Not So Straightforward

The sun was setting while it was raining on a clear day.

Long Jinglou was leaning against his chair while scrolling through his phone: no replies from Y.

"Qi Zhao?" He called, a young man in his 20s entered the office room, "What did you find? Did you track Y down?"

"Sorry young master." The young man replied, "The last destination we can find about this 'Y' was at your school, the time when you last contacted this guy."

Again, he did not get any information about Y: such as gender, grade, age, don't even think about the name or what he looks like. The only information Long Jinglou had was that Y is in the same city and school as him, Y could even be a teacher with a childish personality!

Suddenly, a short ringing tone cam from his computer. A friend request was sent to his QQ account.

- Y: Did you miss me?

For two whole days, Long Jinglou has been trying to find and contact Y, but it seems Y found him instead.

Long Jinglou accepted the friend request.

- Long Jinglou: How did you find my account?

- Y: It's not too difficult, just had to bypass some security system and voilà, here I am

- Long Jinglou: Are you a hacker?

Since Y could be anyone, they could also be a scammer. The voice recording could have been recorded by two different people after being bribed, and the picture Y sent could have been photoshopped.

But Long Jinglou couldn't find a single trace that if the picture was fake, so he decided to give Y a test: if Y replies with a yes or a no, he's either a real hacker or a scammer.

- Y: First of all, is it common sense in your blood to ask a criminal if they are a criminal?

- Y: Secondly, yes... and no, it was some basic elementary security bypass I learned from my friend, and I don't like the word, 'hacking'

"What kind of reply was that?" Long Jinglou mumbled to himself. It wasn't the kind of answer he was expecting. Long Jinglou expected some hesitations from Y before they replied, but they replied with an immediate answer. It seems like Y was expecting this kind of question and using the keyboard for them is the norm.

- Y: And lastly, you don't need me

- Long Jinglou: What?

- Y: You're going to find the answer eventually, but I can help you get it faster

- Long Jinglou: Do I know you?

Long Jinglou changed the topic, trying to find the identity of Y so he could get more information out of them.

- Y: Yes and no, you know me, but you don't know me

- Long Jinglou: As I said, stop beating around the bush!

It seems like he's not getting anything from Y, Y's way of speaking was new to Long Jinglou, he always receives the answer he wanted since he's the young master of a rich household.

Long Jinglou was about to ask more questions about Y's identity and what is Y talking about, but Y finished typing faster than him.

- Y: Alright! I have a report, but you know what I want

What report? What Is it about? Was it about Li Honglie or Huang Xiaoyue? Long Jinglou was curious.

- Long Jinglou: How much?

- Y: At least a thousand

Without hesitation, Long Jinglou sent a thousand to Y's account.

Y sent a new voice recording about Huang Xiaoyue and Li Feifei's conversation, but it was a casual conversation and there's nothing out of the ordinary.

- Long Jinglou: Is this some kind of joke?

- Y: I said it was a report, not what kind of report

Long Jinglou realized, he was scammed! If he just asked for a little bit more details, that wouldn't have happened.

- Y: Double the money for the real report you are looking for

This time, Long Jinglou hesitated. Was Y going to scam him again? If it happened once it will definitely happen again! But Long Jinglou sent the money, it's not he was desperate for information, it was because a thousand or two seemed like nothing to him.

Soon, Y sents some screenshots about some messages. It was a conversation between an unknown QQ account and Y.

- Y: *sents a video*

- Unknown: !

- Unknown: Who are you?

- Y: Does it matter?

- Unknown: What do you want? Is it money?

- Y: Is it?

- Unknown: Ten thousand and don't send the video to anyone else

- Y: Being a fake friend of the precious gem of the Li family, and you are giving me a pitiful ten thousand?

- Unknown: 20 thousand

- Y: 50

- Unknown: 25

- Y: 40

- Unknown: 40 thousand and delete the video

- Y: Another 10 I'll give you another piece of information

- Unknown: Deal, tell me

- Y: Sent the money first

- Unknown: *50 thousand yuan to Y*

- Y: Long Jinglou is wary about you now, your identity will be exposed as soon as he gathers enough evidence against you

- Unknown: What?

- Y: He noticed your suspicious behavior

- Unknown: How do I gain his trust?

- Y: You can't. Stop your actions until he thinks you aren't a threat anymore

- Unknown: How much?

- Y: To work for you? It depends on the consequences and the amount you sent me for each independent job

- Y: And let me tell you, I don't work just for one person, I will betray you anytime if I feel like it

Long Jinglou carefully read the word of the message by word since he doesn't have the ability to listen to the voice recording in the screenshots.

- Long Jinglou: Who?

- Y: Who do you think it is? It's Huang Xiaoyue

Y did tell Long Jinglou that all of Y's actions are dependent on his, so there's an equal chance, just like Huang Xiaoyue, that Y will betray Long Jinglou.

Because Long Jinglou is related to Y the moment he replied Y's first message, the consequences of the betrayals are unknown, and one wrong move will be his demise. In the end, it's a gamble that Long Jinglou was willing to take.

- Long Jinglou: Who else are you working for?

- Y: Want the information? You know what I want

- Long Jinglou: *sents five thousand yuan*

- Y: !

- Y: I'm connected to you, Huang Xiaoyue, Li Honglie, and Xie Feihao, and so far, Xie Feihao knows the most while Huang Xiaoyue knows the least

Long Jinglou thought about Xie Feihao's recent actions, his sudden change of behavior made sense if Y was behind all of this, but why did Y want to get involved with everyone that Li Feifei knows?

- Y: My existence is unknown to Li Feifei. Zhang Yie is getting closer, but not yet

- Y: I exposed myself to you, Li Honglie, and Huang Xiaoyue

- Y: As for Xie Feihao, he is the only one that discovered me and knows my identity; Li Honglie only knows y identity, but nothing else

Unfortunately, it seems like Xie Feihao knows more than Long Jinglou thinks Xie Fiehao knows.

Long Jinglou prays Xie Feihao is not his enemy, the more the enemy knows, the easier they will erase you from existence. Y so far seems to be neutral, it seems like they aren't involved on any side, yet.

If Long Jinglou could gain Y's trust and let Y work for him, it could prevent his downfall.

- Y: I'll give you a free piece of info

- Y: Xie Feihao isn't interested in you

- Long Jinglou: Explain

- Y: I think you know this by now, he only pays attention to the amusing things

- Long Jinglou: Are you telling me I'm boring?

- Y: He thinks your actions are irrational, not worth of any of his time

Long Jinglou was confused. Irrational actions? Not worth his time?

Y is the type of character that gives indirect pieces of information. No matter how many questions Long Jinglou asks, Y will not reply with the answer Long Jinglou wants.

- Long Jinglou: Then what side is he on?

- Y: He's on his own