Death Train

The loan shark's face immediately shifted between green and red.

He had been willing to lend Chen Muzi money in the casino earlier because this guy had kept claiming that his sister was a Path of the Gods player and could even accurately state her ID.

The loan shark also had a few friends among the officials.

With a little investigation, he could indeed verify her identity. That was why he had been willing to lend Chen Muzi the money.

But his sister had actually stopped caring about him?

Didn't that mean Chen Muzi was finished?

Had the tens of millions he had lent out gone completely down the drain?

At the thought of this, there was no way the loan shark's expression could look good.

"No, no way! Something must have gone wrong!"

"Loan shark... Brother Qian, don't get worked up. Don't get worked up. My sister couldn't possibly abandon me. She must be making money for me."

"Don't listen to this pair of idiots spouting nonsense. Once I get in touch with my sister, I'll definitely be able to pay you back..."

Chen Muzi, who had been slapped by the Red-robed Cult Master, knelt on the ground. His cheek was swollen, and blood could still be seen in his mouth. He spoke with an unintelligible slur.

At this, a sinister look flashed across the loan shark's face. He glanced at the Red-robed Cult Master and Qin Shang.

"Do you two have anything else?"

"If not, we'll stop here for today. I still have some matters to deal with. Some people's organs should still be worth a little money..."

The information brought by the Red-robed Cult Master seemed to have put the loan shark in a foul mood as well.

Qin Shang narrowed his eyes.

He wasn't an idiot. Chen Muzi had clearly brought death upon himself...

He had probably relied on his sister's identity as a Path of the Gods player, intending to make a fortune in the real world.

Then he had become addicted to gambling, ruined himself, and walked step by step into the abyss.

Loans, debts, and stubborn refusal to wake up.

Even after owing tens of millions, he still acted carefree.

His current life while imprisoned here by the loan shark made that obvious.

This guy neither cleaned his room nor his appearance. He acted as though he could leave at any moment, completely unconcerned.

He had truly begun to panic only after hearing the Red-robed Cult Master's words that Grandpa Niu had already left China.

In other words, even now, he still didn't care about his sister's life or death.

Even when the Red-robed Cult Master said that Grandpa Niu had committed a crime, Chen Muzi hadn't asked for many details. Instead, he had worried about his own current situation.

His first thought hadn't been whether something had happened to his sister, but rather, without his sister, who the hell was going to pay his debts?

Qin Shang's evaluation of this sort of person consisted of only two words.

Scum...

"Let's go!"

Just then, when the Red-robed Cult Master saw Qin Shang calmly staring at Chen Muzi, who was sprawled on the floor and frantically crawling backward like a dog, she immediately frowned unhappily and spoke.

At this, Chen Muzi looked toward Qin Shang as though he had grabbed the last straw keeping him alive.

"Y-you know my sister too, don't you? Tell him! Tell them! My sister hasn't abandoned me..."

His wretched appearance violently stirred Qin Shang.

A scene suddenly surfaced in his mind. Once, he had stood before the reporter who had exposed his mother's suicide note, kneeling like a dog.

He had pleaded and begged the reporter to take down the news, so his mother could leave this world with dignity.

He had explained everything to the reporter in utter grief, saying that he hadn't known anything and hadn't realized his mother was under such immense pressure...

After his mother jumped to her death, public opinion online had been overwhelmingly one-sided. Mockery and ridicule had flooded in from all directions.

They had mocked his mother, who had raised him, for being so foolish.

Comments such as: "In this day and age, someone still gets tricked into joining a pyramid scheme? Is there something wrong with her brain?"

"Damn, a stupid mother raising an idiot son—a product of failed family education. Serves them right."

"I've been teaching my son since childhood that parents have it hard. I really don't know what kind of parents could raise such a beast..."

Everyone had stood above the situation, looking down from an all-knowing perspective and gleefully criticizing his mother's naivety.

Comments like these had appeared one after another.

His mother had never attended school. She had merely been an ordinary middle-aged woman with little understanding and little education.

The fact that she had raised him alone after his father disappeared already made her the greatest person in the world in Qin Shang's heart.

He hadn't allowed, nor wanted, to see the gentle and peaceful mother he had always held in his heart subjected to such online abuse even after her death.

Each word online had pierced Qin Shang's heart.

Back then, he had been like a dog as well...

Kneeling on the ground, begging the reporter to take down the news.

But the reporter had agreed readily, only to add another piece of news afterward...

"Morals Completely Shattered—Shocking! The Truth Behind the Woman's Suicide: It Actually Stemmed from Her Son Looking Down on Her Education"

The reporter had frantically edited and pieced together his conversation with Qin Shang, turning it into an entirely different version.

He had portrayed Qin Shang as a completely unfilial son and his mother as a depressed patient driven into a dead end.

"Beast. A child like this was born to collect debts from his parents..."

"My God, no wonder people say that human nature is evil from birth. It seems it's true."

"This student already had poor relationships with his classmates at school. I know some inside information..."

"He often borrowed his classmates' phones to play games. If his family conditions are poor, he should study hard. I have firsthand information here. I heard someone reveal that this kid often played games at night, disturbing his roommates' sleep."

"Damn, he doesn't have a prince's fate but has a prince's illness. Doesn't he know what kind of family he comes from? His mother worked so hard, yet he still didn't know to strive. Playing games every day—he had completely given up on himself."

