The ‘persuasion’ operation officially began.
Abaddon carried a sofa cushion and knocked on Planet Guild’s door.
He sat drooping his eyes on a chair, sullen like a small mountain.
The two Planet Guild representatives looked at each other.
This High Tower Guild bodyguard looked like an honest person—they didn’t know what he wanted to do.
“Hey big brother, are you here to sit and chat with us?” The two laughed.
Before speaking, Abaddon raised his thick palm and waved it left and right.
The two representatives suddenly felt mentally dazed, their souls seemingly extracted and entering a void.
A moment later, they saw their own out-of-body experience.
Only then did Abaddon lift his eyelids. His honest, simple face showed a fierce expression as he pointed at the two dumbstruck souls and said in a muffled voice: “I’m here to persuade you to give up the day after tomorrow’s bidding. This bid is no good—don’t do it.”
Planet Guild: “……”
Abaddon: “If you don’t speak, I’ll take that as agreement.”
Planet Guild: “……”
Abaddon: “Otherwise I’ll keep calling you out to chat.”
Planet Guild: “……”
Abaddon: “Chat too long and you won’t be able to go back.”
Planet Guild: “……Big brother, we won’t do it.”
“Very good. You’re very reasonable.” Abaddon stood up, picked up the sofa cushion, and slowly walked out of Planet Guild’s room. The moment he closed the door, he waved his palm and the two extracted souls instantly returned to their bodies.
Abaddon tucked the sofa cushion under his arm and looked down at the next guild’s name.
Lily rarely changed into a less peculiar little dress. She knocked on Crocodile Guild’s door and showed a big, brilliant smile.
“Are you called Tegula and Taqis?”
The two Crocodile Guild representatives didn’t take the harmless little loli seriously.
Tegula crossed his arms, looking down at Lily with a smile: “Where did this kid come from? Can’t find your parents?”
Lily raised her pen and scribbled a line in her notebook—
【Tegula was hit in the head by a falling chandelier.】
Then Lily showed the notebook to Tegula.
Tegula leaned forward to look and immediately became furious: “You little brat, dare to curse me?”
But just as he finished speaking, the originally sturdy chandelier suddenly dropped, actually drawing a parabolic arc straight toward his head.
Bang—crash!
“……” Tegula raised his hand and wiped the blood flowing from his head.
He looked at where he was standing, then at the chandelier’s position in the center of the living room.
Was this falling trajectory even scientifically possible?!
Fortunately, he was a recovery system Awakened one, so the wound on his head quickly began healing.
Taqis was shocked, her pointing finger trembling: “You… you… what exactly are you!”
Lily quickly wrote another line in her notebook and enthusiastically showed it to both of them—
【If Crocodile Guild doesn’t withdraw from the bidding, Tegula and Taqis will fall into the sea and be eaten by crocodiles.】
Taqis said angrily: “Have you forgotten the Federation’s regulations? You can’t use abilities against competitors in business competition!”
“What did you say?” Lily showed them an innocent yet eerie smile, then took out a blade wrapped in transparent paper from her tied blue braids.
She pinched the blade with two fingers and suddenly raised her arm at an incredible speed!
Whoosh—
The blade almost left an afterimage in the air.
Seeing trouble, Taqis quickly stepped back.
She said coldly: “Are you going to sneak attack—”
Before she could finish, her expression suddenly changed, and she covered her neck in disbelief.
A shallow wound had been cut there, only seeping tiny drops of blood, but if the blade had gone an inch deeper, she wouldn’t have had a chance to speak now.
She knew the other party had shown mercy due to Federation regulations.
The other party was proving to her that even without abilities, they could still take her life.
Taqis’s face was extremely ugly. She tried to maintain composure, no longer able to treat Lily as an ordinary little girl.
“We won’t participate.”
“Sigh, if only you’d said so earlier. I clearly promised Teacher Little Olive I’d take more notes.” Lily muttered, unhappily putting away her notebook and swinging her blue braids as she left Crocodile Guild’s room.
(Oliver’s gaze was gentle, his voice warm: “You’ve developed the good habit of keeping… mistake notes. You’ll remember all these formulas.”)
Dream Witch found Archer Guild representatives who were feasting in the restaurant, then walked over in high heels, pulled out a chair, and sat across from them.
She crossed her long legs, casually took a puff of her e-cigarette, then held it between two fingers, resting it to one side.
“Let’s talk.” After uttering these two proud, cold words, Dream Witch looked up to face the two Archer Guild people directly.
The sexy, hot top female Alpha’s appearance in the restaurant quickly attracted the attention of all omegas present.
“My god, she’s so beautiful. I want to pursue her.”
