391: Chapter 379 You're Senior Brother Zhou? Then who am I?

"Is that so? Senior Brother Zhou is coming to help?" Zhao Qi, who was busy flipping through files at his desk, learned of this from Luo Xiling and stood up in surprise.

Ye Ming felt the same, waving his arm vigorously: "If Senior Brother Zhou can come to help, we won't have to worry about how to arrest the scammers who have fled abroad."

Luo Xiling, however, was a bit unhappy. She sat in a chair on the side, resting her chin on her hand: "I thought Master would come. I haven't seen Master in a long time."

"Why are you in such a rush? It's not like Immortal Xu is going to run away, right?" Zhao Qi said nonchalantly.

"Hard to say." Luo Xiling's expression became even gloomier. Under the curious gazes of the two, she explained, "When I used to chat with Master, I heard him say he was quite interested in deep space because he had never been there. Maybe one day, on a whim, he'll just leave."

"That can't be right. Isn't the Mountain Gate sect leader in seclusion? All matters need to be handled by Immortal Xu; how could he possibly find time to go on a long journey?"

Luo Xiling didn't know if she was overthinking it, but she was always afraid that if Master left, it would be for ten thousand years.

"Alright, stop worrying blindly. Just wait for Senior Brother Zhou to come and ask him." Ye Ming comforted her, then asked, "Where did the four of them go?"

"I sent two to patrol, and the other two are training Soldiers at the camp."

Speaking of training Soldiers, Zhao Qi became interested. He put down the files in his hand and said: "How is that Body Tempering Technique working out?"

"Not bad, but it's a pity that Blue Star has no spiritual energy, and the Mountain Gate forbids taking outsiders inside at will—even I can't. Otherwise, if I could take a few talented Soldiers to practice in the Mountain Gate for a while, maybe they could really achieve something."

Hearing this, Zhao Qi felt disappointed and picked up the files to continue reading: "I thought we could train someone to become transcendent. If it really worked, I'd try it too."

"It definitely wouldn't work."

The two didn't continue the conversation and turned their attention back to the files. Although Luo Xiling liked to mess around, she knew the importance of things when others were busy and stopped disturbing them.

Zhao Qi leaned over the desk flipping through pages, Ye Ming leaned his back against the white wall holding the files in one hand, and Luo Xiling sat astride a wooden chair on the side, her chin resting on the back of the chair, her head swaying slightly from side to side.

The sun slowly set towards the west, and the softened sunlight shone obliquely into the room through the window.

This quiet scene lasted until nightfall, and was only broken when the assistant knocked on the door and entered.

"Group Leader Ye, Group Leader Zhao, and Group Leader Luo, the victims you requested have arrived at the base."

Zhao Qi stood up abruptly: "Let's go, take me there quickly!"

He and the assistant left in a rush. Luo Xiling looked blankly at his back disappearing outside the door: "Brother Ye, what's wrong with Brother Zhao?"

"With a great revenge fulfilled, it's hard not to feel joyful." Ye Ming shook his head with a smile, straightened up, and walked outside as well, "Let's go too."

The four of them arrived one after another at a spacious room.

Inside the room, apart from a long table and matching wooden chairs, there was nothing else.

The assistant finished his task of leading the way and turned to leave the room. Zhao Qi looked at the familiar old Daoist sitting next to the monk, his heart filled with wild joy mixed with some surprise.

This old Daoist is here too?

Come to think of it, how did the two of them get together?

Zhao Qi suppressed the joy in his heart and sat opposite them with a solemn expression: "You…"

"Group Leader Zhao, you must uphold justice for us!" Before Zhao Qi could finish his sentence, the two were already wailing endlessly.

Zhao Qi was caught off guard, his head a bit dazed.

What's going on? What kind of grievance is this?

Watching tears well up in the eyes of the monk and the old Daoist, Zhao Qi almost couldn't hold back his laughter: "Ahem, stop, stop, stop, start from the beginning."

The two didn't seem to recognize that the "Group Leader Zhao" in front of them, who could recover their losses, was actually the "big fat sheep" they spoke of. They began to cry and complain, snot and tears streaming down their faces.

The sequence of events wasn't complicated.

Simply put, both of them had received a call from a stranger claiming to be "Senior Brother Zhou."

The other party stated that the statue of god had manifested, his path to godhood had already begun, and he now lacked offerings from believers to prove his godhood. He asked them to transfer 5000, and once his godhood condensed, he would definitely reward them with transcendent cultivation methods.

Zhao Qi's expression went blank. He looked up and exchanged a glance with Ye Ming, who was in the same state, and then looked at the two of them together: "You believe this too?"

"Uh…" The monk scratched his bald head awkwardly, "Looking back now, it really is a bit stupid."

"A bit?" Zhao Qi crossed his fingers and placed them on the table, leaning his upper body towards them, "I am Qin Shi Huang, do you believe that?"

"How could we believe that?"

"Then you believe a stranger claiming to be 'Senior Brother Zhou'?"

