Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A glowing screen appeared before him, and Shen Dongqing was itching to look at it right away, but he remembered one thing—he was still exposed to the camera.

Reining in his curiosity, Shen Dongqing dismissed the screen and turned to look at Zhang Feiyu beside him.

"Anyone would want to save someone in that situation. You were about to do the same—I was just a bit closer." Shen Dongqing hadn't forgotten Zhang Feiyu's earlier move.

"Absolutely. An argument is an argument, but deliberately hurting someone is just vicious..." Zhang Feiyu was a real people person, and once Shen Dongqing started talking, he immediately started yapping away.

Bombarded by Zhang Feiyu's nonstop chatter, Shen Dongqing could barely get a word in and switched topics: "Did you call the police?"

He'd just walked out of the police station, and Shen Dongqing really didn't want to go back again. Even though, given his level of involvement, he'd definitely need to go to the station later, he'd rather savor a little breathing room while he had it.

"Oh crap, if you hadn't said something, I'd have totally spaced on that!" Zhang Feiyu snapped out of it and quickly called the police.

But after making the call, watching Liang Xuan in the milk tea shop still hosing himself down, Zhang Feiyu waffled on whether to call an ambulance.

Calling one felt weird, but not calling...

Soon enough, Zhang Feiyu didn't have to sweat it. Someone like Liang Xuan would never wait for others to save him—he'd already dialed the nearest ER while rinsing off, and the ambulance was on its way.

Shen Dongqing and Zhang Feiyu exchanged contact info. If the cops needed a statement, Zhang Feiyu could hit him up. Then Shen Dongqing left.

Watching Shen Dongqing head toward the office building, Zhang Feiyu figured he was heading to work and hung around waiting for the cops to show.

Today's incident had serious story potential. Streaming a bit longer to stockpile material might land him clips that could blow up.

...

Shen Dongqing ducked into a restroom, made sure there were no cameras, and finally opened the system panel.

The system panel was straightforward—shop on the left, where you could buy stuff with Fame Points; personal panel on the right.

Shen Dongqing's eyes landed on his personal panel info right away.

"Criminal Attraction Aura: You're the shining star of the crowd. Massively boosts your appeal to criminals (including potential criminals). Hikes up your odds of running into criminal activity."

So this was why he'd kept bumping into criminals for days straight?

Shen Dongqing's fists balled up without him realizing.

If an outsider saw what he'd dealt with these past few days, they might find it wild or even funny, since Shen Dongqing hadn't taken much of a hit. But as the person involved, Shen Dongqing just felt a gnawing sense of danger.

Sure, the guys he'd run into so far were small-time crooks, and scuffles wouldn't cause major damage, but what if he crossed paths with the hardcore thugs or violent offenders from the original story—or large criminal organizations? The result was pretty obvious.

Shen Dongqing hadn't forgotten the protagonist's fate in the original story. His death wasn't really the criminals' doing—it was more from living on the edge for so long. The protagonist had lost the will to live and basically walked into death.

Shen Dongqing looked at the system shop. If he wanted to save his own skin, he might have to lean on the system.

He saw the system shop had all kinds of stuff, but it could be roughly divided into three categories: physical items, skills, and points.

Physical items ran the gamut—even guns.

Seeing guns, Shen Dongqing's pulse jumped. The main reason people fear criminals is they can't fight back. If he had a gun, the criminals would be the ones scared of him.

But using a gun in China came with serious consequences. He'd take care of the criminals, but then the state would take care of him.

Shen Dongqing decided to put weapons on the back burner. Unless it was absolutely necessary, he didn't want to end up skipping the country to survive.

Besides, compared to other countries, China's public security was still quite good. With his luck, going abroad would just land him in even more danger.

The skills were just as varied—from everyday life skills to entertainment stuff to combat moves.

Shen Dongqing was eyeing those combat skills, but compared to the physical stuff, these skills cost way more—and the higher the skill level, the steeper the price.

A handgun cost only three thousand Fame Points, but the most basic skill cost ten thousand. As for the advanced skills, the price tags had so many zeros they made his head spin.

The points section only had four items, matching the personal panel's stats: Stamina, Intelligence, Charisma, and Luck.

Glancing at the zeros after the point prices, Shen Dongqing sucked in a sharp breath. Stamina, Intelligence, and Charisma each cost ten million per point, while Luck was double that.

Looking at his current one thousand Fame Points, Shen Dongqing closed the system panel. That amount would only cover snacks and everyday stuff, which he didn't need at the moment. Better to save up.

...

After a heated debate with the manager, Shen Dongqing finally got his three days' wages, successfully bringing his savings into the four-digit range. It was only a small start, but it eased his financial pressure a bit.

Heading downstairs, Shen Dongqing received a message from Zhang Feiyu—the police needed him to give a statement.

But the location for the statement...

"West Street Police Station?" Shen Dongqing's tone was subtle.

"Yeah, West Street Police Station. Don't go to the wrong place." Zhang Feiyu thought Shen Dongqing hadn't heard clearly and quickly repeated himself.

