Chapter 14
Stepping out from the hovercar, he entered the luxurious building in front of him. A staff greeted him and showed him the way inside after Lixue stated his purpose.
Going down a few floors, they arrived at a hallway with a tall double door at the end. Along the hallway, there were many antique ornaments which were now rarely seen in this era. 2 staff who were guarding the door saw them coming and respectfully opened the door for them.
This 5-star luxury hotel was famous not only for its high-class services and sky-high lodging price for a night. The main attraction of this hotel was the huge underground casino that could only be accessed for people with a certain amount of in-hand credit. What made it more unique was that it persevered the style of ancient casino from the past with simple card, dice, and roulette games. The atmosphere was also quiet and sophisticated, different from most gambling houses which were filled with high-tension and excited cheers.
After the guest stated that they were here for the casino, the staff would check whether their in-hand credit in their communicator reached the minimum required amount. If it did, the staff would then guided them to the elevator which could only be accessed with special employee card. The 2 staff guarding the door would only open the door when there was a staff guiding the guest. When there was no staff with them, the 2 door-guard would immediately restrain them and threw them out regardless of the guest's identity.
"Dear honorable guest, you may choose the table to your liking. Each game is provided with 5 tables. The bar and restaurant are on the second floor. We serve natural food here made by Chef Tyler Hearty, the top-3 chef in the Federation, with variety choice of ingredients. If the food guest wanted is not available on the menu, guest may call one of the staff to request and we will do our best to fulfill it. On the third floor is the indoor pool. We set the pool with holographic projector to project the night sky outside, so it is almost equivalent to an outdoor pool. If guest needs anything, you may call one of the staff wearing the same uniform as mine. Lastly…"
The staff glanced to his side. A woman wearing revealing clothes with fox ears was carrying a snack tray when she met eyes with the staff. The staff beckoned her, and she quickly came over after passing the tray to her colleague. The tail behind her swayed along with her steps.
"The staff wearing animal ears and tails are escorts and available for rent. Guest can also ask them to accompany your time here. They are available in both genders. The ones with fox ears are the experienced ones while the ones wearing bunny ears are virgins. In the middle is cat ear who is not a virgin but has not been trained enough."
The woman smiled seductively and slightly bend her body to show Lixue her cleavage with her hands put on top of her chest, "Pleasant to meet you, dear honorable guest."
"If guest decided to rent them, guest may go to the counter over there to process the transaction. If it's only for accompaniment, guest can pay them directly as to how guest's sees fit. We wish honorable guest a pleasant time." the staff bowed politely before leaving.
"Dear guest, would you like me to accompany you around?" the woman offered.
Although she offered her service, she didn't deliberately act clingy or touch the guest. Only showed her asset as much as possible to attract the guest. Looking at her fox ears, she really was well-trained.
"Sure," Lixue smiled even more gorgeously than her, "But if you displease me even once, I will have to punish you."
The woman fell into a daze and blushed. She has worked here for years, but it was the first time she met someone so beautiful and gorgeous it didn't seem real. He has an exquisite nose and thin glossy lips. When he smiled, the young man's cat-like eyes curved slightly with a sense of deep mysterious inside.
The guests and staff around them also stole glances at Lixue–a guy who was wearing a tightly closed suit with turtle neck and gloves, not exposing any bit of his skin–and completely ignored the woman next to him who has a full and voluptuous figure with almost half of her skin exposed.
To service this man would be a very big accomplishment!! Even being punished by him was an honor!
Not only the woman thought that, every escort in the room who saw Lixue thought so as well. As for other guests, they also thought of some tricks and pick-up lines in their heads to approach the mysterious beauty. And if they're lucky or smart enough, they might get the chance to taste the delicacy in one bite.
Lixue was used to their disgusting stares and walked to one of the tables which were playing roulette. The woman closely followed but still didn't dare to hook her arms on the man's arm like how she usually did to other guests after being picked to escort. Somehow she felt a don't-touch-aura on the man, and she also felt too inferior.
When Lixue arrived at the table and took a seat, the people on the table, excluding the android dealer, instantly cast a look at Lixue. Lixue overlapped his legs and interlaced his fingers as he looked at the ongoing game on the table with indifference.
When the next round started, a holographic screen appeared in front of each guest sitting on the table. Lixue positioned his communicator on the silver plate on his chair's armrest and placed the minimum required amount casually on one random number. He didn't even watch the roulette as he was focusing on spreading his demonic energy to search for someone.
He won in the first round and received 35 times the credit he bet. His expression didn't change while the guests at the table nodded and clapped in congratulation. The second round began and Lixue put the same amount of bet in a different number. He then ignored the game again.
"You're rather unenthusiastic." The man next to him suddenly spoke in a volume that only the 2 of them heard.
Lixue glanced at the man and the man smiled at him. He has slanted eyes with a fox-like face. His black hair was styled into a small braid hanging on his shoulder. He propped his head with his right hand languidly. There was a tattoo on his wrist with the letter 'X' and three 'I's in front of it.
Lixue remembered that it was an old numeral from a certain ancient empire meaning 13. When he was in the mercenary group, his mentor taught him about it. He didn't know where the mercenary group got this knowledge from, but it was certain that only they knew about this numeral method.
His mentor told him about someone codename Thirteen. Thirteen was a genius assassin but his character was willful, rebellious, and unrestrained. His bloodlust was particularly higher than average and his life motto was to have fun first and foremost.
He left the mercenary group only 3 months after his deployment from his training facility because his team captain ordered him to go to a mission located in a satellite planet for a week. The captain threatened him with punishments if he refused. In the end, he killed his team captain and fled from the mercenary group, leaving more than 20 corpses of professional mercenaries who were ordered to stop him and catch him back.
His mentor was Thirteen's same-age friend and was deployed in the same team. He was the only one who wasn't killed when he was forced to stop his friend from leaving. His mentor was suspected of purposely letting Thirteen go and received heavy punishment. Even years later, the scar on the left side of his face didn't disappear and left a mark. The scar was from above his eyebrow until his cheek. Thanks to that, his mentor couldn't use his left eye anymore.
Lixue didn't expect to meet the legendary Thirteen in this life before even meeting his mentor. Thirteen's face was 80-90% similar to what he imagined based on his mentor's description. Not to mention his trademark tattoo.
But now that he knew the man next to him was Thirteen, it explained why his evil miasma was very thick.
Thirteen's eyes flashed with surprise and interest, "You know me."
Lixue raised an eyebrow. He was very sure that he didn't expose anything in his expression and body language. Because of Jixue's correct guess this morning about him hated being looked at, he became more conscious of his subconscious reactions and gained control of them.
As expected of the legendary mercenary. Very sharp indeed.
"You can say that." Lixue took back his gaze and switched his overlapping legs. He took down his glasses and wore it properly.