127: Chapter 127 Fraud and Deception? Locking Up the Identity Directly

In Luofeng Village, the red maples were still drifting with pale golden fragments of light. The Elf District beside the earthen slope was packed solid, and the line of players waiting to receive the natural buff wound around three corners, with laughter and joy everywhere.

Lin Chen was nibbling on half a piece of osmanthus spiritual honey cake, swinging his short little legs as he squatted on a stone table, scrolling through the server-wide complaint records. Beside him, Lin Yueyao was hugging the high priests scepter, squatting on the ground and poking a thousand-year fire dragon egg for fun. The eggshell made a thumping sound with every poke, and the Great Elder of the Elves stood nearby, watching with trepidation.

"Ding——!"

A red pinned complaint suddenly popped up on the light screen, jumping three times higher than the others. It even included the player's real-name authentication application. The player with the ID [I Want to be an Archer] spoke with a crying tone: "Archon, help! I was scammed out of one hundred thousand real currency! The other party said he was a distant cousin of Mr. Lin Zhe and could use internal connections to get an Elf Archer hidden class quota, and could even add Lin Chen's exclusive favorability buff. After I transferred the money, he just disappeared! That was my tuition money I saved for three years!"

Below, there were screenshots of chat logs and transfer receipts. The scammer's avatar was a middle-aged man in a gray robe. In the chat history, he bragged excessively: "I am a close relative of Lin Zhe; he even ate rice from my house when he was little! The Elf hidden class quota is being scalped for hundreds of thousands outside, but I'll give you an internal price of one hundred thousand. You can get it in three days, and it comes with Lin Chen's exclusive buff, adding 20% permanent critical hit rate—others can't even get it if they beg!"

Following that were dozens of similar complaints from other players. Some were scammed out of a few thousand, others over a hundred thousand, totaling more than five hundred thousand. The scammer had even set up a scam group where hundreds of players had paid deposits, waiting to receive their quotas.

Lin Chen's little brows furrowed instantly. With a "slap," he slammed the spiritual honey cake onto the stone table. His milky voice was filled with obvious anger: "Daring to use my dad's name to scam money? You're tired of living!"

He tapped the light screen with his fingertip, and the pale golden Power of Rules instantly swept across the server background. He discovered that the scammer was using temporary black-market accounts, with IP addresses jumping around. The game background had no real-name information bound, making it impossible to trace the specific identity. Lin Chen puffed up his little cheeks in anger and immediately sent a message to Lin Zhe.

Far away in the side hall of the Holy Light City palace, Lin Zhe had just finished reading the Shadow Crystal Mine contract sent from the Abyss. The Power of Rules patterns on his fingertips were still glowing with a pale golden light when he received Lin Chen's message. He glanced at the complaint content and the scammer's chat logs, his expression indifferent, as if he had merely seen a few mosquitoes buzzing around.

"Hmm, leave it to me."

Lin Zhe moved his fingertips slightly, and the pale golden Power of Rules instantly broke through the boundary between the game and reality, tracing the scammer's IP address, transfer records, and chat accounts all the way back. In less than a minute, all the scammer's information appeared clearly before his eyes:

Game ID: [Jianghu Baixiaosheng], using ten alt accounts to commit crimes in rotation, all purchased black-market accounts without real-name registration; Real name: Wang Dafu, thirty-five years old, unemployed, with three prior fraud convictions. All records of fraudulent transfers in his bank statement were clear, and even which rental apartment he was hiding in and how many fake quota certificates were stored on his computer were clearly marked.

A faint, cold smile curled at the corners of Lin Zhe's mouth. With a slight movement of his fingertips, two rule commands were issued instantly.

The first was aimed at the game: Permanently ban all game accounts bound to Wang Dafu's identity information. His ID card, phone number, and face were all blacklisted. He would never be allowed to step foot into the Aethera Continent; even if he created a new account and entered the newbie village, he would be forcibly kicked offline. All related alt accounts were banned, and all game assets obtained through fraud were confiscated and deposited into the Luofeng Public Account.

The second was aimed at reality: All definitive screenshots of the fraud, transfer records, and chat logs were directly synchronized to the real-world credit reporting system, labeling him as a major fraudulent defaulter. All high-end consumption was restricted; high-speed trains, airplanes, and loans were all disabled. All bank accounts were frozen, and the entire amount involved in the case was returned to the victims via the original channels, with an additional 20% compensation for emotional distress paid to the victims.

