137: bet

Xu Bai asked Wu Zijin with interest.

“Elaborate, what is your connection with this pair of twin sisters?”

Seeing Xu Bai’s gossipy eyes, Wu Zijin rolled his eyes.

“Don’t get the wrong idea, we are rivals.”

“You are rivals, yet you recommend them? Aren’t you afraid they’ll outshine you?”

As if knowing what his two older brothers were talking about, Xu Le looked at his Little Wu Gege with sparkling eyes.

Even though he was young, he actually knew many things.

If you like someone, you can be together like Mom and Dad.

However, Wu Zijin was determined to remain single until death, without a hint of shyness.

“Although we are rivals, it’s healthy competition, not to the point of life and death. Their abilities are indeed strong, and I’m not a petty person.

Although I was faster than them in that competition, I haven’t had any research breakthroughs in the past two years. These two have developed two new materials, and their reputation outside is currently even greater than mine.

If my laboratory tried to recruit them, they wouldn’t even look at it. But for you, with this, it’s no problem.”

With that, Wu Zijin patted the paper Xu Bai held in his hand.

“Alright, then we’ll go invite them later.”

...The two chatted as they walked, and soon arrived inside the tall tower.

Xu Bai and the two others walked towards Ms. Yin Jia’s office, turned a corner, and continued forward.

At this moment, Xu Bai heard footsteps behind them. There was only one destination at the end of the corridor, meaning the people behind them were going the same way.

Reaching the door, Xu Bai stopped, not knocking immediately, but looking behind him.

Wu Zijin also stopped and, like Xu Bai, looked back. After seeing who was following him, his pupils contracted.

Yes, everyone guessed correctly.

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.

The people following them were the twin sisters they had just discussed—Liu Mengyan and Liu Mengyun.

Wu Zijin nudged Xu Bai’s arm, and the two exchanged information with their eyes.

‘Are those the two you recommended?’

‘Yes, exactly, it’s just as you think, those are the two I recommended.’

...All five of them stopped at the door together.

They looked at each other, hesitating whether to go in together.

Xu Bai thought for a moment; if Ms. Yin Jia saw his paper, she might not have time to attend to others later.

“You two go in first.”

Xu Bai pulled Xu Le and Wu Zijin back a step, letting the twin sisters behind them enter first.

Liu Mengyan saw Xu Le, who was still a child, and quickly refused.

“No, no, you have a child with you. You two go in first.”

Wu Zijin retreated along with Xu Bai’s pull, and as he did, he said to the two with a hint of pride in his tone:

“You two go in first. If we go in first, Ms. Yin Jia won’t have time for you later.”

The two looked suspiciously at Wu Bai, who was boasting in front of them.

Although they didn't know Xu Bai, they knew Wu Bai. After all, they had previously competed to research the same material, to see who could produce results first.

(PS: Wu Zijin operates under the name “Wu Bai” in the Card Maker Guild and publishes papers under the name “Wu Bai”.)

“Aren’t you just Wu Bai? You often bother Ms. Yin Jia with your papers. What, how many papers did you bring today to trouble Ms. Yin Jia? You can just go home and revise them yourself.”

“Exactly, the way you talk, one would think you wrote some amazing paper. You only beat us that one time, but now the tables have turned.”

The two sisters were unconvinced. Although the other party had beaten them once, they were also constantly growing.

And what Wu Bai said to them was taken as a provocation.

It’s like both top students and struggling students need to ask the teacher questions. Top students can wait for the struggling students to finish asking, as the teacher doesn't spend much time solving the struggling students' problems. However, the top students' questions require time to discuss with the teacher.

If the top students ask first, the teacher won't have time to solve the struggling students' problems.

Wu Zijin’s words were essentially saying that their papers wouldn't take Ms. Yin Jia much time, but his papers were better… Wu Zijin didn’t realize there was a problem with what he said, and at the same time, the words spoken by the two later ignited his temper.

However, he thought of Xu Bai’s paper and showed a cunning smile.

“Then do you dare to make a bet with us?”

Note, it wasn’t ‘me’, but ‘us’.

Provoked by Wu Zijin’s words, the two actually didn’t believe it. After losing last time, they had always wanted to win back a round.

The younger sister, Liu Mengyun, was the first to succumb to the provocation and blurted out:

“Okay, we’ll bet. What do you want to bet on?”

The older sister, Liu Mengyan, suddenly realized that Wu Zijin had said “us” and quickly spoke up, wanting to probe the background of the person with the child next to him.

“Wait a minute, what is the Guild level of the person next to you? If it’s higher than ours, we won’t bet with you.”

“This person next to me is Bai Xiaobai. I am his referrer. He only joined the Guild about a month and a half ago, and his current Guild level is Two.”

Wu Zijin very slyly added these prefaces, and also, fearing that the two might suspect he was lying, he had Xu Bai show them his badge.

Xu Bai was very cooperative, taking out his badge from his pocket to show to the two opposite him.

‘Newcomer’, ‘a month and a half’, ‘Level Two’.

These three points continually downplayed Xu Bai’s ability.

Although compared to other newcomers, reaching Guild Level Two in just a month and a half was already very impressive.

But for them, who were already Guild Level Five, it was still not enough to be impressive.

Liu Mengyan felt that Bai Xiaobai had only published his cards making ideas and experiments from when he became a Three-Star Card Maker, which allowed him to quickly raise his Guild level.

Later on, it would be more difficult to level up; he would only be able to slowly improve by completing tasks.

After all, inspiration isn’t always available, and it’s quite difficult to capture inspiration and create new cardss.

Although the initial facts were similar to what Liu Mengyan thought, what happened later would be vastly different from her expectations.

She didn’t know that Xu Bai possessed memories of life in another world, she didn’t know that Xu Bai had seen many novelties that didn’t exist in this world, and she also didn’t know that most of the knowledge Xu Bai learned in the other world was free.

This information asymmetry led her to make a wrong decision.

No, perhaps this was not a wrong decision, but a path to success, a path to building a modern society.

Liu Mengyan nodded, ignoring Bai Xiaobai, a Guild member who was only Guild Level Two, and asked Wu Bai:

“Alright, Wu Bai, tell us exactly what we’re betting on and what the stakes are.”

The fish took the bait.

Wu Zijin replied as usual, avoiding being too complacent and giving away his scheme.