Chapter 4

The crowd instantly exploded.

"Irrefutable evidence! The game account is logged into his phone!"

"He was playing the victim just now, using the disability certificate to fool people. How vicious!"

"Officer, arrest him quickly! Don't let him run!"

The woman with plastic bags jumped out again, pointing at my nose and cursing:

"I knew he looked like a player! So what if he's mute? Mutes can still send voice messages online to scam people!"

Mario looked at me triumphantly, his smile stretching to his ears.

"Mute? I bet you used a voice changer!"

"Vincent, I told you he's a scumbag, but you didn't believe me."

Vincent stared at my phone screen, her teeth grinding audibly.

"What the fuck do you have to say for yourself?" She walked forward and kicked me hard in the ribs.

A sharp pain hit me. I curled up on the ground, cold sweat instantly soaking my back.

"Officer, the evidence is clear. Can we arrest him now?" Vincent turned and shouted at the officer.

The officer frowned and put away my phone.

"Johnson, you're now suspected in a five-million-dollar fraud case." The officer took out handcuffs. "Please come with us to the station for questioning."

I forced myself through the rib pain and used my hands to push myself up from the ground.

I didn't reach for the handcuffs.

I pointed at the surveillance camera above the supermarket entrance, then at my phone, frantically shaking my head.

I gestured in sign language: I never opened that game!

The officer understood what I meant.

"You're saying check the surveillance?"

I nodded vigorously.

Mario sneered: "Check away! The surveillance footage is crystal clear. Let's see how you deny it!"

The officer turned and walked into the supermarket. Vincent and Mario followed closely behind, afraid I'd run away.

I clutched my ribs and limped after them.

The supermarket owner was a woman in her fifties with a receding hairline.

Hearing the officer wanted to check surveillance, she scratched her head with an embarrassed expression.

"Officer, really bad timing."

"Two nights ago there was a heavy rainstorm. The store's wiring short-circuited and fried the surveillance mainboard. Haven't had time to fix it yet."

The owner pointed at the dark camera overhead: "That thing's just a prop right now."

The blood in my body instantly turned cold.

How could this be such a coincidence?

Mario burst into sharp laughter.

"Even God isn't helping you!"

"The surveillance is broken? Now you've got nothing to say!"

Vincent stepped forward and grabbed my collar, lifting me up.

"Let's go! To the police station! I'll strip that skin off you today if it's the last thing I do!"

She flung me forcefully. I lost balance and crashed heavily into the Porsche door outside.

My knees hit the hard ground, my palms scraped a large patch of skin off, blood flowing freely.

I lay on the ground, my line of sight falling through the half-open car door onto the carpet of the passenger seat.

A silver bracelet lay there quietly.

The bracelet's pendant was an extremely rare four-leaf clover design with diamond chips set around the edges.

My pupils suddenly contracted.

This bracelet...

I turned to look at Mario standing to the side with a smug expression.

On his left wrist was a clear indentation mark—the kind left from long-term wear of jewelry.

And that bracelet's style—I was all too familiar with it.

Because it was a globally limited custom design from my company's jewelry brand.

In the entire city, there were only three.