Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei finds a Freylian

The next moment, Genji suddenly stood up.

With swift and decisive movements, he bypassed the seated Tachibana Masamune, walked straight to the screen on the left, picked up the largest brush, dipped it in thick ink, and forcefully drew a bold, firm, and unwavering stroke below the character for "war"!

The ink is dripping, its power penetrating the back of the screen!

Then, he casually tossed aside his pen, without even looking at anyone, turned around, and strode out of the hall. The hem of his black kimono drew a resolute arc behind him.

The entire hall was astonished! Low gasps of surprise rose uncontrollably.

Immediately afterward, Uesugi Erii, who had been as quiet as a doll, also stood up. She had no idea about the heated debate or the academics' departure; she simply followed Genji without hesitation when she saw him move.

She walked to the screen on the left, drew a stroke in the style of Genjiro, and then, dragging her slightly oversized wooden clogs, trotted after Genjiro, naturally reaching out to grab his sleeve and gently shaking it, as if she were just a cute little girl who wanted her older brother to play with her.

The Minamoto and Uesugi families, two of the three major clans, announced their support for Tachibana Masamune's determination to fight, even before the heads of the families had made a clear statement and the academic faction withdrew from the scene!

At this moment, the scales suddenly tipped.

Tachibana Masamune, whose face was covered by a white cloth, twitched the corner of his mouth slightly upward.

The rain continued to fall. Outside the shrine, the departing academic figures had disappeared into the rain. Inside the shrine, the ink stains beneath the screen with the character for "war" slowly spread, like blood about to spread.

The Snake Clan, this thousand-year-old underworld family, finally chose its future path on a turbulent night.

Far away in the hotel, Lu Mingfei smacked his lips in his sleep, turned over, completely unaware of everything that was about to be accelerated because of him.

Chapter 364 Paradise Pavilion

On the outskirts of Osaka, in the mountains.

This is a secluded paradise nestled amidst lush green mountains, isolated from the chilly early spring weather. A clear mountain stream flows gently by, spanned by an exquisite redwood bridge. Beside the bridge, young women in beautiful kimonos bow to greet and see off guests, their smiles gentle and their eyes sparkling.

Not far away, several samba dancers dressed in fiery attire danced to the rousing drumbeats. Flamingo feathers swayed with their exaggerated movements, their breasts heaving, displaying a primal and flamboyant allure without reservation.

Waiters wearing brightly colored Indian turbans moved about skillfully, carrying luggage for guests alighting from luxury cars.

The men were mostly distinguished, each accompanied by a woman draped in fur and glamorously made up. Their high heels clicked rhythmically on the meticulously polished cobblestones, and the women swayed their hips, their tight skirts revealing the curves of their hips and legs. Every step exuded an aura of desire and money.

Around the large house, men dressed in smart black suits with their shirts open could be seen wandering around seemingly casually. Their waists were bulging, and the gun butts that were inadvertently exposed gleamed with a cold, hard luster. They were carrying heavy tactical pistols made in Israel, and the large-caliber Magnum bullets they used were enough to easily tear through conventional body armor.

However, the guests seemed oblivious, even reassured. As long as the rules were followed, these men carrying deadly weapons were the most loyal protectors. But if anyone dared to cause trouble, they would instantly transform into the fiercest beasts, dealing with the problem in the most efficient way.

This is Gokurakukan, which has quietly opened up in the Osaka Mountains in the last two months, but has already become famous.

Despite its name, this casino is less than half the size of a typical casino, with a limited capacity for gamblers. However, the amount of money each guest brings to gamble is often ten times, or even dozens of times, that of other casinos. This is because the Elysium operates on an extremely simple rule: there is no upper limit.

The gamblers knew perfectly well that Gokurakukan had deep ties to the underworld. In Japan, connections between casinos and the yakuza are commonplace; many of the establishments they had frequented before were equally shady. But Gokurakukan's uniqueness lay in its claim of being able to grant any wish of the winner.

The lucky winner who wins a huge sum of chips will be respectfully invited into a secluded VIP room. Fine vintage wines will be prepared, and a young, beautiful, and uniquely elegant female manager will personally accompany them, gently inquiring in a slightly tipsy atmosphere if the guest has any wishes.

Any wish, no matter how absurd, outrageous, or evil.

Want to spend a romantic evening with the leading lady of a popular Japanese drama? Want to dine with the Prime Minister? These are still considered respectable. Some even go so far as to want to buy a young girl from a Southeast Asian country to improve their luck. Or perhaps, they wish for their business rivals to be ruined...

If a customer wins enough money and is willing to transfer this maddening wealth to the Wish Fund established by the Paradise, then these desires, whether light or dark, legal or forbidden, may become reality.

