Chapter 7: City-wide manhunt? I just ran away from home, I didn't break out of prison!
After the rain, Jinghai City's air had a rare, refreshing scent of newly turned earth.
Even though he was in a dirty and chaotic urban village, for Lin Ji, who had just escaped that suffocating wealthy family, today's sunshine was brighter than gold bars.
"Boss, two fried dough sticks, a bowl of savory tofu pudding, extra spicy."
Lin Ji sat by a greasy folding table on the roadside and called out skillfully.
"Alright! Young man, you look new, just moved in?"
Grandpa Zhang, who sold breakfast, was quick and nimble, frying dough sticks while casually chatting.
"Yes, just arrived."
Lin Ji took the steaming hot tofu pudding and took a big gulp. The hot, spicy, and savory flavor rolled down his throat into his stomach, making him so comfortable he almost sighed aloud.
This is what life should be like.
Before, in the Lin family, he also made breakfast. First Sister wanted medium-rare steak, Third Sister wanted freshly ground pour-over coffee, Fourth Sister wanted raw meat soup with blood... Everyone's tastes were incredibly picky, and he had to work like a top from four in the morning until seven, only to end up hiding in the kitchen to eat leftover bread crusts.
Unlike now, where a few yuan could buy him a warm, happy meal.
"Holy crap! Look at the big screen! Something big has happened!"
Suddenly, a young couple at the next table exclaimed. The boy's chopsticks fell from his hand as he pointed at the giant LED screen on the exterior wall of the mall across the street, his mouth agape enough to fit an egg.
"What's so big? Aliens attacking Earth?"
"No! Look at that bounty! One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand... Holy crap! One hundred million?!"
"One hundred million?!"
These three words were like a depth charge, instantly blowing up the entire breakfast stall—no, the entire street.
Whether it was office workers munching on buns or aunties carrying vegetable baskets, everyone uniformly turned their heads to look at that screen.
Lin Ji also looked up curiously.
He also wanted to know which unlucky soul or incredible thief was worth one hundred million.
The next second, the tofu pudding he had just drunk sprayed out.
"Pfft—cough, cough, cough!"
Lin Ji choked, his face red, his eyes wide as he stared at the screen, feeling his worldview collapse.
On the LED screen, which was several stories high, the luxury advertisement that was playing suddenly went black, then changed to a dazzling blood-red alert background.
A huge, high-definition, blue-background ID photo appeared prominently in the center of the screen.
That face was delicate and handsome, and although the expression was a bit stiff, Lin Ji would recognize it even if it turned to ash.
It was himself!
Below the photo were several lines of striking bold black text:
**[S-rank City-wide Wanted Order]**
**Name: Lin Ji**
**Age: 18 years old**
**Danger Level: Extremely Dangerous (Involving Top National Secrets)**
**Characteristics: Extremely deceptive appearance, seemingly harmless, but in reality... extremely important!**
**Directive: Those who discover this person's whereabouts, please immediately contact Northern Border Commander Lin Qingge!**
**Bounty Amount: 100,000,000 yuan (20 million for providing clues, 100 million for returning unharmed!)**
Note: Strictly forbidden to harm the target in the slightest, otherwise it will be treated as treason!
The entire street fell into a deathly silence, followed by a burst of frenzied discussion.
"My goodness, this young man looks so clean-cut, but he's actually an extremely dangerous individual?"
"Involving national secrets? Could it be a super hacker who stole nuclear weapon codes?"
"I think so! Look at what the wanted order says, 'extremely deceptive appearance,' these kinds of people are the scariest, maybe a perverted serial killer who specializes in killing pretty young girls!"
"Serial killer my ass! Look closely, it says'strictly forbidden to harm,' and a reward of a hundred million... This clearly looks like some big shot's pampered little wife... ah no, pampered little husband who ran away from home!"
"Who cares what it is! A hundred million! If I could run into him, I'd tie him up and exchange him for money!"
The eyes of the people around him grew fanatic. One by one, they pulled out their phones to photograph the screen, and some even began to look around, trying to find this walking hundred million yuan.
Lin Ji shrank into a corner, burying his head low, wishing he could stuff his face into the tofu pudding bowl.
Crazy.
That madwoman Lin Qingge definitely left without taking her medicine!
