Food God System: Wasteland

It took a while for the sounds around to disappear. Zhou Fengtai struggled to crawl out of the burlap sack, his face smeared with blood and dirt.

Everything he had on him was looted.

Including the five gold coins he cherished as treasures…

"No! Bastards! Damn it!" Zhou Fengtai was filled with regret at this moment. He shouldn't have tried to redeem those two damn women, he shouldn't have done anything for them—it should have been his first priority to hire a mercenary group to protect his own safety.

He could pretty much guess who robbed him.

It must have been people from the casino!

"I'll make you pay!"

Zhou Fengtai went to find Tahm again, and the moment Tahm saw him, a smile played on his lips: "I won the bet."

"My gold coins were stolen. I need more gold coins, I want revenge, I want to win all the casino's money!"

"I can't just give you something for nothing, this requires a deal—at the price of your soul!"

"What if you lose? Losing might include your soul, you know."

"I don't care! Give me the coins!" Tahm extended his webbed hand into his mouth, pulling out a sticky gold coin from his throat and placed it into Zhou Fengtai's hands.

With the gold coin in hand, Zhou Fengtai hurried straight to the casino.

All his money was robbed; without hesitation, he took out a high-interest loan from the casino, loudly declaring he would win all the casino's money!

…

"Boss, he's here again!"

The casino owner was toying with the gold coins he had taken from Zhou Fengtai. These coins, which seemed bizarre and not made of gold, had a catfish's head etched on the surface.

These coins gave the casino owner an extremely peculiar feeling.

The casino owner's eyes flickered. Hearing the report from his subordinate, he didn't reply immediately, but instead asked, "How did he, a gambler, get all these coins? These coins don't seem like they're just made of ordinary gold… Could it be that these coins are the reason he always wins?"

For a second, the subordinate was a bit dumbfounded.

The casino owner's eyes gleamed with excitement.

No matter the era, gold is a necessity and is expensive.

Even in the apocalypse, the price of gold remains high.

After all, many things require gold as a material.

How could a lowly gambler from the slums obtain such gold?

The casino owner had a hunch that this gold had extraordinary magic, allowing people to defy fate and change their destiny!

As he was pondering, another subordinate came in with a report.

"Boss, that guy won a lot of money again, we can't even cheat and win against him! There's inexplicable mistakes when we try to cheat... he even caught us once on the spot, but fortunately, the dealer reacted quickly and covered it up… You know that dealer's one of our casino's veterans, never made a mistake before! That guy's got something unusual about him!"

The boss's eyes flickered, studying the surveillance footage closely, indeed catching a glimpse of a golden flash in Zhou Fengtai's pocket.

"He's got another gold coin… give these five coins to the dealer." This was just a conjecture by the boss.

He wanted to verify something.

…

Two hours later, Zhou Fengtai was in a daze.

How could he have lost?

"You're cheating! It must be that you're cheating!"

Zhou Fengtai could not believe his eyes. At first, he was indeed winning, raking in a total of 500,000!

But then he started losing.

He lost completely, inexplicably losing all the money he'd won, and unwilling to give up, he borrowed another huge amount in high-interest loans. Now he was burdened with 1 million in debt!

Despair engulfed Zhou Fengtai's heart.

The people from the casino surrounded him, sneering: "Gambling is about winning and losing. You lost, and let me tell you, the debt you borrowed accrues interest by the minute. If you can't pay it back, don't blame us for taking your limbs and organs!"

Hearing this, Zhou Fengtai trembled.

"Wait and see! You just wait and see! I'll win it back, I'll win it back!"

Saying this, Zhou Fengtai ran towards the casino's entrance. Usually, the casino wouldn't let gamblers who owed so much money leave easily, as who knows if they'll ever find them again?

But under the casino owner's orders, the casino's thugs merely watched Zhou Fengtai leave.

Zhou Fengtai's steps were shaky as he returned to the alley where Tahm was, loudly calling for Tahm.

"Where are you? Come out!? Quick, I'll give you whatever you want, my soul, my lifespan! I need more gold coins, I want to bring that casino down!"

At this moment, Zhou Fengtai seemed crazed, like someone possessed.

He hoped that fat catfish would appear again to meet him, but he shouted for a long time without any sign.

The expression on Zhou Fengtai's face gradually shifted from fervor to despair, continually roaring, like a trapped beast cornered at the end of its tether.

The shadow of despair slowly enveloped his soul, dragging his body as if into the abyss of Hell.

The massive debt weighed down on his shoulders, crushing his freedom completely, shattering his spine bit by bit.

Panic continued to shroud his nerves.

His lips trembled; he wished that all this was a dream, he wished he could return to that previous time.

Even if he lived a bit poorer, even if he was a nobody, at least it wouldn't be like this, with the threat of death at any moment.

Finally, he heard that sticky sound again, like bubbles rising in a throat.

"Hehehe, you seem quite desperate?"

The moment Zhou Fengtai saw Tahm, hope ignited in his eyes, and he quickly ran to Tahm's feet, grabbing hold of Tahm's leg and shouting: "Give me the gold coins, I need more gold coins, I'll make a bet with you! I can definitely make a comeback!"

"Tsk tsk tsk, my ragdoll~~ You're crumpled even more than bubblegum chewed for three days in a radioactive wasteland! Your eyeballs are so bright—how about we trade those peepers for a gold coin? It'll make sure your crying is extra dramatic when you lose!"