At midnight.
The phone, which had been quiet all day, finally received a text message from the program crew.
Fugitive No. 3 had been successfully arrested.
Fugitive No. 5 had been successfully arrested.
Fugitive No. 10 had been successfully arrested.
…
Xiao Fen counted them up. A full five criminals had been arrested, and with No. 1 already caught, that made six in total.
The Criminals’ Group Chat exploded instantly.
“What’s going on? Did the Pursuit Team hold back and then hit us all at once to make an example out of us?”
“This is messing with our heads big time. Half of us haven’t even done our tasks yet, and now we feel like we’ve got no chance.”
No one knew who enabled the anonymous feature first.
Then, someone posted this.
“Don’t you all think it’s weird? Forget the others—just take No. 10. His task was ridiculously easy. Based on the methods we discussed, he had a 100% success rate. He even said he didn’t alert a single Vice Squad Officer, and that day the Pursuit Team only discovered one crime. Afterward, they should’ve erased even more clues. We were all jealous of how simple his task was. There’s no way he got caught.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“Is there a spy in our group?”
The moment those words dropped, everyone tensed up.
“No way, right? Who would screw over the grand prize like that?”
“Otherwise, how did the Pursuit Team suddenly get info on so many of us? They all succeeded in their crimes—the program crew wouldn’t leak their info.”
“Maybe someone cut a private deal with the Pursuit Team? Sold out the methods we discussed in the group, leaked the pickup spots for the fugitives ahead of time. One grab takes down two or three more. Then he hides away nice and pretty, claims the prize and fame, while the rest of us look like idiots.”
“That’s vicious.”
“How about we meet up in person?”
“What’s the point of meeting? You can know a person’s face but not their heart.”
“So we huddle together and wait for the Vice Squad Officers to scoop us all up at once?”
“Has anyone noticed the Pursuit Team hanging around with anyone lately?”
“What are you implying?”
“Or at least, does anyone know contact info for some of the Pursuit Team members? How else would they pass info to them?”
“You mean… Brother Fen?”
The town was so small that Xiao Fen eating with Fang Si Ting couldn’t be hidden at all. Today, he had even gone to the Inspection Office and hung out with the Pursuit Team all day.
When they added the Q group earlier, the question they asked was Fang Si Ting’s contact info.
During the first episode, he had even infiltrated the Pursuit Team, gotten chummy with them, built good relations.
Old and new grudges resurfaced, and everyone realized their leader was way too close to the Pursuit Team.
“In the first episode, only Brother Fen and Movie Emperor Ou escaped successfully. Wasn’t it because he secretly leaked info to the Pursuit Team?”
“I remember at the post-first-episode banquet live stream, some guests made a fuss about this.”
“I have an impression of that too.”
“Kick Xiao Fen out!”
“Yeah, exactly!”
“We have to kick him out. We don’t need him!”
【I knew it—some people enabling anonymous mode were just waiting for this. Do you think we in the Live Stream Chat don’t know who you are just because you’re anonymous?】
【Afraid to own up to it. Some people turned into spineless jelly when they got caught, nearly kneeling down. The moment the Pursuit Team offered to make them a mole in exchange, they nodded like they were pounding garlic. Desperate for the prize, no low is too low.】
【I’m so pissed, I’m going to his Weibo to flame him!】
【Flame him? I’d get my mouth dirty. Maybe he even likes getting cursed at—clearly a guy with no moral bottom line.】
【Black and red is still red. The more you flame him, the richer he gets.】
【So disgusting aaaaaah, my lungs are gonna explode from rage! I wish I could turn into Sadako and crawl through the internet cable at midnight to strangle him.】
【Calm down. I believe Brother Fen shining solo will be even more spectacular.】
【Exactly. Let that nest of snakes and rats get wiped out by this spy in the end, hahahaha.】
【I’m waiting for that day.】
Ou Yu just glanced casually at the group messages and jumped out of bed, his lungs practically exploding with fury.
“If you wanna know if he’s leaking info, go watch the replay of Little Fen’s personal live stream from the first episode. What’s this baseless slander?”
“You’re Movie Emperor Ou, right?” The anonymous poster had no profile pic or name visible, but everyone recognized him instantly. “You’re a beneficiary, of course you’d defend him.”
“The live stream footage has limits too—like bathrooms, changing clothes, or personal privacy moments. The phone screen blacks out. Who knows what Xiao Fen was doing behind closed doors.”
“Without Little Fen, how many of you think you’d have escaped? Total wipeout is more like it.” Ou Yu’s eyes turned red with anger. While Xiao Fen was negotiating with the Pursuit Team, buying them crime opportunities, where were these people?
“Without Xiao Fen, we’d have better odds.”
“Yeah, exactly.”
Ou Yu checked the anonymous cooldown timer. Still over forty minutes left.
They were already discussing rebuilding the group without Xiao Fen.
“Movie Emperor Ou, are you with us, or are you going solo with Xiao Fen?”
Ou Yu said, “You’ll regret this.”
“Then I won’t add you to the group.”
With that, the group went quiet, filled only with a string of people leaving notifications.
Ou Yu angrily disbanded the group chat and private messaged Lu Jin.
“You didn’t join the group, right?”
Lu Jin took a moment to reply. “I’ll pull you into the group.”
“I’m not joining.” Those ungrateful wolves—looking at them once would piss him off to death.
