The phone was gone too?
Zhang Shutong's first reaction was confusion.
He could understand why only half of the cash was missing. Five thousand was too much; if a body search were conducted, carrying all of it would easily give the thief away. People still had the habit of carrying wallets nowadays, so taking just over two thousand was easier to explain away. Mixed together, it could look like three thousand or six thousand, and the police wouldn't be able to say much when they arrived.
But why steal the phone too?
The risk for this item was too high, making it hard to get rid of once stolen. And as for how valuable it really was, it seemed...
Wait.
Zhang Shutong recalled belatedly that Gu Qiumian's phone was the latest iPhone 5. He couldn't remember exactly when the Apple launch event was, but he remembered overhearing a conversation between her and a few close friends. At least in the current month of December, this model hadn't been released in the mainland yet; one of her uncles had brought it back for her from Hong Kong.
No wonder.
The most valuable thing inside the bag wasn't actually the cash, but the phone.
"It's already turned off," Ruoping said after placing another call, unable to help her anger.
"Don't panic, haven't we narrowed down the scope already?" Du Kang raised an eyebrow. "Fortunately, the auditorium was cleared. Since it was found in the fourth row, just call out everyone who bought tickets for the fourth row and search them one by one, right?"
In fact, without him needing to say it, Manager Wang had already realized.
"Xiao Wei, hurry up and bring today's seating chart over here!"
Then, the man raised his megaphone and roared:
"Everyone, please stay calm, please stay calm. Good news, the bag has already been found in the fourth row, but the owner's phone and cash are missing. Now we are just one final step away from catching the thief. Our cinema backend can see the ticket purchase information, so we ask the audience members from the fourth row to consciously cooperate. Other audience friends, please don't be in a rush to leave either. Once we ferret out the thief, we can continue watching the movie..."
His words did indeed have the effect of soothing the crowd. Once everyone heard that the thief was in the fourth row, the mood to watch the drama took over, and no one objected for the moment.
"To protect everyone's privacy, audience members from the fourth row, please step inside the auditorium so we can speak privately."
Manager Wang cleverly provided a way out. Now, even the thief would have to brace themselves and come in; otherwise, once the seating chart was brought over, whoever didn't step forward would bear the suspicion.
As soon as these words came out, people indeed began raising their hands one after another. The crowd automatically parted to create a path, and streaks of gazes converged on the auditorium entrance—some excited, some filled with lingering fear, and even more busybodies rubbing their hands together, just waiting to close the door and beat the dog.
"Let me see, let me see!"
Du Kang didn't even care about eating popcorn anymore. The few of them were the family-and-friends support group, so they could stay inside the auditorium.
The first to enter was a family of three, led by the father carrying his son on his shoulders, with the mother following behind.
The man merely explained calmly:
"My son is only three years old. I brought him and my wife here to steal things—do you think that's realistic?"
Manager Wang hurriedly apologized and asked them to find a place to sit down first.
"What do you think?" Du Kang asked.
"I also think it's unrealistic," Qingyi shrugged. "Even for a group operation, who would bring such a small child along?"
Saying this, he glanced at the seats:
"There are fourteen seats in total, and I remember three were empty."
The next to enter were two youths who looked like students, appearing a bit older than them, likely high school kids from the city proper. The two were quite straightforward, spreading their arms directly toward Manager Wang:
"Hurry up and search."
Manager Wang didn't stand on ceremony either, stepping up to pat them down. It wasn't until he felt one of their pants pockets that he frowned:
"Classmate, could you pull that out for a look? It feels like something rectangular..."
"Oh, a small pocket notebook," the student said casually. "We came to do volunteer work this morning, and we recorded a few things in it."
"Just the two of you?" Manager Wang asked a question extra.
"A whole bunch of us. Everyone disbanded at noon, but some should have stayed behind to shop and watch movies, just in other auditoriums. Should I call them to witness for us?"
"No need, thank you for your trouble." Manager Wang shook his head.
