Chapter 70.2: I Don’t Think It Looks Very Convincing
Wang Zhongshan stayed behind. Watching the others leave, he grinned at Jiang Xia and asked, “Hey, Jiang Xia. I’ve heard pickpockets explain how they lift wallets plenty of times. Want me to go over the techniques with you?”
Jiang Xia was looking at Wang Zhongshan as though he were worth five million yuan.
Of course, she had no intention of revealing her true abilities. But even for a complete beginner, it was perfectly normal to occasionally manage to pull a wallet out of someone’s pocket after practicing for a while, wasn’t it?
And this was inside a police station, with a police officer’s wallet as the target. Each successful attempt should earn her at least ten experience points! If she got ‘lucky’ a few times, earning a hundred points wouldn’t be unreasonable at all!
Thinking this, Jiang Xia perked up with excitement. She rubbed her hands together eagerly and said, “No need! I already know how. I’ve even tried it before!”
“Alright, then.”
Wang Zhongshan nodded. “I’ll walk along, and you can come up and bump into me, then try picking my pocket?”
“No problem!”
Wang Zhongshan walked straight over to the stairwell, turned around, and strolled toward Jiang Xia.
Jiang Xia naturally stepped forward. Suppressing her excitement and the urge to let her hands act on their own, she deliberately bumped into him with her shoulder. Then, with an exaggerated movement, she thrust her right hand into Wang Zhongshan’s pocket.
The motion was far too obvious. Wang Zhongshan immediately reached out, seized Jiang Xia’s arm, and pulled her hand out of his pocket.
He let out a low whistle, raised his eyebrows in surprise, and exclaimed, “Whoa, Jiang Xia, you’ve actually got some talent! Your approach is fine, and you got your hand straight into my pocket in one go. It’s just that your movements are too exaggerated. I could even feel the tug on my shoulder! Try using a little less force, okay?”
Damn! She’d completely forgotten that a genuine twenty-four-karat beginner shouldn’t even be able to get their hand into someone’s pocket. She was still acting too skillfully!
When you’re cursed with too much knowledge, it’s impossible to imagine what someone who knows nothing actually looks like.
Jiang Xia felt a little frustrated with herself. Fortunately, this wasn’t a serious problem. She withdrew her arm normally and complained with some dissatisfaction,
“I can’t help feeling like you’re insulting me.”
“Hey, I’m complimenting your nimble fingers!”
Wang Zhongshan understood why Jiang Xia might feel a little uncomfortable being told she had a talent for pickpocketing. He stepped back and tried to reassure her.
“Look, it doesn’t matter whether it’s a black cat or a white cat. As long as it catches mice, it’s a good cat! If you can master this skill, it’ll make things much easier when you go undercover and investigate these people!”
“Fair enough.”
Jiang Xia shook out her hand and said, “Then let’s try again.”
“Let’s do it.”
Jiang Xia continued bumping into him and trying to pick his pocket.
This time, she didn’t even manage to find the pocket.
The next time, her approach was too unnatural, and Wang Zhongshan spotted it immediately and called a halt.
The time after that, her movements were once again too exaggerated…
After more than twenty consecutive failures, Jiang Xia finally had a stroke of ‘extraordinary luck’ and managed to pull a black leather wallet out of his pocket.
Her face lit up with excitement.
“Brother Wang, look! I did it! I actually got it out!”
Wang Zhongshan stood where he was, looking somewhat exhausted, as Jiang Xia happily waved his wallet in the air.
What success? He had clearly felt her hand just now. But after so many repetitions, the exercise had become both annoying and exhausting. He might as well let Jiang Xia succeed once to boost her confidence.
Jiang Xia was still happily swinging the wallet around.
She knew perfectly well that Wang Zhongshan had gone easy on her, but that didn’t matter. As long as the system counted it, she was good!
Twenty experience points had already been credited to her account!
