Chapter 609: The Person is Alive, but the Money is Gone!
"Master Shen, you've seen a joke, let's leave." Zhang Yaqian pursed her red lips, feeling a bit upset, and forced a smile at Shen Anyu.
"Mm, let's go." Shen Anyu nodded lightly, holding Zhang Yaqian's small hand, and left Jiangnan Bar, never once looking at Zhao Tao.
"Zhang Yaqian, Zhang Yaqian, listen to my explanation, please listen to my explanation..."
Zhao Tao watched, paralyzed, as the silhouette of the woman he was supposed to marry was swallowed by the night. She didn't even grant him a final glance. Her back remained ramrod straight, a silent, final judgment. The world around him seemed to warp and distort, the pulsing lights of the bar blurring into meaningless streaks of color. He was thrown into a maelstrom of panic, his mind scrambling for a plausible lie, a desperate excuse—anything to rewind the last five minutes.
But the evidence was irrefutable, laid bare for all to see. The ten-thousand-word exposé was a digital guillotine, and his head had already rolled. Zhang Yaqian was no fool; she was the prized daughter of Hangzhou's elite, intelligent and perceptive. She would never believe his frantic, pathetic blustering.
"No..." The word was a choked whisper, a denial against the crushing weight of reality.
He saw her disappear, the woman he had lusted after, the symbol of his success in this new world, fading from his grasp like smoke. A profound weakness washed over him, his legs giving out as he crumpled to the floor. The cold, sticky ground did nothing to cool the fire of agony in his chest. His eyes burned, turning a raw, bloodshot red. The pain was a physical thing, a clawed hand squeezing his heart until it threatened to burst.
His fiancée. Zhang Yaqian. The premier daughter of Hangzhou, a woman of immense wealth and staggering beauty. Her temperament was as refined as a priceless antique, her appearance as pure as untouched snow. She was the walking embodiment of envy, the ultimate prize for any man. And he had just lost her. Gone. Just like that.
Zhao Tao's entire worldview, his arrogant confidence built on the foundation of his transmigrated knowledge and future wealth, shattered into a million pieces.
[Ding! The Child of Destiny Zhao Tao's mentality has exploded. Plundering +9999 Destiny Points!]
[Ding! The Child of Destiny Zhao Tao's emotional line is completely broken. Plundering +100,000 Destiny Points!]
[Ding! The Child of Destiny Zhao Tao's Destiny Points are below 30%. His luck has fallen into a trough. The probability of a successful kill has greatly increased!]
The cold, robotic chimes echoed in the screaming void of his mind, a merciless tally of his utter failure.
"Boss, boss, something big has happened!"
Just as Zhao Tao was kneeling amidst the debris of his life, his shoulders shaking with silent, wracking sobs, the manager of Jiangnan Bar sprinted towards him. Panic was etched onto every line of the man's face as he reached down, trying to haul his employer back to his feet.
"What are you doing, ouch..."
Zhao Tao violently shook off the manager's hand, his grief curdling into raw irritation. Can't he see I'm having a moment? The man has the observational skills of a rock!
He wanted nothing more than to be left alone in his misery.
Just let me be quiet.
Let me cry alone.
Let me sing a sad song alone.
Let me play basketball alone.
Let me be sad until the sun comes up.
"Boss, something really, truly big has happened!" The Jiangnan Bar manager was sweating bullets, his voice trembling with an urgency that bordered on hysteria. He was completely at a loss, his professional demeanor stripped away by sheer terror.
"You'd better have a damned good reason for this, or you're fired!" Seeing the manager's frantic expression, Zhao Tao's face darkened with displeasure. He finally pushed himself up, smacking the dust from the knees of his designer trousers with aggressive, angry motions.
"Boss, the bar's funds... they've been frozen," the manager stammered, the words tumbling out in a rush.
"What?" The news struck Zhao Tao like a physical blow, momentarily clearing the fog of his despair. Frozen? How could they be frozen? He had just wired thirty million into the account yesterday. The cash flow should have been robust.
"The bank... they said the account was implicated in a money laundering investigation, so they put a hold on everything," the bar manager explained, his expression a mask of helpless misery. "The suppliers are all calling, demanding payment. We can't pay them. And our main liquor supplier for Jiangnan Bar is the Yunhu Association!"
The manager's voice dropped to a conspiratorial, terrified whisper at the mention of the name. "The Yunhu Association is the number one local power in Hangzhou. Their boss, Zhou Yunhu, is the uncrowned king of the city's entire underworld. Even with the Dragon King Society making moves recently, crossing the river like a powerful dragon, nobody dares to offend Master Zhou Yunhu. Who in their right mind would dare to default on a payment to them?"
He leaned in closer, his breath reeking of fear. "They say there's a colossal power backing Master Zhou, someone even more terrifying. You absolutely can't cross them."
Yunhu Association.
The name sent a chill down Zhao Tao's spine. His face paled. Though he hadn't inherited a complete set of memories from his body's previous owner, he'd been in this world for a few days. It was long enough to have heard the whispers, the stories of the Yunhu Association's brutal reputation. The apex predator of Hangzhou's concrete jungle. Everyone knew their boss, Zhou Yunhu—a man known for his domineering presence, immense power, and an unshakeably strong background.
Even his own father, Zhao Chenguang, the chairman of the Chenguang Group and one of Hangzhou's ten wealthiest men, would think twice, or even three times, before provoking such an entity.
