Wanted Criminal Bounty

The next morning, Mo Qiong arrived at the library on time.

It was already the end of the month, and strangely, he didn't see Che Yun.

It was the 28th, so by all rights, she should have been at work today.

"It really is just a part-time job. She's probably held up by work," Mo Qiong thought.

"Magic... Ball!" Qin Ya arrived even earlier than Mo Qiong. She had clearly put in extra effort to dress up today, looking even prettier than yesterday.

"It's the weekend today. If you're busy, you could have just told me the name of the book, and I could have found it myself," Mo Qiong said.

On a weekend, a girl dressed up so nicely, yet she came to accompany him to the library. This made Mo Qiong speak his mind.

But Qin Ya clearly didn't mind. "I don't have anything to do today, it's fine. Besides, it's not just one book; it's a description pieced together from several books. I can't even remember their names, so I'll have to search thoroughly."

"Okay, I'll leave it to you then."

Mo Qiong smiled. No one knew that at that very moment, he was holding a small clump of air in his hand.

After understanding his abilities, he was thinking of ways to control himself from randomly discharging energy.

It was fine with men; at most, if they received his pheromones, they would just think he was a decent person, forming a good impression.

But with the opposite sex, they would be attracted by the pheromones, and the effect would be obvious.

Of course, this physiological influence wasn't an absolute feeling. If a woman intensely disliked him, even a strong hormonal surge would be useless.

With Qin Ya, his little fangirl, Mo Qiong didn't want to add any more to his collection.

It was also to prevent his body from randomly emitting things during daily activities.

Mo Qiong devised a method: strictly control his subjective intention, constantly focusing on hitting his own palm.

To make locking on easier, he even drew a spiral pattern on his palm.

This way, dust and air particles from collisions on his body would all fly towards his palm.

The pheromones emitted by his body would no longer scatter randomly with his vision but would gather in his palm along with the air.

Even the air he exhaled during breathing would rush towards the pattern on his palm.

His hand continuously felt the slight impact of air masses, letting him know that at least at that moment, the pheromones weren't affecting anyone else.

Of course, maintaining this focus continuously was difficult. It was inevitable that he would forget for brief moments.

He could only practice and get used to it as much as possible to avoid affecting others physiologically.

Any accidental harm caused would be purely unintentional.

"This one, this one... and this one..." After searching for a while, Qin Ya brought Mo Qiong three books.

Two of them discussed smuggling by Ming Dynasty merchants, which mentioned the great Pirate King, but only briefly and from different perspectives.

The other was even less, discussing the history of Ryukyu, which mentioned the royal palace being invaded by pirates and then seeking help from the Celestial Empire.

"Look, this mentions a lost Crown..."

"Then this book, although it doesn't mention Ryukyu losing its Crown, it does mention that in the forty-fourth year of the Jiajing reign, the Great Ming Dynasty bestowed a Crown and other items upon Ryukyu, indirectly confirming the loss of the previous one."

The two sat side-by-side. Qin Ya diligently helped Mo Qiong find relevant passages, thoughtfully flipping them open for him to see.

Mo Qiong studied them intently, even taking pictures with his phone.

Qin Ya would occasionally get up, weave through the library, and retrieve books she vaguely remembered seeing for Mo Qiong.

She found descriptions of the Crown, all records of the great Pirate King, and even portraits of successive Ryukyu kings.

After busy work for over an hour, Qin Ya finally stopped and sat beside him, gazing blankly at Mo Qiong's focused, studying profile.

However, Mo Qiong was clearly more concerned about the Treasure. He was currently staring intently at an illustration: a portrait of an old man wearing the Ryukyu Crown on his head.

The girl watched him, and he looked at the Crown in the painting.

Silence stretched for a long time.

"Got it!" Mo Qiong thought inwardly. The portrait clearly showed the characteristics of the Crown.

Although not as realistic as a photograph, with the help of other descriptions, he could completely visualize the Crown.

Of course, there would likely be some discrepancies, which might cause the GPS to hit another location or even fly off the Earth.

This was why he had bought so many GPS devices. Failure wasn't a big deal; with a few more tries, success would eventually come.

Moreover, during the journey to the target, there would definitely be damage. For example, hitting a bird, being damaged by the climate, or even being crushed by water pressure upon entering the sea.

Even if the target was in a completely sealed environment, the GPS might shatter directly against a wall.

After all, Absolute Hit only guaranteed hitting the target, not whether it would arrive intact.

Therefore, fifty GPS devices might not even be enough. If GPS were to be treated as consumables, hundreds might be needed.

In fact, these fifty GPS devices were intended for another purpose, to earn the funds for future treasure hunting through that endeavor.

He had thought for a long time last night. To search for this treasure, he would need to prepare at least around 500,000.

Just thinking about going out to sea required preparing many things, and it would be even more troublesome if it were underwater.

So, he planned to use this initial 20,000 yuan to earn 500,000.

As for how to earn it, he already had a method: capturing wanted criminals.

The Huaxia Police Network had many wanted notices for fugitives, all with names and faces.

Major suspects that the police couldn't find were posted with rewards. For Class A wanted criminals, most offered fifty thousand, with some even reaching a hundred thousand.

Catching just one would cover his costs and leave a profit. If he caught a few more, he could easily amass hundreds of thousands.

With hundreds of thousands, he could set sail.

He was just worried that if he caught wanted criminals all over the country in a short period, it would be too conspicuous in the police system.

If a large amount of reward money was paid out in a short time, and it all went to one person.

