Golden Finger

That man was called Lei Aigou. He and Zhang Zhi had grown up in the same Orphanage, and they were the only two from that Orphanage to enter key Primary Schools.

Lei Aigou was one grade above Zhang Zhi, though his school was far inferior to Zhang Zhi's. Even back at the Orphanage, Zhang Zhi had felt that this person was not someone worth getting close to.

But they had, after all, grown up together in the Orphanage.

Having transmigrated from Earth, perhaps because he had lived in peace for so long in his previous life, Zhang Zhi still had quite a bit of kindness in his heart.

Moreover, he had thought that if the Orphanage had one more Realm Lord, the younger children's lives would surely improve. Thus, when Lei Aigou came to borrow money from him over the past two years, Zhang Zhi had gradually "loaned" him three Gray Cards and some cash.

When he heard last year that Lei Aigou had failed to open a world, Zhang Zhi had even felt sorry for him.

But he had never expected Lei Aigou to bring others to kidnap him!

After a moment of silence, he looked up at Lei Aigou. "You ingrate. No wonder your mother threw you into a Septic Tank the moment you were born. She must have known from the start that you were born ungrateful."

"How did you not drown in that Septic Tank?"

"You came to borrow money from me, and I lent you the money I had saved. You said you wanted to open a Small World, so I lent you three cards I'd painstakingly saved up. Fine, you don't have to appreciate my kindness—but you actually brought people here behind my back to harm me?"

"With your cold-blooded, ungrateful nature, no wonder your parents threw you into a Septic Tank the moment you were born!"

"..."

The leader apparently thought Zhang Zhi was being too loud and had someone downstairs gag him.

Zhang Zhi's accusations made Lei Aigou's face turn pale with a sickly green tinge, and his eyes as he looked at Zhang Zhi were filled with malice.

When the leader nodded at him, Lei Aigou turned to Zhang Zhi and said, "Pah! You think you're some kind of good person?"

"Where did you get the money to buy cards?"

"With all that money you spent on cards, did you give even a little of it to the Orphanage?"

"Aren't you also a cold-hearted ingrate?"

"You bought so many cards, then when you saw I'd entered Primary Education, you pretended to be kind and tossed me three cards. Did you think that meant I had to be eternally grateful to you?"

"Do you fucking deserve it?"

Listening to Lei Aigou's sophistry, Zhang Zhi was almost angered into laughter. Every month for the past few years, he had bought supplies for the Orphanage under the excuse that he had received a scholarship. Meanwhile, ever since Lei Aigou had entered Primary School, he had never once returned to the Orphanage. Yet now he was shouting about how Zhang Zhi was cold-hearted and ungrateful.

Lei Aigou had come to borrow cards from him, and out of consideration for their shared Orphanage background and for Old Director's sake, Zhang Zhi had lent him three Gray Cards. Fine, he did not have to appreciate the favor—but he actually called it charity!

Did he think giving him Gray Cards had humiliated him? Did he even take it for granted that Zhang Zhi expected his eternal gratitude?

If that was what he thought, then he should not have shamelessly come to borrow from him in the first place!

This man truly was... truly cold-hearted and shameless to the extreme!

The leader spoke at that moment. "Stop talking about this messy nonsense. Get to the point!"

Lei Aigou stopped upon hearing that. He turned and smiled ingratiatingly at the leader, then looked back at Zhang Zhi and said:

"An ordinary person has to live frugally for at least three months to afford one Gray Card."

"When you gave me three cards at once, I knew something was wrong. Who in the world gives away resources they worked so hard to save?"

"And the easiest place to get cards in Yizhou is the Black Market. So I waited there, and sure enough, I saw you there several times."

"I even saw you buy a White Human Card! That should have been November 3rd last year."

"I remember correctly, don't I?"

"You may have disguised yourself, and others might not recognize you, but I... even if you turned to ash, I'd still recognize you."

With his mouth sealed, Zhang Zhi closed his eyes. Out of sight, out of mind.

Seeing Zhang Zhi refuse to communicate, the leader said, "I'll give you a few days to think it over. If you're still putting on this act when I come back next time, don't blame me for getting rough."

With a cold sneer, the man turned and left the room.

After the man left, Lei Aigou rushed over and heavily kicked Zhang Zhi in the abdomen. Zhang Zhi, bound to the chair, let out a muffled groan and was sent tumbling backward with the chair.

