Chapter 324: The Pauper

As the subway pulled into the station and Chen Ling saw the crowded train cars, he realized he had celebrated too soon.

No matter how capable he was, as long as he couldn't fly, he would never outrun the subway in this congested city. Thousands of commuters and students were also riding the subway. As the doors opened, Chen Ling hesitated for a long time but eventually braced himself and pushed his way in.

The subway sped towards the airport. Chen Ling, dressed in a brown overcoat, stood firm as a rock amidst the crowd. His next concern was how to get a phone on the way.

Without a phone in this era, everything was inconvenient. Not only could he not access flight information, he couldn't even tell the time.

He only had 12 hours of free activity in his save file and had to manage every minute and second precisely.

As Chen Ling pondered, his peripheral vision caught something. In a corner near the subway door, a shadowy figure stood furtively, dressed in black and wearing a mask. The person's eyes cautiously scanned the surroundings, as if checking if anyone was watching.

Of course, for Chen Ling, who possessed the "Secret Eye," the figure's actions were far too conspicuous in the crowd. Chen Ling pretended to look elsewhere, but in reality, he took in everything.

Behind the railing where the person in black leaned, a white-collar worker was sleeping, head tilted. After glancing around and confirming no one was paying attention, the person discreetly reached behind, plucked a phone from a half-open bag, and quickly slipped it into the inner pocket of a windbreaker.

After doing all this, the person pretended to scratch their head nonchalantly and squeezed straight into the crowd.

That white-collar worker wasn't the only target. The person stopped in front of two more sleeping passengers, using the same method to swipe their phones, and even wallets and cardholders. In the crowded train car, everyone awake was looking down at their own phones; no one noticed anything unusual about the thief.

As the person moved through the carriage, squeezing past Chen Ling, they even boldly reached into Chen Ling's pocket for a quick feel. Finding it empty, they turned and gave Chen Ling a strange look, muttering softly:

"...Damn it, ran into a pauper."

Chen Ling: ...

Good, Chen Ling now knew where to get a phone. Not only that, but he could also incidentally solve the "audience expectation" problem.

Chen Ling narrowed his eyes, watching the person in black cowering in the corner. A glint flashed in his eyes. The next moment, a phone ringtone, set to the highest volume, suddenly blared from the person's arms!

"The first month brings the New Year, with spring couplets on every door..."

The sound instantly echoed throughout the entire train car. Everyone's gaze turned to the person in black in the corner, whose face instantly went pale!

The person frantically rummaged through their pockets, but with so many phones, they couldn't immediately tell which one was ringing. Meanwhile, the white-collar worker sleeping in the corner jolted awake. They looked at the corner in bewilderment, seemingly surprised that someone had the same ringtone taste as them.

She instinctively reached for her bag, then suddenly froze.

The sweating person in black finally found the ringing phone, but no matter how many times their fingers pressed the buttons, it wouldn't hang up. Immediately after, more and more phone ringtones began blaring from their person!

"Your shallow smile is like..."

"Di di du du di di du du..."

"Want to see you, only want to see you, past, present, future, I only want to see you..."

When five distinctly different phone ringtones blared from the same person, everyone realized something was wrong.

The person in black was stunned themselves. They had been in this line of work for so long and had never encountered such a bizarre situation. Coming back to their senses, they turned to run to the back of the carriage, but a foot shot out from the crowd, tripping them instantly.

"Thief!!"

Several owners of the stolen items swarmed forward, surrounding the thief. This commotion also alerted the subway staff, who rushed over.

After everyone had made their accusations, the staff's faces turned grim as they looked at the person in black. They seized the person and escorted them off the platform once the subway reached the station. The real police were already waiting.

"Open your jacket," a police officer reprimanded sternly.

The person in black seemed to know there was no escaping this time. Despairingly, they opened their jacket, revealing the stolen goods inside.

Their mask was also removed, revealing a weathered face, appearing to be in their late forties or early fifties. Their eyes were bloodshot, and most of their hair had fallen out.

"That's my phone!"

"That's mine!"

"Damn it, you lousy thief... Officer, please make sure he's severely punished!"

Watching as the phones were taken by their owners one by one, the person in black dared not look up. Meanwhile, a police officer stared at them coldly:

"ID card."

"...No, I don't have one."

"None?"

"Officer, it's like this... I lost all my money gambling at a casino in Las Vegas, and everything was taken away. I barely managed to escape back after finding some connections. If I hadn't been so desperate, I wouldn't be stealing phones here..."

The person in black spoke bitterly. On the ground now lay only their own old-fashioned flip phone, which they had bought for two hundred yuan from a street vendor in Las Vegas.

The police officer glanced at them. "Spin your tale, keep spinning... Haven't heard this version much."

"What I'm saying is true... I escaped with my life!"

"If you don't believe me, you can check my phone. I secretly recorded videos in that casino! Everyone else says my videos are photoshopped, but they're really not... That casino is too evil, and the owner is simply a man-eating demon!!"

Just as the person in black was about to bend down to pick up the phone, a young man in a brown overcoat stepped forward and picked up the flip phone before they could.

The person in black froze.

"Excuse me, Officer," Chen Ling said with a slight smile. "I'm here to retrieve my phone."

"???!" The person in black cursed loudly. "What do you mean, *your* phone? This is *my* phone! I was scammed out of two hundred yuan for it at the border!"

A police officer stepped forward and asked Chen Ling, puzzled:

"Is this really your phone?"

"Yes, it is."

"Can you prove it?"

Chen Ling pondered for a moment. He then lowered his head and called out to the flip phone, "Hey, Siri."

"I'm here."

The person in black: ????????

The police officers were also stunned. In all their lives, they had never seen an Apple phone of this design.

"No, that's not right..." the person in black exclaimed, eyes wide. "This phone has no lock screen password, its wallpaper is a sports car, and it has my call records! The most recent caller is named Brother Hu!"

Chen Ling did not open the flip phone. Instead, he handed it to the police officer with an innocent expression. After the officer opened it, they gave the person in black a strange look.

"I told you this phone was mine, right?!" The person in black looked at Chen Ling, fuming.

The police officer silently opened the flip phone.

As the screen lit up, Chen Ling's indifferent selfie appeared before the person in black's eyes. He even flashed a peace sign.