The Daoist looked ashamed: "This poor Daoist estimated that Senior Brother Zhou might have a desire to advance further, but due to pressure from Immortal Xu, he had to act in secret."

What kind of logic is this? Do dirty people see everything as dirty?

Zhao Qi didn't know what to say.

Ye Ming pondered for a moment and asked the two: "How much money did the other party scam from you in total?"

Both of them raised their right hands at the same time and spread their five fingers.

Ye Ming was surprised: "Fifty thousand?"

The old Daoist shook his head.

Zhao Qi was also shocked: "Five hundred thousand?"

The monk shook his head.

"How much exactly?" Luo Xiling, standing by the door, had lost her patience and strode forward.

"Five million… Huh? Immortal Luo?!"

The two thought to themselves that now there was hope for recovering their losses. They hurriedly got up, circled from the side of the long table to in front of Luo Xiling, squeezed out tears while preparing to kneel, and reached out to hug her legs.

Luo Xiling's face turned dark. She pinched a sword incantation to summon the moon bright sword, holding it in one hand with the blade slanted at her side: "Take one more step closer, and see if I don't cut you down!"

The two's sobbing choked off. They hurriedly got up and sat back on the wooden chairs, shrinking their heads like quails.

Something's not right. Wasn't it said that Group Leader Luo was inexperienced in the world and very easy to fool?

Ye Ming walked between the two sides, blocking Luo Xiling's fierce gaze. He leaned close to her ear and whispered, "These are the victims." Then he turned to look at the two who dared not breathe loudly: "Wait a moment, let us discuss the specific countermeasures."

After saying that, he led Zhao Qi and Luo Xiling into the corridor.

"I inquired about the interrogation records of victims from various places. The methods are mostly the same, with the only difference being that some impersonate Fellow Daoist Liu, and some impersonate Senior Brother Zhou. However, it's strange that not a single one has impersonated Immortal Xu."

"Master often wanders around Blue Star, so they must be afraid of being found."

Zhao Qi didn't care about this and asked about the real business: "What should we do next? The location information of those scammers has been investigated clearly. The ones in the country have basically been arrested. The troublesome ones are those hiding abroad."

"Easy to handle."

"Indeed, it is easy to handle."

A gentle voice sounded beside them. Ye Ming turned his head to look, and greeted him while turning: "Senior Brother Zhou, long time no see."

"Senior Brother Zhou," Zhao Qi and Luo Xiling said at the same time.

Senior Brother Zhou looked at Luo Xiling, intending to correct the address, but since he had repeated it several times before with no effect, he had to sigh: "Forget it, I will leave it to Martial Uncle to discipline you later."

After speaking, he turned to face Ye Ming and Zhao Qi: "I assume you two already know the purpose of my trip?"

"Immortal Xu entrusted Xiao Luo to tell us."

"Since that's the case, let's make it quick."

Zhao Qi immediately handed over the files in his hand: "Perfect, there is one right here."

Taking advantage of the moment Senior Brother Zhou took the files to browse, he added: "The ones in the country have basically been caught. Now only these ones abroad remain. Considering sovereignty issues, it's not very convenient for us to send people directly into other countries."

"No matter, just leave it to me." Senior Brother Zhou glanced at the photo of the mastermind on the files and disappeared on the spot.

...

MD.

A young man was lying on a hotel bed, holding his Mobile Phone up with both hands, enjoying the Mobile Phone's notification of a remittance arrival immensely.

"So easy to earn, it's just too easy!" The broadcast interrupted, he casually threw the Mobile Phone away, his expression looking as if he was obsessed with something, and he spread his limbs in a sprawl.

The young man was named Liu San. This somewhat tacky name originated from the fact that he was the third born in his family, and his parents, for convenience, matched it with his surname.

Although Liu San's family was poor, and his siblings and he himself had all finished compulsory education and stayed home to farm or gone out to work, and they had no wealthy relatives to help, he was never discouraged about life and was convinced that he would surely achieve great things in the future.

The root of his confidence was entirely because he had used a little trick to cheat all the lollipops from the children in his village when he was young.

He believed that he had unparalleled talent buried within him, just waiting for him to uncover it.

Believe it or not, Liu San actually made a name for himself in the "underworld," and at the age of twenty-three, he sat firmly on the throne of the organization's "boss."

Unfortunately, the organization's existence did not last long. He had only been the boss for three months when the organization was wiped out during a local government's campaign to build a civilized city.

In plain English, his street vending group was forced to disband due to the local government's vigorous inspections of hygiene and urban environment, and his "subordinates" either changed jobs or went to other cities to make a living.

Liu San was usually extravagant and wasteful. He would spend the money the second he earned it and had absolutely no savings in his pocket. To fill his stomach, he took a risk and set up a stall on a remote street.

However, this guy was usually dishonest in business, which ruined the reputation of the whole street. Nearby residents went shopping elsewhere, and his peers were already dissatisfied. In addition, he was particularly fond of reporting peers whose business was better than his, even if there was no conflict between their businesses.

