“The essence of a gambling addiction is the hijacking of the brain’s reward system, leading to a decline in rational thinking ability and weakened impulse control.” “Humans are fundamentally hormonal animals.
When the brain’s reward system is hijacked, a person becomes a slave to dopamine.
At that point, it’s far beyond what willpower can control.” “Therefore, the best way to prevent your brain from being consumed by gambling is to stay away from it.
Never touch it.” “The Faded Elf would like to remind you that gambling harms yourself and others.
Little boys and girls must never follow this example, you know~♬.” The Faded Elf held up a finger, speaking to Ryoma with a straight face.
“Cut the crap and give me the money!” Ryoma’s eyes were bloodshot, his expression already verging on insanity.
He roared at the Faded Elf, “I need more money!
I’m about to win!” Faced with Ryoma’s hysteria, the girl calling herself the Faded Elf remained elegant.
Just as she had many times before, she continued to advise him, “Mr.
Ryoma, you’ve already lost a year of your life.
Do you want to keep gambling?
You should know that besides the house, there are no winners in gambling.” “I’m about to win!!!” Ryoma slammed his hands on the table like a cornered beast, his expression looking as if he wanted to tear the Faded Elf to shreds.
And so, the Faded Elf sighed.
She then produced a suitcase from somewhere and placed it on the table.
With a flick of her finger, she popped it open.
Inside were neat stacks of brand-new banknotes.
The moment he saw the money, Ryoma’s breathing grew heavy.
Just as he reached for it, the suitcase was snapped shut.
The mysterious girl with light purple hair kept her hand on the case, her face still wearing that composed and elegant smile.
But now, there was something else unreadable within it.
“This money is enough to buy the next twenty years of your life.” “I’m confirming one last time: are you sure you want to accept this deal?” Ryoma paid no mind to the Faded Elf’s words.
Or rather, with his brain hijacked by gambling, he had already lost the rationality and wisdom of a scholar.
There was only one thought left in his mind.
To win.
To win back everything he had lost!
Ryoma snatched the suitcase and, without a second glance, charged back into the pachinko parlor.
—o— The sun rose into the sky, then gradually sank into dusk.
The door of the pachinko parlor opened, and Ryoma stumbled out, collapsing to his knees at the entrance.
The suitcase in his hand fell to the ground and flipped open, but now the stacks of banknotes were all gone.
It was completely empty.
Ryoma’s face was so pale it was devoid of all color.
He threw his head back and clawed at his own contorted face, as if trying to rip it off.
He let out a hysterical roar, like a trapped animal with no way out.
“Agh!
Aaaah!!!” “My money!
My money!!!” “It’s all gone!” “IT’S ALL GONE!!!” Passersby turned to look, then turned back with indifference and hurried away.
It was a scene they saw almost every day next to this kind of shop.
Just another gambling addict who had lost everything.
Not worth a shred of sympathy.
Ryoma knelt on the ground, wailing for a while, before he suddenly remembered the mysterious woman in the alley.
“No, no!
I still have a chance!
I still have a chance!” He scrambled to his feet and rushed towards the alley he remembered.
“As long as I can get there, as long as I can get some more money…” Sure enough, when he arrived at the alley, the mysterious woman who called herself the Faded Elf was still there.
Ryoma charged forward.
“Give me more money!
Give me more money!
I’m about to win!
I’M ABOUT TO WIN!!!” But this time, the Faded Elf did not grant his wish.
She simply spread her hands, smiling at Ryoma, and the words she spoke left him utterly bewildered.
“But Mr.
Ryoma, you’ve already sold your entire life to me.
You have nothing left to sell.” Ryoma gritted his teeth, his eyes completely bloodshot as he roared at her, “Didn’t I just sell twenty years of my life?
I’ll sell another twenty!” The Faded Elf covered her lips and let out a light laugh.
“There’s nothing more.
The lives of everyone in the world won’t be longer than twenty years.” “Because in twenty years, the entire human population of Earth is going to be wiped out, you know~♬” Ryoma had no idea what this mysterious woman was talking about, but he knew she didn’t seem willing to give him any more money.
In his mind, the gambling impulse had completely crushed his reason.
The repeated, crushing defeats at the tables urged him to win back his losses at any cost.
Just one win.
Just let me win once!
If I can just win once, I’ll stop!!!
And so, a wicked thought rose from the bottom of his heart.
An idea he would never have considered under normal circumstances surfaced.
This woman seems to have a lot of money, and she looks so frail…
she can’t be much of a fighter.
Maybe there’s a way I can get more money from her…
However, the moment this thought arose, he saw the mysterious woman opposite him lower her hand, a strange smile gracing her lips.
“Alright, Mr.
Ryoma.” “I’ve already paid the price for the remaining twenty years of your life.
It’s time we talked about fulfilling your end of the deal.” Seeing the strange smile on her lips, Ryoma felt an involuntary shudder in his heart, as if he were being watched by some inhuman predator.
The rationality that had been suppressed by his gambling addiction returned slightly.
Ryoma subconsciously took a step back.
“What are you talking abou— AAGH!!!” He had just taken one step back when the woman before him vanished.
The next instant, a sharp pain shot through his wrist.
He lifted his hand and saw that a cut had appeared on his wrist out of nowhere, blood welling up from the wound.
“According to our deal, from now on, your life is mine.” Ryoma looked towards the source of the voice and saw that the mysterious woman was now standing right beside him.
In her hand, she held a glass vial filled with a red liquid.
It was clearly his blood.
Ryoma was terrified by the sudden turn of events.
A deeply ominous premonition bloomed in his heart, urging him to get away as fast as he could.
But unfortunately, it was too late.
His feet were tripped, and he fell to the ground.
And then he saw it—a scene that shattered his entire worldview.
The woman who called herself the Faded Elf crushed the vial of his blood in her hand.
The crimson liquid seeped through her slender fingers, dripping onto the ground and transforming into a rising mist of blood.
In an instant, the blood mist enveloped the mysterious woman.
Through the mist, Ryoma could vaguely see the figure within writhing and reshaping like plasticine.
When the blood mist dissipated, a man all too familiar to Ryoma stood in her place.
Upon seeing the man’s face, Ryoma’s pupils trembled, his own face a mask of utter disbelief.
—Because this man looked exactly like him!
“You…
you…” Meeting Ryoma’s terrified gaze, the ‘new Ryoma’ leaned down and said with a smile: “I gave you so many chances.
Faced with the temptation of gambling, if you had managed to control yourself even once, we could have talked about cooperation.” “But unfortunately…
I can’t trust my back to a gambling addict for a teammate.” “So, from now on, your life is mine.” Ryoma scrambled backward on his hands and feet, his face a mask of terror.
“As for you…
heh.
Don’t worry, I’m not some kind of devil.” “You can go pick bananas in Africa.
When you’ve earned enough money to buy your life back from me, you can have it back.” “Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of your daughter.” “Oh, wait.
Now Mei is my daughter.” —o—