Chapter 495 - 298: The Urge to Kill

Chapter 495: Chapter 298: The Urge to Kill

An image of this person was already forming in Lin Chu’s mind—ambitious and capable, preferably from a good family, like the descendant of fallen nobility or something. Of course, the most important thing was that they had to be broke right now. Poor. Someone who could serve as an obedient "dog."

That’s right, a dog.

’There’s nothing insulting about it,’ he thought. ’For capital to expand overseas, the initial push has to be sharp and iron-fisted. Otherwise, you’re just serving yourself up as a juicy piece of meat.’

Fortunately, he had the Security Group at his disposal.

He naturally needed to start scouting for such a person now.

"Alright, I’ll think about it. What are you up to?"

Lu Ming readily agreed. Seeing Lin Chu focused on his phone, he asked curiously.

Lin Chu: "It’s nothing. Just doing some research."

"Hm?"

"Researching what?"

"Holy shit, this isn’t like you at all. You’re actually doing research?"

Lu Ming teased with a grin. There was nothing he couldn’t poke fun at. ’After all,’ he thought, ’don’t I know exactly what he’s like?’

"Fuck you!"

Lin Chu flipped him the middle finger without answering, his attention returning to the screen.

The material he was currently studying was about the development models of four investment institutions: Dubai’s sovereign wealth fund, Temasek, BlackRock, and Vanguard Navigator.

This was a complete set of materials sent by Bian Gaige for his reference.

The more he read, the more startled Lin Chu became.

A strange image surfaced in his mind: these behemoths were like giant octopuses with countless tentacles, using money as their tendrils to root themselves in many countries and many sectors—the economy, culture...

Whether their goal was financial returns or achieving other objectives, their methods were now highly refined.

Take China, for example. The tentacles of these octopuses had reached almost every major domestic internet company, just with varying degrees of penetration.

The third-largest shareholder of Ali, the fourth-largest of Tencent, the second-largest of Baidu, the second-largest of NetEase, the third-largest of Xiaomi, the fourth-largest of Association, the third-largest of Meituan... and so on.

Over the past few decades, US Dollar venture capital firms had really scooped up a lot of assets, and their returns were, at a minimum, on the order of dozens of times their initial investment.

Of course, this was part of the rules of the game.

In a way, they were also players operating within those rules.

’And now that I’m starting to come into contact with this set of "rules," I can naturally use them to my advantage and navigate them with ease.’

’If they can go forth, so can I!’

Lin Chu’s heart filled with a mix of shock and anticipation.

’Play the capital game with me?’

’In a way, with my panel, my core essence is infinitely close to the Federal Reserve—I can print money without limit.’

’Although there are some limitations, and I have to consider how it interfaces with reality... what more could I ask for?’

’The hardest part, the money problem, is already solved. The rest is just minor details.’

’Time to get it done!’

He spent the entire ride reading and thinking. When they finally arrived, what came into view was a castle of white mixed with gold.

A real castle.

It looked like a royal palace.

A row of towering trees led straight to the main gate. In a desert city like this, that row of trees alone was an absolute luxury. It must have cost tens of millions, at least.

Ahead lay a massive lawn and garden, with the main entrance seemingly hidden within.

A pure white Persian Carpet stretched all the way inside.

Theoretically, from the moment you stepped out of the car until you were inside, the soles of your shoes wouldn’t touch a speck of dust and would remain pristine.

"Holy fuck... so this is the life of a Prince? Rashid was holding back before... A yacht party is still within the realm of my imagination, but this... I’m speechless."

Lu Ming was too stunned to even properly make a sarcastic comment, his voice tinged with jealousy. He muttered about the "damned rich," noting that while they were certainly rich, adding the "damned" was a small token of his "respect."

Lin Chu shook his head and chuckled. "Come on. Go read up on ancient history sometime. Now *that* was true extravagance. They’d have four maidservants attend to them just to take a shit. You wouldn’t even have to wipe your own ass, and they’d wrap the shit in sandalwood for you... This is nothing."

"But that, my friend, is a fucking regression of civilization, not progress. Bro!"

Lin Chu clapped him on the shoulder, offering his verdict.

Lu Ming: "Uh."

He nodded with a smile and walked toward the entrance with him. Rashid was waiting in the shade of the trees, holding a leash. At the other end of the leash, attached to its neck, was a small leopard cub that looked utterly adorable.

