Ch18 - The Trial Court

Snower: Let’s welcome a co-translator for this project! Welcome fluff/faye!

Also, Happy Chinese New Year! It’s just on the dot in my time zone, so I’m not late… ^_^ 

Keep thinking.

– Grow Some Brains, Everyone Has A Responsibility APP’s Must-Read Guidebook for Newcomers

***

It has been two whole days since Xiao Jinyu entered the White Garden space. 

He still didn’t understand his logic skill enough.

The bedroom’s curtains were closed tightly and Xiao Jinyu sat on the bed as he lifted his right hand and stared at the three colorful dots flying between his fingers.

The difference between a level one and level two user is that a level two user can consciously and skillfully activate their logic skill. A level two user might not be able to clearly state what their logic skill actually is or name every possibility of their logic skill, but they can accurately use their logic skill.

What Xiao Jinyu needs to do now is to learn how to use his own logic skill.

“It’s name is ‘Fourth Perspective’.

“Seeing logic factors is just it’s basic function. To do that, I need to swipe from left to right on my eyelids. But what is the use of these three logic factors from White Garden…?”

Xiao Jinyu carefully observed the three fast-moving logic factors, wanting to get some inspiration from them. However, the moment it reached five minutes, his eyes suddenly felt a stab of pain.

Xiao Jinyu immediately shut his eyes and stopped using Fourth Perspective. 

After a couple seconds, he opened his eyes and looked at his phone.

The usage time of Fourth Perspective was only five minutes.

Once the five minutes were up, he must rest.

After confirming his eyes stopped hurting, Xiao Jinyu didn’t waste any time and raised his two fingers again, activating Fourth Perspective. 

Just as Xiao Jinyu was about to activate his logic skill for the ninth time, a sharp sound suddenly came from his phone that was lying on the bed.

“Ding!”

Xiao Jinyu was startled. He closed his eyes to deactivate the logic skill, then grabbed his phone.

An APP reminder jumped onto the screen. 

Xiao Jinyu didn’t think too much, expecting just a regular ad notification, but the moment he saw the content of the notification, he froze. He unconsciously looked at the date and time on the top of the screen.

November 11th, 2046, 22:31.

“It’s not even twelve o’clock yet and it has already ended…?”

After a moment of silence, Xiao Jinyu opened the notification and entered the ‘Grow Some Brains’ APP. 

[B Rank Task Has Been Completed (1/1).

Currently calculating task reward, please wait…]

Meat King’s task was already completed.

Xiao Jinyu thought for a moment and asked: “004, if a user dies, will they be removed from the leaderboard?” 

[Yes, dad.]

“Go check if Meat King is still alive.”

After a while, a barrage slowly floated across the screen.

[Dad, he’s dead (=•⍵•=)q] 

Sure enough.

Sighing helplessly in his heart, Xiao Jinyu opened the task status. After confirming the mission reward was indeed being settled, he closed the APP.

Xiao Jinyu didn’t know whether Meat King had dug out his own eyes or not before his death, but there was a ninety percent chance that, even if he had dug out his eyes, there was no way for him to see the sunrise of tomorrow.

It wasn’t because he was blind and couldn’t see, it was because the other party hadn’t wanted him to live past today. 

Before, on the phone, Xiao Jinyu gave five possibilities. Meat King personally denied three, only leaving the last two. The last two answers seemed to be different, but the essence was the same: the reason why Meat King was unable to eat roasted pork today is because he cannot see the sun tomorrow.

Becoming blind was the first possibility.

Meat King’s logic skill required him to ‘see with the naked eye’ in order for that area to be clear. So if his eyes could not see anymore, it would naturally be impossible to have a clear day. The logic skill seems to have broken down and collapsed, but in fact it is an explanation in itself. The line between the cause and effect is broken, but the logic skill itself is still very reasonable and has not collapsed. It’s just that Meat King can no longer eat roast pork or use his logic skill afterwards.

As for death, it was the second possibility. 

Looking at the cold task completion notification, Xiao Jinyu whispered: “When a logic skill repeatedly reminds it’s user, you will definitely die. Then what it wants to say might actually mean something else…”

You are being watched by another logic skill.

He didn’t say the last part out loud, but Xiao Jinyu was very certain, Meat King must have died in another user’s hands.

And it was before today, and at the very latest before 8 in the morning today, before Meat King realized he couldn’t eat roast pork, he was already caught by the other party’s logic skill, entering so-and-so’s logic skill, dooming him to a fate of death. 