“Why is she sitting next to those two omegas who don’t manage their figures? I’m so jealous.”
“This kind of premium Alpha should belong to everyone. Look, she’s not wearing a wedding ring—I definitely still have a chance!”
“Woo, she’s my type. I want big sister to love me fiercely!”
The two pot-bellied middle-aged Archer Guild representatives were flattered: “Miss Lan… Lan Qi, what can we do for you?”
Dream Witch tilted her chin slightly, her gaze condescending: “Just notifying you—withdraw from the day after tomorrow’s bidding.”
“……”
Upon hearing this, the Archer Guild representatives smiled without warmth: “That’s not very appropriate. We should all compete fairly. I think our guild has a good chance.”
Dream Witch’s expression grew slightly cold as she exhaled a puff of blueberry-scented vapor.
“You have no chance.” People who could bribe Gudeshao still had the nerve to mention fairness.
“……Is Miss Lan Qi so certain?” the Archer Guild representative said with a cold smile.
“Yes.”
“What if we don’t agree?” The Archer Guild representative was already feeling very guilty but still wanted to struggle desperately.
Dream Witch’s face clearly showed the words ‘overestimating yourself,’ but she still reluctantly threatened: “I’m S-level, you’re B-level. I represent High Tower Guild, you represent Archer Guild. High Tower is in Harbor Tan City, and Archer is within High Tower’s sphere of influence.”
With each sentence she spoke, she tapped the table with her e-cigarette, the tapping sounds like heavy hammers striking people’s hearts.
The Archer Guild representative’s calm mask was on the verge of shattering.
Lan Qi was right—their Archer Guild was indeed surviving in the cracks within High Tower’s sphere of influence.
He could only endure the humiliation and force a smile: “Haha, actually Archer Guild has long wanted to befriend High Tower Guild. This is a heaven-sent opportunity. I think Miss Lan Qi is definitely the one who will win the bid.”
Dream Witch was not surprised at all. She smiled and stood up. On her way out, she casually gave her half-smoked e-cigarette to a rather cute little golden retriever.
The ten guilds were quickly threatened by High Tower’s bidding squad, and Zhan Pingchuan didn’t even get a chance to participate.
On the other side, Ghost Eye’s bidding squad was complaining bitterly.
Fulunla gulped down two large glasses of water before angrily posting in their private group—
【So annoying. We explained the pros and cons to them nicely, but they still pushed their luck, really thinking Ghost Eye are suckers!】
Wu Peng was having similar difficulties.
【The key is some guilds have no chance of winning the bid at all, but they act like they’re suffering huge losses. I really want to beat them up.】
Mudeli sent a bitter smile emoji.
【Who told us we’re a top guild? We have to set an example. It’s a bit troublesome, but with some bluffing and scaring, we can still get through to them.】
“……” Zhan Pingchuan read the complaints in the group, then looked at High Tower Guild who were already idle enough to play mahjong, and silently played a six of circles.
“Oh?” Abaddon glanced at both sides, then quickly snatched back the six of circles, tucked it among his tiles, and carefully pushed forward: “Didn’t expect I’d win.”
Dream Witch anxiously stood on her chair, roughly ruffling her coffee-colored wavy hair: “I was just one step away!”
Lily counted on her fingers, sighing: “Ah, I lost again. Why do I always lose?”
Abaddon silently took the money from in front of everyone, then quietly slipped a large bill to Zhan Pingchuan under the table.
Zhan Pingchuan calmly accepted the bill and pocketed it, thinking: Brother, you’re really not honest at all!
After feeding Abaddon tiles and getting half the winnings, Zhan Pingchuan found time to message in the Ghost Eye group—
【Do you need help?】
【Fulunla: Eldest young master, why don’t you go help Lance? He’s just an intern after all. We’re worried those cunning small guilds won’t take him seriously.】
With Fulunla putting it that way, Zhan Pingchuan was also a bit worried. He certainly trusted Lance’s intelligence completely, but what if these people took some verbal advantage?
So Zhan Pingchuan pushed away his mahjong tiles and stood up.
“Sister Qi, Ghost Eye isn’t finished yet. I’ll go check on my baby.”
Dream Witch: “Huh?”
Zhan Pingchuan grabbed his phone, pocketed his room card, and asked Fulunla while walking out—
【Where is Lance now?】
【International chess room, Dead Sea Guild’s side.】
Dream Witch watched Zhan Pingchuan leave the room. She quickly pulled out her phone and messaged Lance—
“Emergency! Your little fool is planning to help you. Quickly tone down your methods!”
In the international chess room, Lance was leisurely leaning back in a high-backed chair, methodically peeling an orange.
