A Valiant Life

Elder Chen even stopped watching his war film. He immediately turned it off as he exclaimed, “It can’t be. Elder Wang is such an astute man. How could he be tricked into joining something like that?”

“Astute people are the easiest to trick. I am 90% sure that this is multi-level marketing. When he comes back, we have to question him,” said Lin Fan.

Sister Hong had brought her kids to buy some snacks. As she walked past, she decided to come in. “Little Boss, Elder Chen, what are you two talking about?”

Lin Fan shifted his position to allow Sister Hong to stand next to him. “Sister Hong, Elder Wang has been acting abnormally lately. My friend saw him at some kind of conference. It seems like he’s been tricked into multi-level marketing.”

Sister Hong was startled. “That can’t be. Elder Wang hasn’t told us anything about this.”

Of course, she didn’t believe it. Elder Wang was such an astute man and he was usually very careful about the things he did. Now that they were telling her that he had been tricked into multi-level marketing, she wouldn’t believe it even if she was beaten to death.

“Okay, stop talking about this. Elder Wang is back.” Elder Chen looked into the distance at Elder Wang, who was carrying a red bag and a smile as he chatted cheerily with the people around. “Should we call him over to ask him about it? We won’t say that it’s multi-level marketing, we’ll just ask him what he’s been up to lately.”

“That is a must,” said Sister Hong.

They were all a part of Cloud Street. Everyone was very united. Whenever someone came across trouble, the rest naturally couldn’t sit idly by. Moreover, they didn’t know if Elder Wang had actually been tricked into joining multi-level marketing and how much money he had been scammed of.

Lin Fan hollered, “Elder Wang, come over for a moment.”

Elder Wang saw Little Boss and the rest at Elder Chen’s shop and started smiling as he came over. “Little Boss, what are you guys doing?”

Sister Hong and Elder Chen just watched without saying anything. They decided to leave the talking to Little Boss.

Lin Fan said, “Elder Wang, I see that you’ve been very busy lately. What have you been doing? Is it something important?”

Elder Wang smiled embarrassedly. “No, I’ve just been learning some new knowledge to enrich myself. I’ve just finished my lesson, so I’m back.”

Lin Fan glanced at the red bag. It seemed to be containing something and it was all full. “What are you learning? Tell us more.”

Elder Wang said, “Alright, I shall tell you then. I came across something good so I definitely have to share it with everyone.” Then, he opened the bag and took out a book, which he then placed on the counter. “Look at this book.”

Cover page: ‘Mysterious elements are all around us’

“What kind of book is this?” Lin Fan was stunned. It really seemed very unsafe.

Elder Wang explained with a smile, “This is basic teaching material. It means that around us, in the air, there is a kind of mysterious element that exists. When we can sense these elements, our spirits will enter an immense relaxation. We could even mediate the magnetic fields in our bodies. There are many things. I’ve only just listened to several classes and I haven’t learned as much as those fellow disciples of mine.”

Sister Hong and Elder Chen looked at each other. At this moment, they understood that Elder Wang had been scammed.

And judging by the looks of things, he deeply believed those lies.

Lin Fan said, “Ah, it’s so mystical. How much did you spend?”

Elder Wang waved his hand. “Not much. The fee is only 1880. With this book, I spent a total of around three or four thousand. This isn’t much. Some of those who have attended the further classes have spent tens of thousands on buying items. I wanted to buy as well but because I haven’t learned enough, they weren’t willing to sell the items to me either.”

Lin Fan’s mouth twitched a little. That’s f*cking harsh.

Elder Wang seemed to sense Sister Hong and Elder Chen’s distrust, so he said, “Don’t think that this is a scam. Let me tell you that this is not a scam. They are very responsible. Before you reach a certain level, they wouldn’t sell you items. If they are scammers, they would definitely sell things to you, wouldn’t they?”

Lin Fan wanted to say a certain sentence but didn’t say it in the end.

‘It’s not that they don’t want to f*cking sell it, they’re just afraid that they haven’t brainwashed you enough and that you’ll escape!’

“When is the next class?” asked Lin Fan.

Elder Wang replied, “There’s another class in the afternoon. This class is very important. There will be a professional teacher coming to teach us. I have to go and do some revision. I’m going to ask the questions I don’t understand in the afternoon.”

Before Lin Fan said anything, Elder Wang kept the book and left immediately.

Lin Fan tilted his head and said softly, “Did you hear that? Elder Wang seems to have fallen deep into the trap.”

Elder Chen asked, “Little Boss, what should we do?”

Sister Hong sighed, “Sigh, Elder Wang is usually a really astute man. How did he become so stupid?”

Lin Fan said, “Don’t tell other people about this for now. I’ll go and take a look in the afternoon. We have to help Elder Wang avoid this plight, isn’t that right? If we can’t save him, then he’ll be screwed.”

Elder Chen and Sister Hong nodded immediately. That was indeed the case. They hadn’t expected Elder Wang to have fallen deeply into a scam. It was simply scary. If they hadn’t discovered this early and Elder Wang had really been scammed of a lot of his money, that would have been tragic.

…

In the afternoon!

Dongyue Hotel.

Elder Wang reached the venue very early and most of the other participants had reached very early as well. They felt that if they missed out on even a bit of content, it would be a great loss.

Liu Xu watched from afar and felt that these people were really maniacs. She roughly estimated that there over a hundred people.

Spiritual Exchange Conference.

The person-in-charge was a middle-aged lady who was dressed brightly and had short hair. With one look, you could tell that she was capable of big things.

“Is the lecturer here yet?”

The assistant said, “He’s coming. He’s on the way.”

“Mmm, that’s good. Prepare the materials. After the lecture is over, get the students to buy them,” said the middle-aged lady.

The class fees were just a small sum. The real profits came from these materials and other supplementary goods.

When the members were really immersed, something worth ten dollars could be sold for several thousand or maybe even ten thousand.

“It’s ready.” The assistant nodded. In this line of work, in order to brainwash others, one had to first brainwash himself or herself. Otherwise, how would one convince others?

Hence, they were now feeling the energy from around them as well.

Unfortunately, they could never feel any energy but this didn’t make them give up. They just believed that they were not competent enough to feel it.

In the very large conference room.

A group of students were seated.

And amongst them, Lin Fan was seated as well. He had utilized his Wuxia class of knowledge to make others not notice him. There was indeed a way to do this.

He wanted to see what exactly they would talk about is such a ‘powerful’ lesson.

Suddenly, all the members stood up and shouted towards the entrance, “Teacher Zhou…”

Teacher Zhou nodded and gestured for everyone to be silent.

“Please sit.”

On the platform in front, that lady who had been greeted as Teacher Zhou stood in front of a drawing board. Then, she pointed at the content on the board.

“Today, we will be learning how to absorb the mysterious elements around us more effectively.”

The crowd nodded. They were very eagerly anticipating it.