The voice came from the electronic screen.
Everyone in Zone C burst into cheers.
Only Yun Xinghe suddenly realized the lights around him were shutting off fast.
In the dim office, a figure appeared:
"My name is Gua Shisan. Yun Xinghe, you’ve been eliminated. Come with me."
Yun Xinghe said:
"I still have points, my HP is above 0, I only lost the game. According to the rules, I should still be alive, right?"
Gua Shisan shook his head and said:
"That depends on how Lord Qilin rules."
"This is the Obsession World, but you’re actually people from the real world. Whether you get to leave or not depends on Lord Qilin’s will."
"Yun Xinghe, your performance was really terrible."
Yun Xinghe didn’t understand. Qilin? What was that?
Even though he carried Libra Power, Yun Xinghe didn’t know about Libra; he was just a small fry under the zodiac factions.
If he didn’t know Libra, there was no way he’d know about Heracles, Qilin, Lyra and the other constellations.
"Let’s go, trash." Gua Shisan urged him.
Zone A, at this point, was completely wiped out.
...
...
Zone C.
[Please decide the resource to compete for and choose your bidding chips.]
[Current bid from Zone D: 1 point.]
With Zone A wiped out, naturally it was time to compete for Zone A’s assets.
Wen Xishu looked at the content on the electronic screen, and all the employees behind him were watching as well.
"Boss, take Zone A! If we take it, we win!" Clark said.
Zone A’s sixty points of resources, once in hand, meant a guaranteed win. If they were cruel enough to auction off the dozens of population chips transferred from Zone A, the game could end right there.
With point suppression, potential suppression, and Zone A’s special expedition suppression on top of that... Clark couldn’t imagine how they’d lose.
But Wen Xishu didn’t bid. He only smiled and said:
"I’m really not interested in that. I just want to be an ordinary boss who keeps everyone alive."
Everyone was puzzled; even Tang Zhe didn’t understand why Boss Wen wouldn’t take those points.
Wen Xishu said:
"But Zone D really shouldn’t get it too easily."
Wen Xishu sent out the final declaration.
[Zone C issues a declaration to Zone D: if Zone D’s bid is lower than 25 points, we will enter the competition.]
Right now, Wen Xishu knew one thing: Zone D had 43 points.
Those points should all be in Lorenzo’s hands; 43 was the maximum he could afford to bid. But Wen Xishu couldn’t shout that number.
First, and most crucially...
Wen Xishu had no points to compete with. He only had a few points on hand. If he wanted to compete, he’d have to use population, using people to substitute for points.
That was not something he wanted to see.
So Wen Xishu didn’t raise Lorenzo’s bid through direct competition, but through the declaration.
At the same time, to prevent Lorenzo from backing out of the auction, Wen Xishu had to leave him some points, let Lorenzo feel a bit of safety.
If Lorenzo poured all 43 points into the bid, it might alert him, make him suspicious and overthink because of the huge sunk cost.
After weighing all that, Wen Xishu called out 25 points.
...
...
In Zone D, when Lorenzo saw that number, he actually didn’t feel much pressure.
Twenty‑five points was reasonable. If it were him, he would also stop someone from using 1 point to buy 63; if Lorenzo were Wen Xishu, he’d also try to make the opponent take fewer points.
Twenty‑five points was within Lorenzo’s tolerance.
Twenty‑five for sixty‑three, plus a ton of stimulants and expedition Levels, that was very reasonable.
After the trade, he’d have 81 points. Wen Xishu did have a lot of people, but those forty‑odd heads were all transferred from Zone A, and they wouldn’t be able to work overtime in the short term.
That way, he still had a shot.
And since Wen Xishu only issued a declaration to make him raise his bid and increase his cost, without directly bidding with points, Lorenzo actually felt that was very sincere of him.
"Twenty‑five it is."
Lorenzo quickly took the bid.
On the electronic screen, it showed Zone D’s bid for Zone A’s assets: 25 points invested.
After a brief wait...
[25 points, first call.]
[25 points, second call.]
[25 points, third call.]
[Sold.]
[Zone D receives 63 points of Zone A’s assets. Current total: 81 points. Zone D obtains internal-affairs items. Zone D unlocks expedition rights.]
Everyone in Zone C was a bit confused.
Lorenzo in Zone D finally let out a sigh of relief.
Now, he once again had the capital to fight Wen Xishu.
Honestly speaking, Lorenzo himself found it strange...
Wen Xishu really didn’t compete? Just to preserve headcount, to avoid casualties, he’d give up a profit that big?
He had to know, Lorenzo could launch expeditions as early as tomorrow. And they’d be the same kind of expedition as Zone A had—expeditions that would leave Wen Xishu nowhere to run, forcing him to lose people again and again!
For a moment, Lorenzo felt that not only could he fight Wen Xishu again—he could actually beat him.
Sure enough, good bosses in the apocalypse, merciful Saviors, they just don’t survive.
But soon, his smile froze.
[Since Zone A’s boss Yun Xinghe has outstanding debt and his assets have been successfully auctioned off... Zone A’s debt is transferred to Zone D. The loan period is ten days. There are three days remaining until the final repayment deadline. Please complete repayment within three days.]
Debt?
What debt? How the hell is there still debt?
Lorenzo was a bit stunned.
Zone A still had debt? That bastard Yun Xinghe... took a loan?
His stiff smile slowly twisted into anger.
In that instant, Lorenzo suddenly felt the sinister intent behind the "kind good boss," and everything clicked.
Wen Xishu wasn’t refusing to fight over it—he’d found out in advance that Yun Xinghe was in debt!
That son of a bitch!
Right then, Lorenzo wanted nothing more than to storm into Zone C.
How could that man be this vicious!? He clearly knew there was debt, and he still deliberately pushed the price up, basically making Lorenzo spend 25 points to buy a debt?
Yes, Wen Xishu had definitely found out in advance, that’s why he played it like this.
Lorenzo also realized it must have been because the HP data of the employees who entered Zone C didn’t match Zone A’s point data, which triggered Wen Xishu’s suspicions!
Lorenzo’s hands were shaking. Right now, he had to know exactly how much debt he’d taken on.