Chapter 292: The Fantastical Adventure of Young Lü Xiangyang

2022-05-20

Just as I was about to say more, the guy Gu Chen was holding suddenly blurted out, “Why not? This is just one project of our 5280 Plan—Teacher Zhang explained everything to us already.”

“Listen to me!” the man raged. “This is slander—an insult! Because of so many clueless people like you, we have to be so careful. One day I’m sleeping on the floor, the next I’m the boss! You think all those fancy cars from out of town in Dongxing City just showed up for no reason? It’s people coming here to make it rich! Give me five years, and I’ll make ten million, fifty million!”

Watching him, I could only shake my head helplessly.

I said, “It only takes a few steps to turn even a smart person into a diehard believer in pyramid schemes, just like this big brother here. First, you have to awaken people’s greed for money. Everyone who comes to Dongxing City, this big city, comes looking for big money, no exceptions. When making money becomes your whole goal, you’re just one step away from falling for it.”

I glanced at the guy and asked, “Didn’t you come to Dongxing City for the money?”

“Of course!” he shot back. “Who doesn’t want to make money?”

I shrugged and said, “If you didn’t even care about making money, none of this would matter to you. Next, they make sure you never get the chance to think things through. They’ll invite people who look like professors to teach you. In these so-called lectures, you never get a second to think—they just hand you conclusions, filling the gaps with words you’ve never even heard before. Before you get it, they’ve already rushed off to the next topic. Day after day, you’re left dazed; in the end, you only remember what they told you was true, no idea how they got there.”

“Do you know your company’s structure or how it operates?” I asked.

Frowning, he shot back, “What are you talking about? What structure? What are you even saying?”

I replied, “Exactly—that’s the classic sign. You know the results but not the process, thinking it’s all so complicated because it’s powerful. Third, there’s the Pygmalion effect.”

“Huh?” Gu Chen asked.

I explained, “The Pygmalion effect—also called the expectancy effect. Basically, people keep telling you, ‘You can do it, you WILL do it.’ After hearing it a thousand times, five years to ten million doesn’t seem impossible anymore.”

“Finally, they erase your individuality.” I held up a finger. “When a teacher wants to break a rebellious kid, they use the class to isolate him. Simple as this: whatever he does, everyone ignores him. Before long, he feels different from everyone else.”

“Then, you don’t even have to force him—he’ll just do what you say.” I shook my head. “To make people feel warmth, they’ll have everyone play games or share stories on stage, hug each other. If someone doesn’t play along, just have everyone ignore them. Before long, individual will gets swallowed up by the collective.”

Gu Chen listened with fascination, clicking his tongue in disbelief.

I went on, “Within weeks, you’ll believe every word, even borrow money just to invest. By then, even if they tried to kick you out, you wouldn’t want to leave. Am I right?”

The man in Gu Chen’s grip insisted, “Nonsense! There are always people like you out there! You don’t want to work, don’t want to get rich, and you just want to stop others from making money. I’ll never understand people as nasty as you. People like you—don’t help yourselves, don’t help your friends—you’re just parasites!”

I patted Gu Chen’s shoulder. “Let him go. Even if the police haul him in, they’ll just give him a warning and let him out. He’ll be right back in the organization. It’s a cycle—knock down one and two pop up in its place.”

Gu Chen was about to let him go when I added, “I can let you go back and make money, but you have to tell me one thing.”

“I’m not giving you our other company addresses!” The man’s face screamed, ‘over my dead body.’

I shook my head and pointed to Lü Xiangyang, who was still curled up on the ground. “This guy. When did he arrive at your company?”

“You’ll really let me go if I tell you?” He sounded unconvinced.

“That’s right.” I nodded.

“He was brought in two weeks ago,” he answered.

I nodded. If that’s true, then there’s no possibility Lü Xiangyang was the culprit. All clues focused on Lü Xiangyang as the killer just fell apart. But if he wasn’t back for revenge, then who was the real killer?

While I was thinking, the guy had already bolted.

I sighed. “When money blinds you, there’s barely any difference between a postdoc and a grade-schooler—just the label.”

