Chapter 13: Comparisons Are Odious

"K"? What kind of ridiculous name is that?

The head of the Nan family couldn't make heads or tails of it and wanted to ask further, but before he could finish typing, a notification popped up: the chat program had just been destroyed.

Damn it.

He realized at once that he had been played by that so-called K again.

With a loud bang, he slammed his fist hard on the table, his face twisted with rage. "That damned 'K'! If I ever see him again, I'll make sure he pays dearly!"

The minister standing beside him could only shrug helplessly at his outburst. Forget about making K pay—right now, even catching a glimpse of him was harder than reaching the heavens.

Leaving the furious patriarch to one side, the minister turned back to his frantic subordinates, resuming the task of reinforcing the firewall that had been utterly obliterated and tallying up the losses from this attack.

On the other side, having wrapped up everything and communicated with the nine great families, Chao Xu leaned back in her chair, stretching lazily. With a cup of strawberry milk in hand, she sipped the chunks of fruit and mused quietly to herself.

Humans have an instinctive fear of the strong. If you become so powerful they can no longer grasp your limits, then when they try to make a move, they’ll proceed with extreme caution.

Most likely, after this game, the nine great families wouldn't dare make a reckless move against the Chao family—at least not in the short term.

If no one targeted the Chao family, she wouldn’t lose her house. She wouldn’t have to sleep on the streets.

That was something to be happy about.

She finished her strawberry milk in contentment, but then eyed the bank card on her desk, filled with money she’d just transferred over from those nine families, and found herself troubled.

She had reclaimed that sum, principal and interest, based on the Chao family’s losses this time.

But now that she’d gotten it back, she didn’t quite know what to do with it, and that gave her a headache.

Returning it was out of the question; she’d never return it in this lifetime.

Yet she had no desire to spend it either. Money, to her, was little more than waste paper.

The safest way to deal with it was to hand it over to the butler, but knowing how excitable the butler could be, he’d probably pester her with questions for ages once he saw the amount.

Getting questioned was a hassle, and she hated trouble.

Chao Xu held up the card, looking at it with distaste.

What on earth was she supposed to do with all this damned cash?

Alas, even having money could be a source of vexation.

Closing her laptop, Chao Xu sighed, then prepared to get into bed for a good night’s beauty sleep.

The furry little ball crept up to her curiously and asked, "Host, you’re not playing the game anymore?"

It had just watched her tapping away at the keyboard for ages and thought she really enjoyed that game.

"Oh, that," Chao Xu replied, tucking herself in and yawning. "I won, but the opponents were so stupid that winning was boring. I want to sleep now."

"I see," the furry ball replied, just about to discuss with Chao Xu how they might revive the Chao family from under the oppression of the nine great families when it saw her already fast asleep, wrapped up snugly in her quilt.

Words caught in its throat, the little creature could only look at her closed eyes and shake its head helplessly.

It had just heard that the host next door was completing their tasks at lightning speed.

Faced with a similar family crisis, the other host had solved one part in just two months and was expected to resolve everything within half a year at most.

Yet its own host was still hopelessly absorbed in games.

Truly, comparisons are odious.