In the first episode, even when he deliberately dragged Xiao Fen down, they still won. What, couldn’t the two of them win this second episode?
Xiao Fen’s wild personality actually suited going solo even better.
“This round’s different from last time. Only cooperation gives us a real shot,” Lu Jin persuaded bitterly. He had taken the Criminal Team leader role precisely for Ou Yu.
If Ou Yu didn’t join the group and see his abilities, what was the point?
“You think I care about that five hundred million?” Ou Yu shot back.
Forget winning five hundred million after five successful escapes—even for one episode, if it meant enduring a week cooped up with a bunch of idiots just to get it, he wouldn’t spare the money a glance.
Lu Jin still sent a group invite.
Ou Yu got the message and ignored him.
He private messaged Xiao Fen.
“The group chat had some banned words and got shut down by the officials, so I just disbanded it.” He saw Xiao Fen hadn’t replied and figured he was asleep again, so he made up an excuse.
“Were the banned words my name?” Xiao Fen replied with a laugh.
Less than a minute later, the Fang Si Ting chat bubble had a little red dot.
Before he could open it, a “?” popped up.
Xiao Fen shot up in bed, wishing he could slap himself awake.
His brain was totally fried.
He had just been too lazy to unpin the other guy. Habitually tapping the top chat, he typed away and accidentally sent the message meant for Brother Ou Yu to him.
“That was originally for Brother Ou Yu,” he explained in a hurry. “Wrong chat.” He withdrew the message and re-edited it for Ou Yu.
“Oh.”
Xiao Fen couldn’t quite read the guy’s tone. “Don’t overthink it. Just normal chat.”
Does he think I’m that kind of person?
Another “Oh” came back.
Xiao Fen fumed. “Go ask your spy. All his doing.”
If he hadn’t planted that spy, would he have sent the message to the wrong person? Would this embarrassing mess have happened?
Blame it all on Fang Si Ting.
Half a minute, no reply.
Knew you were guilty, hmph!
Meanwhile, Ou Yu sent a barrage of messages.
“Not asleep yet?”
“You saw the group?”
“Don’t be upset. Not worth it for those ungrateful wolves.”
“I know.” Xiao Fen never wasted emotions on irrelevant people. He typed, “There’s a real spy in the group stirring things up.”
“What?”
“That night you did your task, Fang Si Ting took Vice Squad Officers to the Substitute Life Well too. Night patrol has high-beam flashlights—they usually turn them on, but they didn’t that time. Like they knew there’d be criminal activity and didn’t want to spook anyone prematurely.”
Ou Yu immediately realized. “I did mention in the group chat that day during the day, considering the Substitute Life Well, but we hadn’t decided yet.”
He hadn’t expected this and almost laughed in disbelief. “One real spy accusing you, the real hero, of being a spy? And they all bought it?”
What a bunch of rabble!
【Ouyou, don’t be mad. Without you two, they’re nothing.】
【Just popped into another stream. Brother Fen was eerily calm. I was pissed at first, but seeing him like that killed my anger. Brother Fen’s skills are obvious to all. Now shaking off the dead weight, they’ll shine big time in the show.】
【Knowing it and getting disgusted by that spy are two different things. Nope, I still gotta go curse him out.】
The H Country forums and Weibo were in chaos, mixed with clumsy translated comments from foreign IPs.
Xiao Fen didn’t need to guess who was behind it. The guy was this world’s protagonist, straight out of a brainless domineering CEO novel. Protagonist halo covered the globe—everything revolved around him. One wrong move and the sky fell, the king broke. What could you do?
He was just a background-less extra in the book.
Why overthink it?
Xiao Fen pillowed his arms behind his head and stared at the words “Lu Jin” on his screen.
【Why do I feel like Brother Fen’s plotting how to knife him? That look in his eyes—something’s there.】
【No way, right? He’s been knifed twice already. Knife him again?】
【Program crew wouldn’t allow it, would they? They’d stop it for sure.】
【As if the program crew cared about Boss Lu’s life last two times. LOL. You probably didn’t see—I followed Brother Fen’s every eat-sleep-move. When he was sweet-talking the crew into setting up murder scene props, he had them eating out of his hand. Stuff like fake severed finger molds—he couldn’t prep that solo last-minute. Logistics had no clue who it was for until the end.】
【Feels like the program crew’s targeting Brother Fen on the down-low. Maybe Lu Jin’s orders.】
【No orders needed—they do it anyway. Every time it gets to Brother Fen, everything drags, resists, like they want him to have an accident then wash their hands of it.】
【No way, that’s a life. Can’t be that lawless.】
【Who said it has to be death? What if an “accident” breaks his leg, disfigures him? Ends his acting career. And with the Lu Family’s powerhouse lawyers, he won’t win the suit and has to pay them back.】
【But whose crown prince takes this kind of crap in his own family’s show?】
【What faction are you? Defending Lu Jin?】
【Not defending—just love seeing that Lu guy eat dirt. Think about it: Group crown prince, pampered with stars revolving around him since birth. Biggest hardship? Probably those two shots, hahahahaha.】
【Brother Fen is the best! We Little Fire Seeds support you!】
【Right! Now you’ve got us mighty Little Fire Seeds. We believe—you’ll go further and further.】
Comments about Xiao Fen in the Live Stream Chat and Criminals’ Group Chat were polarized. But the slander in the Criminals’ Group Chat only made real-life viewers pity Xiao Fen more. His Weibo followers skyrocketed.