And in this world there are two names for fate.

One is God.

Another is Logic Skill.

Blinding oneself before the second day was to conform with the infeasible logic skill and pray for a way to live. But it was obvious, the user who was hiding in the shadows did not want to leave Meat King with a way to live. 

After all, as he was someone involved, Xiao Jinyu’s heart was deeply regretful, but not sad.

Not even taking five minutes, the APP’s task reward calculation was completed.

[B Rank Task Reward Calculation Completed

A total of nine users answered correctly, following the task issuer’s task reward instructions and proceeding with the following distribution: 

Splitting the following reward between nine users: One Million Cash;

Of the nine, three users gave high-quality answers, which were more in-line with the task objective, and will be randomly given the second reward: Pollutant 143, Pollutant 198.]

It turns out there were actually nine users who completed the task and a second reward?!

Xiao Jinyu was so shocked he wasn’t able to respond immediately. 

It was normal for a lot of people to complete the task, and as for the second reward, it was probably the reward Meat King had hidden.

Xiao Jinyu had never thought that the reward hidden by Meat King were two pollutants. No wonder he was so confident as he said it was acknowledged by the APP, since the hidden reward was far more valuable than one million dollars.

There is no such thing as having too much money in this world, but having money does not mean you can awaken a logic skill, letting you own pollutants.

…Hold on, can pollutants be collected privately? 

Xiao Jinyu’s expression changed, immediately asking: “004, I remember you saying that you were locked up underground by Zhongdu’s Extermination Team, that is, the group Zhao Hen was in. Are you pollutants all locked up underground? Are regular users allowed to have pollutants?”

[T^T Dad, what did you call me???]

Xiao Jinyu: “……”

“Can you spe~cial objects be collected by regular users?” 

[o(∗￣◡￣∗)o]

[Of course. Not all pollu… cough, special objects are special like me!]

[Majority of the special objects are contaminated by users’ out-of-control logic skills, they’re only a little special, unless it’s contaminated by a level six user’s out-of-control logic skill, which would make it a bit strong and rank in the top fifty.]

[Pollutants ranking fifty to a hundred cannot be privately owned, but if you pay attention to safety, you won’t be contaminated by them.] 

[For those ranking past a hundred, they can be privately owned. But you must still pay attention, if your level is low, it will be easy to be affected. No matter how low the ranking of the pollutant is, you still have to keep your distance from it. Because it is easy for your logic skill to be affected by the pollutants, causing self-doubt, leading to your logic skill breaking and going out-of-control.]

So it was like this.

Xiao Jinyu nodded.

He looked at the words quickly moving across his screen, thought for a bit, and decided to not say ‘You kept on talking so much you said pollutant instead of special object’. 

Xiao Jinyu’s sight returned to the APP.

There are only two pollutants in the second reward given by the APP, but it also said, there were three users who could get the reward.

Could the two pollutants be split into three, or…

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Qtlif Wljb Alcse kjr ralii atlcxlcu, atf rmgffc mtjcufv. Ktf CUU tjv jigfjvs ulnfc jc jcrkfg. 

[Random assignment has finished, User 1 obtains Pollutant 143, User 2 obtains Pollutant 198.

Dfmjerf atf rajafv gfkjgv lr rabgfv lc Mfcutfcu Djcx’r rjof lc Ljlve Jlas, erfgr jgf gfdefrafv ab qfgrbcjiis ub jcv mbiifma la atfwrfinfr.]

Ktf kbgvr bc atf rmgffc ribkis vlrjqqfjgfv.

Wljb Alcse milmxfv bc atf ajrx jujlc, jcv atf D gjcx ajrx kjr wbnfv ab atf ‘mbwqifafv’ mbiewc jcv tjv jirb aegcfv ugfs. 

Then, a message popped up.

[Ding dong! Congratulations on receiving the rewards, 111,111 cash, Pollutant 198.]

A two in three chance, he really randomly won the reward!

After the task reminder from the APP, was an eight digit password. Based on the APP’s notification, the nine users who completed the task will have different passwords, they can go to the Haidu City’s Fengheng Bank at any time, and following the password, collect their reward. 

Winning a reward is always the type of thing that can make people uncontrollably happy.

Especially when there is a controlled group. Even if one of the three people could not receive the reward, the possibility of winning is very high. And seeing as he was not the unlucky third person, Xiao Jinyu couldn’t help but raise the corner of his mouth, and for the first time in a month, his clear eyes finally flashed with a light.