The two students scrolled through their phones as they went to sit in their seats.
"What about these two?" Du Kang continued to evaluate.
"Students always have a higher probability than a family of three—short on money, acting on a sudden impulse to take a risk... it's not impossible. But since they said they came to do volunteer work, it probably wasn't them either," Qingyi said with his arms crossed.
"True, these two look like good students at a glance," Du Kang nodded.
"I say, you two are students yourself, and you're not even as old as them..." Ruoping said helplessly.
The third to enter was a fashionably dressed couple.
"This one?" Du Kang asked again.
"Probably not either, look at how they're dressed..." Before Qingyi could finish his sentence, the man among them spoke first.
Or rather, more than just speaking, he simultaneously unclasped the watch on his wrist and brandished it before Manager Wang:
"Longines, ten thousand."
The young man's attitude was clearly not as cooperative as the first two groups, carrying an impatient tone, so Manager Wang could only accompany him with a smile as he watched them take their seats.
Next were two children, looking like they were in elementary school. The moment they opened their mouths, their voices were very immature:
"Uncle..."
Upon seeing them, Manager Wang didn't even speak, the fat on his face twitching. Thinking to himself that children this small were coming out to watch movies on their own, he hurriedly said, "Little friends, go sit down first..."
He let out a sigh, the ball of tissue in his palm used to wipe his sweat already soaked through. He had already looked at nine people. There were fourteen seats in a row in the auditorium; it was impossible for him to question every single piece of information like the police would, so he could only judge based on his own experience.
The bad news was that not a single one of these people fit the characteristics.
And the good news—Manager Wang narrowed his eyes—meant that the target was right before them.
He made a hand gesture, signaling his subordinates to maintain order outside the venue to prevent the thief from acting desperately out of a corner. The next to enter was a woman carrying a bag.
The woman's age was hard to tell; she wore heavy makeup, with a layer of very white powder slathered on her face. The moment she entered, she knitted her brows:
"What's wrong with your cinema? My close friend came to watch a movie this month and ran into this once already. Last time the security cameras weren't open either, and this time? Don't tell me they're still not fixed?"
Manager Wang had no choice but to apologize.
The woman clicked her tongue, turning around to leave.
"Excuse me, miss, could you give me your bag..."
"Who are you calling miss?"
"Then, ma'am..."
"You're not a cop, what right do you have to search my bag? Do you have a search warrant? Do you have law enforcement credentials? Who do you think you are? Besides, aren't there more people behind me? That man has been standing over there since just now, refusing to come in the entire time. I think he's the suspicious one!"
Manager Wang instinctively shifted his gaze, only to see a man standing at the entrance with a protruding stomach—a beer belly—dressed in a suit and leather shoes. The man didn't panic upon being spotted, instead walking inside as if nothing were amiss:
"I'm in business."
Hearing this, Manager Wang looked toward the man's armpit, where a leather pouch was tucked, looking stuffed and bulging. But the other party kept his mouth shut tightly, saying nothing besides that sentence from just now.
"Sir, could you open your bag a bit for me to take a look?"
"There's only cash in my bag. Go search her first," the man said expressionlessly.
"Hey, are you a man or not?" the woman shot back. "I could just as easily say the stolen cash is inside your bag!"
Seeing that the two were about to start arguing, Manager Wang had no choice but to step forward to smooth things over. Having managed to talk them down with great difficulty, he didn't dare speak further either, deciding to eliminate the ones behind first.
"安排, where is the seating chart?" His voice also carried a trace of irritability.
"Coming, coming, Manager..." Xiao Wei pushed through the crowd holding a tablet, saying in a low voice, "I just counted, and there are only this many people in the fourth row."
"What?"
"It didn't sell out. Three were empty."
Manager Wang's gaze shifted back and forth between the man and the woman, and finally, he let out a helpless sigh.
There was nothing to be done; he had truly reached his limit. Doing this much could be considered giving Miss Gu an account.