Labels such as "good-for-nothing," "beast," and "unworthy son" had been stamped onto Qin Shang.

For a long time afterward, he had even begun to doubt himself.

Mom, was I the one who drove you to your death?

At this moment, seeing Chen Muzi before him, Qin Shang felt as though countless heavy hammers were pounding his heart. His mind churned violently.

This humble scene, with him kneeling endlessly like a dog, was so eerily similar.

"Help me! Help me! Can anyone come help me..."

Chen Muzi's desperate wails continued without end.

Because Qin Shang had never followed the Red-robed Cult Master away, the loan shark had not taken any further action.

Actually, a low-level player was no different from an ant in his eyes. However, this person had been personally acknowledged by the Red-robed Cult Master as a member of the Ten Thousand Treasures House.

The Ten Thousand Treasures House was the Red-robed Cult Master's organization, and its cohesion was terrifying.

Anyone who could become a member had effectively passed the Red-robed Cult Master's layers of screening.

If he acted rashly, he could easily anger that woman.

Chen Muzi's fate had already been decided.

That was precisely why Chen Muzi looked so frightened and desperate at this moment.

Anyone who borrowed money from the loan shark and failed to repay it would become a "great organ donor."

Of course, no one knew whether the donation agreement had actually been written by them.

Nor did anyone know whether the recipients had truly just happened to match with organs that suited them perfectly...

Well... no one knew that either.

What sort of deals were involved? Who could say for sure?

When Chen Muzi saw Qin Shang looking down at him from above and calmly meeting his gaze without saying a word, his expression completely twisted into something feral.

He fell into profound despair and roared frantically.

"Fuck! You beasts! You bastards! You're nothing but tyrants. Loan shark, you're no different!"

"All you do is oppress us and bully us because we're ordinary people. How are you any different from Zhou Bapi, the landlords of the backward old days?"

"All I wanted was to make some money and change my situation. What did I do wrong?"

"You people, you bastards with Character Cards, are simply blessed without knowing it. If I had a way to make money like that, I'd escape my current situation in minutes."

"That slut Chen Muxin actually doesn't care about her own brother."

"That bitch! I treated her so well when she was little. If I'd known this would happen, I should have strangled her myself."

"It's unfair! This world is too unfair! If I were a Path of the Gods player, I'd kill every one of you."

"Why? Why don't I have a Character Card? Why am I not a Path of the Gods player..."

The next moment, the Red-robed Cult Master's willow brows furrowed. She was in a terrible mood today, and her cold gaze fell on Qin Shang.

"Come with me..."

Before she could finish speaking,

Qin Shang suddenly laughed.

He walked into the room and took two steps forward, looking down from above.

"Do you think it's unfair?"

At this, the hysterical Chen Muzi froze. Then he spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, which landed squarely on Qin Shang's pants.

His face was full of mockery.

"Yes, it's unfair. This world is unfair."

"It's completely unfair to me. Becoming a Path of the Gods player and making money is as easy as playing a game. All I did was gamble a little money, yet you people who can rake in millions every minute actually want my life."

"It was only tens of millions. To you, isn't that just a few dungeons? What's so difficult about playing a game?"

"You're nothing but tyrants! You're just relying on your power to bully people..."

The moment he said this, Qin Shang bared his teeth in a bright smile.

He looked just like a sunny young man.

The Path of the Gods game wasn't difficult?

A Path of the Gods game where one bet one's life wasn't difficult?

He had entered the Death Train twice. True death had been only one step away from him, Qin Shang.

If not for his luck, if not for seeing through the rules,

Even eight lives wouldn't have been enough for a single Death Train.

But in Chen Muzi's eyes, becoming a player had instead meant being favored by the Goddess of Luck?

At his smile, the Red-robed Cult Master and the loan shark behind him both froze.

At that moment, Qin Shang had his back to them, and no one could see his expression except Chen Muzi.

"How about this? I'll give you a chance."

"You like gambling so much, don't you? Then let's play a game."

"If you win, I'll give you twenty-five points. It won't be enough to change your current situation."

"But as a gambler, with twenty-five million in your hands, you could win it back with a single all-in."

"All you're lacking now is the initial capital!"

"Your chance to turn things around... has arrived!"

"Play a game with me. If you win, I'll give all the points to the loan shark, giving you a chance to redeem yourself. If you lose, you'll give me your life!"

"Will you gamble your life against me?"

He smiled as he spoke these words.

But Chen Muzi, on the ground, felt as though a sinister venomous snake had fixed its gaze on him, making his skin crawl.

His Adam's apple rolled involuntarily, and he immediately suppressed the uncertainty in his heart.

He glanced at the loan shark behind Qin Shang.

This turn of events had clearly exceeded both the loan shark's and the Red-robed Cult Master's expectations.

Either way, he was going to die!

If someone was offering him money, why wouldn't he take it?

Gambling might not be his only chance to turn things around.

His eyes instantly reddened, and his fists clenched tightly.

"Fine!"

"I'll gamble my life against you!"

After receiving Chen Muzi's affirmative reply,

Qin Shang was delighted. A bewitching smile filled his eyes, like Satan crawling out of hell, carrying endless chill and unfathomable depth.

The Red-robed Cult Master, who had originally intended to leave, narrowed her eyes and looked back at Qin Shang's retreating figure. A thoughtful gleam surfaced in her beautiful eyes.