This director is vindictive.

The saying goes, "Money makes the world go round."

Compared to Zhao Liying's somewhat superficial "million-dollar reward"—which netizens privately speculated was "probably just hype"—Chen Mo's generous offer of tens of millions in cash to find someone instantly ignited the entire internet.

This guy is known for being ruthless and rich. Who in the underworld doesn't know that he keeps his word? Forget about defaulting on debts; if he even frowns, his bank statements will be turned into a PPT by his fans and analyzed across the entire internet the next day.

Don't be fooled by the daily posts on Douyin and Kuaishou of people showing off yachts and throwing money around. In reality, how many people can't even scrape together a down payment after emptying the savings of six family members? What does ten million yuan mean? It's enough to buy five apartments in a second- or third-tier city and rent them out, or to save a working person two hundred years of hard work—yes, literally, "you can't earn that much even if you work yourself to death."

Now, you can monetize just by providing a reliable lead, which is much more exciting than buying lottery tickets.

In the mahjong parlors on every street corner, the middle-aged women, while playing dominoes, were all pondering: "Isn't Old Zhang's daughter always camping out at the airport taking pictures of celebrities?"

"That courier station guy, Xiao Liu, runs all over town every day; he might have seen that kidnapping van."

Even food delivery drivers have started deliberately taking detours to wander around abandoned factory areas in the suburbs, and their movement tracks on navigation apps look like reconnaissance maps from a criminal investigation team.

Of course, some people sarcastically remarked: "If the kidnappers come to collect the reward themselves, isn't that indirectly encouraging crime?"

To some extent, that is indeed true.

However, many more people expressed their understanding.

"First of all, even if Chen Mo gives the bounty, does the criminal really think Uncle Hat is a pushover? The bounty will turn into evidence in a heartbeat!"

"Isn't the most urgent task right now to find them and ensure their safety? Other consequences, even negative ones, are matters of life and death, especially three of them! Support Chen Mo!"

"Exactly! Those people are just jumping around like sore thumbs. At this point, the family members are almost frantic. How can ordinary methods work so easily? This seemingly simple and crude reward might have some negative effects, but at least it can get everyone involved."

"Actually, they've already retired from the entertainment industry, so they shouldn't need to care about these things at all. But they're willing to spend money to help, even if it might have a negative impact. At least this kind of behavior deserves our support!"

That's true. Although those three fans were Zhao Liying's fans, there are so many fans of celebrities that it's impossible for someone to ask a celebrity for help every time they're in trouble.

Even if it happened in the past, it was mostly just for show.

Besides, Zhao Liying has already retired from the entertainment industry, so there's no need to care so much.

However, people leave their mark on history, and geese leave their calls in the sky. Zhao Liying certainly couldn't be indifferent to it. After all, if she really ignored it, the good reputation she had built up would be completely ruined.

Moreover, Zhao Liying genuinely wanted to help them.

It was worth it for them to like her.

Meanwhile, the atmosphere at the Chen family manor froze due to the police's phone call summoning him for questioning. After Chen Mo hung up, seven women immediately surrounded him.

"What did they say?" Zhao Liying clenched her fists, her nails digging into her palms.

Chen Mo tossed his phone onto the sofa: "What else can they say? They told us to be careful with our approach, but they didn't say they were withdrawing the bounty."

He rubbed his temples: "Right now, all the surveillance cameras in the city are focused on this matter, and the police are under a lot of pressure. Moreover, our reward is not excessive. Although many people will imagine things, that has nothing to do with us."

"Do you think those criminals would actually come to claim the reward if they saw it?" Fan Binbin asked.

Chen Mo shook his head and said, "I don't know! It's highly unlikely! Don't count on it. This has already caused quite a stir. I'm worried that the other side might kill the hostage because of the pressure."

Zhao Liying suddenly panicked.

"Alright, don't be in such a hurry. There's no use in rushing. The most important thing now is to find clues, and this reward is also a warning!"

What kind of warning is it?
Chen Mo didn't say it, but all seven women understood.

If the criminals were to kill the hostage because of this, it would be tantamount to slapping Chen Mo hard across the face several times.

Moreover, there are no secrets in the world, so it's impossible to truly never find the trace.

If the 10 million reward fails to find the person they're looking for, then conversely, that 10 million is enough for some people to take their lives.

