Chapter 6: He's Actually This Wealthy!

The female ghost manager looked Chen Mu up and down. She conceded that he was intelligent and shrewd, but she could not bring herself to believe that he had the financial strength to purchase the Midnight Canteen.

Although the canteen was currently struggling and on the verge of bankruptcy, buying it would require tens of millions in underworld currency—a figure so astronomical it seemed impossible for a young man like him to possess. Was he trying to play her for a fool?

Chen Mu offered a mysterious smile. He touched the ring on his finger and slowly withdrew a stack of underworld currency. He was about to unleash his "monetary power." His ring held a secret connection to the Underworld Bank, where he had trillions in reserves at his complete disposal. In this apocalyptic world of ghosts and horrors, there was no such thing as being arrested for robbing the bank; whoever possessed the wealth owned it. That was precisely why Chen Mu had fought so desperately to seize those assets in the first place.

Seeing the thick stack of bills, the manager froze, then leaned in for a closer look. The currency was saturated with intense ghostly energy—it was authentic. That single stack alone was worth at least a hundred thousand. The fact that he could produce such a sum so casually meant he was truly wealthy. Seeing his calm demeanor, the manager finally believed that this man might actually be serious about the acquisition.

Her gaze toward Chen Mu shifted, taking on a complex nuance. Previously, his calmness and intelligence had earned her respect, but nothing more; she had expected their paths to diverge once the mission ended. Now, however, his intent to buy the canteen created a direct connection. The business had been failing, and the owner was so poor that even the manager’s salary had been in arrears for half a year, while the chefs and other staff hadn't been paid for months. The hundred thousand Chen Mu had just produced was more than she could earn in two years.

Her attitude transformed from icy indifference to a respectful, almost ingratiating humility. "Respected Mr. Chen, I am Li Xiaoxiao, the canteen manager. Please wait a moment while I fetch our boss." With that, she pulled out a chair for him, bowed deeply, and hurried away.

Silence fell over the private room. The ghost patron who had previously been badgering Chen Mu now looked extremely uneasy. The canteen was a low-end establishment, and the ghosts who frequented it were typically impoverished. Worried that a man with such immense wealth might pay to have his life snuffed out, the ghost trembled. He fished a long-cherished cigarette from his pocket and offered it to Chen Mu with a fawning expression.

"Mr. Chen, I’m just a low-life hoodlum. I hope you, being a person of great stature, can overlook my previous transgressions..."

"Get lost," Chen Mu said slowly. The ghost, as if granted a reprieve from death, scrambled away, apologizing profusely as he fled. Chen Mu had no intention of letting him off the hook; he simply lacked the strength to act right now and didn't want to corner the creature into a desperate, dangerous retaliation. Once he owned the canteen, he would simply have an employee finish the job and root out the problem permanently. As for Zhao Mengmeng, he had no intention of saving her. One should not return evil with kindness.

The other girls in the room were still in a state of disbelief. They were in a life-threatening, terrifying ghost mission where survival was a razor-thin margin—why did it feel like the genre had suddenly shifted for Chen Mu? The manager was fawning over him, and the aggressive ghost was terrified out of his wits. It was as if their roles had reversed, and Chen Mu was the true terror.

"Find a seat," Chen Mu said to the girls. "You won't be in any danger tonight." They were his classmates, and he held no grudges against them. They had been kind enough to let him copy their homework, and the class monitor, Ye Chuxue, had even stood up for him earlier. He wasn't a sadist who took pleasure in tormenting others. The girls sat near him, their eyes filled with gratitude and awe. To them, Chen Mu had become a mysterious, powerful figure—the kind that naturally commanded attention.

Five minutes later, the door opened. Li Xiaoxiao returned, accompanied by the owner of the Midnight Canteen. The boss wore a suit, a tie, and a hat, looking quite dapper—save for the fact that his head was nothing more than a bare, fleshless skull.

The skeletal boss stepped forward with an air of refinement. "Sir, I am the owner of the Midnight Canteen. Is it you who wishes to purchase my establishment?"

Chen Mu nodded. The skeletal boss immediately began his pitch, weaving a web of lies about the canteen’s "great location" and "untapped potential." As a reincarnator, Chen Mu knew that while the boss was a con artist, his words were ironically true. In his previous life, because no one had bought the place, the owner had struggled on. A year later, as the apocalypse worsened, the location had become prime real estate. With the addition of skilled chefs, the canteen had grown into a massive, legendary force known as the Midnight Hotel.

The Underworld Bank and the Midnight Hotel were the two supreme powers of this apocalyptic world. With its unique, exquisite dishes, the hotel had become a place that countless ghosts flocked to. It was the only place in the world where such delicacies could be found. Once, when the hotel held a promotion for a top-tier buffet, ten ghost-general-level entities had willingly acted as bodyguards just to secure a free meal. The hotel had treated those generals as mere disposable pawns, even sacrificing one in the process.

There was a popular saying among the survivors: if you could return to the start of the apocalypse, the one thing you would do, even if it meant losing everything you owned, was to buy the Midnight Canteen.