The call ended without giving He Piaojian any response at all.
He Piaojian wasn't annoyed. He hadn't expected to make any money from it anyway.
He photographed the medical bill and sent it off. Scrolling through his contacts, he found another acquaintance.
[Four Symbols], [Eight Trigrams], [Twelve Hours], and [Twenty-Eight Mansions] were organizations created by the authorities. Of these, [Twenty-Eight Mansions] belonged under [Four Symbols]. Xia Baoguo was one of its members, one of the seven mansions under Azure Dragon. His public code name was Horn Wood Flood Dragon, and he was stationed in Azure Cloud City.
He Piaojian, meanwhile, belonged to [Eight Trigrams], also known as the Mysterious Gate, which was based in Magic City. His organization was rather unusual: though created by the authorities, it was not under their direct control. The Mysterious Gate had only eight members and no subordinates, and was led by Qian Heaven.
What made them unusual was that the entire nation devoted its resources to carefully cultivating the eight of them, while other organizations had no authority to interfere in any of their actions.
They were free to act without restriction and could also take part in other organizations' missions. Other organizations could invite them as well. Put simply, they were external consultants.
The acquaintance he called, then, was Qian Heaven, the person directly in charge of the Mysterious Gate. Or, rather, the sucker who cleaned up their messes for them.
The call was answered quickly, and He Piaojian said with a cheeky grin, "Boss, reimburse me."
There was silence on the other end. Then the call ended, and his phone chimed with the sound of money arriving.
At school, it was Fan Daoyi's third day at Qingyun City No. 1 High School.
He Piaojian, who had only transferred in yesterday, had pulled a disappearing act today.
The teacher paid it no mind and held class as usual. With the college entrance exam approaching, the students didn't have much energy to spare for it either.
But somehow, a piece of current news began to spread.
Apparently, the latrines at Azure Cloud City's council hall had exploded on a massive scale. Passersby could smell the stench from far away.
The rare bit of amusement helped the students preparing for the college entrance exam relax, and they gathered to discuss it. "Was it too hot? Didn't the latrines upstairs in our building explode yesterday too?"
"Some say someone did it, because somebody said they caught a whiff of canned herring in the air."
Hearing about it was no substitute for seeing it themselves.
So someone in the class stepped up to the lectern, slid open the blackboard, and opened a self-media app.
On the search app, the trending story ranked first.
The presenter stood by the roadside. Behind her, the council hall's distinctive, towering spire was visible only in the distance.
Every shop within several hundred meters was shut, and there were few people around.
The presenter held up her microphone, the corners of her mouth curling upward as though she were holding back laughter.
"Yesterday, the council hall was attacked. According to a person familiar with the matter, the attacker stuffed canned herring and blue cheese into popcorn poppers, set them alight, and threw them repeatedly. There were no casualties."
The person familiar with the matter had his face blurred, but someone flashing a V sign and wearing a sleazy grin under those circumstances was far too recognizable.
Even if Fan Daoyi had only dealt with him formally once.
On his fourth day of school, Fan Daoyi received his compensation for emotional distress.
He Piaojian had spent a day holding his own against a crowd of debaters. Despite having blown up the council hall, he had instead made the other side pay over ten thousand in compensation.
And he had painfully counted out ten hundred-yuan bills, brought them to school, and handed them to Fan Daoyi.
He said, "This is their compensation to you. I ran all the errands and didn't take a cent."
Fan Daoyi said nothing and accepted the money.
Even if he knew He Piaojian had pocketed some for himself, so what? He hadn't lifted a finger, yet he'd gotten a thousand yuan and the medical expenses from a while ago for free. That was enough.
He wasn't greedy, because all he desired was to lie flat and inspire fear in others.
But other people's desires weren't like his.
Knowing this, one should not flaunt one's wealth.
As usual, Fan Daoyi placed the money straight into his desk drawer, uncovered on top of a stack of books. Like a child carrying gold through a crowded market, he let desire give rise to evil thoughts.
All it took was the right time.
As soon as the bell rang, everyone grabbed their bowls and rushed to the cafeteria. The surveillance camera in the classroom was just for show. If something happened, all it took was an excuse: the camera had unfortunately broken at the time, making it impossible to check.
