The Daily Life Of A Cyberpunk Magician

Chapter 59 - 60: The Goal of the Deception Group
Chapter 59: Chapter 60: The Goal of the Deception GroupPolice Department Files · Deception Group:

Since its sudden appearance on May 17, this street entertainment group rapidly gained fame with its fantastical and ever-changing Deception performances.

From May to July, the Deception Group performed large-scale Deceptions at Time Square, Twisted Street, Black Avenue, and several other locations, earning an extremely high street reputation.

On July 17, the Deception Group created the Huang Kong Seventh Bank robbery case, and with the help of the Crime Consultant, managed to arrest the mastermind ”Fox.”

On July 27, the Deception Group orchestrated an explosion to rescue ”Fox,” after which their whereabouts became unknown.

On July 30, the Deception Group planned the New Moon Hall theft case. Jabba (suspected member of the Deception Group) died during the night of the incident and the early morning of the next day, with the cause of death being gunshot wounds.

The core members of the Deception Group:

Fox, male, about 1.78 meters tall, slender build, wears a full-face fox mask (has also worn a half-face mask).

True identity is Laine, profession as a Psychologist, possesses top-level hypnotism ability, extremely strong criminal planning ability, extremely dangerous.

Devil Wind, male, about 1.95 meters tall, a bulky build, wears a white full-face mask with three black diagonal stripes on the left half of the mask.

True identity unknown, profession unknown, ability unknown, danger level unknown.

Mu Jin, female, about 1.65 meters tall, a tall build, wears a white full-face mask with a hibiscus flower pattern on the left side.

True identity unknown, profession unknown, ability unknown, danger level unknown.

Ancient Snake, male, about 1.80 meters tall, balanced build, wears a brown full-face mask with a coiled snake pattern on the left side.

True identity is possibly a surgeon, skilled in using scalpel, extremely high danger level.

——

Wolf cracked the Jabba case, but did not completely solve it.

The murderer wasn’t caught, and no internal connection between the Jabba case and the New Moon Hall theft was established.

Following this lead, they discovered Jabba’s numerous misconducts: he was a suspect in dozens of murder cases, arson cases, drug trafficking, and sexual assault cases, and even forced young apprentices into prostitution using illegal methods.

Overall, during Jabba’s more than ten years in the underworld, not a single minute passed without foul play.

Even though Wolf was battle-hardened, he was still infuriated, his face gloomy. After all, he was primarily responsible for cases in the ABCD areas and hadn’t paid much attention to law enforcement in the EF areas. It turned out that a casual investigation had unearthed a cancer.

After handling the Jabba case, the police sealed off the bachelor apartment, and by then, it was already evening.

It was dinner time, and Jiang Shu joined the station’s cops for a quick meal nearby. Over the meal, and under Wolf’s deliberate guidance, his relationship with his colleagues improved a lot.

The rank-and-file officers at the station were also a lovely bunch. After all, in Lonely City, most police academy interns were passionate about life and had strong faith in justice before setting foot in the police station.

It’s just that society is a melting pot, sometimes melting away beliefs, other times refining them into faith.

And when relations improved, a scary problem arose, in the end, Jiang Shu didn’t even know how many times he insisted that he really didn’t have anything to do with Kirie, that they were really just ordinary friends.

He was starting to regret calling Kirie to install the shower for a discount.

Yes, he regretted it, but not completely.

Getting stuff for free still felt great.

”Joyce has also discovered new leads,” said Wolf, glancing at his wristwatch and speaking to Jiang Shu, who was sitting next to him. ”They checked all the ventilation ducts, and one of them was very clean, with no traces left behind. That duct leads to an alley outside.”

”Obviously, the Deception Group entered New Moon Hall through that alley,” Wolf continued.

Jiang Shu nodded, ”Hmm.”

”Also, they found out that someone seems to have seen members of the Deception Group in that alley yesterday,” Wolf added.

”Hmm?”

”There were two people by their build, it would have been Devil Wind and Fox at the time,” said Wolf.

