Chapter 98: A moment of the spring night is worth a thousand gold.
There were five hours left until returning to the Holy Altar.
Yang Erci asked Zhong Yirou to stay home and look after Noah, while she went with An Wujiu, Shen Ti, and Wu You to the residence of the black market seller.
The system had tracked two addresses, ten kilometers apart. Initially, they decided to split up, but after Wu You carefully examined the locations on the map, he decided they should go to only one of them.
“The other one is likely a fake address he deliberately set up. It’s in the most wealthy district of City C. Even we would have a hard time getting in. If he really lived there, he wouldn’t be so cautious,” Wu You said.
Shen Ti smiled, “Your IQ is finally kicking in, Xiao Youyou.”
Wu You rolled his eyes, “And also, sometimes in his photos, you can see the edges of some furniture, which looks very old, unless he lives in a wealthy area and deliberately bought a bunch of old furniture as a cover. But there’s really no need for that. The folks in the wealthy district wouldn’t do this kind of risky business.”
Shen Ti nodded, “Makes sense.”
Soon, they arrived at the location—an old 48-story apartment building.
But now they faced a new problem: how to find the seller.
An Wujiu calculated, “If there are four units per floor, this building has nearly two hundred units.”
“We won’t have time to knock on every door,” Wu You looked up at the top of the building and said, “and some people definitely won’t open the door, like this seller. He’s so cautious; he definitely won’t come out.”
“We might not even be able to get in,” An Wujiu said.
Though the apartment was old, there was a card reader between the door and the elevator, probably for scanning chips.
“I’ll go ask.”
Wu You tried to get in, pretending to visit a relative, but the two employees at the front desk stopped him and asked him to have his relative come down to scan the chip for him.
Wu You returned defeated, saying, “They wouldn’t let me in, no matter what I said.”
“Neither of them was convinced?” Yang Erci asked.
Wu You nodded, “Actually, only one of them talked to me. The other one seemed to be printing something and didn’t look at me at all, probably because I look young.”
He felt a bit regretful.
“Did I alert them?”
An Wujiu shook his head and said, “At least we ruled out an incorrect option.”
Now they couldn’t get in; the seller was very cautious and certainly wouldn’t leave the building easily, making it impossible to meet him, let alone force him to sell the chip.
An Wujiu glanced at the exterior of the building. Though it was old, it had some screens and projection equipment, all displaying the same advertisement.
Ordinary apartments wanting to make a profit would use both internal and external means, with external being screen advertisements.
He walked closer, his eyes locking onto one of the screens, and sure enough, he saw a scrolling message at the bottom of the screen.
[For advertising inquiries, please contact the apartment property business office at email: xxxxx@xxx.co, chip call number: xxxxxxx]
An Wujiu suddenly had an idea. In fact, they could find a way to get in, or they could find a way to make the seller come out.
He was about to turn to Shen Ti when he saw Shen Ti already dialing a number.
Did they really have such a tacit understanding?
Shen Ti was on the phone, gesturing for everyone to move away from the apartment door and into a secluded alley.
“Hello, is this the business department of XX apartment?”
Shen Ti’s voice was deliberately lowered, sounding much more reliable than usual.
“Yes, how can I help you?”
He put the call on speakerphone so everyone could hear.
“It’s like this. I’m from Chino Medical Beauty Company; you can understand it as a chain of prosthetic beauty and plastic surgery institutions. We’ve recently opened two branches in City C. We’ve noticed you have advertising opportunities available. You know, prosthetic plastic surgery is becoming popular, and we want to develop mid- to low-end business. We’ve been looking for suitable places for advertising these days. This area fits our requirements very well. I wonder if we could discuss cooperation today? I happen to be on a business trip to City C and have to rush back for a meeting tonight.”
He almost seamlessly and fluently lied—not a single stutter, even carrying a bit of a businessman’s fake smile.
The other party was convinced by Shen Ti’s tone and performance, “Sure, you can come to our apartment. I’ll inform the front desk. Our apartment’s residential and office areas are separate. They’ll take you to my office.”
The first step was successful. Shen Ti smiled and said, “Alright.” He said a few more polite words, agreed to meet in half an hour, and then hung up.
