A Series of Big Prizes! Clearing Out the Game City! New Crew Members!

Chapter 93 A Series of Big Prizes! Clearing Out the Game City! New Crew Members!

Outside the Jade Rainbow Game City, cries for help continued, but inside the game city, the atmosphere was subdued and rather calm. Even the "staff" were few and far between, numbering only two or three.

It seems most of the "employees" were dispatched to search for the "thief." Little did they expect that the very target they were desperately searching for had returned to the arcade.

corner.

"Ze Shu, Ze Shu—" Xiao Lan's eyes crinkled with joy. She reluctantly withdrew her slender white fingers after rubbing them until they were almost done. "You came here specifically to see me, right?"

Although she hadn't yet figured out why Zeki had escaped from the Masked Base, she just thought that Zeki must have been worried about her to show up here.

I'm sure so.

"No, it's not." Ze Shu, who was a little uncomfortable from being rubbed, replied with a straight face, "It was just a coincidence."

"So disappointing—."

Hearing this, Xiao Lan lowered her head in a serious manner and pouted in a wronged tone, "We used to have a very deep relationship—but I know Ze Shu is embarrassed, hehe!"

Towards the end of her sentence, she looked up again, chuckled, and showed no trace of the aggrieved tone she had just displayed.

"Anyway, Ze Shu saved me again, hmph. He's practically my hero."

Ze Shu suddenly shuddered: "Don't exaggerate like that."

Xiao Lan laughed: "Ze Shu is probably embarrassed by my praise! But I'm just telling the truth!"

Even so, she subconsciously covered her slightly reddened earlobes, glancing around avertedly, and quietly changed the subject, saying, "But, how do we get out of here now?"

Ze Shu then said, "...We just need to wait here; it shouldn't take long."

"Okay!" Xiao Lan didn't doubt Ze Shu's words. She glanced around at the game consoles and suddenly said happily, "In that case—how about we go play some games!"

After all, simply waiting in the game city would only arouse more suspicion.

Only by integrating into it can it seem normal.

Zeki also planned to take a good look at the details of this so-called "Team Rocket base," thinking it might be useful in the future, so he nodded in agreement.

But then, Xiao Lan suddenly grabbed Ze Shu's arm, her voice rising slightly to normal volume:

"Honey, let's go!"

After saying that, she secretly mouthed to Ze Shu, as if to say: Only in this way can we avoid being suspected.

She winked at him, urging him to start acting.

Zeki: "...—

What he really wanted to say was: There's no need for this pretentious act. With their abilities, even if they were suspected and discovered...

At most, it'll just be a fight.

But he saw Xiao Lan's enthusiastic enthusiasm for "playing the role".

So they tacitly agreed without saying a word.

Inside the Jade Rainbow Gaming City, although there are few staff members now, there are quite a few "customers." No matter how chaotic the outside world is, it seems that nothing can disturb their complete concentration in front of the slot machines.

The people sitting in front of the slot machines are mostly bald middle-aged men, white-collar workers in suits, heavily made-up women, and young men who look like hooligans.

Of course, there's also the young couple played by Ze Shu and Xiao Lan.

They disguised themselves quite a bit. Long before entering the arcade, Xiao Lan had changed her appearance—blonde hair, a side ponytail, and a fitted dress, looking just like a delinquent girl.

Beside them lay Psyduck, which Sawa had released as a "family Pokémon." Blue had even thoughtfully tied a bow on Psyduck's head. This left Psyduck somewhat bewildered.

"Huh?"

Arrive at the front desk.

"Hello." Xiao Lan, familiar with the place, grabbed Ze Shu's arm, pulled out a wad of cash, and said with a smile to the clerk, "Give me fifty tokens!"

"Okay, please wait a moment."

The waiter didn't seem to suspect that the woman in front of him was the 'thief' that the outside world was looking for.

After all, he had heard that the 'thief' being searched for was acting alone, so the 'couple' in front of him couldn't possibly be imposters, right? Even if they were, he was just a lowly waiter at the front desk.

"Here are fifty tokens."

Soon, the waiter handed over a token box. It was square and contained stacks of plastic coins.

Seemingly uninterested in serving customers due to the external situation, the waiter continued in a somewhat businesslike manner, "If guests prefer to relax, they can try the Pokémon Gaara, the Speaker KTV Machine, and the Bellsprout Dance Machine in the relaxation area—"

"But since you've already come to our Yuhong Game City..."

The waiter pointed to the area in the arcade that was currently the most crowded, with the most enthusiastic expressions on people's faces, "You have to try our signature slot machines."

"Since our arcade opened, this has been our most popular product. Many customers have become rich overnight here, taking away the grand prizes in our arcade with a small number of tokens."

