Chapter 1 The Beginning

　　First update, then edit.

　　Suren went all the way to the Hunter's Guild.

　　Perhaps because he was a lone Hunter, no one greeted him. But other teams had butler-like figures constantly approaching and asking questions.

　　Arriving at Stormwind Manor, the scene was even more lively.

　　The light screen previously showed mostly private tasks or small-scale recruitment.

　　Now, the light screen had many more "Legion Recruitment" notices.

　　The inner city chaebols spent a lot of money, directly topping and bolding the messages, dazzling the eyes.

　　City entry fees, settlement allowances, paid leave... the conditions offered by each family were better than the last, all wanting to recruit experienced and powerful Hunters and teams.

　　It was just like a job fair for major companies.

　　Those inner city people who usually looked down on the commoners from the outer city who risked their lives hunting in the wilderness were now "talents" being snatched up by the major chaebols.

　　Although the Hunters' equipment and combat power might not be as good as the inner city's elite groups, their hunting experience was real. Especially in this dangerous Dawn Ruins, experience meant survival rate.

　　Suren couldn't squeeze in, so he just looked from a distance.

　　The ranking of the topped information on the light screen was basically the ranking of the inner city families' strength.

　　The richer you were, the higher you were ranked.

　　The Reis family occupied seven spots, all seven branches that had split off came, with the main family ranked first.

　　Then there were Oliver, Clark, Rockefeller... twenty or thirty first-class chaebols.

　　Behind them were second- and third-class chaebols with slightly smaller fonts... hundreds of them.

　　The information was largely the same, all the major chaebols were heavily recruiting various Hunter groups, Hunters with strength and experience.

　　Anyone with eyes could see that the Duke's Mansion's purpose in issuing this nationwide hunting mission was clear. It certainly wasn't just for these big chaebols to go through the motions.

　　Bringing so many inner city experts was definitely for hunting.

　　If there were mandatory hunting assignments, the young ladies and young masters of the chaebol families might even be forced to "face check the ruins."

　　It was obviously not worth risking their own lives and the lives of their direct descendants. It was better to recruit some Hunters.

　　Although it would cost some money, the losses would be smaller and the survival rate higher if they encountered real danger.

　　.......

　　Suren's eyes flickered frequently, scanning the information on the light screen.

　　He analyzed the recent hunting trends.

　　It was obvious that the progress of exploration was getting faster and faster.

　　In the middle ring area of the ruins, there were already Tier 3 powerhouses leading teams inside...

　　But the resistance encountered seemed to be not small, not to mention that some top powerhouses hadn't reached the central urban area after leading teams for half a month. The names of some large Hunter groups that were previously at the top of the list were gone.

　　That situation meant that either they had earned enough and gone back, or they had been wiped out.

　　Then, as he watched, Suren actually saw a code in the advertising column.

　　"Mr. Black is looking for me?"

　　Suren looked at the date of the information, which was one day ago.

　　There were no other contact methods, so it didn't seem too urgent.

　　Suren deciphered the content, which only had one address: White Elephant Gambling Den.

　　"Huh... he actually set the meeting at a gambling den? That doesn't seem like Mr. Black's style..."

　　That old gentleman would never go to certain places, such as brothels and casinos.

　　He thought he had deciphered it wrong and looked carefully again, but it was still that address.

　　Could it be a mixed-up password?

　　No, this wasn't a universal password, but an agreed code.

　　Suren couldn't figure it out, but he still decided to go and see.

　　There were "nouveau riches" born in Dawn Camp every day, so there was naturally no shortage of gold-digging dens like gambling dens.

　　Suren wasn't interested in gambling, and there was no arena here, so he hadn't been there.

　　He didn't know why gambling dens liked to be opened underground, but the boss of this "White Elephant Casino" had dug ten meters into the ground to create a large underground casino.

　　When Suren arrived, it was bustling with people.

　　The not-so-spacious gambling den was packed with nearly a thousand people.

　　In the semi-closed space, smoke curled up, and the air was filled with a strange smell of sweat, cigarettes, and psychedelic potions.

　　It was no different from the gambling dens on Green Street. Slot machines, pinball machines, roulette... all kinds of machines filled every corner of the gambling den.

　　The machines were filled with gamblers, the crisp sound of coins colliding, the "clang" of pulling the handles, all kinds of noisy sounds poured into the ears.

