Chapter 3

“`

“Intelligence… System?!”

Lin Mo stared at the data panel that had suddenly appeared before his eyes, his first reaction was that he was hallucinating.

His brain also seemed to have crashed.

He was stunned for a long time.

Only then did he tentatively close his eyes, took a few deep breaths, and when he opened his eyes again, the data panel was still there.

He rubbed his eyes,

but the data panel did not disappear.

In his spare time, Lin Mo also watched some anime and read novels, so the existence of a system was not unfamiliar to him.

But he had never imagined that something so beyond reality would happen to him!

It was absurd!

Could he be dreaming?!

“Calm down…”

“First, let’s see what’s written on it!”

“Maybe I’m just too tired and hallucinating, or maybe it’s because of too much stress, I have some kind of mental issue!”

Having reached the age of thirty and living his life at the bottom of society, Lin Mo had prudence etched into his bones.

To some, this meant he lacked boldness, wasn’t daring enough, lived too cautiously, with typical poor man’s thinking.

But there was no choice,

not everyone has the capital to squander.

Lin Mo was already 30 years old, with the burden of his parents’ future retirement, his daughter’s schooling, and the family’s daily expenses weighing on him.

He had to be extremely careful to bear the heavy burdens of life!

Therefore, rather than the surprise of acquiring a system, Lin Mo was more afraid of developing some kind of mental illness.

Because that would drag down his wife and child.

After reading the 10 pieces of intelligence on the data panel several times, Lin Mo’s breathing gradually became heavier, and he tried to sort out his somewhat chaotic thoughts.

“The content written on it is indeed about the people I encountered today, or the places I went to.”

“Now, there are three methods to verify the authenticity of the Intelligence System.”

“The first is to wake up my daughter and ask her if she was bullied by her classmates today, the second is to wake up my wife and ask her if she made a call to the family.”

Lin Mo pondered for a moment and felt that both of these methods were not very appropriate.

They were both already asleep, and waking them up to ask these questions would be too strange.

Asking tomorrow would accomplish the same thing.

But Lin Mo’s current mood wouldn’t allow him to wait until tomorrow!

So there was only the third method left!

Having made up his mind, Lin Mo glanced at his wife, who was sound asleep, and quietly got out of bed, carefully stepping out of the living room.

He first found a pack of cigarettes that had been put away a long time ago from the living room cabinet, then, taking his phone with him, he opened the door and entered the dark hallway.

Click.

The faint glow of the flame shone on Lin Mo’s face, which was a mixture of nervousness, fear, and excitement.

“Hu…”

Lin Mo took a deep drag of his cigarette, opened his mobile phone’s contacts, found the number saved as “Elder Zhang,” hesitated for half a minute, and then made the call.

Beep… beep beep…

The ringback tone of the phone synced with Lin Mo’s heartbeat, involuntarily causing him to grip the phone a bit harder.

Whether he was about to possess the legendary secret power or come up empty-handed would all come down to this call.

The first call went unanswered.

Lin Mo lit another cigarette.

And made the second call.

After waiting a full twenty seconds or so, the call finally connected, and a man’s voice came through: “Lin? What’s up, calling me in the middle of the night?”

Elder Zhang was Zhang Tiancheng.

According to the intelligence report, he should be at the Red Romantic Foot Bath Shop on Modeng Street, and the police were going to raid Modeng Street tonight.

“Hu…”

“`

Lin Mo took a deep drag on his cigarette and feigned calm as he spoke, “Got something I wanna talk to you about, where you at now?”

“I’m at home, yeah.”

At home?!

Lin Mo’s brows furrowed slightly, his mood plummeting from the clouds to the depths of a valley.

Was he really hallucinating?

Lin Mo clenched his teeth, unwilling to accept it, and pressed further, “For real? Don’t you have an old flame on Modeng Street, not keeping her company?”

“No, I’m home sleeping.” Zhang Tiancheng sounded very certain, and then added mysteriously, “What’s up, Elder Lin, you got plans?”

“I’ve told you long ago that a man should live a bit more carefree, keep the red flag standing at home, but let the colored flags flutter outside, that’s the….”

“You’re getting off track, what’s the matter, Elder Lin? If it’s about borrowing money, just spit it out. I don’t have much, but I can manage to pull out a thousand or two.”

It seemed that this so-called Intelligence System was not very accurate.

Lin Mo had completely given up and casually said, “It’s nothing, not about borrowing money. While I was resisting the urge today, I overheard someone talking about the cops planning to raid Modeng Street for vice in the next few days.”

“I remember you like to hang out there, so just a heads-up, don’t get caught.”

“Damn, really?” Zhang Tiancheng’s tone tightened instantly, and after a few seconds of silence, he said, “No big deal if they raid for vice, the Red Romantic Foot Bath Shop’s owner has connections upstairs, the cops won’t touch them.”

“You’re really not on Modeng Street?”

“Really not!”

“Alright then, hit the hay early.”

Just as Lin Mo was about to hang up the phone, disappointed, suddenly, he heard the loud sound of a door being kicked in, followed by the fierce voices of two or three men.

“Freeze, police!”

“Don’t move!”

“Who are you on the phone with? Hang it up now!”

“Officer, is getting a foot massage illegal now?”

Beep…beep beep….

The call was disconnected.

Ah, this…

Lin Mo stared at his phone screen, unsure whether to mourn for his colleague or to be relieved.

[Thanks, Black Chicken~~~]

Just then, footsteps and a woman’s coquettish voice came from downstairs.

Huh?

Lin looked down the stairs to see, under the faint light of his phone, the nearly eighty-year-old Mr. Wang Youcai ascend with a triumphant smile on his face.

The next second,

their eyes met, and the air fell into an eerie silence.

“Oh my…”

Wang Youcai silently turned off the phone volume, pretending to be startled and asked, “Lin, you scared me! What are you doing up so late and not sleeping?”

“Uh…” Lin Mo shook the cigarette in his hand and said, “Just needed a nicotine fix, sneaked out for a quick smoke.”

Having said that,

Lin Mo looked at Wang Youcai, catching him off guard with a question, “And you, enjoying some PK action?”

Among the ten pieces of information he had, there was something about Wang Youcai, and since he’d had this chance encounter, Lin Mo wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to verify it.

Upon hearing Lin Mo’s words, Wang Youcai’s old face turned red at a visible rate, and he quickened his pace, muttering as he walked, “What PK? I accidentally clicked on that, don’t talk nonsense!”

As he spoke, he fumbled to quit the live stream on his phone screen.

Whether it was an accidental click, Lin Mo didn’t know,

but he thought that Wang Youcai’s speed at operating TikTok was not inferior to that of a younger person like him.

As they brushed past each other, Lin Mo didn’t say much else.

They lived across from each other, and their communication was not frequent, though Lin Mo would often help fix an appliance or install a light bulb for them. Their relationship wasn’t particularly close.

Just as Wang Youcai was opening the door to enter his house, he paused for a moment and said with a sigh, “Lin, I really envy you young folks. Back in my day, marriages were arranged and we didn’t even know what our wives looked like before the wedding night. It’s not like now, you all date freely.”

After that,

Wang Youcai closed his door.

In the dark corridor, Lin Mo was left alone with his lips twitching more stubbornly than an AK47…