The Novelist Forced to Become Famous

Chapter 44

Two middle-aged men, one tall and one short, smoking around the trash can.

It goes without saying that the short one was Qian Tong, one of the robbers, and the burly man next to him, with a hint of silvery metal gleaming around his waist, was likely the police officer guarding him.

Jian Jing was startled when she first saw them - aren't they worried about the criminal escaping?

Then she noticed the bulge around Qian Tong's ankles, and remembered that this parallel world used electronic shackles with built-in electric shock devices. If the criminal tried to escape, they would be shocked with low voltage current in an instant.

"Alright, time to go," the middle-aged policeman put out his cigarette and said coldly.

"Oh, okay," Qian Tong obediently put out his cigarette as well, "Do you have any paper?"

The policeman handed him a napkin.

Qian Tong took it, coughed into it a few times, folded the napkin a few times, wrapped up the cigarette butt, and casually threw it on top of the trash can. The policeman didn't pay any attention, and pulled Qian Tong's arm to leave.

Jian Jing watched the whole scene while checking in at the Koi Pond landmark, taking in every detail.

She frowned slightly, but didn't have any clues. Although it was rare to see someone wrap their cigarette butt in a napkin after putting it out, it could just be a personal habit.

"Do you want a hint?" Cheng Jia You saw her frowning and asked, "This one is the most difficult, it might be hard to guess."

Only then did Jian Jing notice the piece of paper with riddles in her hand.

It was a series of meaningless English letters: Brizmgrmt

There were many possibilities for letter-to-number conversions, but not many common encryption methods for just letters. Reading it backwards didn't make sense either.

Most importantly, without a key, there was no point trying to match it to a cipher.

The key to decoding must be a commonly used letter combination.

Looking at the alphabet backwards:

Brizmgrmt → Yiranting

Yi Ran Ting (Serenity Pavilion)

She had already found the answer, but Jian Jing hesitated for a moment between saying it or not: Zuo Xin said to give him a chance, the boy had probably been waiting all this way for a chance to "help" her cheat, so playing dumb and letting him give the answer would be more appropriate.

However, this thought only circled her mind once before leaving.

Seriously solving the cipher was showing respect to the question setter.

Not being able to solve such a simple riddle would be too fake.

"This question is quite difficult, but I've seen similar ones before, it should be Yi Ran Ting right?" She smiled.

Cheng Jia You was stunned for a moment, then smiled wryly, "Yes, you really are amazing."

Jian Jing reassured him, "I researched some encryption methods before to help with my writing. There was nothing wrong with your riddle, if it was too complex no one would be able to solve it."

The ultimate goal of an event was for the participants to enjoy themselves, overly difficult riddles were just showing off, not playing a game. She sincerely said, "The riddles were all very good, you must have put in a lot of effort."

"Hearing you say that puts my mind at ease," Cheng Jia You's eyebrows relaxed, "Let's go, next stop."

Just as the two were about to leave, they ran into Zuo Xin's group coming towards them.

"Jian Jing, how did you get here so fast?" Zuo Xin was surprised, "I didn't run into you at all, I thought you hadn't arrived yet."

Cheng Jia You explained, "There are several routes, the park map isn't very accurate, some paths seem short but are quite winding when you walk them."

"Ohhhhh~~" The girls let out meaningful chuckles, "No wonder, since someone is helping you."

Jian Jing paused briefly, not responding, only saying, "I told you to wait for me so we could go together. You didn't wait."

Zuo Xin waved her hand, "I didn't want to get in the way."

The group of lively students were making a ruckus. A cleaner wearing an orange vest slowly approached with a broom, sweeping plastic bags and napkins on the ground near the Koi pond into his dustpan, dumping them into the trash can.

Then, he started picking out the cigarette butts on top, not taking away full cigarettes, only collecting half-smoked ones.

Like the one Qian Tong smoked.

A flash of inspiration struck Jian Jing.

Just then, the system had issued a new mission.

[System: New mission released]

[Mission: Find the gold robber]

[Description: Three years ago, a group robbed a bank vault. Their criminal ambitions are still alive, they still dream of escaping far away with the gold. Please assist the police in capturing the criminals and finding the gold.]

[Rewards and Penalties: 20 Courage points for success, no penalty for failure]

After doing several missions, Jian Jing had figured out some of the system's rules.

The system was intelligent, it would adjust drop rates according to the environment and needs when drawing cards, so she only drew when necessary later on, which made it easier to get the cards she wanted.

At the same time, because the system had no consciousness, its programs were too rigid - like how it gave her calligraphy skills at her book signing event, quite intelligent yet stupid.

But one thing could be confirmed, missions only triggered when she came into contact with something related to it.

Earlier when she promised Ji Feng to help, there was no mission, but as soon as she spoke to the old man, the mission came up, it was clearly suspicious.

Jian Jing asked Ji Feng: [Just two people in the gang?]

Ji Feng: [Why?]

Jian Jing checked the records above, and questioned: [One does security systems, one picks locks, there was no getaway driver?]

