There's Another Hidden Reason

Xiao Xia finished recounting, through tears, how she had been deceived.

Something like this naturally stirred the girls' sympathy.

Fortunately, the stolen items were all still there, and she took the initiative to hand them over and return them to her roommates.

Her two roommates also decided not to pursue the matter any further.

In private, they agreed to let the matter pass, and no one was allowed to speak of it.

Then every gaze turned to Lin Qiye.

As the only boy in the girls' dorm, the best thing to do at a time like this was to stand on the girls' side. Otherwise, the consequences would be severe.

"Uh, I'm one hundred percent in favor, but do you really think this ends here? If those scammers aren't dealt with, they'll come after her again."

Tian Nina asked blankly, "Then what do we do? They're online, and we can't find them. Even if we report it, they'll be hard to catch."

Some of the girls also chimed in:

"The theft case has already spread. If the scammers find out, will they run away?"

"Those scammers will definitely go into hiding. If they get away, what if they come back to take revenge on Xiao Xia later?"

"That sounds terrifying. They're in the dark and can strike at any time."

This was indeed an extremely uncomfortable outcome, and it was not at all impossible.

In his previous life, Lin Qiye had seen similar news stories, where scammers took revenge afterward and even brazenly posted online to brag about it.

Lin Qiye had also been scammed before. Though his loss had not been great, the memory was still vivid.

Scammers existed everywhere, both now and in the future. The only difference was that as technology developed, they changed their methods.

In the past, he had not had the ability. After being scammed, he could only endure it and swallow the loss.

Now that he had Intelligent AI, he could not just leave it alone.

He lowered his voice and discussed it with Tian Nina.

"I know some hacker friends. If I ask them for help, they might be able to locate the scammers."

"That's right. I heard hackers are really powerful. If they can find where the scammers are hiding, I'll have my uncle go arrest them."

"Then let's do that. I'll go to the Internet Cafe and contact them."

"I'll go with you."

Then Tian Nina briefly explained the situation and left the girls' dorm with Li Qiye.

Once they were out of the girls' dorm, Lin Qiye let out a long breath and instantly relaxed. For a hot-blooded young man, the girls' dorm was far too stifling.

Anxious, Tian Nina was still urging him on. "Hurry up. Don't let the scammers notice something's wrong and run."

When they reached the Internet Cafe, Lin Qiye found an excuse. "I'm going to the bathroom first. Open up a computer and wait for me."

After walking to a deserted spot, Lin Qiye took out his Bluetooth earphones.

"Create a Virtual Human. Occupation: hacker. Make him as mysterious as possible. In a while, communicate with me in his name."

[Command received. Hacker: Gray Hand, created successfully.]

[Defined as a top hacker hidden within the internet.]

[Gray Hand's only contact method is QQ: xxxxxx]

Lin Qiye walked back, logged into QQ, searched a string of numbers, and sent a friend request.

The friend request from a QQ account named Gray Hand was accepted, and Lin Qiye clicked on video call.

A mysterious figure wearing a black mask and a gray robe appeared on the video screen. Coupled with the pitch-black background, even though Lin Qiye knew this was a Virtual Human, he still felt a trace of eeriness.

Tian Nina even grabbed Lin Qiye's hand, clearly very nervous.

Lin Qiye asked the camera:

"I want to investigate a group of online scammers who lend money at usurious rates."

The black mask replied, his voice a modified electric rasp.

"I need detailed information, such as the way they connected with the scammer, the online communication tools they used. Through these, I can find their exact address."

"The victim used QQ. What should we do?" Lin Qiye spoke with Gray Hand in a perfectly serious manner.

"Download and run the file I send you, then use the victim's QQ to contact the scammers. Leave the rest to me," Gray Hand replied.

Then Lin Qiye followed Gray Hand's instructions, received a small program, and ran it.

After that, he had Tian Nina call and get Xiao Xia's QQ account and password, as well as the scammers' information.

After logging into Xiao Xia's QQ, he sent a message to one of the scammers.

"Sorry, I couldn't borrow any money. Do you want things like a phone and gold jewelry?"

