101: Chapter 101 500,000 Online

At six in the morning, when the alarm clock rang for the third time, Lin Ning struggled to crawl out of bed.

He washed his face casually, put on his yellow delivery uniform, and headed out.

With half a steamed bun dangling from his mouth, he took out his phone and opened the familiar app. The moment the interface popped up, he wanted to curse.

He hadn't taken any orders for a long time, so his ranking score had nearly dropped to zero, and all his preset order-grabbing conditions were greyed out. This was the empire he had once built!

The order-taking lobby was full of junk orders.

"Help pick up/deliver: From a certain business district to a certain residential complex, one bag of documents, 12 kilometers, pay 18.5 yuan. Remarks: Urgent! Pick up upstairs, deliver upstairs! Complaints for overtime!"

"Substitute queueing: Internet-famous pastry shop, estimated queue time 2+ hours, pay 25 yuan. Remarks: Must be the latest batch, take photos to verify."

"Help buy groceries: List has seventeen or eighteen items, visit three different supermarkets, pay 30. Remarks: Must have receipt, refuse payment if vegetables are not fresh."

Lin Ning's eyelids twitched as he read this, and an ominous premonition rose in his heart.

Before he could even react, the next second, as expected—a forced order assignment.

It was that 12-kilometer order that explicitly threatened a complaint.

"Fine, you win," Lin Ning swallowed his frustration.

All morning, Lin Ning ran around the city, squeezing in tasks wherever he could.

Delivering documents, picking up parcels, helping walk dogs, buying bubble tea...

His legs were worn thin, his lips were parched, and he hadn't seen much of a measly profit.

Lin Ning grumbled to himself while climbing the stairs.

By the time he reached the top floor to knock on the door, Lin Ning was numb.

An elderly woman opened the door, and the rich aroma of flour-based food wafted from the room.

"Oh, young man, you got here really fast!" The old lady smiled kindly, turned around, and pulled two huge, bulging bags out of the kitchen.

"These steamed buns, take them to my daughter. Don't squash them."

Lin Ning took the heavy bags and nodded.

The old lady stuffed a small food bag into his hand. "Just out of the pot, sauerkraut filling! My daughter loves this the most. You should try some too! It's still hot!"

As the bag touched his hand, through the thin plastic, he felt the warmth, soft and fragrant with oil.

Lin Ning was stunned for a moment, and the irritation from climbing six flights of stairs suddenly dissipated.

He felt a bit embarrassed, scratched his head, and said, "Tha... thank you, ma'am!"

"Don't be so polite, eat up, don't let it get cold!" The old lady waved her hand and closed the door.

Lin Ning carried the heavy bags of buns and the extra bag given to him, walking down the stairs.

The stairwell was dim, but the warmth in his hands and the lingering scent of food in the air inexplicably made him feel at peace.

Lin Ning chuckled, realizing he had become arrogant.

He hadn't complained this much even when things were tougher than this before.

Downstairs, he straddled his electric scooter, took out a bun that was still hot to the touch, and took a bite.

The dough was soft and fluffy, and the sauerkraut filling was oily, salty, and fragrant.

"Damn! It's so fucking good, amazing!"

Definitely homemade sauerkraut; you can't get this taste from store-bought ones. He missed home; his mom's sauerkraut was also top-tier.

He wolfed down the first one, but for the second, Lin Ning savored it in small bites, reluctant to finish it.

With two buns in his stomach, Lin Ning rode off to deliver the goods to the old lady's lucky daughter.

The early summer breeze blew against his face. He watched the bustling traffic on the street, hurried pedestrians, steaming little shops by the roadside, and children chasing and playing.

This is the life people should live.

He was willing to stay in a place like this. He was also willing to let these ordinary, slightly troublesome, yet vibrant days continue just like this.

In the afternoon around three, Lin Ning received a good order.

The pickup and delivery addresses were just one street apart, a task to buy a box of "printing supplies."

Carrying the heavy box, he climbed to the fourth floor and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?"

"Delivery service, your items have arrived."

"Just leave it at the door," the man's voice came vaguely from inside.

Lin Ning sighed helplessly and shouted, "It needs to be signed for in person, and I need the delivery code."

There was no movement inside. Just as Lin Ning was planning to knock again, footsteps approached.

The door opened, revealing the face of a young man with sleep deprivation and dark circles under his eyes.

Lin Ning's pupils constricted rapidly—a red name.

The man impatiently recited a string of numbers, "6215."

Then he bent down to pick up the box on the ground, failed to lift it on the first try, and let out a scream.

Lin Ning saw him clutch his waist and fall backward. He stepped over the box at the door, pretending to check on him, while his Psychic Power spread into the room.

"Are you okay?"

At this moment, the bedroom door opened, and another man, looking just as sickly, walked out. "What's wrong?"

Seeing Lin Ning, he vigilantly closed the door behind him.

But with the aid of his Psychic Power, Lin Ning had already "seen" and "heard" everything.

The dark room likely had blackout curtains drawn. An entire wall was lined with mobile phones, their screens emitting various lights and scrolling with text and images. One look was enough to know it was a bot farm.

But what made Lin Ning's eyes turn icy was what he "heard."

The man on the ground was breaking out in a cold sweat. "I twisted my waist moving the box, fuck!"

The man who came out later stood still upon hearing this and snapped at Lin Ning, "Nothing to do with you, get lost."

Lin Ning lowered his eyelids to hide his icy gaze, stepped back out the door, nodded to acknowledge, and left.

After turning around, Lin Ning's eyes were practically spitting fire, the corners of his mouth curled up into a fierce, vicious smile, and he strode downstairs.

"You little shits! See if I don't squeeze the shit out of you!"

"...Right, just grab onto this point about 'police brutality,' amplify it! Don't care about the facts, focus on emotions! You need to incite divisive emotions!"

"...Remember to change 'our country' to 'them,' and 'foreign countries' to 'civilized society.' Use comparative sentence structures!"

"This rumor about the '12-year-old official's second-generation child with 6 years of civil service seniority' has already spread to fifteen forums. Abandon all the accounts, let those idiots spread it..."

This was the content Lin Ning "heard" that made his rage skyrocket.

I'm out here risking my life against real spies, and you scum are hiding in a dark, sunless rental apartment, tapping away at keyboards, profiting from the misery of others, and finding ways to slander the place that gave birth to you and raised you?

You are truly a bunch of maggots in a sewer!

His fists crunched as he clenched them. At that moment, he wanted nothing more than to beat these bastards into placentas and stuff them back into their mothers' wombs, but his reason held him back.

He walked out of the unit door, got on his electric scooter, left the residential complex, and stopped at a street corner.

He took out his phone and dialed Chen Zhi's number.

"Brother Chen," Lin Ning's voice was laced with ice, "I ran into a bunch of Internet Fifty-Cent Army, black public relations. Are you going to handle this or not?"

Gritting his teeth, Lin Ning recounted what had just happened. When mimicking what they said, he couldn't help himself and repeatedly cursed their ancestors.

On the other end of the line, Chen Zhi remained silent, letting Lin Ning vent his foul-mouthed frustration.

Finally, Lin Ning asked with anger, "It won't be another case where they can't be sentenced to many years, will it?"

"We are cautious about foreign spies because of our comrades abroad," Chen Zhi's voice was icy and devoid of any warmth. "Domestic dogs don't get that treatment!"

"Address! I will arrange for people to go immediately."

Lin Ning was silent for a moment. "Wait until I've been gone from here for half an hour before you send people."

"Hmm?"

"I have a tail behind me."