pjbooks Chapter 195 Is this definitely not a honey trap?
Chapter 195 Is this definitely not a honey trap?
Chapter 195 Is this definitely not a honey trap?
Hey buddy, even though I don't know who you are, when you see this message, I'm convinced you're the one I'm looking for.
[The story begins a week ago. I was walking down the street, not bothering anyone, when a jerk driving an Oberon Detective almost hit me. I asked him to apologize through the car window, but he got out, beat me up, and drove off. I took a picture of his license plate with my phone and called the police. The police quickly took me to his residence, but after some mediation, he only paid me five hundred dollars to settle the matter. I questioned the police about why they didn't arrest him, but they thought I was making a mountain out of a molehill and deliberately raising the crime rate in Los Angeles.]
"Listen to this, man. Is he even speaking human language? If that bastard didn't live in the Uptown area, and wasn't a successful white man, but a black guy living in North Yankton, given the nature of the LA cops, he'd have more bullet holes in his body than a prostitute's fishnet stockings."
Okay, venting over. Let's get down to business. Since justice isn't being served, I'll have to resort to the mysterious power of the internet. Here's my request: if you can help me smash that bastard's vehicle and take a picture and send it to me, I'll pay you $800. Don't try to fool me with photoshopped pictures; I'm not that easy to fool.
Of course, if you can beat that guy into a pulp, I'm willing to reward you with three thousand dollars. As far as I know, the market price for hiring homeless people from the streets to beat someone up is usually around $100. For the same amount of money, I could hire an army, but those are just a rabble, and it would be easy to get me involved. So I found you through this magical platform, a real professional. Please help me get revenge, my friend whom I've never met before.
After reading the lengthy message, Ma Jie couldn't help but want to complain: "Wow, you're quite the talker! Are you from Dunhuang? There are so many murals there."
However, in addition to the rambling text information, there was also a detailed address and a photo of the vehicle, showing that it was near the Eclipse Building.
To be honest, Jack Ma didn't really want to take this job. You're only offering $800 for smashing someone's car in a rich neighborhood? If I get caught by the police, I won't be able to get out without $8,000 bail.
However, there's no way around it. According to the game rules, the novice trial is a mandatory task assigned by the system. Not only must you accept it, but you must also complete it, otherwise you will be blacklisted by the platform.
This is also a personnel screening mechanism; otherwise, any random person could join, the user experience would be extremely poor, and the company would not be far from going out of business.
After finishing his coffee, Ma Jie started his motorcycle and headed north along Lagunas Avenue, soon arriving at the area where the target was located.
Compared to South Los Santos, which is known for its dirt and disorder, the streets of the Upper Town are clean and tidy, and the roads are full of luxury cars such as Truffade, Grotti, Deluxe and Extraordinary.
Looking around, apart from taxis, you can hardly see any cheap vehicles priced below $50,000. The reason is not that poor people are not allowed in, but that poor people will habitually take detours. After all, as a top residential area where the rich and Hollywood stars gather, the frequency of police cars is quite high.
If your car looks out of place, the chances of you being pulled over in an American-style parking situation will be greatly increased.
Even if you haven't done anything wrong, who wants to be stopped and questioned by the police for no reason? It's unlucky and a waste of time. So it's better to avoid trouble. If you can't afford to mess with them, can't you at least avoid them?
About ten minutes later, Ma Jieke finally arrived at his destination according to the navigation. The mansion was located on a slope, with two iron gates, one large and one small, in front of it. The large gate was for cars to enter, and the small gate was for people to walk through.
Standing outside the gate, you can clearly see that there is indeed a black Oberon Spy parked in the yard. After comparing the license plate number, it is exactly the same as the one provided by the employer.
Even more fortunately, the small iron gate for entry wasn't closed tightly, but left a crack, just big enough for one person to pass through.
Faced with a script that instantly became easy, Ma Jie sneaked in furtively, crouching low as he approached the vehicle and pulled out a pre-prepared window-breaking hammer from his pocket.
He had it all planned out. He wouldn't beat the guy up; there was no need. The risk and reward were completely disproportionate. He'd just smash a couple of car windows, take some photos, and run away.
