Lord of Prayer
Chapter 448 - 286: Will the Long Night Ever See Dawn?
Zhou Chen had never seen anything like this, but his intuition told him it was some kind of mark left on this man by a high-Status Ascender.
’Why was it in the shape of a gold coin?’
’Could it be like the mobs in a video game? Would he drop gold coins if I killed him?’
Zhou Chen stared at the spinning gold coin above the man’s head with a strange expression, feeling an urge to reach out and grab it.
SLAP!
Just then, the factory owner, Wick, suddenly gave himself a resounding slap, followed by another. A bright red handprint quickly appeared on his face.
"I deserve to die!"
Wick howled in anguish while slapping himself fiercely, "I’ve done so many terrible things! I’m worse than an animal!"
SLAP! SLAP! SLAP!... SLAPSLAPSLAPSLAPSLAP!
Wick’s wife, eldest son, second daughter, third daughter, and butler all followed suit, slapping themselves. They wailed as they confessed the sins they had committed, and the entire study was soon filled with the crisp, loud sound of slapping.
p>The thuggish-looking gangster also slapped himself frantically, full of remorse. "I shouldn’t have scammed my relatives out of their life-saving money... I shouldn’t have robbed that family, shouldn’t have raped and murdered the woman of the house... I shouldn’t have joined a gang... Boo hoo hoo... I’m just an animal! I deserve to die!"
If this bizarre scene were to happen out in the open, it would definitely be classified as a large-scale psychic contamination event.
Zhou Chen looked like he wanted to say something but held back. After a long moment, he clapped his hands. "Alright, that’s enough. You there... Wick, transfer all your assets from your overseas bank accounts to this account. Make it clean.
And the rest of you, same thing. Wire all your overseas money to this account. Don’t touch your domestic funds for now."
Zhou Chen took a small slip of paper with numbers written on it from his pocket. The factory owner, Wick, stepped forward to take it, his bloodshot eyes filled with determination. "Please rest assured, the money will arrive within two hours. I won’t keep a single cent of my assets; I’ll donate it all to the Poisonous Sore Gang to achieve the great ideal of equality for all!
Tomorrow, I’ll issue an order to improve the workers’ conditions. I’ll give them a raise, provide them with lunch, buy them a full benefits package, shorten their work hours to only eight hours a day, and make sure they get paid for overtime..."
’Plenty of people in Jinzhu would kill for benefits like these. An eight-hour workday is way too short, and overtime pay is practically unheard of...’ Zhou Chen thought to himself, then shook his head. "Don’t change the factory’s rules so quickly. It’ll attract unwanted attention, and your competitors will report you in no time. You have to take it step by step. Let’s start with providing full meals and a pay raise."
"Yes, I understand." Wick nodded quickly and called his family over to transfer the money.
Zhou Chen then turned to the gangster. His entire face was swollen from slapping himself, a testament to how much he regretted his past. "Who are you?"
The thuggish man answered truthfully, "My name is Mike. I’m thirty-three, from Rusted Iron City. I used to be in the Fierce Tiger Gang, but I happened to be away the day they were wiped out, so I got lucky and escaped. Five days ago, my whole family died from the Crystal Disease. I ran a high fever for two days and thought I was going to die too, but on the third day, the fever broke. The crystals on my arm stopped spreading, and they weren’t itchy anymore."
"What did you want with Wick?" Zhou Chen asked.
"I met a prostitute. She and I made a deal."
Mike revealed this life-changing secret without hesitation. "She said that if I made a deal with her, she could make me a member of the upper class, able to enjoy wealth and luxury. The price I had to pay is that in the future, I can’t refuse anything she asks of me."
’Why does that sound so familiar...’ Zhou Chen was instantly reminded of the story Soron had told him. One of Soron’s ancestors had a similar experience: he unexpectedly met a benefactor and made a mysterious deal. Afterward, his luck skyrocketed. He experienced all sorts of fortuitous encounters, and in a short time, the poor boy became a tycoon, enjoying a meteoric rise and building a massive family enterprise.
However, many years later, that mysterious person reappeared and forcibly claimed the family’s fortune. This caused the Soron Clan, which was at the height of its prosperity, to go bankrupt overnight. The family was shattered, and even now, in Soron’s generation, they were still plagued by bad luck.
And that mysterious person was none other than a member of Fallen Paradise, codenamed "Merchant"!
’The Merchant is in North Carolina!’
’This wasn’t actually that surprising. First of all, the Crystal Disease was Fallen Paradise’s creation. No one would believe the North Carolina Government didn’t have some dirty, under-the-table deals with them.’
’The Poison Master was probably in North Carolina right now, collecting data on the Crystal Disease and secretly guiding the Crystal Virus’s mutation and evolution. Let alone another ’Merchant,’ it wouldn’t be surprising if a few more heavyweight fugitives showed up.’
’The North Carolina Government had taken a hard-line stance, refusing help from the Star Association. Meanwhile, the local Star Association was full of government people who, in these special times, were turning a blind eye, ignoring the chaos in their territory and letting it run rampant... In other words, this place had temporarily become a lawless land. All manner of shady characters could surface here, taking the opportunity to do things they normally couldn’t.’
’If I remember correctly, the ’Merchant’ is still a Tier Four Uncrowned. In that case, the reason he’s in North Carolina is clear—he wants to seek Advancement in this lawless land.’
"And then?" Zhou Chen probed.
"After I left Chicken Street, I was planning to find a job. I figured that since the Crystal Disease had made my body much stronger, I could at least earn a living doing manual labor at a factory. So I went to Boss Wick’s factory to apply, and that’s when I ran into Kelly, who was there for an inspection." Mike glanced at Wick’s third daughter on the other side. "She fell in love with me at first sight and wants me to be her husband."