Chapter 66—Jenga

by Bocchan13

“G-G-G-Gold!!” Wang Cheng’s eyes sparkled as these yellow blocks gleamed with their flashlights. Yu Ci who had gone in first was still shocked stupid, dizzyingly counting the pyramid tiers.

“Holy Hell, was there a hidden mafia in N City or something?”

They all got into the vault and closed the door and successfully went down to business getting ready for tomorrow. Still staring at the gold, Wu Ding and Wang Cheng were trying their best not to touch it. Xiao Zi rolled his eyes and took a gold block, throwing it at them. Wang Cheng and Wu Ding tried to catch it, looking like dogs.

“Ahhhh!! This is my first time holding something like this!!”

“Me too! Me too! Oh, my gosh! I feel like I’ve become more elegant just touching it! Hahahaha!”

With excitement, the rest of the crew also tried holding the gold blocks. Everyone could be considered a second generation wealth besides Wu Ding, and threw money around like it was nothing…but it was like an inner boy came out as they played with the golden blocks.

“Let’s play jenga! Loser has to do first watch!” Yu Ci gleefully agreed and started piling the blocks in groups of nine. Lan Zhou coughed and also agreed.

The blocks were not rectangular but more trapezoid in shape so it was difficult to stack in the style. Fortunately, they got it high enough to play a proper game. They determined who would go first and Yu Ci happily started.

Everyone was an ability user, with heightened strength, eyesight, hearing, etc; The gold shined as Yu Ci searched for the best place. Finding one slightly off kilter, he simply flicked the gold. In an instant, the gold piece flew out of the tower, launching itself into the wall and created a gold bar sized hole.

“Oh, whoops.”

The tower hadn’t fallen, but was now unstable. Yu Ci hastily took out the gold bar and placed it on top. It was Wu Ding’s turn next. Yu Ci had taken a side block, so in order to make it harder for the other players and end the game before it came back to him, Wu Ding looked at the tower foundation. Not seeing one that could be taken, he grumbled and shot an ice needle.

It pierced a gold piece, its momentum nudged the block out of the tower. Not as heavy handed as Yu Ci but it did the job. Seeing the tower still standing, Wu Ding exhaled before high-fiving Yu Ci and put the gold bar next to Yu Ci’s.

Wang Cheng saw the teetering tower and had no choice but to go safer and simply touched the bar, letting it into his space before manifesting into his palms. Its simplicity was both effective and downright cheating! Wang Cheng guffawed as he nimbly placed the bar on top.

Xiao Zi had no physical ability and had to use his hands, His thin hands gently pried a middle section of the tower easily. Lu Jingxiu followed Xiao Zi’s example and didn’t use his ability, rather using his hands. The gold piece he took out destabilized the tower so much that it jiggled dangerously. Everyone clenched their butts when the tower almost fell. Luckily, it hadn’t yet. Lu Jingxiu wiggled happily and plopped the gold bar on top.

Next was Song Yu. He really didn’t want to lose! Finding a lone block that could be the deal breaker, he smiled evilly at Lan Zhou.

“Everyone, move back!” Song Yu’s spatial blade manifested in his hand, the blue aura strangely demonic as he cackled. Song Yu precisely sliced a golden bar in half, letting them fall on the floor. The tower unexpectedly teetered but didn’t collapse. It was hanging on by a single thread.

“That’s not fair! How can you stack it on top?” Song Yu grinned and took out some elephant glue and super glued the bar together before decadently placing it on top. The jenga tower was on the cusp of breaking down.

Everyone turned to Lan Zhou whose entire face was black. Arms folded, legs criss-crossed, Lan Zhou was scanning the tower. It was silent as everyone just watched Lan Zhou’s face get darker and darker.

“Psst! It’s been too long. You gotta make a move!”

Lan Zhou gritted his teeth and floated from golden bar to golden bar. Song Yu sneakily patted himself on the back. Haha! Lan Zhou was going to lose!

Finally, Lan Zhou grinned.

Not relying on brute strength to defeat the tower! Lan Zhou snapped his fingers, and a small blue flame ignited like a lighter in his pointer finger. Lan Zhou hummed as he approached an unsuspecting gold bar. The moment the flame touched the gold, the gold melted!

Everyone annoyingly glared at Lan Zhou as he whistled a theme song, the gold melting from the side of the tower into Lan Zhou’s palm. Like he wasn’t touching hot metal in his hands, it just looked like gold water as it formed a puddle. The gold quickly solidified in his palms, no longer the pretty block but an ugly, palm shaped bowl.

Lan Zhou neatly placed the ugly lump on top.

“Who’s next?”

Everyone’s eyes twitched.

“Persecute him!”

“Desecrator!”

“Cheater!”

Outside the bank vault, the sounds of laughter were muffled, creating a warm atmosphere in the dead night.

…

The winner eventually landed on Xiao Zi and the loser to Wu Ding, however a watch wasn’t needed since the bank vault was sturdy enough to wall off any zombie attempts.

In the morning, everyone woke up before the sun came out and checked their gear before leaving the vault. Wang Cheng wanted to bring the gold bars back with them, but was told that he only bring a few. Nodding sadly, Wang Cheng secretly took in ten into his space.

They reached N City early in the morning, and like the day before, it was deserted with no zombie in sight.

“Let’s hit Main Street today. There are several malls and office buildings. We can find some stuff there. Make sure your walkie-talkies are on and call us if you encounter the high-level zombie. Just because he’s nocturnal, doesn’t mean its sleeping during the day.”

The groups were the same as yesterdays, letting everyone go in opposite directions. Yu Ci’s group went to the shopping mall, Lu Jingxiu’s group went to a large skyscraper office building and Song Yu and Lan Zhou decided to hit the café’s and high-end shops.

Song Yu looked up at the sign that said PUCCI and couldn’t help but sigh.

“I’m just a humble farmer, you buying me these things…I cannot!” Lan Zou laughed and rubbed his head.

“I bought you just to make my father happy. Do you think you can wear your boots to my father’s company party?”

Song Yu laughed as they got deeper into their roleplaying. Song Yu opened the PUCCI store and glanced at the empty shelves. There were still several pieces scattered on the racks, so Song Yu took a sweater and turned to Lan Zhou.

“Do you think I, a humble farmer would suit something of this caliber?”

 Lan Zhou happily went along and perused Song Yu. The sweater was patterned in brown, red and cream blocks, making Song Yu’s healthy complexion shine. He couldn’t help but grin as he nodded.

“You look beautiful in anything.”

Song Yu blushed bright red and coughed. With a wave, the sweater was in his space and he silently ignored the compliment.

Lan Zhou smirked as he looked for more clothes that would suit Song Yu.

Although the racks were cleaned out, the storage in the back hadn’t been touched very much. It seems that the people who came before didn’t have a space ability user. Song Yu swept the store clean and they moved to another high-so department store.

It was midday before they took a break and reconvened at the car. Everyone showed off what they got. Lu Jingxiu was the most tired since he didn’t have a space ability user with him. They had lunch and decided to go into two groups instead of three. Lu Jingxiu was happy to not have to carry everything he found.