“Get him up,” I said, looking at Lü Xiangyang.

Gu Chen nudged Lü Xiangyang with his foot. “Stop playing dead. The guy’s already gone.”

Lü Xiangyang finally lifted his head. His face was covered in bruises—clearly, he’d taken quite a beating.

Only then did Lü Xiangyang tell us what had happened to him over the past two weeks.

Turns out, the ‘revenge’ Lü Xiangyang talked about actually had to do with a League of Legends game. He’d gotten thrashed by another player, accused them of cheating, and the other guy challenged him in person: loser kneels, kowtows three times, and calls the winner ‘dad.’

Being hot-tempered, Lü Xiangyang agreed right away—they set the time for two weeks ago on Saturday. Lü Xiangyang planned to stay the night at the guy’s house and come back Sunday, so he wouldn’t miss school.

We asked why he hadn’t told his girlfriend or his best friends. He said he wanted to cover his bases—if he really lost and called someone else ‘dad’ in public, how could he ever face them again? So he never mentioned why he was going, just that it was for revenge.

We couldn’t help but laugh. So all along, Lü Xiangyang’s supposed revenge was over a video game. Zhao Mingkun and I spent ages guessing, thinking it was some deep sibling bond. But maybe this was better—hopefully, Lü Xiangyang would forget about his sister and not grieve over her anymore. He’d only been ten back then; after so many years, it was normal to have moved on from Lü Zhiqiu.

Lü Xiangyang kept talking.

He’d planned it out: if he lost, he’d just come home with his tail between his legs; if he won, he could brag a bit. He got to the train station early and hung around, bored. Just then, he saw a group of people holding signs. Even though his family spoiled him, after buying the ticket, he was broke. He wanted some cash but didn’t want to ask at home again, so the idea hit him.

He went over and asked about it—the process was almost just like with Gu Chen. They took him to check out the work environment. With time to kill, he went along. But the farther they went, the sketchier it got. Lü Xiangyang started to get nervous and tried to leave, but they wouldn’t let him go.

He thought for sure he was being kidnapped, but when they arrived, he saw a courtyard packed with people and realized what this place really was. He was a high schooler—he understood it at a glance.

Still, he was too young. He thought he could talk others into leaving with him but only ended up getting beaten every time he tried. After a week of that, he felt like his life was over.

Who could have guessed that just wanting some spending money would get him locked up for two weeks? He finally gave up fighting back. Every day blurred into the next. But since he was a high schooler, he’d never really wanted to make money, and his family didn’t exactly need millions—they could sell the family apartment and rake in tens of millions easy.

As far as he was concerned, his life was ruined.

But then, today, a big guy stormed into the courtyard. When he saw Lü Xiangyang, he grabbed his hand, kicked the door open, and took off running. Only after the two of them got out did the group inside react. Then, all the men in the house came chasing after them. The big guy told Lü Xiangyang to run ahead while he watched their backs.

That ‘big guy’ was, of course, Gu Chen.

Gu Chen fought off ten men by himself as they ran. But another group chased after Lü Xiangyang, who darted into this alley in a panic. Gu Chen fought as he retreated, and finally made it into the alley with him. After hiding a bit, Gu Chen managed to call us.

But there were too many people. Gu Chen was about to take Lü Xiangyang away when they blocked the alley’s entrance.

By the time we arrived, Gu Chen had already fought them off once, and Lü Xiangyang was lying on the ground playing dead.

Lü Xiangyang let out a breath. “That was close—if you guys had come any later, the two of us would’ve been dragged right back there.”

It really was a wild journey for young Lü Xiangyang. Who would’ve thought a video game would end up causing so much trouble?

But it was clear now—Lü Xiangyang couldn’t be the killer. Flying heads, witchcraft—how could things like that exist in the real world?

I asked helplessly, “Aren’t your parents more than generous with you? Why go through all this to make your own money? A hundred bucks can’t mean that much to your family.”

“It’s just different earning it myself instead of asking for it,” Lü Xiangyang said.

“Why?” I pressed. “What did you want the money for?”

No matter how much we asked, Lü Xiangyang wouldn’t say what he planned to do with the money.