Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1209: A Highly Profitable Investment

The first day of the assessment had passed, yet there was little progress in the case.

Chen Mingming woke up as usual… a strange sense of unfamiliarity washed over him before gradually fading into familiarity—after all, this was where he had lived for over a decade.

He heard voices outside the room—his parents talking… what had happened yesterday was indeed not a dream.

For a brief moment, he found himself reluctant to let go of this peaceful feeling.

A while later, Zhou Yusheng pushed open the door. “Oh, you’re up. I was just about to call you. Hurry and eat breakfast, we’ll be heading out soon.”

While thinking about the case, Chen Mingming said, “I might come back late. I want to check out the place where Wang Liang worked.”

Although the parchment contained detailed information about the case, Chen Mingming had never been to those locations himself—it lacked a certain sense of reality.

Zhou Yusheng paused for a moment, then nodded. It was a good thing that his son cared so much about the case.

“Alright, I’ll file an outing request for you later,” Zhou Yusheng reminded him. “Be careful out there, and report back the moment you find anything.”

After a brief conversation, Chen Mingming got up to wash. During a short moment of free time, he chatted casually with his mother and noticed that she had indeed forgotten all about her plans to go abroad… her current state seemed to be from several years ago.A time when family was her priority and career came second.

After separating and later divorcing from his father, she had thrown herself completely into work. Her career had flourished, but the weariness on her face had deepened by the day.

That bright, carefree smile—Chen Mingming hadn’t seen it in years.

“You forgot your keys!”

As they were leaving, his mother saw her husband and son off at the door and casually asked, “What do you want for dinner?”

Zhou Yusheng, sweeter than usual, said everything she cooked was delicious, earning himself an eye roll.

Chen Mingming, on the other hand, mentioned two of his favorite dishes, and his mother smiled and agreed.

…

Yesterday was Saturday, so naturally today was Sunday.

Despite it being a day off, the streets were fairly quiet early in the morning. Following the address in the file, Chen Mingming made his way to the bar where Wang Liang used to work.

But the bar was clearly closed.

He contacted the bar’s boss, who reluctantly got up and sent an employee to open the door for him.

After much delay, around eleven in the morning, a young man with dark circles under his eyes and bloodshot whites finally arrived on a small scooter and unlocked the door.

As soon as they entered, the stench of trash and alcohol filled the air, making Chen Mingming frown.

The young man scratched his head awkwardly. “Sir, we usually only clean before we open in the afternoon. We work till three or four in the morning, everyone’s dead tired…”

“I want to take a look at Wang Liang’s locker,” Chen Mingming said directly.

The young man, about twenty, worked as a waiter. He led Chen Mingming to the locker room and leaned lazily against a cabinet, yawning, clearly exhausted.

Chen Mingming checked inside the locker—it was empty. Everything had already been taken away. Thinking back to the files he had read, he began asking questions.

“What was your relationship with Wang Liang?”

“Him? Just a coworker, nothing special,” the young man answered drowsily. “Sir, you guys have been here a few times already. Haven’t you asked all this before?”

“How was his financial situation?”

“Not great. That guy was a gambler. Owed a lot of money, people came after him all the time.”

It matched what Chen Mingming already knew. He nodded slightly, then took out his phone and showed several photos. “Have you seen these women?”

Among them were photos of Zhang Xiaoqin and Wu Rong, along with several other women connected to Wang Liang.

“You guys already asked before. Those are all Wang Liang’s girlfriends.” The young man rubbed his face, then said, “Honestly, that guy was a mess, but he sure knew how to get women. These two—yeah, he brought them here a lot.”

He pointed at Wu Rong’s photo and another woman’s.

“He brought both of them here often, and you guys didn’t say anything?” Chen Mingming asked.

“What’s there to say? It’s not unusual. Guys juggling two or three women—it’s pretty common. If he could pull it off, good for him. Besides, we weren’t about to offend a regular customer over something that wasn’t our business.”

“I heard Wu Rong—the woman in this photo—made a big scene here before Wang Liang quit?”

The young man nodded. “Yeah, it was bad. She went crazy. Almost pulled a knife on him. Wang Liang had to beg her for half the night before it ended. Heh, serves him right. Play with fire, get burned. That’s how it goes.”

“What happened afterward?”

“Wang Liang stopped coming for over a week. Then he came back, worked a few days, and quit.”

“Did you see Wu Rong or the other woman again after that?”

“Don’t think so,” the young man replied after thinking for a bit. “It’s dark here at night, lots of people around. Even if they came, I might not have noticed.”

Recalling the parchment’s hints, Chen Mingming pulled up another photo. “What about this man? Have you seen him?”

“Nope.” The young man shook his head.

Chen Mingming nodded slightly.

…

By the time he left the bar, it was around lunchtime. Sitting alone on a bench near a plaza, Chen Mingming exhaled deeply, replaying the young man’s words in his mind.

Suddenly, a huge shadow fell over him.

Looking up, he saw a massive brown bear—though of course, it was just someone in a costume.

Before Chen Mingming could react, the “bear” suddenly grabbed his cheeks with both paws and said in a deep, playful voice from inside the costume, “Waaah! Naughty child, I’m going to eat you~~”

“What are you doing here?” Chen Mingming asked flatly.

The “bear” quickly released him and took off the bear head—revealing the library girl, Tara.

Sweating and out of breath, Tara sat down beside him. “Working! Didn’t I tell you I have a weekend job? I’m saving money for a summer trip! What about you, boyfriend? What are you doing here?”

Chen Mingming’s instincts told him that Tara didn’t truly have romantic feelings for him—she was simply kind-hearted and friendly.

“Just wandering around,” he replied instinctively.

“Hmm… are you trying to take one last look at the city before going abroad, to leave yourself a few memories?” Tara blinked curiously.

