Chapter 106: The Massive Fraud Case Intensifies; It Is Time to Unleash My Talent

At the Delicious Fresh restaurant, only Ren Zhong and Lin Wang sat at the table. Both were dressed in casual attire, chatting idly over their meal. Lin Wang showed little regret or disappointment over the unexpected loss of a capable subordinate. Ren Zhong understood that while Xing Ming’s death might be a major event in Spark Town—a topic for scavengers to chew on during their downtime—to Lin Wang, it was merely the loss of an insignificant vassal. If he wished, he could cultivate a new mech warrior for his team at any time. Perhaps the recruit wouldn’t reach the Level 4 standard, but it hardly mattered, as at least 50% of his entire team’s combat effectiveness resided in himself alone.

Consequently, Lin Wang spoke with ease and composure, showing only the slightest hint of regret when mentioning Xing Ming’s death. But Ren Zhong knew that even this sliver of regret was a performance—a play Lin Wang staged for his own benefit to demonstrate his care for subordinates. Having dealt with the man repeatedly, Ren Zhong had long ago seen through his extremely cold-blooded nature.

*Ren Zhong: I’d give your acting an 85.*

...

"Ren Zhong, you are making rapid progress, but it is not enough. There is now a vacancy in my team, and I hope you will break through to Level 3 soon. You should know that the feral beasts in the abandoned mine pits are different from those outside. As long as you step into the abandoned mine pits with me, within six months at most, you will be able to equip a full set of Level 4 exoskeletons. Furthermore, we have even more distant places to reach," Lin Wang advised.

In fact, although Ren Zhong had been frequently entering and exiting the abandoned mine pits these past few days and had been forced to kill several Level 2 and Level 3 feral beasts within them, he had abandoned all their carcasses and memory chips to avoid leaking any information, not bringing a single one out. Lin Wang was unaware that the young man sitting before him, flashing an obsequious smile, had already "cleared" the abandoned mine pits.

Moreover, Ren Zhong had completed his full equipment upgrade only yesterday. During the day, he had idled away his time outside with Zheng Tian’s team, hunting only a couple of Level 3 feral beasts just to keep up appearances. In Lin Wang’s eyes, the Ren Zhong of today was no different from the Ren Zhong of eight or nine days ago.

Ren Zhong put on a grateful expression, raised his glass with his left hand—which wore a Level 1 watch—bowed respectfully to Lin Wang, and then downed the fruit wine in one gulp. "Thank you for your guidance, Captain. I will definitely continue to work hard! I’ll go back and further improve my equipment."

Lin Wang nodded in satisfaction and set down his chopsticks. "Very well. Since I’ve set new requirements for you, I naturally cannot offer nothing in return. Consider this money a loan; keep it." With that, Lin Wang transferred 15,000 points after tax to Ren Zhong.

Ren Zhong feigned a stumble, stammering, "Captain, this... this is too much money. How could I accept this?"

Lin Wang waved a hand. "You only think it’s a lot. For a Level 4 professional, ten or twenty thousand contribution points are but a drop in the ocean. Do you know the composition of our primary income?"

Ren Zhong shook his head. "I am not quite sure."

Lin Wang held up one finger. "First, like you, hunting feral beasts. Aside from the periodic clearance of Bone Valley, the abandoned mine pits are the primary activity area for our professional team."

He held up a second finger. "Second, the commissions provided by affiliated teams, but this money is very meager; I usually don’t pay it much mind."

He held up a third finger. "Third, do you think that in Spark Town, those teams that aren’t affiliated with us can avoid making a 'gesture' when they run into us in the wild or on the way back? The income from this third point is no less than the first."

Ren Zhong suddenly realized. "Of course!"

Lin Wang nodded. "Then you should understand that as a professional team, earning money is very easy. The reason we allow semi-professional teams to affiliate is merely to fool the 'boss' and put on a show of cultivating new blood. But in truth, we don’t need such new blood. The resources in the abandoned mine pits can support a large crowd of bottom-dwellers, and even sustain the hundred thousand souls in the Nameless City of Bone Valley. But the original Nameless City just had a lot of people; it didn’t have many experts. A Level 4 professional consumes a thousand times the resources of a Level 1 professional. Now that so many years have passed, the abandoned mine pits aren’t what they used to be; output has dropped significantly, and they can only accommodate three professional teams. This is why the boss... never mind, we’ll talk about that later."

Ren Zhong nodded. "I understand. But if I may speak frankly, I have a question."

