The King’s Game and the Loan Sharks

“Alright, please just press your handprint here; it’s perfectly fine if you can’t write your name, a handprint will suffice.”

“Yes, this card is all yours now, Grandma. Just keep it safe and press your handprint. There’s money on it for you to use however you like—it’s truly that good…”

The middle-aged woman continued her incessant chatter.

By this point, Chen Ran and his companions, having drawn closer, had already pieced together the situation.

This was particularly true for Chen Ran.

Only a few days prior, the same woman had visited him while he was working at the convenience store; it was only due to the distance and her heavy makeup that he hadn’t recognized her immediately.

However, the modus operandi remained precisely the same.

Upon seeing him, the middle-aged woman visibly froze, then spoke with a hint of awkwardness.

“Oh, it’s you, dear child! Have you given it some thought? Auntie’s telling you, it’s a fantastic deal. You’re at an age where you need money, and you won’t have to go begging anyone for a loan. The money on this card is yours to spend as you please…”

Chen Ran offered no reply.

Instead, he silently gazed into the pastry shop, where Granny Yang still sat in her rocking chair, her face a picture of bewilderment, clutching the bank card the middle-aged woman had forcefully pressed into her hand.

Then,

He gently took the bank card from the elderly woman’s grasp and directly handed it back to the middle-aged woman.

“Grandma, don’t pay her any mind, and certainly don’t sign this document.”

“Oh, oh…”

The elderly woman nodded, clearly feeling a little overwhelmed.

At that moment, the middle-aged woman’s face visibly soured, and she spoke with a hint of anger.

“Little brother, what exactly do you mean by this?!”

“I don’t mean anything at all.”

Chen Ran said softly.

“Can’t you find somewhere else to scam people out of their money?”

The woman before them was, in essence, a loan shark—offering a bank card supposedly loaded with tens of thousands of yuan, claiming it could be spent freely, with interest calculated monthly based on usage.

It sounded appealing, didn’t it?

Yet, it was nothing but a scam, strikingly similar to the predatory campus loans and online lending schemes Chen Ran had heard about before his transmigration.

Initially, they would coax you into spending their money, but when it came time to calculate interest, it would compound exponentially. You might spend a few thousand yuan, only for the interest to balloon into tens of thousands within a few months.

‘Heh.’

“Does your contract clearly state the monthly interest rate? Do you dare to read it aloud?”

Chen Ran continued.

Their argument quickly drew the attention of the surrounding neighbors, and as more onlookers gathered, the middle-aged woman’s face visibly sank, her forced smile faltering.

Clearly, Chen Ran was sabotaging their business.

It was one thing for him personally not to take a loan, but to speak out like this in broad daylight—how would they ever conduct their “business” on this street again?

What was more…

“You damn brat, get lost! What are you yelling about here?!”

From the sedan parked nearby, three burly men quickly emerged. The bald leader, clad in a black vest, was a mass of muscle, one arm entirely covered in a menacing ghost-face tattoo.

He clearly looked like someone involved in the ‘underworld’ (TL Note: A term referring to organized crime or gangs, similar to yakuza or triads).

Evidently, loan sharking was hardly a legitimate business for respectable individuals.

The moment the large bald man stepped out of the car, the surrounding neighbors, who had been watching, instinctively recoiled, clearly eager to avoid any trouble.

Some even cast worried glances toward Chen Ran and the Jiang sisters.

Yet, confronting his opponents directly,

Chen Ran showed no fear whatsoever, for…

“You damn brat, how dare you meddle in my business?! Do you even know who I am?! Around Xijing, is there anyone who hasn’t heard of your ‘Scarred Sanlang’ (TL Note: Sanlang is a common Japanese name, often associated with yakuza or tough guys in Chinese web novels, implying a menacing persona) grandpa’s reputation?!”

The bald strongman, known as Sanlang, grunted.

Simultaneously, he pondered.

Why hadn’t his two brothers, who had been in the car with him, immediately gotten out to stop the kid when he started causing trouble? Why did Sanlang himself have to take the lead?

What was there to fear from a mere brat, who looked barely underage, a kid whose hair hadn’t even fully grown in…

But then, a thought suddenly struck Sanlang.