Unseen by them, Tanaka Hikaru rose from a shadowy corner of the bar. He adjusted his dark suit and began to silently trail after Shen Anyu and Zhang Yaqian. He'd overheard the entire exchange, and a flicker of contempt crossed his features. 'Zhou Yunhu is indeed a notable figure,' he mused, his steps making no sound on the polished floor. 'And with the Tianshi Sect at his back, he lives a life of decadent luxury. Even I would not offend him without good reason.'
The thought vanished as quickly as it came. His eyes, cold and reptilian, narrowed with a potent mixture of malice and possessiveness. An image of Zhang Yaqian's pure, elegant face and perfect figure bloomed in his mind. 'Little beauty... I, Tanaka Hikaru, am coming for you!'
The bar was still too crowded. Acting here would be sloppy, leaving traces that the hounds from the Yanxia Special Department would undoubtedly sniff out. He was a cautious man.
He knew that it didn't matter if you were an Artificer True Person like him, or even a great Artificer True Person and a Martial Dao Grandmaster. If you provoked the Yanxia Special Department, your life was forfeit.
That monstrous organization had only grown more fearsome recently. The Yanxia Female War God, An Zhiyue, had been on a rampage, defeating one legendary figure after another—first the Leader of the War God Alliance, Yan Lingxiao, then the infamous head of the Blood Skull Mercenary Group, the Asura Demon King Chu Yun. To top it all off, she had reportedly broken through to the Heavenly Human realm. The prestige of the Yanxia Special Department was at an all-time high.
Tanaka Hikaru, already a man who lived by a code of prudence and stealth, felt his caution intensify. He would wait. Find a quieter, more secluded place. That would be the perfect opportunity to strike.
Zhao Tao, utterly consumed by his own problems, didn't even notice the middle-aged man with the triangular eyes who brushed past him. He turned his attention back to the panicking manager. "How much do we owe the Yunhu Association?"
"Three million for the liquor shipment," the manager reported, his professionalism resurfacing slightly now that he was back on familiar ground. "There are also other outstanding invoices for renovations, utilities..." He rattled off a list of debts with practiced ease.
"Forget the others for now. Settle the three million with the Yunhu Association first," Zhao Tao commanded, waving his hand impatiently. The other suppliers could be stalled, strung along for months if need be. That was standard business practice. But the Yunhu Association's bill couldn't be delayed by a single hour.
Choosing them as a supplier was, in itself, a form of disguised protection money. Of that three million for liquor, at least two million was pure profit for them, a fee for operating peacefully on their turf. He didn't mind; it wasn't a loss. He could easily recoup it by marking up prices for his wealthy clientele, getting some pretty girls to push premium drinks. A bottle that cost him eighty-eight could easily sell for eight thousand eight hundred.
Thinking of the three million, Zhao Tao felt a wave of relief. It was a manageable sum. Yes, he'd just bought Jiangnan Bar. Yes, he'd spent a fortune on renovations. And yes, he'd wired thirty million into its account and just dropped a staggering two hundred million on a peace talisman from that bastard Shen Anyu. But his personal allowance was vast. Three million was nothing. A drop in the ocean.
He casually pulled out his personal black card and tossed it to the manager.
'Being a rich second-generation is incredible,' he thought, a smug smirk returning to his face. 'Even if the entertainment industry bans me, I, Zhao Tao, can still live a life of absolute luxury. If I can't rely on my talent, I'll just use money. I'll smash my way through all those beautiful actresses—Zhong Lingyin, Wen Feifei... which one of them doesn't love money?'
'I'll give it a few days for Zhang Yaqian to cool off, then find the right time to apologize. She has a kind heart. She'll definitely forgive me.'
His mind raced, piecing his shattered ego back together. The official ban from the entertainment world, a result of that damnable exposé, was just a minor setback. He was still a top-tier heir. The world was still his playground.
'Oh, right. I need to get someone to investigate this whole mess. How did songs like 'Blue and White Porcelain' get copyrighted before I could release them? Could there be another transmigrator?'
The thought ignited a bitter fire in his gut.
'Damn you. You ruined my plans. Just you wait. I'll find you, and I'll make you pay for this.'
He didn't waste a single moment reflecting on his own plagiarism or his scummy behavior. In his mind, he was the victim. His glorious dream of conquering the entertainment industry was dead, and his fiancée was on the verge of leaving him, all because someone else had cheated.
"Boss, your bank card... it's been frozen too."
The bar manager's voice cut through his vengeful thoughts. He had rushed back, holding the black card gingerly between two fingers as if it were contaminated. He was looking at Zhao Tao with a bizarre, almost pitying expression.
"What? My personal card is frozen too?" Zhao Tao stared, his mind going blank. How is that even possible?
His personal accounts were for his own entertainment. They had no connection to the bar, no involvement in any shady transactions. How could the bank possibly freeze it?
"The bank is getting more and more out of line. I'm going to go down there and raise hell," Zhao Tao snarled, his face contorting with rage. How dare they treat a top-tier VIP client like this?
Clatter!
Just then, a harsh, grating noise erupted from the bar's entrance. The doors were kicked open, and a wave of hulking men poured inside. They were a menacing tide of muscle and ink, with snarling dragons tattooed on their left arms and roaring tigers on their right. They flooded into the bar with a thunderous clatter, their eyes scanning the room like predators seeking prey.
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