He had initially planned to play innocent, to act like a mere passerby, but when Wang Zhuo snatched the counterfeit frequency-modulation radio and shook it lightly with a sneer, he knew he was completely exposed.

The cold sweat on his brow began to stream down at a rate visible to the naked eye.

He Linze was not inherently courageous. The reason he dared to sit there so calmly, monitoring the hotel's movements while eavesdropping on the room, was the assumption that the police would never anticipate his presence. Should any trouble arise, he had ample time to slip away from the scene without any chance of encountering the victim or law enforcement.

Furthermore, this wasn't his first rodeo. After several prior successes, he had begun to hold the police capabilities in contempt.

This method was indeed a cutting-edge, high-tech approach to crime. Their targets were typically affluent wives involved in extramarital affairs, or corrupt officials, individuals who couldn't report the recorded evidence due to its compromising nature—a group that had, until now, never failed them.

The group's leader was a university student who had always been fascinated by detective stories, espionage thrillers, and criminal psychology shows. Every time they captured exploitable footage, it was his call whether or not to proceed with blackmail. They had been operating for a year without a single report, a testament to his sharp eye and accurate judgment.

Thus, over time, He Linze had grown careless. Knowing full well that Wang Zhuo and Fat Dragon were in the room, he had been chatting with his accomplice on his phone. Now, any regret was utterly futile.

"Tell me yourself, or should I ask and then you tell me?"

In Room 1115, He Linze was curled up in a corner like a startled fawn, while Fat Dragon questioned him with a forced smile, all the while unbuckling his belt.

Watching this smiling tiger snap his belt with a loud whap, He Linze was so terrified he thought he might actually wet himself.

Just then, Wang Zhuo emerged from the bathroom after washing his hands. He glanced at He Linze and asked Fat Dragon, "Are you going to handle this? I don't have time to waste on him."

He Linze shivered violently. If Fat Dragon was an emissary of dread, then Wang Zhuo was surely Death Incarnate arriving now. The gang had already taken note of Wang Zhuo's combat prowess when gathering his profile. There had been some internal debate about targeting such a volatile figure for blackmail, deeming it too risky. However, the leader, Ma Xingmin, later argued that violence had nothing to do with intelligence; as long as they weren't caught, Wang Zhuo’s strength would be useless. Moreover, Qi Fei was in a secret relationship with him, and he also had a legitimate girlfriend—a situation that absolutely could not be exposed. Coupled with the imminent IPO of Shengshi Dynasty, stability would be paramount at this critical juncture, allowing no room for the exposure of the chairman’s underground affair with a female executive.

Therefore, Ma Xingmin was confident the plan was almost certain to succeed. With this analysis, he easily persuaded the others and they began gathering Qi Fei's materials for the shakedown.

Seeing Death staring him down with the implied threat, "If you can't do it, I will," He Linze weighed his own rather weak little arms, legs, and tiny canine teeth, deciding they stood no chance against the raw toughness of thugs, hooligans, or even city management officers. If even those powerhouses had been taught a lesson by Wang Zhuo, what good was he? Might as well confess.

"Don't rush things. Let me open his Jú first," Fat Dragon threatened, making a gesture resembling the Shaolin Two-Finger Zen.

He Linze's nose immediately began to run, and he pleaded with a tearful voice, "B-brothers, I’ll talk. I’ll tell you everything."

Fat Dragon paused, looked at his Two-Finger Zen gesture, slowly separated his closed fingers, and then turned smugly to Wang Zhuo, "Well? Do you still doubt my capability now?"

Ignoring the man who had morphed the Two-Finger Zen into a victory sign, Wang Zhuo settled onto the sofa and gestured toward He Linze with his chin, "Stick to the main points."

He Linze swallowed hard, his face etched with misery, and said, "There are five of us in total. The boss’s surname is Ma, Ma Xingmin. I’m strictly the lookout. If you guys came to check things out, or if the police showed up, I'd call him."

A genuine criminal organization, Wang Zhuo sneered and asked, "Repeat offenders? How many times have you done this?"

"This time makes seven," He Linze admitted.

"Damn, that's impressive!" Fat Dragon got excited and asked, "How many of the first six times were successful?"

"All, all of them were successful," He Linze truthfully replied. "Two involved filming an official engaging in illicit activities, one was a big boss bribing someone—that official we blackmailed—another was a celebrity using drugs, and the last two were rich women meeting young men."

"Quite a variety of tricks," Fat Dragon chuckled, about to probe further, but Wang Zhuo interrupted by snatching a packet of disinfectant wipes from the table and tossing it over.

"Where is your base of operations?"

"Chunxiang Youth Travel Agency, about six kilometers from here," He Linze said, then respectfully picked up the packet of tossed wipes and handed them to Fat Dragon.

Fat Dragon ripped it open immediately. Wang Zhuo glanced at his watch, then asked again, "How many backups of the evidence are there?"

"Just, just one copy," He Linze said, thinking for a moment, then suddenly corrected himself, "No, no, there are no backups at all."

"What kind of nonsense is that?" Fat Dragon glared. "Explain it clearly."

"Yes, yes." He Linze explained, "The boss was afraid we might secretly copy it and use it to demand money ourselves, so after recording, he only saved one copy on his own computer, with no other backups."

"Describe the division of labor among your six members," Wang Zhuo instructed.