While secretly rejoicing, Xiao Jinyu thought: I don’t even know which user it was, they were so unlucky. If Meat King was still alive, perhaps the reward would not be given out by the APP, and instead would have been distributed by Meat King himself to two of the three users.

But there was no longer this possibility. 

After repeatedly reading the eight digits on the screen three times, Xiao Jinyu turned off his phone in satisfaction.

He swiped across his eyelids with two fingers, activating Fourth Perspective. Xiao Jinyu looked at his right hand.

The sudden cheerful mood made his brows, which had been slightly furrowed, relax. He calmly lowered his head and once again looked at the three dancing light dots in his hand.

After being in a happy mood, the light dots seemed to be in a different color. 

Between his pale fingers, the three dots were constantly flying and spinning.

White Garden’s logic skill was to create an independent space, which could hold living human beings.

Suddenly, Xiao Jinyu spread out his fingers, watching the three dots cut in between his fingers.

…… 

It turns out to be like this!

At the same time.

Haidu City’s User Committee.

It was a three story building that stood on a cliff by the sea. The white dome tops and the Roman columns made it seem like the western buildings in the foreign community of the last century. None of the pedestrians and drivers on the distant highway passing by would have guessed this was the location of the second largest city’s user committee, Haidu City’s User Committee. 

“Roar—”

The waves hit the cliff face, splashing out white foam.

On the surface of the dark sea, the full moon reflected a vague shadow, falling among the rushing waves, following its ups and downs.

Standing on the steps of the small building was a muscular man with a crew cut, talking to someone with a rough voice. Suddenly, his phone rang. The muscular man looked at his phone, expression changing: “I’ll call you back later, continue to help Meat King look for roast pork, even if you have to scour the entire Haidu City!” 

Then he hung up and accepted the coming call: “It’s me, Xuqi.”

“Meat King is dead.”

A brief and deep male voice came from the phone, and over the background noise of the monstrous sound of waves, it brought an unquestionable calmness: “Go find his corpse then.”

Xuqi’s expression slowly turned bad and hurriedly called over a team member, instructing: “Go find Meat King.” 

“Yes!”

“Wait, it’s to find his body.”

The young team member froze for a small moment, then nodded: “Yes.”

Xuqi didn’t make the other party check if Meat King’s name was still on the leaderboard, as he had never doubted him, and after ordering the team members, he said in a bitter voice: “Help me, Colonel Su. Meat King is dead, that woman is definitely going to go crazy!” 

“I’m in Zhongdu City.”

Xuqi: “You went to Zhongdu City?”

On the phone, Su Jiuzhou lightly laughed, a bit lazily: “Just a little situation, Pollutant 004 just so happened to miss me.”

Xuqi: “……” 

That robot with a brain problem seems to want you dead.

Xuqi cried out and kneeled down: “Help me, Colonel. I already made Meat King stay with the extermination team and have us protect him for 24 hours, but he just won’t and even hit people. Eh, when are you coming back?”

“Tomorrow. That’s right, have you gone to Fengheng Bank before?”

“Ah? Colonel, don’t tell me you also accepted Meat King’s task?” 

The voice on the phone stopped for a few seconds and Xuqi removed the phone from his ear and checked the screen.

The service was fine, ah.

Su Jiuzhou: “I just asked randomly.”

Xuqi scratched the short, prickly hairs on his head: “Once that woman comes back from the contamination area, the entire Haidu City will be flipped over by her!” 

After saying this, the vice captain of the Haidu City’s Extermination Team started to complain. After he complained for three minutes and didn’t hear a response from the other party, he blinked his eyes in confusion, removed the phone from his cheek, and looked at the screen.

“……”

Xuqi burst into tears.

Say something before you hang up… 

***

After finding out the use of the three logic factors from White Garden, Xiao Jinyu experimented all night, until four o’clock the next day, when he couldn’t resist the tiredness of his body and passed out.

When he opened his eyes again, it was already dusk.

The yellowish sunlight shone through the gap in the curtains, into the room. Xiao Jinyu opened his eyes in confusion. From the window came the chirping of sparrows and the sound of children playing in the playground. 

Xiao Jinyu’s lips moved, and in the next moment, he suddenly woke up.

He lifted the blanket, quickly brushed his teeth, and washed his face. After changing his clothes, Xiao Jinyu opened the door and left.

