Knight Asylum

Seeing Dashiell return to his usual self, the cute girl stuck out her tongue, turned around and closed the door. The others also breathed a sigh of relief and stopped suppressing their voices.

"We've found the location! Have you checked out the surveillance footage?"

"We've made contact! Prepare for data comparison immediately!"

"Calculate the route! Contact the Hongshang Foundation's containment team and tell them to be prepared for Yummy to complete her transformation!"

Dashiell let out a long sigh, turned to face the window and frowned.

Asano's meaning was simple: give up Red.

If it were usual, he would not pay any attention to Asano. Even if Asano brought up the sponsor, he would not pay attention. No matter how the sponsor divided the real power of Servier Turia, it was just a shameful thing that everyone knew but would never say it out loud.

However, the premise of all this is that the supreme commander of Servituria is U.

U is the nail that holds down the last corner of Servi Turia. If even U is pulled out, the entire Servi Turia will be completely torn apart and divided by its sponsors.

Unless a major accident occurs, there is no one in this world who can replace U in terms of achievements.

"Major accident..."

Dashiell thought back to what Asano had said.

[The Enoch Group has given a specific time based on Z-01's physical condition and Aguru's erosion. It will take at least half a year and at most three months for Aguru to completely erode Z-01's brain. At that time, Z-01 will become a irrational killing machine that no one can control.]

[If U uses the authority of the supreme commander to deceive the Hongshang Foundation and force such a dangerous existence to be launched as Kamen Rider, the public relations department will resist to the end and will never cooperate.]

Asano was reminding him that Red would be the fuse that led to the collapse of U, and there was a possibility that Red would go berserk. It didn't matter what caused him to go out of control. What mattered was that once Red became Kamen Rider, many sponsors including Enoch would start to find ways to make Red go berserk.

Dashiell wanted to believe Red, but he was very clear about the methods of those sponsors. He had just confirmed Red's physical condition. Asano did not lie. Red's body was being eroded by Aguru.

If he were alone, he would certainly have nothing to fear.

Dashiell turned his head and saw outside the glass wall that his subordinates were busy with the tasks he had assigned to them with great enthusiasm and seriousness.

"What kind of tough guy am I?"

----

"Ahem—straight flush."

Ming Hai coughed heavily a few times and turned over the cards in his hand.

"Four...ah,ah,ah - I placed all my chips with full confidence," Kaga Taizo spread out the cards in his hand with regret on his face, pressed the cigar that was at the bottom of the cigarette into the ashtray, and took out another cigar.

Red swept all of Kaga Taizo's bets to Ming Hai's side.

Ming Hai has excellent calculation ability, strong spirit, and bold decisions when necessary, so Ming Hai's winning rate is very high. After more than ten rounds, most of the O coins that were originally piled up like a mountain on Kaga Taizo's side were taken away by Ming Hai. At this pace, Ming Hai will win a great victory, and it is only a matter of time before Kaga Taizo loses without even his underwear left.

But Red didn't feel at ease at all, and even became more uneasy.

No matter how many O coins he lost, Kaga Taizo always looked relaxed. On the contrary, Ming Hai coughed more and more frequently and his complexion became worse and worse.

"Young man, it's time for you to deal the cards," seeing Reid's face turn pale, Kaga Taizo smiled smugly and reminded him.

"Wait a minute! Did you do something to the cigarette?" Reid asked coldly.

"Young man, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want. This is a famous brand of cigars. Isn't that a problem for you?"

Reid's expression froze.

Indeed, being in the same environment, he even [enjoyed] secondhand smoke earlier than Ming Hai, but he had no problem at all.

"However, I have heard a rumor about Detective Ming Hai. What was it? Oh, right—"

Kaga Taizo gave a malicious smile.

"In the past, Detective Ming Hai rushed into a fire scene to save a little girl and suffered a serious lung injury. Perhaps the taste of this cigar is too stimulating for Detective Ming Hai."

As he spoke, Kaga Taizo blew a smoke ring towards Ming Hai.

"How was it? Did it remind you of the pain of breathing in that fire scene?"

Ming Hai's expression remained unchanged as he raised his hand to wave away the smoke rings, but the smoke still spread around him and attacked his lungs.

