The Omniscient

Chapter 57: Earning While Lying Low

When Tielong arrived at Baoshan Dock, he got out of the car and saw Brother Hai waiting for him by the shore, alongside a cargo ship at the dock.

Brother Hai waved at him, which gave Tielong a sense of relief. The authorities shouldn’t have been able to track him here in such a short time.

Even so, he didn’t dare to let his guard down. His sharp eyes scanned behind him, scrutinizing every suspicious corner of the dimly lit dock.

Now, at the critical moment of boarding the ship—when most people might relax their vigilance—Tielong became even more alert.

He was like a beast drinking water at the riverbank, watching for danger with eyes that might as well have been on the back of his head.

While glancing around, he reached into the trunk of his car, instinctively groping for the box of cash.

Suddenly—

His hand swept through empty air. Startled, he reflexively adjusted his movement, but still found nothing.

“...”

Cold sweat soaked through his clothes. As the evening breeze brushed against him, he felt an icy chill seep through his body.

He was freezing—bone-chillingly cold.

A deep and indescribable fear began to creep into his heart. For the first time in his life, he thought he could hear something breaking inside his brain.

Snap! Crackle! Pop!

The sound resembled someone snapping plastic or chewing crispy chips right in his head.

This was the result of extreme mental pressure causing an overabundance of blood flow to the brain, increasing intracranial pressure. Narrow capillaries struggled to handle the overload, leading to poor blood circulation.

It’s a phenomenon that can even occur when a person stays upside down too long, and the sound resonates internally, making it exceptionally clear.

“Hey, Tielong, aren’t you coming over?” Brother Hai called out as he walked toward him.

Tielong stood frozen for five full seconds before tremblingly closing the trunk and pretending to walk forward nonchalantly.

The six million yuan had vanished without a trace—more horrifying than any horror movie. This was a chilling reminder of an enemy’s omnipresence.

He realized someone had been watching him like a shadow from the very beginning. And whoever took the money wasn’t after the six million itself.

Anyone capable of silently keeping him under surveillance certainly wouldn’t care about a paltry sum like that. The real goal was to stop him from boarding the ship!

“I’m empty-handed now. Brother Hai definitely won’t let me board,” Tielong thought, his mind racing for a way to bluff his way onto the ship.

“Come on, Tielong! Get on the ship already!” Brother Hai urged, showing no concern about his empty hands.

But Tielong’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “No, the one who took the money could’ve killed me if they wanted to. Why didn’t they? Why let me safely reach the dock?”

“Could it be... they want me to board the ship? Is there an ambush waiting?”

He suddenly stopped in his tracks, realizing he couldn’t take the risk of boarding.

Regardless of whether there was an ambush or if Brother Hai had betrayed him, just the fact that he was penniless made boarding a dangerous gamble.

If he got on and Brother Hai discovered the missing money en route, things could go south quickly. On the ship, he would be completely at their mercy with no chance to escape.

Tielong began backing away without looking, heading toward his car.

“What are you doing?” Brother Hai asked, baffled.

“I’ve changed my mind,” Tielong said.

Brother Hai’s expression darkened with fury. “Are you messing with me?”

He had prepared two ships—one bound for the U.S. and the other for Thailand—within two hours, and now Tielong wanted to back out?

But Tielong ignored him, opened the car door, and prepared to leave.

Just then, police sirens blared across the dock!

Both Tielong and Brother Hai’s faces turned pale.

The first to appear, however, wasn’t a police car but a motorcycle—ridden by none other than Ah Lei.

Ah Lei sped toward them at full throttle, using a mound of construction sand to launch the motorcycle into the air, aiming directly at Tielong.

“Bang!” Tielong dodged in the nick of time, and the motorcycle crashed heavily into his car.

Tielong retaliated with a swift kick, knocking Ah Lei off the bike. Ah Lei hit the ground but quickly drew a machete from his waist and charged at Tielong.

“It’s you...” Tielong growled, recognizing Ah Lei. He hadn’t expected him to survive.

It also dawned on him that Ah Lei must have been the one who tipped off the cops!

“I can’t die until I’ve avenged Brother Jing!” Ah Lei shouted as he lunged at Tielong.

But he was no match for Tielong, who easily subdued him with an elbow to the head and a powerful kick that sent him flying.

“Hehehe...” Normally, this would’ve knocked Ah Lei unconscious or even killed him.

But today, Ah Lei stood up as if nothing had happened, thanks to the full protective gear and helmet he wore.

“Bang! Bang!” Ah Lei mockingly knocked on his reinforced motorcycle helmet and sneered, “Come on, let’s see if your fists are tougher than my helmet!”

“You idiot! You called the cops? You’ll be executed too!” Tielong shouted, panic-stricken as he saw police cars blocking all the exits and dozens of officers surrounding him with guns drawn.

Ah Lei remained calm, smiling. “Today, either you die, or we die together.”

“Then die!” Tielong roared, pulling out a gun and shooting Ah Lei.

Ah Lei fell to the ground, giving Tielong the chance to sprint toward the sea—the only escape route left unblocked.

If his swimming skills were good enough, he might still have a chance.

