America's Greatest Villain: I Defeat Magic with Magic

Not long ago, during the fire at the Old Man's Auto Dismantling Plant, Lister, who was caught in the blaze, failed to capture a single gang member. However, thanks to his bravery in emptying multiple magazines amidst the hail of bullets, he still managed to earn a paid executive leave for the major incident.

Today is his first day back at work after his leave.

"What happened?"

Lister's sharp eyes swept across the room, and he recognized Chen Yuan at a glance.

He remembered the Asian waiter he had encountered trouble with late at night.

"Officer, this woman falsely claimed that she found a foreign object in the food we provided, but the entire process of her framing the food was clearly captured on surveillance footage."

Chen Yuan handed over his credit card.

"Furthermore, I strongly suspect that the credit card she used was not legally owned by her."

Lister frowned, turned his head and stared at Margaret with suspicion for a long time.

He then gasped and muttered a curse:

"What the hell? You're Margaret? Where did you get all that Gucci?"

As the patrol officer in charge of these blocks, Lister naturally recognized Margaret, this "professional criminal," and could tell at a glance that the expensive high-end clothes she was wearing did not belong to her.

"This is a birthday present from my friend, what's it to you?"

Seeing that Margaret was still being stubborn, Lister didn't bother to say anything more. He took the credit card that Chen Yuan handed him and took out his police terminal to swipe it lightly.

"Okay, Margaret. This card belongs to a 30-year-old woman who called the police two hours ago to report that her clothes and bag had been stolen from her locker while she was at the gym."

As he spoke, Lister stepped forward:

"Credit card fraud is a serious crime. Please come with me for questioning, Margaret."

"No! This is impossible!"

Margaret screamed and slumped into her booth, then immediately burst into unrestrained sobs:

"This is racism! You have no right to do this! You can't take me away like a criminal in front of my two poor children!"

Clearly, Margaret was well aware of her disadvantage as a single mother with a minor, and attempted to get away with it by cheating.

The two little boys were also very alert, one on each side, and they grabbed their mother's arms tightly and cried loudly.

If it were just a simple case of someone dining and dashing, Lister would most likely have given Margaret a few words of criticism and let her go, given the overwhelming "vulnerable group" label she carries.

However, the Gucci outfit she was wearing was worth thousands of dollars, not to mention that she had also stolen a wealthy woman's credit card in broad daylight, which is a real federal felony.

So Lister promptly called for backup:

"A serious theft and credit card fraud case has occurred at the Rongding Pavilion restaurant in Block 5 of the Southern District. The suspect is an adult woman with two boys. Minors are involved at the scene, and the suspect is emotionally unstable. Several female police officers are needed to come immediately to assist in controlling the situation."

Thirty minutes later, with the support of several strong policewomen, they finally managed to handcuff the screaming Margaret and remove her from the restaurant.

Her two children were also taken to the police station, and will most likely be temporarily placed in child welfare agencies afterward.

[Ding! Detected that the host has exploited the rules to coldly send a mother who dined and dashed to the police station. 10 Villain Points awarded.]

Although Chen Yuan successfully brought the swindler who dined and dashed to justice, he still suffered heavy losses.

After her outburst, many customers who were planning to dine in the restaurant turned back home.

Even the number of customers queuing to buy snacks at the entrance has decreased significantly. Seeing several patrol cars blocking the entrance to Rongding Pavilion, many regular customers thought that some kind of crime had occurred and gave up the idea of ​​eating fried chicken and squid.

Today's revenue has been cut in half at least, and 10 villain points are simply not enough to make up for the loss.

Chen Yuan looked at the empty lobby and felt extremely depressed.

It is foreseeable that as Rongdingge's business becomes more and more prosperous, the probability of being targeted by such troublesome little devils will also increase.

Even if Chen Yuan could use various means to make them pay a heavy price, dealing with these troubles would still affect the restaurant's normal operation and customer traffic.

Therefore, the best approach is to keep these unstable factors out.

At that moment, Officer Lister, having finished dealing with the scene, was about to turn around and open the car door to leave. Chen Yuan thought for a moment, then quickly strode over and called out to him.

"Officer Lister, we really owe you a huge thank you for arriving just in time!"

However, Lister stopped, frowned, and looked Chen Yuan up and down, asking with some doubt:

"My colleague just told me you're the owner of this restaurant now?"

It's no wonder he found it unbelievable. After all, just two weeks ago, when he saw Chen Yuan on this street, the man was just a waiter being chased by gangsters.

Perhaps it was due to his keen intuition, but this illogical upward mobility made Liszt feel a slight sense of wariness and hostility towards Chen Yuan.

At the same time, a red information panel appeared above Lister's head:

[Target: Lister, patrol officer, South Precinct, Los Angeles Police Department]

[Recent criminal acts: Three days ago, in order to secure a place for his daughter in a top high school, he illegally used the police's internal system to retrieve the addresses and vehicle information of individuals involved in a credit card fraud case for a third party, and charged a $400 "information fee."]

Chen Yuan was slightly taken aback, not expecting that the bad things Liszt had done in secret were actually related to his daughter's college entrance examination.

Moreover, Liszt was not even thirty-five years old, and his daughter was already going to high school.

Chen Yuan guessed from the fragmented information in the system that Lister probably felt that the educational resources of the public high schools in the South District were too poor, so he wanted to spend money to get his daughter into a better, high-quality high school.

However, getting into a good high school in the United States is not easy.

If one's grades are not good enough, the most direct solution Liszt could think of was to buy a degree.

If the misuse of the police's internal system is exposed, Lister's job will certainly be in jeopardy.

However, Chen Yuan did not intend to use this leverage to threaten the other party. When dealing with an LAPD who has a weakness and is not inherently too bad, coercion is far less effective and sustainable than enticement.

So he smiled and said in a gentle tone:

"Yes, sir. Due to some business operations, I recently acquired this restaurant outright. And I don't know if you've heard, but our Rongding Pavilion recently received official accreditation from the USC Board of Trustees for the 'Student Social Practice Cooperation Pilot' program."

Lister looked on suspiciously, wondering what Chen Yuan was up to.

Chen Yuan didn't use a riddle, but instead said directly:

"You should know better than me that with USC's educational resources, it's not difficult for an average high school student to get into a good high school."

Chen Yuan looked at Lister's wide-eyed eyes and lowered his voice:

"I can't guarantee which school I can get your daughter into, but at least I can help her avoid a lot of detours."