Chapter 57 Part 1

The Resurgence Management Office never imagined they could capture the fugitives Mu Feng and Ma O so easily.

Earlier, Xue Hengfu had thought those two had entered some weird nest and could never escape.

He had felt a bit nervous climbing the stairs.

After all, this was their first time sharing a sealed space with a weird entity.

Fortunately, the elevator arrived quickly. As soon as the doors opened, Xue Hengfu quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

When Bo Ting pulled out his key and they followed his gaze, they saw the scene in the living room.

Two humanoid creatures were tied to chairs. Though they looked disheveled and unconscious, they were clearly still breathing.

This was far better than they had anticipated!

After opening the door, Bo Ting turned his head with some embarrassment and pursed his lips slightly.

“Um, the house is a bit messy.”

“Give me a moment, and I’ll hand them over to you.”

A few minutes later.

Xue Hengfu and the captain flanked the two fugitives, one on each side, as they bid a complicated farewell to the man opposite them.

“This should be enough, right?”

Bo Ting looked over through the shark head hood.

He prayed inwardly that they wouldn’t bring up the house reclamation for now.

The members of the Sixth Esper Squad were frantically praying that Bo Ting wouldn’t ask any more questions.

Their eyes met, and Xue Hengfu snapped back to attention with a jolt.

“Uh, yeah, that’s good.”

“We’ll take them back for interrogation now.”

“Thank you, Mr. Bo, for contributing to Mengjia City’s safety.”

Considering the man’s identity, Xue Hengfu’s face twisted as he said this, but he forced the words out.

Bo Ting didn’t detect any politeness in it and even nodded.

“It’s what I should do.”

With a light cough, Si Ning confirmed in the shadows that both were fine before taking over.

“Then we’ll be off.”

“Carry on, Mr. Bo.”

The Resurgence Management Office personnel quickly left with the two fugitives.

Bo Ting stood at the door, wondering if he should offer to escort them.

But he saw the two staff members leave in a hurry as soon as the elevator stopped, so fast that he didn’t even get to say polite words.

“So busy?”

That made sense.

From the sound of it, Mu Feng and Ma O were notorious villains, so they were probably eager to get back and investigate.

Bo Ting nodded, convincing himself.

After closing the door, he began pondering the decision he had made on the road.

—So, how should he lure out that impostor “evil god,” the Copper Splitter, and report it?

Bo Ting thought thoughtfully.

He picked up his phone and immediately messaged Upstart Bro.

“Upstart Bro, you awake?”

“I have something I want to consult you about.”

He sent a slightly shy emoji.

Upstart Bro, who had just crawled out of his computer, glanced at it and yawned.

“Yeah, what’s up, Little Bo?”

“That trash hacker harassing you again?”

Upstart Bro instinctively assumed it was another cyber attack.

Bo Ting shook his head.

“Nah.”

“Upstart Bro, I wanted to ask if there’s a way to make that hacker show their face?”

The other side was probably mistaken for an evil god due to their godlike online money-stealing skills. If he found them in real life and reported to the Population Census Office, the rumors would fall apart, right?

The problem now was: how to find them?

Upstart Bro pondered for a moment, then crawled back into his computer.

A few minutes later, he stroked his chin and said, “I just checked its IP.”

“Hmm, wait, it’s in Mengjia City now.”

Upstart Bro was surprised, then realized.

“The other side’s a network pro too.”

“Probably realized they couldn’t siphon your money online and switched tactics.”

Upstart Bro waved his hand confidently.

“You don’t need to find it—it’ll come looking for you!”

What?

It would come find me?

Bo Ting reacted, clenching his fist.

Did it fail to scam him online and now plan to rob him in person?!

How arrogant!

But perfect—if it came to rob him, he’d show it a real trap!

Bo Ting quickly set the Xue staff member’s number as his top contact to call immediately.

He paced around the living room.

Hmm, setting an emergency contact might not be enough?

Should he prepare more?

…

The Copper Splitter had indeed arrived in Mengjia City.

The moment it stepped into the city, it automatically shed its copper body. In the blink of an eye, it looked just like the people around it.

The only difference was its golden robe.

But with so many oddly dressed people nowadays, the Copper Splitter’s attire wasn’t particularly strange.

Passersby glanced a few times and then ignored it.

The Copper Splitter swept its gaze over Mengjia City’s citizens with some regret.

If time allowed and it didn’t mind causing a scene, these commuting workers would make perfect fodder for turning into money slaves.

It released a faint trace of its corrosive aura, slightly stirring the greed of these passersby before satisfiedly withdrawing it. Like any ordinary person, it headed toward the incident neighborhood.

“West View Paradise.”

