"System upgrading..."
"Upgrade complete. Current level: 2. Capture fugitives to receive rewards."
A system upgrade was good news.
But the direction of this upgrade left Xu Mo scratching his head.
He was currently a fugitive himself.
Asking a fugitive to catch other fugitives?
However, that wasn't his main concern. What he really cared about was...
"What about the reward from before the upgrade? I went to jail for that reward. I even tricked the investigation team into going to the red-light district."
Yet Xu Mo's question seemed to fall on deaf ears.
He waited for a long time, but the system showed no intention of acknowledging him.
Xu Mo was dumbfounded.
An upgrade was fine, but couldn't they at least give out the pre-upgrade reward?
No reward, and now ignoring him?
What a lousy system!
Tch!
"Rewards for catching fugitives... Are they crazy? Expecting a fugitive like me to catch other fugitives?" Xu Mo grumbled internally.
The system upgrade meant that no matter how much he toyed with the police, he wouldn't receive any more rewards.
Without the incentive of rewards, Xu Mo even considered quitting the show.
He didn't want to play anymore.
With this thought, Xu Mo rose from the booth in the bar, intending to go outside and call Song Yixue.
Meanwhile, Song Yixue had also picked up her phone, ready to call Xu Mo.
Xu Mo dialed first.
Song Yixue was a step behind.
Seeing Xu Mo's incoming call, she answered without hesitation.
As soon as the call connected, both parties spoke simultaneously.
"First blood... Um, well, I've decided not to continue parti-"
"Xu Mo, I was just about to call you about something. Didn't expect you to call first..."
Realizing the other person also had something to say, they both paused, then spoke in unison.
"You go first."
"You go first."
"Then I'll go first."
"Then I'll go first."
"..."
After a moment of silence, Xu Mo spoke again: "Why don't you go first? Ladies first."
"Alright, I'll go first," Song Yixue said. "I'm planning to add some challenger guests to the show, twenty people in total. But this time, instead of placing them near you, they'll be paired up, making ten teams. Like you, they'll also have to evade capture by the investigation team."
Hearing Song Yixue's words, a thoughtful expression appeared on Xu Mo's face.
Adding twenty people, paired up to avoid capture by the investigation team?
It was like the show was delivering twenty fugitives right to him!
Xu Mo's system had just upgraded, and now toying with the investigation team wouldn't earn him any rewards.
He had to catch fugitives to get rewards.
Xu Mo had been considering quitting the show.
After all, even if he continued to stay in the show and mess with the investigation team, he wouldn't get a single reward from the system.
But the show had just handed him exactly what he needed!
This wasn't just sending twenty fugitives into the show.
From Xu Mo's perspective, the show was delivering rewards right to his doorstep!
How thoughtful.
Just as he was pondering this, Song Yixue's voice came through again.
"From now on, the rewards will be doubled. Avoiding capture for one day will earn you 200,000 yuan. Besides this, there's also a grand prize. The person who can avoid capture until the end will receive an additional 20 million yuan... Including your team, there are now eleven teams of fugitives in the show. Whichever team can hold out until the end will win the extra 20 million yuan grand prize."
The rewards had doubled.
And a new grand prize had been added.
Now, avoiding capture for one day would earn 200,000 yuan, and among the eleven challenger teams, the one that could hold out until the end would directly pocket the 20 million yuan grand prize.
Wasn't this just another way of handing out money?
Song Yixue said whoever lasted until the end would get 20 million yuan...
In simple terms, once all eleven teams except Xu Mo were caught and eliminated, he would win 20 million yuan.
Not long ago, Xu Mo felt that the upgraded system had no use in the show.
He even considered quitting.
But now, he had changed his mind.
Combining the system's reward mechanism with the show's new rules, an idea suddenly emerged in Xu Mo's mind.
What if he caught the other fugitives participating in the show, tied them up, and then found a way to tip off the investigation team to come arrest them...
Wouldn't that mean he could get both the system reward and increase his chances of winning the show's grand prize?
If he could catch and tie up all ten teams of fugitives besides himself, then let the investigation team come and easily arrest them, eliminating them from the game...
He would get ten system rewards, plus the 20 million yuan grand prize set by the show.
This deal looked profitable from every angle, allowing him to claim double rewards.
Xu Mo decided to stay in the show and become a 'bounty hunter'.
...
Song Yixue had called Xu Mo mainly to inform him about the new game rules.
After saying what she wanted to say, Song Yixue asked, "I've said what I needed to. Now, what did you want to tell me when you called?"
Originally, Xu Mo had been lost in thought.
But Song Yixue's words snapped him back to reality.
Earlier, Xu Mo had called to say he was planning to quit the show and didn't want to continue playing.
But now, Xu Mo had completely abandoned that idea.
Rewards and money delivered to his doorstep - it would be foolish not to take them.
The words 'want to quit the show' were swallowed back down.
He changed his tune.
"Haha, nothing much really. I just missed you a bit and wanted to chat."
Song Yixue: "..."
"How boring!"
With that, Song Yixue immediately hung up the phone, not even bothering to say another word to Xu Mo.
"Beep... Beep... Beep..." Listening to the busy tone from his phone, Xu Mo smiled.
He put the phone back in his pocket.
Then he walked back into the bar.
He wasn't in the mood to continue playing there.
Instead, he called for the four people to leave.
Following the address sent by that escort earlier, Xu Mo arrived at a hotel.
Room 888.
Xu Mo knocked on the door.
Soon, the door opened.
The person who opened it was the escort from earlier.
As she opened the door, she didn't forget to say, "Don't worry, big brother. No one will come to check tonight. You can relax and enjoy."
"Mm," Xu Mo nodded. "Shall we begin?"
"Start now? Don't you want to take a shower first?" The escort was a bit confused.
Hearing this, Xu Mo smiled.
"No rush. Let's play something else first to liven up the atmosphere. How about Truth or Dare?"
The escort seemed to understand Xu Mo's intention almost instantly.
She thought to herself, rich people and their games, wanting to liven up the atmosphere before getting started.
"Let's do Rock Paper Scissors. I'll count to three, and we'll show our hands together."
In the next second, Xu Mo showed rock.
The escort showed scissors. She lost.
The escort's face lit up with anticipation: "I lost. What... punishment do you want to give me?"
"I punish you to go home now."
"???"
Go home!?
I lose at Truth or Dare, and you punish me by sending me home!?
Isn't this just insulting?