Fraud-Busting Expert Sun Padao 2

Kou Xiao clenched his fists after listening to Wen Jiu’s explanation, but he had no desire to pick a fight. After muttering a few curses under his breath, he chose to ignore her.

A few minutes later, the little girl who had previously fled scurried back.

She cast a wary glance in Wen Jiu’s direction, and seeing that the other was not looking at her, she quickly picked up the small pink jar and tapped the light-screen panel, eager to pay and make a hasty exit.

Just as she opened the payment interface, she heard Wen Jiu say lazily, "Little sister, if I were you, I wouldn't buy this so-called whitening cream."

Truth be told, Wen Jiu had no wish to cut off someone else's livelihood unprovoked, but the scent emanating from the jar clearly carried a trace of a certain addictive herb.

Although she had no idea how addiction was cultivated in this world, she knew without thinking that anything laced with such an herb could hardly be anything good.

Her conscience would not let her stay silent.

Hearing this, the young girl froze in her tracks. This time, Kou Xiao flew into a rage, storming right up to Wen Jiu and glaring fiercely at her.

"What's with the massive temper? Didn't you just ask me why I don't fortune-tell for myself if I'm so skilled, instead of setting up a stall here?" Wen Jiu remained completely unfazed, crossing her arms as she sat in her chair and stared straight back at Kou Xiao. "Well, now I'd like to ask you—if that whitening cream is truly so miraculous, why is your face still covered in pits and craters?"

Prompted by Wen Jiu's words, the young girl snapped back to her senses, dropped the small pink jar instantly, and hurried away.

Seeing her easy money vanish right before her eyes, Kou Xiao grew incandescent with rage.

He was already strapped for cash, and having finally managed to acquire some goods through illegal channels to sell, why did he have to cross paths with such a jinx as Wen Jiu today?

"Are you out of your damn mind?"

Seeing Wen Jiu's unrepentant expression, Kou Xiao threw a punch straight at her.

However, Wen Jiu was prepared and dodged aside with a swift twist of her body. Relentless, Kou Xiao slammed his hand hard onto her small wooden table, preparing to lunge and beat her.

She sprang to her feet and retreated to a safe distance. Looking back, she saw that her cheap little wooden table already bore a distinct crack from the blow.

That cost money, and Wen Jiu felt a genuine pang of distress.

She still remembered the Starlight Night Market rule prohibiting violence, but Kou Xiao, whose repeated attempts to hit Wen Jiu had failed, was now blinded by fury and had entirely forgotten the regulations of the night market.

He continuously threw punches at her, only for Wen Jiu to gracefully duck and weave around the wooden table time and again.

For a moment, Kou Xiao felt as though he were being toyed with, his anger flaring higher and higher. Finally, unable to contain himself any longer, his ability activated, and he lashed out at Wen Jiu with a beam of golden light.

Yet this brawny man, who appeared to be all muscle, nimbly executed a backflip and evaded the golden light entirely.

With a crisp slap, Kou Xiao, who was winding up for another ability attack, was frozen in place, utterly unable to move.

"Huh? It actually worked." Wen Jiu landed steadily in front of Kou Xiao, cautiously reaching out a finger to poke him.

Kou Xiao stood frozen in place, a look of faint terror on his face, maintaining a posture with one arm raised in strike and the other hanging down, completely motionless.

The onlookers who had been watching the dispute also froze, unable to comprehend why Kou Xiao had abruptly stopped moving.

Only Wen Jiu knew that when she had flipped backward into the air, she had taken the opportunity to slap a body-immobilization talisman she had previously drawn onto the back of Kou Xiao's head.

She had merely wanted to test whether the talismans she drew could function within the StarNet world.

To her surprise, talismans were effective even within the realm of StarNet.

"You... what on earth did you do to me?!"

No matter how hard Kou Xiao tried, he found he could not budge an inch, and even his physical posture remained rigidly locked.