Once the records were compiled, they would discover Mo Qiong. Yesterday he caught someone in the south, today he was in the north catching another. A few days later, there would be records of him assisting the police in the southwest. Not long after, he did the same thing in the northeast... Would that not be conspicuous enough? Hunter King Conan?

"Magic Ball, it's noon. Are you hungry?" Qin Ya had been sitting beside him for a long time. Seeing Mo Qiong lost in thought, she finally couldn't help but ask.

"Huh? Oh... sorry, I kept you waiting for so long." Mo Qiong apologized.

Qin Ya's cheeks flushed slightly, and she said softly, "It's okay, it's okay."

Mo Qiong thought for a moment and said, "If you're talking about eating... alright, let's go together."

He had to thank Qin Ya for this. It was only right to treat her to a meal.

The two of them put the books back in their places. At this moment, Mo Qiong asked, "Why were you reading these books? Unless you specifically look for them, these books are usually not found."

Qin Ya smiled, "My father owns an antique shop, and my brother is a postgraduate student in archaeology. I grew up around it, so when I don't want to read professional books in the library, I read miscellaneous ones. For me, these books are just leisure reading."

Mo Qiong's heart stirred when he heard this. No wonder last night, when he talked to Qin Ya about ancient shipwrecks and lost treasures, she didn't find such dry topics boring like most girls.

Instead, she was more interested and spoke eloquently.

So her family was in this business, running an antique shop. They would need a solid foundation in history and appraisal. It wasn't hard to understand why she read obscure historical books as leisure reading since childhood.

However, Mo Qiong still asked, "Then why did you major in foreign languages?"

Qin Ya smiled, "My brother is taking over the family business, so I just did whatever I wanted. They never restricted what I studied."

"Oh, right. I see you like these things too. Actually, I know a lot about ancient treasures that aren't in the library. I can tell you about them. My dad, my brother, and even my grandfather have researched these things. We have a lot of organized related documents at home. History records countless shipwreck incidents, and we haven't found the remains of many of them. Not just at sea, but also many lost cultural relics on land. My brother dreams of finding them and plans to dedicate his life to it."

"I've heard bits and pieces since I was little. If you're interested, I can tell you all the stories I know."

Mo Qiong's eyes widened. He looked at Qin Ya as if she were a treasure.

Even with his treasure-hunting abilities, he needed detailed information about the target.

Without Qin Ya, just the matter of the great Pirate King would have taken him ages to find in the library.

Because he didn't know about it, he wouldn't have any leads and wouldn't know where to start.

And after finding one, what about the next? What should he look for? Many unknown records couldn't be found in ordinary libraries.

But now, Qin Ya said that her family had a lot of information about these lost ancient relics, many of which were accompanied by gold and silver treasures.

"Interested! I'm very interested. You can tell me these stories now." Mo Qiong stared at her with surprise.

Qin Ya was startled by Mo Qiong's gaze and said softly, "Now? Aren't we going to eat?"

"Ah, right. Let's go, we can chat while we eat." Mo Qiong grabbed her hand and rushed out of the library.

Being pulled by the hand, Qin Ya wanted to pull away, but seeing that Mo Qiong was oblivious, she let it be.

Mo Qiong led her straight to the cafeteria...

Halfway there, Mo Qiong suddenly stopped and turned towards the school exit.

Mo Qiong was used to eating at the cafeteria, and only then did he remember that if he brought Qin Ya there, his classmates would definitely see them.

It would be annoying to be questioned endlessly. It would be better to find a quiet place outside to eat and chat.

Soon, the two arrived at a restaurant. He had never been here before, nor had he ever ordered food.

In a private room, he asked Qin Ya to order while he watched.

Qin Ya asked happily, "What do you want to eat?"

"I eat anything," Mo Qiong said.

"What's your favorite!" Qin Ya pressed.

Mo Qiong knew that saying "anything" at this moment would be too impolite.

So he said, "Fish. I like fish the most."

As expected, Qin Ya quickly ordered a whole grilled fish, a bowl of fish soup, and a plate of vegetables.

Looking at Qin Ya's smile, Mo Qiong was a little lost in thought. He had never experienced this kind of scene before.

This feeling captivated Mo Qiong, and he ended up chatting about many trivial things with Qin Ya without realizing it.

By the end of the meal, he hadn't even asked about the clues to other lost items that he originally wanted to know.

It wasn't that he forgot, but seeing Qin Ya sitting opposite him happily, he didn't want to bring up such topics and ruin the atmosphere. Otherwise, it would seem as if the meal wasn't a thank you gift but rather a way to get his hands on her family's possessions.

"I haven't even started raising funds for setting sail, so why worry about that?"

"What I need to consider more right now is the problem of being too conspicuous by collecting too much bounty money in a short period."

Mo Qiong chatted with Qin Ya as he thought.

Before they knew it, they were talking about their childhoods.

His childhood was eventful, a stark contrast to the typical urban upbringing.

Qin Ya listened intently, but gradually, her mood turned somber.

Seeing her lost in thought, Mo Qiong knew she must have been reminded of something sad.

"Uh, did I say something wrong?"

Qin Ya shook her head. "It's not you. I was just thinking about my cousin. He was taken when he was two. Our whole family went frantic, searching everywhere, asking around. We've searched the entire country for four years, but found nothing."

"Because of this, my Second Uncle even quit his job. He hasn't stopped looking since."

She spoke with her head down. Usually, people would offer comfort at this point, saying things like they were sure he'd be found.

However, she didn't hear Mo Qiong say anything of the sort.

She looked up and found Mo Qiong staring at her, a look of sudden realization on his face.