...

Within a few moments, everyone was seated under the arrangements of the waiter, and the melodious sound of violins sounded.

No one exchanged greetings, no one came out to be polite, and the delicacies that had been cooked long ago were served from the back kitchen.

Most of the guests sitting at the same table did not know each other. In the past, they might have been wary of strangers and remained silent to the point of embarrassment.

But tonight, behind a thin mask, you don’t know what I look like, and I don’t know who you are, but everyone found the topic easily, and we had a surprisingly lively conversation.

In just a blink of an eye, happy laughter came from many tables.

...

Between the tables in the dinner hall, Higashinohara walked back and forth carrying a tray.

He went wherever he needed, but his eyes kept looking around the villa, and finally his eyes fell on the marble escalator leading to the second floor.

He probably walked around every corner of the first floor tonight, but found no place to hide anyone. If the disappearance of Nishimaru Miria was really related to this villa, then there was a high probability that it happened before he had a chance to go up and investigate.

It's probably the third floor.

Thinking of this, Higashinohara withdrew his gaze and continued to be a quiet waiter.

He knew very well that if Miria Nishimaru was really trapped here, his biggest reliance in saving her would be the "Mission Buff" with 50 free attribute points.

What does it feel like to suddenly increase one of your attributes by 50 points? Higashinohara, who usually only scores 0.1+↑, has certainly never experienced this.

However, every 0.1 attribute point increase during the two days of training made him feel that his body was obviously getting stronger and lighter.

It is not difficult to imagine that if five hundred times this terrifying attribute is added to any attribute such as [Agility], [Strength], [Physique], etc., the improvement brought about will definitely be terrifying beyond his expectation.

The problem is that this "Mission Buff" only lasts for 30 minutes, which is almost the same as "Five Seconds of Real Man", so Higashinohara must seize the right moment quickly and accurately if he wants to save people.

Now is not the time.

...

With the melodious violin playing, this "musical dinner" quickly came to an end.

The guests stopped eating and talking and sat there quietly, patiently waiting for what would happen next after the dinner. A waiter like Higashinohara was called to the dressing room of the villa.

A man with a strong build and a leopard-print mask on his face was settling their wages for tonight. Instead of receiving them by name, they were directly queuing up to receive them.

In fact, they didn't even register their names during the afternoon training, and the organizers didn't know whether they were too conceited to trust them, or too trusting in their own strength. No one dared to cheat.

From three o'clock to eight o'clock, five hours, 50,000 yen, is almost equivalent to half a month's salary of working part-time at a convenience store. The dozen or so waiters who got the money were very satisfied.

"Okay! My dear friends, change your clothes and you can leave,"

The man wearing a leopard print mask chuckled, turned around and left. It seemed that he had other things to be busy with.

As soon as the person in charge left, the atmosphere in the locker room became lively.

"Tsk tsk! The hourly wage is so high, I thought the requirements were very strict, but it seems to be nothing."

"That's true. I was just about to clear the table, but I didn't expect that the cheetah-headed supervisor called us all over, paid our wages and left. Give me more part-time jobs like this in the future."

"Hahaha, you have a beautiful idea. Didn't you see those cars outside tonight? Many of them are limited editions. You may not have seen as many as you did today in ten years."

"Hiss—! That's true, eh! You said... these rich people won't leave after eating, what are they going to do next?"

"Who can say for sure what happens in your circle, but...it won't be about sex partying, hehe..."

"Hey hey hey..."

Higashinohara's eyes twitched when he heard the two boys chatting, but he still lowered his head and arranged his clothes slowly and methodically, and he didn't seem to be in a hurry at all.

...

Ten minutes later, all the part-time workers left the locker room one after another. Higashinohara listened to the movement in the hall outside, quietly changed into his usual clothes, and put on the dark gold dragonfly mask again.

After leaving the locker room, he took a detour, naturally heading from the direction of the bathroom to a certain guest seat in the lobby, and immediately pulled out the extra empty seat and sat down.

Sensing the movement, the eyes of the other seven masked visitors immediately fell on Higashinohara, who was wearing a dragonfly mask, and looked up and down at the uninvited guest.

After a while, some people looked deep in thought, and some people had smiles on their lips, but they all chose to ignore the matter and ignore it.

After all, no matter what the identity of Higashinohara who suddenly appeared at this table was, as guests attending this mysterious dinner for the first time, they had no reason to say anything.

As for the host of the party...

I'm afraid no one would have thought that a waiter, a small and inconsequential person recruited temporarily, would transform into a guest and sit at the table after receiving his salary.