After hanging up, Shen Ti looked up, ready to give instructions, only to see Wu You with a complex expression on his face.
“You’re not an escaped scammer, are you? Went to the Holy Altar to avoid being caught?”
Shen Ti crossed his arms and said, “Of course, I even scammed your Wujiu-ge in the Holy Altar.”
Wu You was once again left speechless by him.
An Wujiu ignored their banter and directly said to Shen Ti, “Your strategy is to force the seller to come out, right?”
“Smart.” Shen Ti put his arm around his shoulder and said, “No wonder you’re the scammer’s wife.”
An Wujiu elbowed him and said, “Stop joking.”
Shen Ti raised his hands in surrender and said, “Alright, alright, no more joking. We definitely need to split up now. Wu You and Erci, you need to get something for me.”
“What?” Wu You glanced at him.
“A business card,” Shen Ti sent him the made-up medical company’s name, along with a fake name and contact information, “Go 3D print one outside.”
Yang Erci nodded, “What about you guys?”
“We?” Shen Ti looked at An Wujiu and said, “Buy some clothes and then write some code.” He borrowed Wu You’s mainframe account and pointed across the street and said, “In 25 minutes, meet at the small bar over there.”
With that, they each went their own way. An Wujiu and Shen Ti found a men’s clothing store nearby, buying a more business-appropriate suit.
As soon as they entered, all the shop assistants almost surrounded them, vying to help them try on clothes.
Shen Ti, saving time, had no time to try on many clothes, so he started coding while standing. An Wujiu wasn’t sure which one was best, so he chose a charcoal grey pinstripe three-piece suit with a vest from a mannequin.
“Just right, this mannequin’s height is about the same as this gentleman’s.”
An Wujiu nodded, “We’ll take this set.”
As soon as Shen Ti stepped out of the fitting room in the suit, he was showered with praise from the store assistants, while An Wujiu was pushed to the outer circle and could only see Shen Ti through the mirror.
The suit fit Shen Ti well, but he couldn’t tell if it looked good or not, so he turned to find An Wujiu, pushing aside the store assistants and walking up to him. “How is it?”
It was the first time An Wujiu had seen him dressed so formally.
“Looks good.”
Just changing into a suit, he instantly had the air of a business elite.
Seeing An Wujiu say it looked good, Shen Ti didn’t even check the mirror and was ready to pay, but An Wujiu beat him to it.
“I’ll buy it for you.” An Wujiu thought that Shen Ti was always spending money and probably didn’t have many points left, so he wanted to save him some.
But this good intention in Shen Ti’s eyes turned into…
“You’re keeping me?”
Shen Ti acted like a total gigolo, leaning against An Wujiu. “I’m so lucky to have such a beautiful patron; it’s totally worth it.”
An Wujiu just pushed him away, telling him not to talk nonsense. Shen Ti nodded obediently, shut his mouth, and continued writing code.
Writing code didn’t take him long, and he finished quickly. While waiting for the store assistant to pack his previous clothes, his gaze shifted to another mannequin.
“Those thin-rimmed silver glasses,” Shen Ti pointed to the mannequin’s head, “can I buy them?”
The store assistant looked over and said, “Those? They’re just accessories, not for sale.”
Hearing this, Shen Ti immediately put on a sad face, “That’s a shame.”
Another assistant gave her a look and smiled brightly at Shen Ti, “Do you want them? We can give them to you. We have plenty in the warehouse.”
Shen Ti’s handsome trick worked, and he smiled gentlemanly and said, “Thank you so much.”
Wearing the suit and those thin-rimmed glasses, he exuded a strong presence, though An Wujiu couldn’t quite describe it.
As they were about to leave, the assistant who gave him the glasses gathered the courage to ask, “If you have time, would you like to have a drink tonight?”
Shen Ti smiled, “I do have time, but…” He put his arm around An Wujiu, tilting his head towards him, “We already booked a hotel for tonight.”
“In Chinese, there’s a saying,” he said, looking at the blonde, blue-eyed assistant, his green eyes filled with playful humor, “An hour of the spring night is worth a thousand gold.”
The assistant was rejected but blushed instead of getting angry, just watching the two leave.