Not enough, Chen Mo can add more!
Yang Mi suddenly scoffed: "If you ask me, we should increase the stakes! What do those keyboard warriors know?"

She grabbed the iPad and pointed at the negative comments under the trending topics.

"What do you mean by 'indirectly encouraging crime'? The person can't even be found, and you're still pretending to be a rational person!"

"Mimi!"

Gao Yuanyuan patted her shoulder lightly, then turned to Chen Mo, her voice trembling: "Could it really be like what netizens are saying, that someone took the money and then..."

Chen Mo shook his head: "No!"

"Now the pressure is on them; this reward has two meanings, one internal and one external."

Chen Mo's eyes were sharp as knives: "To the general public, it's a missing person notice; to criminal groups, it's an ultimatum."

"They either pay to release the person, or they wait to be taken by an insider for the bounty! And this kind of crime can't be committed alone, so even if the ringleader is determined to go his own way, what about the other accomplices?"

In fact, the huge reward of ten million has already begun to have an effect.

At least some people with special abilities have started to take action.

As the saying goes, snakes have their own ways. There are some methods that Uncle Hat and his gang can't use, but for others, there's no need to worry about them at all.

“But what if they have already left the country?” Fan Binbin asked, frowning.

“If they’ve already been shown on camera, they’d better be sent back obediently. Otherwise, even if there’s a bounty on their head, many people in China wouldn’t dare to act openly. But if they’ve been shown on camera…” Chen Mo didn’t elaborate.

But the meaning is already clear: ten million is enough to tempt many people. After all, within the country, many people still need to be more restrained.

However, if it actually goes overseas, there are no regulations stipulating that only Chinese citizens can receive this ten million.

At this very moment, the outside world was already in an uproar.

Especially in terms of public opinion, it's not that no one offered rewards or similar incentives during the era when telecom fraud was rampant.

However, after all, they are not celebrities, and the information is not publicly available.

Unlike this time, where a nationally renowned figure like Chen Mo publicly offered a bounty.

Official media outlets published comments:

The article, titled "Offering Rewards for Rescue Must Uphold the Bottom Line of the Law," points out that "while private rewards can help solve cases, we must be wary of them evolving into 'ransom transactions.' Chinese law clearly stipulates that no organization or individual may pay ransom to criminals in any form."

The news report also emphasized: "The police have established a special task force and are calling on the public to provide clues rationally and avoid interfering with normal investigation work."

At the same time, it was subtly mentioned that Chen Mo's reward "reflects a sense of social responsibility, but the methods and approaches are questionable."

In contrast to the cautious statements from officials, opinions on social media platforms are completely divided.

First, it dominated the Weibo trending topics list:
#Is the bounty on Chen Mo a form of ransom?# (Breaking News)

#Three families are waiting for their daughter to come home# (Trending)

#Should we use money to buy a way out?# (Boiling Point)

Chen Mo's multi-million dollar reward was like pouring cold water into boiling oil, instantly causing a storm of controversy in the public sphere.

The most vehement opposition came from the group of well-dressed "righteous messengers," who pounded their keyboards louder than a gavel.

Lawyer influencer @法山叔 hastily produced a 3,000-word outcry overnight, with a title that was already rife with inflammatory rhetoric: "Offering a reward for saving a life? This is like giving a criminal syndicate a year-end bonus!"

This self-proclaimed "legal advocate" lawyer, who calls himself a "legal warrior," immediately posted a screenshot of Article 274 of the Criminal Law regarding extortion, writing sarcastically: "Boss Chen's move is brilliant! Today he can buy back three girls for ten million, tomorrow human traffickers will dare to kidnap thirty and demand exorbitant prices! A society governed by the rule of law is not like the movie 'The Godfather,' nor is it Chen Mo's private hunting ground—when ransom is disguised as a 'bounty,' it's injecting a powerful stimulant into the criminal industry chain!"

He specifically pinned a news link about a kidnapping case to the top of the comments section—the kidnappers imitated the crime after watching "Saving Mr. Wu," with the caption "I suggest Chen Mo directly make a documentary called 'Sponsoring Human Traffickers' next time."

The economics community was not to be outdone. Influential blogger @ProfessorWu published an article in his financial column titled "The Terrifying Equilibrium of Bounty Economics," filled with chilling formulas and charts: "According to Becker's crime economics model, when expected returns (bounty amount × success rate) > (punishment cost × probability of being caught), it will cause the crime supply curve to shift to the right. In short, Chen Mo's ten million is equivalent to setting a new 'performance KPI' for human traffickers across the country!"

