Volume 1, Chapter 45: The Card Shark

As soon as the Woman in Red finished speaking, the two of them had already exited the highway.

The surrounding scenery shifted rapidly. The Woman in Red drove as if she had a deep grudge against the gas pedal, as though she wanted to stomp it right through the engine compartment.

Whenever the road was clear, she basically floored it.

Hard acceleration, hard braking.

Had she not been distracted by chatting a moment ago, this woman probably would have hit over two hundred kilometers per hour on the highway.

The next moment, seeing that they were about to leave the highway, the Woman in Red picked up her phone. While steadily gripping the steering wheel with one hand, she tapped the screen with the other.

This sight made Qin Shang’s eyelids twitch wildly.

"Big Sister, using your phone while driving will get points deducted on your license..."

"Hmph..."

The woman didn't answer; she simply dialed a call and then laid the phone down.

Beep, beep, beep—

Soon, a low voice came through the Bluetooth system.

"Leader!"

Since the Woman in Red's phone was connected to the car's Bluetooth and she had the speaker on, Qin Shang could also hear the voice on the other end of the line.

The Woman in Red cut straight to the point without any nonsense.

"Where is the older brother of 'Grandpa Niu cosplaying a maid to seduce Zhuangzhuang's mother'? Is he still at that same old place?"

Hearing this, a "wait a moment" came from the other end of the phone.

A short while later, the voice on the other side carried a hint of strangeness.

"Yes, Leader. And that guy hasn't left that place for two consecutive weeks."

That place?

Qin Shang frowned. The Woman in Red had mentioned "Grandpa Niu" on the phone just now, so it was clear that she was bringing him to find the older brother of "Grandpa Niu cosplaying a maid to seduce Zhuangzhuang's mother."

"Hmph, having lived there for so long, he must have lost quite a bit, right?"

The next moment, the Woman in Red's expression turned cold as she said flatly,

"How much did he lose?"

The other end of the line fell silent for a moment before replying.

"Over forty million..."

Hearing this figure, even the delicate face of the Woman in Red, which had remained as calm as an ancient well, rippled with a trace of surprise. Then she sneered,

"That's quite a bold stroke. This fellow has a pretty big appetite to lose this much in just two weeks! Where did he get so much money?"

"He borrowed it!"

"'Old Cheat' lent it to him?"

"Yes."

As soon as these words were spoken, the Woman in Red raised her willow-like eyebrows in perplexity.

"Strange. Given 'Old Cheat's' personality, he should have chopped him up and fed him to the dogs. It would already be a mercy if he hadn't hacked off all his hands and feet. How could he possibly lend him money?"

***

Having said that, the Woman in Red hung up directly, not giving Qin Shang a chance to ask any questions.

After exiting the highway, she hit the gas pedal and headed south toward an intersection.

Qin Shang was not a local of Beijing, so he was unfamiliar with the geography and had no idea where the Woman in Red was driving.

He could only see towering skyscrapers all around. The two of them had driven on the highway for at least half an hour.

He had thought they were leaving the city center, but judging by the surrounding environment, it didn't look like the suburbs either.

Qin Shang hadn't had a deep impression of Beijing before. Even during the period when Jiang Qiqi had just gone missing and he traveled to Beijing to find his wife, he hadn't learned much about Beijing's local customs, practices, or topography.

So he had no idea which district this belonged to...

After the call ended, the Woman in Red's mood seemed somewhat unstable. For the rest of the trip, the woman didn't take the initiative to talk to Qin Shang about anything related to Divine Road players.

Qin Shang didn't dare to ask questions and make a fool of himself either.

The things the Woman in Red had explained earlier were enough for him to digest for quite a while.

After about ten minutes of weaving left and right through the city streets, the Woman in Red drove into an unknown alleyway.

The brightly red Ferrari soon stopped in front of a hotel.

That's right, a hotel.

Seeing the hotel, Qin Shang's expression flashed with an imperceptible trace of astonishment.

What was this woman trying to do?

"Grandpa Niu's" older brother was here?

The Woman in Red said nothing, only dropping the words "Get out of the car."

She was the first to push open the car door and walk straight out.

Qin Shang had no choice but to open the door and follow.

