Chapter 323: 319 The Wealthy Man

Skipping the parts where Dong Wen recounted his own hacking career, the origin of that Ancient Book, from the perspective of Dong Wen's account, was actually somewhat dramatic.

This Ancient Book was not something Dong Wen had originally intended to obtain; as a hacker, he initially only dabbled in the business of reselling information, until one day he received a special client.

This client's request was very strange; he did not ask Dong Wen to investigate some big shot, but rather a figure existing on the fringes of society—a scavenger.

Due to the special nature of a scavenger's status, such people basically possess no wealth and live outside of human society, and they are also insulated from electronic products, making it basically very difficult to query information about them from the vast internet.

That client seemed to have also investigated Dong Wen and was clear about Dong Wen's situation; the other party stated that as long as Dong Wen was willing to investigate, he would provide a quote that would absolutely satisfy Dong Wen.

To show his sincerity, the client actually helped Dong Wen pay off the massive debts he had inherited first, then paid an advance of 500,000, stating that after the matter was accomplished, he would pay Dong Wen another 2 million.

Faced with such a lucrative temptation, even though Dong Wen knew there was a huge catch hidden within, he still could not resist the temptation and took on this deal.

A scavenger—what virtue or ability did he have to make a wealthy tycoon with immense fortune treat him so cautiously and be willing to spend a high price to inquire about his news?

The number of scavengers in the entire Shenzhou Region is just like the number of survivors of Abnormal events that people are unwilling to understand; if one does not intentionally query the statistics, no one understands it at all.

According to incomplete statistics, there are currently ten million scavengers in the Shenzhou Region, and the entire Shenzhou Region currently has one thousand cities; averaging it out, each city has ten thousand scavengers, a figure that is still very astonishing.

However, even so, digging out the one scavenger the client was looking for in the vast Shenzhou was an incomparably difficult task.

Fortunately, the client did not let Dong Wen look for a needle in a haystack; he told Dong Wen the scavenger's physical characteristics: the scavenger was male, had a mole on his foot, his eyes only had double pupils in the left eye, and he had been spotted by someone on the streets of Daxue City 6 years ago.

Dong Wen keenly sensed that this client was very familiar with the target, at least familiar with the target's identity and background before becoming a scavenger, but since the client was only willing to reveal information up to this point, he did not ask further.

Some things, if others do not want you to know, then it is best to pretend you do not know.

Feet are private parts; unless one has a special profession or unique fetish, this characteristic does not count as a very good search keyword on the internet, but the characteristic of the left eye having double pupils was very worth utilizing.

After a round of searching, Dong Wen gathered 10 candidates in all of Shenzhou who only had double pupils in their left eye; after survival verification screening, he eliminated 6 suspicious targets.

Of the remaining 4 suspicious targets, they were either dead or their whereabouts were unknown.

Dong Wen pulled up the appearance of the target that had been captured by surveillance in Daxue City; after a round of comparison, he actually found one that matched in facial features and body type, and this person's identity was surprising.

Li Li, whose ancestral home was Fengxiang City in the Shenzhou Region, a senior consultant for a well-known real estate enterprise in Shenzhou, ranked in the TOP 12 of the global rich list 20 years ago; shortly after appearing on the rich list, he suddenly abandoned his wife, children, and parents, voluntarily dissipated his family wealth, left no letters behind, and from then on disappeared without a trace, his whereabouts unknown...

Looking at these superficial materials, Dong Wen felt his scalp go numb; he did not expect the target of this investigation to have such a massive background, but once he understood more, he also knew that he had already fallen into a quagmire and could not easily extricate himself, so he could only bite the bullet and continue investigating.

Finally, after more than two months of investigation, Dong Wen finally had another breakthrough discovery.

At that time, Li Li was last captured by surveillance in a city very close to the city where Dong Wen currently resided, and he immediately informed the client of this important clue.

Unexpectedly, after hearing the news, the client paid Dong Wen the full amount directly and stated that there was no need for Dong Wen to continue the investigation.

Although Dong Wen was confused, he did not delve into it; after all, what he wanted was money, and he was not interested in what secrets were behind it.

However, just half a month after the matter passed, that wealthy client sought out Dong Wen again; this time, the client did not have Dong Wen search for a person, but for clues to a book, and the other party also proposed to meet Dong Wen on the spot regarding this matter.

Dong Wen initially wanted to refuse, but who knew that after the client finished saying he wanted to meet, there was no follow-up, and he did not even mention the meeting place; this made Dong Wen, at the time, feel chaotic and anxious, as he knew he seemed unable to refuse, and the other party would find him one day.

He did not expect the meeting to be so soon; on the very night of the day the client proposed the meeting request, in the early morning, the client came to Dong Wen's home.

This was also the first time Dong Wen saw the client; the client's appearance was far from the noble and dignified tycoon image he had imagined, just a sickly, pale-faced, thin middle-aged man.

The other party claimed to be Wang Yong, Li Li's cousin; he had originally let Dong Wen find Li Li just to get an explanation from his cousin who had suddenly abandoned everything and gone missing back then. Of course, Dong Wen felt the other party's actual purpose was not simple, but he still chose not to expose it.

Half a month ago, with the help of the clues provided by Dong Wen, Wang Yong successfully found Li Li, who had become a scavenger; as a result, Li Li said nothing, directly handed an ancient book written in Latin to Wang Yong, and then disappeared mysteriously again the next day. This time, Li Li disappeared even more thoroughly; he disappeared suddenly in full view of everyone, under the watch of specialized bodyguards.

Wang Yong felt that all the answers were in this book, yet the content of this book was complex and involved ancient Latin and even almost extinct isolated languages; ordinary scholars could not decipher it at all, so he felt that rather than obsessing over the content of the book, it would be better to investigate the origin of the book first.

Therefore, Wang Yong sought out Dong Wen.

Dong Wen still had no way to refuse the other party; Wang Yong being able to find him also meant his subordinates could find him and easily threaten his life, and this time the other party had visited in person to express the sincerity of his request; Dong Wen knew that no matter which point it was, he had to take on this task.

Thus, Dong Wen once again started working for Wang Yong, investigating the origin of the Ancient Book.

This time, there were also Wang Yong's people helping to assist the investigation in reality, and Dong Wen's progress in tracing the roots of the Ancient Book became very fast.

Ten days later, Dong Wen reached a rough, basic investigation result: 20 years ago, at a global charity auction where global tycoons gathered, Li Li had purchased a small island located in the northwest of the Southern Continent; afterwards, when he sent people to the island to do a cleanup, they discovered that deep in the forest of the uninhabited island, there was actually a stone house embedded in the deep mountains, and most of the things inside were of great age and should be antiques, so in order to figure out the value of those things, he had people bring back all the items found in the stone house, which included that Ancient Book.