192: Chapter 191 Ning Hao's Trail

Ning Hao.

This name had been deeply embedded in Wang Shuo's memory.

In all his life, Wang Shuo had never hated anyone so much.

If he didn't catch him personally and bring him to justice, he wouldn't be able to rest easy.

However... the current situation was that Zero had not reported any entry records for Ning Hao, nor had it reported any venue entry records.

This was not surprising. The fact that Ning Hao could escape smoothly after the crime indicated that he already possessed a certain level of counter-surveillance skills, and disguising himself and avoiding cameras were just the basics.

It was also normal that the venue's cameras couldn't capture him; as long as he was slightly careful and covered his head with a hat or clothing, even Zero wouldn't be able to accurately identify him.

After all, Zero's current identification method was based on image recognition algorithms; at best, it was just a tiny bit more advanced than existing image recognition algorithms.

So, Wang Shuo thought of using zero egg to film, so he could screen them one by one.

But Zero had yet to produce any results, making him doubt his own judgment.

Could it be that Ning Hao hadn't come at all?

Wang Shuo frowned in thought, then shook his head slightly.

That was impossible. According to the analysis of veteran detectives from the Hanzhong City Public Security Bureau, Ning Hao was currently in the second stage after the cautious period following a crime: the stage of blind confidence.

According to the veteran detectives, criminal suspects generally go through three stages after their first crime.

The first stage is the cautious period. During this stage, the criminal usually pays attention to any disturbance in the surroundings, ready to flee at the slightest sign of trouble. They are slippery, but also the easiest to catch.

The second stage is the blind confidence stage. In this stage, the criminal has already evaded multiple rounds of police pursuit and gradually develops the illusion that the police are nothing special. Their confidence in their own abilities rises. The extent of this rise depends on the kind of pursuit they have evaded.

The third stage is the normal stage for the criminal. At this stage, the criminal has learned general camouflage, has excellent psychological fortitude, does not easily expose themselves, shows no abnormality when seeing police investigations, and is extremely difficult to deal with.

Ning Hao should be in the second stage right now, the blind confidence period.

This is an inevitable stage for a criminal.

Furthermore, judging from the way Ning Hao escaped and the circumstances of his evasion, it was highly likely that other forces were involved behind him. In that case, Ning Hao's blind confidence period would lead to a serious misjudgment of his own abilities and level, which meant...

He was highly likely to take risks personally to show off his clever methods and toy with the police.

So he definitely came, and he had to come.

In Hanzhong City, there was no target more worthy of Ning Hao taking risks than Wang Shuo.

Three minutes passed, and Zero still hadn't found anything.

Wang Shuo held his patience and waited quietly.

Five minutes passed, and there was still no discovery.

This wasn't right. Unless Ning Hao kept his head down the whole time, he wouldn't be able to avoid revealing any flaws.

Wang Shuo had Zero slow down and check carefully, bit by bit.

Suddenly, he spotted a suspicious person.

This person was wearing a light blue down jacket, a face mask, and a peaked cap, making it impossible to see his face.

This was not what Wang Shuo found strange.

What Wang Shuo found strange was that this person was keeping his head down.

Under normal circumstances, this would not have attracted Wang Shuo's attention, but the time this photo was taken was during the collective return of the zero eggs. At that moment, almost everyone was looking up at the zero eggs, in a very relaxed state.

Anyone still keeping their head down at such a moment was either doing it on purpose or completely uninterested in the zero eggs.

Regardless of which it was, it was extremely abnormal.

"Zero." Wang Shuo pointed at the person in blue on the screen and commanded, "Pull up the surveillance, find his face, and perform a detailed comparison."

"Very well, sir."

A few minutes later, Zero's voice sounded again.

"Sir, the analysis is complete. After frame-by-frame scanning and identifying comparison sample 147, the comprehensive comparison result is..."

"Seventy percent similarity with Ning Hao."

"The comparison images have been displayed for you, please take a look."

Wang Shuo frowned slightly and carefully looked at the two photos displayed on the screen; one was a photo of Ning Hao, and the other was a photo of the person in blue with his eyes exposed.

This was a video screenshot that Zero had captured from other footage.

"What is the similarity with the Man in Black from the kidnapping case?"

"After comparison, the similarity with the Man in Black in terms of forehead, eyes, nose bridge curvature, and facial contour is ninety percent."

Ninety percent!

Wang Shuo stood up abruptly.

Found you! Ning Hao!

...

Inside the conference venue.

Ning Hao looked at the surrounding reporters and audience with some emotion, clicking his tongue in wonder.

He really hadn't misjudged; this Wang Shuo was truly a genius.

