"Liuer, look at that sheep standing there foolishly, its platform is bulging, there must be something in it. Time to work."
"Little Wang, you've got a keen eye. Let's go test the waters."
With that, Liuer, holding a box of instant noodles, filled a bowl with hot water and walked toward Li Xiang, with Little Wang following closely behind.
"Excuse me, coming through with hot water."
Li Xiang was checking the system task when someone asked him to step aside. He instinctively took half a step back, accidentally bumping into someone behind him: "Sorry about that."
The two brushed past Li Xiang, and met up in the next compartment.
"How'd it go, Little Wang? Did you get it?"
Little Wang wore a smug expression as he opened the wallet he had just picked: "Would I come up empty-handed? Look at this, what is it?"
"Po-police... ID???"
Seeing the police ID frightened them out of their wits.
-----------------
Meanwhile, Li Xiang, unaware of any of this, was trying to find a seat. As he settled down, he thought about how he had just caught a thief earlier that day and now found himself encountering thieves again after work in a game scenario. It seemed fate had tied him to thieves.
Just as he found an empty seat and sat down, the surrounding environment gradually faded, restoring to the Virtual Space.
"What's going on?"
[Ding, task failed. You have one more chance to restart the scenario for free today. Restart? Yes/No]
"Task failed? I haven't even started yet? It's over already?"
Li Xiang couldn't make sense of it; wasn't the scenario just beginning?
It failed so unexpectedly?
[Player lost police ID, unable to prove police identity, main task cannot proceed.]
"The police ID is lost? When did that happen?"
Suddenly, Li Xiang recalled bumping into someone earlier on the train. If anything had been stolen, that would be the most likely moment.
He didn't expect so many pickpockets on the train. He had just boarded and was unprepared, and his police ID was the first thing to get stolen.
This was too ironic!
Looking at the restart button, Li Xiang refocused his mind and decided to take it seriously, scrutinizing everyone with a thief-catching eye.
Begin~
The scenery around him gradually filled in, and the scenario began.
"Sunflower seeds, peanuts, drinks, anyone need anything? Passengers in the front, please make way."
The situation remained unchanged from the first time; the man with the instant noodles walked straight toward him, trembling as if the bowl was really hot and the water could spill at any moment.
Trying again, Li Xiang thought this man with the noodles seemed suspicious too, definitely covering for the person behind him.
Having locked onto these two people, Li Xiang didn't act rashly. Whether he could complete the task depended entirely on these two stepping stones.
He had seen the movie "A World Without Thieves," and this scenario was very similar to the plot of the movie. His current situation was much like that of the sketching policeman.
How could one person catch all the thieves on a train?
The only solution was to collaborate with the train's patrol officers and the station police at the next stop, rallying all support to arrest the gang of thieves.
With this in mind, Li Xiang seamlessly slipped his hand into his pocket, leaving no chance for them to strike, and stepped aside with a misalignment.
The two brushed past Li Xiang and met in the next compartment.
"How'd it go, Little Wang? Did you get it?"
Little Wang looked puzzled: "Nothing at all, he's too alert. Let's find the next target."
With that, the two went hunting for other targets.
Memorizing their features, Li Xiang made his way to the train's patrol room.
Each train has two patrolling officers performing rounds. His task was to first meet them face to face.
Patrol Room.
Li Xiang knocked on the door and walked in.
"Hello, I'm an anti-pickpocket officer. Here's my ID. I need your assistance with something."
In the patrol room, Li Xiang revealed his identity and explained his plan, and together, the three officers discussed the details of the capture, devising a plan.
Once the plan was set, Li Xiang left the patrol room and wandered aimlessly in the compartment until he spotted those two thieves, then found an empty seat, keeping an eye on them from the corner of his eye.
After a while, the two patrol officers, dressed in police uniforms, came over under Li Xiang's signal and approached Little Wang: "Hello, please come with us."
"Huh? What have I done?"
Little Wang was bewildered. He had been careful when he acted, definitely not something that would attract police attention.
"You're involved in a theft case, please cooperate with the investigation."
They directly took Little Wang away, temporarily detaining him in the patrol room, working to crack the case open from him.
In the patrol room, they found three wallets and five phones on Little Wang. The police pointed to the stolen goods and said:
"Don't tell me all of these are yours?"
Little Wang lowered his head, remaining silent. He knew that talking more wouldn't change anything now.
"How many accomplices do you have on the train?"
-----------------
After Little Wang was taken away, his partner, Liuer, panicked.
He didn't understand what had happened, why Little Wang had been arrested.
And some of the stolen goods were still on Little Wang and hadn't been transferred, now seized by the police — caught red-handed.
Not only him, but everyone saw the patrol officers take Little Wang away. Faces showed different expressions: shock, doubt, applause, the gamut of human reactions.
Li Xiang quietly observed all this from a corner.
They only arrested one person to flush out others. With one captured, the others would surely panic.
If they were a gang, they would certainly discuss strategies privately, also worrying whether the captured guy would betray them.
And sure enough, the remaining one packed up and left, with Li Xiang carefully following.
He didn't follow too closely — too close might expose him, and too far, he couldn't see.
After a brief exchange, they split up again, and Li Xiang continued following, noting everyone the suspect interacted with as potential targets.
[The train is approaching the station: Huainan Station. Passengers disembarking, please prepare and gather your belongings to alight.]
Hearing the announcement about the train nearing the station, Li Xiang knew he was short on time. From earlier observations, he noted many suspects; yet, he wasn't certain if all were thieves — he hadn't caught them in the act.
Moreover, the main task required identifying all the thieves; he wasn't sure if he had caught them all.
"Forget it, no more waiting, time to close the net."
Since the system hadn't announced task failure, Li Xiang decided to proceed as planned.
He documented all the suspicious individuals, then contacted the patrol officers to round them up, one by one.