AMRWFA -Chapter 199 Congratulations, You’ve Won the Prize

“Of course it’s true. Why else would you be investigating this?” Xu Nannan rolled her eyes at him, telling him to fend for himself.

She, at least, was much luckier. Although she had already come into contact with Ma Aotian, it had only been recently—he hadn’t had time to target her yet.

Xu Hongye, however, was different. He had known Ma Aotian for a long time. He would show up whenever called, obedient beyond belief.

This wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

Xu Hongye felt like crying.

He regretted it.

He really, really regretted it.

Wuwuwuwu…

Why did he have to be so cheap and tell people he was a rich second-generation heir? Now look—he’s been targeted.

“Congratulations. You’ve won the prize.”

An elderly man in a white lab coat smiled kindly.

Xu Hongye immediately panicked. “What?! I really got cursed by a Gu?! Then… then how long do I have left to live?”

“What do you mean, how long do you have left?” the old man asked in confusion. “You’re just infected with a Gu, not poisoned with a lethal toxin. Don’t worry, your Gu is still in a dormant state—it hasn’t been activated yet. Dormant Gu like this are very easy to deal with. We can just remove it with surgery.”

“On the other hand, activated Gu are much more troublesome. Once they’re active, they move around. If we make an incision here, it runs there. If we cut there, it shifts somewhere else…”

That terrifying?!

Xu Hongye’s eyes widened. For a moment, he didn’t know whether to be relieved that his Gu hadn’t been activated—or horrified that Gu could even do that.

Wuwuwu…

Help!

No matter how he looked at it, it was all terrifying!

Not long after, Xu Hongye met another “unlucky victim” whose Gu had already been activated—Hao Xuwei.

Xu Hongye thought blankly: Should I feel comforted by this?

The national team truly wasn’t just for show. After deciding to study the Gu techniques in Bai Ling’er’s body, they actually managed to discover some useful methods.

For example—how to extract Xu Hongye’s Gu without activating it.

While the extraction was being prepared, Ma Aotian remained completely unaware.

He only felt slightly puzzled—why hadn’t this little brother answered his calls after going home?

Eventually, the call finally got through, and what came through the phone was Xu Hongye’s tearful, pitiful voice: “Wuwuwu… Brother Aotian, save me! My mom has locked me up!”

“What? Your mom locked you up? You’re already an adult—why would she do that?”

“I spent too much money. She thinks I’m messing around outside.”

Ma Aotian didn’t quite know how to respond, because he really had spent a lot of Xu Hongye’s money—anywhere from tens of thousands to even millions per month.

Over time, no one even knew the total. All the funds for his recruitment efforts had come from Xu Hongye.

Thinking about it, he did feel a bit guilty toward his brother. He had promised to help him “get rich together,” but ended up just spending money recklessly and forgot to give his own mother an explanation.

At the same time, Ma Aotian also muttered inwardly that the Xu family was stingy. They were so wealthy—what he spent was just a drop in the ocean. Was it really necessary?

“Achoo…”

At that moment, Ruan Yaoyao sneezed.

If she knew what Ma Aotian was thinking, she would definitely reply: Of course it matters. No matter how rich my family is, it’s still mine—not for my son to be taken advantage of.

Ma Aotian had many subordinates. The earliest batch were, needless to say, street thugs—a ragtag group built with money.

Later on, however, things got more serious.

With that ragtag base, he could contact higher-level people—using women, money, or so-called “charisma.” But that was all nonsense. Anyone with a clear mind could see what was really going on.

Of course, there were also people controlled by his Gu.

What puzzled them was: where exactly did his Gu come from?

They investigated thoroughly but found no connection between him and Bai Ling’er. Nor did anyone else around him appear to use Gu. Could it be that he refined it himself?

“Impossible!” Ru Anzhi said firmly. “We’ve checked his background. He’s completely ordinary. There’s no way he could have come into contact with this kind of thing.”

His father had dropped out after primary school and never achieved anything significant. That was why his mother left a few years after giving birth.

Because of this, Ma Aotian’s father constantly spoke badly about his mother, calling her a gold-digger who left because he was poor.

Young Ma Aotian believed it. In his eyes, his mother was a terrible person.

So when he grew up and found her, he tricked her into giving him money—using her to support him.

To be fair, his mother wasn’t a saint, but she wasn’t exactly a villain either.

After leaving his father, she worked hard, later remarried, and had two more children.

If not for Ma Aotian, she would have just remained an ordinary migrant worker. It was only because of him that she entered the public eye and was thoroughly investigated.

“So what you’re saying is that before meeting the fifth son, Ma Aotian was just a bitter, unemployed loser—cursing the world online and bullying a few honest people in real life. Then suddenly, one day, he developed ‘charisma,’ started forming connections everywhere, pulling in allies, making money out of thin air, and recruiting people?” Ruan Yaoyao summarized.

【This feels familiar.】

【Isn’t this basically a male protagonist in a novel?】

【An ordinary guy with flaws but secretly convinced he’s special. Then one day he gets a cheat ability—like X-ray vision, treasure-hunting pets, or lucky aura—and suddenly everything turns around.】

Ru Anzhi felt his mother summarized it perfectly. If not for her being a living “cheat code” herself, they wouldn’t dare believe Ma Aotian was one.

Otherwise, how could a nobody like him suddenly become so “charismatic,” with people willingly throwing money at him?

Their investigation showed it all started with something small. A gangster got into trouble and was nearly beaten to death—Ma Aotian “saved” him.

That man then pledged loyalty and became his subordinate.

Ma Aotian was generous with money, so that man recruited others. Soon, wherever Ma Aotian went, accidents would conveniently occur, giving him chances to “act heroic.”

Sometimes a wallet would fall from above and he’d return it to meet a “rich person.” Sometimes a flowerpot would fall and he’d push someone out of the way—becoming a lifesaver. Sometimes he’d rescue a wealthy woman being harassed…

Even when a woman with bodyguards was harassed, the thug just happened to be his enemy, and he was already going to deal with him anyway.

Everything lined up perfectly—too perfectly.

The higher-ups now strongly suspected Ma Aotian had something unusual about him, but they didn’t know what. So, for safety, they decided to let Ruan Yaoyao observe him secretly first.

Why secretly?

Because they were afraid his “cheat ability” was too strong—and that Ruan Yaoyao might not be able to handle it.

After all, the entire Xu family had already “fallen” at his hands. They weren’t sure whether Ruan Yaoyao’s own “cheat ability” came later—or earlier.