The First Bucket of Gold

Listening to the man's account, Mo Qiong furrowed his brow.

After all, once these five men had been beaten, they had developed a psychological shadow over him and basically confessed everything they knew.

But when asked about Qin Liang, this man had actually been too afraid to say anything. At the time, Mo Qiong's heart had skipped a beat, and he had thought Qin Liang was probably dead.

As it turned out, things weren't as he had imagined.

The reason this man had been afraid to speak was that Qin Liang had been sold to another group.

A group that specialized in training children to beg, scam, and even steal.

In fact, they belonged to the same organization as the group that trafficked children like them. They simply had different divisions of labor.

The people in charge of training were of a higher level. Questioning them would implicate even more people.

The children who begged in many places were under their control. Their disabilities weren't congenital or caused by accidents...

The person in charge of this was someone called "Dinosaur." His methods were exceptionally vicious. It wasn't just the children—even the people working with him were somewhat afraid of him.

When he heard this, Mo Qiong thought Qin Liang had been deliberately disabled, so he immediately beat the trafficker senseless.

However, the trafficker hurriedly explained, "Qin Liang looks good, so he probably wouldn't be disabled. That child has tender skin and delicate flesh. Selling him to the mountains would be a waste, and sending him out to beg would be too wasteful. Children with good looks are more suitable for scamming people when they grow up..."

After hearing the explanation, Mo Qiong understood what had happened.

Among the abducted children, Dinosaur would select some who didn't look good or already had some defects. The traffickers generally wouldn't deliberately maim a child to gain sympathy.

But they wouldn't do that to children who were especially good-looking. Instead, they would properly train them.

Even as babies, some children were clearly destined to grow up handsome or beautiful. They would be taught certain skills and shown how to use their appearance to please others. Once they grew a little older, these children would be attractive, obedient, and adorable, allowing them to cooperate in gaining their victims' trust and deceiving them.

The standards were extremely high, though, and such children were exceedingly rare. They might not find even one in several years.

Qin Ya's family's genes had saved him.

Compared to the children assigned to the begging group, at least he wouldn't be disabled. Most of the other children would suffer both psychological and physical abuse there.

And the people who decided this fate were Dinosaur and the others, based on their so-called judgment of the children's appearance when they were very young.

He was truly despairing of this appearance-obsessed world.

Once this information was provided, the nature of the case escalated again, and many other cases would be drawn into it as well.

Although this trafficker didn't know much, he had delivered a batch of children to that group before, so he knew the location.

This intelligence was extremely important. In theory, the group still didn't know that their people had been arrested. If the authorities acted quickly enough, they could at least wipe out everyone at the stronghold where Qin Liang was being held.

However, Mo Qiong didn't need to handle this matter himself. The police had to take action. At most, he could help as a concerned citizen.

"I'll talk about it after I get the money."

Having settled one matter, Mo Qiong felt extraordinarily tired. He found a budget hotel at random and went to sleep.

He slept deeply and didn't dream.

It wasn't until eight or nine that evening that a phone call woke him.

He glanced at the caller ID. It was the old police officer.

"Big Brother..." Mo Qiong said in a low voice.

"Little Mo, the children's parents have all arrived. They insist on thanking you. Come over," the police officer said.

As soon as he heard that, Mo Qiong immediately perked up.

It had finally arrived. He had been involved in everything, from tracking them down to rescuing the children, arresting the traffickers, and interrogating them.

He had even personally called the parents. There was no way those parents could take their children back and not remember him.

Especially since there were two families from whom he was definitely going to accept a reward.

After tidying himself up, Mo Qiong quickly hurried to the county police bureau.

A crowd of people were there, clutching their own children and weeping bitterly. They had rushed over as soon as they received the news.

Now that they had seen their children, they held them tightly and didn't dare let go at all.

The old police officer told him that the traffickers had already been transferred, and their "simple interrogations" had also been reported. Mo Qiong's contributions had been mentioned in the report as well. As for how Dinosaur would be dealt with, they didn't know yet.

"Oh, right. The higher-ups are also giving you an award. Hmm... five hundred yuan. It'll be sent to your school together with a medal," the old police officer said.

Mo Qiong smiled and hurriedly began thinking about how to explain things to his instructor. After all, the only reason he had come to Gan Province was to have fun...

Taking leave and running off to play on his own was a little too brazen. However, the school valued honors highly, and with this commendation, it might willingly overlook such a minor matter.

"You're the one who saved my son, right?" a child's parent asked hurriedly after hearing this.

"It was me..." Mo Qiong answered. He had contributed throughout the entire process, so there was nothing to be modest about.

When the parents heard this, they all came over with their children to thank him.

Some couldn't control their expressions at all. Crying and laughing at the same time, they shook Mo Qiong's hand and said, "Thank you... Thank you so much..."

Mo Qiong smiled and comforted them, accepting their thanks one by one.

"The children are a little withdrawn, but fortunately, they were found after only a few months. Spend more time with them, and they'll be smiling again soon."

After hearing Mo Qiong's words, the parents also felt fortunate. Their children had been found after only a few months, while there were still too many who couldn't be found even after several years.

They had already learned the details from the police.

If Mo Qiong hadn't stumbled upon them this time, the children would have been sold after a little longer. Then they truly would have been difficult to find.

Moreover, if it had been an ordinary person, even if they knew those people might be traffickers, they might not have been able to save the children.

Forget about saving anyone—they probably would have been seriously injured themselves, after which the traffickers would have escaped with the children. By then, the parents would have received the news and known that their children had appeared there, yet still failed to recover them. That would have been utterly despairing.