She was actually hoping Wang Zhongshan would go easy on her a few more times. That way, she could farm more points while he continued to think she was hopelessly clumsy. She’d gain experience without arousing anyone’s suspicions. It was a win-win!
Photographer Zhao had appeared in the doorway at some point. Looking rather curious, he asked, “Jiang Xia, did you really manage to learn how to do it?”
“It was probably just luck.”
Jiang Xia straightened up, returned the wallet in her hand to Wang Zhongshan, then turned to answer Photographer Zhao.
“I only managed to get it out once in more than twenty attempts. I wouldn’t count on it yet. I still need more practice.”
Wang Zhongshan felt a headache coming on as soon as he heard that.
This kind of repetitive practice was genuinely dull and tedious. He’d been able to put up with it earlier, but now he was starting to lose patience.
Looking at Photographer Zhao, who had come out to watch the spectacle, his eyes suddenly shifted as an idea occurred to him.
“Jiang Xia.”
Wang Zhongshan said, “I’ve practiced with you so many times that I’m practically doing it automatically now. Either I instinctively dodge your attempts, or I just cooperate and let you reach into my pocket. There’s not much point in continuing like this. How about we let Photographer Zhao give it a try?”
As he spoke, he stepped forward and casually draped an arm around Zhao’s shoulders, like two old buddies.
“Old Zhao, come help me out, will you?”
“Sure!”
Zhao found the whole thing rather interesting and immediately agreed.
“Jiang Xia, why don’t you try picking my pocket?”
“Alright.”
Jiang Xia agreed readily.
She was going to keep failing anyway, so it didn’t matter who she practiced on.
“This actually looks pretty fun! Jiang Xia, let me have a turn after him!”
Just as Jiang Xia agreed, two more people popped out of the office. Huang Xueling and Yang Lihua both looked eager to give it a try. Even Captain Zeng from the First Squad’s office had somehow appeared in the doorway with a cup of water in his hand, grinning as he watched the commotion.
Even people watching a game of chess couldn’t resist offering running commentary, let alone when they were watching something as novel as someone practicing pickpocketing. The onlookers couldn’t help themselves and immediately started shouting instructions.
“You bumped him at the wrong angle!”
“Your hand didn’t get in!”
“Come on, just a little lower!”
“Xueling, your act as an ordinary passerby is way too fake!”
“Uh… Jiang Xia, you used too much force again this time.”
“Hey, hey! She got it this time!”
…
“What do you mean, she got it? I could feel Jiang Xia reaching into my pocket!”
Yang Lihua stood his ground and argued with the crowd. Then he turned back to Jiang Xia and said, “Your technique still needs work!”
Oh, thank you so very much!
Sure, this did make it clear to everyone that her pickpocketing skills were still terrible, but it also meant she wasn’t getting any experience points!
What an absolute lack of cooperation!
Jiang Xia pretended to get angry. As a passing officer watched the commotion, she casually snatched a blank sheet of paper from his hand, rolled it into a tube to imitate a dagger, then held the wallet in her left hand and the paper tube in her right. Pointing it at Yang Lihua, she threatened,
“Say that again! When I was holding the wallet, could you actually feel me taking it or not?”
So she’d gotten angry and pulled a ‘knife’ on him!
Since it was all just horseplay, Yang Lihua played along. He raised both hands in surrender and said, “I give up! I didn’t feel a thing just now. That wallet is yours!”
Only then did Jiang Xia lower the paper tube with satisfaction.
She’d thought it was nothing more than a bit of horseplay. She hadn’t expected that the moment she lowered the paper tube, the system would sound another reward notification.
[Ding! Congratulations, Host! You have successfully robbed a police officer inside a police station. Experience points +50!]
Holy crap!
Jiang Xia froze mid-motion.
That counted as robbery? Uh… technically, it did. But the reward was surprisingly generous!
This time, she really couldn’t hold herself back.
So, when Liao Zhongsheng finished his discussion and was chatting with the other team captains as they headed upstairs, he saw Jiang Xia looking thoroughly aggressive. She was pointing a dagger made of folded paper at Lu Yixing, threatening him to shut up, while her left hand was pulling a wallet straight out of his pocket.