Half an hour later.

Wrapped in a thick white scarf, the lower part of the young man’s face was hidden behind a mask, only revealing a pair of dark eyes. 

Xiao Jinyu walked into the community’s elevator, but didn’t press his floor’s button, instead he reached out and pressed the floor right above.

With a ding, the elevator doors opened. Xiao Jinyu didn’t immediately get out, he checked the situation in the corridor, confirmed there was no one, and then quickly moved to the innermost section of the corridor.

The key made a ‘click’ as it slid into the lock, and the old iron door creaked as Xiao Jinyu pushed it open.

Inside, the room was silent. 

In the empty room, there was only a single old sofa in the middle of the room and tiny dust particles floating in the air.

His mom was quietly sitting on the sofa, tilting her head, watching the ‘TV’ on the wall. She seemed to not hear the door open, perhaps because she was so into watching the ‘TV’, with the side of her face touching her shoulders, happily and quietly watching the TV.

Xiao Jinyu carefully entered the room, and closed the door. He walked to his mom’s side and squatted down.

“Mom.” 

The woman on the sofa continued to watch TV.

Xiao Jinyu’s expression was calm as he called out again: “Mom.”

His mom finally looked down and a pair of deep, dark eyes quietly looked at her son in front of her.

Xiao Jinyu looked up, staring at his mom. 

It was like when he was younger, when his mom would help him tie his shoelaces, sending him to school countless times. His mom would squat down, seriously fiddling with the two shoelaces and naggingly saying, “you’re already in primary school, you have to learn how to tie your own shoelaces later on”, while tying them into two, neat bows.

The same scene, the same people.

The only difference was, it was him squatting down, looking at his mom.

The black haired young man lifted the corner of his lips, revealing a warm smile: “Mom, I have to take a trip to Haidu City, the fastest I can get back is in one or two days.” 

His mom looked at him in silence, and after a while.

“Sha sha.”

Xiao Jinyu: “Wait in here for a few days, wait for me to get back and we’ll move.”

“Sha sha sha sha.” 

Xiao Jinyu lightly laughed.

Receiving his mom’s approval, he stood up. His mom continued to look at the TV, and Xiao Jinyu finally opened the plastic bag he had brought, taking the security cameras out from there.

These were the cameras he had just bought from the convenience store.

If he was only living on a different floor from his mom, he wouldn’t be this worried. But this time, he was going on a long trip, a trip to Haidu City. He needs to leave for at least two days. He must install cameras in order to see his mom’s situation at any moment in order to be reassured enough to leave. 

Installing the cameras took half an hour and Xiao Jinyu stayed with his mom to watch ‘TV’ for a bit.

After taking out the newly bought locks from the plastic bag and installing them on every window, Xiao Jinyu finally went downstairs.

Standing in the elevator, Xiao Jinyu held his phone, looking for train tickets to Haidu City tomorrow.

His pupils reflected the light of the screen and Xiao Jinyu’s lips slowly lifted up. 

Train tickets from Zhongdu City to Haidu City were… not cheap.

Unlike the highly developed rail system from before the Type-A radiation, after the Type-A radiation, even short-distance traveling has been cut down to the subway, and for long-distance travel, people have to rely on underground trains.

Airplanes, steam trains, and motorcoaches were all eliminated.

Cars were only used in daily life to drive in a small suburban area that was not polluted by radiation, causing its practicality to be greatly reduced, with it becoming a tool for rich people to show off. 

As Xiao Jinyu was still thinking, the elevator opened with a ‘ding’.

He looked up, and in the next second, his line of sight crossed with a tall, tanned man’s.  His pupil shrank violently, and half a second later, Xiao Jinyu stuck his hand in his pocket, expressionlessly putting his phone into it, before looking at the man and saying in a surprised tone: “Mr. Zhao?”

That’s right, the person was in fact Zhongdu City’s Extermination Squad’s team member, Zhao Hen.

Zhao Hen also didn’t expect to see Xiao Jinyu in the elevator. He scratched his head: “Such a coincidence, Xiao Jinyu, you just so happened to arrive home. Eh, why did you come from upstairs?” 

Xiao Jinyu smiled and said: “There was a neighbor upstairs who wanted me to go up and help fix some appliances, so I just got downstairs. What happened, are you here for something?” As he talked, Xiao Jinyu also got out of the elevator. He looked very natural and as he looked around, he revealed a thoughtful expression before suddenly saying: “DId you want to invite me to join the Zhongdu Extermination Squad again?”