The woman walked at an extremely fast pace, heading straight into the hotel the moment she got out of the car.

Judging by the unpretentious decor, it looked just like a very ordinary residential hotel. The Woman in Red was, after all, someone worth several small targets.

Surely she wouldn't choose a place like this to open a room and stay overnight, right?

Thinking of this, Qin Shang's tightly clenched sphincter relaxed just a fraction.

He really had been worried, terrified that he might lose his virtue in his later years.

After all, men turn bad when they get rich, and women change their sexual orientation when they get rich...

He had heard that wealthy, older single women all loved to flip the natural order upside down; he didn't know if it was true or not.

Seeing the hotel just now, some unsuitable-for-children images had indeed flashed through Qin Shang's mind.

He was terrified that this woman might do something weird to him...

"Where is the front desk staff? Inform your manager and tell him I'm looking for 'Old Cheat'."

The next moment, without any nonsense, the Woman in Red entered the hotel, extended a white jade-like finger, and tapped on the front desk counter.

"Tell 'Old Cheat' to come see me within three minutes, or I'm calling the police to report that there is illegal gambling going on here!"

Hearing this, the front desk clerk's expression collapsed. He didn't even have time to appreciate the stunning beauty who had just walked in, and with an awkward expression, he immediately picked up the landline phone on the desk.

A few seconds later, casting a nervous glance at the Woman in Red, he forced a bitter smile into the receiver and said,

"Boss, a lady in a red dress has arrived here, and she specifically named you, saying she wants to see you."

"Yes, she said if you don't show up within three minutes, she's going to report us..."

***

A greeting loaded with maternal references immediately came through the other end of the line.

Angry curses such as "Who the hell thinks they're that big of a shot? Which blind bastard is courting death?" emerged endlessly from the phone.

Then, the Woman in Red impatiently raised her fair hand, lowered her head to glance at the time on her wristwatch, and said flatly,

"One minute has passed!"

As soon as this voice rang out, Qin Shang had originally been able to faintly hear the chaotic noises from the other side while the bellhop was communicating with the boss on the phone. However, at this moment, Qin Shang was surprised to find that the other end of the telephone receiver had fallen completely silent.

Followed immediately by a booming shout of "Wait for me, I'll be right there!"

Even though the bellhop hadn't turned on the speakerphone, Qin Shang could vaguely hear this sentence.

It seemed the other party had recognized the voice of the Woman in Red.

Immediately afterward, the bellhop squeezed out an awkward smile, looked at the Woman in Red, and said,

"The boss says he'll be right here!"

"I don't care about that. Anyway, I said three minutes, and if I don't see anyone within three minutes, I'm reporting..."

With that, the woman turned around with great momentum, found a chair to sit down, and casually crossed her legs.

Her ten white fingers tapped rhythmically on the glass table, as if she were silently counting down the time in her heart.

Half a minute later, the Woman in Red furrowed her delicate brows slightly.

"There's only a minute and a half left..."

Qin Shang's mouth twitched. Why did she suddenly—

Oh wait, it seemed like ever since that phone call, she had suddenly developed some kind of moodiness?

This woman was clearly a high-level Divine Road player.

Qin Shang made a blind guess that the Woman in Red was at least at the Order Realm.

It was even more likely that she was a peak Order Realm veteran player of Level 6...

As for her class, Qin Shang couldn't guess.

However, as a Level 1 rookie Trickster, he had already experienced the might of becoming a Divine Road player.

No matter what class a Level 6 player was, just relying on the bizarre and varied abilities of their props, if they wanted to do something illegal or go crazy, ordinary people wouldn't necessarily be able to stop them.

Especially right now, the vibe the Woman in Red gave Qin Shang felt as though she were suppressing something.

Like a volcano about to erupt, full of fierce momentum.

Not a single trace of a smile or brightness could be seen on her charming and pretty face.

"Ten seconds left..."

At that moment, the Woman in Red spoke once more.

Qin Shang's heart sank.

"What are you rushing for, damn it!"

"Doesn't getting dressed take a little time? Besides, how do you crazy witch even have time to come to my place?"

"Why aren't you staying properly in your Treasure House collecting rent and selling props instead of running over to my territory to stir up trouble?"