No casino in Tokyo, or even in all of Japan, dares to be so arrogant and domineering, no matter how deeply entrenched the yakuza forces behind it. Even in industries that operate in the shadows, there are unwritten rules that must be followed.

In the sex industry, no one questions young girls voluntarily providing companionship, but forcing high school girls into prostitution crosses a line, and the perpetrator may face the consequences, such as losing a finger. Living in the shadows requires even greater vigilance and adherence to boundaries; this is the survival rule of Japanese society, even the underworld. Those who cross the line often meet their demise quickly.

However, Elysium seems to exist outside of all rules and laws. Here, the winner is the god, and desire is the supreme law. As long as you pay the right price, you can trample on morality, ethics, and even human laws at will. Elysium claims it will bear all the risks and consequences.

It is like a bewitching flower that blooms out of season in the mountains of Osaka, beautiful, poisonous, and exuding a seductive, decadent fragrance; or like the legendary red lotus that foretells destruction, burning with the purest fire of desire. Those who know its secrets are filled with awe, even fear, yet like moths drawn to a flame, they cannot resist its allure.

Those who have experienced the allure of Gokurakukan find it hard to return to the mundane reality. As if possessed, they drive from all over Japan, carrying suitcases full of cash, just to gamble heavily in this temple of desire.

Because only those who win big have the right to make a wish, the idea of ​​gambling for fun is a joke here. At every gambling table, win or lose, the gamblers' faces are contorted with rage as they frantically push more and more chips forward. Their burning gazes frequently drift toward the gleaming red glass door leading to the VIP room, hoping for a stroke of luck, for the alluring female manager to kneel beside her and extend that fatal invitation.

The back of the person invited behind that door will be subjected to the burning gazes of everyone present, a mixture of envy, jealousy, and longing, until the door closes, creating a private space for realizing their dreams.

The patrons of Gokurakukan are all wealthy individuals with fortunes in the billions or even tens of billions of yen. For them, betting fortunes at the gambling table has long transcended the superficial goal of winning money. Their corporate empires generate enormous profits every minute, and the thrill of gambling lies in the conquering desire of continuous victories, in the frenzied experience of building their desires higher and higher, like the Tower of Babel in the Bible, until they reach the clouds.

Elysium accurately captures and amplifies this psychology, shaping itself into a lawless paradise of desire where any dream can be realized.

Tonight, inside the Paradise Pavilion.

With his hand, wrapped in dirty bandages and trembling slightly, Masahiro pushed open the heavy, carved bronze door.

In an instant, the sound waves and light overwhelmed him like a tidal wave.

The clattering of small steel balls pouring from countless pachinko machines created a frenzied background sound, almost filling every inch of air. The hum of the rapidly spinning roulette machine, the crisp clatter of dice hitting the dice in the cup, the smooth clatter of the dealers stacking the cards, and the sudden bursts of cheers or screams from girls—whether of ecstasy or despair—were all indistinguishable.

Every sound is like an invisible hook, tugging at the most primal nerves of humankind, making one's blood boil and heart race.

In stark contrast to the hustle and bustle, the casino was filled with a vibrant and alluring atmosphere. The beautiful female dealers wore sharp black suits, exuding professionalism and aloofness, but if you went behind the gambling tables, you would find that they were dressed as sexy black bunny girls, with fishnet stockings tightly encasing their long, slender legs, and a playful white fluffy bunny tail adorning their buttocks.

The waitresses moving among the women wore bright pink, shimmering one-piece swimsuits with low-cut designs that made their ample breasts almost spill out. They wore peep-toe stilettos and swayed their serpentine waists, giving every man who looked at them a charming and amorous gaze, as if they could fulfill any request at any time.

About half of the hall was dedicated to pachinko. Sitting in front of those gleaming machines were all young, beautiful girls. Sipping cola or champagne, they skillfully inserted marbles, each one strikingly beautiful and with a distinct style.

Some wore innocent school uniform skirts and white stockings, their eyes filled with a naive innocence. Others were alluring and seductive, their high-slit cheongsams outlining their graceful curves. Still others possessed astonishingly voluptuous figures, wearing almost transparent evening gowns, their cleavage revealing a breathtaking sight that stirred the imagination.

These pachinko girls are specially hired by the brothel to accompany guests. Their presence makes the casino more lively and also provides another hidden service: if guests are willing, they can take any one of them out for a drink for a corresponding price.

Chapter 365 The Gambler

When Masaka Hideki first stepped into this place, he was deeply shocked by the ultimate, overwhelming luxury and allure, and instinctively wanted to turn around and run away. As far as the eye could see, the deep red Italian marble floors were so shiny they reflected light, the crystal-clear red glass walls reflected mesmerizing light and shadow, and the color of the girls' delicate skin was more alluring than any jewel.