Zhao Hen shook his head: “No, Captain said we’ll wait until you upgrade to level two or three before inviting you again. But this time, I actually have something I need your help with. Have you looked at the news for today yet?”

Seeing that he did not arouse the suspicion of the person in front of him, Xiao Jinyu let out a sigh of relief.

“No, I haven’t found the time to look at the news today. What happened?” 

Zhao Hen: “The CEO of Haidu City’s Rongsi Group, Wei Rong, has passed away!”

Haidu City?

Xiao Jinyu’s heart skipped a beat, yet his tone was calm as he asked: “I’ve never heard of this company, what’s happened? You coming to find me…” After a second, he asked: “Was this CEO an user?”

Sure enough, he was still this smart. Zhao Hen looked at the young man in front of him in praise, not at all surprised at the fact Xiao Jinyu could guess that Meat King was a user. He sighed, asking: “That’s right, he’s a user. This situation is a bit long, I’ll slowly tell you.” 

Xiao Jinyu generously invited Zhao Hen into the house, and soon enough, Zhao Hen started to explain the situation of Wei Rong… that is, Meat King, in full.

Meat King, real name Wei Rong, 29 years old, was the Rongsi Group’s CEO.

Meat King awakening a logic skill was in actuality, a very coincidental thing. He was born into a well off background, as a fuerdai with a net worth of over 100 million. Neither of his parents were users, but Meat King had always known the existence of users and logic skills since he was young, as his parents were very keen about buying the lower ranked pollutants at auctions.

Zhao Hen said in lament: “We’ll never know the life of rich people!” 

Xiao Jinyu glanced at him, he didn’t say a word, but seemed to understand Zhao Hen’s meaning.

There were 70,000 users in the whole world and every year, 8,000 of them would die.

Everyday, users would bitterly search for ways to level up, keep their logic skills from going out-of-control or breaking, yet there were still regular people who wanted to awaken a logic skill, to have a special ability.

“But Meat King and his parents were very clear, they just wanted to buy some pollutants and have some dealings with users. They never wanted to awaken a logic skill.” Zhao Hen explained, “Meat King’s parents don’t have the potential to awaken, which has been checked by Haidu’s User Committee, or else with all the contact they’ve had with pollutants, they would have already awakened. Originally, his parents had thought Meat King was like them and after observing that Meat King hadn’t awakened, they didn’t care too much about their son liking to collect pollutants. 

“But then, just one year ago, Meat King awakened.”

Xiao Jinyu furrowed his eyebrows: “Pollutants can also cause users to awaken?” He remembered that Qi Simin had told him, logic skills cannot rise out of nowhere and only logic skills can guide other logic skills to awaken. It turned out pollutants could too?

Zhao Hen: “Yes, did Qi Simin not explain it clearly to you? It’s true that frequent exposure to pollutants has a certain chance of awakening a logic skill. Because they were polluted by logic skills, becoming pollutants. Uh… Let me give you an example. The strongest pollutant in Zhongdu City, Pollutant 004, which I told you about last time.”

The phone in his pocket slightly vibrated. Xiao Jinyu held down 004 and nodded calmly: “You’ve told me before.” 

Zhao Hen: “004 is equivalent to a level five user and could also be said that it’s strength is very close to that of a level six user’s. It is a natural pollutant created by the radiation. The capital’s Logic Skill Research Institute believes that pollutants also have logic skills, but the completion of these logic skills cannot be guaranteed. The higher ranked pollutants, for example, 004, actually have a logic skill, so that it can collect all of the logic skill information in China and create the ‘Grow Some Brains’ APP. And for the lower ranked pollutants, the capital’s Logic Skill Research Institute believes that the logic skills on them are broken.”

Zhao Hen introduced the relationship between logic skills and polluters in a simple manner and added in the end: “Of course, these are just theories. As of right now, no one has been able to detect a complete logic skill on a polluter.

“In short, after his parents passed away, Meat King has been buying some goods that are suspected to be polluters at auctions. Sometimes, he would privately buy polluters from users who have gotten back from the contaminated areas.

“Most of the things he buys are fake and can’t even count as polluters. On the occasion he buys a real good, a slightly stronger polluter, Haidu City’s User Committee will think of every way to buy it from him, preventing him from privately collecting it. For the ones that are a bit weaker, Meat King would play with them for two days before getting bored of them, and would even casually give them away to users he knew or just directly donate them to the user committee. 