"You’re wondering why Bei Lihui forced Zheng Tian and her team a few days ago, even though the second source of income isn’t important, right?"

"Yes."

"Because I do not allow anyone to play me for a fool."

Ren Zhong nodded. "I see. Deception is indeed shameful."

Ren Zhong recalled the day of the promotion assessment when the half-month deadline arrived, and the experience of Zheng Tian’s team being slaughtered like livestock. In truth, Lin Wang’s words should have included one more point: he could neither tolerate being played for a fool, nor could he tolerate anyone having the potential to replace him. Even if that possibility were infinitesimally small, he would never allow it. His suspicion and selfish opportunism had reached an extremely pathological level.

Currently, Lin Wang’s tolerance for Ren Zhong had been raised indefinitely, and he had even offered proactive sponsorship, all because of various reasons that had led Lin Wang to view Ren Zhong as "his own." But for the affiliated teams under his command, and even for the independent teams that should have had nothing to do with him, Lin Wang’s attitude was consistent and clear: suppress and exploit them to the death. Lin Wang was simply very skilled at using lies to mask his true nature. That such a powerful professional captain could emerge in Spark Town was a great sorrow for the wastelanders, and a sorrow for Comrade Lao Ma as well.

Lin Wang added, "Zheng Tian is a decent semi-professional captain, but for several consecutive days, she returned almost empty-handed. There must be something fishy going on. Zheng Tian has always had plenty of tricks and a calculating mind; she’s hard to control. But I have no interest in guessing what she’s thinking. At the time, I thought that since she had ulterior motives, I might as well replace her, but I didn’t expect the root cause was you. Your appearance ignited her ambition."

Ren Zhong shook his head repeatedly. "You overestimate me. I suspect she was just having a run of bad luck."

"Forget it, it’s not important now that it’s over. In fact, there were other reasons, but regardless, if it weren’t for you, those five wouldn’t have lived to see today. Of course, now that you are my reserve team member, you understand what I mean for the future, right?"

Ren Zhong caught the implication. "I understand. I only spent time with them because I was a newcomer. Once I officially join your team, I will naturally part ways with them."

Lin Wang: "But I want you to kill them."

Ren Zhong’s pupils contracted sharply, and he gritted his teeth. "That’s not right."

Lin Wang narrowed his eyes and asked slowly, "Why?"

"Although they haven’t helped me much, we’ve gotten along quite well these past few days. I... I consider them friends."

Upon hearing this, Lin Wang suddenly laughed, with deep meaning. "Friends in bed, you mean?"

Ren Zhong lowered his head. "You could say that."

"Hahahaha, I was just joking with you. No need to kill them."

"Thank you, Captain."

...

After Ren Zhong left, Bei Lihui walked out of the adjacent private room with a flushed-faced Pan Fenglian and Sima Wan. "What’s the verdict?"

Lin Wang held up two fingers. "First, he values loyalty and affection; that is a flaw. Second, he is indeed lustful and easily swayed by emotion. Third, he was indeed a citizen; he lives so naively, it’s enviable. In short, if you hold Zheng Tian’s team, you have a tight grip on him."

Bei Lihui’s face darkened upon hearing this. "Damn it, those two sluts. They gave me the runaround when I approached them, but they throw themselves at this guy Ren Zhong. Are their brains broken?"

Lin Wang shook his head. "Ren Zhong has a background—a background that might be deeper than yours or mine. Don’t treat him like an ordinary wastelander. Zheng Tian is smart; she must have seen some of his background. Chen Hanyu is more conservative; it’s normal she didn’t want to provoke you. As for Zheng Tian, let me ask you: even if you slept with her, would you defy my wishes and protect her by force the way Ren Zhong does?"

Bei Lihui answered without hesitation, "No."

Lin Wang: "There you go. You’re the type to wear your heart on your sleeve; do you think Zheng Tian couldn’t see through your nature? But Ren Zhong is different. His weaknesses increase his utility in the eyes of the bottom-dwellers. Plus, living, eating, and acting with Zheng Tian and the others all day, it’s only natural for feelings to develop. Stop calling them sluts from now on. Once Ren Zhong joins the team, they’ll be teammates too. Those two are, at the very least, the lovers of your teammate."

Bei Lihui shrugged. "Fine. Whatever. Not to mention, I’m actually quite envious of the guy. He’s even got Ju Qingmeng."

