163: Chapter 163: The housing bubble and the special effects bubble burst together; you continue filming blockbusters in prison.

A large number of Special Police and economic investigation personnel rushed into the sales office of Cloud Top Palace.

Red and blue flashing lights brightly illuminated the originally eerie and terrifying abandoned buildings.

The 'zombie' extras, who were just demanding their wages, were now all obediently squatting in the corner, lined up in two rows for identity verification.

Manager Zhang was handcuffed behind his back and dragged down from the high platform by two Special Police officers like a dead dog.

His face was even paler than the zombie makeup those extras were wearing.

In the center of the sales office lobby, equipment was piled up like a small mountain.

Chen Xiaobei was holding a tablet computer, cataloging these devices.

"Director Gu, the inventory on-site is complete."

Chen Xiaobei kicked a black box on the floor.

"Twelve holographic AR matrix projectors, twenty medical-grade dry ice generators."

"Five high-frequency infrasound generators, and even two weather regulators that can change local air humidity."

Chen Xiaobei clicked his tongue.

"Manager Zhang wasn't building houses; he directly moved a top-tier Hollywood special effects studio here."

Gu Changan stepped forward and picked up a holographic projection lens that hadn't been destroyed yet to take a look.

"Using military-grade equipment to play ghost just to sell unfinished buildings."

"Manager Zhang, if you had used this boldness on the Righteous Path, you would have gone public long ago."

Manager Zhang lowered his head and remained silent, his body shaking uncontrollably.

Several officers from the Economic Investigation Bureau walked over carrying two heavy safes.

The leading officer saluted Gu Changan.

"Director Gu, the preliminary financial data has been calculated."

"The suspect, Manager Zhang, used illegal means to deceive consumers by fabricating the gimmick of 'Spiritual Qi Revival.'"

"He forcibly inflated the price of these remote, unfinished buildings, which originally averaged twenty thousand, to a hundred thousand per square meter."

"In today alone, the intent-to-purchase deposits and down payments collected reached as high as 1.7 billion."

"Including the properties sold previously, the total amount involved is preliminarily estimated to exceed 4.5 billion."

The members of the public who were giving statements nearby all gasped when they heard this figure.

Several elderly men, who had almost swiped away their life savings just now, were so angry they rushed forward to kick Manager Zhang.

"You damn beast! Using a fake dragon to cheat us of our hard-earned money!"

"That was our retirement money that our whole family scraped together!"

The police quickly held back the agitated crowd.

Gu Changan picked up a megaphone and turned to face the growing crowd of onlookers and the media reporters who had rushed over after hearing the news.

Dozens of camera lenses were instantly aimed at him.

"Citizens, friends from the media."

Gu Changan's voice was steady and powerful, clearly spreading throughout the scene via the megaphone.

"Everything that happened tonight at Cloud Top Palace—the so-called descent of a true dragon, the so-called doomsday zombies—"

"Was all a visual scam created by the suspect, a certain Mr. Zhang, using high-tech special effects equipment."

"There was only one purpose: to empty your wallets."

Gu Changan pointed at the mountain of equipment.

"There is no Spiritual Qi Revival, and certainly no grotto-heavens or blessed lands."

"There is only industrial waste gas that exceeds standards and carcinogenic chemical fog."

"If you want to be healthy, wake up early tomorrow and run a few laps in the park, eat more vegetables, and stay up late less."

"Placing your hopes on these illusory metaphysics and scams will only lead you to ruin."

Gu Changan put down the megaphone and waved his hand.

"Take him away."

Manager Zhang was loaded into a police car.

White sealing strips were pasted on the doors of the sales office.

The owners who were getting their housing payments returned spontaneously gathered outside the police line, bowing repeatedly to Gu Changan in gratitude.

Gu Changan stood in the night wind, looking at the dark skeletons of the unfinished buildings behind him.

These monsters of steel and concrete had swallowed up the lifeblood of countless ordinary people.

The greed of capital combined with a System's cheat had created this bubble that almost sucked the life out of these common folk.

One hour later.

Bureau of Anomalous Affairs, underground interrogation room.

Manager Zhang sat in the interrogation chair, the incandescent light overhead so bright he couldn't open his eyes.

Gu Changan sat opposite him, flipping through the documents in his hand.

"Manager Zhang, original name Zhang Facai."

"A third-rate web drama director, filmed five series, none of which exceeded a three-point rating."

"Later switched to land speculation, encountered a break in the capital chain, and the development became unfinished."

Gu Changan closed the file and looked at him.

"Tell me, where did that System of yours, the one that can manifest disasters and Divine Beasts, come from?"

Manager Zhang looked up, a surge of fanaticism actually showing in his bloodshot eyes.

"That is art!"

"You people don't understand at all!"

Manager Zhang struggled suddenly, causing his handcuffs to clatter loudly.

"Since I was a child, I wanted to film the most shocking movies in the world!"

"What is Hollywood? What is Cameron?"

"The 'Super Special Effects Director System' I obtained can 100% restore the fantasies in anyone's mind into reality!"

"That dragon! Didn't you see it? Even the texture on the scales was perfect!"

"If you hadn't cut the power, I could have turned this entire city into my film set!"

Manager Zhang's voice grew louder and louder, as if he had fallen into some kind of demonic obsession.

