F-class thief? Sorry, I can steal anything.

What!

Smoke Dragon!

Upon hearing those two words, Li Zhenguo's mind went blank.

He stiffly turned his neck.

Looking at the old man beside me who always carries a thermos, dozes off at work, and seems like he might be buried at any moment.

It was twenty years ago.

The legendary figure who almost sat at the pinnacle of power in the Dragon Kingdom, on par with the current Dragon King—"Smoke Dragon"?

How is that possible!

Upon hearing the words "Yanlong," Wang Jianguo's weariness and languor vanished like a receding tide.

His usually half-open, cloudy old eyes opened completely.

There was no glint of cunning or murderous intent in his eyes, only a deep, tranquil calm that had remained dormant for twenty years, as still as an ancient well.

But this is the place of peace.

However, an invisible aura of iron-blooded ruthlessness spread out, making it almost impossible for Li Zhenguo to breathe.

"Who are you?"

Wang Jianguo's voice remained deep, yet as solid as a mountain rock.

"Night Eyes"

The young man pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses.

The lenses didn't reflect any light; instead, they looked like two black holes that swallowed up light.

"Dragon Kingdom's Twelve Zodiac Animals, Rooster Division, Special Incident Investigation Team, Team Leader."

He took out a plain black ID from the inside pocket of his trench coat and handed it over.

Wang Jianguo accepted it.

With just one glance, a ripple appeared in his usually calm and even eyes.

The cover of the document has no text.

There was only one totem, a rooster crowing and flapping its wings, embroidered with dark gold silk thread.

And, a brand-like number: 007.

"So it was you guys..."

Wang Jianguo handed back his documents, his wariness turning into a complex sigh.

"I never expected that a Shadow Fiend would lure out a bunch of 'cleaners' like you."

"A cleaner?"

For the first time, the corners of Ye Tong's lips twitched upwards, forming a cold, geometric arc.

"Personally, I prefer the title 'Truth Cleaner'."

"Senior Yanlong, you should understand that any coincidence that cannot be explained by normal logic is a 'stain' that needs to be erased in our eyes."

His gaze, like a scalpel, landed precisely on Wang Jianguo.

"An S-class space-type assassin died in an 'accident' at the last moment of his escape."

"The only one on site to receive an SSS rating was a newly promoted F-rank thief."

Ye Tong's voice was very soft, carrying an absolute calmness.

"And that line, 'Don't come any closer!'..."

"Don't you think the 'logical chain' in this story is broken too obviously?"

Wang Jianguo fell silent.

"What do you want to know?"

"all."

There was no emotion in Ye Tong's voice.

"From the moment you met that boy named Chen Yifan until he left the Security Bureau, every frame that was captured by surveillance, and... every frame that wasn't captured."

"I need the raw, unfiltered data."

He paused, his eyes behind the glasses seeming to see right through people.

"And your...subjective judgment."

……

At the same time.

Lanting Club, on the edge of the rooftop.

Chen Yifan leaned Li Wei's cold body against the railing.

Using a hand wearing custom gloves, pick up the other person's phone and easily unlock it with their fingerprint.

He did not waste time fabricating a lengthy will.

That doesn't fit the behavioral logic of a spoiled brat in a state of despair and collapse.

He opened the memo and quickly typed a few lines in a flustered, incoherent, and typo-ridden tone.

【It's all their fault! I shouldn't have wandered off in the mine! Silver Monster, I'm so sorry!!】

【I'm not human. I was jealous that he got SSS, so I hired someone to sabotage him and try to ruin his life!】

I don't want to go to jail, I can't go on living... Dad, I'm sorry... If only there were an afterlife...

Just a few lines.

A perfect "self-reproach edict" written by the perpetrator himself.

As for whether the more than two hundred victims were related to Li Wei,

Chen Yifan didn't care.

He now simply returns the poisoned arrows the enemy shot at him to the enemy's heart, intact.