An Wujiu was used to Shen Ti teasing him and even felt like retaliating a bit.
So on the way back, he deliberately mimicked the assistant’s words and said to Shen Ti, “If you have time tonight, want to have a drink?”
Shen Ti knew he was doing it on purpose and couldn’t help but smile.
“What a shame we’re going back to that wretched Altar tonight; otherwise…”
He lowered his head, leaning close to An Wujiu’s ear, “Who knows, we might really have a spring night.”
An Wujiu felt his ears itch as if a feather had fallen, sliding from his ear to his neck, making his whole body tremble slightly.
“You’re dirty.”
“That’s dirty? I haven’t even done anything yet.” Shen Ti pretended to be wronged, “Wait until I do something, then you can scold me.”
“Alright.” As they approached the small bar across from the apartment, An Wujiu raised an eyebrow and said, “Just wait for me to scold you.”
Yang Erci and Wu You had already printed the business cards and were walking towards the bar from another direction. An Wujiu turned his head and saw them.
Shen Ti, however, had his hands in his suit pockets, looking completely nonchalant, like an aristocratic playboy; even his tone was lazily indifferent.
“Scold all you want; the more you scold, the more excited I get.”
An Wujiu turned his head and glared at him, but Shen Ti only found him cute.
If usual, An Wujiu was 10 out of 10 in cuteness; angry An Wujiu was 100 out of 10.
Wu You looked Shen Ti up and down, giving a description An Wujiu had never thought of but found very fitting.
“You look like such a refined scoundrel dressed like that.”
“Say that again?”
Wu You corrected himself, “A beast in a suit.”
“What now?” Yang Erci asked.
Shen Ti, being magnanimous, didn’t hold a grudge against Wu You and turned to Yang Erci, “Erci, you pretend to be my assistant and come with me to the front desk.” Then he turned to An Wujiu and Wu You and said, “You two just wait outside the apartment.”
They started to act, with Yang Erci following Shen Ti into the apartment. Shen Ti’s appearance immediately caught the attention of the front desk. Seeing this extraordinarily handsome elite smiling as he approached, the two receptionists instinctively stood up, their attitude completely different from when Wu You had come.
Shen Ti smiled and handed over a prepared business card, “I’ve already contacted your business manager. You should be expecting me.”
One of the receptionists respectfully took the card and nodded with a smile, “Yes, the manager just called us. It’s you. The manager is on the 48th floor. You can go straight up.”
“Thank you so much.” Shen Ti gave a warm, polite smile and turned to leave. After taking a step, he acted as if he remembered something and came back to the front desk. “I’m really sorry, but could you help me with a small favor?”
“Of course, we’d be happy to help,” the receptionist replied immediately.
“Thank heavens, you’re so kind.” He turned and gave Yang Erci a look. Yang Erci stepped forward and said to the receptionist, “We came in a hurry and forgot to print the contract draft. Could we borrow your printer?”
One of the receptionists glanced at the printer behind her.
Shen Ti quickly added, “I’m really sorry. I was in such a rush that I didn’t even bring a hard copy of the contract. It’s quite impolite of me.”
His smile left the receptionist with no choice but to agree. Printing was a small matter, so she consented.
“Sure, how do you want to send us the file?”
“Really? I’m so lucky.” Shen Ti smiled and gave Yang Erci an email address.
“Just log in, and you’ll see the file in the attachments, named ‘Advertising Contract Draft’.”
The receptionist immediately did as instructed.
Shen Ti placed his hand on the front desk, lightly tapping his fingers.
“Found it, the advertising contract draft…”
The receptionist clicked to open the file, and in that instant, their main computer screen went black and froze, shutting down the entire holographic system.
“What’s going on?” The two receptionists were somewhat panicked.
Shen Ti also showed a concerned look, “What happened? Is there a problem?”
“Yes, it seems our apartment system has malfunctioned.” The receptionist looked apologetic and said, “Sorry, we might not be able to help you with the printing.”
Shen Ti smiled generously and said, “It’s alright, you’ve already helped me a lot. It looks like it’s meant to be an electronic draft this time.”
“I’ll take you to the office,” the receptionist said, standing up.
