Tears brimmed in the youth’s eyes as he gave a faint nod.
He seemed utterly coerced—even as Lu Xiang took his hand, he flinched away on instinct.
Lu Xiang punched the accelerator again, but this time his mind was sharper than ever.
The man even reclaimed his poise, his long fingers drumming idly on the steering wheel.
The car pulled up at last before a gilded club, resplendent and extravagant.
Night had swallowed the sky completely, an inky void without a single twinkling star.
Yet the sprawling complex of buildings ahead blazed with eye-searing golden light.
The clock tower flanking it was sheathed in clear glass. On the hour, it emitted a hoarse, resonant toll.
No sooner had they stopped than a crisply attired attendant bowed low and swung open the door for their esteemed guest.
Jiang Rang had no idea what this place was. Wariness knotted in his chest, leaving him momentarily silent.
Yet that mild-mannered face still bore the feigned fragility and fear of crocodile tears.
His voice came out hoarse and soft. “Lu Xiang, where are we?”
Lu Xiang said nothing. The harsh glow from the buildings carved stark shadows across his cheek, lending his features an uncanny, flickering menace.
Jiang Rang pressed his lips together, sensing the man’s volatile mood with keen instinct.
Only after a long pause did a stifled chuckle escape.
Lu Xiang offered his hand, his usually bold and brazen expression now etched with a civility that chilled the blood.
“Jiang Jiang,” he said, “you’ll love it here.”
Jiang Rang’s brow furrowed in fleeting discomfort, his defenses on high alert. But he knew there was no backing out tonight.
Lu Xiang’s actions screamed obsession—he was in deep.
Jiang Rang understood all too well that tangling with a man like this was dancing on a razor’s edge, tasting blood with every step.
He could coast through life on Zhou Yichun’s dime, secure and pampered. But he refused to settle.
Why should he? Why should everyone else thrive while he groveled and flattered, scraping by with palms upturned, begging for handouts, chained in place?
No—he wanted those who’d once scorned him groveling at his feet, simpering and bowing with forced smiles.
And only Lu Xiang could make that happen.
~~~
The vast hall gleamed with creamy whites and burnished golds, its walls alive with elegant murals and intricate carvings. Dominating the center stood an immense Golden Tree.
Words were unnecessary—Jiang Rang’s gaze locked irresistibly onto that colossal Golden Tree.
Its radiant golden glow stabbed into his vision like needles. The floor encircling its base was carpeted in wafer-thin golden leaves.
Seeing the youth’s near-crippled gait, Lu Xiang’s gaze flickered faintly. His voice was soft and low, his black, slightly curly locks brushing his brow and lending him an air of seductive allure.
“Like it that much?”
Jiang Rang pursed his lips, barely holding onto the feigned pitiful look on his face.
Lu Xiang merely smiled. He clasped the youth’s hand firmly, guiding his White Bird into that chaotic, absurd world awash in gold with the languid poise of a man utterly in command.
Beyond the resplendent doors lay a rush of expensive cigarette smoke, perfume, and even the faint, metallic tang of blood.
Jiang Rang’s pupils contracted for a split second.
Before them stood tables of exorbitantly priced golden gambling tables, surrounded by countless elites in impeccable attire.
Some wore smug expressions of assured victory; others twisted their flushed faces in near-collapse.
They resembled nothing so much as grotesque monsters cloaked in human skin.
Jiang Rang took an instinctive step back, only for a strong arm to snake around his waist.
A low chuckle curled into his ear like drifting smoke rings.
“Don’t be scared.”
The man smiled. “This is paradise.”
“The paradise of the rich.”
Jiang Rang steadied his nerves—his adaptability had always been one of his strengths. Once that initial surge of fear ebbed, the whispers of “millions,” “tens of millions,” and “billions” tickling his ear sent thrilling shivers racing up his spine.
At that moment, a tuxedo-clad foreigner approached from ahead, rattling off a string of incomprehensible words at Lu Xiang. Jiang Rang couldn’t follow a bit of it and instinctively turned a dependent gaze to the man at his side.
