1: Chapter 1 Red Name Warning! The Walking 500,000

Springtime, Cuiping Reservoir in the suburbs of Capital.

Lin Ning handed the bait to the courier brother, swallowed his irritation, and hung up the incoming call once again. Taking advantage of this brief gap, he tapped "Delivered."

The next second, the phone rang again. Hang up, ring, hang up...

He hurried away from the crowd, finding a secluded corner before answering. "You think not answering the phone is enough? You think you can just welch on the money you owe? F*ck you, Lin Ning..."

Lin Ning's temples throbbed, and he cut him off with a barrage of curses: "F*ck you! F*ck you!! You big idiot, I'm getting a lawyer to talk to you guys about how to pay it back. Is it useful for you to keep calling me? How am I supposed to pay you back when you're pestering me so much I can't even work?!"

He hung up the phone. Lin Ning raised it, his arm trembling with force, dying to smash it to pieces! But the impulse peaked and then suddenly deflated—if he smashed it, what would he use to fix it? He didn't even have the money to replace his own phone.

His arm slowly dropped, his knuckles white from gripping it so hard.

Lin Ning took a few deep breaths to calm down, looking at the lush, tree-covered mountains, and laughed softly to himself with a touch of self-mockery.

He must be the most useless, most miserable transmigrator ever!

In the gaps between the trees in the distance, a few anglers were leisurely casting their lines by the reservoir. Envious? Lin Ning was jealous of them!

They might also be ordinary people, but at the very least, they were ordinary people without debt, able to live and work normally, and even go fishing when they had free time.

His gaze moved upward. Above the heads of the anglers, colored text was floating.

[Zhao Aiguo, Self-employed Business Owner] — Green.

[Li Jun, Retired Employee] — Green.

[Yang Wei, Bank Clerk] — Green.

... Amidst the sea of green, two glaring, bright red spots suddenly entered Lin Ning's field of vision.

It was a bit far, but by squinting, he could barely make them out.

[Wang Lijun, Civil Servant] — Deep Red.

[Liu Hong / Alan Kim, Unemployed] — Deep Red.

"I've been able to see red names for the past few days, but the color was very faint. This is the first time I've seen them this red," Lin Ning muttered to himself.

This Golden Finger, which only displayed other people's names, occupations, and a bit of color, didn't even come with a manual. Lin Ning still didn't know how to use it.

It was only because of this Golden Finger that he hadn't given up on himself, like the other three people in his room, lying flat and becoming a "Sanhe Master."

Watching those two eye-catching red names huddled together, Lin Ning couldn't help but be curious. He twisted the throttle of his e-bike and rode over there.

He had to figure out what this damn Golden Finger was actually for, or he wouldn't be able to die in peace.

Through the gaps in the sparse tree shadows, the two middle-aged men seemed to have finished their conversation and were preparing to leave.

Lin Ning's eyes suddenly narrowed.

The two men stepped past each other, naturally picking up the fishing bags at each other's feet, and went their separate ways.

Lin Ning's throat tightened abruptly, and his back tingled as if he'd been electrocuted—he had only seen this kind of scene in spy dramas!

Think! Think! A small forest in the suburbs, on a workday morning, two men exchanging identical bags.

Especially when one of them was a civil servant.

The other one had both Chinese and English names, and they didn't even have the same surname.

Lin Ning was instantly excited. A word popped into his mind—Spy!

What was this thing? That was a walking half a million!!

What was half a million? It was the money he needed most!! It could alleviate his debt pressure and let him live like a human being!

Lin Ning took a few deep breaths, trying his best to calm down.

His brain was thinking at lightning speed.

So, did a red name mean they were criminals? Most people had green names because most people were ordinary...

Next, he needed to confirm the social identities of these two people.

Without time to think it through, Lin Ning twisted the throttle and carefully followed in the direction that Wang Lijun had left.

Wang Lijun got into a black BYD.

The car started, slowly accelerating as it drove toward the city.

Lin Ning's breathing began to quicken. The sound of his gasps circulated and amplified inside his windproof mask and helmet, like a massive wind noise pounding against his eardrums.

He was grateful for the speed limit policy on Capital's roads, which allowed his two-wheeled e-bike to keep firmly behind the four-wheeled "meat-wrapped-in-iron."

Every nerve in his body was taut, biting hard onto the car in front.

Anticipating red lights, observing lane changes, adjusting distance—every action had to be completed in milliseconds. He had to keep up without arousing the slightest suspicion.