On the chessboard in front of him, the black pieces had already pressed forward with overwhelming force, cornering the white pieces into a desperate situation.
Across from him, Dead Sea Guild representative Adolf[mfn]literally it could be read as “A-road-pattern” or “A-path-frame,” but this is clearly a phonetic transliteration of a foreign name rather than having semantic meaning in Chinese. The characters were chosen for their sound rather than their meaning to approximate a Western name like “Adolph,” “Adolf,” or similar.[/mfn] was already sweating profusely, holding the ‘King’ but not daring to make a move.
Lance put a piece of orange in his mouth, chewing silently, watching as a drop of Adolf’s sweat fell toward the carpet below.
He chuckled softly, leaning forward with his hands on the table, his amber pupils staring at Adolf: “Senior, we agreed that whoever loses the chess game has to swallow this blue-ringed octopus.”
Right beside the chessboard sat a tall glass containing a writhing blue-ringed octopus.
Its body was yellow-gray with large and small blue circles covering its back and tentacles. At this moment, it was tentatively extending its tentacles beyond the rim of the glass, curling and touching, leaving messy water stains on the glass.
Adolf’s face instantly became even more unsightly.
He loved chess like life and was arrogant, so when this young man claimed he wanted to challenge his chess skills, he had just snorted disdainfully and was about to leave.
Who would have thought this young man would suddenly produce a highly venomous blue-ringed octopus and ask with a smile: “Dare to bet your life?”
At that time, all the Dead Sea Guild people were present, and Lance’s words were like a flame that ignited everyone’s emotions.
As a Federation-registered professional chess player, Adolf had to accept this challenge for the sake of his honor.
He had thought victory would be easy—he would make this presumptuous young man swallow the live octopus in despair and regret.
Then he would reluctantly call a recovery system Awakened one for him, to demonstrate his magnanimity and chess character.
However, things went against his wishes. Now it was he himself who was being beaten back step by step.
The more anxious he became, the more mistakes he made. The more mistakes, the more mentally tense he became. In his daze, he felt that standing on the chessboard were no longer chess pieces, but himself.
His opponent’s chess style was ruthless and deadly, giving him no time to breathe. Each move consecutively killed his rook, knight, and bishop, leaving him alone, trapped in the game, unable to move.
“I… I…” Adolf was dizzy and had completely lost confidence. The ‘King’ in his hand rose and fell several times before he finally put it back in its original place.
“Senior, why aren’t you moving?”
“This…”
“Senior, hurry up. The blue-ringed octopus might escape soon.”
“Wait…”
“Senior isn’t planning to surrender, is he?”
“……I’m not!”
“Heh, surrendering now won’t look too bad.”
Lance pressed step by step, the smile on his face still perfect and flawless. The blue-ringed octopus squeezed out of the tall glass, waving its tentacles, its suckers slowly attaching to the captured white pieces.
The white pieces were clearly at the end of their rope. Adolf was destined to eat this octopus.
Finally, Adolf was at his wit’s end and looked at Lance with pleading eyes.
He didn’t want to swallow the octopus, didn’t want to be poisoned, didn’t want to be near death, but it was also difficult for him to beg for mercy from such an unknown young man.
Lance knew the time was ripe.
Adolf was already on the edge of collapse. As long as he didn’t have to swallow this octopus, he would agree to anything.
Just as Lance was about to present the choice to Adolf, he suddenly received Dream Witch’s message.
He stared at that line of text, his smile pausing slightly.
Adolf gritted his teeth and squeezed out with difficulty: “Please… please…”
However, before he could squeeze out the complete sentence, Lance suddenly stood up, grabbed him, and said decisively: “Let’s switch sides!”
Adolf: “?”
Before he could react, Lance had already sat directly in front of the white pieces.
Just then, a tall, broad figure squeezed into the international chess room.
“Excuse me, please excuse me.”
Zhan Pingchuan parted the crowd and immediately saw the little fox sitting obediently by the chair, propping his chin and leaning forward.
Lance’s red hair hung down, silver-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, red lips pressed together, seemingly frowning in deep thought.
Zhan Pingchuan glanced at the chess game.
Obviously, the white pieces had been beaten to a pulp by the black pieces. Even the ‘Queen’ had been sacrificed protecting the king. Now only the ‘King’ remained, struggling to survive under the protection of one bishop and one knight.
On the other side of the chess game, still standing there in a daze, was the big guy—Dead Sea Guild’s vice president, Adolf.
“Baby, how did you end up playing international chess?” Zhan Pingchuan walked forward, leaning down to ruffle Lance’s smooth long hair.
“You came?” Lance turned his head, showing a surprised expression, then explained, “I’m making a bet with this senior.”
Lance glanced at the blue-ringed octopus that was almost crawling out of the tall glass.
