"Sorry, miss. What did you just say?" Robin clearly panicked upon hearing this news, but she quickly realized she was being somewhat impolite, her tone carrying an apology, "Uh... can you tell me your name?"
Sparkle winked playfully at Robin, "Oh my, you can call me whatever you like, really a name isn't important at all. The reason I came here is just to tell you that you are now the only one who can stop Sunday."
"I am the only one who can stop my brother?" Robin looked at Sparkle, very puzzled.
She felt that Sparkle's purpose in coming was like making fun of her,
But now she was saying a bunch of inexplicable things,
However.
When it involved matters of Sunday, she felt she had to believe it!
"Please tell me, what should I do?"
"It's very simple." Sparkle took out a thick contract from her palm-sized small bag, "Sign this, guarantee your whatever brothers, younger brothers, sisters, older sisters, all will be safe and sound,
Not only that. From now on you also possess the hardest backing in the world."
Robin, half-believing and half-doubting, picked it up, then read out loud,
""miHoYo Film and Television Development Co., Ltd. Employee Labor Contract 2024 Edition"? Isn't this an employee contract? What does it have to do with saving my brother?"
"Of course it's related, if you don't become a miHoYo employee, how can my boss step in to save you? Guaranteed to help you win the revival match."
"But, I here..." Robin lowered her head, trying hard to conceal her sad expression,
"There's no way for me, because I cannot leave the hotel, once I..."
"Miss Robin." Sparkle rarely put on a serious expression, she looked at Robin,
"I know you are an extremely kind person, but have you ever thought that maybe someone is taking advantage of your kindness, that's why you siblings are caught in this vortex,
But, I swear my boss, he would absolutely never take advantage of your kindness, would absolutely never interfere with anything you do, would give you the greatest degree of freedom, would protect you.
I am the best example, look at someone like me who loves fun so much, yet I willingly help my boss, have you thought about the reason behind it... The key issue is still the key issue – saving your brother,
It's not that we are taking advantage of someone's predicament, we just need a reason to intervene,
You know miHoYo has never been some kind of local ruffians and hooligans, online rumors about eating people are pure fantasy.
So... your choice?"
Robin hesitated again and again before picking up a pen, the next moment her eyes were resolute, she wrote her name,
"Alright, I'm officially employed, please help me."
"Of course I'll help you!" Sparkle held the contract in her hands, laughing wildly.
Robin nodded, then went to the dressing table and hung a necklace around her neck.
This was given to her by a child during her charity work.
Every time she went out, she used this necklace to cover the wound on her neck.
Everything ready, Robin slowly stood up and came to Sparkle's side, "Can we go now?"
"Let's go." Sparkle quickly put all the contracts away into her bag.
Just as Robin was about to open the door, she stopped and asked Sparkle,
"By the way, miss, you still haven't told me your name, and may I ask your boss's name?"
Sparkle's eyes shone, a smile she couldn't suppress, "Me? I'm Su Chen, my boss is called Sparkle, from now on you'll be Sparkle's employee, you know."
"Mm. Okay."
——
In the hotel recreation room,
"Although I don't want to say it, Mr. Sunday, it seems the friend you brought is not very good at gambling." Aventurine smiled slightly at the white-haired man in front of him, "If he keeps losing, I'm afraid the entire hotel will be lost to me."
"He won't." Kevin spoke softly, "Shall we play something different? What do you think?"
Then Kevin turned to look at Sunday, "Mr. Sunday, you should have no objections, right?"
Sunday nodded politely, "Of course I have no objections, as you wish. And the promise from before still stands, if you win, it's all yours, if you lose, I will take responsibility."
"Good. However, I think games are more fun with more people, Sunday, don't you think?"
"Forgive me for not quite understanding your meaning."
"Will you also come to the table? How about it?"
Aventurine smiled slightly, with a hint of provocation, "Even if it's two against one, I don't mind, but you wouldn't be scared, would you?"
"Since Mr. Aventurine and Mr. Kevin are also in such high spirits, why don't I also play a round with you two? So, what shall we play?" After saying this, Sunday naturally took a seat.