Ji Feng: [Details of the case cannot be disclosed to unrelated personnel, but if you figure it out yourself that's not my problem]

Jian Jing: [A plant]

Ji Feng: [Found something?]

Jian Jing: [Smile.JPG]

She unilaterally ended the conversation, considered for a moment, then asked: "Is there a bathroom here?"

"There's one up ahead," Cheng Jia You pointed to a small building in the distance.

"Sorry, I need to use the bathroom," she decisively fled the scene.

But the cleaner from before was already gone.

Jian Jing didn't dare make a big fuss looking for him, afraid of alerting them. She could only call Ji Feng, "Did you guys check the cleaners?"

Ji Feng said, "Of course, I'm sure Li Li isn't one of them."

"Here's the thing, I noticed something just now," she recounted Qian Tong's actions and the cleaner's abnormalities, "That person's staff number is 1043."

Ji Feng: "Wait a moment, I'll call you back in three minutes."

He called back after 2 minutes 45 seconds.

"You have sharp eyes. That person is called Zhou Bing, he committed crimes when he was younger, got out of jail five years ago, and started working as a sanitation worker. Three years ago, he quit that job, and started working as a cleaner at the park." Ji Feng spoke faster, clearly excited, "Here's the interesting part - the street he was responsible for as a sanitation worker was where the bank was, and there was a blank spot in Li Li's group's route after they left the bank."

Jian Jing asked: "The road from the bank?"

"That's right, we found them a few streets over," Ji Feng said. "You might be right, Zhou Bing could be the hidden third accomplice."

"Were the cigarette butts their way of contacting each other?"

"Can't be sure, Qian Tong has been quite obedient, we don't have evidence to accuse him out of the blue, it might cause him to become uncooperative and refuse to help." Ji Feng pondered, "We'll keep observing them."

Jian Jing immediately made a request: "I want Zhou Bing's work area. Also, will Li Li be at Zhou Bing's place?"

"Sent someone to check already, but I think it'll be a wasted trip," Ji Feng analyzed, "Think about it, why has Zhou Bing been squatting in the park for three years, to meet up with his accomplices? Would Li Li trust him?"

"That also means he doesn't know where the gold is," Jian Jing was puzzled, "So only Li Li knows where the gold is?"

"Not necessarily," said Ji Feng. "First we need to find out what message Qian Tong has sent out."

When he said this, Jian Jing suddenly remembered something. She quickly said, "That's right, on my way from the camping ground to Jinli Pond just now, I saw a trash can with a cigarette butt wrapped in tissue paper. I wonder if it was left by Qian Tong. You can check on that."

Even Ji Feng was surprised that she had noticed such a small cigarette butt. He was stunned for a while, then sincerely said, "You should become a police officer after graduation. Your talent would be too much of a waste otherwise."

Jian Jing: "..." It was actually thanks to her intermediate observation skills.

"I happened to look closely because it was wrapped so strangely, just a coincidence," she calmly lied.

Ji Feng didn't care how she noticed it. He just said he would send someone to check right away before hanging up.

Shortly after, Jian Jing received the work schedule for the cleaning crew. Worker 1043 was assigned to the area between Jinli Pond and Yiran Pavilion.

What a coincidence. Of course she wouldn't miss this opportunity. She immediately set off for Yiran Pavilion.

Yiran Pavilion was located right in the middle of the artificial mountain's water intake area, the highest point in the park, overlooking most of the park's scenery.

Jian Jing really didn't want to make more awkward small talk with Cheng Jia You. She directly brought Zuo Xin and several other girls along.

With more people, they finally didn't have to rack their brains thinking of topics to talk about. Jian Jing secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She chatted casually with everyone, while keeping most of her attention on the case.

When they arrived at Yiran Pavilion, she took advantage of the vantage point to bring up a mental map of the park:

Outer Mountain

Mountain Real Person CS Grass Horse Ranch Grass

Mountain Mountain Mountain Grass Grass Archery Grass

Mountain Pavilion Forest Lake Lake Lake Stone Bridge Lake Lake Entrance

Forest Forest Forest Jinli Pond Lake Forest Forest Forest Forest

Forest Forest Forest Forest Forest Forest BBQ Forest

Forest Forest Camping Ground Forest Amusement Park Forest

The overall layout of the park was higher in the north and lower in the south, higher in the west and lower in the east, with an irregularly shaped large lake in the middle.

The entrance was in the east. The hills and forests in the northwest connected to the outer mountains. If the fugitives entered those woods, it would be very difficult for the police to set up a cordon, so they must do their best to prevent the criminals from escaping into the mountains.

Conversely, if the criminals wanted to escape the police pursuit, they would have to find a way to get into the mountains.

Of course, before that, they had to locate the gold.

Where could the gold be?

Ding dong, a new WeChat message popped up.

Ji Feng: [Image.JPG]

He sent a photo of a cigarette butt that looked identical to the one from before, wrapped in tissue paper, with just a few puffs taken. There was a tooth mark on the filter, and five fingernail imprints pressed into the white paper.

The edges of the tissue had been torn in two places, and the torn strips of paper twisted into cord-like shapes.

What did this mean?