Am I really hallucinating?

Chapter 368 Sparks of Ignorance

As a result, the wicked landlord Zheng Fan, relying on his superb card skills, caused the three peasants to suffer a crushing defeat.

While Zheng Fan was happily collecting Happy Beans—no, I mean train tickets—Lin Yilin suddenly said, "Isn't it a bit of an overreaction to open the main body and change cards during the shuffling?"

Fried: ?

So the reason the landlord next to me was covered in black mud while cutting the cards was because he was cheating with his superpowers? Just to win at Dou Dizhu?

But wasn't the old man who invited them to play cards the one who had won the chips and tickets himself? Apart from Lin Yilin, he and the silent office workers next to him participated empty-handed.

I didn't see any debts or anything like that.

"When playing cards, there's no such thing as a small matter or a big matter; all I care about is winning!" Zheng Fan didn't even deny it; instead, he just emphasized his peculiar spirit.

Speechless.

After they finished playing, Zheng Fan still gave away the large number of train tickets he had with him as if they were free.

"Wow, the landlord is so generous?" Fried exclaimed in surprise.

"Of course," Zheng Fan said, his nose in the air.

Mo Mang was somewhat taken aback. These tickets weren't ordinary items; could he really obtain so many so easily? Besides the three needed for departure, there were four extra. Although the exact value of the items taken from this world on the train was still unknown, with three tickets for each person, the value of other items would likely fluctuate around the same amount.
But to be honest, because of his work experience, even though he does want many things, when it comes down to choosing one to get, he can't immediately say.

It's so pathetic. People are practically feeding you, but you still can't swallow. You even have to be so dramatic and think about which side of your teeth to use to chew.

Fried looked at the seven cards in Morman's hand, then at the two cards in his own.

Landlord, isn't this preferential treatment a bit too obvious? Is this card specifically designed to block him here?
Noticing his gaze, Zheng turned around and gave a gentle, handsome smile: "Yes."

This guy really doesn't bother to hide anything when he does bad things; he's truly unscrupulous.

Lin Yilin didn't care about the ticket price; she could always get as many tickets as she wanted by simply begging Mr. Illusion. He appeared to be a farmer, but was actually the illegitimate son of a landlord, or even the eldest daughter!
"Wait a minute, Mr. Zheng... Mr. Zheng, when did you get so many train tickets?!"

While these four people were still playing the roles of landlord and peasant, the seven people next to them were all stunned.

When did the landlord get this handful of "Happy Beans"?

"I picked it up on the way here," Zheng Fan replied simply.

This isn't some landlord; he's more likely the landlord's foolish son.

"This, this..." Yu Hao looked at the train ticket in his hand, then at the train ticket that Zheng Fan had unfolded like a card. Why was there such a big difference?
"Brother, could you... split some of the money? We can use other methods to exchange for payment." It seemed that Yu Hao had experienced too much shock and emotional turmoil in such a short period of time, so this time his teammate stepped in to help negotiate.

"Hey, no, didn't you get one? That means you weren't wasting your time. It's only been less than half a day. Although this site is quite stressful, it's precisely under these circumstances that people can grow." Zheng Fan refused while suddenly launching into a righteous and nonsensical argument.

"Um, we don't have that ability. There must be something wrong with this site. Newbies like us can't play at all!" Su Long from the student group quickly stepped forward: "You have so many tickets and you even managed to pick up so many. Please share some with us. My family is rich!"

The atmosphere has been set.

Zheng Fan and the others all realized the current trend.

Because of Yu Hao and his group's miscalculation, everyone's current strategy has completely shifted to collecting train tickets and evacuating the station. If that were all, it would still be manageable. However, when Yu Hao showed that the situation was beyond their control and that they were only thinking about getting themselves out, and when he took the initiative to speak to Zheng Fan, those students who had originally held onto Yu Hao and his group with a last hope had reached their limit.

They rushed to persuade Zheng Fan to give them train tickets so they could escape as easily as possible. In this respect, there was no distinction between old and new; all beings were equal.

Of course, the key element that brought the atmosphere to this point was Zheng Fan showing off the ticket he could get.

The contrast between expectations and reality is one of the hardest things for people to accept.

However, he did not do it intentionally. He just wanted to do something while waiting for the world events at this station to progress, and incidentally use the train ticket as "Happy Beans" to pass the time with Lin Yilin and two other people who were slightly more agreeable.

Gifting train tickets is also a reward for accompanying you on your trip; Zheng Xiang has always been very generous in this regard.

Deep down, I don't care about the people around me; I basically ignore them.

It was only now that they brought it up that Zheng realized that these people's will to survive had been forced to this extent.

Zheng Fan didn't say anything, and the three people behind him naturally didn't say anything either. Zheng Fan had gotten the tickets, and they wouldn't immediately transfer them out of pity.

The main problem is Mo Mang; the gentleman next to him who can't even tell what day of the week it is still short of train tickets.

The office worker lowered his head, silently reciting "mind your own business" to himself.

Zheng Fan picked up a ticket, attracting the attention of everyone present: "One ticket is worth one hundred million, and most currencies are accepted, including credit cards."

"Are you fucking crazy?!" Yu Hao blurted out.

“Is it expensive? Then let’s give you a 90% discount on the first one and make it ten million. Let me think about the strategy for subsequent bundled sales…” Zheng Fan thought seriously and asked Lin Yilin for help.

"Stop messing with us!" Yu Hao shouted. "No one here could possibly come up with that much money! You must be joking, right?"

