"Those are all baits!"
Wendy Lynch paced anxiously around her room. "They give you a little taste of sweetness first to make you lower your guard. Once you invest all your money, they’ll cut and run! Trust me, take the money out right now!"
"Oh, you’re just being too paranoid. This is called Internet Plus Agriculture. It’s a new model; you wouldn’t understand. This app actually has government backing to promote the development of new and mechanized agriculture."
Jean Sutton’s tone carried a hint of impatience.
"Forget it! Forget it! You wouldn’t understand even if I explained.
"I’m still hanging out here, and it’s my turn to sing! I’m not talking to you anymore! Hanging up."
BEEP... BEEP... BEEP...
Listening to the busy signal on the line, Wendy Lynch felt a wave of powerlessness intertwined with anger surge in her heart. Unwilling to give up, she dialed the number again.
This time, Jean Sutton answered quickly, but her tone was visibly laced with irritation.
"Wendy Lynch, what exactly do you want?
"I already told you I know what I’m doing!
"Over ten thousand in cold, hard cash has been transferred to my bank card. Do you think I can’t tell what’s real and what’s fake?
"Why are you acting crazy in the middle of the night?"
"Justin, calm down and hear me out!
"Think about it. Where in the world would you find a good deal with a fifty percent annualized return?
"It’s a Ponzi scheme!
"They’re running a promotion right now because they want to make one last big score before they run away!
"If you don’t withdraw your money now, it’ll be too late tomorrow!"
"Enough!" Jean Sutton was completely enraged.
"I think you’re just miserable with your own life, so you can’t stand to see me do well!
"Wendy Lynch, I found a way to make money and invited you to join me. If you don’t appreciate it, fine, but you’re actually calling to curse me? Are we even friends anymore?"
"I—"
"Stop talking, I don’t want to hear it!"
With that, Jean Sutton hung up the phone again, even more resolutely this time. When Wendy Lynch called back, all she heard was the automated prompt indicating the line was busy. Clearly, her call had been immediately rejected.
Wendy Lynch stood frozen in place, her entire body running cold. She knew she couldn’t just let it go! Snapping out of her daze, she immediately rushed to the door, changing her shoes while hailing a ride on her app.
On her phone screen, a driver accepted the order in seconds. Wendy Lynch grabbed her keys and phone, then bolted out the door.
At Nightfall KTV.
The deafening music crashed like giant waves, pounding against Wendy Lynch’s eardrums wave after wave. The multicolored disco ball spun, dicing the young, intoxicated faces in the corridor into colorful fragments. A lavish, heavy scent of mixed alcohol, perfume, and tobacco permeated the air. All of this formed an incredibly sharp contrast to the burning anxiety Wendy Lynch was feeling at that moment.
Following the waiter’s directions, she practically stumbled her way to Room 212. Taking a deep breath, she pushed the heavy door open.
WHOOSH—
A wave of heat, mixed with the stench of alcohol and hoarse shouting, washed over her face. Inside the private room, a heart-wrenching love song was playing on the giant screen, but no one was actually singing. Over a dozen fashionably dressed young people were gathered, almost every one of them holding a phone. Without exception, all their screens glowed with the lush green interface of Coin Harvest.
"I’ve made up my mind! For this anniversary event, I’m throwing in all the money I saved for a car! Let’s take a gamble—go big or go home!"
"Zhang, are you selling that paddy field of yours? I’ll buy it at a high price! The profits will double. Once you miss this chance, it’s gone for good!"
"I feel like the ranch has bigger profit margins. If you hold it for thirty days, the price basically goes up by thirty percent!"
"Hahaha, I took advantage of the event and just dumped two hundred thousand into it! Now I’m just sitting back and waiting for my returns to double!"
Fanaticism, greed, and the illusion of easily obtainable wealth intertwined on everyone’s faces. Wendy Lynch immediately spotted Jean Sutton in the center of the crowd. Her face was flushed with an unnatural red hue, and she was holding a precariously sloshing glass of beer, excitedly showing her phone screen to the people beside her.
"Wendy? Why are you here?"
Spotting Wendy Lynch at the door, Jean Sutton swayed over drunkenly and grabbed her hand.
"You came at the perfect time! Quick, quick, let me tell you, this anniversary event is insanely good!
"If you put money in right now, it’s basically like picking up free cash!
"Don’t be a buzzkill, hurry up. I’ll send you my invitation code!"
A stylishly dressed guy next to them with ash-gray dyed hair cast a sidelong glance at Wendy Lynch and sneered.
"Justin, is this that friend of yours? Why does she look so sour?"
He waved his phone, the numbers on the screen dazzlingly bright.
"Hey beautiful, I don’t mean to lecture you, but you’re never going to get rich working a nine-to-five. You work yourself to the bone for your boss every day, and for what? A few thousand a month. The only way to strike it rich is through investments!
"Justin is trying to do you a favor, and you actually have the nerve to bite the hand that feeds you!"
Jean Sutton playfully slapped the guy with the ear stud and scolded him. "Stop talking nonsense! My friend just has a cautious personality."
She turned to Wendy Lynch and shoved her phone in front of her face, presenting it like a treasure.
"Look, look! I just snagged another double-yield voucher!
"I can use it at midnight tonight!
"I’m telling you, don’t be a skeptic. This thing can actually change your destiny!
"I’ve already done the math. Coin Harvest has a guaranteed profit margin of thirty percent a year. If you’re lucky, it can easily exceed fifty percent.
"I’ve already picked out a lending platform. I can take out a total loan of six hundred thousand, and the annual interest is only eighteen percent.
"With the difference, that’s over a hundred thousand in profit a year!!"
Looking at her face, flushed red from alcohol and sheer excitement, and then looking at the frenzied state of everyone else in the room, Wendy Lynch’s heart went ice-cold. She knew that everyone present was completely swept up in the frenzy. With astronomical returns and mutual group hype, any attempts to warn them about a "scam" would just go in one ear and out the other. It might even trigger a stronger rebellious backlash.
She realized she couldn’t clash head-on with them anymore. Her mind raced, and an idea instantly formed.
Wendy Lynch grabbed Jean Sutton’s wrist with such force that it made her yelp, "Ouch!" Ignoring her friend’s shock, she yanked her right off the sofa and dragged her toward the door.
"Hey, Wendy, Wendy Lynch!! What are you doing? What a buzzkill!"
Jean Sutton struggled in displeasure, but Wendy Lynch’s grip was like an iron vice; she couldn’t break free at all. The guy with the ear stud and several other friends threw them baffled glances. Wendy Lynch didn’t say a word, forcefully dragging Jean Sutton out into the corridor. Although the hallway was also loud, it was at least quiet enough for a normal conversation compared to the private room. The heavy door closed behind them, shutting out the fanaticism.
"Wendy Lynch, what the hell is wrong with you!" Jean Sutton shook off her hand and rubbed her reddened wrist, looking extremely displeased.
Wendy Lynch ignored her anger. Instead, she took a step forward, lowered her voice, and wore an expression of unprecedented solemnity and gravity.
"Justin, listen to me. This is extremely important." She paused, ensuring that Jean Sutton’s attention was entirely focused on her before enunciating every word clearly. "My uncle is a section chief at the Municipal Financial Office. You know that, right?"
Jean Sutton froze for a moment, then nodded. She was indeed somewhat familiar with Wendy Lynch’s family background and knew she had a relative working in a government department. Although she didn’t know exactly what he did, he was certainly a civil servant.