The Mark I System was already stunning, making him, someone who specialized in programming, admire it to the point of bowing down, and even willing to break the law to commit the first kidnapping of his life.

And now, something even more stunning was placed before his eyes—a brand new Artificial Intelligence system!

The technical core displayed by this system made him envious again, drooling.

This was programming technology he had never seen before!

This was programming technology that completely crushed the Mark I System!

This was programming technology with higher value that could be sold for more money!

If he couldn't obtain such technology, what value did its existence have?

Ning Hao shook his head slightly, suppressing the sudden desire in his heart, and instead felt a bit fortunate.

Fortunately, fortunately he hadn't directly shot Wang Shuo to death with his homemade gun when he kidnapped him before; otherwise, he would be having a headache now looking at the Mark I System that was about to be cracked, and he would have missed out on even better things.

These are all mine!

Ning Hao became excited again, but immediately after, he felt some regret. He had brought two experts hired from the organization this time; would they also be tempted by the zero egg?

If they were tempted, would the organization also be tempted?

If these people were all tempted, Wang Shuo's situation probably wouldn't be very good.

Thinking of the kill order for Wang Shuo that was still hanging on the organization's task list, Ning Hao felt a chill. In the eyes of these people, human life had a price; as long as the price was sufficient, anyone could become a target.

And Wang Shuo was only worth fifty thousand dollars.

Although he didn't know what the valuation was based on, Ning Hao believed that after the release of the zero egg, Wang Shuo's value would skyrocket, and perhaps it would even go beyond the scope of what he could undertake.

The upper limit of the scope he could undertake was only one hundred thousand dollars.

If he wanted to undertake higher-paying tasks, he had to complete low-level tasks.

The task of killing Wang Shuo was enough to let him level up.

Originally, that was what Ning Hao had planned.

But...

Seeing today's scene, Ning Hao changed his mind temporarily.

It would be such a pity for Wang Shuo to just die like this; such a clever brain, he didn't know how long it would take to meet another one, and perhaps there were some money-making whimsical ideas inside.

Why shouldn't he play the good guy for once, save Wang Shuo's life, and let him work for him alone?

As for whether Wang Shuo would agree, Ning Hao didn't consider that at all.

If he didn't agree, he would just force him to agree.

It was hard to do these things before he had crossed his bottom line, but now it was much easier; relatives, friends, ambition, desire, etc., were all methods.

Still not enough? Then he would resort to lynching directly.

Still not enough? Then he would just kill him; anyway, a dead Wang Shuo also had value.

Moreover, Ning Hao believed that no one could remain calm in the face of death; even those who said they were not afraid of death were afraid of it.

Just like himself.

He just didn't know what price the organization had set for him.

"Mr. Mouse."

While he was lost in thought, a clumsy voice of Chinese came through his earpiece.

"What is it?"

Ning Hao was not surprised; this was one of the experts he had hired from the organization at a high price.

"You need to leave. We have discovered some abnormalities; you are very likely already being watched."

Ning Hao frowned: "Are you sure?"

"Not sure, the other party's methods are very covert." The expert's voice was hesitant, but soon said: "But we cannot take risks. As long as there is a trace of risk, we must avoid it; this is one of the principles that has allowed us to survive until now."

Ning Hao was not prepared to question the accuracy of this principle, nor was he prepared to test it.

He stood up and glanced at the crowd lining up to buy zero eggs.

Over there, a woman who had already received a zero egg opened her own black box in front of everyone and took out the zero egg inside.

Then, amidst the envious gazes of the crowd, she took out her ID card to activate it.

Following the girl's command, the zero egg began to circle up and down around her, hovering, looking very happy.

Ning Hao breathed out slightly.

Wang Shuo really considered everything; a single move of real-name activation directly excluded people like him who had plunged into the dark side of society from the crowd that could use zero eggs.

He believed that if he really dared to activate a zero egg in his own name, the police would be at his door to check his water meter within ten minutes.

Even, he didn't even have the qualification to have someone else activate it for him to use.

Given Wang Shuo's technical strength, every zero egg was his eye; perhaps he wouldn't care about it usually, but if something that triggered the conditions really happened, he would definitely know at the first moment.

As for things like zero eggs, he could only be envious for now.

He tidied his clothes, folded the brim of his hat again, and using the method taught to him by the experts in the organization, he slightly hunched his chest, took out his phone and pretended to look at it, trying his best not to attract attention, and then walked towards the exit.

Before leaving, Ning Hao looked back once more at the zero egg that was executing commands, a smile appearing at the corners of his mouth under the mask.

Sooner or later, he would use a zero egg.

Whether it was the zero egg or Wang Shuo, they were all his.

He, Ning Hao, had this confidence!