Hum——!

Both commands took effect instantly.

At that moment, Wang Dafu, who was hiding in his rental apartment counting money, had just transferred the last one hundred thousand yuan into his bank account and was happily thinking about scamming one more wave before running away. Suddenly, all game accounts on his computer popped up red ban notifications simultaneously. Even a newly registered account was kicked offline the moment he logged in. Before he could react, his phone popped up bank notifications; all his bank cards were frozen. Immediately after, a text message from the credit reporting center arrived, indicating he had been listed as a major defaulter and all high-end consumption was restricted.

At the same time, there was a knock at the door. It was the police, standing outside with a detention warrant: "Wang Dafu? You are suspected of online fraud. Come with us now."

Wang Dafu's face turned as white as paper, and his legs went weak, causing him to collapse on the floor. He couldn't figure out how, despite using black-market accounts and fake IPs, he had been caught in less than half an hour.

On this side, after Lin Zhe dealt with the scammer, he directly issued a server-wide pinned announcement. The scarlet characters shone for fifteen seconds before disappearing:

[Server-wide Announcement: It has been verified that recently, criminals have been using the names of Lin Zhe's relatives, falsely claiming to sell Elf hidden class quotas and exclusive favorability buffs through private channels, defrauding players of real-world assets, with evidence being conclusive. The following announcement is hereby made: 1. All benefits, hidden classes, and exclusive buffs in "miracle" are distributed through official events and official Luofeng Village channels. There are no private internal channels; anything claiming to be obtainable through backdoors is a scam. 2. The scammers involved in this case have been permanently banned from all game permissions server-wide. Relevant definitive evidence of the fraud has been synchronized with the real-world credit system, and the funds involved have been fully frozen and returned to the victims via the original channels. 3. Should anyone dare to use the names of Lin Zhe and his family members to engage in fraudulent impersonation in the future, once verified, all game permissions will be permanently locked, and penalties synchronized with the real-world credit system will be applied without leniency. The final interpretation of this announcement belongs to Lin Zhe!]

Beneath the announcement, all the definitive evidence of the scammer's fraud was attached, including transfer records, chat logs, and screenshots of the detention notice, all clearly displayed, leaving no room for falsehoods.

The entire server was silent for three seconds, and then it completely exploded!

Messages on the world channel flooded so fast that the server lagged for three seconds. Tens of millions of messages piled up, all filled with ecstatic howling: "Holy crap? Someone actually dared to use the name of the big boss Lin Zhe to scam money? Are they tired of living? Now they've been double-banned in both the game and reality. So satisfying!"

"I encountered someone before saying they sold Lin Chen's exclusive buff, thank goodness I didn't buy it! Thanks to the big boss for the reminder! I will never believe in any 'internal channels' again!"

"The scammed money can be returned via the original channel? And there's extra compensation? The big boss Lin Zhe is too thoughtful! I'm going to invest all my assets into maple coins right here and now, I trust the big boss completely!"

[I Want to be an Archer], who had been scammed earlier, just received the bank's refund notification and an extra twenty thousand yuan for emotional distress. He was so excited that he kowtowed three times at the entrance of Luofeng Village and ran to the world channel to spam "Big boss Lin Zhe is awesome" a hundred times, prompting countless players to echo the sentiment.

Many players who had previously been tempted by "internal channels" dismissed the idea after reading the announcement. The number of fraud reports server-wide dropped by 90% that day, and player trust in Lin Zhe was maxed out. Even the official authorities followed up with an announcement reminding players to be wary of scams, stating that all benefits were subject to Luofeng Village's announcements.

Lin Zhe leaned back in the sandalwood chair in the side hall, his fingertips tapping gently on the table. A system notification sounded in his mind: [Ding! Punishment of the scammers completed, player trust has risen significantly, host's cross-reality permission proficiency increased, current Power of Rules progress 100%!]

He lifted his eyes to scan outside the window. The horizon was already turning a fish-belly white, and the line of teams delivering congratulatory gifts on the imperial road was getting longer and longer. A faint arc curled at the corner of his mouth.

Whether it was the clowns in the game or the monsters and demons in reality, if they dared to provoke him, there was only one outcome.

And that is death.