Chapter 190: Ming Di Is Kind Of Terrifying! Chen Han’s New Identity!
The reversal online happened so fast it left those who disliked the Chen Clan and targeted them confused.
They had just been happily attacking the Chen Clan, and it reversed like that?
It made their heads itch. They really could not understand. Did these people have something wrong with their brains? They were the ones scammed, they bought fake goods, and then went to denounce the genuine seller?
Seriously, damn them.
Especially after seeing the video posted by the Linhe County Culture and Tourism Bureau, showing the people behind the scenes already arrested, even the ones who first led the denunciation had been taken away.
They had never seen such idiots. Not only did it ruin their moment of joy, it also made them look like clowns.
As one of the agents for Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea, Chu Hao had naturally been following the online news.
He had even argued with that blogger called “Tea Tasting Life.”
That person was the first to post a video attacking the Chen Clan and had gained huge traffic.
The key was that he represented a high-end tea, which clearly overlapped with Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea’s market. Everyone understood his intentions.
But in that wave of hype earlier, Chu Hao had even been mocked by him.
Now, seeing this, he did not hesitate. He opened the other party’s homepage, wanting to mock him back by commenting under that video attacking the Chen Clan: “what do you say now?”
But when he entered the homepage, he was stunned to find that video had already been deleted.
And the new video posted by the blogger really made him want to curse “so damn shameless.”
Tea Tasting Life: “After watching the news about the Chen Clan online, I really have to say there is too much messy stuff on the internet. Everyone must be careful in discerning the truth.”
“And regarding what the Chen Clan went through, I feel deep sympathy. As a fellow businessman, I know too well how it feels when others buy fake goods and then come to trouble the genuine seller. It is truly unjust.”
“The key is those people online who did not know the situation, yet still believed one-sided claims and attacked the Chen Clan. These people truly deserve condemnation. Here I must severely criticize this behavior.”
His righteous words could move people; he really seemed like a just person.
“???” Chu Hao was completely confused when he heard this.
Did this man lose his memory?
Or was he scolding himself?
The key thing was that the comment section under the video was full of unanimous support. Were these commenters brainless? Or were they paid commenters?
Chu Hao could not help commenting: “did you damn well forget the video you posted before, scolding yourself now?”
Just after posting it, he immediately found he could no longer see Tea Tasting Life’s homepage.
He had been blocked.
“Damn, the water online is deeper than capital.” Chu Hao was utterly amazed.
What kind of monsters and freaks were these?
Really, it was the first time he had seen someone who could, in the blink of an eye, shamelessly scold himself like this.
Did he really not feel even a little embarrassed?
But in any case, this matter was finally over, and it had even further boosted the reputation of Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea. That was a good thing.
He started watching other videos from the Chen Clan, when one suddenly caught his attention. It featured that guy called Ming Di again.
It seemed that every time the Chen Clan had a big surge of popularity, this guy would, in some abstract and weird way, draw everyone’s attention.
He knew this man had been brought in by the Chen Family Head to stir up popularity, but he had to admit, this guy was talented.
He wanted to see what this guy had filmed this time, since the video’s numbers were incredibly high.
“I have been infiltrating the Chen Clan for a period of time. Although I have not yet found a chance to rescue the Dog Demon King Brothers, I have basically gained some trust from the Chen Family Head.”
“But I suddenly discovered something wrong. There was demonic energy residual along my movement paths. It shocked me, because that was definitely not my own demonic energy. There is another fellow practitioner lurking near me.”
“This cannot do. I must find this person. I cannot let their exposure implicate me. For such a careless person, I might as well sell them out to the Chen Family Head in exchange for more of his trust.”
This was clearly a video Ming Di had filmed afterward.
Up to here, Chu Hao still did not think much of it.
It was just a normal video. After all, it was not the first time Ming Di had made such abstract videos.
But what came next left him stunned.
“Look, this time this scumbag noob demonic cult rogue actually tried to lurk around me…”
Chu Hao stared in shock at the demonic cult rogue in Ming Di’s video.
He looked very familiar.
He quickly opened the Linhe County Culture and Tourism Bureau’s video. Was that not the same guy who sold fake Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea and got arrested?
“???”
Chu Hao felt that something was off.
