain and arrived on the 9th floor.
This was the floor for the assembly games.
The scene that unfolded before Feng Qi was completely different from the previous levels.
Brilliant neon lights intertwined, and the roar of mechanical engines could be heard from afar.
Ahead, a massive square was filled with buildings and structures that appeared to be assembled from various mechanical parts.
All the gamblers were standing on elevated platforms.
Their eyes were fixed on the west side of the square, where hundreds of teams were assembling flight engineering devices from the random materials provided for this event.
This was the essence of the assembly game.
To participate, the teams had to pay an entry fee, which would form the prize pool for the game. The winning team would draw rewards from this pool.
The spectators, however, were participating in a separate betting game outside the prize pool of the participants.
From the stands, Feng Qi noticed that almost all the participants in the assembly game entered as teams.
The reason was something he could easily guess.
After all, the rules of the assembly game involve using randomly provided materials to assemble flying machines, which includes forging, assembly, enchanting, and other processes.
It's clear that with individual ability alone, completing the processes of material smelting, crafting, and assembly within the limited time would be very difficult.
After asking the civet cat messenger, Feng Qi learned that a competition of this nature takes 39 hours.
Feng Qi, who had initially wanted to check out the assembly flying competition, lost all interest immediately.
The time was simply too long. He wasn't willing to wait for nearly two days just to watch a flying competition.
He continued to follow the civet cat messenger as they moved up the stairs.
The 9th to 14th floors were all assembly game arenas. Feng Qi didn't see any actual assembly flying games in progress; instead, he saw the teams busily working in their respective areas.
He thought that if Mo Fei were here, he would definitely be intrigued by the sight.
But Feng Qi had no interest in such things, so he had no intention of staying for long.
After leaving the 14th floor, they arrived at the 15th floor.
The 15th to 32nd floors were all fraud games arenas.
Here, gamblers set up virtual scenes in the form of booths, inviting participants to challenge them. They set up scams within these simulated scenes, and the players needed to identify flaws in the deception.
Fraud games were the second most popular games in Fate City after the Illustrated War Games.
Feng Qi had originally wanted to see how exciting these fraud games could be, but the virtual scenes set up by the fraudsters were all shielded by energy barriers, making it impossible to casually observe. After all, this was how they made their living. To watch, one would have to become a challenger.
Thinking that it would cost money, Feng Qi immediately lost interest.
Mastering this kind of gambling game would obviously require some upfront investment, and he wasn't willing to waste his resources here.
50 million bloodstones seemed like a lot to him and he planned to bring back some to Star City.
It could potentially provide a huge boost to Star City's development and change the tide at a critical moment.
He figured these fraud games might be ideal for Old Mist, a master of tricks. It was his specialty.
Feng Qi was only really interested in the Illustrated War Games.
He had Lei Ting, a war genius, by his side.
Lei Ting was skilled in warfare, troop compositions, and military strategies. Maybe letting Lei Ting participate could bring in significant returns.
But he wasn't planning on taking any major risks here. He planned to give Lei Ting some funds and let him take a chance.
If they won, it would be like turning a bicycle into a motorcycle. If they lost, it would only be the portion of funds he had mentally prepared to lose. He would never bet beyond his comfort zone.
Reaching the 33rd floor, Feng Qi passed through a white energy barrier and entered the Impersonator Game area.
The area was divided into equally-sized sections, separated by energy barriers. Each barrier room had a label showing the participation fee.
But the minimum fee started at 100,000 bloodstones.
He could see many figures moving around within the rooms, and each room had a countdown clock ticking above it.
"Boss, this looks really fun. Let's try it out!"
Looking at the figures shifting forms inside the rooms, Xiao You, flying nearby, excitedly shouted.
"No, the minimum fee is 100,000 bloodstones per room. It's too expensive," Feng Qi replied.
Hearing this, the civet cat messenger smiled and shook his head.
"Guest, the Impersonator game shields perception within its scenes. The game relies on intuition and luck. There are no barriers to entry. The scene at the start is completely random, and you can experience it with just 100,000 bloodstones."
With the civet cat messenger's explanation, Feng Qi glanced at Xiao You, who was still eagerly encouraging him, and then nodded.
"Alright, I'll give it a try."
Under Xiao You and the others' watchful eyes, Feng Qi approached the cheapest room, swiped his bloodstone card at the crystalline door, and immediately, the bloodstones on the card glowed as the numbers changed, and 100,000 bloodstones were deducted.
He stepped through the energy barrier into the room.
Inside, there were 43 participants, both mental and flesh-based domain creatures. Their eyes were constantly scanning the room, seemingly trying to spot flaws in each other's disguises.
Looking upwards, Feng Qi noticed the energy countdown timer ticking down.
As he waited, several more gamblers entered the room.
When the countdown finished, the room suddenly started to distort, followed by an extension of changes.
In the blink of an eye, the empty room turned into a small island.
A deep voice echoed in his ear:
"Half of the impersonators have been selected. They are currently under perception shielding. Countdown: 69 seconds. The impersonators will begin their disguises!"
As the voice faded, a semi-transparent panel appeared before Feng Qi.
On it were 10 random disguise options.