After saying that, the waiter pointed to the prize redemption plaque behind him, where a miniature dragon was heavily circled, with an explosion effect drawn on it, and the words "Grand Prize" were marked to highlight its rarity.

Below it is written 110,000 tokens required to exchange for this mini dragon!

Ze Shu twitched the corner of his mouth.

It's so dark, so incredibly dark.

The money Xiao Lan paid for exchanging fifty tokens was two thousand five hundred Alliance Coins, so the value of this Mini Dragon is five million Alliance Coins.

So it's meant to be a family heirloom? Ze Shu was curious whether anyone could actually claim this so-called "grand prize."

"Darling, darling, darling!" But Little Blue seemed to be captivated by the grand prize before her, calling out several times before stopping, and continued, "Let's go play the slot machines! I want the grand prize!"

Ze Shu tried to pull away from her increasingly tighter embrace, but couldn't. He could only say helplessly:

"-·OK."

"Huh?"

The waiter watched the two people and the duck walk away and shook his head helplessly.

Winning a big prize? It's not that easy.

Although he was newly appointed, he had heard from "seniors" who had worked there for several years that no one had been able to redeem the second prize—Porygon—in all these years. Let alone Dratini.

Based on his experience, it would be considered extremely good if the 50 tokens the couple exchanged could be "turned" into 500 in the slot machine.

More often than not, they tasted a little success, only to lose everything.

Then, feeling resentful, he took out his savings and continued to lose them all.

Most people here are like that.

Xiao Lan dragged me to the slot machine.

This slot machine was no different from the one Zeshu remembered—a lever, you insert coins, pull it down, and three patterns appear in the three glass frames. If a specific pattern appears, it will dispense money.

The largest number, naturally, is: all three glass frames contain the number '7'.

"Hehe," Little Blue chirped excitedly, whispering in Ze Shu's ear, "Ze Shu, how much do you want to win from this slot machine? Tell me!"

Ze Shu awkwardly shrank his head: "You can do that too—"

Xiao Lan: "Shh— Ze Shu, do you want the grand prize? Do you want it? Xiao Lan can shake it out for you!"

Ze Shu was casual about it. But seeing Xiao Lan's enthusiastic expression, and besides, who wouldn't be interested in a big prize?

So he nodded: "I'll think about it."

However, this was before Xiao Lan 'manipulated the grand prize'.

Ze Shu also tried out the slot machine.

Take out five tokens and insert them into the machine, then randomly pull the lever. A money laundering sound effect, "ding ding ding~", appears.

Then··

The image on the glass screen freezes—[Caterpie, Pikachu, Sakura].

The slot machine just makes a "ding" sound, and then—that's it.

Ze Shu tried twice more. The second time, he won a small prize, recovering his initial investment of 8 tokens. However, he still lost 7 tokens overall, without even receiving the "newcomer bonus." He glanced around casually; perhaps this was the norm for everyone around him when using the slot machines.

This kind of gambling is bound to result in a loss anyway.

Ze Shu shook his head and gave up trying: "You do it."

Xiao Lan chuckled, "Okay! Then I'll go all out. If I win the grand prize, Ze Shu will protect me, right?"

Ze Shu nodded, and then she casually inserted tokens into the machine without any extra movements, simply pulling the joystick down normally.

Beep beep beep~!

777

Suddenly, three sevens froze on the screen.

The slot machine jingled, and the coin dispenser below rattled as tokens gushed out, quickly filling the area around the two people's feet.

It also submerged the body of the Psyduck at its feet, leaving it lying in the pile of tokens, puzzling over its head.

"Huh?"

But soon Psyduck's confused cries were drowned out.

Because everyone around had noticed what was going on.

"This...this is...the grand prize?!"

"I've been playing here for two and a half years and I've never seen anyone win this prize!"

"That's outrageous!"

"How many of these are there?!"

They all exclaimed in disbelief, their eyes wide with shock.

But what happens next?

But the girl in the "couple" continued to pull the lever, and it was [777] again, and the coin dispenser at her feet gushed out once more.

"This this this this—"

"Winning big prizes one after another?!"

The rooftop of Yuhong Game City.

As Luo Bo'a looked down at Yuhong City, an inappropriate voice came from the walkie-talkie in his hand.

"Don't report anything that happens inside the arcade to me now!"

"What?! Several big prizes in a row?!"

"Suspicious? You suggest withdrawing troops to arrest him? Are you stupid? There's absolutely no suspicion!"

"What kind of petty thief would come back to the arcade while we're chasing her, and then win several big prizes in a row, as if she's afraid we won't notice her? She's just another opportunist taking advantage of our misfortune."