Someone immediately retorted in the comments section: "According to your logic, should hospitals charge air pollution fees for rescuing people who jump off buildings?" Professor Wu promptly blocked him three times.

During a live broadcast, commentator @ProfessorZhao slammed his fist on the table and exclaimed, "This trend must not be allowed to continue! If Chen Mo can offer a reward of ten million today, will Lei Jun offer a reward of one hundred million tomorrow? And the day after tomorrow, will Musk offer a reward for a property deed on Mars?"

On Weibo, the hashtag #IsAreBountiesForRansoms# was in complete chaos: "Crickets were jumping around and flooding the screen: 'Uncle Hat was almost solving the case, but some actor had to jump in and add drama!'"

"Three perfectly healthy people can just vanish into thin air? Is this some kind of self-directed and self-acted performance to boost the box office of 'Dream Back to the Past 2'?"

Someone photoshopped Chen Mo into the Joker from "Batman," captioning it "Gotham needs this kind of chaos."

A certain influential online figure's "rational analysis" is even more outrageous: "Think about it carefully—seven women just retired from the entertainment industry and this happened. Zhao Liying was so anxious that she offered a million-dollar reward but got no response, while Chen Mo immediately increased the reward to ten million to steal the spotlight. If they really cared about their fans, why didn't they just donate the money to an anti-trafficking foundation?"

In no time, the pace of things was accelerated, which was an inevitable result of Chen Mo's public announcement of a huge reward, which made the matter escalate!
However, unlike this group, there are also people who strongly support Chen Mo and applaud his actions.

Among them, fans and young people mainly formed the faction that strongly supported Chen Mo.

"Shut up, you moral paragons! When your daughters are kidnapped and forced into prostitution overseas, will you hold a democracy hearing first?"

"Encouraging a criminal chain? By that logic, a hospital rescuing a patient who is about to jump off a building is considered encouraging suicide? Your thought process is so illogical, you should be donated as a prop in a science fiction movie!"

"Disrupting the rule of law? Article 82 of the Criminal Procedure Law states: Citizens who bring criminal suspects to justice are protected by law—Chen Mo's reward offer is an upgraded version of 'nationwide arrests,' understand?"

"The critical 72-hour window for kidnapping cases has passed. Conventional methods cannot be used to find the perpetrators. Extraordinary measures must be taken in extraordinary times!"

"Keyboard warriors are so hypocritical. If Chen Mo and Zhao Liying had just appealed for help and done nothing, you would probably have called them cold-blooded, putting on a show, and standing idly by! But now that they're willing to spend money to save people, well, you're saying that this is a disguised form of paying ransom. I'm just wondering, what are they supposed to do?"

The neutral faction pointed out: "It is recommended that the police directly take over this fund as a crime-solving fund, which would be both legal and incentivize public participation."

"Hilarious! Chen Mo's actions are just like a rich player in a game spending money to buy clues."

"Objectively speaking, Chen Mo's actions are indeed very much like the style of a big shot in a novel. However, such behavior is usually carried out in the dark, but this time he made it public!"

However, Chen Mo was not someone to be trifled with. Soon, those who spread rumors and muddied the waters were rewarded with silver bracelets, after all, the public opinion surrounding this incident was already too great.

These people still defied the rules and committed crimes, and some even spread rumors that Chen Mo was involved in organized crime. Naturally, Chen Mo would not show any mercy.

For a time, this did quiet these people down considerably.

This reminded many people of how Chen Mo made his fortune back then.

They made their fortune by suing those who spread rumors and slander online!

In fact, the Tianjin police are under the most pressure, after all, this incident happened locally and is now being watched nationwide.

Time passed by minute by minute.

Countless people are following the progress of the case.

Some people are working hard for the huge reward, while others are "profiting from human suffering" by creating buzz and generating traffic through live streaming.

Meanwhile, fans are also taking action.

Because the missing person this time is a fan of Zhao Liying, known as the "Firefly".

Therefore, fireflies move the fastest and most explosively.

A homemade "3D map of the western part of Qixian Lane" has surfaced in the super topic. A fan of architecture stayed up all night to create the map, marking 17 blind spots in the surveillance cameras in red and the areas marked in yellow where the construction team temporarily stored building materials that night. The comment section was instantly flooded with thousands of comments like "Printed it" and "Let's go check it out tomorrow."

