Ou Yu had just put him down on the rocking chair nearby when he saw Xiao Fen’s body shudder. Xiao Fen woke up.
“How did I get here?” He rubbed his eyes, kicked his feet, and the bamboo rocking chair creaked back and forth.
He lazily yawned and sat up from the chair. “How did your discussion go? How do we contact them?”
“My idea is, well…”
“What good ideas do you have?” Ou Yu asked Xiao Fen.
Lu Jin swallowed the rest of his words and awkwardly pretended to fiddle with his hair nearby.
Xiao Fen stood up. “No matter what method we use, the town is only so big. Even the most secretive gatherings will be discovered. As long as we get their message without knowing the specific people, we can just do a simple filter.”
Ou Yu did not understand what he said.
Xiao Fen jumped down from the rocking chair and walked out of the room.
Ten minutes later, laughter rang out from downstairs—Sister-in-law Jinlan and several aunties. Rural women always had loud voices, and their laughter echoed through the entire building.
Ou Yu went downstairs to ask, and Sister-in-law Jinlan said, “Xiao Fen took my son’s graffiti paint and went to write on the walls of the abandoned houses on the main street. Do you want to go take a look?”
Tengcha Town had only one main street with the most foot traffic; the rest were all alleys. Ou Yu hurried over from Brother Hao’s place at the bridgehead and sure enough saw a crowd gathered around a wall in the center of the street.
He pushed through the crowd to look inside. Blue paint sprayed big letters on the wall.
“Overbearing President Lu, worth billions, eight-pack abs online for chat (crossed out) friendship: +QQ Group 950. My patience is limited. I’m giving you only one hour.”
Ou Yu: “…”
“Xiao Fen!” The number on the wall was Lu Jin’s personal one.
Ou Yu hurriedly pulled the person aside and chuckled awkwardly. “The kid’s still young and doesn’t know any better.”
That wasn’t right.
“How did Xiao Fen know your number?”
At the same time, Lu Jin’s phone vibrated.
He took out his phone with a headache, and in the blink of an eye, the messages hit 99+.
The townsfolk loved a spectacle and didn’t mind making trouble—they secretly joined the QQ group.
The live stream chat viewers were furious.
【What’s the exact number? Damn Program Crew, why censor it!】
【Some tourist who happened to be in town got a bargain.】
【Program Crew, promise me: next time they film somewhere, can you notify in advance? Sign-up works too. I really want to participate on-site.】
【Me me me! Years of amusement park NPC experience, rich love life, plenty of gossip. Don’t mind being a corpse or killer whose life gets exposed. Room and board on me, travel expenses self-paid, injuries covered by insurance.】
The live stream chat was flooded with viewers signing up.
Lu Jin had just glanced at it when a fair hand snatched his phone.
“What are you doing?”
“So many people—can you add them all? Of course, set friend verification conditions.”
Lu Jin took back the phone and saw a question on it.
1. What is Fang Si Ting’s phone number?
“What kind of question is this? Why does my number need to ask for info on that Fang guy? What’s your relationship with him?”
“None of your business.” Xiao Fen snatched the phone back, approved friends while walking back.
Ou Yu glanced over. No matter what people answered, Xiao Fen basically approved them all.
What was this? Wouldn’t the Pursuit Team members join too?
At the Inspection Office.
A Vice Squad Officer came over with his phone and reported, “Xiao Fen left a message, trying to contact the other criminals.”
Tang Shen, Peng Xiaoxiao, and a few others came over to look. “Add Lu Jin’s number and disguise as criminals to infiltrate.”
“Yes.”
They all added the contact too.
“The boss’s phone number? Why ask that?” He was puzzled.
Bai Zhu suddenly realized. “When he was pretending to be Xu Nuo before, he must have learned the boss’s number.”
“If they give the right number, it’ll confirm they’re Vice Squad Officers instead.” Tang Shen frowned. “Just enter a fake one. Xiaoxiao, you reply ‘Don’t know.’ Call a few more people and have them fill in the boss’s real number.”
They filled it out in several ways. Tang Shen thought for a moment and typed in the reply box: “You messing with your father? How the hell would I know? Cooperate or not, up to you.”
He went straight into aggressive mode.
“How about you? Approved?”
The others all shook their heads. Ten minutes passed with no response.
Tang Shen was a bit disappointed, but it made sense. He picked up his phone for one last look, stood up. “Approved.”
“Me too.”
“Me too.”
Almost at the same time, they and the other Vice Squad Officers who added the contact were all approved.
“That’s not right. How did the real number get approved too?”
“Don’t know.” That Vice Squad Officer thought. “Everyone saves names in their phones now—who memorizes numbers? Just search the name and call. Xiao Fen probably didn’t memorize it either. Did he call the boss those days undercover?”
Bai Zhu scratched his head. “How would I know? He stuck to the boss, not me.”
“If it’s about tricking info, it’s every man for himself now?” Peng Xiaoxiao laughed. “So many people—Boss Lu will be busy chatting to death.”
“Who knows what Xiao Fen’s up to. Worth a try—no cost, no loss. Official tasks start tomorrow anyway.” Tang Shen was eager.