”Anything else?” Jiang Shu tentatively continued to ask.

Wolf spread his hands, helpless, ”Nothing else, the trail’s gone cold again.”

”However, the curator invited us to the exhibition concert tonight.” He remembered something and asked, ”Are you going? I’ve got a lot of official business, so I won’t be attending.”

Jiang Shu asked, ”Exhibition concert? What’s that?”

”It’s Shen Ting’s tribute event,” Wolf said. ”Shen Ting, she’s considered a veteran musician. She’s a T0-level classical music master, and in Lonely City, many old folks are her fans.”

”T0?” Jiang Shu was taken aback.

”Right.” Wolf nodded. ”There are many T1s, but for each sequence, the T0s, in the past twenty years you could count them on one hand.”

”Really impressive.” Jiang Shu admired. He didn’t have much of a musical cell, only able to distinguish whether the music was pleasant or harsh. As for classical music, he’d definitely find it pleasant, but asking him to critique would be out of the question.

A trace of nostalgia appeared on Wolf’s face, as if recalling the stunning image of Shen Ting he saw as a child: ”Yeah, and back then she was a breathtaking beauty too. My grandfather, my father, and I, we all liked her a lot.”

Jiang Shu: ”Golden Toad Family.”

Jiang Shu: ”...”

Luckily, Wolf didn’t notice what Xiao Yi had sent.

With a face full of reverence, Wolf said, ”Those who reach T0 are all inherently gifted, and each has put in dozens of times more effort in their profession than the average person. It’s just too bad she passed away in her forties, leaving behind not too many works.”

”She’s passed away?”

”Yes.” Wolf said, pausing suddenly, ”Right, this year happens to be the tenth anniversary of Master Shen Ting’s death. Today’s tribute event should be quite grand.”

”But the music box is gone.” He looked pained.

”What happened?” Jiang Shu had only heard the music box was a relic but didn’t know the details.

”The music box was handcrafted by Shen Ting’s husband for her, it recorded the last piece of music composed by Master Shen Ting before her death, with great sentimental value. Each year’s tribute event would always end with playing this piece from the music box,” Wolf said regretfully. ”Looks like this year’s tribute won’t be going well.”

”Shen Ting...” Jiang Shu hesitated, then asked, ”What’s her relation to Shen Xuwan?”

He had heard Su Xiaoou mention this Shen Xuwan; both shared the surname Shen, both were musicians, he couldn’t help drawing a connection.

”Oh, Shen Xuwan is Shen Ting’s younger daughter,” Wolf said. ”The elder daughter took after her father’s surname, but the younger one was named after Shen Ting.”

”Shen Xuwan inherited her mother’s musical talent, as well as her mother’s exquisite beauty,” he reminisced. ”A T1-level musician, quite a few young masters in Lonely City are eyeing her.”

”Hmm.” Jiang Shu pondered for a moment then asked Wolf, ”Is your thing tonight really that important?”

”Not particularly, why?” Wolf was puzzled.

”Join me at the tribute event?” Jiang Shu slightly furrowed his brow. ”I have a hunch that tonight’s tribute might be the Deception Group’s target.”

”Hmm?” After hearing this, Wolf thought for a moment, then asked, ”Why?”

”My reasons aren’t objective,” Jiang Shu shook his head, continuing, ”Anyway, I’m definitely going to check it out.”

”Um...” Wolf reflected for a moment, ”Okay, I’ll go with you.”

——

At the edge of New Moon Hall.

”Is this the place?” Jiang Shu pointed at the alley across the street and asked Wolf.

Wolf glanced at the police station’s electronic archives and confirmed, ”Yes, right here.”

”Let’s take a look.” Jiang Shu glanced at the vent layout and started walking across.

The alley was cluttered with many items, but it wasn’t dirty or messy; everything was organized neatly, which didn’t match Jiang Shu’s impression of Lonely City.

He reached the wall of New Moon Hall, looked at the ventilation duct about three meters high, observed for a moment, then suddenly turned to Wolf behind him and said:

”They, the people from the Deception Group, have already gone in.”