Chapter 38: Dungeon event mini-boss

'Quit playin' games with my points~ Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na (with my points) Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, baby (my points)... My points...'

Ben was looking down at the blue Mystery Box, singing his modernized version of Backstreet Boys' "Quit Playing Games" to the system in his head. He figured if he tried something new on occasion, at some point, he'd tickle this tsundere system on the right spot. After a deep breath, he unboxed it!

A few seconds later, he held a new system item.

'First, she attempted to turn me into a criminal. Now she wants to make me an addict.'

A green pack of cigarettes was in Ben's hands.

[Lucky Clove Cigarettes(Item, Fine) x20 - Temporarily increases the smoker's luck a little while smoking]

Ben didn't enjoy smoking, but he wouldn't catch lung cancer before the system killed him in 8 days. 'I'm not sure how useful a little luck is going to be, but there's 20 of them, so it's not bad.'

He walked back out to the main area of the bar and noticed Antonio was talking to a single girl on a black leather couch. 'Lucky guy. He found a girl alone.' Antonio was right earlier that very few girls were alone in bars. It made things more difficult because of dealing with groups, which Ben learned the hard way today.

He felt the cigarettes in his pockets. 'Well, not much time left, might as well try these and see what happens.' Ben went to the smoking section which was an open patio area at the back of the bar he'd spotted earlier. Upon entering it, he noticed there were a few chairs and heating lamps, but the biggest feature of this area was the open night sky, and of course, the ability to smoke. Smoking indoors was long prohibited in New York.

The loud music retreated to the sounds of light conversation…and system alerts.

[Dungeon Hidden Zone detected]

'Another hidden zone.' Ben shrugged. He didn't have a lighter so he asked a guy who was smoking to borrow one.

Receiving a lighter, Ben took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth. Unlike normal cigarettes which were white or sometimes black, these cigarettes were emerald green. Ben lit one up and tasted it.

*Fooo*

When he exhaled the smoke, he was also surprised to find it was dark green. What's more is he expected to cough since he'd never smoked a cigarette before, but it wasn't harsh at all, almost like breathing in sweet air.

When Ben tried to return the lighter to the man, he discovered he had left, having gone inside and forgotten about it. At that moment, an alluring female voice floated over from behind him.

"Hey darlin', do you have a light?"

Ben turned around.

'...Whoa!' is all that came to his mind. If he had to describe this woman's appearance in one word…it would be provocative. Everything about her style was snappy and revealed so much skin that Ben almost made a loud gulp. She had chin-length white hair, with deep red eye shadow that caused her to stand out like a fox. A black low cut dress exposed her large cleavage; It lured Ben like a warm bed he had an urge to dive into.

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This sudden beauty made him speechless for a second, but he soon regained his grip. Ben took out the lighter the guy forgot and lit up an open flame in front of the woman. As he looked at the lighter the guy forgot to retrieve, he wondered, 'Is this because of the lucky cigarette?'

She gave him an alluring smirk, took out a cigarette, put it in her mouth, and leaned forward into the flame. In this dark area, it lit up her breasts and gave Ben an even better view. "Thanks," she said.

'No, thank you,' he thought.

Ben had no qualms with battling in an all-night staring contest with those nipples poking through her dress, but something happened that was even more compelling.

[Dungeon event mini-boss detected]

Ben searched around. At the moment, only the two of them were in this area. He looked back at the woman. 'Is it her?' Ben tried to make sense of it and developed a guess, so he asked her to find out. "Do you work here?"

She smiled. "On occasions…such as tonight." She exhaled smoke with a sideways blow. "I'm a promoter. The name's Lia."

"...Ben" He was still lost in thought about the implications of her title. Then he reasoned, 'Well, I'm not sure what the deal is with this dungeon thing. For now, I'll treat her like normal and act as any responsible adult male should. I'll try to bang her!'

It was hard to find a single woman out at night. 'This is my chance. She has no hole goalie around! I'll drive it straight into the net…'

He turned on the charm. "How often do you work here?"

"...Two nights a week. Honestly, this bar doesn't have suitable parties that often…Rest of the time, it's dead as dinos."

Ben smirked. "Since you said 'Honestly,' does that mean when you don't say that, you're lying?'

Lia blinked a few times. She didn't know how to answer, so she responded with a sexy smirk of her own. She leaned her head to the left as her eyes glistened a bit at Ben now. "Maybe..."

[Target's current attraction level: curious]

"I'll need to be careful around you then..." Ben teased.

Several minutes later, their laughter reverberated through the entire section.

'If I can raise her attraction level a bit more, maybe I could go for a number.'

Their cigarettes already went out, but Lia looked at Ben with a coquettish glance before pulling out another one. As she was about to ask for another light, something interrupted them. A third party walked out into the smoking section.

"Babe, there you are." A huge muscular man strolled up from behind her. When he saw she was talking to Ben alone, his eyes became cold.

[Hostile adventurer detected]