Kevin slowly said, "Texas Hold'em."
——
At the same time,
Jiaoqiu and Kevin, led by Gallagher, had taken the elevator to the lowest level of the entire hotel,
However, under Gallagher's guidance, this place still seemed to have hidden depths,
After walking a few hundred meters, Gallagher knocked on an iron door.
Soon.
A slit opened at the top of the iron door, a white-haired man took a look outside,
"Yo? Gallagher?"
Then he saw the two figures behind him and couldn't help but let out an "Eh?" sound,
A pink-haired man with narrowed eyes was constantly fanning himself with a fan,
And the other was very serious, looking very cool~.
"Who are these two behind you?"
"Mikhail, it's fine, the old man knows about this, it was only after he agreed that I dared to bring them over."
"Alright." After saying this, Mikhail opened the iron door, and the three stepped inside.
Mikhail took a look at Gallagher's injuries and asked, "Why do you look so miserable?"
Gallagher's mouth twitched, why bring up the sore point,
"I fell..."
"Fell? How did you fall? You're the security captain and you can fall? Are you joking?"
"I accidentally fell down the stairs from the top floor all the way here, alright!"
"Alright, alright, alright." Mikhail stopped pressing his luck and returned to his seat by the iron door, then slowly sat down.
"Let's go." Gallagher pointed inside, Jiaoqiu and Kevin continued to follow Gallagher deeper inside.
Before long.
The three arrived at a wooden door. Jiaoqiu looked around, "From entering the garage, I made a rough calculation, this place is at least two stories high, and the area is astonishingly large. What was the consideration for designing it like this?"
"You go in and ask the person inside, I don't know about the rest, and I don't want to know, I'm just a doorman."
After saying this, Gallagher knocked on the door, "Old man, it's me."
An old man's voice slowly came from inside, "The door isn't locked, please, guests, come in!"
Gallagher nodded, slowly pulled open the door,
"The old man is inside, from now on it has nothing to do with me."
After saying this, Gallagher's figure disappeared into the end of the corridor.
Jiaoqiu pushed the door open and saw that the room was full of bookshelves, all piled high with books, but on the ground there were also many wires,
And in the center of the room, on a chair, sat an old man.
He was wearing a blue suit and looked to be in excellent spirits.
He smiled politely and said, "I presume you two are Mr. Jiaoqiu and Mr. Kevin, correct?"
Jiaoqiu narrowed his eyes, slightly raising the corner of his mouth, "It seems Mr. Mikhail is very familiar with us,
However, I might have forgotten, I don't recall Mr. Gallagher calling you, or secretly informing you of our information in some unseen corner, otherwise, forgive my ignorance, I really don't understand the meaning behind you opening your doors to us?"
"Hahaha. Mr. Jiaoqiu, you are indeed very clever. All the way here, you've been very clever. I'm almost envious of miHoYo for having a strategic general like you."
"Too kind. Since you mentioned 'all the way here'? So it's surveillance, right? Then everything makes sense. From the moment we entered the hotel, we have been under your surveillance."
Mikhail got up from his chair and pressed a button on the desk.
Then.
The bookshelves behind him began to move to both sides, revealing a huge LCD display screen, yet it was filled with countless small screens, monitoring every move of the entire hotel.
"As you said, actually I have been watching you all along. But this white-haired young brother should have known, right?"
Kevin saw the ball being passed to him and said helplessly,
"Indeed, I noticed a backdoor in the surveillance program, but I'm not a hacker, my professional knowledge isn't sufficient, so I didn't pay too much attention to it."
"Don't misunderstand, I'm not trying to make you fight amongst yourselves. Actually, I knew you were coming long ago, actually he told me."
Jiaoqiu already had a rough idea of who this "informant" was, but to be safe, it was better to confirm,
"So he is?"
"Su Chen."
"Su Chen?!" Jiaoqiu slapped his own forehead, sighing helplessly,
"I knew it, no matter what incident occurs, it will eventually lead back to him.