"As long as I have enough Shock Points, I can recreate the Jurassic period, I can create an alien invasion!"

"I am the God of light and shadow! Why should I go bankrupt? Why should I go to prison!"

Gu Changan watched his hysterical display without any ripple of emotion.

"Are you finished?"

Gu Changan picked up the thermos on the table and took a sip of water.

"Your talent is indeed shocking, but you used it in the wrong place."

"You treated the life-saving money of the common people as movie tickets for your special effects."

"You treated the public safety of a city as your personal filming location."

Gu Changan stood up, hands propped on the table, staring down at Manager Zhang.

"Suspected of major contract fraud, false advertising, picking quarrels and provoking trouble, and endangering public safety by dangerous means."

"With multiple crimes combined, you won't be coming out in this lifetime."

"However, you don't need to be too despairing."

Gu Changan straightened his collar.

"The Northwest Third Maximum Security Prison's annual New Year's Day cultural performance has always lacked a capable general director."

"I will make a note in your file to let you use some of your remaining energy while you're working the sewing machine."

"Strive to rehearse the inmates' chorus to have the effect of a Hollywood blockbuster."

Manager Zhang froze, his face then turning whiter than paper.

He remembered the days in his earlier life spent eating boxed lunches on film sets and being looked down upon.

Could it be that after gaining a System, he would end up only being able to teach murderers how to sing in prison?

"No! I don't want to teach choruses! I am a great director! I am a god!"

Manager Zhang completely broke down, tears and snot covering his face.

Gu Changan didn't bother listening to any more of his nonsense and directly activated the System's physical stripping permissions.

An almost imperceptible hum echoed in the air.

Manager Zhang let out a miserable scream, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted in the interrogation chair.

A cluster of silver light was forcibly pulled out from between his eyebrows, twisting violently in mid-air.

Gu Changan took out a specially made metal containment box and put the cluster of light inside.

The light rapidly cooled inside the box, turning into a disc that emitted a metallic luster.

Several rows of code patterns similar to chips were faintly visible on it.

Gu Changan handed the containment box to Chen Xiaobei, who was standing behind him.

"Tomorrow, send someone through the special escort channel to deliver this thing to the National Film Studio."

"Tell them this is a newly seized military-grade special effects rendering engine."

"Let them study it and strive to elevate the special effects level of our domestic sci-fi films to world-class by next year."

Chen Xiaobei took the box with both hands and nodded solemnly.

"Don't worry, Director Gu. Once this thing reaches China Film's server room, if we don't squeeze every bit of its computing power dry, it'll mean we don't know how to make the best use of things."

The mechanical prompt sounded on time in Gu Changan's mind.

Task settlement complete.

Successfully captured the illegal transmigrator Manager Zhang and recovered 4.5 billion in economic losses.

Prevented a large-scale mass incident and dispelled pseudo-metaphysical panic.

Obtained a perfect score in the rating standard.

Reward issued: [Illusion Dispel (Passive Lv.MAX)].

Skill Description: Any form of visual deception, light and shadow camouflage, holographic projection, and neural hallucinogenic Spells will automatically be restored to their underlying code and true physical state in the host's eyes.

Gu Changan felt waves of coolness coming from his eyes and nodded with satisfaction.

This skill was very practical.

In the future, if there were any System hosts using smoke bombs to pretend to be immortals, he wouldn't even need to bother shining a flashlight on them.

Gu Changan walked out of the interrogation room, stretched, and prepared to go to the cafeteria for a late-night snack.

He had just reached the Bureau's main lobby.

The internal encrypted phone in his pocket vibrated urgently.

Gu Changan pressed the answer button, and Chen Xiaobei's anxious voice came from the other end.

"Director Gu, something's happened."

Chen Xiaobei spoke extremely fast, and the background was filled with the sound of rows of Keyboards being tapped frantically.

"The Cyber Security Squad just transferred an alarm over."

"On a live-streaming platform, a fortune-telling streamer wearing sunglasses has appeared."

"This person is doing live fortune-telling via video link, and every single one is accurate. His popularity has already hit number one across the entire internet."

Gu Changan frowned.

"Online fortune-telling? For this kind of feudal superstition public security case, just ban the account and transfer it to the local police station for processing."

"What are you panicking for?"

"It's not ordinary fortune-telling!" Chen Xiaobei's voice was a bit strained.

"This blind man not only calculated what color underwear the viewers were wearing, he even announced the hotel room numbers where people stayed three months ago."

"The most critical thing is that just two minutes ago—"

"In front of a hundred thousand netizens, he calculated our Bureau's cafeteria menu for tomorrow!"

Gu Changan stopped in his tracks.

"The cafeteria menu?"

"Yes! He said our Chef Wang will have diarrhea and take leave tomorrow, so there won't be meat buns served tomorrow morning, only white porridge and pickled vegetables."

"Director Gu, the cafeteria's procurement lists are circulated on our internal network."

"The fact that he can see this means he has already invaded our internal network!"

Gu Changan's gaze instantly turned cold.

This wasn't fortune-telling.

This was an extremely serious cyber security intrusion event.

"Send me the link to the live-stream room and notify everyone to return to the monitoring hall immediately."

Gu Changan hung up the phone and strode toward the elevator.