"The person taking advantage of the chaos below isn't important; just keep her calm! We must catch that thief who stole our things immediately! Continue the city-wide search! Who knows what secrets she might have accidentally discovered while sneaking in!"

"Also, bring me back the tape she threw out when she was surrounded! This is very important!"

Inside the arcade, in the slot machine area.

"Quack!!"

"How many times has this been—how many big prizes have you won already?"

"Ten times! Ten times already!"

"Oh—my Arceus! Am I even worthy to witness such a scene—"

The crowd grew larger and larger, and a series of incredulous shouts rang out.

At this moment, they saw that the arcade was losing money hand over fist, and they were both happy and shocked at the same time!

Just by looking at it, it's the second greatest enjoyment after personally winning the grand prize ten times. After all, they've all lost a considerable amount of money at the arcade, to varying degrees.

peripheral.

The waiter stood to the side, looking bewildered and helpless.

The highest-ranking leader of the arcade told him to keep the other party calm, but how could he possibly do that?

The investigators have already deployed Psychic-type Pokémon, but they haven't been able to find any reason for cheating. It seems that this "couple" who has won the grand prize ten times, no, eleven times, doesn't appear to be cheating at all.

But that's impossible no matter how you look at it!

Because of the reputation of the arcade, they couldn't immediately stop them from "playing"—although it was already outrageous enough, there were so many people watching, all of them "regular customers".

At least as a lowly waiter, he dared not act rashly without instructions from above.

Fortunately.

After the "couple" finished spinning the machine for the twelfth time to win the grand prize, the woman operating the joystick stood up with her hands behind her back, seemingly deciding not to continue playing. She said, "This is so boring, all the prizes are big. We've used up all the tokens in the machine, honey, let's go claim our prize!"

"This is so boring! All the big prize tokens have been won through the lottery?!"

"My Arceus—"

"Listen to this! Listen to this! What kind of talk is this?!"

But these ferocious words, upon hearing them from the waiter, brought a sense of relief. He gestured to his assistant, then walked over, staring in awe at the mountain of tokens, his voice trembling:

"To claim your prize, please follow me this way—"

Prize redemption counter at the front desk.

With trembling hands, the waiter finished counting the mountain of tokens, some containing Psyduck, before wiping the sweat from his brow and saying, "A total of 115,000 tokens. What would you like to exchange them for?"

If the boss doesn't come down, then we'll have to exchange them.

While 110,000 tokens is indeed a lot, it's not unacceptable for their game city. They might even use it as an incentive example that can last for a hundred years.

Xiao Lan glanced at Ze Shu and said, "Of course, it's the grand prize! And the Mini Dragon, bring it out! It's a gift for my darling!"

The waiter shook his hand, then changed the subject, "This...this mini dragon seems a little uncomfortable, perhaps you, sir..."

"What! You don't have any Mini Dragons?" Little Blue persisted, hands on her hips, perfectly embodying the image of a blonde delinquent. "So the so-called grand prize was just a scam to deceive customers!"

The waiter stammered, his mouth agape but unable to speak: "This, this, this—"

That's absolutely true!

Mini Dragons are a scam! They don't even exist in arcades!

But how am I supposed to answer that?

"We can offer you some discounts—"

Do you think we need a discount?

...

"Alright, since that's the case." Xiao Lan sighed, grabbed the exchange list on the table, pointed to the items section, and said, "This, this, this—give me a complete set of evolution stones!"

"The second prize is Porygon? A Pokémon created with the most advanced technology, and it costs 50,000 tokens? The most advanced technology from twenty years ago, huh! Honey, do you like Porygon? You do? Okay, then we'll take it!"

"A Super Ball costs 50 tokens? Why don't you just rob someone! A High-Level Ball costs 100 tokens? Hmph, give me and my darling 100 each then!"

"These ice gems that enhance the power of ice-attribute moves? Three hundred tokens for that? Give me a hundred first... what? Not enough? Then bring out whatever you have!"

"And some of the other attribute gems, please!"

"Energy root, energy powder, panacea, and full recovery medicine—give me and my darling several boxes of all of these!"

"And there are also these, and these, and these!"

"..."

"What other good stuff do you have? That's all the items your arcade has?"

The waiter was sweating profusely: "This—"

"Alright," Little Blue interrupted, hands on her hips. "Let's stop exchanging items here and go exchange for Pokémon. Lead the way! Make sure you have the items we chose ready when we come out!"

Looking at Xiao Lan's "full power" appearance.

Ze Shu twitched the corner of his mouth.

Some people were afraid to speak up, feeling like they were just tools on the sidelines.

