61: Firstly, interests and hobbies

In the blink of an eye, half of July had passed, and the hottest period of the year had arrived.

As the system panel had mentioned, the demand for cooling and heat-prevention medicine on the market had risen, and the stocks of related pharmaceutical companies had also slowly climbed.

However, Chen Sheng had stopped paying attention to these once he decided to give up on speculating in pharmaceutical stocks.

He had spent these past few days very fruitfully.

Every morning, he would first drop An Xiaonuan off at work, and then plan the rest of his day based on the daily intel.

Whenever the intel offered potential profit, he would prioritize handling it.

Unfortunately, the intel from these past few days was useless to Chen Sheng.

For example, on the 14th, the intel suggested that a group of roving scammers had appeared near Erxian Bridge, advising him to drive carefully, maintain a safe distance, and report any issues to the police immediately.

Or, for instance, on the 13th, the Scream Bar at Jiuyan Bridge held its grand opening, with half-price drinks and free beer for the next three days.

Note 1: The alcohol is recycled, and it is easy to get a headache after drinking it.

Note 2: Don't drink and drive, don't drive and drink; if you don't follow traffic rules, your family will shed tears.

Chen Sheng: "..."

With warnings like that, how could he possibly dare to go to the Scream Bar?

Fortunately, there was still some low-value intel; it was better than nothing.

For instance, on the 12th, at 11:44, a mobile phone was dropped in the fire escape on the second floor of the Manba E-sports Hotel on Guilin Road, and the Owner of Lost Property was offering a reward of two thousand to find it.

Although it was only two thousand, in order to make that amount look reasonable, Chen Sheng specifically grabbed a crowd-sourced delivery rider at the entrance of the residential area and rented his equipment for three hundred yuan until two in the afternoon.

Now, a delivery driver going to the Manba E-sports Hotel became very reasonable, choosing to take the stairs to save time while delivering food was also reasonable, and finding a phone in the stairwell and putting it in his pocket was only human nature.

The only unreasonable part was that after messing around for most of the day, and excluding the costs of renting the props, food, and water, his net gain was only fifteen hundred.

Using the word "only" wasn't because he was getting cocky, but because his standards had risen.

Apart from handling intel-related matters these past few days, he also filmed some material while working part-time as a ride-hailing driver.

However, speaking of material, Chen Sheng felt a bit depressed. In the past, when he didn't want to encounter weird passengers, they would always try to cram into his car. Now that he actually wanted to meet weird passengers, everyone who got in was polite and followed the rules, and even when getting off, they had to say: "Sorry for the trouble! Driver!"

It was hard to comment on that.

Later, having no other choice, he could only post in the ride-hailing driver group he had been added to by a colleague: "Sorry for taking up everyone's time, but I've recently been learning to do self-media, and I'm preparing to make a compilation of weird passengers. I am now offering a reward to the brothers in the group for videos or audio recordings of weird passengers."

"Please rest assured, everyone. When producing the videos, I will strictly follow the relevant regulations to professionally process the voices and faces. No personal information of the passengers or myself will be exposed. Those interested can private message me..."

To be honest, if it weren't for the driver group backing him up, he wouldn't even have been able to scrape together enough content to post over these past few days.

However, it was precisely because of the material provided by this group of drivers, combined with the fact that he already had quite a bit of online popularity due to a series of previous events like "Young Woman Reverses the Scam on the Entire Residential Area," "Card Drawing: From Now On I Start Believing in the Light," "A Little Shock from a Cross-dresser," and "The Ultimate Lucky One," that he was able to maintain momentum.

With him personally getting involved, the traffic that had previously quieted down began to monetize as he released one video of weird passengers after another.

The most direct manifestation of this was that his follower count had already exceeded fifty thousand.

Each video had at least one hundred thousand views.

He had become famous; although not a massive sensation, he had at least established a firm foothold in the niche of exposing weird passengers.

Of course, his main task during this period was still transferring the five hundred thousand in funds into the international account he had successfully opened, then exchanging the USD for crude oil futures and choosing to go long. After trading all the funds, Chen Sheng directly closed and uninstalled the software.

He planned to wait for a month and a half before downloading it again.

To avoid being tempted to look during this time.

Of course, he was able to operate like this thanks to not applying for leverage. By entering the market with pure actual capital, no matter how the K-line chart fluctuated, he would not be liquidated instantly or be forced to close his positions.

Time reached the 17th. The two days of the weekend had exhausted Chen Sheng's energy, so today he took a rare opportunity to sleep in. At nine in the morning, Chen Sheng woke up leisurely, but the next second, he jumped straight out of bed, grabbed his phone, and disappeared into the bathroom in the blink of an eye.

Half an hour later, completely drained, he moved out slowly while leaning against the wall. He fished a bottle of frozen beverage out of the refrigerator, and as Chen Sheng walked toward the sofa in the living room, he opened his system panel.

host: Chen Sheng

Level: 1

Upgrade EXP: 35/100

Unread Intel: 2

Sitting down on the sofa, Chen Sheng habitually rubbed his hands together. Although he knew it was useless, it at least provided him with some mental comfort.

After rubbing his hands warm, he clicked on the unread intel.

【Today's Intel 1: Cao Zan, the owner of Caos Braised Duck at the south gate of the Jingjiang Donghu Garden Residential Area, has been confirmed as a wanted cybercriminal. His former name was Wang Xingxing, and he organized cyber fraud involving over six million yuan.】

【Note 1: Anyone who provides useful intel will be rewarded with 5,000-50,000 yuan, depending on the intel.】

【Note 2: Wang Xingxing's cyber wanted notice number is XXXXXXXXX】

【Note 2: Cao Zan will have his status as a wanted cybercriminal accidentally discovered on July 27th, and he will be officially arrested on the 31st.】

Pfft~

Chen Sheng, who was drinking his beverage, sprayed it out immediately. "Cough, cough~ F*ck! Boss Cao is actually a wanted criminal!"

He tried hard to recall his impressions of Caos Braised Duck and its owner, Cao Zan.

Caos Braised Duck—delicious, clean and hygienic, generous portions, and very affordable prices; it could be considered a well-regarded establishment in this area.

Let's put it this way! He and An Xiaonuan, whether dining in or ordering takeout, averaged over twenty visits to Caos Braised Duck throughout the year.

As for the owner, Cao Zan—he always had a smile for everyone, never lost his temper, had an honest face, and was a middle-aged man who was quick with his hands and possessed the most down-to-earth temperament of the Chinese people.

Yet, such a person, who was seen by everyone as a "good guy," was marked by the intelligence system as a cyber fraudster, the kind involved in amounts as high as over six million.

How could he not be shocked?

He recalled a customer asking Cao Zan before: "With such generous ingredients and cheap prices, plus the overhead for the storefront, labor, utilities, etc., can you really make any money?"

"Damn, no wonder the braised duck is sold so cheaply; it turns out this is just his hobby!"

At this moment, he inexplicably thought of the displaced households in coastal areas, whose rental properties were counted by the building, yet they would drive Mercedes-Benzes or BMWs to work as security guards or cleaners...

Is that because they are bored? No... this is what you call a hobby!