Four in the morning, Water Romance Bathhouse.
Three men, having just finished a full body massage, walked out of the bathhouse laughing loudly, their bodies still reeking of alcohol.
The surrounding attendants kept their distance from the trio.
The parking lot.
"Brother Jiu, Technician No. 36’s skills are top-notch! I didn’t expect there to be such an enjoyable place in Wutong District. You treated us tonight!"
"No need to say anything else. I’ll have to patronize this place once a week from now on. The technicians here are not only skilled but also daring. Thank you, Brother Jiu, for tonight's treat!"
Two men expressed their gratitude repeatedly to the slightly balding middle-aged man walking in the center, referred to as "Brother Jiu."
"As long as you two brothers had fun, I, Old Jiu, am happy. No need for thanks, it’s nothing."
The middle-aged man called "Brother Jiu" took out two thick envelopes, about half a centimeter thick, from his bag and said with a smile, "Gentlemen, when the company's new project launches, I'll need your continued support."
The two men took the envelopes, felt their weight, and accepted them with a tacit understanding.
"Alright, just let us know when Brother Jiu's project kicks off!"
"Then thank you both!"
The three chatted for a few minutes in the parking lot before the two men drove off in their respective cars.
Brother Jiu watched the direction the two cars departed, spat on the ground.
Since the new company project began to show signs of life, Brother Jiu had spent over a hundred thousand yuan on these two men.
For the past period, he had been like a dog, summoned and dismissed at will, all for the purpose of paying the bill.
After standing and finishing a cigarette, Brother Jiu also got into his car and drove towards home.
Perhaps he was a bit tired from the massage earlier, but he didn't notice until now that a black Santana had been following him.
About ten minutes later.
Having parked his car, Brother Jiu, a cigarette dangling from his lips, ambled towards his rental apartment.
As he entered a dark alley without streetlights, a shout suddenly came from behind him.
"Duan Jiu!"
"Huh?"
Brother Jiu turned his head at the sound and saw a gun stock rapidly expanding in his vision.
"Bang!"
A dull thud echoed from the alley, and Duan Jiu was knocked unconscious.
The man wearing a mask glanced around, confirmed no one was present, and quickly carried Duan Jiu out of the alley, threw him into the trunk, and sped away.
...
Kyoto University, Security Department.
After Xu Mingxin's intimidating interrogation, a mix of coaxing and deception.
The eight apprehended students confessed that, apart from themselves, no one else was involved in the vandalism of the express delivery cabinets.
And it was also them who had destroyed the express delivery cabinets a week prior.
"Was someone maliciously instructing you to damage the express delivery cabinets, or were you simply bored and intentionally breaking them?"
Xu Mingxin took a sip of tea and continued his interrogation.
"Someone paid us to damage the express delivery cabinets!"
The tall man leading the eight students responded, then explained how they were hired.
The tall man was named Chen Kaola, a sophomore.
A little over a week ago, he had seen recruitment ads on some small websites, offering payment for services.
Ads like "20,000 yuan to beat someone up" and "10,000 yuan to smash a car" were everywhere.
Moreover, the commission for each job was as high as tens of thousands of yuan.
At first, Chen Kaola just thought it was fun, so he imitated the recruitment ads from the small websites and posted a thread on the school forum.
The post read: "Helping with tasks, experienced individuals needed, price negotiable, contact number 1xxxxxxxxxx!"
After all, it was the Kyoto University forum, and Chen Kaola had initially posted it just for fun.
But to his surprise, within a day of posting, someone actually called.
Upon learning that the other party wanted to damage the express delivery cabinets on campus, Chen Kaola initially refused.
But when he heard the price of fifty thousand Longguo coins, he finally gave in. The employer was offering too much.
After Chen Kaola finished recounting the general course of events, Xu Mingxin and the others were shocked. Fifty thousand Longguo coins was almost equivalent to their annual bonus!
While Teacher Xu and the others were stunned, Gao Fei took over the conversation and asked, "Who hired you? Have you met him?"
"No!"
Chen Kaola, squatting on the ground, shook his head and said, "But I'm sure the person who hired us is definitely someone from Kyoto University!
Because last time we damaged the express delivery cabinets, he meticulously planned everything, from how to damage them, to escape routes, and how to avoid surveillance.
Otherwise, we wouldn't have managed to escape last time."
Hearing that it was someone from Kyoto University who hired Chen Kaola, everyone present, except for Gao Fei, Xu Yong, and Zhang Cheng, who were in the know, showed surprised expressions.
With the truth revealed, Xu Mingxin and the others began to discuss how to punish Chen Kaola and how to find the employer.
Just as a group was strategizing, Gao Fei suddenly stepped forward, "Teacher Xu, can we talk outside for a moment?"
"Alright!"
Xu Mingxin nodded and followed him out of the office.
No one knew what the two of them discussed or what strategies they devised.
However, in the end, the punishments for Chen Kaola and the eight others were postponed, and all eight were released.
All the security guards present in the office received instructions from Xu Mingxin to keep today's events confidential.
