Chapter 119: The Pyramid Scheme Messenger
“Cousin, it’s Lu Weiyi. We saw him, and he seems to have space abilities,” Fang Wan quickly said.
“You’re talking about Lu Weiyi?” Ji Jin immediately turned around when he heard the name. “Are you sure you saw him with space abilities?”
“Yes, we saw it with our own eyes. It was in the busy area of the trading district. They opened a trading hall called ‘Only Trading Hall,'” Fang Wan said, giving a detailed account of everything she saw.
“The Only Trading Hall… That’s definitely him…” Ji Jin muttered. He didn’t even bother leaving and hurriedly went back into the villa.
Fang Wan grabbed Ji Lin and followed him inside.
Zijin Garden was one of the most famous villa areas in Qingyuan. However, compared to Longmen, the villas here were more suitable for living. The area wasn’t particularly large, and the house they lived in now only had two stories and around 200 square meters. After living in large villas, everything in this house felt small and uncomfortable.
Especially since this house wasn’t just for Ji Lin’s family. The two families, the Ji and Jiang families, were living in the same villa, but they couldn’t even have separate rooms.
In the living room, Ji Jin’s grandfather, Ji Zhong, was talking to the elder of the Jiang family, Jiang Jianguo. His younger brother, Ji Li, was playing with toys, and his mother, Jiang Fu, was sitting by the window sipping tea, looking every bit like a rich wife.
Sitting beside her was Aunt Jiang Li, both of them holding themselves with similar elegance, looking like a family. Meanwhile, his aunt, Liu Yu, was in the kitchen with her daughter, Jiang Xiaoxiao, cleaning dishes.
“Why are you back again?” Ji Zhong asked his grandson.
“…Some things came up.” Ji Jin, the eldest grandson, was the one Ji Zhong cared for the most, so he didn’t force the conversation. Ji Jin quickly walked over to Jiang Fu, leaned in, and whispered, “Mom, come here, I need to talk to you.”
Jiang Fu glanced at him, then gracefully put down her tea cup and stood up to follow him into the room. Ji Lin quickly followed behind and entered the room as well.
Seeing them go inside, Aunt Jiang Li gave Fang Wan a look, signaling her to approach. Fang Wan quietly leaned in and whispered their findings.
“Mom, do you think we can take back the jade pendant with space ability?” Fang Wan asked.
“That’s like blood binding; how could it be taken back?” Jiang Li was well aware of her sister’s situation. The antique-like jewelry could never belong to her, but now that her husband was dead and she was relying on them to survive, it was clear she wouldn’t expose this. “Let’s see what your aunt does about it.”
“Mom, I also saw the CEO of ‘Only Tech,’ Zhuang Mingxu. He’s in a wheelchair now and seems to be disabled,” Fang Wan whispered. “He was so handsome, but now he’s become a cripple. What a waste.”
“Don’t worry about those useless people,” Jiang Li told her daughter. “Your aunt is thinking of introducing Ji Lin to some young masters from the Li or Gu families. You need to put in more effort. Once you make connections with them, we won’t have to keep living under other people’s thumb.”
“I understand,” Fang Wan said, her gaze turning toward the room where Ji Jin and Jiang Fu were.
Inside the room, Ji Lin was adamantly urging Jiang Fu to ask Lu Weiyi for the jade pendant with space ability.
When Jiang Fu married Ji Heng, Ji Lin was still young and naive. She naturally didn’t want Ji Lin to know about the shameful things she had done as a mistress, so she had shifted all the blame onto Lu Weiyi and his mother. She didn’t want to openly admit that the jewelry originally belonged to the Lu family, so she could only respond vaguely, “Once something recognizes its master, it’s impossible to take it back.”
“If it can’t be taken back, then let him compensate us with supplies. I saw that his trading hall has meat, fresh vegetables, and fruits. It doesn’t seem like they’re lacking,” Ji Lin said, her anger flaring as she thought about how the space that should’ve been theirs had been taken by someone else.
“Don’t talk. Get out.” Ji Jin didn’t want to discuss this any further and immediately chased Ji Lin out, then turned back to Jiang Fu. “Mom, even if we tell Dad, with Grandpa around, there’s no way he’ll allow any compensation. After all, it’s originally his thing. But since Dad is his biological father, shouldn’t he be raising him?”
“‘Only Trading Hall’—it must be Zhuang Mingxu’s work. If they can open a trading hall, they clearly have plenty of supplies. Didn’t we hear that Wu Yue traded a lot of supplies from the Li family? Tell Dad to ask Zhuang Mingxu for some benefits.”
“But Lu Weiyi…”
“Don’t you know him by now? All these years, he’s been quietly making money for others without ever complaining. It’s not the first time Dad has used him to gain something.” Ji Jin felt disdain for Ji Heng. If not for having a company before the apocalypse, he wouldn’t have had to constantly bow his head and play the subordinate.
“Don’t say that in front of your dad,” Jiang Fu said sternly.
“Don’t worry, I know what not to say,” Ji Jin reassured her. “You need to persuade him. He’s getting old, and his earth abilities are weak. He just went out for one day yesterday, and now he’s feeling uncomfortable all over. If Zhuang Mingxu is willing to support him, why would he need to lead a team outside? He could stay in the base, live a safe and comfortable life.”
