Chapter 329: New Task: Death's Abacus!

Six o'clock in the morning in London.

It hasn't fully brightened yet.

A thin layer of mist hangs over the surface of the Thames River.

The river water ripples with lead-gray waves under the gray-blue light.

The Victorian architecture on both banks is reduced to mere blurred outlines in the mist, like a Chinese ink wash painting set aside halfway through with wet ink.

The spire of Big Ben pierces out from the mist.

The hands on the clock face have just pointed to six.

The chime announcing the hour rolls heavily and slowly over the entire city, beat by beat, as if reminding the people of this city that today's life is about to begin.

In a top-floor suite of an old-fashioned hotel near Piccadilly.

A complete English breakfast is set on the cart in front.

On the white porcelain plate are two poached eggs, the surface of the yolks trembling slightly; with a gentle poke from the tip of a fork, the golden egg liquid slowly flows down, covering the toasted, crispy muffin.

Beside it are two strips of smoked bacon with curled edges, the fatty parts appearing translucent under the light, emitting the aroma of oak smoke.

Black pudding is sliced into thick pieces, fried until crispy on both sides, and laid along the edge of the plate with sautéed mushrooms.

On the top layer of the cart is a pot of freshly brewed Assam black tea, the color of the tea soup as deep as amber, carrying a scent of mixed malt and citrus as it is poured from the spout.

The refinement of an English breakfast and its taste do not seem to match.

And that is exactly the case.

Leaning against the back of the chair, Chu Chen holds a teacup in one hand and a hotel phone in the other, his thumb sliding slowly across the screen.

After yesterday's performance, Chu Chen's Weibo followers have broken through 100 million!

When seeing this number, he was also stunned for a moment; Chu Chen never dreamed that his rate of gaining followers would be so terrifying!

On the Weibo trending list, the two characters "Chu Chen" occupy the top spot, followed by a purple-red "Explosive" tag.

The read count for this entry has already exceeded 30 billion, with over 100 million discussions!

He clicked in to take a look; the pinned Weibo post had over 20 million reposts, and the content was a fifteen-second video!

The frame of him spreading his arms and falling backward from the rooftop of the Bloomsbury Building was cut into a GIF, accompanied by a line of text: "I give this curtain call 10,000 points."

The most-liked comment in the section read: "Is this the legendary palm technique that descends from the sky?"

The second most-liked read: "English breakfast doesn't taste this authentic."

This person's attached image was an empty plate with nothing on it, but everyone understood—they were talking about the display cases of the British Museum.

Scrolling down, there were even more outrageous ones.

"I would like to call Chu Chen's operation tonight—the largest-scale purchasing agent in human history."

"British Museum: Where is my Rosetta Stone that was so big? Where is it?"

"Nigeria: Are you there, sis? Help me bring one back too."

Chu Chen looked at these comments without laughing out loud.

But if a third person were present, they would certainly be able to see that calm, almost gentle light in his eyes.

That was not the look of a criminal watching the public's reaction to what he had done; it was more like the expression of a chef who sneaks into the dining hall after serving a dish, standing in a corner watching the guests eat the food he made—whether the dish is good or not is seen in the silence and the speed of clearing the plate, not in the screaming and applause.

He began to scroll through his private messages.

The Weibo private message list had already turned into a bottomless black hole.

The read rate was only zero point something percent, because he truly couldn't get through them all.

"Buzz, buzz, buzz!"

Just at this moment, another new private message was sent over!

The sender's avatar was a logo with a blue-green company emblem printed on a beige background—at first glance, it looked like the badge of some high-end medical institution.

The ID was "Sally White," and the verification information read: Executive Assistant to the CEO of UnitedHealth Group, United States.

The content of the private message was not long:

"Mr. Chu Chen, sorry to bother you. I am the executive assistant to Mr. Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealth Group in the United States. Mr. Thompson watched your performance in London last night and was deeply shocked by your artistic attainments. We are preparing for our annual group gala to be held at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York next month and sincerely invite you to come and perform a magic show for this event. We welcome communication via email or video regarding specific details. Awaiting your good news—Sally."

UnitedHealth Group, this is a giant in the global insurance industry, having business dealings with many large financial groups, and their CEO and founder, Brian, is even called the next global richest person by many media outlets.

Just as Chu Chen was thinking about this, the system's notification sound actually rang out!

【Ding!】

【You have a new task, please pay attention to check it!】

A new task?

Upon hearing this, Chu Chen didn't even think; he directly put down the tablet and summoned the system!

The next second, the deep blue task interface unfolded before his eyes bit by bit.

The white text appeared slowly, stroke by stroke, as if floating up from the bottom of extremely deep water:

【Task Name: Death's Abacus!】

【Task Time Limit】: 30 days!

【Task Type】: Main Quest!

【Task Content】:

1. During the UnitedHealth annual gala, on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House, transfer the balance of the bank cards under the name of the target person, Brian, to the accounts of those clients who were refused compensation by the company.

2. All clients who were refused insurance compensation must come to the scene to watch this performance!

3. In the center of the stage, under the eyes of the world, count the money bag that the giant whale has fed with the flesh and blood of the innocent, and then return it grain by grain to its true owners.

【Task Reward】: Unknown!

【Failure Penalty】: All statuses and active skills disabled for 7 days!

Chu Chen stared at these lines of text on the screen for about ten seconds.

"The Death's Abacus."

Chu Chen silently recited this name once.

Isn't this the magic trick from the movie Now You See Me?

It seems that whether in reality or in movies, insurance companies are never good things.

Especially those giants.

On the surface, they all look fine, but in reality, they are all exploiting loopholes in the rules to suck the blood of the poor.

United Insurance!

The leading giant of the United States insurance industry.

Just last year alone, this company brought in tens of billions of US dollars.

The underlying logic of the insurance business is very simple.

To put it plainly, it is everyone pooling money together to share risks.

You pay a little, I pay a little, and it forms a pool.

Whoever is truly unlucky and has an accident takes money from the pool to cover the bottom.

Insurance companies earn the intermediate operating fees and service fees; if this account is calculated clearly, it is good for everyone.

But United Insurance, because it possesses professional assessment teams and legal teams, is very adept at utilizing loopholes in rules and logic, causing many policyholders who should have received compensation to end up not getting their insurance payouts!

Examples like this are too numerous to count.

Their tens of billions in annual profits come exactly from this.

Pushing the people who need life-saving money the most off the edge of a cliff, and then standing on the cliff top counting banknotes themselves!

Thinking of this, Chu Chen decisively closed the system, then picked up his clothes, left the room, and prepared to fly directly to the United States immediately!