Lu Xiang’s eyes narrowed in amusement. He nodded and fired back a couple of sentences.
The foreigner finally shifted his gaze to Jiang Rang and said something else to Lu Xiang.
Lu Xiang’s lips curved into a grin. He fixed the youth with a look, his shapely mouth moving slowly to murmur a low, melodic phrase: “Hij is mijn liefhebber.”
The foreigner broke into a laugh of sudden understanding before taking his leave.
Jiang Rang glanced between them in bewilderment. The cryptic exchange clearly left a sour taste; after all, they had plainly been talking about him.
He parted his lips to ask, but Lu Xiang beat him to it with a lazy smirk. “He was speaking Dutch.”
As he spoke, his eyes crinkled at the youth, his voice dropping. “He called you a beauty.”
Jiang Rang lowered his gaze and mustered a perfunctory smile, though his fingertips clenched tighter.
He knew full well Lu Xiang was feeding him a line.
For now, being strung along was a matter of his own shortcomings. All this knowledge and skill—he’d master it bit by bit and claim it for his own one day.
An attendant led them into a private box that resembled a transparent glass enclosure on all four sides.
Jiang Rang found it peculiar. Far from shielding them from prying eyes, the setup seemed to draw even more attention precisely because of their elevated status.
No sooner had they entered than Jiang Rang spotted several familiar faces.
Lu Xiang’s pack of cronies, including Chen Ming, whose face bore a sickly pallor.
Little Young Master Chen had clearly seen better days; his once-stylish blonde hair now resembled wilted weeds sprouting from his scalp.
The instant he laid eyes on Jiang Rang, a spark lit in Chen Ming’s gaze, his lips twitching as if to speak—but in the end, he held his tongue.
Spotting Lu Xiang with Jiang Rang in tow, the young masters swarmed over with sleazy grins. “Hey, hey! You must be Jiang Rang.”
They jabbered on: “Brother Lu’s totally into you. So, you two official yet?”
Jiang Rang’s smile grew strained, his helplessness against the barrage of nosy questions drawing his eyes instinctively to Lu Xiang.
Lu Xiang chuckled and strode over as if on cue, waving off the pack.
“Beat it, all of you.”
The cronies hooted and guffawed, scattering from Jiang Rang’s side.
Just then, a shapely attendant swept in bearing a gleaming golden tray.
Only up close did Jiang Rang make out its contents: a hefty deck of poker cards and a stack of high-denomination chips.
Lu Xiang settled Jiang Rang onto the dark leather sofa at one end.
One of the friends inched closer but stopped short of the man’s territory.
Grinning, he asked, “Brother Lu, what’s the game tonight?”
Lu Xiang flashed a cryptic smile, the sharp edge of a tiger tooth glinting between his lips.
“Tonight,” he said, “Jiang Jiang plays for me.”
Jiang Rang pursed his lips, on the verge of protest, only for the man’s hand to settle gently but firmly on his waist.
Lu Xiang murmured a soft reminder: “Your senior…”
The youth went quiet, schooling his features into perfect, seething submission.
The onlookers perked up when they heard that Jiang Rang—this obvious newbie—was going to play against them. They buzzed with excitement.
Someone teased, “Brother Lu, looks like you’re in for a big bleed tonight.”
Lu Xiang just smiled and said nothing.
Jiang Rang pursed his lips, his face a mask of trepidation, though his heart remained utterly unconcerned. After all, it wasn’t his money on the line if he lost.
The poker game kicked off quickly. Since the young man was a total novice, an attendant patiently explained the rules at his side.
Jiang Rang’s head swam as he listened; he wasn’t really paying attention.
Each round pitted two players against each other. A standard deck minus the jokers, three cards per player, winner determined by the best hand.
The stake for the first round: ten million.
Jiang Rang’s first card was the mighty ace.
At first, he didn’t think much of it. But whether it was sheer luck that night, his second card was another ace. And then the third.
