By the third day, Meng Qing couldn’t hold out any longer. With one hand on his painfully empty stomach, he opened the tablet.
The two men exchanged a glance, and one took out a walkie-talkie, speaking softly.
Soon, the man in black arrived, looking at the surrendered boy and smiling: “Very good.”
—
Nine years passed.
Except for attempting to escape in the first year and being caught, Meng Qing never showed any intention of running away again, always cooperatively completing the “tasks” assigned by the man in black.
Working with Meng Qing was another young man in his twenties, nicknamed Spider. That month, all elderly pensions were reduced to one yuan, while welfare payments were increased a thousandfold. By the time the government discovered and stopped the prank, millions in welfare had been distributed to personal accounts, with hundreds of millions already spent.
When Spider first arrived, he looked down on Meng Qing. But after learning that the nationwide bank heist from years ago was Meng Qing’s doing, he was shocked, saying in disbelief: “You’re not even as old as me. How old were you then?”
Meng Qing twisted his mouth: “An age of innocence.”
Spider mentally calculated the years, murmuring: “My God…” Afterward, he became very respectful to Meng Qing, treating him almost like a senior. In the hacker world, age and seniority don’t matter, only technical skills and achievements.
The black-clothed man’s gang had committed several major crimes, making them targets of a high-reward police manhunt.
However, no matter how meticulously the police planned their operations, Meng Qing, with the help of Spider and other accomplices, always managed to learn the police’s movements in advance, helping the gang escape capture time and again. The black-clothed man gradually trusted him, occasionally revealing when drinking together that once he truly turned eighteen, he would make him the second-in-command. Because after turning eighteen, he would be fully responsible for his own crimes.
Meng Qing laughed and said, “I don’t even know my own birthday, or exactly when I’ll turn eighteen.”
The black-clothed man smiled and raised his glass, “Won’t you definitely be eighteen after this year passes?”