After kicking Zhang Zhi several more times, he cursed, "Fuck, you stupid bastard! You dared to curse me? Aren't you the same, born to a father but raised by none!"

"You snob. After I failed to open a world, you stopped paying attention to me, didn't you?"

"Did you think that since you could become a Master of the World while I couldn't, I wasn't worthy of your attention?"

After kicking Zhang Zhi again, he continued cursing:

"Keep dreaming, motherfucker! If I can't become a Realm Lord, neither can you!"

After kicking Zhang Zhi a few times, Lei Aigou seemed to calm down somewhat. Still cursing under his breath, he turned and left the room as well.

After taking that beating, Zhang Zhi felt no resentment. Instead, his heart became strangely calm.

Lei Aigou's mentality had become utterly twisted. Zhang Zhi had seen this kind of jealousy-driven distortion in his previous life as well.

Back on Earth, he had heard a story from a colleague in Shenzhen:

A few years ago, that colleague had planned to return to his hometown. After investigating the market, he found that crayfish had good potential, so he taught himself the necessary techniques and dug a several-mu pond on his family's land to start raising them.

Just as the crayfish were about to hit the market, someone poisoned his Fish Pond. Most of the crayfish died, and all the effort he had put in, along with over a hundred thousand yuan in savings, went down the drain.

And the person who had poisoned it was someone he never could have imagined: his own eldest uncle!

That was right—his father's older brother, his own eldest uncle. Before that, their two families had barely had any conflicts. When the Fish Pond was being dug, his uncle had even come over to help.

Afterward, his uncle confessed that his family had always been better off than his nephew's. He felt that if the Crayfish Business succeeded, it would surpass his own family, so he had poured several bottles of Pesticide into their Fish Pond.

Zhang Zhi had found it strange at the time that his colleague spoke of it so calmly.

Now, he understood.

Lei Aigou's mentality was somewhat similar. Having come from an Orphanage, he had always been sensitive and deeply insecure. Entering Primary Education had once been like a carp leaping over the dragon gate for someone from the Orphanage, but after failing to open a world, he had fallen straight from the clouds. Everything was gone.

He saw that Zhang Zhi had also come from the Orphanage, yet possessed a large number of cards. Once Zhang Zhi opened his Small World, they would no longer belong to the same world.

If he had not known that Zhang Zhi had collected so many cards, if he had successfully opened a world, his mentality would certainly not have twisted so severely.

Jealousy drove people mad.

In this world, Orphanages were originally part of society's lowest stratum. Lei Aigou had at least graduated from Primary School, so naturally, he could easily come into contact with this world's dark side.

That was why today had happened.

Judging from the leader's words, they seemed to have been watching him for some time?

Was it because they had not found where he hid his cards, nor figured out how he had earned so much money, that they had remained patient all this time?

Until he was about to open a Small World, and they could no longer hold back?

That made sense. Although Yizhou Elementary School was renowned throughout Qingshan Dao, and its Principal was indeed a powerful figure, the school only cared about students who successfully opened worlds.

Students who failed to open a world ceased to have any connection with the school the moment they left it.

As long as he did not return to the school within the stipulated time to register that he had opened a Small World, the school would not care whether he lived or died.

They had chosen today precisely because today was the day students received their World Seeds and began Opening a Small World.

They believed that, in preparation for opening a world today, he would definitely have all his cards ready.

If they controlled him today and prevented him from Refining Cards, then there was no way he could open a world.

That was also what Lei Aigou hoped for.

And as an orphan who had come from an Orphanage, even if he disappeared, no one would notice or know.

He was unlike other people. If others disappeared at such a critical moment, their entire families would surely panic. At the very least, they would go to the school. If the school learned that a student about to open a Small World had gone missing, how could it possibly stand by and do nothing?

As long as these people dragged things out until he failed to return to school after ten days, the school would assume he had failed to open a Small World and would have nothing more to do with him.

After that, they could deal with him however they wanted.

No wonder Lei Aigou had been so arrogant just now. He was certain Zhang Zhi could never escape from their hands.

And indeed, their scheme was practically flawless.

Having seen through Lei Aigou's scheme, the panic in Zhang Zhi's heart gradually subsided.

Lei Aigou's plan was quite good, but there was one thing they had miscalculated.

I'm a transmigrator.

As a transmigrator, how could he possibly not have a Golden Finger?