Hmm, this was a hidden outpost of Rebirth of Fire. For such secretive organizations, worshiping anomalous gods was no secret.

The Copper Splitter just needed to leak a bit of anger, and those fools eagerly supplied the information.

It slowly vanished down the road.

A few minutes later, it appeared outside West View Paradise.

But as soon as it stopped, the unexpected happened—the Copper Splitter was stopped.

“Hey, you in the robe up front?”

“What are you doing?”

“Do you know what this place is? Don’t wander around.”

Lian Fan had just started his shift guarding the neighborhood when he spotted someone dressed bizarrely.

The weird vibe dominated by the shark head surged in his mind, prompting Lian Fan to speak up immediately.

The Copper Splitter: …

This person wasn’t affected by its weird aura?

At such close range, a normal human should already be obsessed with money and going mad.

What was up with this human security guard?

The Copper Splitter’s crimson eyes swept faintly over him, frowning slightly.

Lian Fan: …

What was with this guy?

He’d been talking forever, and the guy was still there?

He was baffled.

Unaware that the Copper Splitter was equally surprised.

They stared at each other. Just as the Copper Splitter prepared to intensify the corrosion, it suddenly stopped.

Wait.

Closing its eyes for a moment, it suddenly sensed: the bank card’s location wasn’t here?

That damned human had left?!

The Copper Splitter’s face darkened. It hadn’t expected to miss on the first try.

It had no mood to continue emitting corrosion now.

As the guard watched in confusion, it gave him a faint glance and turned to leave.

Lian Fan waited in bewilderment.

After a few minutes, he saw the person who had been at the door leave again, not knowing what they had come for.

So weird.

“Freaks are popping up more and more these days.”

Lian Fan shook his head, but as long as it wasn’t that shark head.

Thinking of how he uncontrollably “spoke out of turn” whenever he encountered the shark head made Lian Fan’s skin crawl. He even wanted to go pray after work to see if he was possessed.

He withdrew his gaze, relaxing.

Meanwhile, Bo Ting had taken the bus to the game hall.

Yes, after a bout of extravagance, Bo Ting had returned to bus travel.

His assets weren’t stable now, after all.

It was hard to go from luxury to frugality—what if his wealth vanished one day?

So, after thinking for a few seconds, Bo Ting decided on the bus.

Fortunately, though the game hall was a bit far, the bus went straight there.

After a bumpy long ride, the bus stopped at the “Kaka Road” stop.

Bo Ting opened his eyes just as the bus announcement rang in his ears, finding it novel.

“Didn’t expect this street to have such a quirky name.”

“Let’s go, time to get off!”

He stood up, cradling the cat as he headed to the back.

Tang Yuan obediently let herself be held. As she got off with Bo Ting, she even glanced around.

Unfortunately, after exposing that little gang that morning, no one was following them anymore.

The bus was empty. After man and cat disembarked, they followed the navigation to the game hall in the suburbs.

This game hall had great online reviews. It was more like a massive gaming mall.

Not only did it have all sorts of entertainment, but it also sold the latest game consoles.

Bo Ting had fallen for the pictures online at first sight. Too bad he couldn’t come with Mr. Xu.

Someone as refined as Mr. Xu probably wouldn’t like gaming.

Bo Ting sighed regretfully.

When Mr. Xu had just asked what he was doing, he hadn’t dared say he was at the game hall and vaguely said he was shopping.

Luckily, Mr. Xu didn’t press, or he’d be busted.

What Bo Ting didn’t know was that Xu Qinglai had known he was lying the moment he was vague.

Not in the neighborhood, out alone—what was he up to?

Xu Qinglai never thought of himself as controlling. Most of the time, he just observed coldly.

Even building a human identity and blending in was the same.

But just now, realizing Bo Ting had lied to him, he subconsciously frowned.

He narrowed his eyes slightly.

The chat still lingered on that “shopping.”

Xu Qinglai tapped his knuckles, then looked at his phone again after a moment.

Familiar place names scrolled by.

In just a minute, Xu Qinglai pinpointed Bo Ting’s location.

To his surprise, it was—a game hall?

This guy was at a game hall and lied about it?

His expression softened, though hesitant. Recalling the conversation, his gaze turned odd.

By now, Bo Ting had entered Kaka Game Hall. As soon as he did, deafening music blasted, the atmosphere maxed out.

Bo Ting had worried the calico couldn’t handle the noise and reached to cover her ears.

But looking down, Tang Yuan was unfazed, even more curious than him.

Man and cat blended in seamlessly.

Even inside, Bo Ting spotted a few others wearing plush hoods like him, even full frog costumes.

The plush heads excitedly greeted each other.

Bo Ting instantly felt accepted.

Awesome!

Game halls really were paradise for all wage slaves!