Lu Mingfei, become the king of gambling in dungeons!

The back street of Tokyo University is lined with old-fashioned Japanese houses. A two-wheeled wooden cart is parked on the side of the street. This kind of rickshaw is called "ramen yataisha" in Japan. The rainproof canopy can be unfolded to put two or three stools. Customers who come to eat ramen sit on the wooden stools to eat their noodles, while the ramen chef cooks the soup and noodles in the yataisha.

Japanese ramen is a type of soup noodle dish that originated in China and uses alkaline noodles. Although it has only been around for about a century, it has developed into a soup base characterized by soy sauce, salt, miso, and pork bone.

A customer dressed in a suit and tie with a rose-colored bow tie arrived in the rain, carrying a silver briefcase, not far from closing time.

Hilbert Jean Angers sat down by the food cart, setting aside his umbrella and heavy suitcase. "Soy sauce ramen, plus a serving of char siu and two braised eggs. Please bring it out quickly."

The heavy rain pattered against the shed.

The shopkeeper didn't react much, only pulling the tarpaulin down a little more with a look of disgust, as if being seen sharing the space with the customers in front of him was a very embarrassing thing.

"I know you'll be open for another hour or so." Angers looked up and picked up a bottle of cheap sake, his movements as practiced as if he were opening his own fridge to get an ice-cold beer.

But in fact, he had only been to this stall once before and was not a regular customer.

The ramen chef glanced at him indifferently, dipped his chopsticks in the broth, and wrote on the cutting board, "Angers and dogs not allowed."

Angers remained motionless, raising an eyebrow as they met each other's gaze.

"You already came to see me last time, and I clearly rejected you. If you keep pestering me like this, you must be craving ramen." Uesugi Koshi, his composure broken, said angrily. "Starting tonight, ramen will be charged! A bowl of ramen is 800 yen, an extra 100 yen for a braised egg, and an extra 200 yen for a serving of char siu!"

Angers began pouring himself a drink: "You're charging a pretty high price. I remember there was miso ramen with butter in Sapporo for 32 yen... It's a pity I had already left Japan by then. In Kagoshima, there was tonkotsu ramen with black pork char siu and sardine broth, and it was only 39 yen including the char siu."

"Those were prices decades ago! Back then, a saury and yellow croaker rice ball cost 35 yen for 6 yen. Why didn't you just go find a rice ball to eat?"

"You really are... I'm unlucky to have met you. I really want to change jobs to avoid you. Even becoming a male escort in my twilight years would be better than what I'm doing now." Uesugi Kotsushi's shoulders slumped as he made up a story.

"No problem, but you'll have to put in some effort. In Japan, only Ishikawa in Tokyo and Koan in Kanagawa Prefecture are worthy of my patronage." Angers placed a stack of ten thousand yen bills on the counter. "One million yen, keep the change. I'll come back again, consider it advance payment… If you become a male escort, I'll dance for you, shouting 'Uesugi-kun, good luck!' We'll form an old-age boy band and debut, letting the Snake Clan see the unparalleled brilliance of their former movie king and headquarters principal before they're destroyed."

Uesugi Koshi: "..."

He slumped against the cart, his mouth opening and closing like a dying salted fish.

There's really nothing a shameless person can do when they encounter someone even more shameless than themselves.

Angers swirled the cheap sake in a small cup: "Enough nonsense. Your Tokyo is in turmoil right now. You have a responsibility to protect the resurrected relics, and now wild beasts are running rampant in Tokyo, but you, the one wielding the sword, are unwilling to even be a hands-off manager."

"You're still spouting nonsense."

Uesugi Koshi accepted the money with a huff: "My Tokyo? Bullshit. What you're saying sounds like a goddess about to give birth gazing tenderly at a simp who hasn't even touched her hand and telling him to take responsibility for his child... What does that have to do with me? I don't even buy Japanese health supplements for the elderly anymore."

The Snake-Ghost Eight Families would only applaud without him.

"You're not completely out of touch with the times, are you, old folks?" Angers pointed to the 14-inch color TV above the soup pot and the DVDs of female celebrities with seductive poses next to it. "The DVDs are a bit old. I told you last time that you still hadn't changed them. I'll bring you some new stuff next time you come."

"Look at where I set up my stall. The students at the University of Tokyo come up with something new every month. I entertain myself with more than just DVDs," Uesugi said with a hint of pride.

Angers looked at him and took a sip of sake: "So, you set up your stall here not only for the land but also to listen to young people gossip, huh? But you really are getting old."

Uesugi Kotsugu would probably nod happily if he heard others say this, but he was unhappy when Angers said it to him: "Look in the mirror, okay? I'm still a tender young man in front of you."

"I mean your heart is old," Angers said bluntly and coldly.

Uesugi Koshi froze for a moment, then reached out and pulled the middle section of the tarpaulin in, sticking it against the side panel: "Look up, look at my ramen shop banner. I'm already locked into this banner by my current happiness. Those who are locked in by contentment are the hardest to break free from."

The cloth reads "Master Koshi no Ramen," his signboard that has stood on this street for decades. New customers come, old customers go; his signboard is just these few simple words.

"Happiness? Are you really happy because of this?" Angers asked incredulously. "I won't say anything about you using a tarpaulin as a banner, but someone who used to frequent palaces is now a 'friend of the streets.' Deceiving yourself isn't a good thing."

Uesugi Kotsushi remained noncommittal: "You must have another purpose for coming to see me, right? Hurry up, I'm quite busy too. After you finish talking, I still have to push the cart back... I'm really fed up. How can someone who can't find an enemy have a reason to wield a sword? You've miscalculated."

"Wait, let me find a good bottle of wine first... Why are they all the same brand?"

While looking for wine, Angers glanced at the statue of the Virgin Mary that Uesugi had placed behind the sake, then got up and poured a glass of wine for himself and Uesugi: "Which day of the week do you go to church? Go and pray for me on that day."

It was a small statue of the Virgin Mary, dressed in a red kimono, devoutly praying for her child. The Virgin Mary's facial features were typical of an Asian, and there was a low-quality sun disc behind her. Her posture and expression may have been inspired by the "Mary with the Thumb" statue by Italian missionaries and the "White Porcelain Guanyin Bodhisattva" statue from Fujian, China.

"Speak quickly! Get to the point." Uesugi Koshi impatiently handed the ramen to Angers.

Angers kept it brief: "I came to ask you about the God's Hatchery... the Eight Serpent Families... the Geological Institute... I think you, the Shadow Emperor, must know something secret, right?"

He laid out all the information he knew, and there were few people he trusted in this city, but the one in front of him was undoubtedly one of them.

Without much ambiguity, Uesugi Kotsushi explained the simple drilling diagrams of the ancient ruins that he knew, and he used chopsticks dipped in noodle soup to write and draw.

"You'd better hurry if you want to find it. God is definitely not the dragon kings you killed before. The God after completion is something at the level of the Black King. We call it God because it represents despair. If it completes itself, I can't think of any way in the world to kill it."

Looking at the torrential rain outside, Uesugi Kotsushi said, "To be honest, I've already booked a ticket to Paris. That's the ultimate monster in the world. I hope you can win, but I don't think the chances of success are that high."

Suddenly, amidst the rain and wind, there was a crisp laugh and a kitten's soft meow.

"who?"

Uesugi Koshi suddenly looked up, but Angers was still eating his ramen slowly and deliberately, even picking out the braised egg to eat.

It seems a child in a bow tie was resting and taking shelter from the rain on another bench in a wooden wagon, holding a cat... Right next to Angers, I couldn't help but chuckle as I overheard their conversation about the "White King".