Jiang Xiang felt he still hadn't had enough.
Standing at the highest point, he spread his arms.
"My dear friends, let's enjoy this moment-the trembling of the earth!"
With that, Jiang Xiang activated the mysterious Earthquake Card in his mind.
He was actually curious about just how powerful the Earthquake Card would be.
In an instant, the world shook! Though the tremors were slight, they were still clearly noticeable!
That really did put the fear into everyone.
Even his old friend Sherlock stared wide-eyed in shock at this move.
After withdrawing his consciousness, Jiang Xiang dropped into bed and fell asleep.
With Old Man's boost, he wasn't quite so exhausted, but he still got sleepy easily.
The drowsy Jiang Xiang enjoyed a good sleep.
Police Chief George, however, couldn't sleep.
More than half the officers at his precinct had spent the entire day sealing off the intersection at Times Square.
It would have been fine if they'd had something to show for it.
The worst part was that they'd gained absolutely nothing.
No, not absolutely nothing.
At least they'd received a few holiday greetings and witnessed a spectacular fireworks display.
They'd also seen a performance far beyond normal human capabilities.
Like a defeated rooster, George sat listlessly on his desk, not caring how he looked.
The next day
After a night of coordination and backroom deals, apart from the first few newspapers, the reports released by mainstream and authoritative media outlets were fairly restrained. At least they hadn't thrown the New York police's reputation on the ground and trampled it.
The entertainment papers and gossip rags showed no such mercy.
"Was this a police performance? Was a criminal really flying?"
"A ridiculous performance! Police pulled a stunt like this in the city center just to attract more donations!"
Entertainment newspapers and media outlets from all sides unleashed a barrage of verbal attacks on the New York Police Department.
[Emotional Value from George Stacy +5] [From New York residents... total +10] [Emotional Value from George Stacy +7] [From New York residents... total +30] [From New York police officers... total +20] [From...]
Still asleep, Jiang Xiang was woken by the system's notification sounds.
"Turn off the notification sounds for gaining Emotional Value."
Haa~
Jiang Xiang yawned, climbed out of bed, got a glass of water, and brushed his teeth.
Squeezing in a moment, he checked the system notifications.
Tsk~
Poor George.
Even without following the news reports, he could roughly sense the officers' anger and frustration from the Emotional Value.
What a humiliation!
More than half the precinct's officers had been mobilized, and with great fanfare at that!
In the end, they'd gained nothing, and people even suspected it had all been a staged farce!
Who could stand that?
The media weren't saints. They might not openly stir up major trouble, but they certainly wouldn't miss a chance to fan the flames.
George's Third Precinct had already become the laughingstock of the entire New York Police Department.
"This Emotional Value-"
"In all my life, I've never seen this many emotion points!"
Jiang Xiang was thoroughly pleased.
His original approach to theft had stirred up trouble, but he had been careful about how he went about it and never caused any major incidents.
Even if his avatar was killed, it would recover after a certain amount of time.
But the mental harm it inflicted on Jiang Xiang really did linger for a long time.
Afraid of getting shot in the head and wasting his avatar, he had almost never let it appear in full view, except when meeting Sherlock.
Second, Jiang Xiang was very careful about choosing his targets, which were mostly straightforward jewelers or small private museums.
He wouldn't provoke powerful military-affiliated interests like Stark Industries, Osborn Industries, or Hammer Industries, much less touch any political forces.
Finally, Jiang Xiang had always been very cautious in his activities. His considerable notoriety had depended on mistakes by the New York police and the efforts of certain unknown hacker groups to stir things up.
Once word of the master thief spread, the imitators and followers who emerged were the real driving force behind his widespread fame.
He gained more Emotional Value from people with high status and great fame, and relatively more from those directly involved in an incident.
Ordinary people contributed very little Emotional Value.
As Jiang Xiang understood it, ordinary people outside an incident hadn't witnessed it themselves, so the Emotional Value they provided was practically negligible. People with high status and fame offered greater returns, perhaps because they could indirectly influence many others.
This time, for instance, the Emotional Value Police Chief George provided was almost comparable to the combined total from a few hundred randomly chosen officers, excluding Sheriff Sherlock.
Jiang Xiang's best option for earning Emotional Value was to specifically farm encounters with important figures.
The Emotional Value George provided was greater than that provided by Jiang Xiang's maternal grandfather and uncle.
His maternal grandfather and uncle weren't exactly low in social standing.
Judging by that, perhaps there were differences even among those important figures.
Another option was for Jiang Xiang to create scenarios with a wide reach.
For example, the Earthquake Card in his possession wasn't a single-use item.
But ordinary people wouldn't connect an earthquake to Jiang Xiang even if one occurred, so they probably wouldn't provide any Emotional Value.
In short, Jiang Xiang wanted to pursue both options for now!
It would be somewhat troublesome, though. After all, there weren't many famous, high-status characters in American superhero comics who were both harmless and easy to fool.
Without some supernatural abilities, the so-called superheroes and supervillains who would appear in the future simply couldn't make a name for themselves.
No matter how he approached them, there would be some risk.
New York's vast population had already contributed nearly ten thousand Emotional Value to Jiang Xiang in just one day. Though the rate of growth had slowed considerably, with a little more effort, he would have a shot at a [Gold Box].
Even celebrities didn't necessarily provide Emotional Value.
Even if Tony Stark had glanced at the incident, if he'd only treated it as a joke, hadn't taken it to heart, or had even forgotten it immediately afterward, he wouldn't provide much in the way of Emotional Value either.
Norman Osborn was even less likely to pay attention to something like this.
"One April Fools' gift earned me this much Emotional Value. If I went out singing and dancing... ahem... would I rake in even more?"
He dismissed the idea after briefly considering it. Put himself in the public eye in a world of supernatural powers?
What if, just as he started getting famous, some supervillain or super-"hero" accidentally blew his head off?
"Let's think about something happier."
"How should I spend this nearly ten thousand Emotional Value?"
These days, saving up never ended well.
"Should I save up ten thousand and take a gamble on a Gold Box, or go for a few big Silver Boxes?"
"A Gold Box has a guaranteed reward, sure, but... what if that guaranteed reward is a fragment?"
After all, whatever cards he drew would affect the progress of his plans to some extent.
"Let's open three Silver Boxes worth two thousand each first! The word 'fragment' in the [Gold Box] description has me trembling."
At this stage, Silver Boxes were already a considerable help.
Jiang Xiang focused his mind on the [Silver Box].
"I wonder what the difference is between two thousand and one thousand."
Draw!
"So an extra thousand lets me choose a keyword to guide the draw."
That was a pretty good feature. After all, apart from the Old Man character card, the other items from his previous random [Silver Box] draws had been basically useless. At least, Jiang Xiang couldn't think of any use for a rubber chicken that kept screaming nonstop after a single press.
"Let's make the first two draws revolve around Old Man. Maybe I can get Jade or Jackie Chan. Talismans would be even better."
Whether he would keep lying low or get involved in fabricating major incidents depended on his luck with these draws!
[Item: Sealed Rooster Talisman] [Item: Sealed Tiger Talisman] [Item: One of Jackie Chan's shirts] [Item: Dried lizard]
That's it? That's it?!
"Two talismans, and they're both sealed. Looks like without a guaranteed reward, the prizes are a lot worse."
"Let's just open two random [Silver Boxes] worth one thousand Emotional Value each."
Before you continue