Chapter 43.1: A Windfall
As Jiang Yujin stood up, the door of the shop swung open, revealing a group of people at the entrance. They wore sun hats and masks, and sported tour guide vests. Once inside, they promptly closed the door behind them.
One person stood guard by the door while others went to draw the curtains over the windows, blocking potential onlookers and dimming the shop considerably.
“Customers…”
The staff watched their movements, intending to speak up but hesitated upon noticing that the newcomers had their backs to the door. In an instant, someone swiftly pulled out a gun concealed in their sleeve.
They appeared highly trained, freezing the staff in place, even the customers didn’t dare to move even though they still had the cutlery in their hands.
Everyone from the kitchen was herded into the main hall. The customers sat while the staff crouched on the floor.
The person at the door sported gleaming golden earrings.
Golden Earrings looked around, and the person next to her approached and asked in a low voice: “Is Shi Bu really coming?”
It was such an obvious scam that anyone sharp-minded should have already called the police.
The impatience flickered across Golden Earrings’ face. She assured, “He will definitely come.”
Those who hadn’t heard the other party’s voice over the phone wouldn’t understand this level of certainty. That earnestness, joy, and an inexplicable purity were impossible to feign.
After scanning the shop again, the person asked, “Who is Shi Bu?”
Instantly, someone raised their hand.
The person wore a wrinkled shirt and pointed at another individual, expressionless. “He is Shi Bu.”
Unexpectedly, someone volunteered, and following the direction of the pointed finger, Golden Earrings saw a well-groomed, elite-looking person with impeccable features.
Golden Earrings was certain. “He isn’t.”
Jiang Yujin: “…?”
Having failed at selling out a teammate, the normally articulate Citizen Jiang was temporarily rendered speechless.
On the scene, not a single person appeared clueless.
There was a difference between the person’s real voice and the voice on the phone. She couldn’t identify the person by his voice.
Golden Earrings glanced at the time, realizing there wasn’t enough time to sift through them one by one, she ordered, “Take everyone away.”
The people in the shop were escorted outside one by one.
Outside the shop, the flow of pedestrians passed by. Two tour buses were parked by the roadside, and the armed individuals posing as guides ushered them onto the buses, everything seemingly normal.
Under watchful eyes, those taken onto the bus could only watch others pass by without daring to call for help. No one met their panicked gazes, and they settled into their seats after boarding.
All the bus windows were shut tight, and only faint, dim lights from the road’s center illuminated the inside. The vehicle swayed, heading toward an unknown destination, its occupants uneasily looking around.
At intervals, people stood guard, monitoring their movements. Even though they had phones, none dared to attempt making a call.
Confiscating their phones had a reason.
Golden Earrings, positioned at the front of the bus, dialed a number on her own phone, listening intently for any sign of activity.
Not a single phone showed any activity.
The innocent bystander Jiang, caught up in this situation, turned to Shi Bu. “Where’s your phone?”
Shi Bu scratched his head. “I left it in a rush at the office when we left.”
After the check, a signal jammer was activated inside the vehicle.
Shi Bu asked the person beside him, “What now, brother? I have to work this afternoon.”
His voice wasn’t loud, but it was just loud enough for nearby individuals to hear, causing some to jolt in surprise. They hadn’t expected someone to be thinking about work at a time like this.
Understanding that Shi Bu intended to resolve everything here to return to work, Jiang Yujin kicked the other party’s leg directly and asked him to take back his hand that had been placed on the seat’s armrest.
The weapons held by the people nearby looked familiar; Jiang Yujin had seen them before at Zero’s branch. Their identities were becoming quite apparent.
Only a small number of people were used to capture the twelfth ranked person in the Game, and the method seemed too amateurish. It was evident they didn’t believe the real Shi Bu would show up here.
It was straightforward to figure out what happened: Zero somehow obtained a list of individuals named “Shi Bu,” screened them, ranked based on likelihood, and found those who could potentially be the Shi Bu in the Game. The probability level of the person next to him should be quite low.
After all, it was rare for a pure idiot to survive in the Game.
Since they were only mildly suspicious, this was the perfect opportunity to dispel any doubts by not taking action. Getting involved here would only confirm Shi Bu’s identity.
Shi Bu didn’t quite understand, but he trusted Jiang Yujin. He immediately withdrew his hand.
Jiang Yujin glanced at him, then at the few people standing firmly in the aisle, realizing that they might be on this bus for a while. He decided to close his eyes.
The bus drove away from the city into an unknown direction, leaving its passengers uneasy. Some worried about their afternoon work while others comfortably dozed off in their seats.
The person responsible for monitoring the situation only noticed someone sleeping as they were about to disembark. Their eyes widened slightly, preparing to wake the sleeper, but the person woke up on their own.
Their eyes were unfocused, still drowsy, clearly just waking up from a deep slumber.
As people began to stand up in the bus, the person in the tour guide vest stood to the side, watching them disembark. Jiang Yujin rubbed his hair, nodded slightly as he passed by, and said, “Thanks for your hard work.”
His voice carried the huskiness of just waking up, his tone earnest and sincere. The guard was momentarily stunned, unsure how to respond.
The guard’s delayed reaction left others bewildered.
This person sure had a high level of composure.
The composed Citizen Jiang stepped off the bus and, as he set foot on solid ground, glanced at a building not far away.
It appeared to be a large warehouse, but it seemed abandoned for a considerable time, covered in rust stains.
Zero always managed to find these peculiar, abandoned buildings.
Outside the warehouse, there was an iron gate, relatively new compared to the warehouse itself, suggesting it was recently constructed. Someone stood at the gate, a bit surprised to see a group of people getting off the vehicle but didn’t say much, just opened the gate and let them in.
The building indeed turned out to be a warehouse, but each room that used to store goods had its original door removed, replaced by iron bars, turning them into crude prison-like cells.
There was a faded factory layout map at the entrance, likely quite old, with parts of it peeling off and strangely stained with a yellowish grease.
Similar to other places, people here were dressed uniformly in dark red clothes, and there were guards on every floor.
Individuals who were initially heavily covered up took off their sun hats and masks, tossing aside the tour guide vests they somehow acquired from somewhere. As they walked halfway through the entrance, they noticed someone’s gaze in the crowd. When they turned, they saw the person who had just averted their eyes, feeling a strange vibe from them.
Jiang Yujin didn’t have any particular thoughts, just a pure sense of sympathy for the people in this organization.
Their working environment seemed generally unpleasant, either underground or in rundown buildings, which was quite distressing.
Then he was thrown into one of the rooms in this rundown building. They separated everyone from the vehicle in pairs, locking two individuals in each room. Before locking them in, all their personal belongings were confiscated.
This warehouse must have stored something messy previously. Even though it seemed unused for a long time, there were still oil stains and the heavy scent of diesel on the floor, a mix of odors that made Jiang Yujin simply crouch in a corner, facing the wall.
The person outside watched them enter the room, made sure the door was securely locked, and then left.
When someone returned outside, they were wearing uniform clothes, making it impossible to tell who they originally were.
Jiang Yujin remained crouched in the corner, and the considerate little brother Shi Bu came over and patted his back, trying to make him feel a bit better.
The person crouching in the corner with a distressed look raised their head and asked, “Did you memorize the map at the entrance?”