“No need, you should see if you can fix the system. We won’t trouble you anymore.”
After speaking, Shen Ti led Yang Erci towards the elevator.
Yang Erci glanced back at the busy receptionists and then calmly asked Shen Ti, “What did you do?”
“Nothing much; I just planted a small virus. As soon as they opened the file, it hit them. The whole system will crash, collecting all the registration information of the residents and sending it to Wu You’s backup email. Then it will insert an announcement and send it to every residential area.”
“What announcement?”
The elevator doors opened, and they stepped inside.
Shen Ti casually pressed a button and glanced at the time displayed in the elevator—3:45 PM.
“A government announcement, informing them that the government’s fire department personnel will come to inspect the fire safety of this apartment at 4 PM today. All residents at home must undergo the inspection, and those not at home will have the inspection conducted by property staff.”
Yang Erci suddenly understood.
“You want to force him out.”
“Exactly.” Shen Ti leaned against the elevator wall, a smirk on his face, “He’s so cautious, so we have to start from the source of his caution.”
Yang Erci initially thought Shen Ti was using the advertising ploy to enter the apartment and find the seller, but it turned out that was just the beginning. His real aim was to plant a government announcement in the entire property system. Normal people wouldn’t fear the government, but those involved in illegal trade would.
Fearful of a government raid, he would have to leave his home and take his illegal “goods” with him.
With someone guarding the outside, they could catch this guilty seller in the act.
Yang Erci couldn’t help but admire Shen Ti. She had always thought he was clever and lucky, able to turn danger into safety despite having no survival instinct.
Now it was clear that he was indeed very smart.
Shen Ti adjusted his glasses and said, “Let’s make a quick appearance and then leave when more people arrive.”
An Wujiu and Wu You were guarding the two exits of the apartment, with Wu You at the main entrance and An Wujiu at a less noticeable side door, as he had a hunch the seller would take the less conspicuous exit.
Not long after Shen Ti went in, Wu You suddenly received an email with an attachment containing a list of user information.
Wu You scanned through it and fixed his gaze on one suspicious user.
This user’s name didn’t match the seller’s ID, but if you took the initials of his wife and children’s names and reversed them, it was an exact match.
Seeing someone coming out of the elevator looking nervous and carrying a large black suitcase, Wu You closed the list and saw the person didn’t head towards the main entrance, so he quickly moved to the door where An Wujiu was stationed.
Sure enough, when he got there, the person was already blocked by An Wujiu and was about to turn back, only to see Wu You.
“Don’t be afraid.” An Wujiu smiled at the person and said, “We just want to buy something from you.”
The seller turned his face, looking nervous, with furrowed brows, gripping the suitcase so tightly that his knuckles showed, “Buy something? I… I don’t sell things.”
“We’re not undercover police.” An Wujiu’s face was calm, “We just couldn’t find you, so we had to resort to this little trick.”
Knowing this cautious person wouldn’t trust them immediately, An Wujiu took the initiative and said, “I just want a chip.”
The man’s brows furrowed deeper, “You… don’t have one?”
He didn’t seem like someone without a chip at all.
An Wujiu nodded.
Wu You, standing by, said, “Let’s talk privately, Mr. Jones.”
Upon hearing his surname, Jones, despite his reluctance, had no choice but to follow them under pressure.
They went to a secluded alley and found a café to enter. An Wujiu candidly said to him, “I need a citizen chip. If you don’t believe me, you can check if I have one on me.”
His words naturally carried an air of sincerity, and Jones, finding it believable, took out a tool from his suitcase and scanned An Wujiu’s entire body.
Indeed, there was no chip.
“I don’t have any chips at the moment,” Jones told An Wujiu.
An Wujiu stared into his eyes, trying to discern the truth of his words.
“I can wait; I can place an order,” he smiled, “I have plenty of money and a lot of patience.”
Jones hesitated for a moment. He didn’t want to conduct the transaction this way, but now his real information was in their hands…
“Alright,” Jones conceded.
He opened his suitcase and found a small black box, “I wasn’t planning on giving you this, so I lied earlier.”
An Wujiu knew he was lying but didn’t point it out; he just smiled and said, “Since you have one ready, that’s even better.”