"I'm serious." Zheng Fan's expression immediately turned expressionless, and the fake, gentle smile on his face vanished. "You're on Metro Zero, aren't you thinking of making a fortune and changing your lives? I'll allow you to buy on credit. After you survive this station with this debt, you can pay off the rest slowly outside. With Metro Zero's resources, you should be able to pay it off quickly, before you die." "That's impossible! You make it sound so easy. Do you know how much money this is? Even if we risk our lives smuggling fantasy factors, we might not be able to pay it off before we die!"

The students looked at Yu Hao and his two companions with puzzlement, wondering why they were so determined.

Not only Yu Hao, but the other two people who hadn't spoken also echoed Yu Hao's clear stance.

"Forget it, let's rely on ourselves." After calming down, Yu Hao turned to his teammates and said.

Seeing this, Su Long quickly stepped forward and said, "I can owe you two hundred and ten million!"

He couldn't understand why Yu Hao and his two companions, who seemed so shrewd, would refuse such a mild offer. They were, after all, just people from the gray areas of society; their vision was limited, and they didn't even understand the meaning of forbearance.

As long as he can return alive, he can tell his family about the subway incident. Not only will they not blame him, but they will praise him. As for the debt, Zheng Fan may have some tricks up his sleeve in this area, but what can he do in the face of the vast capital? There are plenty of people who can deal with him.

I heard that the super free agent Luo Ye has been active around Xixi Keke recently. In exchange for information about the subway, we should be able to persuade Luo Ye to deal with this arrogant neighborhood rat!

"me too!"

"I can too!"

The other three students chimed in, their ideas being quite similar. Even though their families weren't as powerful, as people who hung out together, they could roughly guess Su Long's thoughts, so they followed suit quite boldly.

“Then I’ll change my condition.” Zheng Fan’s gaze was not on the students at all, but on Yu Hao and his two companions who were about to leave the subway station.

"You don't need to pay. Just stay here and wait for the so-called final crisis to arrive before getting on the bus, and I won't charge you for your tickets. Of course, if you have any extraordinary encounters during this time, you can also choose to get a refund." Zheng Fan's face lit up with a smile again.

Yu Hao and the others turned around, looked at Zheng Fan, hesitated for a moment, and then gritted their teeth and said, "We can accept this."

This hesitation fell on several students once again.

It sounds more dangerous, but it seems like we don't have to go to such extremes?

This is a subway station, which is a safe zone. If you stay here for the full term, you don't have to pay anything. Isn't that just giving it away for free?

After hesitating for a while, even Su Long, who had originally planned to take revenge, wavered.

In the end, they all chose the second option without prior agreement.

Even after making their choice, Yu Hao and his two companions turned and left the subway station.

They didn't completely trust Zheng Fan, so they decided to take a gamble on their own until the very last moment.

Zheng Fan and Lin Yilin left the subway station a step later, with Fried following closely behind. Mo Mang also followed without hesitation; these students didn't hide their thoughts, especially the hot-tempered one, whose thoughts were immediately obvious.

How could an office worker like myself be alone with these students while holding seven tickets?

Just kidding, it's really better to stay by the side of a big shot, even if it means leaving the safe zone.

Once outside, Zheng Fan watched Yu Hao and the others disappear around the street corner, while Fried said, "It seems you prefer this decisive feeling to those roundabout ways?"

Zheng glanced at him and, seeing his carefree smile, did not deny it: "I have said before, my hobby is fireworks, whether it's watching or setting them off, and I don't care about any kind of fireworks, as long as they look good."

“I see. They really are smart people. Even though they did a lot of things to appear smart before, such as taking the lead in the team and winning the trust of the newcomers, none of it was as smart as their decision to refuse to take on debt.” Fried reached out and adjusted the position of his beret.

“I understand,” Mo Mang, the office worker, suddenly chimed in softly to Fried, surprising everyone.

"While I dare not make any rash judgments about the others, those three are similar to me. They are all from ordinary backgrounds, residents of gray neighborhoods, mostly from the bottom tier that no one cares about. When something like an earthquake strikes, they could easily become part of the statistics afterward."

Mo Mang spoke calmly, his lifeless eyes revealing an unreadable meaning, "If the subway can change this situation, at least strengthen myself, my circumstances will change to some extent; it's an opportunity to change my life. But if I take on debt because of the subway, and have to rely on the subway to continue paying off this debt, exhausting my entire life..."

"Then nothing has changed."

It can be said that they lacked ambition and drive. They were certain from the outset that they could not repay the debt, and they did not even have the thought of resisting and resolving the Zheng rebellion. They did not consider the positive possibility of continuing to strengthen themselves and seeking opportunities to escape while repaying the debt.

Temporarily feigning compliance is undoubtedly the best solution, and this time those students made a more "correct" choice than experienced adults.

However, this is not a world where the optimal solution will necessarily lead to the optimal route.

Whether it's Mo Mang or Yu Hao's team, what they know is that their hearts aren't that strong; they can't keep climbing upwards while watching the spider silk hanging down become the fishing line used by those in power.

Even if they let go and shatter into pieces at this point, they will not choose to indulge in the possibility of deceiving themselves, and will obediently climb onto the dining table on their own.

What made Zheng Fan change his mind was this spark of "ignorance and shortsightedness".

It lacks ambition, but in a sense, it is the ambition of an ordinary person.

“Let’s go. This time, we’ll wait until the very last moment of this world to see how this site will develop.” Zheng Fan refocused his attention and said.

Against the dark, blood-mist-filled sky, the beautiful aurora borealis was already faintly visible.

(End of this chapter)