After waiting a while, the other side replied, "Anything works. The phone and gold will be discounted. I'll give you an address to mail them to."

The address they sent was actually in another province.

Clearly, the other party had some counter-surveillance awareness. They knew to use a distant address as a decoy, then casually find someone to pick up the goods when the time came. Even if that person was caught, it would be useless.

Lin Qiye did not continue the conversation. Instead, he waited for Gray Hand's investigation results.

After a while, Gray Hand replied on QQ.

"The other party has a certain level of network security awareness and used a proxy server to conceal their real address."

"Their physical address is located in JB District, Kun City."

"Based on the delivery address information from their online trading platform account, the real address can be preliminarily determined as: Room 302, Unit 2, No. 15 Flower Lane, JB District."

The answer was out!

Tian Nina was dumbfounded. She gained a whole new understanding of how powerful hackers were, and was also surprised by how wide Lin Qiye's circle of friends was.

Lin Qiye secretly let out a breath of relief. Virtual Humans really were useful things; they could be used to deal with all kinds of problems.

Now that they had the scammer's address, it was time to hand it over to the police.

Lin Qiye no longer took it to heart and left it to Tian Nina and that group of enthusiastic university girls to handle. He figured Tian Nina's uncle would have no trouble dealing with a few scammers.

Just like that, a day passed.

Li Xiongye arrived at the Internet Cafe office early. Only after seeing that the stock had locked in at its daily limit up did he finally relax.

Lin Qiye brought up what had happened yesterday as an amusing topic of conversation.

Li Xiongye was greatly interested. "Did you call the police? Should I find someone I know?"

"My girlfriend went to report it. Her uncle works at the police station, so it should be fine."

"Good. I hate scammers who want something for nothing the most. Catch every last one of them."

"I'll make a call."

Lin Qiye dialed Tian Nina's number, only to receive bad news.

"Did your uncle and the others catch the scammers?"

On the other end of the phone, Tian Nina sounded extremely aggrieved. "No. He said there wasn't enough evidence, so they could only open a case first. They can't make arrests until they've gathered enough evidence."

"What does that mean? Explain it clearly."

"I can't explain it clearly. Come to the police station. We're planning to report the case again today."

After hanging up, Lin Qiye was completely confused. He said to Li Xiongye, "Something's happened over there. I need to go to the police station."

Li Xiongye glanced at the computer screen, then stood up. "I'll go too. You youngsters don't have much experience. You need an adult with you."

After that, both sides arrived at the police station.

The girls led by Tian Nina were all talking at once, making her police officer uncle's veins bulge.

Her uncle drew breath from his dantian and shouted, "Stop arguing. One at a time."

That presence immediately suppressed the noise.

Tian Nina spoke up. "Uncle, we still want to report the case. A group of scammers used online shopping as a pretext to lure university students into signing illegal high-interest loan contracts, then kept using that to threaten and extort them. Doesn't that count as a crime?"

Tian Nina's uncle replied helplessly, "A case has already been opened. I've told you, handling a case requires a process. Right now, there's a lack of actual evidence. First, the victims don't have the contract documents. Second, they're very cunning and only accept cash, so there's no evidence of fund transfers. As for chat records, they can only serve as supporting evidence. Even if you know where they live, you can't arrest them immediately."

Li Xiongye knew the ropes and added on their behalf, "The law is a serious matter. Right now, they can only open a case and investigate. Only after collecting evidence and confirming it can they arrest the suspects."

Both reports had ended with the same result. The group of girls had thought too simply, and for a moment they were discouraged.

Lin Qiye spoke up. "If they're caught in the middle of committing fraud, can they be convicted?"

Tian Nina's uncle instinctively nodded, then realized something was wrong and immediately began to criticize and educate them with great seriousness. "Protecting the lives and property of the people is our duty as police officers. I must warn you: those lawbreakers who wander along the edge of the law are dangerous, even if they're scammers. Don't do anything reckless."

"Understood. We'll go back now. We hope the police will bring those scammers to justice as soon as possible." With that, Lin Qiye waved and led everyone out of the police station.