But Xiao Lan suddenly grabbed his arm and said sweetly, "Darling, let's go find our new friends!"

Ze Shu: "

"This is the breeding area in our game center where Pokémon can be exchanged."

We followed the waiter, who was already having trouble speaking, to the so-called feeding area.

It's basically a space similar to a "pet shop," with cages placed here, containing Pokémon that are either listless, fierce, or stressed, and their various cries of different emotions fill the space.

Although the space is decorated in a very convincing way on the outside—with pink and white decorations, running water, Pokémon food, and green plants, it looks quite cozy.

But no matter how cozy a cage is, it's still a cage.

Ze Shu frowned.

He gently touched the coyote in the cage beside him, only to be bitten in response. Had he not pulled his hand back in time, he probably would have had two bloody scratches on his fingers.

It's not hard to guess where these Pokémon released by Team Rocket to redeem prizes came from. Not only will they not be as friendly as normal Pokémon, but they may also have developed psychological problems to varying degrees due to mistreatment.

After what just happened, Xiao Lan frowned and said, "What's wrong with your Pokémon?! They almost hurt my darling!"

'

Waiter: "This—"

He couldn't answer almost any of the questions.

Because such a problem really exists, but others haven't questioned it out of respect for the arcade's "authority." But who would have thought that today they'd run into these two clueless "couples"?

He really wanted to say, "Buy it or don't, I don't care," and just quit.

But that would seem to make things worse, as he himself would face retaliation from the game arcade.

The newly appointed official didn't have many solutions, and could only stammer when faced with such questions.

Zeshu paid no attention, instead observing the Pokémon imprisoned around him. Under each cage, a Poliwag with a single tooth was clearly priced [2000 tokens], a Wobbuffet rubbing its forehead and grooming its head [5000 tokens], and a Persian covered in wounds [4000 tokens].

There are no starter Pokémon, and most of them are native to the Johto region of Kanto.

Is it reasonable to price so many tokens? Will anyone buy them?

"What kind of Pokémon is this?"

Zeshu suddenly pointed to a cage covered with a black cloth, from which a faint, pitiful trembling sound could be heard, not very noticeable in the space filled with the cries of various Pokémon.

But it's priced at 30,000 tokens.

After exchanging for the Porygonian Beasts and various other items, they didn't have many tokens left, around 31,000, which was exactly the amount on the sign in front of them.

"This—" The waiter was also puzzled, but when he lifted the black cloth, he suddenly realized, "Oh, so this is it."

When the black cloth was lifted, a Pokémon was revealed, slumped over, hugging its knees, its head drooping, trembling and crying. Its body was pink and off-white, covered with fluffy fur like foam and cream. Its angel-wing-like ears drooped slightly, and its azure eyes were filled with tears.

It's a pretty much the same doll.

It is a Pokémon from the Unova region, possessing keen hearing, capable of picking up even the slightest sounds like radar.

If the antennae on its ears touch the other person, it can even fully understand the other person's heartbeat and various physical conditions.

In the Unova region, she often serves as Joy's assistant, just like Chansey.

No matter how you look at it, it's like an adorable Pokémon that looks like an angel.

But at this moment, its posture makes it appear pitiful, petite, and helpless.

It is crying.

"My dear customer, this is a rare Pokémon—a Pokémon called 'Almost Doll'!" the salesman exclaimed, eager for the two to leave. "It's quite powerful, possessing various healing abilities; it's an excellent Pokémon! Normally, it would cost you seven or eight tokens!"

"Then why are you only selling 30,000 tokens now?" Xiao Lan suddenly asked.

"Listen." The waiter paused for a moment, "This,

X

"What the hell? You've been saying this all the way here. If you don't give us a definite answer today, we'll report everything that happened here to the Alliance."

Go ahead and report it!

Our gaming center has already bribed the alliance, so reporting it again won't have any impact!

The waiter inwardly grumbled, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "This 'Almost-Good' doll has a few minor flaws. Although it's quite strong and knows many moves, it's timid and afraid to fight, so... so—"

So Team Rocket, who captured it, disliked it and dumped it in this game city to be sold.

Actually, this personality trait isn't a problem; if it were in Unova, it would be a great assistant to Nurse Joy. But unfortunately, it ran into Team Rocket.

But he could not say that; instead, he said:

"...So this is still a great family Pokémon! Just like the Psyduck under your feet!"

Psyduck covered its head: "Quack?"

Ze Shu suddenly said, "Then we'll take this almost-almost doll. I really like this almost-almost doll."

Waiter: Really?

And upon hearing this...

Almost too, the little doll timidly raised her head, her azure eyes still brimming with tears, staring at Ze Shu in disbelief:

"Tabu—"