Just as he raised the hammer to smash the rear window, a voice suddenly shouted from behind: "Don't touch me, buddy! If you dare touch my car, I'll turn you into a sieve!"
Holy crap... Ma Jie was instantly dumbfounded. Was this definitely not a honey trap? You've really screwed me over!
At this moment, a slightly overweight man wearing a polo shirt and shorts walked out from behind the plant wall, slowly moved to his side, and was carrying an AR semi-automatic rifle in his hand.
Faced with the dragon charging at him, Ma Jie wouldn't be foolish enough to fight it head-on. Even with [Bullet Time] as a backup, the distance was practically face-to-face, and whether he could dodge it was another matter. "Don't be impulsive, buddy, I mean no harm." As he said this, his hands unconsciously made a French military salute, but what was funny was that he was also holding a window breaker hammer that he intended to use to destroy the vehicle.
The man took another step closer, almost pressing the gun barrel against Jack's temple, a playful smile on his face: "Kid, you can keep those words to yourself... Wait, Jack?"
As he spoke, he immediately turned to face the person, and Ma Jieke could see the other person's appearance clearly. His short black hair was mixed with gray and white marks, and the wrinkles and eye bags on his face were particularly obvious.
It was none other than Mike Santa, with whom he had previously collaborated.
At the time, I was with Xiao Fu, helping him find an armored truck. Only later did I learn that he was also working for the FBI, and I unknowingly got on a pirate ship.
"Oh shit, you fucking scared me to death!" Seeing that it was an old acquaintance, Ma Jie breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Forget about being a coward or not. Anyone would be scared in this situation because, according to US law, your actions constitute trespassing and possession of a deadly weapon. In principle, the homeowner has the right to shoot you dead because they don't know if you're armed, so they have to kill you first to ensure their own safety.
Regarding the Dark Forest system.
Seeing Ma Jie's embarrassed expression, Mike put away his semi-automatic rifle and a gloating smile appeared on his face: "Don't get me wrong, bro. I really didn't expect to attract you here. I haven't seen you since we parted ways at the docks last time, but your performance back then was really awesome. The FBI and Delta Force paled in comparison to you."
"Don't say that, it's just luck." Ma Jieke felt a little uncomfortable being praised like that.
"How's it going lately? Are you still working with that black guy on cars?"
"No." Ma Jie shrugged and asked curiously, "Dude, have you offended someone recently?"
Someone paid me $800 to smash your vehicle.
"What?!" Upon hearing this, Mike suddenly burst into laughter, as if a switch had been flipped. "So you were the unlucky guy who took the order on the AE platform. No wonder you ended up in my house and tried to break into my car. This is too much of a coincidence, it's like it was all planned in advance."
"Unlucky guy?" Ma Jie's brain raced for a moment, and he boldly speculated, "You mean you're the one who issued the mission?"
"That's right." Mike nodded smugly.
Faced with his confirmation, Ma Jie felt like his CPU was about to overheat. "Dude, you can't fix this? You paid someone to smash your own car, and you're already like this after just a few drinks?"
However, Mike quickly offered an explanation: "Don't overthink it, bro. I've just been having a really boring time lately and wanted to find some unlucky guy to mess with. All the information you saw on the platform was made up by me. Otherwise, how could I have been lying in wait here beforehand? I don't have the ability to predict the future."
Upon learning the truth, Ma Jie laughed in anger and gave him the middle finger: "Guess what, Mike, you should invite me to sit down and have a drink, and then apologize to me 100 times before I'll even consider forgiving you."
"Haha, stop being so harsh on me." Mike patted MaJack on the shoulder. "Come on, let me show you around my house. If you don't mind, I have a bottle of champagne that's supposedly salvaged from a shipwreck in the Pacific Ocean. It was originally meant for my son's wedding, but damn it, I'm going to kill it today. That little bastard doesn't respect me at all."
Led by Mike, the two toured the house for a while. It was a standard two-story villa, even with a maid's room. Walking through the house and out the back door, they found a completely different world outside. Next to an oval swimming pool, there were beach chairs and parasols, surrounded by green vegetation and palm trees.