“So the user committee specifically opened the back door for him, not caring about him collecting polluters as he sort of counts as official staff, helping the officials collect polluters.

“Until last year, when he awakened.”

It’s impossible to not get your shoes wet when you often walk by the river.

According to what Zhao Hen has said, when Meat King first awakened his logic skill, he was very excited, thinking he had something like a superpower. But, when he carefully examined his logic skill and repeatedly experimented with it, his excitement only lasted two days before being exhausted. 

Xiao Jinyu understood that very well.

The logic skill of eating roast pork and causing the next day to be clear, really had no relationship with the word, “superman”.

If Meat King was a normal user, then it would have been the same whether he awakened or not. He would still live honestly and perhaps also worry when his logic skill would break, diligently striving to upgrade his logic skill. Awakening would be more painful than not awakening.

But he was Meat King. 

He didn’t have a superpower, he had a money power.

Meat King leveling up, was like normal people drinking water. It was as easy as turning one’s hand.

His logic skill was already simple and not dangerous, making leveling up easier than those with a dangerous logic skill. With the help of experienced high level users, Meat King upgraded quickly, and upgraded from level one to level three in just one year.

Xiao Jinyu thought for a little bit and asked: “Mr. Zhao, I haven’t been able to understand what this has to do with Meat King’s death. And also, why did you look for me today?” After a second, Xiao Jinyu’s expression was indifferent: “I don’t know this Meat King and I’ve never crossed paths with him.”

Zhao Hen coughed. He did have a problem of not being able to grasp the point when he spoke, but as he was the first member of the squad to establish contact with Xiao Jinyu, the Captain always sent him to find Xiao Jinyu. 

Zhao Hen hurriedly said: “Actually, I said the point earlier.”

“En?”

“Do you remember when I said, when Meat King’s parents were still alive, they liked to contact users? In fact, I didn’t explain it clearly. They liked to fund users or help the family members of dead users, and even sponsor the Haidu City’s User Committee. And coincidentally…” Zhao Hen forced a smile, “The current Captain of Haidu City’s User Committee was once helped by Meat King’s parents.”

Xiao Jinyu was a bit confused: “So?” 

Zhao Hen straightened up: “Meat King did not die a natural death, he died of a logic skill. With him dead, Haidu City’s Extermination Squad definitely won’t leave the matter at that, and his wife certainly won’t give up. So, I came to find you to ask you to come to Haidu City with me.”

En? Haidu City?

Xiao Jinyu’s expression was calm, but his mind was moving very fast: “You guys know my logic skill, it’s to see logic factors, there’s no other usage. But you can use special detectors to detect logic factors, there is no need for the human eye. Just point the detector at the area where Meat King died and you’ll find the remains of the logic skill there.” Before, in the subway station, Qi Simin’s group of two had used this to find White Garden’s logic factors.

But Zhao Hen shook his head: “But I came here today to invite you, Xiao Jinyu, precisely because we don’t only want to check the logic factors on Meat King’s body.” 

Xiao Jinyu couldn;t help but freeze: “You’re saying?”

Zhao Hen looked at him and said seriously: “Haidu City’s Extermination Squad decided to clearly investigate every location Meat King had been to in the past two days!”

Xiao Jinyu suddenly realized. No wonder Zhao Hen came to find him, he could see every little logic factor. That detector, which was like a black phone, was a bit dull. If there was a logic factor hidden in a corner that was hard to detect, it would very likely be missed by the detector.

Just like when he avoided Qi Simin’s detection. As long as he avoided the logic factor that flew out of the black detector, he would be able to avoid detection. 

But…

“Why is it the past two days?” Xiao Jinyu asked calmly, his eyes clear and tranquil: “I can take a trip to Haidu City, but I can’t always stay there. Why is Haidu City’s Extermination Squad so sure that they only need to check the areas Meat King had visited in the past two days? What if he met the user three days ago at some place and got caught by their logic skill?”

Zhao Hen didn’t even think before opening his mouth, blurting out: “It can only be the past two days.”

Xiao Jinyu: “?” 

Seeing Xiao Jinyu’s confused expression, Zhao Hen scratched his head and suddenly thought: “Eh? Did I not tell you? The two days before he died, or the three days ago, his wife just left the Haidu City District to complete a mission. So we are very sure that three days ago, there were no traces of logic factors on Meat King’s body. Because his wife is the captain of Haidu City’s Extermination Squad.”

