Chapter 989: Buying Rankings
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The next morning, Lu Shu brought Yi Qian and Lu Xiaoyu out to eat. It was not that an expensive inn like theirs did not have breakfast. Instead, Lu Shu wanted to see how public opinion had changed after the elimination of Duanmu Yunge.
Lu Shu understood the cruelty of the Sword Hut selections. He had as strong a background as the illegitimate son of a Lord of Heaven. But even he did not dare to wait at the palace, let alone those without a strong background.
But Lu Shu was slightly troubled. There were candidates from wealthy families in the palace that were partic.i.p.ating in the Sword Hut selections. Since they hid in their houses, Lu Shu had no other solution. He might as well start a war with the wealthy families in the palace as the commander of the Wei Wu Army.
“We’ve incurred losses,” said Lu Shu suddenly as he ate his porridge.
Yi Qian was puzzled. He did not understand why Lu Shu would say so. Lu Xiaoyu continued to eat her porridge. She knew what Lu Shu was talking about even without looking up. “Wasn’t this your plan? Are you regretting not placing bets in the gambling dens earlier?”
“We have lost a big sum of money,” said Lu Shu with bitter hatred. “If you aren’t distressed, so be it. But do you really have to mock me?”
Lu Xiaoyu looked at Lu Shu and took out a receipt from the gambling den. “I placed some bets. The odds of Duanmu Yunge being eliminated were quite high.”
Lu Shu beamed with joy. He completely did not care about Lu Xiaoyu mocking him.
When Yi Qian saw the two of them, he was shocked. When Lu Shu said that he would convince Duanmu Yunge, he was serious. He thought that Lu Shu’s plan would definitely be successful.
Now he knew that Lu Xiaoyu did not trust Lu Shu. After he and Lu Shu went out, she went to the gambling dens and placed bets…
So what kind of combination were they? They had earned money despite mistakes and a strange combination of circ.u.mstances!
But Yi Qian did not know that this was not a mistake. Lu Xiaoyu had gone to the gambling dens to place bets because of her understanding of Lu Shu…
Lu Xiaoyu did not place the bets herself either. Instead, she gave the Ambilight Soul Pearl to Anthony and asked him to place the bets.
After all, no one had seen Anthony before. There were many people with strange facial features in the Luniverse.
Thus, when the bosses of the gambling dens in the palace heard that Duanmu Yunge had left the palace after being eliminated, they were annoyed…
The boss of the Song Ji gambling den, Xiao Mingze, issued a death order to his subordinates. They had to kill Lu Shu within three days.
If it was the first time that this had happened, he would not be sure whether it was Lu Shu. But now, he was very sure. No one other than Lu Shu would do this. The Song Ji gambling den had worked together with Lu Shu. They understood him well.
Xiao Mingze did not doubt whether Lu Shu had the ability to do so. His chief officer, Zhao Shuai, had conveyed the information that Lu Shu was the strongest Rank Two he had met.
If Lu Shu had successfully advanced to Rank One, he would be unusually strong.
This time, Anthony went to exchange the receipt from the gambling dens. When he took out the receipt, Xiao Mingze was shocked. Xiao Mingze said something to Anthony, but Anthony did not answer. He took the money and left.
Xiao Mingze sent someone to stop Anthony, but he entered a dead end and disappeared.
There was more than one person following Anthony. They had almost surrounded the dead end, but never saw Anthony go out.
Anthony had disappeared right in front of so many people. They suddenly thought of one technique: Mid-Soil Escape…
Xiao Mingze was very uncomfortable. He suddenly realized that there might be experts supporting Lu Shu. The foundation of the Wei Wu Army was much stronger than he had imagined!
Lu Shu happily sat at the table, as if he had won the lottery. It had just fallen into his lap!
He suddenly said, “Look! Two out of the eight Rank Ones have been eliminated! No one has suspected me even though the number of my compet.i.tors have decreased! Although there are some mistakes in my plan, the results are still good!”
Lu Xiaoyu looked at him, puzzled. “Why do you think that no one has suspected you?”
Lu Shu was dumbfounded. “Duanmu Yunge has left. No worries. He has not interacted with anyone. Furthermore, when I went there, no one looked at me. No one will discover that I was the one who did it. Thus, I’m still hiding in the dark. No one will know about my ability!”
At that moment, two people walked past them. One of them said, “Duanmu Yunge has been eliminated. I even bet that he would be able to enter the Sword Hut! Who would do such an immoral thing?”
When Lu Shu heard this, he was unhappy. Helping them quit gambling was a good thing. How had it become immoral? But as he was about to make them rephrase themselves, the other person suddenly said, “Don’t you know who did such an immoral thing? It was definitely Lu Shu, the commander of the Wei Wu Army! Who else would do this?”
Lu Shu was dumbfounded.
He had been discovered just like that?
The person said, “Look at the new booklet that the Song Ji gambling den released today. Did you realize something? The people ranked second and third have been eliminated, but Lu Shu is still there. What does this mean? It was not a coincidence that the second and third people were eliminated by a fluke. Lu Shu is unharmed. It must have been him! Everyone in the palace thinks that he is the culprit!”
Lu Shu was shocked. “What in the world…”
Lu Xiaoyu continued to drink her porridge calmly. She looked at Lu Shu, as if she was saying, “Are you still going to boast?”
At that moment, the pa.s.sers-by sat at the store and shouted to the owner, “Boss, two bowls of porridge and two plates of carrot sticks!”
“Got it!” The boss shouted.
The pa.s.ser-by continued. “Your family is too strict to not allow you to go out. You don’t know how severe the situation in the palace is now. Everyone thinks that Lu Shu is upset by the fact that his previous attempt was not harsh enough. Thus, he came to the palace to cheat everyone else. Have you ever heard of the commander partic.i.p.ating in the Sword Hut selections? I have never heard of this before…”
“Then what about the bets you have placed in the gambling dens?” The other person was curious.
“What else can I do? I adjusted the odds. The bets that I placed the other day are all gone. Now, people are betting on who will be the next to be eliminated.” The pa.s.ser-by drank his porridge. “Now, the odds of the person ranked fourth are the lowest. He is the heir of a wealthy family. He might even become the head of the family in the future. Although he is still nowhere to be seen, Lu Shu might already have his eyes on him.”
“What does this have to do with him?”
“Lu Shu is going down the list as he eliminates people. The people ranked second and third have been eliminated. The fourth person will be next, right?” The pa.s.ser-by laughed. “You might not know this, but his family is talking to the gambling dens. He is trying to get money from people. Not only is the Li family doing this, all wealthy families want to enter the Sword Hut. They have started to buy rankings for others…”
In the past, everyone wanted higher rankings to increase their influence. But now, it was different. They wanted to buy higher rankings for others…
If they had a rivalry with someone, they would buy him the fourth position. He would be done for by the next day!