If anyone asked, they were to say it was a theft prevention drill.
The security guards didn't ask further questions; if it was a directive from their superior, they would follow it.
...
Ten in the morning, Kyoto University Campus Forum.
"What happened last night? The alarm went off all night. Did a thief break into our school and trigger a theft prevention system we didn't know about?"
"The person upstairs is exaggerating. The alarm only sounded for a little over half an hour. I saw it seemed to be coming from the newly installed express delivery cabinets. Probably someone went to cause trouble again!"
"I heard that the previous Honeycomb Station express delivery cabinets were maliciously damaged, and now someone else is causing trouble. They thought they could get away with it like last time, but they didn't expect the new cabinets to have a theft prevention system."
"Those who cause trouble deserve to die. Honeycomb Station's express delivery cabinets are so convenient, allowing us to pick up packages without leaving school. I wonder if the school caught the culprits."
The forum was abuzz with discussions about last night's alarm incident.
The students' unified outcry was for the severe punishment of those who damaged the express delivery cabinets.
Entrepreneurship Competition Office Building, Finance Office.
Qiu Dongsheng stared at the online posts with a sinking heart.
He hadn't stayed at the school last night; he had gone home.
He never expected such a significant event to occur overnight.
He had thought the disruption last night would be handled smoothly, just like the previous time.
Who would have thought that the new express delivery cabinets would be equipped with a theft prevention system?
"They weren't caught, were they?"
Qiu Dongsheng muttered to himself, opened the drawer on the top right of his desk, and took out a black touchscreen phone.
As soon as it powered on, over twenty text messages popped up.
Some were missed call notifications, and the other half were messages from his hired men.
After reading the contents of the messages, Qiu Dongsheng was taken aback: "Damn it, these kids are really lucky. They managed to escape even under the security guards' pursuit. Amazing!
No, could it be that after they were caught, the security department used them to lure me out?"
Just as he was suspecting, the phone suddenly vibrated.
Looking at the incoming number, Qiu Dongsheng still pressed the answer button.
As soon as it connected, an angry roar came from the other end.
"Damn it, why didn't you tell me beforehand that the new express delivery cabinets had a theft prevention system? I and my brothers almost got caught!"
"Brother, calm down, calm down!"
Qiu Dongsheng immediately tried to placate the anger on the other end and continued, "Although the operation was unsuccessful, I will still pay you the reward.
But before I pay, tell me first, how did you escape the security guards' pursuit?"
Chen Kaola on the other end of the phone cursed, then recounted the escape from last night.
The gist was that after triggering the theft prevention system of the express delivery cabinets yesterday, the eight of them fled separately, and only then managed to escape the school by heading to the back mountain.
To add credibility, Chen Kaola also mentioned that two of his brothers had broken an arm and a leg respectively, and the reward for this job should be increased.
"Money is a minor issue! Since you said someone broke their leg and arm, can you send a couple of photos?"
"Okay, hold on!"
After hanging up, a text message was quickly sent to Qiu Dongsheng's phone.
The message indicated that due to the large size of the photos, he needed to click the link below to view them.
MMS indeed has a feature where large photo files require clicking a link to view.
Qiu Dongsheng didn't think much of it and directly clicked the link to view the photos.
After seeing the content of the photos and confirming they were genuine, he quickly deleted the message, erased Chen Kaola's contact information, and then blocked him.
"Damn it, the operation didn't even succeed, and they still want money from me? Dream on!
Besides, who knows if you've already been caught and you're trying to bait me out? Do you think I'm an idiot?"
Qiu Dongsheng was very wise; regardless of whether Chen Kaola was caught or not, he would never contact him again.
To be safe, he removed the SIM card and inserted his current one.
After all, the phone number used to contact Chen Kaola was an unregistered SIM card, so even if the police wanted to investigate, they wouldn't be able to trace it back to him.
"The previous fifty thousand yuan could have bought your lives, and you still want more money? Do you think my money grows on trees?"
Qiu Dongsheng coldly laughed and snapped the SIM card.
Little did he know, after he clicked the link, a blue software appeared on his phone.
After the blue software installed itself, it also began to run automatically.
Once the software finished running, it disappeared from the phone screen without leaving any trace.
That afternoon, the Security Department issued a statement to the public.
Last night, the Security Department conducted a theft prevention drill, and no one damaged the express delivery cabinets.
With the statement from the Security Department, the students chose to believe it and stopped paying attention.
Only Qiu Dongsheng, who knew the inside story, harbored doubts about this statement, feeling that the Security Department was trying to lure him out.
Just as Qiu Dongsheng was filled with suspicions.
Honeycomb Station had already deployed one-third of its express delivery cabinets in Wutong District, and it would take about a week to complete the deployment.
(I'm sick. I just got a fever down this noon, but it came back this afternoon. My whole body feels like it's been beaten. Even drinking water tastes bitter. I'll update normally when I'm better. It's miserable.
Everyone, please take care and protect yourselves. I feel like vomiting just typing this!)