Chapter 5

The driver looked at the TV on the wall, casually opened a bottle of mineral water, and said, "No, I have an appointment today. Haven't you solved the puzzle left by the Jade Emperor yet?"

On the TV, there were surveillance feeds from the interiors of three houses. Each house had three bedrooms, with six cameras in each, providing almost no blind spots. There were people in all three houses: two men and one woman, watching TV, exercising, and surfing the internet, respectively.

One of the twins shook his head, "Zuo, let it go. We really want to be on the Jade Emperor's team."

"I only know the basics of the material, and I can't tell which of the three has a problem," the driver said. "The Jade Emperor is a big shot, and Young Master Lin spent a lot of effort to recruit him. If all three of your teams want to be with him, show some skills. Since the Jade Emperor said one of these three is the monkey, there must be a monkey."

After saying this, the driver went to a small room, came out with a shoulder bag, adjusted his cap, and said, "Goodbye, everyone. I wish you all a good night."

Young Master Lin, sitting on the desk, was also watching the surveillance. He stretched out his leg to block the driver, "Zuo, I've been stuck on this puzzle for three days. Can you give me a hint? I'm the boss, and I won't favor any employee. Whichever team solves it will be with the Jade Emperor."

The driver smiled but didn't speak. He put on the shoulder bag, and Young Master Lin hurriedly followed, asking in a low voice, "Is the Jade Emperor just fooling us?"

The driver glanced at the other three and whispered in Lin Fan's ear, "The people are fine, but the things are not."

"The things?"

"Like I wouldn't have two alarm clocks at home," the driver patted Lin Fan's shoulder, nodded, and left.

Lin Fan turned back, sat in the chair, and carefully observed each surveillance feed. He raised his hand, "Get me a black coffee. I'll stay up with you tonight. Don't embarrass yourselves. We finally got a big shot, and there are only 24 hours left. If none of your teams solve it, I'll jump off the yacht."

The twins asked, "Boss, is the Jade Emperor just messing with us? Maybe he made a mistake?"

Lin Fan said, "Zuo also found something."

"..." The twins were silent. If they had previously suspected that the Jade Emperor was deliberately making things difficult, now that Zuo had also found something, it could only mean one thing: they were incompetent.

...

The driver left the yacht, and the black-clad man named Lao Si had already driven a small truck to the yacht. The truck, with a half-ton capacity, had a larger rear end than a regular car and was registered in City A. The driver took the car keys, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," the black-clad man nodded politely.

"Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

The driver drove the small truck to the dock gate. This vehicle was no match for a luxury car and was easily stopped. The driver handed over his credentials. The guard checked the dock pass and found it was a truck that had arrived in the morning to deliver organic green fruits to the rich people's yachts. The guard looked at the pass and asked, "Nie Zuo?"

"Yes," the driver named Nie Zuo smiled, showing his teeth to match the photo on the ID. Owners of high-end neighborhoods don't need passes, but renovation workers do.

"Drive safely." The guard returned the pass to Nie Zuo and raised the barrier.

"Goodbye." Nie Zuo smiled politely, got in the car, and drove away. He put on a Bluetooth earphone and called, "Hi!"

A tired woman's voice came from the other end, "Honey, I have to work overtime today."

Nie Zuo asked, "Isn't it already overtime?"

"I mean it might be very late."

"That's fine, I'll wait for you."

"Okay, are you back?"

"Almost on the bridge."

The woman said, "Are you tired too?"

"Earning money, you know. Have you had dinner?"

"Not really, I can't talk much. There's a big event at the company today. I'll contact you after I'm done." She hung up without waiting for Nie Zuo's response.

Nie Zuo hung up and continued driving, merging into the traffic and heading for the East City Bridge. The East City Bridge is the most important transportation link between City A and East City. Countless people travel between these two bustling cities every day. Some joked that if the East City Bridge were blocked for just ten minutes, the two cities would lose at least a billion yuan.

Half an hour later, Nie Zuo's car left the East City Bridge and headed southwest along the coastal road to the Xinyang Town in the suburbs of City A. Xinyang Town, close to the city, is a typical urban-rural fringe area, while the other part is relatively desolate. It was only 8:30 PM, and most of the shops were already closed.

On the street, there was a row of shops, a market for the local residents. Most were already closed, except for one at the far end. The shop was called "Xiao Yun Organic Fruit Wholesale Store." In the thirty-square-meter shop, various fruits were displayed on all four sides. In the middle was a desk, and a middle-aged man in his thirties, with a protruding belly, was using a calculator to do paperwork.

Nie Zuo parked the car in front of the shop, walked in, and casually picked up a misshapen apple, washed it in the sink, and took a bite. "Doing the accounts?"

"Doing the accounts," the middle-aged man replied, looking serious.

"Just you?" Nie Zuo sat next to the middle-aged man and looked at the ledger for a while. "Bro, when you do the accounts, you need to add yesterday's and today's."

"What?"

"If you use last month's accounts and add today's, you won't get the right result."

The middle-aged man checked the date, groaned, threw the ledger aside, and asked, "Have you eaten?"

"No." Nie Zuo put his feet on the table, leaned back in the chair, and closed his eyes while eating the apple. "How much is in the shop's account?"

"Nine thousand."

"How much was it yesterday?"

"Seventeen thousand."

"You can just write today's profit as eight thousand."

The middle-aged man, the shop owner Xiao Yun, wrote down eight thousand and finished the accounts. He stood up, opened the microwave, took a can of beer from the fridge, and threw it to Nie Zuo. He opened one for himself and asked, "Does East City Escort have any talent?"

"Not bad. Young Master Lin has a good eye for people. The three teams he chose have a lot of potential."

"Potential to talent is a bottleneck," Xiao Yun said, taking a box of rice from the microwave and placing it in front of Nie Zuo.

"That's why Young Master Lin brought in the Jade Emperor."

"The Jade Emperor?" Xiao Yun laughed. "Impressive. A rising star, he set up a trap in Europe and made old John crawl on the ground, disgraced and ruined. This young man has some skills, but..."

"But what?"

"Killing someone is one thing, but there's no need to step on them when they're down. He's already won, and he doesn't have any deep grudges with old John. Why did he have to push him to the brink?" Xiao Yun drank his beer. "Leave a way out for others, and you'll have a way out in the future. We're all in the same boat, no need to be too ruthless."

Nie Zuo asked, "You don't like him?"

"I don't."

"I don't see it that way. The Jade Emperor is well-known in the industry but hasn't had a chance to shine. Finally, he had a world-class opponent. I don't think he was being ruthless; he just has a strong desire to win. He wants to win, and win completely." Nie Zuo said, "I had a meal with the Jade Emperor. He's very cautious, constantly probing my background."

PS: If you still have votes, please vote quickly!

[AD begins on the next page]

[AD ends on the next page]