Especially when he saw in the video that the fake tea seller was shouting at the camera: “how did you find out?”
“When you tried to approach me!”
When Ming Di said those words, Chu Hao could not help opening his mouth.
This…
He quickly opened the video’s comment section and saw it full of exclamations:
“Wait, Ming Di, are you truly demonic path? Even the police might not have found this scammer.”
“Wow, Ming Di, you sent another one in?”
“Others only film videos; you are really delivering fellow practitioners in handcuffs.”
“…”
The more Chu Hao read, the more absurd it seemed.
He even saw this video quickly get its own trending topic. Opening that topic, he saw quite a few people riding on Ming Di’s popularity.
One blogger’s video had particularly high numbers: “The Chen Clan has been really hot lately. This time the Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea incident made their popularity even higher, but after seeing Ming Di’s videos, I am completely stunned.”
“Previously everyone said the Chen Family Head is awesome, that the Chen Clan has mysterious powers, and that anyone who goes there to do bad things will suffer misfortune. If you are unlucky, you must have done something.”
“That made countless people marvel. But thinking now about Ming Di, there is no ‘misfortune aura’ in Shangyuan Village outside the Chen Clan, yet people are still getting caught there one after another.”
“First there was that human trafficking organization case, wiped out in one sweep, with Ming Di providing the lead.”
“Then there was that illegitimate son who was just caught, and I heard many billions were recovered. He was also tracked down by Ming Di, and fans even joke that he specializes in delivering fellow practitioners in silver handcuffs.”
“This time, the fake Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea seller was also discovered by Ming Di at the first moment. With records like this, does no one feel that Ming Di himself is actually terrifying?”
Chu Hao stared blankly at the video. Framed this way, it did seem like Ming Di really had something.
And it was not just him. People online were shocked too.
Previously, when these abstract videos stood alone, they did not seem like much. But laid out together like this, how was this something a normal person could do?
A normal person could not be the one to take down a trafficking organization, could not be the one to deliver a wanted fugitive that even the police could not find, and could not instantly detect a scammer the moment he approached and then send him in.
The key thing was that every time Ming Di sent someone in, it was all for the sake of filming a video.
Apparently these criminals were just his video material.
Outrageous.
They had to follow such an awesome guy.
Who knew which unlucky idiot he would send in next?
In Shangyuan Village, Ming Di looked at the constant chime of notifications from the backstage, almost bursting with joy.
They were all follows.
His fans were skyrocketing.
Carrying the blame for the Chen Family Head came with all these benefits.
What really made him float was all the praise from people online.
He had not realized he was this amazing.
If people online had not said it, he would not have known himself.
But look, once they connected those three cases, from an outsider’s perspective, he did look impressive.
It was just that they did not know he was really only the scapegoat here.
He had still been confused when the Chen Family Head had already dumped the blame on him.
The brocade banner from Captain Huang had not even arrived yet, and Captain Li had also said he wanted to send him one.
Honestly, he was not someone who cared about this hollow reputation. At most, he would hang the banners on the wall behind his live stream setup for the audience to admire.
A knock sounded at the door.
He opened it.
Zhu Xueqin walked in, full of surprise. “Lin Ming, is that person online you? Are you really that awesome?”
Looking at her incredulous and slightly admiring eyes, Ming Di grinned. “Of course. You do not know how impressive I am.”
As the heat online rose higher and higher, all negative reviews of the Chen Clan vanished, and the situation completely reversed.
While this demonic cult rogue Ming Di exploded in popularity, the Chen Clan also did not forget to promote Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea, making it even more deeply rooted in people’s minds.
Moreover, Xiao Yu issued a special announcement. Apart from buying Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea through their two Chen Clan agents, the only channel was offline at the Chen Clan. There were no other online channels, and even if people from the Chen Clan did live streams, they would not sell this tea.
As for why, it was a joke: Douyin’s commission cut was brutal.
The hype continued into the next day. Early in the morning, it hit the hot search list, ranking very high.
Then, on the second day, Captain Li Rui came again, mainly to inform them of the case’s progress.
Whether out of courtesy or because the Chen Clan was a party in the incident.
“Captain Li, is there progress in the case?” Chen Han asked when they met.