“Too bad the internet addict teen isn’t here. He could just cross-dress and seduce.” Bai Zhu started missing the absent Xu An.
“It’s a live stream—someone will screen-record.” Tang Shen reminded kindly.
Bai Zhu immediately felt guilty.
“If he were here, why bother? He’d silently hack the account.” Peng Xiaoxiao said.
Lu Jin suddenly sent a message.
“Personal number accidentally leaked by some bastard. Now discarding it. +QQ Group 5983. Pulling you into the group.”
Tang Shen: “…If I hadn’t seen Xiao Fen write it with my own eyes, I’d think this was a street scam ad.”
But plenty of Vice Squad Officers saw the two almost fight on the street. Xiao Fen leaked Lu Jin’s number irresponsibly—normal for Lu Jin to abandon it.
“You all get this message?” Tang Shen asked.
“Got it.”
“Me too.”
Everyone had it.
Tang Shen had no doubts, entered the QQ number, and a verification popped up with questions.
1. What school did I attend in elementary?
Tang Shen answered randomly and clicked add friend.
This time, they kept checking their phones every few minutes, but the friend requests never went through.
Peng Xiaoxiao’s “Don’t know” got approved.
Final count: three from the entire Pursuit Team got pulled into the group.
“This is easy,” Bai Zhu looked at the thirty people in the group. “We split up, private message one by one. We’ll pry out the criminals.”
“Wait.” Tang Shen said. “You forgot—the Program Crew rules say our Pursuit Team has zero margin for error. Can you guarantee they’re all criminals, not regular folks baiting us?”
Chatting to extract info wasn’t realistic. Those spectacle-loving townsfolk by the wall—why wouldn’t they join the QQ?
“True. We don’t know how Xiao Fen judges criminals from Vice Squad Officers,” Peng Xiaoxiao agreed. “But since he let our three in, his method isn’t foolproof. Regular people could be mixed in.”
“We’ve already infiltrated. Half a month is plenty of time—take it slow.” Tang Shen was determined. “In the group, we’ll know the Criminal Team’s tasks, their crime methods, offline meetup times and places. We can set up in advance. Then, catch them off guard.”
【What the hell is Xiao Fen doing? Such a dumb move.】
【Let Vice Squad Officers infiltrate the criminals’ group. Now it’s easy—one pot, all caught.】
【Why does every episode have morons? Don’t you know how awesome Brother Fen is!】
【No matter how awesome, even the best stumble. You braindead fans are just blindly worshipping.】
【VPN from overseas, here for Xiao Fen. How do I find Brother Fen’s live stream room?】
++
Soon, midnight at 12.
Two criminals’ phones received the Program Crew’s task.
Xiao Fen opened the group message. One criminal forwarded the task first.
“This is robbing a bank, right?”
“Too risky. And how to survive the next fourteen days? Can only choose quiet theft.”
The Program Crew had placed a gem in the safe on the second floor of the town’s only bank ahead of time. Criminals had to obtain it by any means before the next midnight 12.
“Starting so big? What about later tasks? Only harder, right?”
“Getting excited now.”
“This difficulty? You guys aren’t First Episode trash, are you?”
“You do it then. So urgent—only 24 hours. From planning, tools, scouting, to execution, all in one day.”
“Plus plan escape routes, but can’t leave town. Hide safely in this flyspeck place for fifteen days.”
“Hey, that means the later we get tasks, the better our odds.”
“Usually, yeah. But if the Pursuit Team spots you acting suspicious, they grab you—even without crime, you lose.”
“Just hide well, don’t expose.”
The criminal who got the task finally messaged again.
“Escaping by highway needs at least 20 points. I don’t believe others’ tasks are easier. If I fail this, later harder ones leave no choice.”
He came full of hope, didn’t want it to end before starting.
“So, any ideas to help me commit this crime?”
The group went silent for a moment.
“Ask Brother Fen.”
“Yeah, I’m panicking. Relying on Brother Fen.”
“Brother Fen asleep? What to do?”
“I’m totally in awe of Brother Fen now. Listen to me—don’t trust the group. We don’t know their skills yet. Brother Fen’s way is foolproof.”
The group was full of people calling for Xiao Fen.
Ou Yu saw the message and private messaged Xiao Fen.
“Asleep?”
“Nope, just saw the group messages.”
“Why not reply?”
“A bunch putting me on the spot, fake flattery. What’s to reply?”
Ou Yu thought about it—true enough.
These were all experts the Program Crew paid top dollar and time for. If they bowed to Xiao Fen so easily, that’d be weird.
How many were sincere, how many just stirring trouble?
“Slept. Tomorrow’s the main event.”
Nothing to do late night—better get up early.
With that, Xiao Fen put down the phone and lay on the bed.
The screen-down phone lit up with message notifications now and then.
“Pursuit Team has a boss. We’re criminals—shouldn’t we have a leader?”
“That title sounds sneaky and cunning. I like it.”
“Who are you to like it? Can you lead? No experience, no proven skills. Only Xiao Fen can be the leader. Only he can lead us to beat the Pursuit Team.”
In the room next door, Lu Jin sat on the bed. His finger swiped through a string of praises for Xiao Fen, pausing at that line.