"Red, deal the cards. The game isn't over yet."

Chapter 36: The cheating ones always meet the reckless ones

"Ahem - four -"

Ming Hai covered his mouth and coughed a few times, then raised his hand to flip the cards over.

"Oh~ As expected of Detective Ming Hai, I seem to be a little behind in gambling," Kaga Taizo slowly blew out a smoke ring and turned over the cards slowly and deliberately.

The first card was the three of clubs, the second card was the five of hearts, and the third was the seven of diamonds. The game was already decided. Just as Red was reaching out to take the chips to Ming Hai's side, Kaga Taizo suddenly raised his hand and the cigar stabbed towards Red's right hand like a rapier. Red's hand retracted and veins bulged on his forehead.

"What's wrong? Can't stand losing?"

Although reason told Red that he must not be impulsive at this time, Ming Hai's cough was getting more and more severe, and his complexion was getting worse and worse. God knew how long he could hold on.

"No - young man, it's not the last moment yet, how can you arbitrarily declare me defeated?"

"You beat four of a kind with three scattered cards?!"

Taizo Kaga ignored Reid, held the cigarette in his mouth, blew out another smoke ring, and then slowly turned over the remaining two cards, which turned out to be scattered cards.

"What a pity - we almost won," Kaga Taizo shook his head in pretended distress.

Reid raised his hand and swept Kaga Taizo's O coins to Ming Hai's side, and there were less than twenty O coins left on Kaga Taizo's side that were originally as majestic as mountains.

"The winner is decided," Ming Hai took the round-brimmed hat handed to him by Red.

"What are you talking about? I still have chips, don't I?" Kaga Taizo slowly pushed the last O coin forward, "Boy, it's time to deal the cards."

"Huh?" Reid's face was full of disbelief.

"What? Don't you want to know where those privately made O coins went?" Kaga Taizo crossed his legs and blew smoke rings, his bulging eyes like a toad glanced in the direction of Ming Hai, "Also, why would I open an underground casino during this period? Believe me, Selvi Turia wants to know more about why I would open an underground casino during this period. Of course, if you don't bet with me, all this information will disappear from my mind with a snap."

"Deal the cards," Ming Hai narrowed his eyes.

Reid opened his mouth. It was obvious that Minghai's body had reached its limit, but Minghai's eyes were still firm and strong without any sign of wavering.

"I understand."

Red exhaled heavily and raised his hand to throw the cards away.

"Raise—"

Ming Hai raised his eyes slightly, and poured all the O coins around him onto the gambling table.

Even Kaga Taizo had to admit that Ming Hai's momentum had reached its peak. It was very irrational to play against someone whose momentum had reached its peak at the gambling table, so Kaga Taizo chose to give up quite straightforwardly.

"You've already lost!"

Seeing that Kaga Taizo didn't cause any trouble and simply gave up, Red breathed a long sigh of relief. Even he was a little exhausted by the harsh environment.

"Huh? What are you talking about? I didn't lose," Kaga Taizo blew out a smoke ring and shook his head.

"Huh? Do you still have bargaining chips?!"

"No - all the O coins in this underground casino were won by Detective Ming Hai. It was a complete defeat," Kaga Taizo shrugged.

"Then you lose!"

"Young man - haven't you heard of a saying? As long as you haven't admitted defeat, you won't lose. This is the rule of this casino. So I haven't lost yet. You can continue to gamble with me. I just don't know if Detective Ming Hai can hold on, hahahaha -"

In the end, Kaga Taizo couldn't help but burst into laughter, holding his stomach.

Ming Hai pushed down the brim of his hat, "You're doing this, you didn't intend to fulfill your promise from the beginning."

"Don't say such harsh words. Fulfilling a promise is the most basic quality of a gambler." Kaga Taizo put his hands on the table, leaned forward, and puffed out the choking smoke that continued to torture Ming Hai's body and mind. "I just made a more ceremonial modification to the rules. Of course, if you can bear it, we can continue, but your hands... should be unable to hold the cards anymore."

Ming Hai's eyes narrowed, "I can still capture you back."

"Ha - a dying patient should just lie down on the bed and wait to die. Why bother showing off?"