Zhan Pingchuan indeed also noticed this ugly living creature.
“Betting on what… damn, what’s this thing doing on the table?”
Lance sighed lightly: “Whoever loses has to swallow it.”
Zhan Pingchuan immediately looked at Adolf with condemning and contemptuous eyes.
This disrespectful old fool, actually making such a life-threatening bet with an innocent, naive university student.
“……”
Adolf was completely out of the loop.
Why was he glaring at him? He was clearly about to lose—he should be the one swallowing the octopus!
Zhan Pingchuan quickly asked Lance with concern: “Baby, you’re playing white?”
Lance nodded.
The moment he got the answer, Zhan Pingchuan’s aura became even colder. He looked at Adolf again, S-level oppressive force directly seeping from his gaze.
Zhan Pingchuan straightened up, cracking his knuckles with muffled sounds, asking coldly: “You want him to swallow this?”
Adolf pointed at his own nose, incredulous: “Me?”
Zhan Pingchuan suppressed his anger, moving his wrists on his own, laughing coldly in extreme anger: “It seems Ghost Eye Guild is indeed too easy to talk to, which is why you’re so unscrupulous.”
Just as he was about to grab that disgusting thing and throw it at Adolf’s face, Lance suddenly raised his hand to press down on his wrist.
“Husband, I think I can still save this.” Lance’s gaze was fixed intently on the chessboard.
Zhan Pingchuan was stunned, looking at Lance in surprise.
Could he still turn the tables when he’d already lost to this extent?
“Baby, Adolf is a professional chess player. Even if you don’t beat him, you’re still—”
Before Zhan Pingchuan finished speaking, he saw Lance raise his hand and move the ‘King’ behind the rook.
Click.
The piece fell.
Adolf’s pupils shook violently. He quickly supported himself on the table with both hands, looking at Lance’s move with surprise and joy.
With the ‘King’ hiding behind the rook, he could use his knight to take the rook, but then Lance could use the ‘King’ to capture his knight.
Although trading a rook for a knight was a heavy loss, it had to be said that this move brought the game back to life.
How had he not seen this just now!
Adolf sighed with regret. Not bothering to explain the side-switching to this sudden ‘husband,’ he quickly maneuvered his black pieces to surround and intercept the white king.
However, under Lance’s control, the white pieces completely changed style. Though at a disadvantage, they moved and maneuvered with ease, escaping danger multiple times and quietly consuming black pawns.
After another long half hour, Adolf suddenly realized that although he still had powerful pieces like rook, knight, and bishop, his pawns were running dangerously low.
And Lance, relying on just a few steadily advancing pawns, slowly turned the situation around and finally captured the black king.
Zhan Pingchuan raised an eyebrow.
He had some understanding of international chess but wasn’t deeply versed in it. He thought Lance had first fallen behind then made a comeback against the wind. Although the final narrow victory was quite rare, his level was probably on par with Adolf’s.
Even so, the little fox was already very outstanding.
And Adolf was now completely convinced. He understood that this person’s mind was like chess—deep and vast as the sea.
“I lost.” He sighed deeply, putting on an expression of facing death bravely, about to grab the octopus and swallow it.
But Lance suddenly blocked his hand and smiled slightly: “No need to swallow the octopus. Ghost Eye Guild is magnanimous—senior just needs to give up the day after tomorrow’s bidding.”
Upon hearing this, Zhan Pingchuan’s eyes couldn’t help but show love and reluctance: “Baby, you’re too kind.”
Adolf: “……”
Lance lowered his eyes, leaning his head against Zhan Pingchuan’s side waist, nuzzling the flexible, firm waist muscles, silently accepting this praise.
Who would have thought that the next second, Zhan Pingchuan would reach out to pull him into his arms, lightly pat his rear, and warn in a low voice: “Don’t do this again next time. No task is worth risking your life for, not even for people.”
Lance tilted his head, carefully observing Zhan Pingchuan’s expression, his fingers tracing his deep black eyes.
“Are you angry?”
The little wolf cub was suddenly serious, his eyes like a head wolf whose territory had been invaded—quite hard to get used to.
Zhan Pingchuan laughed, rubbing the spot that didn’t actually hurt, then compensatingly kissed his drooping lip corner: “I feel sorry for you.”
Lance was kissed and satisfied. His lip corners lifted slightly as he promised: “Mm, I won’t take risks next time.”
Adolf: “…………………” Who was taking risks?!
##
(advanced chapters available on kofi)
![You’re Causing Chaos Again [e-sports]](https://www.freenovels.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/1sMqC2JNjIep8Ov.jpg "You’re Causing Chaos Again [e-sports]")