Xiao Jinyu: “……”

You really didn’t mention that.

Zhao Hen thought of another thing: “Then did I tell you, that Captain said if you are willing to go to Haidu City and help, Zhongdu City’s Extermination Squad will reward you in cash?” 

Xiao Jinyu froze, before replying in a quick fashion: “How much?”

“Ten thousand.”

Xiao Jinyu was stunned and did not open his mouth for a long time.

Zhao Hen straightened up his body and said solemnly: “Xiao Jinyu, Captain really hopes that you can go to Haidu City and help. These ten thousand dollars are from Captain’s personal funds. You can be rest assured, I will accompany you the entire time and there will definitely be no dangers.” After saying that, he carefully looked at the expression on the young man in front of him, “So, are you willing to go?” 

He closed his eyes and then slowly opened them again. The young man with a naturally cold face slightly nodded, saying: “It’s only taking a trip to Haidu City and looking for some logic factors. I should be able to go. Plus, this is also a good thing, I don’t think the murderer should not be allowed to escape the law. By the way, Mr. Zhao, I would like to ask about the fare…”

“That’s great. You don’t have to worry about the fare, Captain already bought the tickets. We can leave right now.”

Xiao Jinyu thought for a moment, before restrainedly nodding.

Zhao Hen never thought that this time he would be able to complete the task given by the Captain so easily. Him placing the groundwork down earlier was not done in vain: introducing to Xiao Jinyu the rich Meat King and his parent’s charity and their good relationship with the user committee, and how much he had hoped Xiao Jinyu would travel to another city to catch Meat King’s murderer. 

Although it is said that the two of them could go to Haidu City right now, they both still had to pack their bags first.

Xiao Jinyu personally saw Zhao Hen to the elevator doors.

Zhao Hen: “Then, Xiao Jinyu, we’ll see each other in an hour. That’s right, there’s something else… We’ve already met three times now, next time you don’t have to call me Mr. Zhao. Just call me Zhao Hen.”

Under the bright elevator lights, Zhao Hen smiled happily, revealing a mouth full of white teeth, which was ever more contrasting against his tanned skin. 

Xiao Jinyu was slightly embarrassed seeing the young team member in front of him with a thick and stupid smile. He was silent.

“Ok.”

“En!”

Xiao Jinyu: “Then, Zhao Hen, I have something as well. The next time you come look for me… you can just say the main point directly.” 

“Ah?”

Zhao Hen looked at Xiao Jinyu in confusion, and before he could ask for the meaning of his words, the elevator doors had already closed in front of him.

Seeing the elevator travel down, Xiao Jinyu shook his head, took out his phone, and closed the page for buying train tickets.

Zhao Hen was a good person, a good person with a big heart. 

The only weak point was that he could never grasp the point.

***

Haidu City, Fengheng Bank.

The bone chilling evening wind blew between the buildings and the draft hit the windows of the cloud-piercing towers, causing the windows to roar as if they were about to fall from the sky in the next second. 

The weather became cloudy.

Since the beginning of today, black clouds had been pressing down on the city. The clouds blocked the sun, and with no sunlight, it seemed as if even the sky was saying there would no longer be someone who would eat roast pork for it anymore.

“We welcome you to use Fengheng Bank’s services again!”

The bank manager’s voice was overlapped with the sound of the automatic door opening, and drowned out by the howling wind. 

Between the towering buildings, a man dressed in black shook the umbrella in his hand, looked at his phone screen, and let out a helpless smile from the corner of his mouth before putting the phone back into his pocket. He seemed to have forgotten to turn off his phone and in his coat’s pockets, his phone dangled, occasionally revealing the contents on the phone’s screen.

[Received: 111,111.11 Yuan]

In front of Fengheng Bank’s doors, before the man in black could take two steps, the voice of the bank manager sounded out from behind him again.

“We welcome you to use Fengheng Bank’s services again!” 

Su Jiuzhou slowly turned his eyes and slightly raised his eyebrows as his sight landed on a middle-aged man being sent out by the bank manager.

That middle-aged man also noticed him and looked at him at the same time.

The moment the two looked at each other, the middle-aged man nervously held his breath and clutched the black box in his arms.

Logic skills will attract each other. 

The premise is that the gap in levels is not too large, or else it would be hard for high-ranking people to hide.

