Helping Aunt May Chase Down a "Scammer"

When the smell of burnt blueberry pie wafted from Aunt May's oven, Lin Mo was inflating tires in the repair shop. The scorched smell drifted in through the ventilation duct, mixing with the scent of rubber into something strange. His heart skipped a beat, and he shut off the air pump before racing upstairs—Aunt May treasured that oven more than anything. The last time she burned some cookies, she had muttered at it for an entire afternoon.

The kitchen on the third floor was already filled with black smoke. Aunt May was frantically pulling out the baking tray, and the edges of the blueberry pie were charred black as coal. When she saw Lin Mo, her eyes suddenly reddened. Her oven mitt dropped to the floor with a slap. "Lin, I've let Uncle May down..."

"What happened?" Lin Mo hurriedly opened the windows to clear the smoke, then took an ice pack from the refrigerator and handed it to her. "Cool it down first. Don't burn your hand." He noticed a silver bracelet on Aunt May's wrist, set with a glass bead. It looked like a cheap trinket.

"This piece of junk..." Aunt May wiped away her tears, took off the bracelet, and threw it onto the table. "I got talked into buying it yesterday. They said it could cure high blood pressure. It cost five thousand dollars... That was the money I'd saved to move Uncle May's grave."

Lin Mo picked up the bracelet and weighed it in his hand. Plastic casing, a button battery hidden inside, and the glass bead was nothing more than ordinary resin. "Who sold this to you?" His knuckles tightened slightly. The scammer behind that "Superpowered Computer Repair" scheme had barely disappeared, and now someone else was swindling old people out of their money.

"That 'Health Center' on the corner," Aunt May said, her lips trembling with anger. "A young man in a lab coat claimed he was a Stanford graduate with a doctorate. He even showed me a certificate..." She suddenly clutched her chest, her breathing quickening. "I went back to ask for a refund, but he said it couldn't be returned once it had been opened, then shoved me out."

Lin Mo helped Aunt May sit down and poured her a cup of warm water. "Don't worry. We can get the money back. Is someone still there now?"

"Yes! They open every morning at eight, just to scam old folks like us." Aunt May pulled a flyer from a drawer. Printed on it were the words "Quantum Energy Ring, Cures All Illnesses." The "doctor" in the photo had slicked-back hair and a thoroughly fake smile.

Lin Mo clenched the flyer, wrinkling the paper in his grip. Physical Enhancement let him clearly hear the sounds from next door—Ted was dismantling magic props, while Peter chewed on his pencil as he did homework. Those peaceful sounds only made him angrier. Some people just had to throw stones into this calm life.

"Wait at home. I'll go take a look." Lin Mo dumped the burnt pie into the trash. "I'll bring back a fresh one at noon."

"Don't get into a fight, Lin!" Aunt May called after him. "Those people don't look like they're good news."

Lin Mo did not look back. His footsteps rang heavily through the stairwell. Ted happened to come out of the computer shop, a lollipop in his mouth. "Mo, where are you going? Peter says he found a six-legged spider..."

"Do me a favor." Lin Mo stuffed the flyer into his hands. "Look into this 'Health Center,' especially that 'Doctor Wang.'" He took off his oil-stained jacket, revealing the white T-shirt underneath. "And tell Peter to preserve the spider specimen for now. I'll study it when I get back tonight."

Seeing that something was off about his expression, Ted immediately put aside his joking mood. "Don't worry. My cousin works in the police records room. How hard can it be to look someone up?" He patted Lin Mo on the arm. "Call me if you need a fight. I just learned a chokehold."

Lin Mo smiled, then turned and headed toward the corner. The autumn sun stretched his shadow long, while sycamore leaves spun around his feet. The "Health Center" had rented an abandoned barbershop. Red lanterns hung outside, and a poster reading "Free Health Checkup" was pasted onto the glass door. Lin Mo looked through the window. More than a dozen elderly people sat on plastic stools, while a young man in a white lab coat stood on the platform at the front. He was the "Doctor Wang" from the flyer.

"Uncles and aunties, take a good look," the young man said, raising a silver bracelet identical to Aunt May's. "This is no ordinary bracelet. It contains a quantum chip that emits frequencies resonating with the human body..." He suddenly poured a cup of cloudy water into a beaker. After shaking it a few times, the water turned clear. "See? It can even purify sewage, so what are clogged blood vessels?"

The elderly people gasped in amazement, and some had already started taking out their money. Lin Mo pushed open the door, and the wind chime let out a piercing jingle. When "Doctor Wang" saw him, the smile on his face stiffened. "Sir, this is a members-only establishment..."