Not long after the episode of Higashinohara taking his seat occurred, the door of the villa was suddenly closed by two sturdy men in black suits.

Immediately, they crossed their hands in front of them, standing left and right like door gods. Everyone was attracted to the attention and felt something in their hearts.

The real drama is about to begin...

Sure enough, a man wearing a white lab coat and a fox mask walked over and said in a hoarse and magnetic voice.

"Welcome, all guests, and good evening."

"Then the next step is the [exhibition] we have carefully prepared for every guest."

As the voice fell, the golden wall behind the man in the fox mask suddenly changed color, then separated to both sides, and an elevator leading to the underground appeared.

...

It turned out to be a basement.

At the dining table, Higashinohara looked away from the escalator leading to the second floor.

Many guests attending the dinner for the first time chewed the word "exhibition" in their mouths, and their faces showed thoughtful expressions.

Afterwards, everyone took the elevator in batches to the second underground floor.

Higashinohara's table is the fourth batch.

After getting out of the elevator, he discovered that there was a cave underground in this villa. The lights illuminated the underground like daylight, and the space was very spacious. Directly in front of it was a stage and a red curtain.

"It's an exhibition? Where are the exhibits?"

"Tsk tsk, are you still playing mystery?"

"They're all here, let's see what tricks they play."

"..."

Many dignitaries with high status were patient and waiting for the organizer's next move.

However, at some point, a rare middle-aged man without a mask appeared on the stage. He was short and fat, and his appearance and temperament looked like a common business manager in the workplace.

"Ahem... Good evening, all guests. I am Masaten Kusao, the president of Sigmund International Trading's New Tokyo Branch. Many people may not know me."

Having said this, the man who called himself Kusao Masaki paused, and said with a kind and peaceful smile, "Well... maybe some of you have heard of my other name. Many people in New Tokyo used to like to call me -

—Rattlesnake.”

The moment the last three words of the man's sentence fell, the crowd on the second underground floor suddenly became quiet, and you could almost hear a pin drop.

Immediately afterwards there was a commotion.

"Huh? Have you heard of this name?"

"Hiss—! Rattlesnake? Could it be the human trafficker tycoon from the underground black market in New Tokyo ten years ago?"

"I heard that he was a sixth-level superpower back then. His talent was the high-risk ability of sequence 35 [Rattlesnake]. He controlled all human trafficking activities in Tokyo. The Metropolitan Police Department dispatched a large number of police forces but failed to catch him."

"I remember the news report that year. In the end, Tokugawa Ritora, the 'King Kong King' of the Third Investigation Team, was dispatched and arrested him personally. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in the court trial."

"Life sentence? Then why is he here?"

"..."

Hearing the comments and surprises of everyone in front of him, Masaru Kusao showed a satisfied smile on his face, clapped his hands and said with a smile:

"Now that everyone has recognized me, you can rest assured about the professionalism of our exhibition tonight. Next, we will bring you our [Exhibit No. 001]."

As he finished speaking, the stage next to him suddenly made a "click, click, click" sound, and a huge square covered with black cloth rose from the bottom of the stage into everyone's sight.

Seeing this scene, many people present had vague speculations in their minds based on the former identity of Mao Wei Zhengtian, but no one asked to leave.

In fact, as a member of the elite in various countries around the world, we have never seen any exhibitions on weekdays.

After receiving this mysterious invitation letter, they traveled thousands of miles to the country of Wano. I am afraid that only the scene in front of them could arouse their eager expectations.

Of course not everyone is like this.

In the crowd, Asuka Tatogawa, who was wearing a little raccoon mask, stomped the upper of Kotaro Matsudaira's shoe next to him and said through gritted teeth:

"What surprise? Is this the after-dinner surprise you were talking about?"

Matsudaira Kotaro suddenly bared his teeth.

But others were also a little confused. They cursed in their hearts that their friend was unreliable. He didn't say anything in advance about such prohibited content after the dinner. He quickly made it clear that he was definitely not that kind of person.

Just as the crowd was commotion, the elevator on the stage stopped, and the huge iron cage covered with black cloth stopped firmly on the stage.

On the stage, Masaki Kusao didn't show any concern. He raised his hand and uncovered the black cloth with a smile. The first thing that came into view was a huge iron cage with transparent life-saving capsules placed horizontally inside it.

.

Lying in the life-support cabin was a five- or six-year-old blond girl. Her delicate face was as pale as paper, her eyes were closed, and she wore a collar around her neck. She was covered with dozens of infusion needles and medical instruments. She was watching from the side.
To be continued...