The kid had just mentioned that they had tried to push loans on him before, which was why he was so familiar with their scheme. So why hadn’t he been taught a lesson last time?

Had they not hit him hard enough?

As he was pondering this,

Sanlang suddenly noticed that the middle-aged woman, who had been right beside him moments ago, had quietly vanished.

Turning his head, he discovered that both the woman and the two brothers who had just gotten out of the car with him had inexplicably scrambled back inside.

‘What in the world is happening?!’

Before Sanlang could even make sense of it, a sudden whoosh of air reached his ears, followed by a sensation as if his head had been struck by a sledgehammer. The world instantly spun around him.

Then, with a resounding ‘thud,’ he collapsed to the ground.

‘Did that sound pleasant?’ ‘A pleasant sound, a good head indeed.’ (TL Note: A dark humor pun on the Chinese phrase ‘hǎotīng jiù shì hǎotóu,’ which literally means ‘sounds good is good head,’ implying a satisfying blow.)

Chen Ran, however, was far from finished. Under the shocked gazes of the Jiang sisters, he delivered another powerful kick, sending the already dazed bald strongman flying from the ground to crash onto the hood of their sedan.

He then calmly dusted off his hands.

Turning to Jiang Zilin and Jiang Lengleng, he said,

“Let’s go home.”

“…”

They clearly couldn’t fathom how Chen Ran possessed such formidable combat prowess.

Yet,

Chen Ran could only inwardly acknowledge that this bald strongman was nothing; he had dealt with two others just like him last time. Otherwise, why would the middle-aged woman and her accomplices have fled so quickly just now?

He had been using the reward points he received daily from the ‘King’s Game’ APP on his phone to boost his basic attributes.

His strength, reaction speed, and stamina, among other attributes, had increased threefold or even fourfold since he first arrived in this world. It was proving incredibly useful.

Chen Ran wasn’t even sure of his current strength, perhaps he should visit a gym someday to test it out…

The two men who had retreated to the car

Immediately jumped out, quickly hoisted the unconscious bald strongman between them, and scrambled back into the car. The sedan then roared to life and sped away, leaving nothing but a cloud of dust in its wake.

Chen Ran then reminded Granny Yang not to casually accept things from strangers in the future.

He emphasized that she should never press her handprint if anyone asked her to.

“Alright, alright…”

The elderly woman nodded in agreement, and only then did Chen Ran feel at ease.

He and the Jiang sisters quickly departed from the gawking crowd, heading in the direction of home.

Along the way,

Chen Ran explained to the two sisters the scheme employed by the middle-aged woman and the bald strongman.

“They intentionally get you into debt with them, then charge exorbitant interest rates.”

“Oh…”

Jiang Zilin seemed to understand, yet also not, as if her socially awkward, common-sense-deficient self simply couldn’t grasp such intricacies.

Jiang Lengleng, on the other hand, understood immediately.

“They approached Xiao Ran a few days ago, and today they targeted Grandma. This group must be trying to drum up business in our community, right?”

The usually quiet girl spoke at length, a rare occurrence.

“We should warn the neighbors, so no one else gets tricked.”

Jiang Lengleng said, her voice filled with concern.

Being inherently kind, the young girl swiftly pulled out her phone and explained the recent events in the community chat group, cautioning all the neighbors not to fall prey to the scam.

Meanwhile,

The two sisters were still worried about Chen Ran.

The man he had just beaten was clearly involved with the ‘underworld’ (TL Note: A term referring to organized crime or gangs, similar to yakuza or triads); would there be any repercussions?

“Xiao Ran, please don’t get into fights so readily in the future. What if you get hurt?”

Jiang Lengleng, who usually uttered no more than three sentences a day, was now visibly burdened with worry. In stark contrast, her older sister, Jiang Zilin, loudly declared,

“Xiao Ran fought brilliantly! Those guys deserved a good beating!!”

“Hmph hmph hmph, Xiao Ran protected both big sister and Lengleng! So, as a reward tonight, how about Xiao Ran and big sister bathe together, alright~ Or sleeping together would be fine too!!!”