After doing all this, Chen Yifan stuffed the phone back into Li Wei's cold pocket.

He glanced at the city below, illuminated by neon lights.

Then, he grabbed Li Wei by the collar and dangled half of his body over the edge of the rooftop.

[Secret Investigation]!

[Target: Li Wei, Lv.7, Class: Frost Archer, Status: Deep Coma]

【Spirit: 89】

[List of items that can be stolen:]

1. [Professional Skill: Delayed Bomb (Rank E)]

2. [Class: B-Rank - Frost Archer]

3. [Item: Rare Item - Space Backpack]

4. [Spirit: 50 points]

5. [Fragment of memory: The complete plan by which father Li Jianhong orchestrated the framing of Chen Yifan...]

This time, Li Wei's profession was not refreshed.

But when he saw the fifth option revealed by the investigation, Chen Yifan's pupils suddenly froze.

Li Jianhong!

It turns out that the initial media offensive was not a spur-of-the-moment decision by that idiot Li Wei.

Or was it his wealthy father personally managing the operation?

Why?

I had never met him before, and we had no grudges against each other.

Why would a seasoned professional worth billions go to such lengths to target someone as insignificant as himself, a nobody at the F-level?

Countless thoughts exploded in his mind, only to be forcibly suppressed by him.

If you can't figure it out, just put it aside for now.

The last trace of emotion in Chen Yifan's eyes disappeared.

He used his talent-stealing ability on the unconscious Li Wei.

[Theft successful.]

[Gained 50 Spirit Attribute Points.]

well.

Next...

Chen Yifan's gaze fell on Li Wei's unresponsive face, and he slapped him awake.

A biting night wind swept in.

Li Wei shuddered and instantly woke up!

When he realized he was suspended thousands of feet in the air, his pupils suddenly shrank to the size of pinpoints.

"Chen Yifan...you, you..."

Before Li Wei could speak, Chen Yifan released his grip.

"what……"

boom--! ! !

A dull thud was instantly swallowed up by the noise downstairs.

Immediately following was a high-pitched scream from a woman that pierced the night sky.

"Ah—someone's dead!!!"

Chaos began.

Chen Yifan stood in the night wind on the high-rise building, quietly looking down at the crowd below that had instantly erupted into chaos.

His figure slowly faded in the shadows until it disappeared completely.

……

The unrest at the Lanting Club spread like a virus.

Less than ten minutes.

"Jiangcheng Night Talk" is the largest forum for extraordinary individuals in Jiangcheng.

The post that shamed Chen Yifan remains popular.

More than two hundred IDs claiming to be "family members of the victims" were shouting wildly in the comments, demanding a thorough investigation by the authorities and that Chen Yifan pay for his blood debt.

But just then...

A completely new reply, like a silent depth charge, quietly sank in.

[A shocking twist! A recording from the Lanting Club reveals the real mastermind behind the SSS rating!]

Posted by: [Prophet]

The post content is extremely simple.

There was no analysis, no incitement.

There is only one audio file.

And one sentence.

The truth may be delayed, but it will never be absent.

At first, no one noticed.

But soon, some busybodies clicked on it.

As that conversation, filled with malice and lewdness, gradually became clear on countless people's phones.

The entire forum exploded!

"Holy crap?! This is the young master of the Li family?!"

"Family destroyed, life worse than death? Make him kneel outside and listen? Holy crap, is that something a human being could say?!"

"His sister is only sixteen! And she's blind! Li Wei is a beast! He's worse than an animal!"

"So, all that hype online was orchestrated by him and that 'Ghost Pen'? Just to smear Chen Yifan so they could target his sister?"

"I threw up! It's disgusting! This is the real conspiracy!"

"Those who criticized Chen Yifan before, come out and apologize! He risked his life to get an SSS rating, and now you bunch of bastards are throwing dirty water on him!"

At this moment, public opinion surged like a tsunami.