He just ran away from home! Not a prison break, not treason, and certainly not stealing a nuclear button!
Why make it seem like a global manhunt for a terrorist?
"Big Sister, are you looking for your brother, or trying to socially execute me...?"
Lin Ji gritted his teeth, cursing Lin Qingge ten thousand times in his heart.
S-rank wanted order? Extremely dangerous?
How could she come up with that!
Now he couldn't even find a job. Even if he went to a public restroom for a number two, as soon as he showed his face, he'd probably be pressed onto the toilet by a mob of citizens driven mad by greed.
"Hey, young man, are you alright? Did you choke?"
Grandpa Zhang, who sold breakfast, saw him coughing incessantly and kindly handed him a tissue, but his gaze lingered suspiciously on Lin Ji's face. "But then again... the person in that photo, don't his eyebrows look a bit like yours?"
Lin Ji's heart skipped a beat.
Although the God-Tier Purification Physique could change one's temperament, it hadn't had time to perform plastic surgery yet!
"Grandpa, you're quite the joker."
Lin Ji instantly activated his 'actor mode,' coughing violently while lowering his voice to make it sound hoarse and difficult to recognize. "If I were worth a hundred million, would I still be eating two-yuan fried dough sticks here? I'd be eating lobster and abalone already."
With that, he quickly grabbed the mask from the table and put it on, then pulled up his hoodie hood, revealing only his eyes.
"True, that's a big shot worth a hundred million." Grandpa Zhang shook his head and went back to frying dough sticks.
Lin Ji tossed down ten yuan, not even bothering to get change, and hurried away, head bowed, blending into the crowd like a thief who had just committed a crime.
Too dangerous.
Jinghai City was no place to stay, at least he absolutely couldn't show his face during the day.
He walked, calculating in his mind.
Lin Qingge had mobilized military forces, which meant her sanity was on the verge of collapse. According to his understanding of his Big Sister, if she couldn't find him, she would only get crazier, perhaps even driving armored vehicles into the city for a carpet search.
"I must find a more secluded place to hide..."
Lin Ji pulled down his cap and turned into an inconspicuous hardware store. "Boss, a dozen masks, black ones. And a baseball cap, as plain as possible."
...
Meanwhile, at the Lin family villa.
Although the main gate was smashed and the living room was a wreck, the TV still worked.
Lin Tian sat in a wheelchair, his right leg in a cast, staring intently at the morning news on the TV screen.
On the news, the anchorwoman was broadcasting the city-wide sensational "S-rank Wanted Order" in an excited tone.
On the screen, Lin Ji's enlarged face filled the entire display.
"One hundred million..."
Lin Tian gritted his teeth, clutching the remote control tightly, his knuckles white from excessive force. "They actually offered a hundred million bounty just to find a waste?!"
He was mad with jealousy.
Why?
He was the Lin family's True Young Master, a genius with S-rank Talent! But from yesterday until now, besides that beating, he had gotten nothing. And Lin Ji, that fake, simply running away from home, made that high-and-mighty Big Sister mobilize the city's resources for him!
"Lin Qingge... are you blind?"
Lin Tian fiercely threw the remote control at the TV screen.
Bang!
The LCD screen instantly shattered, and Lin Ji's hateful face finally disappeared within the cracks.
"Good, very good."
Lin Tian gasped, a sinister glint flashing in his eyes. "Since everyone cares so much about that waste, since Big Sister thinks only he can soothe the mental rampage..."
He slowly raised his right hand, and in his palm, that halo full of impurities lit up again.
Although faint, although murky, it was light.
"Then I'll let everyone see just how strong an S-rank Talent is!"
"I'm going to the Academy, I'm going to participate in the Awakener assessment!" Lin Tian roared at Wang Xue, who had rushed over upon hearing the noise. "Mom, contact the best media for me, I want to livestream my assessment process! I want the whole city to know that Lin Ji, that waste, is nothing but mud compared to me!"
As long as I display astonishing talent in front of the whole city, everyone will forget that wanted waste!
Wang Xue looked at her son's crazed state, and instead of finding anything wrong, she looked pleased. "Good! Mom will arrange it right away! I knew my son would be the most promising, we must fiercely slap that ungrateful wretch's face!"
...