From a poor family, with bad grades and a habit of writing self-criticisms, he had taken part in school bullying and often gathered a gang to corner students and collect protection money.
He had spent the whole class slumped over his desk, resting. Now the clamor of everyone racing out made him raise his head.
His gaze fell on the drawer of the desk ahead of him to the right.
On top of the stack of books lay several hundred-yuan bills, their red glaring to the eye.
He rubbed his eyes, the vivid red drawing his gaze.
He looked around. There was no one here now.
Wasn't it a little too conspicuous?
That splash of red tugged at the desire in his heart.
It was clearly beneath the shadow of the desk, so why did the red stand out so sharply?
He stood, swaying on his feet, his eyes fixed on it with greed.
He half-crouched and excitedly laid a hand on the bills. His mouth curled into a grin as he counted them with trembling hands.
One, two... ten.
A thousand yuan. A whole thousand yuan!
He looked around again, then took only a hundred and put the rest back where it had been.
With the hundred yuan in his pocket, he sauntered out of the classroom.
Not long after he left, Fan Daoyi appeared in the classroom right behind him.
A red thread invisible to ordinary people extended outward from the money in the desk. The other end was connected to the back of the departing person's neck.
"The secret delight of going undiscovered, the tension of stealing, and the joy of succeeding in the end." Fan Daoyi sat back down in his chair and opened a book to read. "So, would someone like that be afraid of being found out?"
"A thin stream runs long; cast a line to catch a fish. Hehe, when should I reel it in~"
The students finished eating and trickled back, while the thief used the hundred yuan to top up his meal card.
It was a perfectly normal thing to do and wouldn't arouse suspicion.
During the break between classes, Fan Daoyi lowered his head and rummaged through his desk.
A test paper was wedged beneath the books, and he had to lift them to get it out.
Nothing heavy was weighing down the money, so when he tilted the books up, the bills scattered and slid downward.
The thief, sitting diagonally behind him, watched everything in front of him nervously. He fidgeted with his pen cap, trying to put himself at ease.
He stacked the books on his desk close together, then ducked his head and lay down behind them.
Tilting his head slightly, he looked over from the corner of his eye.
He saw Fan Daoyi pick up the money.
Holding the bills by both sides, Fan Daoyi stood them on edge to straighten them, then set them to one side at the edge of the desk.
He didn't count how many bills there were.
The thief relaxed a little.
As before, the money remained inside the desk. Fan Daoyi didn't carry it on him, nor did he take it away.
Once again, the glaring red flashed into the thief's field of vision.
Though it was squeezed into a corner of the desk, his eyes fell on it constantly.
So, at dinnertime, he decided to take another gamble.
Just one bill. It's only two hundred in all. He won't notice...
Pretending to pass Fan Daoyi's desk by chance, he leaned against it and reached behind himself, feeling around inside.
He pinched a bill between his fingers and slowly drew it out, then crumpled it in his palm and clenched it tightly.
His palm was sweating the whole time, and his eyes stayed fixed on the two doors.
A faint, inconspicuous red light recorded everything.
Fan Daoyi still didn't notice that the amount had gone down.
The thief secretly rejoiced, but this time he changed his strategy somewhat.
He couldn't keep waiting until last to leave the classroom. That would make him far, far too suspicious.
He had to take a risk and steal the money under everyone's eyes!
A desk was deliberately bumped, and the books on it toppled over, knocking down the books on the neighboring desk as well.
They bent down to pick up the books from the floor, and the people around them helped gather them too, including the thief.
His target was clear. The money was now buried beneath the books, and he pretended to walk over and have his path blocked by them. He pressed the money beneath a book and casually palmed a bill.
Fan Daoyi took the books with both hands, felt the paper money against his fingertips, and smiled. "Thanks."
The thief swallowed, trembling as he drew his hands back and stuffed the money into his pocket.
His gaze drifted, deliberately or otherwise, to the figure picking up books, as he suppressed the restless urge to take all the money at once.
Once again, Fan Daoyi didn't count it.
Each time, with a casual movement, the thief slipped away with one bill.
Until... desire could no longer be suppressed, and the bait was completely exhausted.
It was time to reel in the hook.