Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 355 - 67 Commemorating Peace_1

Chapter 355: Chapter 67 Commemorating Peace_1

The night in the City of Innocence is always brightest in the men’s quarters, where the sky is perpetually bathed in the hazy luminosity of the enduring Crystal Energy lamps. But tonight was an exception; the brightest area was not the men’s quarters, but the gambling district.

The gambling district is a unique area where all its streets are controlled by a single organization, the only commercial district in the City of Innocence that is entirely unified. Gambling, one of the most fundamental manifestations of human greed, is the most profitable venture among all businesses. Hence, a decade ago, the gambling district was one of the bloodiest areas in the City of Innocence. Five major organizations fought cutthroat battles here, with people dying daily and every dark alley tainted red with blood. Each additional large-scale casino under an organization’s control equated to nearly a hundred thousand gold coins of share income per year. Gold coins are tempting, and every year, a large number of minor offenders and ambitious young people flooded into the City of Innocence. What was their goal? The goals were simply threefold: to obtain a close contact opportunity with the Shadow Hand and seeking an opportunity to be recognized and recruited, to climb up the ranks in an organization to enjoy the splendor of power, and more often, the ultimate goal was to earn a fortune from any profession available in the City of Innocence. With these individuals willing to do anything for gold coins, the organizations naturally couldn’t be content with only the areas they’ve already controlled. War with other organizations was an inevitable outcome.

However, everything changed ten years ago. A small organization named Card Deck appeared in the gambling district. There were many organizations like this, often consisting of reckless, impulsive newcomers and a few ambitious professionals. They forcibly took control of a small casino and hoped, as in some dark novels, to gradually expand. But such small organizations usually didn’t last for more than ten days. The shortest-lived survived for only six hours, and the longest for just twenty-three days before it was exterminated.

But Card Deck was different. They had slightly over thirty members, but each was an expert in assassination and combat. Assembled, they not only withstood the repeated attacks of one of the medium-sized organizations, but they quickly initiated a counter-offensive. Through assorted, multi-dimensional attacks, they consumed the entire territory of that medium-sized organization, replacing it in prominence. Settled in their stronghold, Card Deck didn’t stop its expansion. After taking less than fifteen days to digest their victory spoils, they immediately challenged a neighboring medium-sized organization in war.

The situation became bizarre. Logically, against such a powerful emerging organization, the four surviving medium organizations should have joined forces to annihilate them to be safe, but two of them remained neutral from start to finish. The two remaining organizations did collaborate to resist for a while, but both fell after three months. After their fall, the two neutral organizations surrendered immediately, ushering the gambling district into its first era of unity.

It was then that people learned the leader of Card Deck was a man named Joseph. He was originally a middle-range manager under Shadow Hand - an old thief who had retired due to his advanced age. He was among the rare few who lived peacefully till retirement within the Shadow Hand. After his retirement, he resumed his true name and established Card Deck with his original tens of followers who were strong combatants. As for why these dozens of individuals followed him into retirement, no one was foolish enough to dig deeper; clearly, there were intricate reasons behind it.

After Joseph unified the gambling district, he quickly affiliated with the Suspicion faction, and everyone understood how things had unfolded. Such behavior from Suspicion trod on the toes of the other captains, testing their tolerance; but it was kept under control and thus did not provoke a joint attack from the other captains.

Ten years have passed. Even though Joseph was getting older, he was living the high life, contrary to everyone’s expectations. Today marked the tenth anniversary of peace in the gambling district, and Card Deck had prepared a grand ball to celebrate this memorable day.

The ball was held at the Crown Casino, which was directly managed by Card Deck. The casino was temporarily closed for three days for this event, a significant cost in itself.