As Tielong leaped into the air, ready to dive into the water, someone grabbed his leg from behind, yanking him back to the ground with a heavy thud.

“Let go, damn it!” Tielong screamed in panic, realizing it was Ah Lei, clinging to him despite his injuries.

“Stop! Drop your weapon!” the police ordered, guns aimed squarely at him.

Blinded by the flashing lights, Tielong fired more shots at Ah Lei, but the man wouldn’t let go.

The police responded immediately, firing back.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!” Tielong was hit nine times. His vision blurred, and the dazzling glare of the police lights was the last thing he saw before everything went black.

He knew that with his death, the enemy’s plan had been executed perfectly.

In the end, three factions were wiped out, with him—the “traitor”—taking all the blame. Ah Lei’s call to the cops completed the setup, sealing Tielong’s fate.

As his consciousness faded, Tielong laughed bitterly. “Damn... it’s so dark... pitch black!”

With that, he fell, taking all his sins with him.

By May 13, a week after the police cracked the drug-trafficking case, no one involved—whether present at the scene or not—had escaped justice.

Remarkably, Ah Lei survived despite being shot several times. His thick protective gear and the small caliber of the bullets spared him from life-threatening injuries. After surgery, he was in stable condition. His cooperation and final act of merit likely meant he would receive a life sentence.

“Big Brother, the game you invested in launched its survival mode. I checked, and it’s selling pretty well,” Lin Li reported.

“Just manage the money and distribute it monthly. I’ll leave it to you,” Huang Ji said as he focused intently on preparing a compound.

In their lab, which was now equipped with even more advanced instruments, Huang Ji worked while Lin Li stood by. Nearby, Cao Jing, his head fully wrapped in bandages, practiced modulating his voice with exaggerated tones.

“Ah~ Uh~ Oooh~” Cao Jing made odd noises, adjusting his pitch.

It was clear his voice differed from Huang Ji’s, so Huang Ji was fine-tuning it. Once they matched, Huang Ji planned to lock Cao Jing’s vocal cords into place with acupuncture. From then on, no matter how he spoke, his voice would perfectly mimic Huang Ji’s.

Lin Li glanced at Cao Jing and then at Huang Ji. “I’m not good at managing money.”

“We’re not expecting you to earn the money yourself,” Huang Ji said. “The company we set up to buy that game will provide a steady income stream. Just go with the flow. Have Zhang Junwei recruit staff from your school; you’ll be the general manager.”

Lin Li, currently in his senior year, was already in a transition phase away from campus life. If he needed work-related documentation, someone could just mail it to him. Serving as the nominal head of a shell company wasn’t an issue.

“Can that game really make money? Sure, the first day’s feedback was decent, but how long can it last?” Lin Li asked curiously.

“It’ll only get better. In three years, it’ll generate at least 80 million dollars,” Huang Ji replied.

“Wait, how much? Eighty million? In dollars? Big Brother, weren’t you just buying it for fun? Do you actually know how to invest?” Lin Li was dumbfounded. His idea of a “decent result” was grounded in the game being mediocre, but Huang Ji’s version of “decent” was clearly on an entirely different level.

“Yes. That’s my projection. It’s worth that much,” Huang Ji said confidently.

Lin Li pointed out, “We get an 80% profit share.”

Huang Ji nodded. “Exactly. Over three years, we should earn 64 million dollars.”

Even though Lin Li trusted Huang Ji, this sounded like an outrageous boast.

“Big Brother, I played it a bit and thought it was okay, but it’s still just a foreign indie game. Plus, with piracy and all, I think you’re being overly optimistic. Domestic players probably won’t buy it.”

Huang Ji tilted his head. “Huh? I didn’t include the domestic market in my calculations.”

“You didn’t? Then how do you expect it to sell so much? It doesn’t even feel technically impressive... It’s just something one guy made in his spare time after work,” Lin Li said, even more puzzled.

Huang Ji replied calmly, “Does Tetris have technical depth?”

“Uh…”

Huang Ji smiled. “But Tetris is the best-selling game in the world.”

“That’s because it’s been around for so long,” Lin Li countered.

Huang Ji continued, “The game we acquired, MC, will surpass Tetris in just ten years.”

Lin Li shrugged, feeling like this conversation was going off the rails.

He thought to himself, Big Brother is spouting nonsense with such a straight face, but somehow, he makes it sound convincing.

What Lin Li didn’t realize was that the 80 million dollars Huang Ji mentioned was only the beginning.

Within five years, the game would take the world by storm. Eventually, a major corporation would acquire it for 2.5 billion dollars.

The original creator would reach the pinnacle of success but would later lose purpose and joy in life due to the overwhelming wealth, descending into hedonism. He’d lament that life lacked the simple passion he felt when making games, that it was less fulfilling than before.

Because the creator had poured genuine love and enthusiasm into the game, it became a global phenomenon.

For this reason, Huang Ji had no intention of micromanaging this potential masterpiece. Even though he owned the game outright, he left all development and operations to the original creator, content to simply collect his share of the profits.

After all, earning this kind of money was as effortless as lying down.

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