Chapter 190: Silencing the People is More Dangerous Than Damming a River

‘What in the world is going on?’

Nan Wenbin, the chairman of Nanye Group, was already at his wit’s end over the Ruins incident when he suddenly received a confidential letter from the president. It left him completely baffled.

‘Xue Yang is from another world?’

‘His flat-bottomed pan is a demonic object.’

‘And he rose to power precisely by using that pan…’

‘The one causing trouble in the Ruins is a Time Traveler from another world, here to capture Xue Yang.’

If the confidential letter hadn’t come directly from the president, Nan Wenbin would have assumed some hacker had gotten into his email and was playing a prank on him…

This was all a bit too outrageous, even more so than the Genetic Transformation Liquid in the Ruins.

Nan Wenbin instinctively picked up his phone, about to call Chu Zhongtian.

But just as his finger was about to touch the phone, it suddenly rang.

RING RING RING!

He glanced at the caller ID: Shi Lixin, the Sect Leader of Shiyao Group.

Nan Wenbin answered the phone. “Elder Shi.”

“Wenbin, did you see the president’s confidential letter?” Shi Lixin asked, getting straight to the point.

“I did,” Nan Wenbin said after a moment’s thought. “It’s rather unbelievable.”

“I know Gao Huai’an. He wouldn’t joke about something this important. Xue Yang is probably planning to make a move against us,” Shi Lixin said. “I always felt something was off about Xue Yang, so I had him investigated secretly. It turns out he’s like a ghost—he just appeared out of thin air. His life before five years ago is a complete blank.”

“Elder Shi, what do you plan to do?” Nan Wenbin asked.

“The president’s intention is clearly to set a tiger on a wolf—to use the man in the Ruins to check Xue Yang’s power,” Shi Lixin said. “We might as well play along.”

“And what does that entail?” Nan Wenbin asked with a frown.

“We go into the Ruins and find out exactly what happened there,” Shi Lixin said.

“Elder Shi, Xue Yang has lived in the Federation for five years, after all. If the letter is true, the person in the Ruins is a visitor from the Otherworld. He might be even less trustworthy,” Nan Wenbin said hesitantly. “What if he’s some kind of monster? Shouldn’t we wait and see for a bit longer…?”

“Sometimes a stranger is more trustworthy than someone you know,” Shi Lixin said. “Wenbin, in times of great upheaval, hesitation is the greatest taboo.”

But Li Ye gave neither Nan Wenbin and his group time to “wait and see,” nor Shi Lixin a chance to enter the Ruins and investigate.

When he decided on a blitz, he moved at his own pace, coordinating with no one.

「On the same day the president sent out the confidential letter.」

At least eighty thousand members of the Ruins Alliance streamed through various checkpoints and flooded back into the Federation.

With them came the news: that Xue Yang of the Flat Pan Group was using a Divine Artifact from the Divine Demon Ruins to steal the luck of the masses.

Eighty thousand people began spreading the news and giving their personal testimonies, and they included many powerful and influential individuals.

In an instant, the news exploded across the internet, and it was impossible to suppress.

“Using his pan as a medium, Xue Yang has been stealing the luck of the masses for his own use. Over five years, he created Mr. Mu, a vessel with the most powerful physique in the Mortal World, intending to use his body to explore the Divine Demon Ruins once more…”

“To resist Xue Yang, Mr. Mu escaped from the Flat Pan Group, ventured deep into the Divine Demon Ruins, and obtained the Divine Artifact, the Erhu. He has vowed to expose Xue Yang’s conspiracy and return the stolen luck to the people.”

“The Divine Artifact Flat-bottomed Pan represents plunder and absorption, while the Erhu’s purpose is to give and to share. Mr. Mu used the Erhu to perform a miracle in the Ruins, effortlessly raising the strength of all who heard its music. The appearance of the Erhu will shatter the Federation’s traditional reliance on innate talent and Star Beads, ushering in a quantum leap for our civilization…”

“With this method of improving strength and physical fitness, absorbing Taiyin Star Power will no longer be an exception. In the future, everyone in the Federation can become a War God!”

The fact that every single person who returned from the Ruins had their strength increase by leaps and bounds was ironclad proof.

More videos surfaced, showing Mr. Mu’s elusive shadow moving to the melodious tunes of the Erhu, along with the clear before-and-after changes in the crowd’s strength.

To guarantee the authenticity of these claims, members of the Ruins Alliance set up fighting arenas in every city, publicly accepting challenges from all comers to prove their newfound ability to defeat opponents of a higher rank.

Along with the news from the Divine Demon Ruins, ironclad proof of Xue Yang’s luck-stealing was also released.

“After Nan Wenbin won the auction for a lunch with Xue Yang, his son, Nan Shuyi, met with misfortune.”

“After the chairman of Shiyao Group won the auction for a lunch with Xue Yang, their stock price remained in a slump for a month…”

“Mr. Liu, an ordinary citizen, had a happy family of four. After winning a free lunch from Xue Yang, he sold the prize and became a billionaire. He should have been set for life, but over the next two years, he squandered his entire fortune. His wife left him, taking the children. In the end, his legs were broken in a gambling den, leaving him crippled…”

“Ms. Zhang, an ordinary citizen from Jianghe City, also won a free lunch. She too sold her prize and became a billionaire. Afterward, she went into business, but every venture failed. She ultimately ended up penniless and drowning in debt…”

“Shortly after Mr. Lu, an ordinary citizen from Dongshan City, won the prize, his daughter was kidnapped and held for ransom. She was murdered by her captors, leaving Mr. Lu utterly despondent…”

One shocking case after another was brought to light.