"Manager, I say let's call the police. Neither of these two is an easy target," Xiao Wei advised.
Manager Wang nodded:
"Stabilize the two of them first. Don't block the remaining audience members anymore. Whoever wants a refund gets a refund, and give a bottle of beverage to whoever is willing to watch. You take the two of them to my office first..."
While speaking, he saw the two start arguing again. Manager Wang cursed inwardly. Just as he was about to step forward with a smile to break up the fight, he saw the woman say who knows what, enrageling the man. Caught completely off guard, the man unzipped his leather pouch directly and slammed it fiercely onto the ground—
With a loud clatter, red banknotes scattered all over the floor.
"I said wo lao zi brought this cash myself!" The man's eyes were completely red as he glared toward Manager Wang. "See it clearly now? If not, look again! There's only cash in my wallet, not the phone you guys are talking about!"
Manager Wang was startled, hurriedly nodding and saying how could he possibly suspect him. He secretly glanced at the pockets of the man's suit, thinking to himself, Could this be a diversion trick? The problem was that diverting him was useless; the police were already on their way, and once a body search was conducted, wouldn't it still...
Wait, body search.
Manager Wang's temples throbbed with a sudden explosion.
Since the thief had left the bag in the fourth row, if he himself could think of calling the audience members from that row for a body search, how could the thief not think of it?
But if they had thought of it, and still carried the phone out with them, wouldn't they be walking straight into a trap once the police arrived to search them?
His brain short-circuited for a moment, and drops of sweat slid down his just-wiped forehead again.
What exactly was the situation here?
Was this thief too stupid?
Or...
Was the other party actually not in the fourth row at all?
Manager Wang looked toward the entrance in confusion. Within the dense crowd, streaks of gazes were fixed tightly on him, as if the thief were standing among them, staring at him mockingly.
"Xiao Wei, you come back first!"
Manager Wang roared:
"Continue to stabilize the people outside. No one is to leave, hurry up!"
Xiao Wei ran off in a hurry. Manager Wang swallowed his saliva with difficulty, looking back at that helpless woman.
If the thief really wasn't in the fourth row.
The problem was... what should be done next?
...
"I said it wasn't," Qingyi frowned. "It can't be someone from the fourth row. Since he only took half the cash, it shows he has a brain; he wouldn't do something so contradictory."
"Then what do we do?" Du Kang's head also grew large. "Then continue searching from the third and fifth rows? Maybe someone from the front or back row stuffed the bag over during the chaos?"
"Probably only people from the front and back rows could manage it," Qingyi said.
"This bastard is even playing the framing game, huh?" Du Kang laughed in anger. "Then let's play with him to the end. Do you think that manager thought of it? I'll go hurry and tell him..."
"Look—" Ruoping suddenly pointed her finger. "Some people are already starting to get impatient."
The two turned back at the same time. Sure enough, the staff members at the entrance could no longer hold the people back—shoving, pushing, and a surging crowd:
"Not done yet? Can you let us in now?"
"What's the meaning of making so many people stay at the entrance?"
"Not watching anymore, refund!"
The entire auditorium could accommodate over a hundred people, and today there were at least seventy or eighty. It was fine when so many people were seated, but right now, with all of them squeezing toward the entrance in a clamorous mess, it looked a bit exaggerated.
The lobby outside was on the verge of being crammed full. Some people pushed inward as they spoke, while others wanted to leave without turning their heads. All the cinema's staff members had run over to maintain order, and a few passersby also stopped to watch on the periphery.
For a time, human voices surged, and the commotion spread like an earthquake. Manager Wang felt as if he were standing right at the epicenter, even experiencing a bit of tinnitus.
"Manager, we really are on the verge of being unable to hold them back. Why don't we just wait for the police..."
