Chapter 25 Chapter 25: Low-Grade Pyramid Scheme
The two of them kept walking all the way to the outermost edge, practically outside the plaza, before finally reaching their destination.
There was a tent here as well—so remote that it was even set up under the shade of trees.
The tent had the words “Esports Entertainment Club” pasted on it. Beneath it was only a single desk and one person, sitting behind the desk and playing on his phone.
This could truly be called shabby. Even the model club had at least displayed a few plastic toys, but this club seemed to have brought nothing more than a single person—and not even a particularly handsome one.
As soon as the fat guy walked over, he slapped the desk hard twice. The force was so great that Shu Yuxin, following behind, worried he might smash the rickety table apart. The two slaps startled the guy playing on his phone, making him jolt. Once he had successfully gotten his attention, the fat guy spoke in that same half-serious, half-ruffian tone, sounding displeased:
“I told you to come help watch the booth, and this is how you do it? With you guarding it like this, it’d be a miracle if anyone came over.”
The guy hadn’t noticed Shu Yuxin standing behind the fat guy—his bulk blocked the view too well—so he snapped back at him:
“Damn, you blaming me now? It’s the weekend, man. I already did you a favor by watching this place for half an hour, okay? With a broken-down tent like this and just a club name slapped on it, do you really think anyone would be interested? Don’t you have any self-awareness?”
“I do,” the fat guy replied. “I just found one.”
As if to prove it, he stepped aside, exposing Shu Yuxin to the other guy’s view.
The guy’s phone clattered onto the desk. “Holy shit!”
“Who the hell are you swearing at? Watch your language—we’re a civilized society now,” the fat guy said very seriously. Then he turned to Shu Yuxin and introduced, “Let me introduce you. This skinny guy is Guan Di. You can call him Old Guan. He’s the second-in-command of our club.”
“Come on, our club barely has any people to begin with,” Guan Di said, snapping out of his shock. He scratched his head, picked up his phone, and asked, “Hey, miss, are you thinking about joining our club?”
Shu Yuxin hesitated for a moment. “I’m a bit interested… I heard your club has a lot of games to play?”
“Of course, of course! Our club might not have much else, but we’ve got tons of games,” Guan Di said as he stood up, one hand bracing the desk while the other waved in the air, like a low-tier pyramid scheme salesman giving a pitch. “Listen here, miss—if you join our club, we’ve got all kinds of games. As long as someone’s interested, we can pool money to buy them. And besides computers, we’ve got PS too—you know PS, right? PlayStation, Sony’s console, the one you play with controllers. We’ve got Xbox as well, though the game selection isn’t great. The club president even contributed several Switches. If you’re interested, you can play those freely too. What are you waiting for? Fill out this form and you’ll be one of us!”
As he spoke, Guan Di pulled out a membership application form from the desk and slapped it down.
Shu Yuxin was a bit overwhelmed.
The fat guy wiped the sweat from his forehead and walked over to her. “Let me explain our situation first. Our club doesn’t have many people—that’s true. At most, just over fifty, and a bunch of fourth-years are planning to withdraw this year. Also, all that PC and PS stuff we mentioned isn’t on campus. The university’s club activity building has been under renovation since last year, and only a few rooms are still usable. Small clubs like ours can’t get one. Our activity room is currently over at Minghai University. When we do activities or play games, we go there. The facilities over there are good, but it’s a bit far—we have to go there and come back every time. And sometimes, if the neighboring school is being strict, we can’t even use their activity room and just have to wait…”
Before he could finish, Guan Di dragged him aside. A skinny guy trying to pull a fat guy was clearly a struggle—Old Guan dragged him five or six meters, his face turning red with effort.
“Kai, can you at least get her to join first before saying all that?”
“Why?”
“Aren’t you afraid she’ll just leave? Who starts off by telling someone we don’t even have an activity room?”
“If she leaves, she leaves,” the fat guy said indifferently.
Old Guan took a couple of deep breaths, looking like he wanted to beat iron into steel. “Can you have a little ambition? This is a girl, man—a once-in-a-thousand-years kind of girl. You’re really okay with just letting her go like that?”
“So what do you want? Trick her into joining first, then have her cause trouble later if she’s unhappy? You want our club to completely fall apart or what?” The fat guy scratched his belly and shot him a baffled look. “Just think about it. We’re not a pyramid scheme. And what’s so special about a girl anyway? Aren’t your 2D wives enough for you?”
Old Guan smiled politely. “Screw you.”
“Back at ya,” the fat guy replied courteously.
After that exchange, the fat guy returned to Shu Yuxin. “You don’t need to rush your decision. You can join a club anytime. If you’re interested, we can take you to see our activity room today. Honestly, I think the conditions over there are pretty good.”
“Your activity room is at Minghai University?” Shu Yuxin thought for a moment and suddenly asked.
The fat guy nodded.
“How did you apply for an activity room at Minghai University?”
“There’s no way we could apply for one ourselves,” he said. “We’re working together with a club over there. They’ve also got an ‘Esports Entertainment Club.’ The two clubs are basically together. There aren’t many of us to begin with, and buying games and equipment all comes out of our own pockets. Doing it together reduces the pressure.”
Shu Yuxin froze. “Does everyone have to pay? …Ah, it’s not that I don’t want to pay. It’s just that if it’s a lot, I won’t be able to. My family situation isn’t very good.”
“We’ve thought about that too. And it’s not like we’re buying games or equipment all the time. It’s just ten or twenty yuan a month. That’s about the same as normal club fees.”
Shu Yuxin let out a sigh of relief.
“Shu Yuxin!” A girl’s voice suddenly came from behind. Peng Xiaoxiao waved as she ran over. “I finally found you! You didn’t even tell me before wandering off!”
Shu Yuxin smiled apologetically. “You looked like you were having a great chat, so I thought I’d walk around by myself.”
“What club is this? Esports Entertainment Club? Playing games?” Peng Xiaoxiao stopped beside Shu Yuxin and looked up at the shabby tent.
Guan Di nodded, about to start his sales pitch again, when another voice drifted over:
“Damn it, Kai, seriously? Stealing members like this is a bit shameless, don’t you think?”
Everyone turned to look and saw that the speaker was the same chubby guy from the model club earlier. He was walking straight toward them, wearing an expression full of frustration.
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