Su Jiuzhou laughed. His dark eyes held a faint smile and seemed even more heavy than the dark and cloudy sky. He looked away.

The middle-aged man stared at him warily until he carefully felt, confirming his body contained no feeling of logic skills, finally letting out a breath.

Even though it was below-zero degrees, the sky began to rain. 

It wasn’t snow, but instead, it was a slight drizzle, like someone was crying sadly.

Seeing this scene, Su Jiuzhou was first stunned, before sighing meaningfully. He opened the black umbrella, held the slender handle, ready to walk into the depressing and cold rain.

At this moment, a low male voice sounded behind him. The voice was very small, like it was sneakily talking to someone on the phone and the person talking on the phone was trying to hide his own excitement, even a cat with the keenest ears would not be able to hear such a small sound.

But Su Jiuzhou stopped walking. 

“I got it, hehe, I got it. It can be sold for at least a few ten thousand! I don’t know what it is, but find a good buyer for me.”

“En, three people fighting for two rewards, how could someone not get it? Last night I told you, don’t worry, what are you afraid of? I’ll definitely get it, how could I be so unlucky? That person who didn’t get it must be so unlucky… eh? Can I help you?”

The middle-aged man looked up, looking at the man in black that suddenly walked in front of him.

This man had a naturally cold and heavy temperament, even if he had a smile on at this moment, the middle-aged man felt his throat close up, and an inexplicable pressure forced his forehead to break out in a dense sweat. 

That’s not right, this was a regular person. He was a level four user and he was still scared of a regular person?

The middle-aged man faked his courage and raised his head, and just as he was about to shout, a thin card suddenly appeared in front of his eyes. The middle-aged man froze and was only able to read the word ‘Colonel’ on it before the card was retracted.

Su Jiuzhou slightly smiled: “Did you know that regular users cannot privately collect polluters?”

The middle-aged man’s pupils shrank violently: “Wait, you…” 

“Confiscated, oh~”

As soon as the words were spoken, the middle-aged man saw a flower in front of his eyes. He didn’t see anything and only felt the weight on his hands lighten before he looked down.

The middle-aged man gritted his teeth: “So you’re a user? Are you a higher level than me? A level five user? But do you think that no one would care if you robbed someone in public? Oh I understand now, you’re here to get the task reward. You must be the one who didn’t get a polluter then. It’s true that regular users cannot privately collect polluters, but as long as they submit an application to the user committee, confirming their level is higher than the upper limit of the polluter’s manipulation range, they can have polluters!”

All the polluters Meat King posted as a reward were low ranking polluters that only required you to be at least level three to have. So the user committee turned a blind eye, not caring much. After all, the only users who could accept the task had to be ranked B100 or higher, all of whom have already reached level three. 

Carrying the strange black box in his hand, Su Jiuzhou did not object to the middle-aged man’s anger. Instead, the smile in his eyes was even bigger, and said in surprise: “So you do know that you still have to submit an application? Remember to do that.”

The middle-aged man froze: “What?”

“It’ll probably take… Let me think, seven business days to get back to you.”

“What do you mean?!” 

Not answering, Su Jiuzhou opened his umbrella and walked into the pattering rain.

“Hey!”

The middle-aged man was just about to catch up when a cold, dark spear pierced through the raindrops, and with a whoosh, stopped in front of his eyes.

The middle-aged man’s body froze and he stood in the rain, allowing it to wet his clothes. 

Su Jiuzhou looked down, expression cold: “I said, go submit an application. Also, it is illegal to sell polluters without the approval of the user committee. The penalty given by the court is…oh, have the people forgotten already?”

The establishment of grey areas and lack of control over users is so that they will keep thinking, not be constrained, and keep upgrading.

The middle-aged man stood in place with wide eyes, looking at the person in front of him in fear.

Suddenly, he seemed to have guessed this man’s identity. 

He wasn’t a part of the user committee, nor was he part of Haidu City’s Extermination Squad.

This man belonged to the most terrible place, a place that no user wanted to mention.

…The Trial Court.

The author has something to say: 

Ninth Sister: Ah, a two in three chance. I’ll still not win? I can still not win? Really a joke.

Little Goldfish: Eating melon →_→

004: You’re just a streak of bad luck and you’re still blaming others! ╭(╯^╰)╮Am I the type of special object that will cheat?!

— 

After ten hours of suffering, I finally finished writing…

Mwah.

Goodnight.