41: Chapter 41 Strategic Blood Pack Lockdown: A Gambler's Death Knell!

Xia Qingqiu was stunned.

Her head was full of educational psychology jargon—those technical terms about "childhood trauma" and "adolescent stress responses"—but all of it was choked back in her throat by that incredibly aggressive and frivolous provocation.

[Ding! Target Xia Qingqiu (Beauty 89), Favorability -1%, Current Favorability -1%.]

Lin Yuan looked at the panel within his field of vision.

The initial favorability was 0%, and it dropped to a negative number immediately after being teased.

This woman was clean.

Her motive for initiating the conversation was indeed purely out of a teacher's sense of responsibility.

Rather than being one of those gold-diggers who wanted to cling to him just because he bought the school on a whim.

That one point deduction was just right.

Xia Qingqiu's cheeks flushed red.

She pushed up the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of her nose.

"Mr. Lin, I am discussing the student's mental health with you in my capacity as a homeroom teacher!" Xia Qingqiu said, trying her best to maintain her composure. "Please show some respect!"

Lin Yuan leaned back in the leather seat, saying nothing, just watching her quietly.

Xia Qingqiu.

The girlfriend of the leader of the Ston School shelter in his previous life.

A C-rank healing Esper.

Her blood was the perfect raw material for creating the zombie virus serum.

Lin Yuan still remembered the scene from his previous life when he went to the South District shelter to beg for medicine.

That hypocrite who called himself a leader had locked Xia Qingqiu on an operating table in the basement like an animal.

Her limbs were secured with iron rings, and her body was covered in tubes for drawing blood.

She had been drained until she was nothing but skin and bones, completely devoid of life.

Xia Qingqiu's boyfriend had built his dominion in the South District of Jiangcheng by using her as a "blood bag," constantly drawing her blood to trade for massive amounts of survival supplies and weapons.

In order to save Shen Qingyue, Lin Yuan had once broken three of his own fingers to trade for two vials of serum from that shelter.

In all likelihood, it had come from the woman right in front of him.

Such a strategic "blood bag"—in this lifetime, he was determined to have her.

If her leader boyfriend from his previous life had already appeared, Lin Yuan wouldn't mind sending him to hell tonight.

If not, he would simply snatch her away first.

Seeing that Lin Yuan not only didn't apologize but was instead looking her over with an incredibly bizarre gaze, Xia Qingqiu could no longer suppress the anger in her heart.

"Unreasonable!"

She threw down those words and turned to walk toward the teaching building with long strides.

Her high heels clicked rapidly against the concrete ground.

Lin Yuan did not stop her.

The engine of the george patton let out a low roar as it drove away from the school gate.

Fishing requires patience.

...

Twelve o'clock noon.

The old district of Jiangcheng.

Lin Yuan sat alone in that old hot pot restaurant.

He chewed on a slice of meat.

Once the apocalypse descended, acid rain would contaminate the groundwater, and the global power grid would collapse.

This kind of steaming hot delicacy, which required vast amounts of fresh water and electricity, would become a thing of the past.

Lin Yuan took out his phone and dialed Su Xiaonuan's number.

"Boss Lin." On the other end of the line, Su Xiaonuan's voice sounded somewhat weak and sickly.

The madness of last night seemed to still linger in her voice.

"How is the progress on the special supply list I asked you to prepare?" Lin Yuan wiped the corner of his mouth.

"Twenty thousand portions of Haidilao self-heating hot pot are already in place. Fifty thousand portions of vacuum-sealed dehydrated vegetables and fresh-cut meat have been warehoused."

"We've also bought out the inventory of three factories for small solid alcohol stoves and hot pot soup bases; the remaining quantities are being produced on an expedited schedule."

Su Xiaonuan answered fluently.

"Keep increasing the volume, with no upper limit."

Lin Yuan hung up the phone.

Since he couldn't keep hot food fresh, he would use massive quantities of self-heating food and soup bases to forcibly create "hot pot freedom" in the apocalypse.

After all, there was nothing that a hot pot meal couldn't solve.

The phone vibrated again.

Caller ID: Fat Dragon.

"Boss." Fat Dragon's lowered voice carried an excitement of seeking credit,

"Li Hongda has been found. For the past few days, he's been soaking in an underground casino beneath the Auto Parts City in the East District."

"He hasn't even left the gambling table for food, drink, or bathroom breaks. What do you think..."

Lin Yuan's eyes turned cold.

When cutting weeds, one must remove the roots.

"Watch him closely." Lin Yuan pulled out two hundred-yuan bills and threw them on the table. "I'll be there immediately."

...

Two o'clock in the afternoon.

East District Auto Parts City.