"Alright, I'll be right over." Shen Dongqing replied.

"No rush. I'm just having you coordinate with the officer about when to come. Work comes first." Zhang Feiyu said, handing the phone to the officer beside him.

"Shen Dongqing?"

Hearing the familiar voice on the other end, Shen Dongqing took a deep breath. The world was too small. "Officer Zhao?"

There was a brief silence on the other end before Officer Zhao spoke, ready to discuss when Shen Dongqing could come to the station for his statement.

"What time do you get off work in the afternoon? Come by after."

"No need to wait until afternoon. I can come now."

"Hey, don't let this interfere with your job. A statement shouldn't be... too urgent, right?" Zhang Feiyu hurriedly said upon hearing Shen Dongqing's response, though he trailed off with uncertainty and looked at Officer Zhao.

"Right, don't let it affect your work." Officer Zhao said.

"It's fine, I resigned." After Shen Dongqing said this, the line suddenly went quiet. He didn't think much of it and continued, "I'm coming over now."

When Shen Dongqing arrived at West Street Police Station, he found Zhang Feiyu and Zhou Jiayi were still there, both writing something. They nodded at him as he came in.

Shen Dongqing smiled at them and followed Officer Zhao into the interrogation room with practiced ease.

After finishing the statement, Officer Zhao couldn't help but ask, "Was your resignation your own choice, or..."

"I was always late. The company couldn't keep tolerating it forever." Shen Dongqing said.

Officer Zhao fell silent. The company's decision was understandable, but...

"How about I make a call and explain things for you? Maybe the company would be understanding."

"Officer Zhao, I appreciate you looking out for me, but with my situation, continuing to work would just be a struggle. I might as well take a break after resigning—maybe I'll find another path." Shen Dongqing didn't want to trouble Officer Zhao and shook his head.

“If you change your mind, you can come find me again,” Officer Zhao said, seeing that Shen Dongqing was adamant. He didn’t press the issue but spoke earnestly.

“By the way, what you did today qualifies as a good Samaritan act. If it gets approved, you’ll get a cash reward. Want to apply?” Even though Officer Zhao made it sound like a question, he pulled out an application form and handed it to Shen Dongqing.

Looking at the form placed before him, Shen Dongqing felt a warm glow and took it.

As Shen Dongqing filled it out, someone knocked on the interrogation room door. Zhang Feiyu poked his head in. “Officer Zhao, I’m done with my statement.” He waved the paper in his hand.

“Mine’s done too—already signed, just gotta add my thumbprint,” Zhou Jiayi’s voice came from outside the door.

Shen Dongqing’s pen stopped mid-writing as he finally figured out what the two had been working on when he first walked in.

So Officer Zhao hadn’t just randomly decided to have him apply for the hero recognition. Once he found out Shen Dongqing had quit, he’d teamed up with Zhang Feiyu and the others, and they’d written the statements in advance.

Once all the application materials were taken care of, Shen Dongqing was about to head back, but Zhou Jiayi invited him and Zhang Feiyu to dinner.

During the meal, Zhou Jiayi tried to hand him some cash as a thank-you, but he declined. Her helping him apply for the recognition was already more than enough; anything extra would be over the top.

Seeing Shen Dongqing refuse, Zhou Jiayi didn’t push it, but she kept mulling over other ways to help him out.

...

Back at his rental, Shen Dongqing opened the system again and found that his Fame Points had jumped from just over a thousand to three thousand. He figured they came from Zhang Feiyu’s stream.

Three thousand was enough to buy a handgun, and Shen Dongqing was tempted, but he fought the temptation.

A gun might solve one problem, but it’d create way bigger ones. Unless it was life-or-death, firearms were always a last resort.

Besides, while the Fame Points seemed to be growing quickly now, Shen Dongqing knew this was only temporary. As time went on, the rate of gain would only slow. So until he found another way to earn Fame Points, he had to be frugal with them.

But how could he get more Fame Points?

Shen Dongqing thought about becoming a celebrity but quickly abandoned that idea.

Being a celebrity came with risks, especially run-ins with the cops. Even if he managed to break into the entertainment industry, he’d probably be labeled a jinx and blacklisted within days.

Then Shen Dongqing suddenly remembered Zhang Feiyu’s profession—streamer.

In the age of social media, streaming seemed like a solid option for gaining a large number of Fame Points.

Though he wasn’t the best talker and couldn’t copy Zhang Feiyu’s style, he had a cheat code!

Shen Dongqing looked at the description of the Criminal Attraction Aura: greatly boosts your odds of running into criminal activity.

In a way, this could be his whole brand—something that’d grab viewers’ attention.

There was no one else on the internet with this kind of gimmick.

With that thought, Shen Dongqing quickly scoured different streaming platforms and found that while similar streams existed, most were just luck.

No streamer had made a name for themselves by running into crimes, because that kind of persona was too hard to pull off—one slip and it’d fall apart.

But he could actually pull it off, because he had the Criminal Attraction Aura!