In the blink of an eye, he’d won ten million.
Jiang Rang stared blankly for a moment. Then, as if on cue, attendants hauled in several cases of crimson bills and dumped them crudely onto the floor of the private box.
In an instant, the sheer density of those bills stabbed at his eyes. A prickling itch bloomed densely in his chest.
The second round began almost immediately.
This time, the stake was a jaw-dropping one hundred million.
His opponent was a young man who’d been lounging with casual arrogance moments before, but at the mention of a hundred million, his face tightened with raw tension.
Even for a trust-fund kid, that kind of money didn’t come easy.
They were playing way too high.
Jiang Rang drew his first card: a king.
His second: a queen. The young man’s hands were already shaking.
When the third card came down, sweat beaded finely on Jiang Rang’s forehead.
He flipped it over. His heart pounded deafeningly in his ears—a blinding ace.
For a split second, Jiang Rang nearly lost his composure. He blurted out, “Straight flush!”
One hundred million.
This time, the private box filled with countless gleaming gold bars, their harsh luster flashing everywhere.
Jiang Rang’s ears rang with a shrill, piercing whine.
The numbing itch assaulted his chest with savage intensity. He didn’t even notice when someone tenderly kissed the tip of his lips.
It was a long while before a low, seductive whisper slithered into his ear.
The Devil said, “Jiang Jiang, will you be with me? If you do, all this—and even more—will be yours.”
Jiang Rang felt as if his throat were clogged with glittering gold. His face flushed crimson, his eyes bursting with crimson veins, his expression twisting into something almost feral with greed.
He could no longer maintain his facade.
Laughter and jeers filled his ears.
Someone said, “Jiang Rang, just say yes to Brother Lu. Look how much he’s willing to spend on you.”
Another chimed in, “Yeah, this money’s all yours fair and square. You really gonna walk away from it?”
No!
Of course not!
But… but…
His reddened eyes clouded with confusion. He parted his lips, struggling to claw back a shred of reason.
The man gave him no chance to recover.
Lu Xiang smiled, his curly locks snaking down like serpents beside his ear. He spoke word by word: “Jiang Jiang, if you don’t want to be with me, that’s fine.”
“I’ll still give you all this money. Only…”
His smile turned eerie. “Jiang Jiang, take a look out the window. Do you really think they’ll let you walk out of here alone with all that cash?”
Alarm bells exploded in Jiang Rang’s mind.
He glanced outside on instinct.
What kind of eyes stared back?
Greedy, green-glowing eyes of jackals.
In that moment, Jiang Rang felt the visceral agony of being devoured by wolves.
His body went limp, his lips drained of color. Cold sweat trickled down his refined, porcelain-pale cheeks.
“Jiang Jiang, have you decided?”
The man’s voice, laced with barely suppressed manic glee, strained for gentleness.
“If you have, come kiss your husband.”
All strength drained from Jiang Rang’s body in a rush. The shell of him slipped from his control entirely.
The beautiful White Bird took heavy, greedy, pathological steps, casting aside every scheme and stratagem, and walked straight into that opulent, gilded cage.
Jiang Rang had no idea what entranced expression crossed his face. His mind and reason brimmed with gold and bills, leaving no room for a single extraneous thought.
The young man collapsed onto the man’s long legs. His arms trembled as he wrapped them around the figure who seemed forged from money itself. In his lovely, downturned eyes burned a spiderweb of scarlet desire.
He leaned close to the man’s beautiful lips, nibbling and sucking at them, lost in the indulgence.
Lu Xiang lowered his eyes and slowly smiled.
He pressed forward to wrap his arms around the youth’s slender waist, kissing back with explosive ferocity, devouring him like a savage bite.
Tonight, they plunged together into the endless hell woven from money and power.
![How Should an Ordinary Person Role-Play? [Quick Transmigration]](https://i3.wp.com/dobynovels.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/qck.jpg?resize=151,215 "How Should an Ordinary Person Role-Play? [Quick Transmigration]")