In that case, what was the point of us coming here through all hardships?"
Mikhail seemed thoughtful as he looked at the surveillance screen, "Perhaps, it's to know an answer."
——
In the hotel recreation room,
The card game had reached its final stage,
Aventurine, Kevin, and Sunday glanced at each other.
Finally, Aventurine was the first to break the silence, "Last hand, how about we all show our cards together? What do you say?"
——
Back to the basement.
"Answer? What answer?"
Jiaoqiu looked at Mikhail with slight suspicion, "Actually, I also have a question, who is currently in charge of this hotel?"
"Sunday." Mikhail sat back in his seat,
"Both siblings are wonderful people, it's just a pity they are bound by chains called 'life-saving grace' and 'we are family', you could say it's a kind of shackle.
Me, I was supposed to be eliminated by the times anyway, being eliminated by the board is just being eliminated, but these two siblings are different,
To generate advertising revenue, Robin has endless songs to sing, endless shows to walk, endless events to attend, to maintain the hotel's livelihood,
Some people see it but are utterly helpless.
And Sunday becomes the hotel's public-facing responsible person, the kind who definitely can't escape if something goes wrong."
"So everything is clear now, the hotel shareholders want to use certain methods to achieve profit,
And this responsible person is Sunday. If they win, the hotel barely survives; if they lose? There's a scapegoat to push to the forefront. Is that the meaning?"
"Hahaha, if it were only that, I wouldn't have needed to mention him. But Sunday, he perhaps from beginning to end wanted to do one thing.
He wants to lose! However, he wants to lose to someone he believes he can trust."
Jiaoqiu stopped waving his feather fan, he put it back at his waist,
Then everything made sense,
Why Sunday sent the text message, why when they got here it felt like he wanted to oppose them, yet it felt like punching cotton.
"So it's this kind of story, Sunday's goal from the start was to want to lose, to lose to Su Chen."
"Perhaps the truth is like that!" Mikhail looked at the screen, pointing at the recreation room surveillance; it seemed the outcome had been revealed.
——
"Tsk tsk tsk, sigh, I, Aventurine, will have to put a cross next to Texas Hold'em on my 'always win at gambling' record." Aventurine shook his head and threw his straight flush into the discard pile.
[PS: Straight flush is the highest hand.]
Mr. Sunday smiled slightly, "It seems it's just between you and me now, Mr. Kevin. Is there any need to continue our gamble?"
"Do you think there is?"
"Mr. Aventurine has already conceded, I think we can give up."
"But, do you really wish for me to give up?" Kevin took off his colored contacts, "They were irritating my eyes."
Sunday: "..."
The next moment, he placed his own hand into the discard pile, "I concede."
Su Chen looked at the high card in his hand and couldn't help but laugh, (4, 5, 8, 9, J, all different suits)
"Alright then, I didn't expect this pile of random numbers could win. So, did I win?"
...
Not long after, in Sunday's office.
Su Chen was still wearing Kevin's clothes, he sat on the sofa without any proper posture,
"Join miHoYo directly. Since I've won, the hotel will eventually be in my hands anyway."
Sunday slowly said, "I don't want to trouble you. Actually, the hotel might have been unsustainable for a long time. Even if you win, there might not be a good way out."
"A way out? Actually, it's very simple. I plan to integrate the hotel into the miHoYo Interactive Entertainment City as a part of it, this will increase foot traffic.
And it will be put into actual use; this will become the first 24-hour operating scene of the Interactive City."
"Ah? Scene?" Sunday was somewhat puzzled, "And it's quite far from the Interactive City, right?"
"Sorry, I have a train that will be repaired soon. Once it's repaired, I will personally drive it to under the hotel."
Su Chen took a sip of water to moisten his throat, "Speaking of which, are you willing to join us?"
"Sorry! I..."
Before he could finish, a knocking sound came from the door.
Sunday paused, and ultimately chose to open the door. Outside was Robin.
"Brother!"
"Sister, perhaps we can trust Boss Sparkle."
Su Chen: "????"