Universe Infinite Canteen

Shen Yue had only gone to bed at three in the morning last night, and being woken up early had left her feeling rather irritable.

But as soon as she heard Ma Lu's ominous voice on the other end of the phone, she instantly snapped awake.

"Shen Yue, what are you doing?"

"I... I just woke up, Boss Ma," Shen Yue shivered as Ma Lu addressed her by her full name, managing a servile smile.

"You're still asleep at this hour?"

"I, I was rushing that PPT for you last night, worked on it till over three, aiming for 'Pursuing Perfection'." Shen Yue lied without even skipping a breath.

"Bullshit!" Ma Lu snapped angrily, "Shen Yue, be honest with me, who the hell did you subcontract the task of making the presentation to?"

"Ah," realizing she could no longer conceal the truth, Shen Yue had to confess, "Yesterday I went to support that male star, what's his name, Jin Xiuxian, with Azhen. We waited at the airport till the early hours to see the guy, and honestly, he's nowhere near as handsome as you, Boss Ma, let alone his... aura."

"Don't kiss up to me, just get to the point."

"Right, right." Shen Yue, hearing that Ma Lu was genuinely angry, didn't dare lie and spilled everything.

"I honestly didn't have the time, so I found four freshmen to help out with it, but I did pay them, what, was the presentation not good? I'll go and give them a strict talking to right now!"

"How much did you pay them?"

"Um..."

"How much?" Ma Lu raised his voice.

"Um... 50."

"50 per person?"

"All four together, 50." Shen Yue murmured.

"......"

After she finished, realizing there had been no response for a while, she timidly added, "Actually, I... I didn't give them any Star Currency, just, just treated them to four cups of milk tea, and, I used a Meituan voucher to save 9."

Ma Lu was amused despite his anger, "I never realized you were so good at getting by."

"Ah, don't get mad at us poor sods, Boss Ma, it's not worth ruining your health over it. I'll get right up and write another one for you that'll be good enough to publish as an academic paper."

"No need, I'm already in the Classroom."

Shen Yue clearly knew she had screwed up this time and hastily said, "Then, the two thousand, I'll pay you back, Boss Ma, and if you're not satisfied, I can compensate you threefold."

"Do you think I care about your six thousand?" Ma Lu snorted.

"Then I'll go to the restaurant tomorrow, ah no, this afternoon, to apologize."

"Forget it," Ma Lu then changed his tone, "Your shamelessness has already surpassed human limits, but you're in luck this time, as it happens, I have use for you."

"Ah, are you planning to exploit my 'shamelessness', Boss Ma?"

"Mm, have you been short on money recently?"

"Er," hearing Ma Lu ask this, Shen Yue didn't dare to be flippant anymore and cautiously said, "Not... not that short, really."

"It's not what you're thinking, I want you to use your shamelessness to help me scam a group of online fraudsters."

"Ah?"

"Don't worry, they're all my students, just silly foreigners. Although they've learned Chinese and pretend to be Chinese, they're actually very easy to trick. They're completely a flock of sheep, and they absolutely won't call the cops if they're conned, so you're not breaking the law either."

"This… doesn't feel right," Shen Yue was somewhat tempted, "Let's not cause international issues on my account."

"If you're scared, just transfer the money you swindle to me. I'll give you a reward based on the amount."

"Is there such a good deal?" Shen Yue was excited, "I've always felt that the biggest obstacle to my getting rich quick was the criminal law. Thank you, Boss Ma, for clearing this obstacle for me and unleashing my true nature."

"Hey, what are you saying? I didn't incite you to break the law, remember that. Our scam is completely legal, aiming to help my students develop anti-fraud awareness."

After hanging up the phone, Ma Lu returned to the classroom. The students, who had finally quieted down, were now rowdy and horsing around again, some tossing around the prop heads of the "fries people."

Ma Lu was displeased, "We're in class, not one of you has any sense of classroom discipline. This is the worst class I've ever taught."

"Mr. Ma, I've looked through your course materials, and I've already memorized them."

The speaker was a fourteen or fifteen-year-old boy sitting in the front row, a Baldy with scars on his head.

"Hmm? You went through my computer while I was away?"

"No, Mr. Ma, I read minds. After you left, I searched Baidu Baike and already self-studied this class in advance," the boy grinned.

"The knowledge points are indeed those knowledge points, but do you think that by memorizing them, you won't get scammed?" Ma Lu said with a stern face.

Although the mind-reading boy didn't answer, the confident smile on his face clearly showed his true thoughts.

After a pause, he added, "I know that you've also brought in someone named Shen Yue to con us, but now that we know her name, she's not to be feared."

Ma Lu shook his head, "You're underestimating her."

The fries people disagreed, "She's only one person, while we are many. Doesn't your Earth also have a saying, 'Three Zhuge Liangs make up a good cobbler'?"

"Cough, cough, you've got it backward, it's 'Three cobblers make a Zhuge Liang,'" Xiao Jian Country, holding a chicken, corrected, "You guys didn't do well in your idioms class, did you?"

Then he said to Ma Lu, "Don't worry, Mr. Ma, we're all adults. We've lived in The Grand Alliance before. It's just because we're not very familiar with the customs of the new plane, so we need training. But it won't be easy to trick us."

"Right, right," the other students chimed in.

"Everyone who's been conned online has thought the same before being tricked," Ma Lu said, "But since you're so confident, fine. Let's see how many of you will be conned in the coming month."

"Give me your names and phone numbers. This kind of information is bound to be leaked online sooner or later; it's not a secret."

Everyone agreed without objections.

Not having to teach would actually be a relief for Ma Lu, and he had made peace with it. Preventing fraud, he realized, is hard to achieve through theory alone.

Even if he talked until he was blue in the face, those who would be conned would still be conned; some even couldn't be pulled back by the police, adamant to transfer money to criminals.

So, if they really wanted to learn a lesson, it might be better to let them be conned solidly.

Following that, Ma Lu took out hams and dried vegetables from a cardboard box and started selling them on the spot, making about 1762 Star Currency, more than his teaching salary.

These newcomers really had money. Some, happy with the taste, ordered several hundred pounds more, earning Ma Lu another 7000 Star Currency.

Just for this income, the trip was worth it for Ma Lu.

Later, Ma Lu chatted with them for a while, mainly to understand the current situation in The Grand Alliance and to inquire again about the feats of the "ψ chef." When class was over, he drove back to the restaurant.

Ma Lu originally thought that Shen Yue and these newcomers' battle of wits and fraud would take a week or two to see a result, but on the third day, the City Manager showed up.