Lin Wang waved his hand. "If you had once been a citizen, you, too, could have this carefree attitude and demeanor. Maybe you’d be able to woo a high-class woman like Ju Qingmeng. Don’t rush; that day will come."

Bei Lihui nodded. "Understood, brother."

...

At 10:00 PM, when the vast majority of the town had fallen into a deep sleep, under the eaves of a shanty in the South District slums:

Woman: "You’re here?"

Man: "I’m here."

Woman: "Tell me."

"Spark Town is about to be decommissioned."

"What?"

"Spark Resources knows, and they are participating in it."

"What!"

"Spark Resources is preparing for an early relocation."

"Wha...t?"

"I have reached an agreement with your father. When the time is right, I will arrange a way out for the wastelanders in the town."

"Wha!t!?"

"Could you keep your voice down? I’m afraid of leaks. You’ve got a pair of lungs like a built-in bellows; can we even talk?"

"No, that’s not it, I’m just too shocked."

"Are you really a guard captain? Why do I feel like you’re a bit..."

"A bit what?"

"A bit of an airhead?"

"What does that mean?"

"Are you going to fixate on the word 'what' for the rest of the day?"

"Where is the place you arranged? How do we get there?"

"It’s not convenient to disclose that for now."

"My dad said he might not be able to scrape together enough money for his anti-aging serum next month, so he asked to borrow money from me. This is very unusual. Do you know why?"

"I don’t know. But my plan to take the wastelanders out is like this..."

"You mean, you’re very good at playing the stock market. And you plan to use stock profits to hire them for off-site work as a cover to take away as many wastelanders as possible?"

"Yes. This is my trading record. You can take a look."

Ma Xiaoling: "Hiss! What the hell!"

...

"Here is 50,000 after tax. Keep it safe. It’s settled, then: in twenty days, you must pay me back 80,000."

"Of course. If there’s nothing else, I’m leaving."

"Xing Ming’s death, that has to do with you, right?"

"Do you think that’s possible? Do you want me to show you my parameters?"

"Forget it. A Level 2 mech—what’s there to look at? Even if you strained yourself to death, you’d only be tickling me. Boring."

"You’re a young woman; can’t you be a bit more elegant? If you’d just keep your mouth shut, you’d actually be quite pretty."

"Want to fight?"

"Not right now. Farewell."

"What do you mean 'not right now'?"

"Another day, another time."

"What does that mean?"

"Another day when there’s an opportunity, I’ll be happy to spar with you. I’m off."

...

Lying in the central sleeping pod, Ren Zhong looked at the dismal green of the stock market and sighed slightly. He had spent quite a bit of money yesterday, and from this morning until now, he hadn’t engaged in any short-term trading, leaving his hundreds of thousands in funds to lie flat in his account for the day. Yet, his assets had climbed from around 340,000 to 404,000. There was no helping it; there were simply too many "kind-hearted people" in this world actively sponsoring him. For a veteran stock market reaper, leaving so much money idle without entering the market was a form of torture.

But Ren Zhong had no choice. He couldn’t save the masses of retail investors, nor could he turn the tide to save the stock market. Yes, a stock market crash had arrived. It had come fiercely and abruptly; the scope of the impact and the severity of the decline were breathtaking, enough to make one slap the table in wonder, as if everyone were frantically pulling their funds out. Aside from aviation stocks led by Far Voyage Heavy Industries, which—after a week of surging—were still able to maintain stability at a high level, almost every other sector in the Source Star stock market was a sea of green. Even if Ren Zhong could continue to play the stock market god for twenty-one days, he could only watch from the sidelines today. Sometimes, clearing one’s position and sitting on the sidelines is all in a day’s work for a stock market god.

Ren Zhong wasn’t too panicked; this kind of plummet would only last three days. During this period, there would be some small-cap stocks that would "twitch" like zombies, but the gains wouldn’t be significant, and Ren Zhong couldn’t be bothered to get involved. After three days, the stock market would enter a slow, bottom-hitting rebound lasting eighteen days and nineteen hours. Don’t ask Ren Zhong how he knew so precisely; he didn’t feel like explaining. When the time came, there would be mid-to-large-cap stocks, primarily in the sectors of liquor, materials, resource extraction, and cold-storage manufacturing, that would be ripe for operation. The room for maneuver would return, and Ren Zhong would enter the market once more.