Most of the “lucky winners” chosen by the Flat Pan Group had met with disastrous ends.

The immense fortunes they received brought them no luck at all; instead, they led directly to disaster…

The stories of these people were all verifiable, and the individuals involved even came forward to tell their own stories. Unlike the previous food additive incident, this wasn’t fabricated out of thin air.

Once these stories were out, they became the irrefutable proof that the Flat Pan Group was stealing luck.

“Are you okay with having your luck stolen from you?”

“There’s no such thing as a free lunch! Is Xue Yang an Angel or a demon?”

“Throw away your pans and take back the luck that belongs to you!”

“Xue Yang is completely shameless! He’s not just taking our money, he’s stealing our luck! He’s a ravenous wolf in sheep’s clothing!”

“If not for yourself, think of your children and grandchildren! Every bite of food from the Flat Pan Group that you eat costs you your fortune, your health, and even the happiness of your future generations!”

“Why hasn’t Xue Yang dared to show his face in five years? It’s obvious he has a guilty conscience! Stealing luck incurs divine retribution; if he appears in public, he’ll suffer a severe backlash!”

You could trace things like food additives.

But the concept of “luck” was vague and ethereal; it was impossible to even disprove.

Especially when members of the Ruins Alliance had provided tangible proof that the Divine Artifacts from the Divine Demon Ruins were real.

If the Erhu could help people increase their Skill Level, then the flat-bottomed pan stealing people’s luck must also be true—especially with so much evidence to back it up.

And so, more and more people came forward to share their own experiences.

“The more I think about it, the scarier it gets. I was a good student and usually ate at the school cafeteria. Right before my finals, I decided to treat myself to a meal from the Flat Pan Group, and I ended up bombing the exam. I thought I just had a bad day, but now I realize my luck was stolen! Damn you, Xue Yang!”

“Me too! Every time I ate fast food from the Flat Pan Group, I’d inevitably be late for work the next day for some stupid reason and get my pay docked…”

“Same here! Whenever we had a group meal and ordered from the Flat Pan Group, someone would always start a fight, and we’d all end up leaving angry.”

“…I got into two car accidents after eating their food. Once could be a coincidence, but twice? There has to be something wrong with their food.”

“This is terrifying. I never knew ‘luck stealing’ was a thing. But now that I think about it, something bad really does seem to happen shortly after I eat food from the Flat Pan Group.”

“My parents would start arguing for no reason.”

“I ate from the Flat Pan Group yesterday, and today my drawing compass stabbed me in the hand…”

“I’m such an idiot. During the last food additive scandal, I actually defended Xue Yang online.”

“Son of a bitch. My wife and I just got divorced. I don’t cook much, so I have a whole stash of fast food from the Flat Pan Group at home. Should I throw it all out? Thinking back, it’s highly likely our divorce was because my luck was affected. We started fighting over something so trivial, and it suddenly blew up into a divorce…”

“To the poster above, what are you waiting for? Throw it out! You want to keep having bad luck? I’ve already tossed all the pan-shaped keychains I’ve collected over the years. You’re still brave enough to keep their food?”

“You only threw yours in the trash? I burned mine! From now on, I’m a Xue Yang hater for life. I’m going to draw a little paper effigy of him every day and curse him until he gives me back the luck he stole…”

The rumor about the pan stealing luck spread like wildfire, quickly becoming an unstoppable inferno.

Nearly every household began throwing away their frying pans, deactivating their Flat Pan Group accounts, and trying to cut all ties with the company.

Better to be safe than sorry.

No one wanted their luck to be stolen for no good reason.

The Flat Pan Group urgently issued a statement to refute the rumors, but it was useless. The company’s official accounts were flooded with a torrent of abuse.

There were neat, orderly rows of “Give me back my luck!”

“May Xue Yang die a horrible death!”

Thick smoke billowed outside the Group’s headquarters as furious crowds threw Flat Pan Group merchandise and food products into bonfires.

Fire trucks were standing by.

However, the firefighters made no move to put out the fires. They too were afraid of catching the Bad Luck.

Some firefighters even threw their own pan-shaped keychains into the flames, as if burning the medium could dispel the Bad Luck.

With no other choice, the Flat Pan Group temporarily shut down its official website and disabled the comment sections on all of its video Official Accounts.

This only further proved their guilt.

In response, the public grew even more agitated, demanding severe punishment for the unscrupulous corporation.

‘Fuck!’

Faced with the sudden explosion of the anti-pan movement, Xue Yang’s mind went blank, his head buzzing as if he’d forgotten how to think.

He had considered every possible move Mr. Mu might make, but he never, ever imagined his opponent would connect frying pans with luck…

‘I’m in the fucking food business…’

‘And you’re not even saying my food tastes bad, you’re saying it makes you unlucky?’

‘How in the world did you connect two things that have absolutely nothing to do with each other?’

‘Is there any justice left in this world?’

‘Does he really not follow any kind of playbook at all?’

Xue Yang had no idea how to respond. All of his contingency plans had been based on the assumption that the Time Traveler would target his food directly…