I Carry a Game World With Me

"Xiaofeng, this soup must have cost a fortune, right?" Yang Ming asked in disbelief.

That warm feeling spreading through his body was just too incredible. At the very least, he could feel that his physical condition had improved significantly; the feeling of his whole body being relaxed and at ease was marvelous.

If he hadn’t experienced it himself, he would never have believed such a thing was possible.

Just then.

Yang Ming’s phone rang. He looked at the number, paused for a second, then said to Lu Feng, "It’s your mom!"

Lu Feng was confused. ’Why would Mom suddenly call my cousin?’

Yang Ming also knew that his aunt wouldn’t be calling him out of the blue unless something was up. He put the phone on speaker and answered, "Auntie, what’s wrong?"

Lin Shuang’s voice immediately came through: "Ah Ming, something’s happened with your second aunt’s family. Your cousin Yong got set up by some people from the streets. Can you help?"

"What happened to Chen Yong?" Yang Ming’s brow furrowed slightly at the mention of this cousin.

Lu Feng also frowned a little.

His mother had two sisters. One was the mother of his cousin, Yang Ming. The other was this second aunt. She had a son named Chen Yong, whom he also called ’cousin’.

However, he wasn’t on good terms with this particular cousin. The main reason was that Chen Yong was too self-important and arrogant. Ever since he got into a top-tier university, he’d acted like he was some highly-educated, civilized person.

He always spoke to their cousin Yang Ming with the condescending tone one might use for the dregs of society. The phrase constantly on his lips was: "This cousin of mine just fools around all day. Sooner or later, he’ll end up just as badly as my other uncle."

Lu Feng’s father was often used as a negative example by him.

When Lu Feng worked in a factory, Chen Yong would lecture him every time: "Xiaofeng, you really shouldn’t have dropped out of school. Look at you now, working yourself to death in a factory for just a few thousand a month. When I graduate, I’ll have an office job, easily making 15,000 a month."

Last year, his second aunt’s family home was demolished, and they received a new apartment and a hefty compensation fee. This made his second cousin even more insufferably smug. He’d gotten to the point where he wouldn’t even bother to greet them when they passed on the street. He was the very definition of someone who looks down on others.

"Xiaofeng, let’s go to your place and see. Second Aunt is there," Yang Ming said to Lu Feng after hanging up.

"Okay," Lu Feng nodded.

They might not like their cousin Chen Yong, but their second aunt was a very good person who had always been kind to them.

Moreover, back when his father was deep in debt, his second aunt had helped out quite a bit at the beginning.

No matter how big or small the favor, it had to be repaid.

A favor was still a favor, no matter how small.

Lu Feng brought his cousin and the others back to his house. He saw his mom comforting his second aunt, Lin Mei, whose eyes were red and who looked completely helpless.

"Auntie, what on earth happened?" Yang Ming asked Lin Shuang the moment he walked in.

Lin Shuang quickly explained, "Ah Ming, it’s Yong. He got a girlfriend, and somehow she led him to the gambling table. He kept losing more and more. Not only did he lose all of your second aunt’s demolition compensation money, but he also racked up a huge debt. Now, loan sharks are showing up with an IOU, saying Yong still owes them one million."

Lu Feng frowned and said, "The country is very strict about gambling and loan sharking. That kind of IOU isn’t valid!"

Yang Ming shook his head. "It’s not that simple. This is a classic pig-butchering scam. Chen Yong was targeted by a woman in a honey trap. People who’ve received a big demolition payout, who are arrogant and think they’re better than everyone else—they’re the easiest targets. Besides, the IOU they have definitely won’t say it’s for a gambling debt. It probably says it was a loan to start a company or something. They might have even rented a shell office for him. They could take him to court to demand repayment."

Hearing this, Lin Mei grew frantic. "It’s just as Ah Ming said! The IOU they produced says Yong borrowed money from them to start a company and now needs to pay it back. And that girlfriend of his is nowhere to be found."

"What!" Lu Feng was stunned. "He signed an IOU like that? Isn’t that just handing them a get-out-of-jail-free card for debt collection? He’s a university student! Is he an idiot?"

"He was already gambling, what brains did he have left?" Lin Shuang said irritably. She had a deep-seated hatred for gambling.

Yang Ming added, "Gambling makes you lose your head. When you’re losing badly, even if you know it’s a trap, you’ll still think you can win it all back in the next round. But once you’re targeted by a pig-butchering scam, how could they possibly let you win it back?"

He then turned to Lin Mei and asked, "Second Aunt, where is Chen Yong now?"

Lin Mei shook her head helplessly. "He disappeared right after the debt collectors showed up. His phone is off. Now they come to the house to harass us every day."

"That spineless bastard," Yang Ming muttered angrily before turning back to Lin Mei. "Second Aunt, do we know who’s behind this setup?"

In Youcheng, everyone who was on the streets knew each other. He was acquainted with most of those who ran shady operations.

He wasn’t doing too badly for himself these days. If someone running a pig-butchering scam had targeted his relative, a word from him might convince them not to take things too far, not to burn all bridges.

Maybe the one million could be settled for 200,000 or 300,000.

After all, everyone knew what was really going on. If things got ugly and their operation was exposed, it would be a loss for both sides.

Of course, that depended on who the other party was. If it was someone who wasn’t afraid of you, then things would be tricky.

Lin Mei quickly said, "They mentioned ’Brother He from Xianlin Town’ several times, but I don’t know who that is."