That black BYD became the only moving target in his world.

He didn't dare to follow too closely, fearing that he might meet Wang Lijun's scrutinizing gaze in the rearview mirror.

If this guy really was a walking half a million, Lin Ning couldn't guarantee that his current expression wouldn't make people suspicious.

Every time the lights changed, every traffic jam, made his heart skip a beat. He was tense all over, yet secretly felt relieved.

Lin Ning could feel the psychological pressure increasing with every passing second; time seemed to stretch infinitely at this moment.

Finally, Wang Lijun's car drove into a residential compound.

But Lin Ning was stopped outside the compound and asked to register.

After completing the registration and entering the compound, Wang Lijun's car was already gone.

Stopping the bike, Lin Ning ripped off his helmet and realized his hair was soaked with sweat.

The early spring wind hit Lin Ning. The chill seeped through his body, and it felt like a bucket of ice water had been splashed on his heart.

Looking at his hands, which were trembling from gripping the handlebars too hard for so long, he tried his best to calm down.

The shock of having hope vanish right before his eyes had rattled his mind.

Slowly calming down, his brain finally returned to normal.

He knew he had entered this compound. Even if he had lost him today, as long as he spent time staking it out, he would be able to catch Wang Lijun.

Even if he was a bit unscrupulous, he could just report, "Wang Lijun, who appeared in this compound with license plate number XXXXX, is suspected of being a spy." That wasn't impossible.

Reporting is risk-free, after all. If you want more information, you can go check it yourself.

As long as you're thick-skinned, there are always more solutions than problems.

After thinking it through, Lin Ning relaxed. He leaned back, resting steadily on his bike like a seasoned delivery rider.

Watching his phone screen light up and go dark repeatedly from debt collection calls, he no longer felt agitated like a trapped beast.

Heaven has eyes.

Less than twenty minutes later.

Lin Ning saw that black BYD driving over from a distance.

Sitting up straight, Lin Ning pressed answer on his phone. If you didn't listen to the content of the call, he was just an ordinary delivery guy on the phone.

"F*ck you... don't pay back the money... go to your house and find you..."

Lin Ning let it go in one ear and out the other, not processing it at all, but he skillfully cursed back, "F*ck you... you big idiot... get the f*ck out of here! Thanks, though!" It seemed like something strange had mixed in there.

Seeing the BYD drive out of the compound gate from the corner of his eye, Lin Ning hung up the phone and hurried to follow.

In just a few minutes, the BYD drove into the Water Resources Bureau.

Wang Lijun got out of the car in the courtyard and walked toward the office building, holding a thermos, greeting people around him familiarly along the way.

Lin Ning stopped under the shade of a tree across the street, watching from afar.

A civil servant at the Water Resources Bureau?

Now that he had a result, Lin Ning didn't report it immediately.

The possibility that reporting might mean a 50% chance they weren't spies and he wouldn't get the reward, versus the illusory hope that he would get the half-million reward, made Lin Ning feel like his phone was very heavy.

Staring at his phone screen in a daze for a while, the unknown number went dark, and the screen lit up again to reveal—Sister.

It was Lin Jing.

Lin Ning hesitated for a moment before answering.

"Xiao Ning, I transferred eight hundred yuan to you on WeChat. Take it and use it for food first; don't let yourself go hungry. Sister has... some things to deal with here, just use it for now." Lin Jing's voice carried a deliberately suppressed exhaustion and hoarseness.

Lin Ning knew that this money was likely something his sister had secretly saved from her own meager living expenses, or even from his brother-in-law, to give to him.

A tremor from the depths of his soul made his nose ache.

The original owner's unbearable memories kept flashing back.

They were all tragic and ugly scenes.

Lin Ning blinked hard to dispel those images. "Sister, I know. Don't worry about me. I have a way to handle the debt, and it'll be solved soon. Don't worry! Take care of yourself and Mom. I'll come back to see you in a while."

He hung up the phone.

Lin Ning looked up, staring straight at the Water Resources Bureau building with the national emblem hanging on it, no longer hesitating.

His fingers trembling slightly, he typed [Report Spy Phone Number] into the search bar.

The page jumped, and a prominent official number appeared on the screen.

He took a deep breath and pressed the call button with his thumb. Listening to the "beep... beep..." sound coming from the receiver, he spoke in a deep voice: "Hello... I want to report something."