Mo Fei had free rein inside New York's traffic control center. He quickly found the homes of "Jack" and "Jerry" from the phone call. There were indeed surveillance systems nearby, but due to their placement, they could only observe from a distance.
Mo Fei took control of the surrounding traffic cameras and zoomed in to survey the area, hoping to find other surveillance equipment. More importantly, he needed to determine which ones were connected to the internet—or whether any nearby homes or businesses using those cameras had computers.
There was another possibility: perhaps Jerry had a computer or laptop at his home, where tonight's gathering would take place. But the odds were too low. Even if he did have one, it might not be turned on.
But coincidences were always necessary. Without coincidences, there would be no story. Mo Fei did find a supermarket directly across from Jerry's house. Its location was perfect, and a supermarket was bound to have surveillance cameras connected to the internet. Public safety in Brooklyn was fairly poor, especially around these roadside supermarkets. They were always targets for bold robbers, since cash was usually kept in the register, making them ideal targets.
Mo Fei easily hacked into the system and turned the front-door camera toward Jerry's entrance. He wanted to see how many people would be involved. It was still early, so after confirming the surveillance position, Mo Fei left and entered the internet provider's server. He no longer feared its firewall. He entered Jerry's home address into the server and searched to see whether he had an internet connection. The chance was slim, but getting close was essential.
Unfortunately, Mo Fei had no luck this time. That guy hadn't even subscribed to internet service, which left Mo Fei thoroughly annoyed. "What era is this? No wonder you can only rob banks!" After grumbling, Mo Fei left and returned to the telecommunications provider.
After making a circuit, he was back again. This time, he still intended to tap the two men's landlines. Whether they had cell phones remained unknown, so for now, Mo Fei could only monitor their calls here to prevent any unexpected changes. The surveillance was unbearably dull. Mo Fei patiently waited, but time crawled more slowly than a snail.
This won't do. After this, I have to figure something out. Since I'm a god of the virtual world, I need methods worthy of a god!
He had to keep running between several different locations. Even monitoring a phone call required his personal attention, and the tedious waiting was driving him crazy. This was the flaw of human thought patterns. Humans had emotions, thoughts, and desires, but true systems did not. They could monitor everything without limitation, split into countless instances, and handle many tasks at once.
If Jarvis were doing this, it could monitor their homes and tap their phones at the same time instead of running around everywhere like him. This strengthened Mo Fei's resolve to create several intelligent programs to share his workload, leaving him time to focus on studying. Going to a university to sit in on classes wouldn't be a bad idea either.
Time passed slowly, but it still passed. By evening, neither landline had shown any activity. Mo Fei could only leave the telecommunications company, return to New York's traffic control center, and keep watch on Jerry's front door.
This time, he did not have to wait long. At around seven that evening, a white man appeared first. He was tall and fairly muscular, wearing a baseball cap and a leather jacket with its collar turned up. He walked while repeatedly looking back over his shoulder. Mo Fei looked down on the guy. He was acting so sneaky, as if he were afraid people wouldn't notice him.
Sure enough, the man arrived at Jerry's front door and knocked. He continued glancing around before the door opened. The one who came to answer it should have been Jerry, right? The two nodded at each other, then went inside. Not long afterward, another white man appeared. He was about five foot nine and somewhat scrawny. He nervously approached the door, even more pathetic than the first one.
Mo Fei hesitated. These three didn't seem very reliable. Should he still choose them? Maybe more people would come? Mo Fei decided to wait a little longer, but half an hour passed and no one else arrived. Then the door opened again, and all three men came out. They walked over to a pickup truck parked by the curb and got in.
"Huh? They're not about to act now, are they?" Mo Fei froze, then began to worry. He had only found these three so far. If they acted now, wouldn't he lose his chance? Reliable or not, they were still an option, weren't they? Besides, judging by the three of them, their odds of succeeding were practically zero!
Mo Fei grew anxious and used New York's traffic surveillance system to follow their vehicle all the way to a bank. The pickup stopped outside it. Mo Fei was instantly alarmed. "Please don't do it. Please don't do it..." he prayed.
Thankfully, the pickup started again and kept circling around the bank. Mo Fei relaxed. "Are they scouting the place? So this is the bank?" After memorizing the bank's name, Mo Fei continued following the pickup.
After circling around for roughly half an hour, the pickup left. But instead of returning to Jerry's house, it finally stopped at Jack's home. Mo Fei found it difficult to understand what they were planning.
Mo Fei realized something: this might be his only chance to make contact with them. What could they be doing at Jack's house? After all, Jennifer was home, especially since she had a younger brother and sister. Mo Fei had seen them over the past few days. Three criminals planning to rob a bank had come to Jack's crowded house—were they there to play cards? Obviously not. Maybe they needed to use a computer. With that thought in mind, Mo Fei left the surveillance center and deleted the footage from earlier.
What he deleted was not the video file itself, but the pickup truck from the footage. Whether he ultimately chose them or not, Mo Fei still needed to make proper preparations.
He directly entered Jennifer's computer again and turned on the camera. Jennifer was still sitting in front of the computer, her expression just as dejected as before. Then someone knocked on her bedroom door. "Jennifer?" Jack's voice came through.
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