The Crown Casino is the only building in the City of Innocence with five stories. With two basement levels and five above ground, the casino had ample space. The second basement level was a leisure area, comfortably accommodating a variety of amenities including large restaurants, massage parlors, bars, and other recreational facilities; all established for the casino’s customers to rest and relax between games. From the first basement level to the third floor were public areas of the casino. This area included gambling facilities and varieties covering regions and nationalities of every race in Yarran World. As long as you were willing, you could find any game you were good at here. Twenty-two hours a day, these three floors bustled with guests. These well-dressed, obvious-rich-look customers were able to indulge to their heart’s content under the guidance of well-trained staff within the high-rise building. In contrast, the three upper floors were also gambling areas but didn’t have many visitors. This area, known as the high-end area, was accessible to only a select few wealthy figures and dignitaries. In this area, the decorations were not extravagant but absolutely exquisite. Every private suite, every corridor, every piece of floor, and even every color of paint was meticulously designed by a professional interior designer, all to offer their guests the most comfortable visual experience. The dealers here were the prettiest; the attendants, the most attentive; the furniture, the most comfortable. Someone even exaggerated that each potted plant or flower here had to be trimmed more properly than those on the other floors. Regardless of who you were, as long as you were qualified to enter this floor, you would absolutely not want to leave. The fifth floor was entirely guest rooms, available for customers who spent multiple consecutive days at the casino. The floor offered the highest vantage point in the City of Innocence, except for the clock tower in the square. Looking out the window, one could take in the entire City of Innocence, offering a truly unique view.

Tonight is the night of the ball. After a full day of meticulous preparations yesterday, the festival ball celebrating peace is now fully ready. Although the theme of the ball seems particularly ironic and ridiculous in the City of Innocence, there is still a certain level of interest among many people for this rare festivity in the city.

Prior to this evening, invitations to the ball had been distributed throughout the City of Innocence. Virtually all large and medium-sized forces in every block received an invitation, along with the wealthy elites present in the City of Innocence during these days. The leaders of various forces, however, aren’t overly concerned about security. After all, once the card organization took control of the gambling district, it stopped expanding. Other districts’ organizations, wary of the forces behind the cards, no longer infiltrated that district. Therefore, a peaceful state has been maintained inside and out for a full ten years without any interest disputes. Moreover, with so many celebrities attending, if the card organization were to cause chaos and harm to these guests, it would severely impact the City of Innocence’s future commercial prospects and would definitely be hit hard by the Shadow Hand. Furthermore, as the actual controllers of the City of Innocence, several high-level captains provided a guarantee for the card organization’s festival on behalf of the Shadow Hand, hence the security of all party leaders could be basically assured. Their real concern is the journey to and from the Crown Casino, which is the most dangerous location and where they are most likely to be attacked by opposing forces, necessitating the highest level of vigilance.

The Crown Casino is bright and resplendent tonight. High-luminance Crystal Energy lamps, which consume nearly a hundred gold coins per hour, are lit up as if money is of no object. Beams of bright light are shot into the sky from the front of the Crystal Energy lamps. The beams from the Crystal Energy lamps, which have been specially modified with colored crystals, display a variety of dazzling colors, adding a beautiful decor to the dark night sky.

The ball is taking place on the first and second floors of the casino. The first floor is for receiving guests who didn’t get an invitation. Here, a few spacious halls have been cleared out and transformed into banquet halls, with the circular hall in the middle being the finest dance hall. Guests of different genders who don’t have an invitation can enjoy a luxurious feast and after the banquet they can step into the circular dance hall together for a dance. What mysterious events might happen after the dance are unknown.

The actual ball takes place on the second floor of the casino, where only those with an invitation can bring a small number of followers and, under the guidance of a valet, enter through another corridor. The second floor originally consisted of four halls, each thousands of square meters in size. For tonight, the movable partitions between two of the halls have been removed in advance, making the space more ample and capable of accommodating all attendees.

Though it’s a grand ball, the actual scale of the event isn’t large. The total number of invitations sent out to various parties didn’t exceed three hundred. After all, not everyone is eligible to accept this invitation. It’s estimated that at most only two hundred people will actually attend. It requires considerable courage to participate in such an event in the City of Innocence.

The ball is scheduled to begin at nine in the evening, but as early as eight, a large number of carriages have already poured into the gambling district, guided by the casino’s employees to park around the casino. However, these are mostly guests without invitations who know their status isn’t worthy enough to go to the second floor. They just want to enjoy the rare lively atmosphere on the first floor in the City of Innocence. After all, such special events in the City of Innocence might only occur once in decades and are the best topics of boasting among close friends in the future.

It wasn’t until half past eight that a few carriages slowly parked in the dedicated parking area for invitation holders. These carriages differed in appearance; some were ostentatiously decorated while others were extremely plain. Each carriage often represented an organization that controlled the lives and deaths of tens of thousands of people in the City of Innocence, or it represented a powerful household with limitless glory in the outside world.

Gradually, more and more carriages parked here. The well-trained attendants directing them could feel the increasingly heavy atmosphere in the air. (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welcomed to vote for recommendations on qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. If you’re on your mobile phone, please go to m.qidian.com to read.)