？？？
Liao Zhongsheng froze for a moment, several question marks rising in his mind.
Good grief! He’d only been away for a little over two hours attending a meeting. How had Jiang Xia managed to escalate from practicing pickpocketing to outright committing crimes by the time he got back?
Was she really improving that quickly?
…
Early morning, Fulu Street.
In a small alley at the very beginning of the street.
Liang Jihua had changed into civilian clothes. A gray towel hung around his neck, and he carried the faint smell of scallion oil for some reason. Crouching at the edge of a wall, he pointed toward the rows of vegetable stalls in the distance.
“We observed this street yesterday afternoon. There are four people collecting sanitation fees here. They’re all young men in their early twenties. They address each other by nicknames, and we don’t know their real names yet. So far, we’ve only identified the tall, skinny one as Ma Gan, the one with the longest hair as Shunzi, the short, stocky one as Xiao Liu, and the last one as Mazi.”
“Those four collect money roughly twice a day. After collecting it, they don’t split it among themselves on the spot. Instead, they head straight into the alley. I suspect they’re handing the money over to a higher-ranking boss.”
“The pickpockets wandering around this street clearly know them. However, the money they steal doesn’t go directly to those four. Instead, they hand over a portion to a middle-aged man sitting under the shade of a tree. His nickname is Third Brother.”
“I think he probably knows who the street thugs report to, but if we approach him and ask directly, there’s no guarantee he’ll tell us anything.”
As he spoke, Liang Jihua turned to look at Jiang Xia.
“See if you can get anything out of the pickpockets who interact with him. Remember, if you sense that something’s wrong, get out of there immediately.”
“Understood.”
Jiang Xia rubbed her hands together excitedly, adjusted her demeanor, and, right in front of Liang Jihua, activated the King of Thieves title.
The system’s aura took effect instantly.
Liang Jihua initially felt that Jiang Xia was gradually starting to resemble a pickpocket. But whether she’d gotten into character in an instant or something else had happened, in the very next moment, she suddenly became thoroughly unpleasant to look at. It was as though the words I’m no good were practically written all over her face.
Liang Jihua couldn’t help freezing for a moment.
Could acting skills really be this incredible? After making that adjustment, she looked like an entirely different person! Her whole appearance and demeanor were completely unlike what he’d seen before!
But Liang Jihua quickly realized something was wrong. In his urgency, he slapped his thigh and exclaimed,
“Jiang Xia, you’ve overdone it! Pickpockets aren’t supposed to look this obviously like bad people! Tone it down a little! Go back to how you looked just now!”
Jiang Xia couldn’t help laughing.
Captain Liang really was an unusual character. He hadn’t even thought of arresting her. He actually thought she’d gone too far with her acting!
Unfortunately, the system’s enhancement was too powerful. She couldn’t adjust it back!
Following his advice, she tried to make adjustments for several minutes, but she couldn’t get rid of too much of that unmistakably unsavory air about her.
“I can’t seem to get back to how I looked just now.”
Jiang Xia helplessly spread her hands.
“This current state is easier to maintain. I’ll give it a try first. If it doesn’t work, we can make some more adjustments afterward, okay?”
“Well…”
Liang Jihua felt his temples throbbing, but he had no other choice. He could only reluctantly agree.
“Fine.”
A terrible premonition began to form in his mind.
He’d overestimated Jiang Xia’s acting abilities after all. Well, she wasn’t an actress. She’d only practiced for one day yesterday. And that afternoon, she’d repeatedly failed to master the technique, gotten so frustrated that she’d even pulled a ‘knife’ and robbed people. How could he expect her to deliver a perfect performance every single time? As long as she could maintain her act without breaking character, that was already good enough.
She could certainly maintain this current state, but looking as obviously unsavory as she did now, what information could she possibly hope to get out of anyone?
Well, it looked like they’d be returning empty-handed today!