*Click.* He closed the stock market and opened the virtual reality training, selecting the Level 3 training priced at 320 points for eight hours, and began the grind. It was 10:00 PM, and he had to wake up at 5:00 AM, so he could only practice for seven hours. Yet, he still chose the expensive Level 3 training. The reason was simple: he had money, and he was feeling flush.

Today, Chen Hanyu and Yu Jin had been greatly shocked. Neither had ever imagined that a Level 2 mech warrior could hunt five Level 3 feral beasts in a single hour. Wearing what appeared to be Level 2 armor but actually possessed performance standards exceeding the Level 3 limit, Ren Zhong went full-throttle, his fighting style fierce and savage—every strike drew blood. The morning training team had struck it rich today.

Ren Zhong adjusted his operational mechanism once more. He told Chen Hanyu and Yu Jin, "I’ll transfer the money to you after dusk; sell it through Zheng Tian’s affiliated account."

Chen Hanyu was startled. "Do we not need to hide it anymore?"

Ren Zhong shook his head. "No need. Tomorrow morning, I’m going to sleep in Manager Ju’s office at the arms mall, and in the afternoon, I’ll drive out to meet up with you."

Chen Hanyu was extremely puzzled and wanted to ask why he was sleeping at Manager Ju’s, but she couldn’t bring herself to ask. Ren Zhong saw her hesitation and stated clearly, "Chen Hanyu, you should have seen it when we were hunting yesterday; I was hiding my strength. This is my true level. But remember, in the eyes of others, my true strength only began to erupt this afternoon. Understand?"

Chen Hanyu realized. Yu Jin nodded without hesitation.

Ren Zhong then said to Chen Hanyu, "At 4:30 PM tomorrow, I will take you to hunt Level 4 feral beasts."

Chen Hanyu was shocked. "What? Where?"

Ren Zhong grinned. "Near that dense forest where you found me."

Chen Hanyu thought for a moment and asked cautiously, "Will it be a problem?"

Ren Zhong: "No problem."

He had already exchanged greetings with his old neighbors; it was time to visit his old friend, the iron-armored behemoth that stood like a small mountain, to catch up. Since Lin Wang had provided another sponsorship, Ren Zhong naturally had to demonstrate strength worthy of 15,000 points. At the same time, he needed to hunt a Level 4 feral beast properly to enter Yang Bingzhong’s field of vision, while simultaneously creating a sense of urgency for Lin Wang—making him worry that if he didn’t poach Ren Zhong now, he might be beaten to the punch by the boss.

Ren Zhong didn’t want to miss the new mine trip in four days. Since his parameters couldn’t reach Level 3 in the short term, the only way to announce the arrival of a genius was to kill across ranks.

Yu Jin, who couldn’t participate in the daytime operation and couldn’t join Ren Zhong in challenging the Level 4 feral beast, felt disheartened. Ren Zhong noticed Yu Jin’s state and patted the little guy’s head. "In a while, you’ll be able to join my daytime operations too. It’s just not the time to expose your growth yet."

Yu Jin’s eyes widened, and he asked eagerly, "How long?"

Ren Zhong thought for a moment. "Thirty-five days."

"Huh?"

Yu Jin couldn’t understand why it was such a precise number, but Mr. Ren must have his reasons.

...

At 1:30 PM, Ren Zhong drove the "Thunder-Runner" to meet up with Zheng Tian’s van.

Ou Youning, who had been rubbing his own backside, stared with eyes as wide as headlights. "Oh, damn! So the vehicle was with you, brother!"

Ren Zhong waved a hand. "Don’t worry, the curse won’t backlash on you. Your backside couldn’t fit a hemorrhoid the size of a fist anyway."

Although he said that, the others glared at Ou Youning. Ou Youning felt wronged. Who could have imagined that the stoic Ren-ge would have such a twisted sense of humor? Seeing the familiar "swallowing a fly" expressions on everyone’s faces, a rare, relaxed smile appeared on Ren Zhong’s face. Although it was the second time he’d seen the same farce, the experience was different. It was just a pity that the armed "Breeze" heavy truck wasn’t convenient to show just yet, or he wouldn’t need the Thunder-Runner to tease them.

...

At 4:30 PM, Ren Zhong revisited the old site. The first thing he encountered wasn’t the iron-armored behemoth, but his old friend, Hunter #11796. This old friend was truly unbeatable. The missile-like aircraft whistled past, slowing briefly as it passed over their heads before flying off without looking back. If it had human intelligence, it might have thought with regret, *How are these wastelanders all wearing watches again? So annoying.*