Such a loss of control drove the anxiety in his heart to its absolute peak.

Wen Jiu settled back into her chair with a smile, crossing her legs as she looked at the struggling Kou Xiao. "Save your breath. I've already sent a report to the Starlight Night Market security team; someone will be here to haul you away shortly."

Hearing this, alarm bells rang wildly in Kou Xiao's mind. He was a wanted fugitive who had finally paid a hefty sum to acquire a brand-new identity.

If the security team took him in, his past criminal record and escape would inevitably be exposed.

"Big brother, it was my eyes that failed to recognize an expert." Highly adept at reading the room, Kou Xiao immediately switched to a flattering, obsequious grin, the kind he used when bilking customers for cash. "How about you let me go first, and another day I will reward you handsomely? Besides, we only had a minor disagreement—there's no need to drag the security team into this, right?"

Unfortunately, Wen Jiu was immune to his act. Not only did she ignore his flattery, but she calmly resumed hawking her services.

"Fortunetelling, divination, talisman-drawing, and calligraphy! Fair prices, all inquiries welcome!"

Seeing that Wen Jiu completely disregarded him, Kou Xiao grew increasingly irritated, stringing one foul curse after another.

"Damn it all, do you think calling the security team is going to settle this?"

"Once I break free from this freaky bind, I'm going to carve you up into pieces, you little brat!"

These profanities caused even the curious onlookers to frown. Seeing Wen Jiu stand up from her chair and walk over to Kou Xiao, they all assumed she was about to lose her temper and beat him senseless.

Instead, Wen Jiu's expression remained tranquil. She simply raised a finger and tapped Kou Xiao rapidly across a few pressure points, and the ranting Kou Xiao instantly fell silent.

The look of terror on his face intensified. With constricted pupils, he stared straight at Wen Jiu as cold sweat trickled endlessly down his temples.

Having eliminated the annoying noise, Wen Jiu placed her hands on her hips with satisfaction. Truly, dealing with such people required a few tricks. She hadn't really done much—merely sealed his mute points to render him speechless.

Before long, a four-person security squad marched up to Wen Jiu's stall, inquiring if she was the one who had reported the stall owner at Section B, Booth 065.

Wen Jiu nodded and recounted the sequence of events. After a brief inspection of the bottles and jars at Kou Xiao's stall, the security personnel quickly discovered the traces of the addictive herb.

Stepping forward, they produced a specialized mental-energy restraint net, preparing to arrest Kou Xiao and take him in for interrogation.

Suddenly, Kou Xiao flickered like the black-and-white static on an old television set and vanished from right before their eyes.

At that sight, the security officers hurriedly reported the incident to their superiors to request an investigation.

Meanwhile, Wen Jiu looked in puzzlement at the ashes fluttering in the air. Had her body-immobilization talisman actually been burned away by someone else?

Simultaneously.

"Mission accomplished. Wanted fugitive Kou Xiao has been detained."

Lu Yan withdrew his mental energy field, and the azure hue in his eyes gradually faded.

Beside him, Ming Yu wore an expression of intense excitement, nearly jumping in place with joy. "Yan-ge, how did you manage to pinpoint Kou Xiao's real-world coordinates? Has your ability advanced again?"

Lu Yan shook his head slowly, a deep detachment lingering in his gaze.

While probing the StarNet world with his mental energy earlier, he had noticed a dispute between that fortune-telling charlatan and the suspect on his target list.

Just a moment later, he had suddenly sensed a massive fluctuation in the suspect's mental energy, which had allowed him to successfully lock onto the man's real-world coordinates.

He had therefore made a decisive choice, dispatching an entire team to arrive at those real-world coordinates in time.

Upon kicking open the door, they had found Kou Xiao sitting unsuspectingly on his bed. Although his mental energy had continued to fluctuate, he seemed trapped by something, unable to detach himself from the StarNet world.

And so, without the slightest bit of effort, they had successfully captured the fugitive who had eluded capture for so long.