"He Jin... that makes things difficult," Yang Ming said with a frown.

Ah Pao, Da Fei, and the others also frowned.

In Youcheng, the guys from Xianlin Town were known to be a big deal because they were well-established. He Jin was one of the bosses from Xianlin Town, and many of the local troublemakers followed him.

The key was that the man was genuinely rich and powerful. In the past, even Brother Ming couldn’t go head-to-head with him.

Yang Ming frowned, took out his phone, and dialed a number. Although they didn’t interact much, he still had He Jin’s number.

A moment later, the call connected.

A voice came from the other end, "Well, if it isn’t Brother Ming? What brings you to call me?"

Yang Ming frowned and spoke into the phone, "Brother He, a cousin of mine was having some fun on your turf and accidentally ran up a debt of one million. I hope Brother He can do me a favor and let it slide."

"Hehehe!" He Jin’s laughter came through the phone. "Brother Ming, I don’t know what you’re talking about. If your cousin owes me one million, it must be because he borrowed money from me for a business that failed. That money has to be paid back. You can’t possibly think I’d just forget about a million because you said a few words."

"And speaking of favors, I heard you, Brother Ming, started following some ’Young Master Feng’ nobody’s ever heard of. Your reputation has taken a hit. How about this? Why don’t you have that Young Master Feng come talk to me? Haha..."

Before Yang Ming could say another word, the other end hung up, making his frown deepen.

Just as he expected. When dealing with someone more powerful than him, they wouldn’t give him any face, let alone give up a million they already had in their grasp.

However, the other party’s words seemed to be deliberately aimed at his cousin, Lu Feng. It was probably because of the recent rumors that he and Chen Bo had joined forces, and that his cousin could now challenge someone like him.

Reputation was everything for guys on the street. If He Jin had heard those rumors, he would definitely be pissed.

The rule of law was much stronger now. If this were a few years ago, the other party might have already shown up to start trouble, to test their strength.

It sounded ridiculous, but that’s how society was just a few years ago.

"Ah Ming, how did it go?" Lin Shuang asked with a frown.

Yang Ming shook his head. "Chen Yong signed that kind of contract. They’re not going to give up a million just because I said so."

"Cousin, can you tell me about this He Jin?" Lu Feng asked, frowning.

He had heard of the man before. After all, back in school, a lot of brainless students used to brag about following him.

It seemed unlikely the man would give up the one million, but Lu Feng wasn’t about to let his second aunt pay it.

Although his cousin Chen Yong was infuriating, his second aunt had been kind to his family. He couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.

Besides, the whole thing was a pig-butchering scam to begin with.

’The question now is how to make He Jin give up the one million himself.’

Yang Ming explained, "He Jin is one of the earliest guys from Xianlin Town to make a name for himself on the streets. He now owns a bar and a KTV. Of course, that’s all just a front. His main business is still shady operations, like pig-butchering scams. When he finds a fool, he can easily make millions. Even if something goes wrong, he has people to take the fall."

"Of course, his main focus right now is online. He created an online persona called ’Boxer Ah Ji,’ promoting an internet celebrity fighter. That guy even fought Huang Chui before."

Lu Feng had actually seen videos of this Boxer Ah Ji. He frowned and asked, "Cousin, this can’t be as simple as just promoting an influencer, can it?"

Yang Ming explained, "Of course not. Think about what kind of person He Jin is. He arranges for people to fight fake matches with Ah Ji—and I mean full-contact, realistic-looking fights. Isn’t that what people online love to see? Every time, Ah Ji beats his opponent to a pulp, so of course he gets a lot of followers."

"Moreover, in the online world, there’s a lot of illegal and dirty money. When Ah Ji’s account is live-streaming, they can use certain methods to send gifts and boost rankings. They have special agreements with streaming guilds. They just have to give the platform 30%, and the rest of the money comes out laundered."

"Naturally, to do all this without attracting attention, the streamer needs a substantial-enough fanbase as cover. It’s best to do some PK battles, attract some big spenders... it’s all part of the same playbook."

"Right now, He Jin places a lot of importance on this Boxer Ah Ji account."

Lu Feng’s eyes lit up when he heard this. He asked, "Cousin, in that case, could we go after this Boxer Ah Ji? Since he needs this account for his operations, and arranging fake fights is to make people think Ah Ji is really that good..."

"If someone could easily defeat this Ah Ji, beat him so badly he can’t even fight back, then wouldn’t everyone think Ah Ji is just a joke, no different from a circus clown?"

"If we record a video of that, we could totally use it to negotiate with him. He wouldn’t want the Boxer Ah Ji account to be affected, right?"

’Actually, I have a much better solution. After all, I have a laser pistol and rifle in my inventory. I could easily take He Jin out in the dead of night.’

’But I don’t have a personal grudge against He Jin. There’s no need to kill him. In the real world, that would be a huge mess.’

"That’s one way to do it." Yang Ming was taken aback by the suggestion. If the other party didn’t want the account’s reputation damaged, they could definitely trade the video to resolve the matter. After all, there was no need to make a mortal enemy over Chen Yong’s stupid mess.

But then, he shook his head. "But that would be very difficult. That Ah Ji is a trained fighter. Even Huang Chui might not be able to beat him. Who could possibly defeat him without giving him a chance to fight back?"

"Xiaofeng can!" Huang Chui suddenly pointed at Lu Feng and said, "Against him, I had no chance to fight back at all!"

Yang Ming suddenly stared at Lu Feng, utterly dumbfounded.