This trip made Ma Jie extremely envious; compared to it, the house he was currently living in was practically a slum.
Just as the two were about to go back for drinks, a man and a woman walked in, chatting and laughing. The woman looked to be around 40 years old. Although she was not particularly beautiful, she had a very large bust and was wearing a yoga outfit that accentuated her figure.
The man next to her looked peaceful, with a large Chinese character for "harmony" written in the center of his black sports vest, and his hair was tied up in a bun like that of an ancient Chinese Taoist priest.
"Hi Mike," the woman greeted him indifferently when she saw someone in the backyard.
Mike first glanced at the man with the bun with disdain, then introduced him to MaJack: "Amanda, my wife, and this is her yoga instructor, though I usually call him Mr. Bun."
"Oh Mike, you can't just give people nicknames like that. It sounds very impolite. Mr. Fabian is a distinguished guest I invited."
Amanda's indignant defense of her coach reveals a strained relationship between the couple.
"It's okay, Amanda. A name is just a label. As long as you have inner peace, it doesn't matter what you're called."
Fabien put his hands together and gave the two a greeting that looked like a Buddhist gesture, then smiled at MaJack and said, "Nice to meet you."
"Hello," Ma Jie asked naturally in Chinese, "How did you figure out which country I'm from?"
Seeing the other person's suspicious expression, it was clear that they hadn't understood the second half of the sentence. They probably didn't even have a basic level of Chinese like those used on construction sites, and had only learned a few everyday phrases.
Ma Jie then switched back to English: "Okay, buddy, what I was trying to ask you was, how did you know I'm Chinese?"
"Appearance." Fabien maintained his smile. "I often go to Chinatown and deal with Chinese people, so it's not difficult for me. I've also been studying Lao Tzu's Tao recently and incorporating this ancient philosophy into yoga. Oh, by the way, I'm going to teach Amanda yoga now. Are you interested in learning with me? I can let you try a class for free."
"Sorry, he's not interested." Before Ma Jie could respond, Mike pulled him into the house, casually adding a sarcastic remark: "Girls, have fun."
"Fuck you, Mike!" Amanda's angry roar rang out behind her. "If you can't learn to respect others, shut your stinking mouth! Nobody here wants to listen to your farts!"
Thump! Mike slammed the door shut with such force that it knocked the landscape painting hanging behind it off.
"Are you alright, buddy?" Looking at his flushed face, Ma Jie asked cautiously, "How about I come visit another day?"
"Dude, I'm not targeting you." Even though he had slammed the door shut in a huff, Mike still watched his wife and her yoga instructor through the screen window next to them. The two had already laid out their yoga mats and were standing by the pool doing warm-up exercises.
He clearly wanted someone to talk to, so he didn't intend to let Ma Jie leave. He settled him on the sofa in the living room on the first floor and took out a bottle of champagne from the wine cabinet.
This thing does look quite old; its shape is much shorter and stouter than modern champagne, and the bottom of the bottle doesn't have the concave design that's common in modern bottles.
In addition, the bottle is covered with a thick layer of marine sediment, including shells, calcareous crusts, white coral stones, and a large amount of mud and sand.
The labels have long been corroded by seawater, and the producer and vintage can only be identified by the stamp on the cork at the bottle neck.
This is because in the early days, the sealing method involved using wax seals and hemp ropes to secure the cork. Although the outer wax seal has long since broken, leaving only a trace visible to the naked eye, and the hemp rope has been soaked and rotten, the cork itself remains intact, protecting the wine inside from contamination.
"Dude, are you sure you want to buy me this rare champagne?"
Seeing him take out the bottle opener, Ma Jie couldn't help but ask, "What if this causes the couple's conflict to escalate? Then I'll be the one to blame."
"Of course, I paid for this myself, so I can invite whoever I want." Mike said nonchalantly, "You have to understand, Jack, there are different levels of friends. For a distinguished guest like you, I have to use the highest level of hospitality."
Seeing that he was determined to do so, Ma Jie stopped trying to dissuade him and let him open the shipwreck champagne, pour out the deep amber-colored wine, and prepare for a conversation between men.
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