The previous attacks on Chen Yifan were instantly overwhelmed by a wave of anger.

Countless posts sprang up like mushrooms after rain.

[Let's expose the dirty secrets of Li Wei, the son of Jiangcheng's richest man. You won't believe what you've found!]

[Li Wei, you've shattered my understanding of the moral bottom line for a B-level genius!]

[We strongly demand that the authorities thoroughly investigate Li Wei! Severely punish the mastermind behind this!]

The hired online trolls were all dumbfounded.

They tried to delete posts and control comments, but discovered that a more powerful technical force had locked everything down.

They could only watch helplessly as the fire they had lit with their own hands burned even more wildly toward their employer.

However, this is only the prelude.

Immediately afterwards, a pinned post in bold red exploded like a nuclear bomb throughout the night.

[Title: Shocking Twist! Li Wei, the Eldest Son of the Li Family, Commits Suicide by Jumping from the Lanting Club! Suicide Note Revealed, Pointing to Shocking Secrets Behind the Goblin Mine!!!]

The main building only has one blurred photo of the scene and a screenshot of a memo leaked by a police insider at great risk.

The photos are bloody.

That screenshot of the memo was like a resounding slap in the face to everyone who had ever attacked Chen Yifan.

After a brief silence, the entire forum erupted in a frenzy.

"Holy crap?! Li Wei committed suicide out of guilt?!"

"My God! 'I shouldn't have run away,' 'Find someone to frame him'... So, Chen Yifan is the one who's been wronged? Li Wei ran around in the dungeon, encountered monsters, and then turned around and accused him?!"

"Damn it! You beast! I was cursing Chen Yifan just two days ago, I'm such a fucking idiot! I'm so sorry, God Fan! I'm kneeling before you!"

"Where's that anonymous dog who posted and stirred up trouble before? And where are those 'victim's families' who were clamoring for a thorough investigation? Come out and show yourselves! Where's your shame?!"

"I am a family member of a victim! My son died at the hands of Li Wei, a classmate who stabbed us in the back. The Li family! They deserve an explanation!!"

In just half an hour, public opinion underwent a terrifying 360-degree reversal.

The more vicious the slander against Chen Yifan was before, the more intense the anger now surging towards the Li family.

At this moment, in Jiangcheng, at the Li Family Manor.

Inside the study, Li Jianhong, dressed in a traditional Chinese long gown, was holding a calligraphy brush and carefully sketching the eyes of a tiger descending a mountain.

Boom, boom, boom.

A series of urgent, almost tactless knocks shattered the tranquility of the room.

"Come in."

Li Jianhong didn't even raise his head, his voice flat.

The butler practically burst in, his face deathly pale, his body trembling like a leaf in the autumn wind.

"Master...Master...something terrible has happened..."

"Young Master... he jumped from the upper floor of the Lanting Club!"

Li Jianhong's hand holding the pen paused for a moment in mid-air.

That's it.

He slowly raised his head, and in his deep eyes there was no shock, no sadness, only a hint of scrutiny at the disruption of his plans.

"Dead?"

"Dead...dead..." The butler was on the verge of tears. "The police even found the young master's last words at the scene...and now...it's all over the internet..."

He handed over the phone, his hands trembling.

Li Jianhong's gaze fell on the screenshot of the memo on the screen, his expression remaining unchanged.

for a long time.

He put down his phone and the calligraphy brush in his hand.

He walked to the huge floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the night view outside the manor, his voice so soft it was almost a whisper.

"waste."

It's unclear whether those two words refer to his foolish son or something else entirely.

"Inform the PR team to suppress the hype at all costs."

"in addition……"

"How dare you destroy my precious 'container'..."

Li Jianhong turned around, and for the first time, an expression of extreme anger appeared on his refined face.

"Go! Investigate someone for me!"

"Chen Yifan".

"I want every single detail of his life, from birth to now, down to the smallest thing!"

"Put it on my desk within three hours."