“Red Medicine—” Wang Shenmu, after Su Yao hung up the phone, quickly called her over. On his screen was the first clue he had found in days. Su Yao walked over; Wang Shenmu’s screen displayed a user’s profile from the Renjian Forum, and using his admin privileges, he had revealed the user’s last login IP.
“T City Netcom?” Su Yao looked at the IP’s location, something flickering in her eyes. She knew previous posters had cleverly used foreign proxies, but this post, titled “Big Exposure! Qin Chuan once took a huge payment from Japan to help them counterattack Chinese players in the Asian competition, with photographic evidence!” The poster’s login location was unmistakably T City in China. Did they forget to use a proxy by accident?
Su Yao’s eyes narrowed; T City, adjacent to B City, brought to mind the idiot she would never forget—Ji Canghai. If this was all stirred up by that idiot, the first thief of Renjian, it was because of him that her Death God was ruined and had to leave her to protect her. She could forgive the blindly following, even the instigator Luo Zishang, but not Ji Canghai, a man who fanned the flames and kicked a person when they were down. If Ji Canghai was indeed the one behind the scenes, Su Yao had no doubt she would jab her high heels into that idiot’s eyes.
Soon after, Wang Shenmu received information from the technical department—the IP address in T City pointed to a place called “Tianxing Network Club.” The two young people, eager to uncover the truth, boarded a car to T City. The two-hour journey passed quickly, and Su Yao stood on the soil of T City, a place she thought she would never have anything to do with again. Love had died the day Ji Canghai confessed that he had gotten another woman pregnant, along with all their past, buried in the world of the Everlasting Palace.
Su Yao and Wang Shenmu found the Tianxing Network Club, a two-story building with regular booths downstairs and VIP rooms upstairs.
After checking the first floor without finding anything suspicious, Su Yao wanted to go upstairs but was stopped. The waiter apologetically said, “I’m very sorry, but all the VIP rooms upstairs have been booked this month, and the boss has instructed that no one is allowed up.”
“Ho ho?” Su Yao’s eyes turned, and she made a call to Chen Wang: “Do we have two brothers in our group who are cops in T City?”
“You mean Ah Zhi and Mosquito, right? They’re on vacation today, playing Ghostly Grief’s Coral Mine with me. Does Sister Yao need something?” Chen Wang’s voice came through.
“I’m in T City now.” Su Yao gave the specific address: “I want to ask them for a favor, I wonder…” Before she could finish, the voice of the leader of the thieves instructing through the voice channel came through the phone.
“They said they’ll be here in ten minutes.” Chen Wang laughed on the other end of the phone—”Come on, don’t argue, whether it’s Ah Zhi or Mosquito treating Sister Yao to dinner, it’s all the same, hurry up and get dressed to go out—”
Ten minutes later, two energetic police officers arrived at the door of the network club. Su Yao waved to them, and they gave her a firm hug.
“Why didn’t you tell me to get lost last night?”
“Your sister…”
Just like in the game, the two were bickering all the time, even in real life. Su Yao had to stop them to explain the whole situation. After hearing the story, the two young men, also admirers of the Everlasting Palace, were filled with righteous indignation.
“Damn, if it really is Ji Canghai, that’s defamation, which could get up to three years in prison… Let’s go in and see who it is inside.”
As they spoke, the two men flashed their police badges, claiming a routine check for minors being admitted into the club, forcing the waiter to step aside. The four of them marched grandly upstairs. Just as they reached the second floor, a sports car pulled up to the curb. Ji Canghai got out, arm around Han Yanyan, and said, “Baby, didn’t you always want to see the team I’ve hired? Ha, today I’ll let you see.”
She won’t have a choice, ha! That idiot Nanbo Wan, without his strategist Luo Zishang, might as well prepare to die, hahaha…” Ji Canghai laughed heartily, giving Han Yanyan’s waist a squeeze, eliciting a playful pout from her. “Honey, the Celestial Beauty Pageant is coming up soon…” Han Yanyan whispered into Ji Canghai’s ear.
“Don’t worry, baby, this team I’ve hired consists of seasoned internet influencers. With your natural beauty, they’ll create all the hype you need. The title of first place is yours for sure!”
“You’re the best, honey! But I heard that everyone on Changsheng Island is supporting the female thief Lu Guoyi, and they’re already campaigning for her. I’m so worried…” Ji Canghai hugged Han Yanyan confidently, “What does that matter? Anyone who dares compete with you, I’ll crush them. Hey, I’ll have a few people photoshop some pictures and smear her reputation right now, so she won’t even dare to register…”
“Oh, I love you so much!” Han Yanyan kissed Ji Canghai on the cheek.
Arm in arm, they walked upstairs, but the scene that greeted them when they opened the door left Ji Canghai in shock.
“Stand against the wall, hands up, and don’t move.”
“Eyes forward,” the policeman nicknamed Mosquito was instructing, knocking on the heads of a row of young men squatting in the corner with handcuffs in hand.
In the vast VIP room, over a hundred high-spec computers were neatly arranged, their screens ablaze with activity: website forums, post editing, photo manipulation, data falsification, post machines, and spam bots. These youths, who had been busy working at the computers, were the so-called “mysterious internet influencers” or, less flatteringly, “the 50-cent party.”
Su Yao and his team had burst in, catching everyone red-handed.
“Defamation, it’s defamation, someone’s definitely behind this.”
“And illegal assembly, which is currently being cracked down on,” Mosquito said while reporting to headquarters, as A Zhi took photos of each computer for evidence.
Seeing this, Ji Canghai panicked; his first instinct was to flee.
“Stop right there,” Su Yao blocked the door with his slender arm, “Ji, you better explain this.”
Mosquito approached, his gaze shooting daggers at Ji Canghai’s face, “Oh, so this is the famous soft-rice king, the mastermind behind all this, huh?”
“No, no, it’s not me! It’s not! Officer, listen to me…” Ji Canghai stammered.
Mosquito tapped Ji Canghai’s head with the heavy handcuffs.
Ji Canghai’s face fell; he knew about defamation but hadn’t thought he’d be caught so quickly. He tried to smile, pulling out a wad of cash from his pocket to offer to Mosquito, “Officer, a small token of appreciation, please, listen to me, it’s all a misunderstanding…”
Mosquito, with a cold smirk, bagged the money, handed it to A Zhi for photos, and Su Yao patted Ji Canghai’s shoulder, saying as he showed him his recording phone, “King, you tried to bribe a people’s policeman? That’s not good, not good at all.”
Ji Canghai’s brain froze for a few seconds before he realized his habitual bribe had been recorded. He swore under his breath and tried to grab Su Yao’s phone, but Wang Shenmu and Mosquito wouldn’t give him the chance. Ji Canghai was no match for these two men in physical strength. In a moment of panic, he tried to resist, and his hands were quickly handcuffed with a click.
“Attempting to assault an officer?” Mosquito tossed him into the corner, then turned to Han Yanyan.
Han Yanyan quickly waved her hands, “Officer, I had no idea what was going on here, I… I’m not with him!”
Mosquito sized Han Yanyan up; he despised her deeply, but wearing the uniform meant he couldn’t act out of personal vendetta.
If Han Yanyan was indeed uninvolved, he could only take her statement and let her go…