บท 14: Early Children's Day for Little Rick
Little Rick has lost half his arm!
But it's okay. Even a short one is cute.
Rita raised her voice slightly: "How could people like us offend someone with a gun?!"
Her words startled both Samuel and Scarlett. Even the dazed Rick frowned, as if waking from a dream.
Scarlett was stunned for a moment, then her eyes widened in realization. She turned to Samuel and whispered, "Is it the Lopez family?"
Samuel shook his head, finally taking a drag from his cigarette. "Hard to say."
Seeing that Rick was already waking up, Rita said, "Let's discuss this outside so we don't disturb Rick."
Samuel and Scarlett stood up and followed Rita out of the ward. As they closed the door, Rita noticed that Rick's hand was clenched into a fist.
Once they were outside the ward, Rita asked, "Do we have any enemies in the Wilson family?"
Samuel frowned. "Why do you ask?"
Rita replied, "I just feel like this kind of harm seems aimed at the entire Wilson family, as if trying to wipe us out... Of course, as long as we're still around, there's still hope, right? What did the doctor say?"
"There's still a chance," Samuel sighed, his tone weary. "I'll look into this. You should stay safe and preferably return to the Wilson house for now."
He sounded like a caring father, but Rita suspected he was hoping that if anyone came looking for revenge, she would be there to take the hits. She didn't agree, "My brother is still going to marry into the Lopez family, right?" This old fox had immediately sent Rick to a black clinic, clearly trying to keep it hidden. "It would be too suspicious if I returned home now, it might raise Zoey's suspicion."
This reason was convincing. Samuel quickly gave up on persuading her to return home.
After staying for a while, Rita used the excuse of going home to cook soup and left.
She knew Rick was awake, but she didn't want to continue acting. She feared she might end up laughing during her act, so she hurried away.
Indeed, Samuel and Rick were alike. When something happened, their first reaction was to hide it, not to consider the terrible consequences if Zoey found out about the marriage. They preferred to avoid trouble rather than face it.
In her previous life, Rita had always questioned if Samuel was really her biological father. She had even done a paternity test after her rebirth, confirming he was indeed her biological father. Samuel and Rick both had a tendency to view women as unreliable, no matter how polite they appeared. They were dismissive of women.
In the book, the step-son is portrayed as a mere side character, but in the side stories, the male protagonist's three sons, who became the leaders of the Su, Han, and Liang families, all changed their surnames back to Yu at the same time, marking a powerful turn of events.
Scarlett might have had a slightly higher status than Rita, but only slightly. Her main role was being used by Samuel as a pawn.
Samuel looked at Rick. "Do you have any ideas?"
Rick, staring blankly at the ceiling, said, "Could it be that Rita has offended someone? Maybe she's caused trouble outside."
Samuel sighed. "How many times have I told you to stay calm and not vent your anger? Anger is something only women do. If she had really caused trouble, why would the trouble come to her?"
Rick began to suspect the other woman in the house. "Could it be that Mom's temper caused the trouble?"
Samuel shook his head. "I know all about her."
Rick closed his eyes, his chest heaving with agitation. After a while, he spoke in a hushed voice, "Did the Lopez family disagree with my marriage?"
"It's hard to say, but they wouldn't resort to such underhanded methods. If they had objections, they would have directly refused. We wouldn't have dared to press further," Samuel paused, then said softly, "Have you upset any women? You know many messy people through work."
Rick began to reflect carefully, certain he had not offended anyone. He maintained a friendly but distant demeanor with everyone. He had only drawn closer to Zoey after confirming her family background. He shook his head.
Samuel patted Rick's hand reassuringly. "The vase has already been sold. Before the engagement, I'll get the villa sorted for you."
Rick asked again, "Does Rita really have no money left?"
Samuel replied, "It seems so. I found out her company had a scandal, and her agent got involved. You know how much she trusted that Liu person. She probably hasn't been in the mood recently. Once she's better, I'll find a way to get her back to making money. You focus on your recovery and don't worry about these matters."
Rick, with little hope, said, "In my situation…"
Samuel reassured him, "The doctor said it won't affect your ability to have children. A short period won't matter. What matters is the technique!"
Rita nearly laughed out loud.
Seeing she wasn't gaining any useful information, Rita left the ward with a hint of regret.
...
After discovering that Rick was short a limb, Rita felt a sense of clarity.
Yes, this is the path of revenge!
She wanted Rick to live in pain and fear every second!
Marrying into the Lopez family? Even if he's no longer a complete man, he still dares to marry Zoey. Ha!
She was eager to see what Rick could do next.
She wasn't worried about making enemies with the Lopez family. She had already reduced the protagonist's luck to 1. Even as an ordinary person, Rick managed to evade seven shots fired by one of the top ten assassins in the underground city. In the end, only a partial amputation succeeded.
The Lopez family dared to harm the protagonist? They would soon face bankruptcy.
Wait, was she even more impressive in her previous life? With luck at 1, she had been pursued for seven days by numerous people before being captured...
Could it be that she was the ultimate heroine?
Rita hummed a tune as she returned to her villa. There were high-level spells for healing severed limbs in the game, which Zoey used to become famous in the third year of the game invasion, being the only one on Blue Star who knew them.
No matter, Rita had ways to ensure Zoey would never encounter these spells in her lifetime.
And Rick had a lot more to endure in the next two years.
It wouldn't be as simple as buying a fake to fool Zoey.
After dealing with Little Rick, Rita began her preparations for the second game beta test.
Now that she had a backpack, she wanted to see if items from the real world could be brought into the game and sold for gold.
Even if a $10,000 item could only be sold for 1 gold in the game, it was still profit!
Money quickly became worthless after the game invasion. Even if she converted it to gold, it was better than worthless paper. Though gold and gold coins are fundamentally different, with the latter containing a hint of magic that cannot be faked, some traders among the races, especially goblins, would accept gold.
Goblins are only interested in money and are indifferent to life and death. They will do any kind of business, even exchanging gold for gold coins. One gold coin is worth less than 100 grams. In goblin merchants, 300 grams of gold can be exchanged for one gold coin.
They claimed that running a business on Blue Star was costly, citing various additional fees such as battlefield subsidies, travel expenses for Blue Star business trips, potential funeral costs, and the costs of producing gold coins.
With the gold price currently around $500 per gram, fluctuating slightly, it would take $150,000 to buy a gold coin, though this was before the currency collapse.
When goblin merchants appeared, the currency had already collapsed. Everyone traded using game currency. Not only was gold no longer used to buy gold, but since goblins also accepted gold for coins, gold had basically become worthless.
But all this was post-game invasion. Rita was now preparing to convert all her money into gold.
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