Chen Mingming’s lips moved slightly… Tara didn’t seem to be like his parents or the officers—her memory hadn’t been altered.

But thinking about it, that made sense. This was only a five-day assessment. The police department had merely adjusted his identity; they couldn’t possibly rewrite his entire life.

If they could… then what kind of world would this even be?

Chen Mingming felt like he was peering through a narrow slit—catching glimpses of something much larger.

“If it only took a few laps around the city to feel attached, I probably wouldn’t have decided to leave in the first place,” Chen Mingming said with a faint shake of his head.

“Hmm… you’re a little different today,” Tara said suddenly, studying him closely.

Chen Mingming looked puzzled. “Different how?”

Tara said seriously, “You have something on your mind, and… you’re talking more too!”

Chen Mingming was momentarily taken aback. It was true he had something on his mind, but why was he talking more?

“And also…” Tara suddenly patted Chen Mingming on the head, “your eyes are brighter too, not so cold and icy. We’ve only been apart for a day, but did something make you happy?”

“Maybe,” Chen Mingming said instinctively with a small smile, recalling the dinner from last night.

Suddenly, Tara shouted, “Don’t move!!”

Chen Mingming froze.

Tara quickly reached into her costume and pressed her fingers against Chen Mingming’s cheeks. “I mean this smile—don’t move… it’s rare! First time I’ve ever seen you smile! Don’t move, seriously, don’t move…”

She pulled out her phone and captured this rare moment.

At the instant the shutter clicked, Chen Mingming felt a fleeting, dreamlike sensation.

Tara looked at her phone with satisfaction. Chen Mingming didn’t understand what gave her that sense of fulfillment, but he thought her smile genuinely beautiful.

Clearing her throat, Tara said with mock seriousness, “Hmm… as a reward, I’ll give you a special service!”

“What?”

Tara grinned mischievously, pulled Chen Mingming onto her lap, covered his eyes with her hands, and whispered softly, “This is the highest-level service, enjoy it!”

The moment his eyes were covered, a wave of drowsiness hit him… once again, he felt as if he were lying on a grassland under blue skies and white clouds.

Chen Mingming indulged in the sensation and soon fell asleep.

…

When he woke again, the lively girl had already left, just like last time.

The “brown bear” was nowhere to be seen in the plaza.

Chen Mingming felt refreshed, with an inexplicable sense of ease. Recalling the morning’s investigation, he called a ride-hailing car.

He decided it was necessary to go see Zhao Le.

As he got in the car, he suddenly remembered sending a pistol to Zhao Le… yet now he couldn’t recall why he had done it.

…

“People from the Management Bureau?”

In the study, Luo Qiu paused after turning off the light.

Miss Maid stood at the desk and said softly, “They must have noticed something long ago, and now they finally got in.”

Luo Qiu thought for a moment and then said, “Tell me the situation.”

You Ye explained, “Currently, they are controlling the game company behind the scenes. But they don’t know that the company’s servers are just a window for the ‘Lord God Plan.’ Even if the company’s servers were shut down, the game world would continue to run automatically. Because they don’t understand the concept, they don’t even dare to shut down the original servers.”

Luo Qiu clasped his hands and nodded. “After this upgrade, the capacity increased, naturally attracting more people… looks like quantitative changes have finally led to qualitative ones.”

Miss Maid asked, “Should we reduce the frequency?”

Luo Qiu shook his head and smiled self-deprecatingly. “No need. At this pace, it’s fine… at my speed of doing business, without a stable income, I’d eventually lose everything.”

Miss Maid smiled slightly. Besides the master, she knew Luo Qiu’s financial status best. Ever since sacrificing those evil souls from selling Su Zijun, the master had become wealthy again. Even a six-month vacation would be no problem now.

Although many of the “services” Luo Qiu had initiated were still in progress and not yet generating income, when the time to collect revenue arrived, it would be substantial.

“Then minimize the impact,” Miss Maid said, unwilling to let her master be troubled too much. “I’ll adjust the program so the ‘entrance’ spreads across the entire world network… this will delay the time before the qualitative change occurs.”

With a global population of seven to eight billion, dispersing it worldwide would buy some time before panic set in.

“No need,” Luo Qiu said with a faint smile. “Just temporarily close this world’s entrance—that’s enough.”

“You mean…” You Ye paused, then realized something. “Other worlds?”

Luo Qiu whispered, “Probably. Worlds with similar levels of civilization and environmental conditions.”

The answer was definite.

“In that case, we don’t need to worry about growth speed,” Miss Maid said with a slight smile. “The automatic selection criteria could even be lowered. But then the main server will need expansion… after the last infusion of massive spiritual energy, the original server can’t fully support the self-evolving game world.”

“Then use this.” Luo Qiu opened his palm.

A diamond-shaped crystal glowed with rainbow light in his hand. You Ye’s eyes lit up. “This is…”

“World Fragment,” Luo Qiu said with a smile. “Just bought it from the altar… now I’m broke again.”

Miss Maid didn’t mind. As long as entrances to other worlds opened and evolved with world fragments, countless souls could enter the game.

Such an investment was immensely profitable.

“Tai Yinzi really stumbled into something incredible,” Miss Maid whispered. “Did the master plan this from the start?”

Luo Qiu smiled. “Don’t think I’m that calculating. It just developed gradually… if it weren’t for going through Yan Wuyue’s world, I wouldn’t have had these ideas.”

As he explained, another thought crossed Luo Qiu’s mind.

Every subworld had its own sub-administrator Alaya… all subworlds were designed to cultivate a perfect world under the same system.

What if a self-evolving world appeared outside this system…?

A world filled with brilliant, colorful souls.

(End of Chapter)