　　There were also poker tables in the central area...

　　And the scantily clad gambling den girls were still indispensable.

　　Suren exchanged some chips at the front desk surrounded by iron mesh and blended into the crowd as a gambler.

　　He didn't act like he was looking for someone. People who didn't look like gamblers were the most unwelcome in gambling dens.

　　He saw that a gambler had just left his seat, so he sat down in front of a slot machine with interest, inserted a chip, and randomly pulled the handle.

　　"Clang~"

　　The reels turned and then stopped on several fruit patterns.

　　Suren had spent a long time on Green Street and was a Mechanical Alchemist himself, so he was no stranger to the structure of these machines.

　　These machines with programmed settings looked irregular, but there were actually certain skills involved.

　　He gambled a few times and even made a small profit.

　　But he wasn't here to gamble.

　　Thinking that under normal circumstances, Mr. Black's elusive methods should quickly detect him and then come to meet him.

　　But unexpectedly, he had won a lot of chips, but no one came.

　　Suren felt a little puzzled. Perhaps the message was outdated?

　　Thinking about it, he got up from the slot machine and decided to take a walk around the gambling den.

　　In the hall, there were several blackjack games and dice games, with a large number of gamblers piled up.

　　"9 points, 9 points, 9 points..."

　　"Haha, twenty points, a sure win!"

　　"..."

　　The gamblers were shouting hoarsely for the good cards they wanted.

　　Suren wandered around casually, not seeing any familiar faces, but he did catch some guys with unusual behavior.

　　"People from the Umbrella organization, and they seem to be of a high rank..."

　　He placed his bets calmly, and he also had some guesses in his mind.

　　He had learned a lot of the Umbrella organization's internal codes and identification methods from Shabina.

　　Looking at those Umbrella Professionals, Suren didn't think they were here to catch him. If there was an operation, Shabina would have reminded him.

　　"Could it be that Mr. Black didn't show up because he was being watched by these people?"

　　Suren thought.

　　However, not long after, he was immediately proven wrong.

　　Because he saw a familiar person.

　　.......

　　Next to the basement hall, there were several small halls, which were VIP halls for big customers to gamble. Although the doors weren't closed, there were screens to block the gambling tables, and a certain chip threshold was required to enter.

　　Suren didn't see anyone at first, but he was attracted by that familiar voice.

　　"All in!"

　　"Call!"

　　"Four of a kind! Haha, your full house doesn't count for much!"

　　"..."

　　As soon as Suren heard that voice, it was too familiar.

　　He muttered with a strange expression, "Sister Qian?"

　　It turned out that it wasn't Mr. Black who left the code, but that gambling-addicted young woman.

　　At this moment, Suren immediately understood the doubts in his heart.

　　No wonder he chose to meet in a gambling den...

　　No wonder he waited so long but didn't see anyone...

　　It turned out that she was having fun gambling and was waiting for him to find her.

　　Suren didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He walked over, like an old gambler, and casually tossed a chip to the doorman.

　　Even though he didn't show enough chips, he smoothly walked in.

　　The Texas Hold'em table behind the screen had a total of seven gamblers.

　　When Suren arrived, he was watching the gambling-addicted young woman happily collect the chips on the table.

　　Judging by the amount, it was at least several million.

　　Spectators were not allowed in such high-stakes gambling games. Suren walked over, and the woman pulled out a seat for him and invited him to sit down.

　　Suren naturally sat down, then stuffed a chip as a tip for the woman, and said, "Help me exchange three million chips."

　　The blonde woman smiled sweetly, "Okay, sir."

　　The other people at the table glanced at Suren when he suddenly appeared, but no one spoke, playing with the chips in their hands.

　　Only the carefree gambling-addicted young woman seemed to be still immersed in the joy of winning money and didn't seem to recognize Suren, who had now changed his "charm value to 12."

　　Suren knew that Qian was addicted to this, so he didn't plan to spoil her fun.

　　He originally planned to gamble a few times, but as soon as he sat down, he glanced at the face of a middle-aged man who had been facing away from him, and Suren immediately realized that the situation seemed to be not good.

　　"It can't really be that guy..."

　　Suren's face was calm, but he was thinking about how to respond if there was a conflict.

　　He probably wouldn't be so serious about anyone else, but this one was different.