"Ma Xingmin is the boss, he commands. Dayang handles the installation, Little Third is the tech guy, I'm the lookout, and Fat Two and Old Five collect the money."

"The roles are quite clearly defined," Fat Dragon praised with a smirk.

He Linze kept his head down, daring not to reply.

"How did you find our information?" Wang Zhuo asked next.

"You and..."

As soon as He Linze started to speak, Wang Zhuo silenced him with a sharp look: "Don't use names, just state the facts."

He Linze blinked, hesitating for a long moment before grasping Wang Zhuo’s meaning. He then proceeded cautiously, "We hacked into this hotel's registration system, which gave us the ID numbers of those checking into 1116. Then we cracked the website that provides traffic violation lookups, using your license plate number to perform a reverse search, which revealed both of your identities."

Wang Zhuo suddenly understood. These kids not only had brains but also technical skills. That day, Qi Fei’s ID was shown upon check-in, and since the license plate number was linked to the vehicle owner's information, their identities were inevitably exposed.

"Then the password-protected online album, did you hack that yourselves too?" Wang Zhuo asked.

He Linze nodded with a wry smile, "Little Third’s skills are top-notch."

Fat Dragon clicked his tongue. "Damn bastards, cracking an online photo album too—they’re truly amazing!"

Just then, Wang Zhuo's phone rang; it was Qi Fei calling.

"Watch him. You know what to do, right?" Wang Zhuo asked Fat Dragon while holding the phone.

Fat Dragon tossed his head elegantly, "If he dares to move, he'll get my Farmer's Three Fists!"

Wang Zhuo nodded and walked out holding the phone.

The corridor was empty, so he lowered the volume before answering.

"Wang Zhuo, that person called me. He wants me to prepare five hundred thousand in cash before the bank closes. He seemed to have something in his mouth when he spoke—it sounded a bit like the dialect of Supian. I’ve recorded it."

Wang Zhuo smiled silently and asked, "Where are you now?"

"I'm in your office. Everyone else has gone out; it's just me," Qi Fei replied.

After a moment of thought, Wang Zhuo instructed, "Then call the bank and ask them to prepare five hundred thousand in cash, tell them you need it."

"Oh, okay." Qi Fei paused, then asked, "How is it going on your end? Any progress?"

Wang Zhuo replied with a light smile, "I'm very busy right now. I’ll call you back later to talk in detail."

Hanging up, he returned to the room. He Linze was squatting at Fat Dragon's feet, fearfully wiping Fat Dragon’s shoes with that disinfectant wipe. He looked like a bird startled by an arrow; when Fat Dragon lifted a hand to scratch his nose, He Linze instinctively recoiled in terror.

"A scaredy-cat like this, trying to play gangster and extort people," Fat Dragon lectured him dismissively.

"W-we aren't gangsters. We don't bully the poor..." He Linze tried to argue.

"Right, you certainly don't bully the poor," Fat Dragon scoffed. "The poor can't afford to stay in a four-star hotel anyway. Even if they did, they wouldn't have money for you to extort!"

He Linze was instantly rendered speechless.

After escorting the captive downstairs, Wang Zhuo first took him to wait in the car while Fat Dragon stayed behind to settle the bill.

A short while later, the housekeeping manager, who was inspecting the room upstairs, called the front desk: the guests had used one packet of paid disinfectant wipes, the double-sheet kind, costing ten dollars.

After reclaiming the deposit, Fat Dragon strutted out of the hotel lobby with what he thought was a dashing swagger. The three receptionists exchanged bewildered glances, muttering among themselves: Three men rented a room by the hour, used two wipes—what on earth were they up to?

Leaving the Chevrolet behind at the hotel, Wang Zhuo drove his own car, with Fat Dragon keeping watch over He Linze in the back seat. Before long, they arrived at the street where the Chunxiang Youth Travel Agency was located.

According to He Linze, Little Third’s technical prowess was considerable; he even had access to the communication logs between Qi Fei’s and Wang Zhuo’s phones—not by eavesdropping, but by querying the service provider's platform to track the direction and timing of calls made by those two numbers. This meant that if the two had used their usual phones to alert the police, Ma Xingmin and the others would have known quickly.

A mastermind criminal like Ma Xingmin, paired with Little Third’s technical skills, was indeed formidable; their flawless record across six prior extortions attested to this. However, their very ease of success had bred complacency. Ma Xingmin might still have retained his vigilance, but his accomplices had slipped up.

Arriving behind the travel agency building, He Linze whispered, "They’ve installed surveillance cameras in the hallway too. The moment the three of us go upstairs, we'll be discovered."

Wang Zhuo frowned and asked, "At this time of day, who is inside?"

He Linze listed them off one by one: "Besides me at the hotel, only Old Five is surfing the net at the internet cafe down the street. Dayang and Fat Two like trouble, so Ma Xingmin keeps them from going out while they work. Old Five brings back takeout lunch from a restaurant."

Wang Zhuo grunted, looked up, and narrowed his eyes toward the fifth floor where the gang was located. His gaze instantly pierced through all obstacles, landing inside a three-bedroom, one-living room rental unit. Two young men, one tall and one stout, were watching a soccer match and drinking beer in the living room. All three bedroom doors were open; one room was empty, and the other two each contained one person: one was a handsome, refined-looking young man wearing glasses, and the other was a young girl, perhaps fifteen or sixteen, fair-skinned with delicate features and large eyes, resembling a BJD doll.