“But,” Jones said, “I need to charge you double the usual price for this chip. Can you accept that?”
Is that why this chip hasn’t been sold yet?
Wu You asked, “How much?”
Jones whispered, “One hundred thousand dollars.”
This was close to what An Wujiu had expected, “Okay, but how can I be sure this chip works?”
“You can pay half first. I’ll install it for you, and you can test if it grants all citizen rights before paying me the rest. Is that acceptable?”
An Wujiu agreed.
Jones arranged a private room and took An Wujiu inside.
“So the government inspection was fake?” Wu You, still unaware of what had happened, asked.
An Wujiu laughed, “Yes.”
“Alright, alright.” Jones shook his head, giving An Wujiu an injection of anesthetic, “You’re lucky. I was planning to hold onto this chip, considering the recent crackdown. I was going to stay home for ten days or so.”
As he spoke, he cut open the skin behind An Wujiu’s ear to insert the chip, but noticed the structure was different from usual.
He furrowed his brows but, experienced as he was, he had dealt with many unusual cases. He continued and found a chip implantation board under the interface module, though it seemed old, like it was from childhood.
It didn’t matter much, so Jones inserted the nanotechnology chip.
“Hey, handsome.”
An Wujiu looked up and said, “What’s wrong?”
“Your interface is different from others’. Usually, I don’t have to open so much. One cut and I can see the implant board, but yours took some time to find.”
An Wujiu wasn’t surprised and didn’t elaborate, “Who knows?”
“Alright, it’s not a big issue. Just that your chip implantation board seems to be from your childhood. If there’s any problem, you might want to see a cybernetic doctor.”
Most people replace their implant boards upon reaching adulthood; it’s a free service. Jones suspected An Wujiu might have undergone some modifications, possibly as a corporate mercenary, but didn’t probe further.
After the implantation, An Wujiu generously chose not to test it and paid the rest of the money directly.
Jones thanked him and quickly decided to change addresses, feeling uneasy about being found by a buyer for the first time in his career.
With the citizen chip implanted, An Wujiu couldn’t feel any immediate difference. Wu You wanted to teach him how to update the identity system, but with little time left, they contacted Shen Ti and Yang Erci, who had exited the apartment, and all headed back to the parked aircraft, preparing to return to the game hall.
On the aircraft, Yang Erci set it to autopilot and contacted Zhong Yirou and Noah at home.
After picking them up, the group headed to the game factory.
An Wujiu, with lingering doubts, touched the wound behind his ear where the chip was implanted and pondered Jones’ words.
He looked up and asked, “Yirou, if someone’s chip implantation board is still from their childhood, what impact does that have?”
“It’s not really an issue,” Zhong Yirou explained, “When people become legal adults, many things need updating, with different standards, so they undergo a board replacement.”
Shen Ti turned to look at him and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“I never had my board replaced,” An Wujiu said softly, “It’s possible I was deprived of my chip when I was captured as a child and never got out until adulthood.”
Shen Ti frowned.
If that’s the case, how did An Wujiu enter the Holy Altar?
Could he be a directly implanted experimental subject?
Back at the game factory, seeing An Wujiu deep in thought, Shen Ti held his hand and pulled him into an embrace.
“We’re about to go back in.”
An Wujiu, a bit dazed, nodded.
Shen Ti smiled, “If I don’t get matched with you, will you miss me?”
An Wujiu looked at him, blinking slowly, his eyelashes fluttering like the gentle touch of a feather before separating.
“I probably will.”
Shen Ti raised an eyebrow and said, “Probably?”
“I will,” An Wujiu said more firmly this time, “but I hope we get matched together.”
Otherwise, he would be very uneasy.
“No worries,” Shen Ti said, kissing his lips, “If we’re not together, it’ll be a sweet reunion after a brief separation.”
What?
An Wujiu was about to speak but was interrupted by Shen Ti.
“If we get matched together again,” Shen Ti smirked, “Then pray for a passionate night.”
“You…”
From a distance, Wu You’s exasperated voice came, “Shen Ti! Are you coming or not?!”
“Shut up, I’m being intimate with your Wujiu-ge.”