　　If it was what he thought, then it would be very tricky.

　　At this time, the room girl just happened to walk over with a tray.

　　She bent down and put the chips on the table, turning her face to Suren and smiling, "Sir, your chips are here..."

　　Suren turned his head and gave the girl a scumbag smile, "Thank you."

　　While speaking, he handed out another chip and stuffed it into the girl's low-cut cleavage. The seemingly frivolous young master's action, his eyes inadvertently swept over the middle-aged man with glasses, who was third from the left.

　　Top experts had extraordinary perception, and even a slight change in emotion in your eyes could be easily captured.

　　After seeing the man's appearance clearly, Suren was also glad that he was careful enough, and his heart sank: "It really is him! He's not here for me, is he here for Qian..."

　　The girl smiled sweetly, gave Suren a wink, and left the gambling table.

　　.......

　　The other people at the gambling table didn't seem to mind waiting for this half a minute.

　　The dealer shuffled the cards, and a new game began.

　　Suren behaved as if nothing was wrong, and occasionally looked at the people at the table, also with the eyes of a normal gambler observing his opponents.

　　Although an "unaffordable" character appeared at the poker table, he didn't panic at all.

　　Because after observing for a while, Suren found that he wasn't here for him.

　　He didn't deliberately remind the gambling-addicted young woman opposite him.

　　Qian looked carefree, but her actual combat intuition was surprisingly sharp.

　　Suren knew that she had recognized him.

　　Moreover, it was very likely that she had also noticed something unusual.

　　Things seemed to be a little complicated.

　　Suren felt that they were likely caught up in an "accident."

　　The game continued.

　　Suren had harvested various miscellaneous abilities, and his card skills were not bad.

　　After a few rounds of cards, more than three million quickly turned into more than four million.

　　That was the temptation of Texas Hold'em, "all in" could make people rich quickly, and it could also empty the chips at any time.

　　Qian's luck didn't seem to be bad today either, and she had accumulated nearly ten million chips in front of her.

　　Those who could gamble so big all had simple backgrounds.

　　During the few rounds of the game, Suren also roughly distinguished the identities of the people at the poker table.

　　In addition to a few wealthy businessmen who looked like they were from the inner city, there was also the middle-aged man with glasses whom he thought had a problem, and the most suspicious was a blonde man in overalls and a white shirt.

　　Although his clothes were gorgeous, he couldn't hide his gangster aura.

　　He might be outside, but at a gambling table of this level...

　　This guy's luck didn't seem to be very good. He hadn't gotten a good hand and lost all his previous chips in a few rounds, and he even added five million.

　　But in this round, Suren saw the problem.

　　The middle-aged man with glasses seemed to be particularly targeting this blonde man.

　　After the blinds, there were already hundreds of thousands of chips piled up at the bottom of the pot.

　　The dealer dealt the cards, and the three community cards were the spade j, the spade 3, the spade A...

　　Three spades, it was obvious that someone would make a flush.

　　The probability of stealing the pot was very small.

　　After following a round casually, Suren Qian and others all folded.

　　Only two families were left, the middle-aged man with glasses and the blonde young man.

　　Blonde man: "One hundred thousand."

　　Suren glanced at the slight wrinkle on the blonde young man's brow and knew that the cards in his hand shouldn't be for a flush. That guy's card skills weren't very good, and when he got a good hand but not a very big one, he would unconsciously have this micro-expression.

　　The middle-aged man with glasses was very calm, stable the whole time, and added the bet lightly: "Five hundred thousand."

　　The blonde man hesitated for a moment, "Call."

　　Suren saw here and guessed that the blonde man's hand was probably a two-pair hand, so he knew that the other party was betting on a flush, but he was reluctant to fold.

　　He probably wanted to bet on the "AAABB" full house.

　　At this time, the dealer dealt another diamond 4.

　　The wrinkles on the blonde young man's brow became tighter, obviously this card was useless.

　　At this time, the middle-aged man with glasses aggressively added the bet and said, "One million."

　　His tone didn't have any waves, and it looked like he had a flush.

　　This made it difficult for the blonde young man.

　　He had already invested nearly a million in this game, and it would be a loss to fold.

　　But if he wanted to see the fifth card, he would have to pay at least a million.

