45: Chapter 45: People from the Municipal Bureau have come to investigate!

Chengnan Police Station.

"Ring, ring, ring—"

The urgent sound of telephone bells had barely stopped.

In the police dispatch hall, the sound of phones ringing rose and fell in succession.

"Hello, this is Chengnan Police Station."

"How can I help you?"

Dispatcher Xiao Zhang rubbed his throbbing temples.

Since this morning, the phones here hadn't stopped for a moment.

And almost every call was related to the same thing: lifespan treasure!

But unfortunately, the station hadn't yet figured out the details of this software, so whenever they heard the words "lifespan treasure," they felt a headache coming on.

"Comrade police, a piece of software suddenly appeared on my phone, and I can't delete it. Is it a scam app, or did I get a virus?"

"The internet says this thing can sell lifespan for money. Is that true or false?"

"Officer, my son's WeChat suddenly received a sum of money. He admitted that he sold one year of his lifespan on lifespan treasure. Can this money be used?"

"Officer, if I sell my lifespan, will it affect my health?"

"Comrade police, are you going to do something about this or not?"

All sorts of questions emerged one after another.

Some were worried, some were afraid, and some wanted a refund.

There were even those who asked how to get an invitation code.

Regarding these questions, Xiao Zhang could only repeat the same words over and over again.

"The police have already intervened to investigate."

"We ask all citizens to remain rational."

"Do not easily believe online rumors."

"And certainly do not blindly engage in unknown transactions."

Hanging up the phone, Xiao Zhang let out a long sigh, feeling as if his throat was about to smoke.

A moment later, he turned his head to look not far away.

Zhao Shoucheng was sitting there, his eyes bloodshot, and the ashtray in front of him was already piled high with cigarette butts.

"Captain Zhao."

"Our phones are about to explode."

"We can't just keep replying like this, right?"

"More and more people online are discussing it now."

"It's getting a bit hard to suppress."

Zhao Shoucheng held an unlit cigarette in one hand, while his other hand idly tapped at the lifespan treasure app on his phone.

"This matter has already exceeded the scope of what the police station can handle."

"I have already reported the situation to our superiors."

"The higher-ups are taking it very seriously."

"They should be here soon."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the sound of vehicles entering was heard from outside.

Vroom—

The low roar of engines approached from afar.

Looking up, he saw several black sedans with special license plates slowly driving into the police station courtyard from the distance.

The car doors opened, and several figures stepped out.

Zhao Shoucheng's pupils constricted slightly.

"They're here!"

After saying this, he immediately stood up.

"Let's go!"

"We're going out to greet them!"

In the courtyard, the car doors opened one after another.

Zhao Shoucheng had originally thought that, at most, a branch bureau leader would come.

But when he saw the figure in front, he was instantly stunned.

"Director Qin?!"

Zhao Shoucheng hurried forward to meet them, his face full of shock.

The head of the Municipal Bureau!

It was his old leader, Director Qin Weidong, who had actually come in person!

Qin Weidong looked to be in his fifties.

His temples were slightly gray, and he had a tall, upright figure.

Just standing there, he exuded an imposing aura.

Seeing Zhao Shoucheng, Qin Weidong forced a faint smile, but his expression remained extremely grave.

In fact, last night when he received a call from Zhao Shoucheng saying... that the other party had personally sold one year of lifespan on lifespan treasure and subsequently received 880,000 in their bank account, he had been completely dumbfounded.

At first, he thought Zhao Shoucheng was just too tired and talking nonsense.

But as he listened further, things felt increasingly wrong, and the more he investigated, the more shocked he became.

They really had received 880,000!

Moreover, the source of the funds was legal, and the account chain was legal.

It wasn't money laundering, it wasn't a scam, and it certainly wasn't illegal fundraising.

Even the technical department couldn't find anything unusual.

Most importantly!

Searching online, one could truly find quite a few real cases!

There were bloggers exposing it, and official media reporting on it too!

If all of this was true... then the problem was massive!

Massive enough to exceed everyone's imagination!

Because this was no longer an ordinary case.

It was a supernatural event capable of shaking the entire social order!

Shaking his head, Qin Weidong said directly, "Let's go inside and talk."

"Okay."

Soon, everyone arrived at the conference room.

The conference room door closed, and the atmosphere instantly became serious.

Qin Weidong didn't engage in any pleasantries and went straight to the point.

"Shoucheng."

"Is the situation you mentioned on the phone confirmed?"

"Can lifespan treasure really trade lifespan?"

Zhao Shoucheng gave a wry smile, "Director Qin, it is absolutely true!"

After saying this, he took out his phone and projected the screen, first showing the lifespan treasure app, and then bringing up the transaction record of the 880,000 received yesterday.

Gradually, in the conference room, many people gasped.

"Captain Zhao, when did you get this software too?"

A young officer couldn't help but ask.

Zhao Shoucheng shook his head, "It appeared on its own yesterday at noon."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone couldn't help but look at each other.

Was it really like the rumors online, that it installed and bound itself automatically?

But Zhao Shoucheng looked at Qin Weidong and continued, "Director Qin."

"This morning, we contacted over a dozen netizens who claimed online that they also had lifespan treasure and had traded on it. Although most were just clout-chasing, we eventually verified two more real cases."

"Furthermore, after the technical department traced the source of the funds, they discovered..."

"All this money came from legal overseas foundation accounts."

"The funding chain is terrifyingly clean."

"There are no issues at all."

At this point, the conference room went completely quiet.

Everyone realized that the matter was far more serious than they had imagined.

Qin Weidong slowly picked up the phone.

His gaze fell on that golden hourglass icon.

For some reason, just by looking at that icon, he felt an indescribable sense of oppression in his heart.

It was as if it wasn't software, but some kind of living thing.

After a few seconds of silence, he handed the phone to a young man beside him.

"Xiao Xu, you take a look."

Then, looking at the others, he introduced him: "This is the cybersecurity expert we specifically invited, Xu Xiangyang. When it comes to system defense, anti-penetration, and malware analysis, he is one of the top technical experts in our province."

Hearing Qin Weidong's introduction, Xu Xiangyang waved his hand, a confident smile appearing on his face, "Director Qin is too kind."

"I've seen the news, and I believe that in today's network environment, there is no rogue software that can truly remain completely hidden. As long as it is running, it will inevitably leave traces of data interaction."

Hearing the professional say this, the few young officers watching suddenly looked expectant.

"Engineer Xu, then how exactly did this rogue software get into everyone's phones without anyone knowing? Why does everyone say it can't be uninstalled?"

Xu Xiangyang smiled faintly, "Wait a moment, let me take a look first."

After saying this, he opened his briefcase, took out a specially made laptop, connected the data cable, and began the inspection.

The conference room gradually quieted down.

Only the sound of keyboard typing continued to ring out.

Tap, tap, tap—

Time ticked by, minute by minute.

Three minutes, five minutes, eight minutes.

Gradually, the confidence on Xu Xiangyang's face vanished.

His brows began to furrow.

Ten minutes later, his body even involuntarily straightened up a bit, his eyes fixed intently on the screen, and fine beads of sweat began to appear on his forehead.

In the conference room, everyone looked at each other.

It seemed they all sensed that something was wrong.

Qin Weidong asked in a deep voice, "How is it?"

Xu Xiangyang didn't answer, his hands still typing rapidly on the keyboard.

Soon, he switched through three more sets of detection tools.

However, the results were exactly the same.

Finally, Xu Xiangyang slowly stopped his movements, his voice filled with deep disbelief, "Strange... this software isn't right..."