Yellow Goose City, City Hall.

"Sir, this is the location of the city’s granary. There are 100 government troops stationed there, including one Ascender. His details are all in this file." The mayor of Yellow Goose City respectfully handed over a file. He had already been brainwashed.

Sitting in the mayor’s office chair, Zhou Chen took the file and began to flip through it. Without looking up, he asked, "Have the numbers and funds been tallied?"

"They have, sir. In Yellow Goose City, about 700,000 citizens have bank cards. Based on the accessible bank deposits, each person can receive about 16,000 North Carolina coins, which is roughly 200 US Dollars. That’s the total annual income for most of the lower class," the mayor of Yellow Goose City replied.

"I understand. Await my orders."

Zhou Chen nodded, casually tossed the file onto the desk, stood up, and strode out of the mayor’s office.

A dozen or so minutes later, he appeared at the Yellow Goose City granary and brainwashed all the troops stationed there.

"How much grain is stored in the granary?"

In an office, Zhou Chen questioned the granary director.

"Enough for everyone in Yellow Goose City to eat for nearly a month. However, this grain was just delivered by the government a few days ago. It’s military rations, and it’s scheduled to be sent to the front-line troops in a few days," the granary director answered truthfully.

"How many days, exactly?"

"That... I’m not entirely sure." The granary director thought for a moment. "Yellow Goose City is still some distance from the front lines. There are three cities ahead of us, so the army will definitely requisition grain from those three first. By the time it’s Yellow Goose City’s turn... it should be seven or eight days, I’d say. Of course, that also depends on the situation at the front."

"Alright, I understand. Await my orders."

After brainwashing the personnel from the Yellow Goose City government and the granary, Zhou Chen had them maintain normal operations and await his instructions.

After that, Zhou Chen left Yellow Goose City and went to another city not far away.

He pulled the same trick, brainwashing the city hall and granary staff there.

And then, the next city.

Excluding the Capital and the first-tier cities, there were a total of twenty-one Poverty Cities of various sizes currently under the North Carolina Government’s rule. Zhou Chen had to visit all of them in the shortest time possible to lay the groundwork for the next phase of his plan.

This was bound to be a massive undertaking. It required traversing nearly the entire map of North Carolina from west to east. On two legs alone, there was no telling how long it would take. Fortunately, Zhou Chen had recently obtained the Magic Wand. Although the range of "Great Transformation of Living People," an Instant Movement-type Skill, was shorter than "Flame Teleportation," using it wouldn’t expose his identity.

With the Instant Teleportation Skill, Zhou Chen’s travel time was drastically reduced.

He worked tirelessly for 41 hours, finally visiting all twenty-one Poverty Cities and brainwashing all the necessary personnel.

In the last city, Zhou Chen composed a text message and sent it.

—Phase one of the plan. Begin execution.

·

「The next morning.」

A true-blue member of the underclass, Luther Danell, opened his eyes. The first thing that came to mind was, ’I still have 1,500 pieces of clothing to make today.’

A shadow instantly fell over his heart. His mood turned bitter and dejected, completely devoid of motivation. ’How much longer will these grueling, endless, day-in-and-day-out struggles last? Not only is there no end in sight, but there’s not a single shred of hope. Every day is just torture.’

After suffering in bed for a few seconds, Luther habitually picked up the second-hand phone from his bedside table, wanting to see what news broke last night.

But a text message caught his attention.

[Bank card ending in 7894 credited with 16,710 North Carolina coins. Current balance: 16,833.4 North Carolina coins.]

’What the hell?!’

Luther shot up, quickly rubbing the sleep from his eyes, thinking he must have misread it in his half-awake daze.

He checked it again and again, his expression gradually shifting to one of disbelief.

’Is this... the legendary mistaken bank transfer?!’

Staring at the "astronomical figure" he had never seen before, Luther’s heart pounded with excitement. A wave of greed instantly swallowed his reason. This much money was more than his total income for an entire year. Some idiot must have transferred it to the wrong account, letting him stumble upon a huge windfall.

’There’s no way I’m giving it back. Once it’s in my hands, why would I spit it back out? This was clearly caused by their own mistake. They’re the ones who should pay for it.’

’I have to spend this money, and fast. First, I’ll buy some new clothes, then some food, then have a nice meal at a restaurant, and tonight I’ll go have some real fun... No, I can’t wait until tonight, I have to act now.’ Luther immediately started dressing. He was so excited that he accidentally banged his knee on the bedside table getting out of bed, but in his euphoric state, he barely felt the pain.

’Faster!’

’If the sender realizes their mistake and tells the bank to recall the money, I’ll miss out on this pie that fell from the sky!’

’Even spending just one North Carolina coin is a win!’

It seemed luck was on Luther’s side.

An hour passed, and the "idiot" still hadn’t canceled the mistaken transfer. Meanwhile, Luther had already spent a third of the money on a shopping spree.

He returned home carrying bags of all sizes, catching the attention of his parents, who were about to leave for work.

"My God, Luther, are you insane? Where did you get the money?" Luther’s mother exclaimed, her face instantly souring. ’How much could all this have cost?’

"Shh, keep your voice down." Luther made a hushing gesture, then pulled out his phone to show his parents his bank balance, excitedly explaining what had happened.