While Liang Jihua worried over the situation, Jiang Xia adjusted her hat once more, stood up, and walked out on her own initiative.
There were already countless people out shopping for vegetables. Everywhere she looked, the street was packed with people.
The summer heat meant that many leafy vegetables couldn’t be kept fresh for long. After just one day, they’d already start wilting. So the farmers harvested their crops at the crack of dawn and hurriedly brought them to market. Meanwhile, nearby residents took advantage of the time before work to buy their vegetables.
It was the busiest time of day, both for the farmers and their customers.
Of course, the pickpockets were busy too.
Jiang Xia glanced around and spotted a pickpocket near a customer, apparently sizing up potential targets. Rather than approaching him and interrupting what he was doing, she pretended to inspect the vegetables, slowly moved toward a female customer, and walked straight into her.
“Ah!” The female customer stumbled when Jiang Xia bumped into her. Jiang Xia immediately apologized.
“I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to bump into you. Are you alright?”
The pickpocket, having heard the commotion, immediately looked over.
Seeing that the person who had bumped into her was a young woman who was apologizing so sincerely, the female customer didn’t think much of it. She waved her hand, said, “It’s fine,” and went back to selecting vegetables.
Jiang Xia walked around her and continued toward the stalls ahead as though nothing had happened. As she walked, she shook her hand, looking slightly frustrated, as if she’d failed to accomplish something.
The pickpocket turned sideways and took a few more looks at Jiang Xia.
Huh? This young woman is interesting. She looks a little like one of us.
Let’s watch her a bit longer.
A few minutes later, all that remained on the pickpocket’s face was exasperation.
How can this woman’s technique be so terrible? She’s bumped into people three times already, and she hasn’t succeeded even once!
He couldn’t stand watching any longer.
Just as Jiang Xia was preparing to bump into someone for the fourth time, the pickpocket approached and patted her on the shoulder. Lowering his voice, he asked,
“Hey, miss, your technique is way too crude. You came out to work before you’ve even learned how to do it properly?”
Jiang Xia froze for a few seconds before asking stupidly, “Brother, what are you talking about?”
‘Well, well. A complete novice with no one to show her the ropes!’
“Come here.”
Unable to watch any longer, the pickpocket said, “Let me explain the rules of the trade to you.”
“Big Brother, you’re also… Big Brother, you’re such a good person!”
Jiang Xia finally understood. Her face lit up with delight, and she hurriedly took a pack of cigarettes from her pocket and offered it to him.
“I don’t know anything at all. I’ve been worried because I didn’t know who to ask!”
Looking at the pack of good-quality cigarettes, the pickpocket grinned.
Alright! This girl might be clumsy, but at least she knows how to behave!
“Come on, come on. Follow me.”
The pickpocket accepted the cigarettes, took one out, then pulled a box of matches from his own pocket and lit it. After taking a puff, he beckoned Jiang Xia toward an empty corner by the wall.
Once they were out of the way, he asked,
“You don’t have anyone showing you the ropes, do you? How come you’re working in this line of business all by yourself?”
“It’s all because I’m poor. These days, all the available jobs go to people with connections. I can’t get my foot in the door, and I don’t want to starve to death, so I have no choice but to do this.”
Jiang Xia lowered her head in embarrassment.
“But I couldn’t find anyone to teach me, either. All I could do was watch people on the street and try to figure things out for myself. I’d go home and practice afterward, but I still haven’t managed to get the hang of it.”
“Ah…”
Hearing that she couldn’t find a proper job, the pickpocket sighed along with her, clearly sympathizing.
“Who isn’t in the same boat these days?”
Liang Jihua had quietly made his way over. He was crouching in front of a vegetable stall, selecting some vegetables, when he spotted a pickpocket standing in a corner with Jiang Xia, chatting away.
He held a loofah in his hand, his mouth opening and closing. He looked as though he wanted to say something but couldn’t quite bring himself to.
‘Wait… That actually worked?’
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