　　He looked at the middle-aged man with glasses opposite him and said dissatisfied, "Hey, hey, uncle, are you bluffing?"

　　The middle-aged man with glasses responded lightly, "Let's see the cards and put on the chips."

　　"..."

　　At this point, a look of exasperation flashed across the blonde man's eyes.

　　Then, the wrinkles on his brow suddenly relaxed, and he pushed forward nearly three million chips, "All in!"

　　.......

　　First enrage, then all in...

　　A little trick, but not a very clever technique.

　　Suren saw here and turned his head slightly, thinking, "A little interesting. But what is this guy... going to win with? Cheating?"

　　At this time, he suddenly realized something and focused his attention on the gold coin that the guy was playing with in his hand.

　　Although the blonde man had been playing with the gold coin, the change in his momentum just now was very much in sync with the rhythm of the gold coin...

　　He identified it.

　　【Tabard's Lucky Coin】

　　Description: You got it? No, you lost everything.

　　Curse Attribute: Using the power of the curse in the gold coin can bring you good luck; but after using this good luck, the person closest to you in life will suffer misfortune; moreover, the user will become more and more dependent, and if they don't use it, their luck will become worse and worse;

　　Detailed explanation: This is a cursed ancient gold coin; a certain god in the mythical period created this coin of misfortune to punish one of His descendants who was addicted to gambling;

　　Suren saw here, his pupils narrowed slightly, and he smiled in his heart: "He's really going to cheat... Tsk, if this guy knew who he was facing, he would probably regret his actions."

　　Naturally, he wouldn't dare to cheat with his hands, there were experts in this gambling den.

　　But cheating with this cursed object was impossible to guard against.

　　The middle-aged man with glasses was still very calm: "Call."

　　Then, the dealer dealt the last card, which was the "club j."

　　Because it was all in, there was no final round of betting, and both sides showed their hole cards.

　　The middle-aged man with glasses had the spade k and the spade 9, which was indeed a flush.

　　The blonde man directly and excitedly threw out his hole cards, a j and a 3, plus the community cards, they made a "full house" of jjj33.

　　He seemed very happy and was about to gather the chips in front of him, "Haha, I didn't expect my luck to be so good... I actually got a full house."

　　The middle-aged man with glasses lost money, but he didn't care at all. A sick smile suddenly overflowed from his morbid face: "Yes, good luck, Blanco..."

　　"You..."

　　Being called out by his name, the blonde man's face changed drastically.

　　He didn't even have any intention of quibbling, and without any hesitation, he reached into his chest and pressed the pocket watch.

　　In that instant, he felt as if time had slowed down several times in his eyes, and everything around him became slow motion.

　　He suddenly pulled himself out of his seat and was about to escape from the gambling den.

　　.......

　　"A-Class... oh, no, it's a newly promoted S-Class wanted criminal, 'Lucky Star' Blanco?"

　　Suren finally knew who this person was.

　　This guy had been committing crimes frequently recently, intercepting and killing a young master from an inner city chaebol family and a wealthy businessman, and then he was listed on the S-Rank.

　　And in that instant, in Suren's vision, he suddenly felt that the blonde young man's speed had suddenly increased explosively, and he was about to leave like a ghost.

　　This speed couldn't be reached by even a Tier 2 full-agility assassin.

　　Suren wasn't surprised by the speed, but he saw the silver pocket watch that he had just taken out of his arms.

　　【Watkins' Pocket Watch】

　　Quality: Gold

　　Description: The consequences of disrupting the order of time are serious, do you want to try it?

　　Curse Attribute: By pressing the pocket watch, the user can gain 2~5 times their own time acceleration; but if you haven't mastered the laws of time, then using it will randomly shorten a part of your life, perhaps a second, perhaps a hundred years;

　　Detailed explanation: A proud work of an ancient Mechanical Alchemist named 'White Watkins', it was originally given to his descendants as a family heirloom;

　　Suren looked at it and muttered in his heart, "This guy has a lot of treasures..."

　　Those who can be on the S-Rank naturally have some means.

　　However...

　　Too bad.

　　If the pursuer were someone else, with this time acceleration ability, Blanco might have really escaped.

　　But... he was facing someone who had no chance of survival at all.

　　Because this man with glasses was none other than the leader of the Umbrella organization—'Forensic Doctor' Servais Gerard!