Chapter 57: Night Interrogation (Begging for recommendations, collections, and rewards)

After casually buying a domestic thousand-yuan Android smartphone at an electronics mall, Sun Cheng inserted the SIM card he had just replaced.

"Before I bring the Apple 5 back next time, I'll just make do with this!"

Having comforted himself with this thought, Sun Cheng quickly shoved it into his pocket and walked back toward the school.

In the transaction with Apple just now, although he had provided the other party with nearly fifty vulnerabilities in total, Sun Cheng was also clear that while the vulnerabilities he provided were tricky and obscure, they would at most affect the user experience and were not high-risk vulnerabilities; thus, he could accept the total reward of ninety thousand yuan in cash he had received from Apple.

The rewards Apple gave for high-risk vulnerabilities were too low, so Sun Cheng had focused his efforts on the vulnerability acquisition platform Zerodium from the very beginning; unsurprisingly, those few vulnerabilities would bring him at least two or three hundred thousand dollars in income.

However, Zerodium's efficiency was so poor he was speechless; even knowing they were on the other side of the ocean and there was a time difference with China, for an email from China to go two days without a reply—this efficiency was just too poor!

Complaining in his heart was one thing, but his mood had become quite good because of the incoming payment.

So much so that when he returned to the vicinity of the school, Sun Cheng was in no rush to return to his dormitory; he went straight to a small stir-fry restaurant at the school gate, ordered two dishes and a bottle of beer for himself, and indulged in a rare moment of luxury.

This meal lasted for over an hour.

Eating, drinking, and fiddling with his newly bought Android phone, by the time he was full and had paid to leave, the sky outside had already turned dark.

Not long after leaving the stir-fry restaurant, Sun Cheng suddenly felt something was amiss.

Perhaps the month or so of living in constant fear in the Decepticon world had made him very alert; not only did he walk with his eyes watching all directions and his ears listening to all sides, but even if someone passed by him, Sun Cheng would take a few extra looks to clearly remember the other person's appearance.

Just now, not long after walking out of the stir-fry restaurant, he sensitively sensed that a gaze had been fixed on him from the very beginning.

The owner of the gaze clearly harbored ill intentions toward him, otherwise, it wouldn't have triggered a reaction from the now somewhat paranoid Sun Cheng.

At first, he only thought it was an illusion; after all, while he couldn't be called handsome, he did have a bit of masculine vigor, so it wasn't strange to be looked at twice occasionally while walking on the street.

But Sun Cheng had still cautiously tested the other party just now; he deliberately entered a supermarket by the side of the road, pretending to buy something while actually looking for a place to hide temporarily, using this to test them.

What he didn't expect was that after he had disappeared for two or three minutes without coming back out, he soon saw a young man with dyed blonde hair hurry into the supermarket.

"It's him!"

Sun Cheng, hiding in the shadows, narrowed his eyes slightly; although he couldn't name the other person, he recognized that this blonde was a young man he had seen before at the 'Student Loan' office.

"I thought you guys could stay quiet for a few days..."

Sneering as he touched the faint bulge under his left rib, Sun Cheng's eyes grew colder; discovering that the other party had taken out a phone and seemed to be preparing to make a call, his heart suddenly stirred. Having rarely caught one of them alone, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt this was a good opportunity to investigate why they were setting a trap for him, he immediately pretended not to have noticed the other person at all, bought some snacks and drinks along the way, and walked straight toward the checkout counter.

The blonde was standing near the checkout counter; Sun Cheng's sudden appearance clearly startled him. He looked at him with an unnatural expression, and the next moment, seemingly realizing that Sun Cheng hadn't discovered or recognized him, he hurried toward the shopping shelves to the side.

After paying, Sun Cheng used his peripheral vision to confirm that the other person was still staring at him closely, then curled his lips slightly and walked out of the supermarket with his things.

However, since he already had a plan, he didn't continue walking toward the school; instead, he led the blonde who was following him leisurely toward a nearby park.

To avoid making the other party suspicious, he didn't forget to take out his new phone, dialed an automatic time-telling service, held the phone up, and said loudly: "... Hello, you're still waiting for me at the park, right... Got it, I'll be there soon..."

Soon seeing the park, Sun Cheng put away his phone and walked into a dense, wooded corner of the park, then looked around to make sure no one was there before immediately hiding behind a large tree.

Three or five minutes later, he saw the blonde follow him in, still constantly sending text messages.

Drawing the Taser from the holster under his ribs, cold light flickered in Sun Cheng's eyes. When the other party walked not far from him, completely off guard, he acted ruthlessly, pulled out the Taser, and fired a shot at the blonde's chest.

"Crack!"

Accompanied by the low sound of the shot, the unsuspecting blonde's body shuddered violently, let out a scream, and collapsed to the ground, convulsing.

"Don't worry, it won't kill anyone!"

Walking out from the shadows, Sun Cheng coldly took another disposable magazine from his pocket and loaded it into the Taser in his hand.

Walking up to the other person, he picked up the phone from the ground, flipped through it, and the coldness in his eyes intensified.

"Young Master Hong, I just saw that kid near the school."

"Okay, I know, I'll keep following him. You guys hurry up, otherwise, it'll be troublesome once he enters the school."

"I'm still following him. This guy turned into the park near the Nanjing University of Technology gate, you guys hurry over!"

Casually tossing the phone aside, Sun Cheng stood directly in front of the blonde and asked coldly: "Speak, why did Xiao Hong set a trap to frame me!"

A Taser won't kill anyone, but taking a shot of electric therapy is definitely not an enjoyable experience.