“That companion of Guo Yang’s did not manage to leave and was subdued. He spilled everything,” Li Rui said, then sighed. “Although Guo Yang himself also confessed, including the related bank accounts and IDs, the money is gone. It is all overseas now. At this point… sigh…”
Li Rui did not continue, just sighed.
Chen Han understood that this meant it could not be pursued further.
The biggest reason those cases had only a 3% case solving rate, as Huang Xin mentioned yesterday, lay here.
Even though in modern society technology keeps advancing and investigative methods are improving, raising the case solving rate somewhat, by last year this type of case still had only just over an 8% solving rate.
This year it seemed even lower, because criminals were also upgrading their methods.
For example, an uncle making videos to spread awareness of phone fraud, and then criminals immediately using AI to impersonate that very uncle to commit fraud, leaving people with no way to guard against it.
Besides that, once the money went overseas, everyone knew how that went.
A mere one million.
The word “mere” might offend many people, but compared to big cases, it really was only “mere.”
After all, cross-border operations required very complex procedures. Law enforcement environments abroad could be risky; retaliation could happen, and support might not be guaranteed.
Then came jurisdictional disputes and other issues.
To be realistic, how many people would have to go, for how long, how much money would it cost, and who would bear responsibility if something went wrong?
See which local leader would dare sign that document.
Even in the city or the province, who would dare sign it?
One operation out there meant a huge amount of expenses. If no one was found, that money was wasted. If something happened, someone would have to bear huge responsibility.
However, none of this had anything to do with the Chen Clan anymore. They had already cleared their name.
“As for Guo Yang, we will hand this over to another department to keep an eye on. If one day any of his accomplices abroad return and are discovered, we might still be able to catch them,” Li Rui said, then took out a notice and handed it to Chen Han. “Patriarch Chen, this is the handling notice for that Mi Shou case. Please sign so I can file the receipt.”
Strictly speaking, this did not need to be handled by him personally, but the same matter could be handled differently for different people. A flexible approach.
“Alright.” Chen Han nodded.
This marked the wrap-up of the incident; it was now completely unrelated to the Chen Clan.
After a few more words, Li Rui left the Chen Clan, but Chen Han still had not received any game task completion prompt.
Logically, it should have been done by now. Did they have to wait until all of Guo Yang’s accomplices were caught?
That would take forever.
That should not be the case, since the game system only mentioned the Yin Mountain Sect people who infiltrated the Chen Clan. Those accomplices had not infiltrated the Chen Clan.
Fortunately, in the afternoon, Chen Han received the game prompt that the task was completed:
【Congratulations. You have eliminated the Yin Mountain Sect demonic cult rogue who had infiltrated the Chen Clan, foiled his schemes, removed negative influences on the family, and raised the family’s reputation to a higher level.
And when the clan members handled this demonic cult rogue’s corpse, they obtained a special magical artifact from it, the Illusion Mask （Fragment）!】
【Congratulations. You have obtained the magical artifact Illusion Mask （Fragment）!】
Chen Han was truly surprised.
This Yin Mountain Sect demonic cult rogue had brought considerable negative influence to the Chen Clan, yet had unexpectedly delivered a damaged magical artifact.
He immediately checked the game warehouse and saw the remark information for the Illusion Mask:
【Illusion Mask （Fragment）: This is a magical artifact originating from the Yin Mountain Sect. Although it has no offensive capability, it is a treasure used for infiltration and disguise. Activating the artifact triggers an illusion effect for the mask. However, because the Yin Mountain Sect expert’s illusion was destroyed during the battle with you, it is now incomplete. Only the illusion effect on appearance remains; it cannot simulate aura, energy, and many other functions.】
Chen Han understood. In the game plot, the Yin Mountain Sect expert had used this kind of magical artifact to impersonate a Chen Clan member, causing serious harm to the Chen Clan.
But seeing the artifact’s described effect also made him curious about the Illusion Mask itself.
With a thought, the Illusion Mask appeared in his hand. It was entirely dark, traced with special runes.
He immediately channeled true qi into the Illusion Mask. In an instant, the runes on the mask lit up with black flowing light.
The black light streamed up along his arm, covering it, quickly spreading across his entire body. What happened next left him completely dumbfounded.
This magical artifact was pretty awesome.