“Besides, if he gets the supplies, it’ll be easier for us. Right now, our teams don’t listen to me. I’m just a newly awakened fire-type ability user, and our family doesn’t have much power. How am I supposed to establish myself in the team?”
“Isn’t there your uncle…” Jiang Fu suggested.
“My uncle? He’s leading his own team and won’t even acknowledge me. And you—look at what you’ve been doing. You and Auntie are too delicate to cook or wash dishes. You leave everything to Aunt Liu, and you eat and drink off of her husband’s earnings. You mistreat his wife and daughter. Is that appropriate?” Ji Jin replied sharply.
“Mom, you really can’t see reality for what it is,” Ji Jin thought about his uncle, who had a metal-based ability. His uncle preferred to lead other teams and adamantly refused to join his. That thought made him seethe with frustration. “One day, when your brother-in-law doesn’t want to take care of you anymore, and he just leaves with his wife and kids, who will you rely on? I don’t have the ability to support you all.”
“That won’t happen, we still have your grandmother and grandfather,” Jiang Fu murmured.
“You may think that, but it’s better to persuade Dad to get some benefits while you can,” Ji Jin said, finishing his words and quickly heading to the assembly point to search for supplies.
*
While the Ji family was making a commotion, “Only Trading Hall” had already welcomed its first batch of customers. Of course, the people didn’t come for supplies; they came because of the big poster on the door: it clearly listed the various exchangeable crystals and provided detailed information about their uses and how to acquire them.
“Bro, is that a crystal?” A tough-looking man pointed at two crystals displayed in the window and asked, “Does it really enhance abilities like they say in novels?”
“Yes, it’s real. We’ve experienced it ourselves. But it’s only useful for ability users. Regular folks can exchange them here for supplies. Our trading hall has pork, ribs, chicken, vegetables, fruits—anything you want, you can find here,” Xu Sa stood at the entrance holding a megaphone, introducing the hall and promoting their store.
“Come on, stutterer, show them your abilities,” seeing the skeptical looks from the crowd, Liu Rui immediately called out to his companion, Liu Rui nodded, signaling the crowd to clear a path. He then shot out a fire dragon that traveled about half a meter.
In fact, he could make it travel farther, but because his abilities were much weaker compared to others, showing too much would hurt their current promotion.
“Whoa, impressive! This ability must have been awakened for a while, right?”
“I awakened mine before the big snowstorm, but it wasn’t this powerful. How’d you train to get so strong?”
“Is he that strong because he absorbs crystals?”
“How many crystals did he absorb? Are there any side effects? Didn’t we hear about those white pearls that could turn people into zombies? Isn’t that risky?”
“If you think it’s not reliable, just don’t use it. Bring it here and exchange it for supplies. You can buy some meat and satisfy your cravings. As for the side effects, who knows? We’re all in the testing phase. So far, there haven’t been any problems. Who can say for sure about the future?” Xu Sa smiled and continued, “But right now, nothing’s wrong. If you’re worried, just exchange it here for something useful.”
“Yeah, who knows if we’ll even make it to the future. Might as well enhance our abilities while we can.”
“You’re really good people. Others keep this info to themselves, but you’re openly sharing it with everyone.”
“Exactly, this is huge news. If we kept it to ourselves, we could’ve upgraded our abilities first and been kings of the base.”
Xu Sa glanced at a few people who were enthusiastically praising him. He caught White Miao winking at him, and immediately realized they were the “shills” for the promotion. Determined to raise the tone of his entire team, he continued, “This is a critical moment for human survival. If we keep useful survival news to ourselves, is that what humans should do?”
“Thinking about just one person, one team, or even one faction quietly upgrading their abilities? Come on, do you think one person can wipe out all the zombies, or that one team can save us all? At a time like this, we all need to come together, united as one. Together we can move forward, together we can level up, and drive the zombies out of our world—let’s get our peaceful lives back—”
“Let’s get our peaceful lives back—”
“Let’s get our peaceful lives back—”
“Let’s get our peaceful lives back—”
…
As Xu Sa clenched his fists and swayed, the crowd around him began to chant with full energy, their voices echoing down the street.
“Did he used to do pyramid schemes?” Xiong Jie asked, kicking back in his chair, watching Xu Sa’s enthusiastic performance.
“He was the head of the student union’s external relations department. Back in high school, he could talk companies into sponsoring school sports events,” Lu Weiyi observed through the glass door, watching Xu Sa. He could still vaguely remember their youthful selves, but now, they were adults, and the harshness of prison life had worn down their youthful energy.
Lu Weiyi whispered, “His dream was to become a diplomat, convincing foreigners…”
“Do foreigners really fall for that?” Antonio, with his distinct northern accent, interrupted the melancholy mood, “We’re pretty smart.”
“Hmm, smart enough to steal ice cream,” Lu Weiyi remarked, glancing at the ice cream Antonio was hiding behind his back, revealing the truth without hesitation.
“Hahaha, okay, okay…” Antonio waved his hand, pulling Dean with him as they quickly ran out.