Sure enough, the blonde lay on the ground shivering for a long time, unable to recover, his voice even trembling intermittently: "You... damn... looking for death..."

"Bang!"

Sun Cheng kicked him hard; filled with hatred, he used his full strength, so the kick was powerful enough that it sent the blonde flying slightly into the air on the spot, and he rolled a few times on the ground before stopping not far away.

"Speak, why did Xiao Hong set a trap to frame me!" He walked coldly to the blonde's side again and continued to ask in a flat tone.

The blonde gritted his teeth in hatred, his eyes looking at him with resentment, almost spitting fire.

Seeing this, Sun Cheng had no doubt that if the other person could stand up, he would definitely engage in hand-to-hand combat with him.

However, the blonde was angry but not stupid; he stared at Sun Cheng without saying a word, neither answering nor provoking him further.

How could Sun Cheng not know that he was stalling for time, waiting for his companions to arrive.

Sneering, he gave him another fierce kick, sending him flying away again. Sun Cheng raised the Taser in his hand at him once more, his tone icy: "This gun won't kill anyone, but you've tasted the feeling. It's said that abroad, there are cases of lifelong paralysis after taking two or three shots. Want to try it?"

The blonde's eyes bulged, and he looked at the gun in his hand with some fear, but still didn't speak.

Sun Cheng didn't bother with him and fired another shot directly at him as he lay unable to move.

"Ah..."

The scream rang out again, and it seemed that the duration of the convulsions was even longer than before.

Sun Cheng still looked at him coldly, but this time he said nothing; without a word, he took another disposable magazine from his pocket, loaded it into the Taser, and aimed it at the other party, looking as if he were prepared to fire another shot.

"Don't... don't shoot... I'll talk... I'll talk..."

Being kicked twice and feeling sore all over was one thing; his physique could handle it completely.

But after taking two electric shocks, the blonde was truly tortured to the point of wishing he were dead by that electric sensation. Moreover, he was terrified by the "mine" Sun Cheng had buried in his words. Seeing that the other party was about to give him another shot without hesitation, he, who never expected the other party to be such a ruthless character, was truly scared and hurriedly answered on his own.

"... The specific reason... I'm not clear either... I only heard Sister-in-law Hong say... must get you..."

This guy's speech had been slurred from the successive electric shocks, making it hard to understand, but after catching his breath, although his articulation was still very slow, it no longer sounded like listening to a local dialect.

However, his answer clearly could not satisfy Sun Cheng. He coldly raised the gun, aimed it at the blonde again, and ordered: "Don't play tricks with me, otherwise I'll make you a corpse tonight. Your Young Master Hong clearly didn't investigate anything before daring to mess with me. Does killing someone count as a big deal to me? Now, I speak, you answer, do you hear me clearly?"

"Heard... heard clearly... heard clearly..."

"Very well, now listen to my questions. Why did Xiao Hong set a trap to screw me over? What role did Liu Kun play in it? What is Xiao Hong's family background?"

"B-big... big brother... I really don't know why Young Master Hong... wanted to mess with you... Oh right, Liu Kun, that kid... he borrowed quite a bit of money from us... Later, Young Master Hong had people pressure him to pay back the debt... He couldn't pay it, so he had to trade it for a larger IOU... Then one day, I don't know what he said to Young Master Hong, but Young Master Hong was very happy and said he would waive his debt once the matter was done..."

This guy was trembling and speaking very slowly, but he did answer some things that satisfied him.

However, regarding Xiao Hong's identity at the end, this guy's eyes kept darting around; it was clear he didn't want to answer this question.

Worried about when Xiao Hong's people might arrive, Sun Cheng grew impatient. He raised the Taser to aim at him again, and with an irritated look, he placed his finger directly on the trigger. This time, he simply moved the muzzle to the golden-haired man's forehead.

The next moment, he immediately smelled the stench of urine. Before Sun Cheng could even find the source of the smell, he heard the golden-haired man crying and begging: "Big brother... don't, big brother... I'll talk, I'll tell you everything... Young Master Hong isn't just some street thug; he owns several loan companies, and the people in the neighborhood all give him face... It's said his family might be officials, they have a very strong background... Some of us have committed crimes, and he's been able to get us out after we were taken to the station..."

Seeing him crying so pitifully, Sun Cheng was just about to stop, but inadvertently caught a glimpse of resentment and malice in the other man's eyes. He sneered and raised the gun again, but this time pointed the muzzle at his chest, saying coldly: "Looking at you, you still want to take revenge on me, right? If you can survive, help me pass a message to Xiao Hong: this isn't over..."

Before he had even finished speaking, he had already calmly pulled the trigger.

With a 'pop' of the gunshot, the golden-haired man on the ground twitched and trembled all over, then his eyes rolled back, and he passed out completely.

Putting the Taser away, Sun Cheng looked at him coldly, retrieved a few cartridges from him, and prepared to leave.

Having only walked a few steps, he turned back to pick up the yellow-haired man's phone that had fallen to the side. It was actually an Apple phone, but unfortunately, when he wanted to check the contact list, he was blocked by a password wall.

Sun Cheng thought for a moment and ultimately decided to take the phone with him as well.

That young man named Xiao Hong made him feel a long-lost sense of unease and panic, just like in the Decepticon world. This feeling made him very uncomfortable, so he prepared to take the initiative.

PS:

Alright, I managed to get this chapter out too; I still owe 10 chapters of historical debt. Going to sleep, will continue paying off the debt when I wake up. I estimate the reality arc will end today, and I will return to 【Transformers】.