The local "fireflies" of Tianjin.

At 3 a.m., more than 30 female fans retraced the last route taken by the missing girls along Qixian Lane. Every 50 meters, they posted QR codes on utility poles; scanning the codes revealed photos of the three missing girls and their families' contact information.

While ordinary fans were out in the streets, tech enthusiasts opened up a second front.

We began investigating the case using technical means, looking for clues.

Meanwhile, fans of other female celebrities also lent a helping hand.

However, no one expected that things would take such an absurd and bizarre turn.

Less than 48 hours after Chen Mo posted the 10 million yuan reward, Tianjin police held a press conference to announce the successful rescue of three missing female fans.

This case, which attracted nationwide attention, was solved in a way that resembled a dark comedy.

The story begins on the night the reward was offered. The human trafficking gang had already planned their route and were preparing to transfer the three girls out of the country overnight.

The ringleader, "Liu," is a seasoned human trafficker who has been operating in the Tianjin area for many years, specializing in luring tourists from other places. This time, they targeted young girls who are fans of celebrities because they know these girls are easily misled by promises of "celebrity merchandise" and "filming locations."

But despite all their calculations, they never anticipated that Chen Mo would offer a reward of tens of millions.

As soon as the news broke, strange cracks began to appear in the entire criminal chain—the henchman "Huang," who was in charge of driving, secretly checked the trending topics on his phone and saw seven zeros following the screenshot of the bank account. He almost lost his grip on the steering wheel.

"Brother, how about..." Huang swallowed hard, hinting, but was slapped shut by Liu.

But the seeds of greed have already been sown.

Even more devastating was their collaborator, the local smuggler, Lao Guaizi. This smuggler, who specialized in helping people illegally cross borders, saw the news and immediately hatched a plan: "Instead of earning those tens of thousands of yuan in 'hardship fees,' why not..."

He secretly contacted his underworld associates, planning to double-cross them once the car reached the border.

The most dramatic turn of events occurred at three in the morning. A dispute broke out within the criminal gang over the division of the loot, even though they were hiding in a remote, abandoned factory.

But sometimes, the outcome is just that coincidental.

It just so happens that there is an "outdoor exploration" streamer, Hanzai, who specializes in doing thrilling live streams in abandoned and remote places late at night. He happens to be here tonight to live stream his adventure.

It turned out that this supposedly abandoned factory was actually active.

The boy himself was fine, just curious and surprised, but a netizen watching the live stream immediately called the police.

Police later learned during interrogation that the reason this group was exposed so quickly was partly because Hanzai happened to be live-streaming there, which was a coincidence.

On the other hand, the huge reward also caused a huge disagreement among them. Huang suggested that they could go directly to Chen Mo to claim the reward. After all, even if they succeeded in doing this, they would only earn a few hundred thousand. How many cases would they have to do to earn ten million?
Surprisingly, some of Huang's accomplices actually supported him.

As a result, internal strife broke out, and the truth was exposed.

Three female fans were successfully rescued, and Zhao Liying personally went to pick them up, fulfilling their wish to meet their idol.

This dramatic social event, which can be described as the most dramatic in 2026, finally ended with a perfect conclusion: the reward was effective, all suspects were brought to justice, and the criminals were caught.

Only the simpleton who missed out on the multi-million dollar prize became the target of ridicule across the internet.

He's famous!
It wasn't because he unexpectedly helped the police rescue three female fans, but because he got up early but arrived late!

Because he was the one who discovered it during his live stream, but it was a netizen who provided the clue and reported it to the police.

Chen Mo kept his word and immediately obtained the contact information of the netizen who reported the incident from the police, contacted the other party, and issued the reward!
Of course, the simpleton didn't lose out either, because he became the object of ridicule and sympathy across the internet because of this incident.

So, he went from a small streamer to a big streamer, and his number of followers skyrocketed from over 10 to millions overnight.

"Haha, that simpleton is really simple-minded!"

"got up early, arrived late, and made tens of millions! Wow!"

"I have to say, this name was definitely the right choice, it's so silly!"

"Come and watch the streamer who missed out on getting rich overnight, hahaha!"

"There was once a prize of ten million placed in front of me." (End of Chapter)