Mo Qiong had been alone. If he hadn't beaten all five traffickers to the ground, there wouldn't be such good news now.

Thinking of this, several parents became even more grateful to Mo Qiong, while also marveling at their own good fortune.

In their happiness, they pulled Mo Qiong to the best hotel in the county to eat and celebrate the children's return.

Only after the celebration did a parent finally bring up the matter of payment.

"I promised three hundred thousand, and I absolutely meant it. We owe you for finding our child. Please accept this token of our gratitude."

Two of the families were relatively well-off. They had both posted their rewards on the website's homepage—one offering three hundred thousand and the other two hundred thousand.

One handed over the money, and the other was just about to do the same.

But when Mo Qiong saw the awkward expressions of several families, he smiled and said, "A thank-you payment is just a token of appreciation. I'll accept your gratitude, but let's not bring it up at this table. After we finish eating, I'll leave you my account number. You can transfer it whenever you have time after you return home."

Hearing this, the families who hadn't expressed their intentions all looked at Mo Qiong gratefully.

They had made some preparations as well. After all, the notice had promised a substantial reward. But that so-called substantial reward wouldn't exceed twenty thousand yuan.

Seeing the two wealthy families state their amounts directly at the dinner table made them feel somewhat awkward.

Afterward, several pairs of parents returned to the hotel and prepared to transfer the money using the account number Mo Qiong had given them.

But then they froze, because the account didn't exist.

"What? Did he give us the wrong number?" the woman asked in pleasant surprise.

The man thought about it and said, "No... I didn't notice it before. Looking carefully, this number was simply written at random. It couldn't be an account at any bank."

"What does this mean?" the woman asked blankly.

"What else could it mean? He never intended to take our money."

The next morning, Mo Qiong got out of bed and looked at his phone.

"Nice! It's in."

An extra five hundred thousand had appeared in his account.

That five hundred thousand, combined with the fifty-thousand-yuan bounty from the wanted notice, was basically enough for him to get some equipment, rent a warehouse, and even buy a small boat capable of going out to sea.

The two business owners—one offering three hundred thousand and the other two hundred thousand—were people whose rewards he had seen on the website long ago.

The other families weren't his targets, and their rewards weren't much. Accepting the money would be worse than not accepting it, so he had directly given them a fake account.

Mo Qiong now had his first bucket of gold, and countless treasures were waiting for him in the sea.

"I should notify Qin Ya's family first."

Mo Qiong had obtained definite news about Qin Liang from the trafficker, and the police knew about it as well. There was no need for him to rescue Qin Liang personally anymore.

Dinosaur was in a township near the border between Anhui and Jiangxi. The police might take action soon.

When he called Qin Ya and mentioned the matter, she was completely stunned and couldn't react for a long time.

"W-what? My younger brother?" Qin Ya exclaimed.

Mo Qiong smiled. "I remembered it when you mentioned it last time. This time, I happened to stumble upon a group of traffickers, so I asked them about it."

"And wouldn't you know it? We really found him. Qin Liang, and the Longevity Lock as a identifying mark. The trafficker remembered him clearly because the child was good-looking. There's no mistake."

"Ah!" Qin Ya covered her mouth and began sobbing, almost moaning. She felt as though she couldn't catch her breath.

"I'll send you the location. Tell your family to go take a look," Mo Qiong said.

"Y-you really... really found him?" Qin Ya's voice cracked through her sobs.

This had been the major burden troubling her family for four years. How long had she even known Mo Qiong? She had merely mentioned it to him in passing. The fact that he had remembered it and taken it to heart had already moved her deeply. She never expected him to find Qin Liang through such a coincidental stroke of fate.

"We found him, but he hasn't been rescued yet. I'm going to pass through there on my way back anyway. Give me your second uncle's phone number. When I arrive tomorrow, I'll deliver the Longevity Lock to him first," Mo Qiong said.

"I'll go too. I'll definitely be there. Thank you... This is wonderful, truly wonderful..." Qin Ya sobbed.

"Yes, it's good news. Why are you crying? That's enough for now. Calm yourself down a little." Mo Qiong chatted with her for a few more sentences before hanging up.

Hearing how agitated Qin Ya was, Mo Qiong felt somewhat regretful.

He regretted notifying her family so quickly. After all, it still hadn't been completely confirmed whether Qin Liang was alive or dead.

Four years was enough time for anything to happen.

If they came full of hope only to discover that Qin Liang had already died in that group's hands, it would be utterly devastating. It might even have been better to simply tell them directly that Qin Liang's death had been confirmed.

Given the living conditions among Dinosaur's group, the possibility of a child dying was very high.

"Since I'm flying back anyway, I'll take a look while I'm there."

"For now, I should handle my own affairs..."

Excited, Mo Qiong rushed out of the hotel and took a car toward the city.

Now that he had money, there was so much equipment he needed to buy. Diving suits and aerial photography drones were both available for purchase. As for the Wingsuit, there was no choice but to buy the materials and make it himself.

After all, the Wingsuit he needed was different from everyone else's. His only required it to satisfy two major conditions.

First, it had to contain multiple accelerating air sacs. By blowing through different tubes, he could make air arrows propel the Wingsuit's interior in different directions.

The air sacs also had to be extremely durable, able to withstand powerful wind pressure, while allowing him to release the air manually at any time.

That way, by inflating and deflating it, he could glide, accelerate, change direction, and decelerate freely in midair...

Second, once worn, it had to look like a bird...

P.S.: At the beginning, it looks like a normal urban superpower novel. The main plot will probably unfold over around two hundred thousand words. I've felt impulsive several times after reading reviews and wanted to move the plot forward, but I held back. My pacing is pretty bad, but I want to practice.