By the way, Zhang Yanhang had joined an Awakener group chat officially known as the "Qin Island City Awakened Mutual Assistance Association," most of whose members were from Qin Island City itself, which was why things like forming teams to leap from buildings happened.
It was mainly because they were relatively close to each other, and the temptation to have a companion when jumping off buildings was quite enticing, leading them to form teams to do it together.
There were only slightly over two hundred Awakeners in this chat group, which was only about one percent of the more than twenty thousand Awakeners in Qin Island City.
After sending a message to the group owner, Zhang Yanhang sat in his chair waiting for a reply, mainly wanting to ask the owner if there were any separate chat groups for Ashen World.
According to past patterns, the owner usually replied to messages within five minutes, so Zhang Yanhang started to rest with his eyes closed, quietly. Despite having slept the entire morning, he still felt extremely tired.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Yanhang had barely closed his eyes for a minute when he heard a new message notification from his phone, "That was fast, it’s really quick this time, could it be the owner is idle at noon?"
When Zhang Yanhang checked his phone, he found it wasn’t a reply from the group owner but a bizarre friend request—someone by the name "Little Dried Fish Terminator" wanted to add him as a friend through a search.
Zhang Yanhang thought about it and, being bored anyway, decided to accept the friend request to see what the other party wanted, passing the time while waiting for the group owner to reply.
Little Dried Fish Terminator: "Little brother, I’ve got some nice goodies here."
Heavenly Destiny Master: "?"
Little Dried Fish Terminator: "Every midnight, do you ever feel an unbearable loneliness tossing and turning, unable to sleep?"
Heavenly Destiny Master: "?"
Little Dried Fish Terminator: "50 bucks for a related short video, with 18 quality personal photos included."
Heavenly Destiny Master: "Cat videos?"
Zhang Yanhang felt he might have added a scammer. A classmate of his had been duped before, naively paying money and then receiving a bunch of cat videos. Although they were really cute and soothing, they were completely different from what his classmate actually wanted.
And, the scammer back then had used a cat avatar, whereas this Little Dried Fish Terminator also had a cat avatar. Zhang Yan suspected that he might have encountered the same scammer or a different scammer from the same gang. Thus, he directly asked if the person was selling cat videos.
Little Dried Fish Terminator: "Cat videos? What are those?"
Heavenly Destiny Master: "Aren’t you Brother Oat?"
Little Dried Fish Terminator: "I don’t think so? I’m more like... a sole proprietor? You can see my photos directly in my QQ space."
After checking out the QQ space, Zhang Yanhang saw that it was filled with pictures of a female high school student, rather pretty, with wheat-colored skin and an aura brimming with youth—in stark contrast with the lifeless vibe of a university student like Zhang Yanhang, who spent his days thinking about how to retire early.
"Could it be that Brother Oat has changed his tactics?" But presenting himself as a woman was also one of Brother Oat’s common tactics, so Zhang Yanhang wasn’t too surprised. This update is available on NoveI-Fire.ɴet
Heavenly Destiny Master: "Do you pay taxes, then?"
Little Dried Fish Terminator: "Does a sole proprietor have to pay taxes?"
Heavenly Destiny Master: "Don’t they?"
Little Dried Fish Terminator: "Should I?"
Heavenly Destiny Master: "Forget it, let’s not talk about that. Are the videos about that woman in the QQ space?"
Little Dried Fish Terminator: "?"
Little Dried Fish Terminator: "The photos in the QQ space are of me, not some other woman."
Heavenly Destiny Master: "Got it, can the little video be customized with specific poses?"
Little Dried Fish Terminator: "If you can give me 648, both photos and little videos can be customized for any poses you request."
Little Dried Fish Terminator: "If you can give me 6480, whatever you ask me to do, I’ll do it."
Heavenly Destiny Master: "I can send you 12960, but can you really satisfy all my demands?"
When she saw the number 12960, which was several times her monthly allowance, the high school girl named Qin Xiaomeng, who was lying in her dormitory bed holding her phone, couldn’t contain the rich smile on her face any longer. She tucked her head under the covers and started to laugh secretly, giggling like a little cat that had just stealthily eaten dried fish.
Qin Xiaomeng felt this time she must have struck gold, having encountered a big spender. She truly hadn’t expected that her first attempt at this kind of business would land her such an easily duped fool.
She had recently blown all her allowance on in-app purchases for mobile games but still hadn’t managed to score a new skin she wanted. Therefore, she thought of other ways to make some money.
But earning money through legitimate part-time jobs was too slow, and the quick and easy ways to get money were all described in the criminal law. So, she chose the approach with the lightest penalty, which was online scamming.
As for the specific form of scamming?
Qin Xiaomeng flipped through some recent news on scams and borrowed one of the simplest methods, which was what she was currently using.
Qin Xiaomeng thought that, with her super pretty young girl’s charm and invincible good looks, conning homebody guys who had never even held a girl’s hand would be like shooting fish in a barrel.
But being a novice in the world of scamming, Qin Xiaomeng lacked proper clients and channels to obtain targets, so she decided to just randomly input QQ numbers and apply for friends, casting a wide net to catch more fish.
However, the efficiency of this shotgun approach was low. After sending friend requests to five people and getting no response, she finally hit the jackpot with the sixth attempt – ’Heavenly Destiny Master,’ the big fool.
"With such a chuunibyou name, and an anime girl avatar, it’s clear he’s just an old otaku. With just a little trickery, I’m sure to get my hands on those thousands," Qin Xiaomeng thought to herself. The thought of the cool, krypton-gold skin in the mobile game that was virtually beckoning her made her laugh even louder. But excitement aside, she couldn’t delay her "work," so she quickly replied to the other party.
Little Dried Fish Terminator: "No problem! As long as the money is in place, I can meet all your demands."
Heavenly Destiny Master: "Are you sure?"
Heavenly Destiny Master: "Then, do you have any artifacts or something like that around you?"
"Artifacts? What artifacts?" Qin Xiaomeng froze when she saw the reply of ’Heavenly Destiny Master’, wondering why she would need artifacts to shoot a small video.
Although she was a bit puzzled when she first saw the word ’artifact,’ Qin Xiaomeng, being a high school girl, immediately blushed and realized what it might imply. "I’ve heard that some wealthy ladies use concrete vibrators for entertainment, could this guy be expecting me to use something like that? Truly befitting of an otaku, definitely quite perverted."
Even though she found ’Heavenly Destiny Master’ on the other side to be overly perverted, Qin Xiaomeng still had to continue to feign compliance to lure more of his trust. Only by making him trust her more could she defraud him of his money.
As for the little video?
Qin Xiaomeng had never had a boyfriend and had been single since birth; why should she make such strange videos for a perverted otaku? Besides, she was currently in her dorm room, surrounded by roommates, so it wasn’t the right opportunity to make such videos – otherwise, it would undoubtedly lead to a major social embarrassment.
Little Dried Fish Terminator: "I’m sure, but I don’t have any artifacts."
Little Dried Fish Terminator: "Is it okay to just use my hands?"
Heavenly Destiny Master: "That’ll do, then start with fifty sit-ups, followed by fifty squats, then fifty push-ups, and finish with fifty burpees. Cycle through these, doing five sets to get going. The total duration should be under half an hour, and I’ll send the money when you’re done."
Little Dried Fish Terminator: "???"