Therefore, his attempts to set up a stall faced countless difficulties. Once he exceeded three minutes, there would immediately be idle peers following him who would call official personnel to come and drive him away.

Originally, his peers didn't dare to offend Liu San. He had gathered a group of subordinates by forming cliques. His peers were weak and outnumbered, and besides, they had to earn money to support their family expenses, so they naturally had to swallow their anger.

Liu San was driven away multiple times but remained stubborn and kept secretly setting up his stall. The official personnel finally stopped being lenient and confiscated all his tools.

Now his only source of income was cut off. After his "subordinates" went far away, they all deleted his contact information. There wasn't even a single person he could borrow money from to turn things around, and Liu San, with completely empty pockets, almost starved to death.

Fortunately, heaven never blocks all paths.

Liu San, who relied on drinking water to stave off hunger every day in his rented room, saw the announcement of the manifestation of the statue of god on the Special Investigation Bureau's official website.

Transcendent beings were already accepted by humans at this time, and Liu San was no exception.

He often fantasized about becoming a transcendent being and returning home in glory, looking majestic. Unfortunately, the first recruitment of the Mountain Gate had long ended, and the time for the second opening was indefinitely delayed. Liu San could only sigh at the unfairness of fate when he thought about this in the middle of the night.

Now the opportunity had arrived.

As long as one is sincere, the statue of god will provide a reward?

My heart is the most sincere! Maybe the statue of god will show mercy and allow me to become a transcendent being?

Liu San wanted to set off immediately, but after searching all his pockets, he sadly discovered that he didn't even have enough savings to buy a ticket.

He couldn't hold it together anymore.

He lay on the quilt and cried bitterly.

However, a turning point arrived immediately.

Why do they say that a scourge lasts for a thousand years? This guy was spending his days dejectedly scrolling through short videos when he inadvertently came across an official promotional video warning against scamming in the name of the statue of god.

In casual chats with his neighbor, he also tested out that if one used the name of someone from the Mountain Gate to scam, others would absolutely believe it without doubt.

Liu San was at the end of his rope and didn't care if Immortal Xu found him and punished him, so he started working that very afternoon.

His first battle was a complete success.

A monk and an old Daoist successively transferred five million to him separately.

Liu San was ecstatic. Why should I still set up a stall?

Of course, he wasn't stupid. He knew that with such a huge amount of money, he would be arrested by the authorities sooner or later, so he immediately applied for a passport and took a plane to MD.

Logically speaking, if his life was just normal expenses and he didn't touch things he shouldn't, ten million would be enough for Liu San to live worry-free for the rest of his life.

However, perhaps old habits die hard. He spent his days in MD frequenting high-end nightclubs and luxurious casinos, and he squandered most of the ten million in just about a month.

In fact, the remaining hundred thousand or so in cash on him would have been enough to rent a storefront, and relying on his skills, he could always have enough to eat and wear.

But it is easy to go from frugality to luxury, and difficult to go from luxury back to frugality. Having gotten used to a luxurious life, he was absolutely unwilling to go back to the life of a beast of burden he once lived.

So he gathered his courage and started scamming again.

Although the Chinese official authorities vigorously promoted not to believe scam messages, there were always people who were deceived, and the thickness of Liu San's savings became increasingly terrifying.

At first, he was a little worried that being so arrogant would attract people from the Mountain Gate. But after a few months, he saw no one intervening in the matter, so his heart settled, and his scamming became even more rampant.

Liu San lay on the bed for a while before getting up to pick up the Mobile Phone he had thrown on the floor, laughing triumphantly: "There are really so many idiots. You believe that I can help you become a transcendent? If it were really that easy, would the Special Investigation Bureau only have five people accepted as disciples by the Mountain Gate to this day?"

He looked out the window; it was dusk, about five o'clock.

He unlocked his Mobile Phone and walked to the table by the wall, muttering: "One more job and I'll call it a day."

He opened the paper contact list on the table and randomly picked a number to dial. After a few "beep" tones, the call was connected.

"Hello, who is this?"

"I am Senior Brother Zhou, now I…" He deliberately pinched his throat to create a low voice and recited the script he knew by heart.

Like the previous victims, the woman on the other end of the phone had no doubts and asked excitedly: "How do I transfer the money?"

Listening to the hurried breathing coming from the other end of the receiver, Liu San smiled slightly. It was a success.

"You just need to transfer to… Hmm?" Halfway through his sentence, he noticed the breathing sound had disappeared.

"Bad signal? No way." Seeing a large sum of money about to be within reach, the Mobile Phone failed him at the critical moment. He anxiously lowered the Mobile Phone that was against his ear to check if the call had disconnected.

"Who are you?"

A question suddenly came from behind. Liu San, focused on fixing the Mobile Phone, answered without the slightest hesitation: "Senior Brother Zhou."

"You are Senior Brother Zhou? Then who am I?"