He felt as if he had stepped into an elaborately woven, extravagant labyrinth, and that if he took one more step, his soul might be trapped inside forever, never to escape.

But tonight, he was oblivious to all of that. His cloudy, red eyes were fixed only on the tightly closed glass door of the VIP room deep within the hall, radiating an alluring red glow. He staggered towards that door, like a drained corpse. Days without food or water, coupled with the immense mental blow, had left him on the verge of collapse.

"Tap, tap, tap."

The crisp sound of high heels rang out behind him, unhurried and gentle. A pair of fair and soft arms gently took his trembling arm, and a delicate and elegant fragrance wafted over.

“Mr. Zhenzhong,” a young, pleasant female voice, tinged with just the right amount of concern, rang in his ear, “We have been waiting for you. Tonight will be the wonderful moment when your wish comes true.”

Masaka Hideki turned his head somewhat stiffly. What came into view was a face of impeccable beauty. The woman wore a perfectly tailored black suit, her hair pulled back in a high bun, revealing her long, fair neck.

She had bright, beautiful eyes, an elegant demeanor, and a slender figure. Unlike the croupiers and waiters around her who deliberately exposed themselves and exuded a sensual aura, she possessed a kind of ascetic beauty that deliberately maintained a distance, which only aroused people's desire to explore and conquer her.

Manaka Hideki remembered. This woman's name was Sakurai Kogure. The manager of Gokurakukan.

That very day, it seemed as if Lady Luck had briefly smiled upon him, standing behind him. On the Texas Hold'em table, he was divinely aided, sweeping aside his opponents with a mere seven million yen in starting chips, his momentum unstoppable.

As the chips piled up in front of him into a dizzying mountain, totaling over 1.2 billion yen, he caught a whiff of that delicate fragrance. The female manager in black, like a night elf, appeared silently at his feet, her soft body gently pressing against him, then gracefully kneeling, raising her captivating face:

"May I invite you to the VIP room? I'm the manager here, Sakurai Kogure. You can just call me Kogure."

Unlike other lucky guests who usually react with ecstasy, excitement, or even lose control by embracing and kissing the female manager, Hideki Manaka seemed to have all his strength drained away the moment he heard those words. He slumped into the luxurious armchair and couldn't get up for a long time.

Then, this 39-year-old man, like a child, burst into tears like a flood, which he could not stop.

Manaka Hideki, 39 years old, originally from the vicinity of Osaka. His family runs a small plastic processing factory, mainly producing disposable tableware. With his wealth and social class, he originally had no right to set foot in a den of iniquity like Gokurakukan.

Before the misfortune struck, his life was ordinary and steady: he diligently managed the factory passed down from his father, guarded the savings his family had accumulated, and his greatest wish was to live a good life with his wife, have a child, and ensure the smooth continuation of the family business.

His wife, only twenty-eight years old, was beautiful and had once been a popular second-tier celebrity. After several unsuccessful relationships with wealthy men, she finally "married down" to a small business owner like Manaka Hideki. Hideki doted on his young and beautiful wife, almost always giving in to her every whim.

His wife enjoyed socializing and often took him out to play cards and socialize with her friends from her time in Tokyo. Gradually, Hideki also became part of that seemingly glamorous circle.

There was a young scion of a prominent family in the circle, who was eloquent and well-connected. He once told Ying Shu that with Ying Shu's current assets, it was still a bit insufficient to invest in truly large projects. However, if Ying Shu could use the ancestral mountain land as collateral and borrow more money to raise the principal, then his friends in the circle would be happy to include Ying Shu and share the profits.

Ying Shu hesitated. That piece of mountain land was not only the location of the plastics factory, but also the foundation of the Zhen Zhong family's business for generations and the location of their ancestral graves. If he mortgaged it and something went wrong, he would be a sinner against his family.

However, his wife gave him some good news at just the right time: she was pregnant. She nestled in Hideki's arms and gently persuaded him that the plastic factory's profits were declining year by year. In order for their child to receive a better education in Tokyo and have broader prospects for development, Hideki should make up his mind, seize the opportunity, and strive for a better future for the family.

Immersed in the immense happiness of becoming a father and the anticipation of a bright future, Ying Shu finally wavered. He went through the process of mortgaging the mountain land at a seemingly legitimate financial firm recommended by the scion of the wealthy family, and invested all the money he received, along with most of his family's savings, into the big project that the scion of the wealthy family had described as a sure-fire way to make money with unlimited potential.

The shattering of a beautiful dream comes swiftly and cruelly.