A black george patton crushed through the puddles and stopped at the entrance of an underground garage deep within the Auto Parts City.

Lin Yuan pushed the door open and got out of the car.

He was wearing a black windbreaker and walked expressionlessly toward the iron door with an "Internal Repairs" sign hanging on it.

In front of the iron door stood two men with tattooed arms wearing tight black T-shirts.

The tattooed man on the right glanced at the oppressive SUV, swallowed his saliva, and braced himself to step forward and block the path:

"Buddy, you look unfamiliar. This is a private auto repair shop, not open to the public. Who are you looking for?"

Bang!

A massive shadow suddenly rushed out from behind the iron door.

Utilizing the momentum, Fat Dragon's heavy body slammed directly into the tattooed man on the right.

Crack!

The tattooed man didn't even have time to scream before he flew sideways and slammed into the concrete wall.

The man on the left was startled and instinctively reached for the telescopic baton at his waist.

Fat Dragon backhanded him with an incredibly loud slap, striking him hard across the face.

Slap!

The tattooed man was spun half a circle on the spot, his mouth full of blood.

"Are you blind, you dogs!"

Fat Dragon pointed at the two men on the ground and cursed,

"How dare you block my boss?!"

The two security guards clearly recognized this fierce star and were so scared they didn't even dare to wipe the blood from their mouths.

Fat Dragon turned to look at Lin Yuan, the ferocity on his face instantly vanishing, replaced by a fawning smile.

"Boss, please come in. That piece of trash is in the very back." Fat Dragon bowed and made a gesture of invitation.

Lin Yuan didn't even glance at the two men on the ground and stepped inside the iron door.

Behind the door was a long staircase leading downward.

Pushing open the heavy wooden door at the end, a turbid air mixed with the smell of cheap cigarettes, sweat, and perfume rushed into his face.

In the underground space of several hundred square meters, all kinds of gambling tables were set up.

It was bustling with noise; the sound of chips clashing, the croupiers calling out numbers, and the roars of gamblers were intertwined.

Fat Dragon led the way, roughly pushing aside the gamblers blocking the path.

A few people who were pushed aside were about to start cursing, but seeing Fat Dragon's vicious and terrifying face, they immediately swallowed their insults.

Lin Yuan followed behind, his gaze sweeping over the gamblers, each with bloodshot eyes and frantic expressions.

In the apocalypse, these people wouldn't even qualify to be cannon fodder.

The two crossed the noisy hall and arrived at a high-stakes baccarat table in the depths.

At the edge of the table, Li Hongda slumped on a high stool.

He looked like a withered ghost, his eye sockets sunken, his hair greasy and stuck to his scalp, his white shirt covered in cigarette ash and liquor stains.

His hands were gripping the last three ten-thousand-denomination chips in front of him, his eyes bloodshot, staring fixedly at the hole card in the dealer's hand about to be revealed.

"Player... Player... give me Player!! I've been watching the pattern for thirty rounds, this one is definitely a long Player run!!"

Li Hongda roared neurotically, his saliva spraying onto the green velvet tabletop.

The dealer expressionlessly revealed the hole card: "Banker, nine points beats Player."

A long wooden rake reached over and ruthlessly swept away all the remaining chips in front of Li Hongda.

"No! That's impossible!"

Li Hongda stood up abruptly, gripping the edge of the gambling table, roaring hysterically,

"I studied the pattern! This round was definitely Player! You guys are cheating!"

Several security guards immediately surrounded him, their gazes hostile.

Li Hongda shrank his neck in fear, but the greed and madness in his eyes could not be suppressed.

He turned around in frustration, trying to find even one acquaintance in the crowd to borrow another hundred or eighty thousand to win his money back.

Then, he saw Lin Yuan standing to the side, watching him.

Li Hongda froze for half a second, and then an incredibly twisted ecstasy erupted in his eyes.

He didn't even realize why Lin Yuan would appear here.

In his perception, Lin Yuan was that sucker who had casually promised ten million just to buy his wife!

He had taken that ten-million blank contract to the casino as collateral, and it had only gotten him six point five million in chips.

Now that he had lost everything, the ATM had actually come to his door.

"Boss Lin! Boss Lin!"

Li Hongda scrambled out of the crowd.

When he rushed to within two meters of Lin Yuan, his body instinctively shrank, clearly remembering the previous beating.

But his hands, yellowed and trembling from smoking, still reached out, hanging in mid-air.

"Boss... Boss Lin!"

Li Hongda said, his spit flying,

"The casino only recognizes six point five million for that ten-million contract! Besides the one million deposit, you still need to pay me the remaining two point five million!"

"I studied the pattern, I'll definitely win the next round!"