Chapter 115: X-ray Vision

Noon, inside the Television Station dormitory building.

Jiang Zhe slept until eleven in the morning.

As soon as he woke up, he suddenly discovered that his emotion points had surged again.

[Current Emotion Points: 10.74 million]

Sitting on the bed, he asked with a look of confusion, "Is this emotion point count for real? I only precision-deployed 8.74 million emotion points, how did they suddenly come back?"

[Prompt: Most are follow-up emotion points obtained from the internet overnight; a small portion are emotion points obtained after the Kyoto deployment!]

"Even so, why were the follow-up emotion points I obtained before so scarce?"

[Prompt: Precision deployment has extended the duration for obtaining follow-up emotion points from the video.]

Looking at the prompt, Jiang Zhe fell into deep thought.

Previously, there was a time limit for obtaining emotion points; once exceeded, no additional emotion points would be earned.

This meant that precision deployment extended the income period for follow-up emotion points.

At this thought, his eyes lit up; the system had a bug.

"System, continue deploying 10.74 million to Kyoto."

[...]

[Deployment failed. Deployment effects are only available twice a week, on Friday and Saturday—the days of the program hosting!]

"If I can't exploit this bug, then I'll go find Old Zhao and have him arrange seven episodes over seven days; I'll empty out all your abilities within a few weeks."

Just as he was thinking this, another system prompt arrived.

[This behavior is considered a bug and will not take effect in the future.]

"Just kidding, don't take it seriously."

He hadn't really held any hope of it succeeding anyway.

He raised his hand to click on the page and exchanged for the [X-ray Vision] he had been longing for.

"Exchange!"

[Exchange successful. X-ray Vision has been acquired and is being injected!]

As the prompt faded, a series of golden light screens flooded into his mind.

Almost instantly, all inanimate objects nearby seemed to vanish.

The original walls and even the entire building became faintly transparent before his eyes.

With a thought, he fully activated his enhanced hearing.

"Let's take a peek at what Xiao Shiyi is doing."

Opposite the wall was Xiao Shiyi's residence. Xiao Shiyi was in his room, wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and black boxers, doing push-ups.

"Jiang Zhe's physical fitness is so powerful; I can't let myself be weak either."

"1,578 push-ups... 1,579 push-ups... 1,580 push-ups..."

Jiang Zhe gave a thumbs-up to Wang Lin: "You can't compare yourself to me. I'm a cheater, and you're a normal player!"

Then he turned around and looked forward again.

Through the wall, he could see Wang Lin with a white towel over his shoulders, wearing floral boxers, running on a treadmill at home.

"I can't beat Jiang Zhe in science popularization. Out of seven or eight million viewers, I only kept 500,000 in the end. Although the Station Manager is satisfied, this is an insult to me!"

"I'm going to completely dominate Jiang Zhe in physical fitness!"

With that, Wang Lin increased his pace, going all out.

Jiang Zhe couldn't help but sigh, "These two guys... it's one thing to be competitive normally, but why are they still so competitive now? Aren't you two smart? Smart people should know that I'm not normal..."

"Let's take a peek at what Uncle Wang is doing."

Then, he looked up at the floor above.

It would have been better if he hadn't looked; once he did, he was completely dumbfounded.

Upstairs was Old Wang's residence. Old Wang was buck naked, engaged in an ultra-intense battle with a charming auntie in her forties.

The scenes in the room and the sounds coming from it were jarring...

Jiang Zhe was stunned, finding it hard to believe.

"Uncle Wang, your public persona has collapsed!"

"Wang Lin, it's not that I'm not telling you, but the key is that your dad is secretly meeting another auntie behind your stepmother's back in Northern Jiangsu."

He quickly shook his head. Old Wang must be an exception; perhaps Wang Guosheng, the head of the Broadcasting Department living downstairs, is more normal.

"The head of the Broadcasting Department should be normal, right?"

After saying that, even he hesitated.

Forget it, he didn't want Old Wang's persona to collapse too.

"I'll find an opportunity to warn him: outside personnel are prohibited from entering the dormitory building."

Having made this decision, he opened his eyes again.

[X-ray Vision effect, temporary uses: 1, duration: 24 hours!]

[This ability has been injected into the 'Reward Pool' and will be fully activated when the Dungeon arrives!]

"The ability can only be used once for now; I'll have to wait until later to fully possess it."

"This one use..."

"How can I maximize the profit?"

Thinking this way, he began to conceptualize the benefits in his mind.

Taaffeite is about $2,500 per carat, Demantoid is $3,300 per carat, Black Opal is $3,500 per carat, Musgravite is $35,000...