First, a childhood friend happened to see Hideki's celebrity wife and that scion of a wealthy family holding hands and intimately entering and leaving a luxury love hotel in Tokyo. Shocked, the friend hesitated for a long time before finally telling Hideki the news.

Almost simultaneously, a promising investment project suddenly went bankrupt, the operators absconded with all the funds, and the investors lost everything.

Before Ying Shu could even process the shock of his wife's possible infidelity, he was plunged into panic over his failed investment. He confronted his wife, who initially tried to defend herself, but later bluntly admitted it with a cold laugh. And then came an even more devastating blow: the financial firm that had handled the mortgage began relentlessly pressing for repayment, its attitude uncompromising.

Ying Shu was horrified to discover that the firm had a triad background and its main business was loan sharking; the documents were full of carefully designed traps.

His wife quickly packed her valuables and expensive clothes and jewelry, and left home on a cold, gloomy morning. That same day, Ying Shu received divorce papers from the court. He pleaded on the phone, mentioning the child and hoping his wife would change her mind for the sake of their unborn child.

On the other end of the phone came his wife's charming yet cruel laughter: "The child? You still think the child is yours?"

The final straw came on the day the financial firm sent people to take over the mountain land. A group of menacing-looking men stormed into the factory and, ignoring the workers' protests and Ying Shu's mother's cries, began a brutal clearing operation.

During the conflict, the elderly mother suffered a heart attack due to extreme shock and grief. As the ambulance, with its sirens blaring, sped past the family cemetery where the mother lay in eternal rest, the group used prepared explosives to blow up the plastic factory that the Zhenzhong family had run for generations.

The towering flames and black smoke illuminated the cold stone tablet of the ancestral grave, and also destroyed everything that Zhen Zhongyingshu had believed in for the past thirty-nine years.

He knelt before his mother's coffin for three whole days, neither eating nor drinking, neither sleeping nor resting. His tears ran dry, leaving only empty eyes and a heart ashen with despair.

Finally, he used the last of his savings of seven million yen, which his mother had secretly given him before her death, and told him to open a small shop to make a living, as a bargaining chip to enter Gokurakukan.

He wasn't a gambler; he loathed gambling. But when a person is driven to the brink, loses everything, and has no one left to rely on, gambling becomes the only, illusory lifeline. He wasn't gambling with money; he was gambling with the hope of revenge, with a near-mad obsession to seek justice from the villains who destroyed his life.

Chapter 366 No Longer Cherishing

“You have a lot to want,” said the woman in the dimly lit VIP room.

Sakurai Kogure poured a glass of amber-colored aged whiskey for Manaka Hideki, then sat opposite him with a glass of water, speaking softly, "Although you've had amazing luck tonight, 1.2 billion yen might not be enough."

Manaka Hideki's wine glass trembled violently, the wine almost spilling. He abruptly raised his head, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Sakurai Kogure, burning with a flame of despair mixed with the last glimmer of hope.

"How much more money do you need?" His voice was hoarse, like a broken bellows. "I can go out gambling again! I keep winning! I can give you everything I win! As long as, as long as those people pay the price! That bastard who cheated me! That bitch! And those bastards who blew up my factory! I want them dead! I want them to die ten times, a hundred times more painfully than I did!"

He was on the verge of a breakdown, leaning forward as if about to kneel down and beg the seemingly weak woman who held the key to fulfilling his terrible desires.

Sakurai Kogure grasped Manaka Hideki's left hand, which still bore the pale mark of a ring, and gently stroked the bare skin at the base of his ring finger. The skin at the base of the finger was a lighter color, like a brand etched into the flesh, telling the story of a past forcibly severed.

"Okay, then this finger will do. With it, that'll be enough."

Ying Shu shivered violently, trying to pull his hand away, but found himself stiff. The woman's hand was cold and soft, coiling around his wrist like a snake. His throat went dry: "You're all from the underworld? You're not all in on this to fool me, are you?"

"Look at what you're saying. The underworld and the underworld are not to be confused," Sakurai Kogure chuckled, the sound echoing in the quiet room. "Please trust our abilities."

She let go of his hand, turned and went out, gently placing the dagger on the table.

The blade reflected the lamplight, as cold as the moonlight in the depths of winter.

If there's no one left to trust in this world, if even your spouse and longtime friend can be easily betrayed, then what's wrong with believing in ghosts? At least ghosts' desires are straightforward, and their transactions are pure. Masaka Eiki stared at the knife, thinking this.

Sakurai Kogure didn't take him to that VIP room with its walls inlaid with red crystals, which resembled a burning heart. Instead, she led him down the emergency exit, descending the whitewashed stairs floor by floor.