Realizing he needed to complete his disguise within the limited time, Feng Qi scanned the island scene through the transparent panel. After a brief hesitation, he chose a tree.
Once the selection was made, Feng Qi found himself surrounded by a layer of energy, and from the outside, he had transformed into a tree that could move.
Now, he needed to find a safe spot on the small island to hide and avoid detection from the assessors.
In this game, each assessor had 12 chances to attack. Any attack beyond 12 would be invalid.
During the game, if the impersonator was attacked, their true form would be revealed, and they would be eliminated.
This prevented the assessors from casually destroying things or conducting carpet-style searches.
Arriving at the beach facing the ocean, Feng Qi decided to stay there, waiting for the game to begin.
At that moment, a small white creature resembling a rabbit slowly hopped over to him.
It was clearly not a virtual creature from the island's simulated environment, as it had a distinctive impersonator symbol on its head. The rabbit shook its head, seemingly indicating that the area wasn't safe.
Then, the rabbit pointed its mouth forward toward a large tree that was flourishing.
Realizing that the rabbit, being his teammate, was teaching him how to better disguise himself, Feng Qi nodded and followed the rabbit to the tree, where he positioned himself.
The rabbit then nodded in satisfaction before quickly disappearing from his sight.
Feng Qi: ...
Was this an expression of affection from an old player?
When the countdown ended, the Impersonator Game officially began.
The assessors, who had not changed their life forms, appeared. They quickly began to move around the island, occasionally turning around and emitting roars, seemingly attempting to scare the impersonators into revealing their flaws.
Soon, the first round of attacks began, and the assessors started destroying things in the scene that looked out of place.
On the panel, 32 impersonators were shown, and within a short time, 3 had already been eliminated.
The game continued, and Feng Qi remained motionless, leaning against the old tree, swaying with the wind.
At that moment, he spotted the little white animal again, hopping forward, occasionally using its small front limbs to dig at the ground as if searching for food.
One of the assessors passed right by it without even glancing at the little rabbit.
Seeing this, Feng Qi couldn't help but exclaim, "Well done!"
The concept of "the most dangerous is the safest" was clearly put into practice by this participant.
As the countdown timer floated in the sky, the pace of the assessors' destruction began to accelerate. Some even started randomly damaging things in the scene, and with bad luck, an impersonator could be eliminated.
After about half an hour, the game entered its final five minutes, and things became chaotic.
The assessors began to destroy things recklessly. One assessor passed close to Feng Qi and landed a heavy punch on the tree in front of him, making Feng Qi nearly think he was about to be eliminated.
Fortunately, after the heavy punch, the assessor didn't strike Feng Qi, and he barely survived.
As the countdown reached the final minute, there were fewer than ten assessors left in the game.
Feng Qi was lucky enough to still be alive.
When the final ten seconds countdown began, the assessors had already used up all their destruction chances.
When the countdown ended, Feng Qi's body returned to normal, and a semi-transparent statistical panel appeared before him.
First, the points for the game were calculated.
The assessors earned points based on how many impersonators they had eliminated, while the impersonators earned points based on how long they remained undiscovered.
After comparing the points, the assessors emerged victorious and took one-fifth of the total prize pool in bloodstones. The remaining bloodstones were distributed based on their elimination points. Those assessors with no eliminations did not receive any bloodstones.
Next came the statistics for the camp's victory or defeat.
Since there were still 6 impersonators alive at the end, the victory belonged to Feng Qi's camp. As one of the last remaining impersonators, he received 70,000 bloodstones.
Finally, the rewards for the impersonators' survival time were distributed.
This time, Feng Qi received 150,000 bloodstones.
As his bloodstone card began to glow and the numbers changed, Feng Qi checked and found that 210,000 ordinary bloodstones had been credited to his account.
Just from trying one game, the resources he invested had already doubled.
This kind of heart-pounding gamble with high rewards was truly thrilling.
Feng Qi finally understood why so many gamblers chose to squander their wealth here.
The temptation of rapidly increasing wealth was something no living being could easily resist.
His gaze swept across the room, and the gamblers were already waiting for the next round to begin. Feng Qi couldn't identify the old player who had given him the earlier advice.
He then turned and left the room by passing through the energy barrier.
For every win, there was a loss.
The little rabbit who had given him advice was unfortunately eliminated by the assessors in the end, but Feng Qi survived, largely due to luck.
He couldn't guarantee that he would win the next round, so it was better to quit while he was ahead.
"Not bad, Boss, you're amazing!"
After leaving the room, Xiao You flew up to him with a proud look and praised him, then continued to urge him.
"Boss, let's play another round. This time, I suggest we turn into small animals."
"No more. I've already won 110,000 bloodstones. That's enough to train a ten-person elite squad," Feng Qi firmly declined.
Upon hearing Xiao You's request, Feng Qi decisively refused.
"Guest, how do you feel? Isn't it thrilling?" The civet cat messenger smiled and asked.
"It's not bad, but it's not really for me."
"You'll definitely find a game you like on the upper floors. There's always some kind of game that will appeal to you."
As the civet cat spoke, there was an undeniable confidence in his eyes.
"Maybe. Let's continue going up."
The civet cat nodded and led Feng Qi and the others to the higher floors of Fate Hall.