"I'm here for you." Lin Mo walked to the front, his eyes sweeping over the certificates on the wall—the Photoshop traces were as obvious as graffiti. "Return Aunt May's money."

"What Aunt May? I don't know her." The young man retreated half a step and signaled to the two burly men beside him. "You here to cause trouble? Want me to call security?"

"Go ahead." Lin Mo pointed at the surveillance camera in the corner. "It'll be perfect for the police to see what brand of button battery you put in that 'quantum chip.'"

The elderly people began whispering among themselves, and some were already examining their bracelets. "Doctor Wang" panicked and raised his voice. "Don't listen to his nonsense! This is commercial sabotage! He's a shill from the health supplement store next door!" He suddenly grabbed an instrument from the table—a metal base topped with a glass dome that looked like a modified desk lamp. "This is our core technology! It's worth a hundred thousand!"

Lin Mo did not waste words. He reached out and lifted the device. Physical Enhancement made him move like lightning. Before the young man could react, the so-called "core technology" was already in Lin Mo's hands. "Everyone, look closely." Lin Mo turned it over, revealing the desk lamp's brand label still stuck to the base. "This is the 'magic lamp' you paid five thousand dollars for. Take it apart, and there's just a light bulb inside."

"You're lying!" The young man tried to snatch it back, but Lin Mo sidestepped him.

Lin Mo raised the device and smashed it onto the floor. With a loud crash, the glass dome shattered, revealing the filament and wires inside. It really was a modified desk lamp. The elderly people erupted into an uproar. Some trembled with anger, while others started shouting, "Call the police!"

"Run!" "Doctor Wang" grabbed the cash box and tried to rush out the back door, but Lin Mo seized his wrist firmly. Lin Mo did not use much force. He merely tightened his fingers slightly, and the young man howled in pain. The cash box fell to the floor with a slap, scattering dollar bills everywhere.

"Let me go!" the young man struggled, his face flushed red.

"Wait until the police get here." Lin Mo held him by the shoulder and pressed him into a chair. Physical Enhancement allowed him to control his strength with Precision Control, leaving the man unable to move without hurting him. The two burly men tried to come help, but Lin Mo shot them a look. Frightened, they shrank back—seeing him lift that device earlier had already shown them what he could do.

By the time the police sirens came from the street corner, the elderly people were gathered around the scattered dollars, counting them. Aunt May had arrived at some point and stood at the door wiping away tears. When she saw Lin Mo, she suddenly rushed over and hugged him. "Good boy, you really are my lucky star."

As "Doctor Wang" was led away by the police, he was still shouting, "I graduated from Stanford!" An elderly woman with glasses took Lin Mo's hand. "Thank you, young man. I saved that money for three years. I almost got scammed out of it."

"Don't believe this kind of thing in the future." Lin Mo helped her pick up the scarf she had dropped. "If you really feel unwell, go to the hospital. Doctor Li at the community clinic is wonderful."

As they cleaned up the mess, Ted and Peter arrived as well. Ted helped the police register the losses, while Peter crouched on the floor studying the shattered device, muttering, "The resistance wire's power rating is wrong. It would definitely short-circuit... This scammer was way too unprofessional."

Aunt May held Lin Mo's hand and insisted on treating him to dinner. "Come home! I'll make your favorite apple pie. It definitely won't burn this time!"

The setting sun stretched their shadows together like a warm painting. Looking at Aunt May's smiling face, Lin Mo suddenly felt that Physical Enhancement was more useful for protecting these elderly people than for beating up aliens. He touched the bracelet on his wrist. Its screen was quiet, yet it made him feel more at ease than ever.

That night, while eating apple pie, Aunt May deposited the recovered money in the bank. When she came back, she brought Lin Mo a new scarf. "The weather's getting cold. Don't catch a chill." She looked at him with eyes as gentle as water. "If my husband were still here, he would definitely like you too."

Lin Mo took a bite of apple pie, and its sweet fragrance melted across his tongue. Moonlight fell across the table outside the window, illuminating Peter's sketch of the spider specimen and Ted's design draft for a new magic prop. He knew there would always be scammers and trouble in this world, but as long as he had these people by his side, along with this warm apple pie, he could overcome any hurdle.

While clearing the dishes, Lin Mo noticed that Aunt May had thrown the fake bracelet into the trash and put on the wool wrist warmer he had given her last year. When she saw him looking, she smiled. "This one's still warmer. It really does cure these old aching legs."