Taizo Kaga snorted disdainfully, inhaling and exhaling smoke slowly. The entire underground casino was gradually swallowed up by the choking second-hand smoke in silence. Taizo Kaga was like a monster that no one could defeat, hiding in the smoke.

"boom--"

His fist landed heavily on the gambling table, all the O coins flew up, and the diffuse second-hand smoke was torn apart by the cold wind.

"That's enough - the players have been swapped, and it's my turn to gamble."

Reid raised his head and looked at Kaga Taizo and spoke slowly.

"Red, it's cold—"

Thinking that Red was acting impulsively, Ming Hai immediately reached out and grabbed Red's arm.

Kaga Taizo just wanted to make them anxious. If they acted impulsively at this time, they would fall into Kaga Taizo's trap.

But the moment Ming Hai saw Reid's eyes, he reacted, smiled faintly, and stood up to make way.

"Then please."

"Wow - interesting, what do you want to bet with me?" Seeing Reid enter, Kaga Taizo's mouth curled up.

Ming Hai's willpower was too strong, and he was terrifyingly calm, so he was indeed no match for him, so he had been waiting for Red to impulsively enter the game and gamble with him.

A young boy who has lost his mind can be easily controlled.

Kaga Taizo stuck out his tongue and licked his lips.

He won back all his money with interest from Red in one breath!

Red looked around and threw a hat and a children's toy hammer on the gambling table. "Here's what I'll take."

"Oh my - you really picked a rather unpopular toy."

Kaga Taizo raised his fingers and tapped his forehead in distress, but he was actually smiling inside.

Every gambler who comes to his casino will lose control of his emotions and demand a change of gambling method after discovering that he cannot beat them with normal gambling, and their target is often this hammer and hat.

Rock, paper, scissors, the winner gets a hammer and the loser gets a hat. It is simple and easy to understand. It seems that there is no way to play any tricks and it all depends on personal reaction ability.

But none of the people in power thought about why there would be such an incongruous thing in the casino that only elementary school students would play. They just thought they had found a way to win.

Taizo Kaga and Reid went around to the other side of the gambling table and made sure that the other person was within arm's reach, so they could hit the other person's head with the hammer without having to lean forward.

"Then - start, Stone -"

"Scissors—" Red raised his fist.

"cloth!"

They both waved their hands at the same time.

Kaga Tai made scissors, Red made rock, Red won.

Victory brings great confidence, while defeat makes people lose confidence.

Let the opponent become overconfident, then give him a fatal blow so that he falls to the ground completely and feels that he cannot win. This is a necessary show of weakness. This is a trick that Kaga Taizo, or rather, most gamblers are good at using. And the game of rock-paper-scissors that they are playing now can boost the opponent's self-confidence while eroding it bit by bit.

Because this gambling game has two levels of victory, the first level is the initial victory of rock-paper-scissors, and the second level is hitting the opponent's head with a hammer. The win of the first level will make the gambler eager for quick success, while the failure of the second level will make the gambler anxious and make more and more mistakes.

In a gambling game, the one who gets anxious first is the loser, and I am protected by the rule that as long as the gambler does not admit defeat, the gambling game can continue...

Taizo Kaga, whose target was the hat from the beginning, lifted the hat and put it on his head with extremely fast and small movements, while Red had just raised the toy hammer at this time.

Taizo Kaga looked at Reid confidently.

is invincible!

Kid! You picked the wrong opponent!

Reid swung the toy hammer hard at Kaga Taizo's head. In Kaga Taizo's eyes, the cute toy hammer was getting closer and closer and there was no sign of stopping.

"Eh?"

"boom--"

The toy hammer, which looked harmless and even cute, hit Kaga Taizo's head heavily. A vortex swept out with Kaga Taizo as the center. Kaga Taizo's bulging eyes instantly rolled into his eyelids, leaving only the whites of his eyes.

Chapter 37 Skeleton Monster

who am I? where am I?

Sitting in the chair, staring at the familiar ceiling, Kaga Taizo was a little dazed.

what am i doing?

"Hey - is that all? It's not too late to surrender now."

Reid's voice rang in Kaga Taizo's ears. As his fragmented memory came back, Kaga Taizo finally reacted. He jumped up from the chair as if he had been resurrected from the dead and stared at Reid with disbelief on his face.

"you--"