Using X-ray Vision to find mineral veins and then making a fortune by selling the information, or finding shipwrecked antique resources in the ocean.

Selling mineral information, selling oil information.

After thinking for a long time, Jiang Zhe shook his head. "No, the distances are too far, the luck factor is too extreme, and there's simply not enough time."

Suddenly!

With a loud "Bang!"

A loud blast came from outside the dormitory building; it was the sound of a tire exploding.

Shaking his head, he hurried to the balcony and looked at a spot not far away where black smoke was curling up.

A police car had collided with a truck, causing the truck's tire to explode.

Soon, the sound of sirens echoed outside the window. Two, three, until dozens of cars were heading towards Magic City.

"Mister Xiao Ai, turn on the TV, latest news!"

The TV turned on to the news channel.

A male anchor was broadcasting the news:

[Latest news from Su City: The civilian criminal organization 'Skynet' is carrying a large amount of secret information on politicians and is currently heading towards Magic City. The police are engaged in a pursuit!]

[The police and military have jointly placed the suspicious politicians' data and personnel under surveillance; the police are in pursuit, and helicopters have not yet been deployed.]

[There are currently no casualties!]

[...]

At that moment, the door was pushed open.

Wang Lin and Xiao Shiyi, the two of them having just finished exercising, walked over drenched in sweat.

As soon as they entered, they found Jiang Zhe watching the news, and they both looked at it with serious expressions.

Xiao Shiyi looked confused. "Why have so many things been happening lately? Does this civilian criminal organization really exist?"

Wang Lin analyzed it for him:

"Yes, I saw this when I was on the Dark Web. I heard the source was a public official who conducted an unfair trial against a member of the 'Skynet' organization. That member then reported it to the organization, which helped the member plan this case. The goal of planning the case is to round up all the dirty people in Su City. It's just that the situation in Su City is too messy, so they can only report it to Magic City."

"This time, you could say it's the biggest move 'Skynet' has made in ten years!"

"In addition, there are explosives hidden in the safe in the criminal's car. If someone tries to force the safe open, the explosives in the lining will detonate, destroying all the data. Then, as a follow-up, the politicians' information will be automatically uploaded to the internet and made public."

Xiao Shiyi asked, "Brother Wang, how do you know so much?"

Wang Lin replied, "It's public on the Dark Web. It can't be made public on the surface web for now; as soon as it is, it'll be monitored and deleted, and it's easy to expose your IP address. Also, there's news that this organization was spontaneously formed by retired programmers, special forces soldiers, and various civilian experts. Their goal is to punish evil and promote good."

"Hiss—a grand goal indeed, but... forget it, no 'buts.' Best of luck to them!"

Jiang Zhe looked thoughtful. "They've likely stolen the politicians' dirty secrets. It's a follow-up Butterfly Effect caused by an unfair trial."

"As long as someone with ulterior motives gets hold of the politicians' data, Su City will have to replace a whole wave of officials."

"I can't bring myself to sympathize with corrupt officials."

"If this is true, then I support the actions of this 'criminal organization,' Skynet."

"Forget it, I won't get involved."

He had originally thought about using X-ray Vision to help the police solve the case, and incidentally do Officer Su Cheng another favor to exchange for one later.

But since this organization was, according to Xiao Shiyi and Wang Lin, actually an organization that [followed the people's will], Jiang Zhe decided not to interfere.

Wang Lin and Xiao Shiyi looked at Jiang Zhe with suspicion.

"You'd get involved? How would you get involved?"

"How could you alone do anything about it?"

Being scolded by the two, Jiang Zhe was stunned, feeling as if he had said something wrong, or that something was a bit off.

He gave an awkward laugh. "Alright, alright, I'll cook first. After we eat, I'll take you guys to gamble on some stones."

"Stone gambling?"

"You only have a few million on you. Hurry up and save it to marry a wife; don't gamble!"

The two were shocked by Jiang Zhe's decision.

Jiang Zhe wasn't a gambling man; why the sudden urge to gamble on stones?

"Don't give me that look. I know many things. I've calculated that my luck will be very good today; I feel like a massive wave of wealth is calling to me."

"If I make a killing this time, I'll buy a villa in the city center; you guys can stay in the small rooms or guest rooms whenever you want."

Wang Lin and Xiao Shiyi looked suspicious; they felt Jiang Zhe was being very strange today!

His behavior today was nine-tenths abnormal!

However...

They hadn't encountered stone gambling before. As long as Jiang Zhe kept the stakes low, they could go just for the novelty.