"Don't think of the police as so omnipotent!" Manager Wang suddenly snapped in anger. "Are you expecting the armed police to run over to keep order? Two local cops at most! Two cops can't do anything with this many people either! Do you know what that means? Two against eighty! And it's winter, everyone is wearing several layers of clothes—are we supposed to wait for the police to strip their clothes off one by one to search them?"
Dammit!
What to do?
Call the people from the front and back rows over to question them too?
He had originally thought the target was right before his eyes, and catching that thief might allow him to perform a meritorious service to atone for his crime, but who knew the scope would expand twofold in an instant!
And the suspicion on that heavily makeup-wearing woman and the man in the suit hadn't been completely eliminated either!
Utterly at a loss!
Completely overwhelmed!
In any case, it couldn't be dragged out any longer.
Manager Wang made his decision, bracing himself as he raised his megaphone:
"Please cooperate one last time, audience members from the third and fifth rows..."
But before his words could finish, they were drowned out by the surging human voices.
"Why do we still have to cooperate? Didn't you confidently say just now that the thief was in the fourth row? Is there no end to this?"
"Is this manager competent or not? Calling everyone out, then wanting to search the fourth row, and after searching the fourth row it's still not enough, wanting to search the front and back rows again—are you going to search the entire theater before you give up?"
"Exactly..."
"Hey, I say—" This was Du Kang's voice. He had originally wanted to stand up to back him up, but he was subsequently submerged by the human voices as well. Sitting back down on his chair, he said, "I see that manager is about to be eaten alive by them. Qingyi, do you have a better way? This guy is actually pretty nice, helping us maintain justice the moment he entered; we can't just watch blindly."
"I have a bit of a clue," Qingyi said, looking at the ceiling.
"So?"
"But it's only a bit of a clue. Right now everyone outside has been incited. Maybe it's that thief fanning the flames; even with a clue, it can't be executed."
"We can only wait for the police, right?"
"How can we last until the police arrive in this kind of situation?" Qingyi asked back.
"Besides," he added, "today isn't the occasion for me to perform either. Look—"
...
"Manager, someone has already opened their phone to record a video!" It was already unknown how many times Xiao Wei had run over to report the situation.
Less than ten minutes had passed since the auditorium was cleared. Even so, the scene had already developed in a direction that was escaping control.
Manager Wang looked at the crowd numbly.
He knew that if this continued, it wasn't impossible for a stampede incident to occur.
And this responsibility wasn't something he, a mere cinema manager, could bear.
Forget it, he really couldn't hold on anymore.
Just as this thought surfaced, someone patted him from behind. Manager Wang turned his head to look; it was precisely that boy.
"Stop searching. Even if you search the front and back rows, you won't find it," the boy said briefly.
Hearing this, Manager Wang was on the verge of tears.
He thought to himself, My little ancestors, you've finally voiced your stance. They had been hovering around the aisle since just now; if they didn't want a search, they should have said so earlier. I'm not here to execute justice; if you guys don't want a search, why should I go to this trouble?
"Is this Miss Gu's meaning?" Manager Wang was overjoyed.
"No." To his surprise, the boy's next sentence struck his heart down to the absolute bottom. "My meaning."
What bloody use is your meaning!
Manager Wang had just wanted to say this when he suddenly discovered that it actually might be of use.
In reality, when he met the girl not long ago, he had noticed she was a bit drunk and light-headed; it had been this boy helping her make decisions the entire time. Maybe he really could take a roundabout route?
Manager Wang quickly put on a face that looked as if he were about to cry, appealing to emotion and reason. He could guarantee he had never been this submissive even when coaxing his wife:
"...Little brother, just help say a few good words for your older brother. I also have elders above and young ones below to feed. I'll pay for the lost cash out of my own pocket, and I'll also compensate for the phone, alright?"
Manager Wang secretly observed the other's expression. He knew the decision-making power did not rest with that crowd of audience members outside, but in this boy's hands—or rather, in the hands of the girl behind him.
The boy let out a sigh, said a few more words, and ultimately nodded.
Manager Wang's heart settled.