Seeing Lin Chu enter, he patted the "kitten’s" head and walked over with a smile.

"Your clothes are beautiful! Hanfu!"

Lin Chu pursed his lips, not bothering to correct him. He casually took the leopard cub’s leash from his hand and ruffled its fur a couple of times. It was very soft.

"See this? This is a go-to-jail-for-life leopard, a Class-I protected species back home. *This* is a true luxury item. You can’t get one even if you have the money. And even if you could, you wouldn’t dare raise it."

Lu Ming couldn’t resist reaching out to pet it too. He took out his phone and, CLICK, CLICK, snapped a few photos with the cub.

Rashid watched with a beaming smile. "Chu, I suggest you buy a house in Dubai. My pet is about to give birth soon. If you’d like, I can give you one of the young. A white tiger, a real white tiger! Of course, if you want something else, that’s no problem at all."

"Giving me a white tiger isn’t the important part. What’s important is that you’d have to give me a Beast Tamer too..."

Lin Chu said jokingly.

’Safety is a huge responsibility, after all.’

"Of course, of course you can, no problem! Beast Tamers, Eagle Tamers, I have them all! I can give them all to you! Uh, I can even give you a Snake Tamer!"

Rashid declared magnanimously. These professions primarily served the royal family and had developed into an extremely mature industry chain.

"You know," Lin Chu said with a casual laugh, "in my country’s history, we had a similar group of people. They spent their days carrying caged birds, fighting crickets, riding horses to view flowers, and admiring fish in their tanks..."

Rashid was confused. The phrase was a bit profound, and he didn’t quite understand it. He asked with a puzzled look, "What does that mean?"

"Hahaha, it’s nothing. It’s just that their dynasty fell afterward."

Rashid: "..."

He shot Lin Chu a somewhat reproachful look, clearly not a fan of the dark humor. He shrugged, held out his hands, and blinked, then forced a cheerful tone to tease back, "We won’t fall. As long as you guys are around, we won’t fall. Hahahaha..."

Hearing this, Lin Chu was taken aback for a moment, unsure whether to laugh or cry.

’Unbelievable.’

’So weapons just grow in the desert, huh?’

As they chatted and played with the leopard cub, people began to arrive one after another.

Most were in white robes, but there were also men in sharp suits and women in evening gowns. They all looked to be either rich or noble, and most were young.

Night gradually fell. In front of the castle, the mist from the fountain by the man-made lake felt cool, shimmering with multicolored lights. The interior was even more magnificent, making one feel as if they were in a dream.

DING!

His phone suddenly made a "rare" notification sound. It was a text message. Lin Chu paused, then pulled the phone from his pocket.

His phone was always on silent, which was why the sound was so rare. But now... ’What the hell?’

What shocked Lin Chu even more was that this wasn’t an ordinary text message. It was a priority-one message, pushed forcefully and domineeringly to his phone, taking over the entire screen.

Lin Chu had no idea how such a priority-one message could be sent, but the situation truly made him feel a sense of being violated.

It was a feeling of losing control.

’My phone, the device that’s with me day and night, at least twelve hours a day, was just breached by someone else like that?’

’Is there any fucking law and order left in the world?’

The priority-one message was now displayed at the top of the screen.

It was in Chinese.

[Dear Mr. Lin Chu, hello. I am Liszt. It’s a pleasure to meet you.]

[I would like to invite you to a meeting next Sunday at 4 PM, on a lawn in Interlaken Town, Switzerland, at the foot of the Alps. We can chat about life, economics, philosophy, or any topic you wish.]

[I’ll be waiting.]

A text message from Liszt...

Looking at the message, Lin Chu’s expression flickered. The way this invitation arrived was abrupt and presumptuous, but the wording was friendly enough. The choice of location, Switzerland, a neutral country, also seemed to imply amicable intentions.

Just as Lin Chu was about to reply, he was shocked to find that the message was no longer on his phone.

It seemed to have some kind of "self-destruct after reading" feature.

Taking a deep breath, Lin Chu lit a cigarette, feeling annoyed.

This method of delivering an invitation felt like a show of force. It seemed his phone number and the device he used held no secrets from the other party.

Moreover, if they could do this, Lin Chu had a sinking feeling that... his chat logs, bank records, and everything else might have been compromised as well.

Fuck!

’I could kill someone right now!’

...

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