The question took Xu Lan by surprise and placed him in a difficult situation. If he said that Bai Wu was his son, it would be rather hard for Wang Hao to believe, as he was already eighteen-years-old and the adoption certification had not even been obtained. If he said that Bai Wu was someone else’s son, then it would upset Bai Wu.

“Hello big brother, I’m a distant relative of Uncle Xu. My family’s going through some tough times, so for the moment, I’m staying with Uncle Xu,” Bai Wu said with a smile as he looked at Xu Lan, then at Wang Hao.

Wang Hao was quite taken aback. The child seemed too good-looking, with fair and tender skin. His eyes were most striking: they were reddened and crescent-like. He had a contagious smile as sweet as honey, which left others with a warm fuzzy feeling.

“Mm, his name’s Bai Wu ¹ .” Xu Lan nodded, then stepped forward and remarked.

“Haha, alright then! Let’s go! Sergeant Xu, I hope you don’t mind me treating you to a feast! Though my wallet’s a bit thin recently and I wouldn’t dare to smoke an expensive cigarette.” Wang Hao said while shaking a packet of cigarettes. He took one out and gave it to Xu Lan.

Xu Lan touched the pocket of his pants and heard the rustling of lollipops wrappers.

“No thanks. I’ve quit smoking.”

Wang Hao’s hand which was offering the cigarette stopped mid-air after he heard Xu Lan’s words. With a shocked expression, Wang Hao then tilted his head to one side and dug his ears using the other hand.

“You’ve quit?”

His tone was neither too high or too low, but it rose slightly at the end. Xu Lan nodded with raised eyebrows in response, verifying that he did indeed quit smoking.

“Okay then. I was just kidding, I want to quit too, but it makes me irritable that…ay, never mind. Let’s go and eat.”

Wang Hao had the desire to rant to Xu Lan, but he could not find the words for it. With a click, he lit the cigarette and took one puff, then urged Xu Lan to continue walking.

Noticing Wang Hao’s hesitance, it was clear to Xu Lan that what Wang Hao wanted to say was not appropriate in that circumstance. Bai Wu – in his flower-print pants – discreetly kept a distance from Xu Lan. He still remembered Wang Hao: the tan big brother who lent Xu Lan some money.

Three cups of wine sufficed to bring out Wang Hao’s talkativeness. After Xu Lan left, the case that he was assigned to at the time was given to Meng Chengjun. It was simply unbearable for Wang Hao.

“Sergeant Xu, tell me what you think of this. No one knows how the game spread so fast online! If someone posts a specific symbol online at night, another person would voluntarily contact the poster. The poster will then be given a few tasks until he kills himself. The case is called the ‘The 928 Incident’, and a task force even came over to deal with it. I was handing over my work to them back at the station earlier.”

He explained distressingly after downing another mouthful of wine, while his hands turned his hair into a chicken nest.

“Hasn’t there been any progress in the last few months?” Xu Lan asked with a frown.

A certain amount of capital must be paid in order to join the organization, much like a multi-level marketing group. More money had to be paid if you wanted a higher position, and the higher your position, the more control you had over people.

The difference was that multi-level marketing groups milk your hard-earned funds dry; that particular organization milked every last drop of your blood.

“Progress my a*s! In the beginning, I paid money just so I could go in and buy a position, then I slowly came into contact with the mastermind behind all this. I didn’t expect the whole act to become more and more elaborate. It was like a bottomless pit! Finally, we traced it to an offshore account, but when we tried tracking them down, the person had long disappeared.”

Wang Hao puffed his chest and stomped his feet, resenting both himself and Meng Chengjun for failing to meet expectations.

Xu Lan curled his lips. He gave Bai Wu some vegetables and reminded him to eat slowly.

Such games relied heavily on the use of an internet connection; it became what was known as the ‘Sparrow Game’. The Sparrow Game served those who can longer bear being squeezed dry and exploited in their daily lives, as well as those who could barely get by and were struggling constantly. They commit outrageous acts of atrocity under the pretense of aiding unfortunate people throughout the world.

It was that very organization that gobbled up the last of Xu Lan’s remaining funds. Apparently, Meng Chengjun continued to utilize that stupid practice.

“Sergeant Xu! Please come back! We kept searching for you over the past few months to no avail. The Director General’s no longer angry, and he even mentioned to me privately a few times now that he hopes you’ll come back to work again.” Wang Hao was a little intoxicated, and his eyes stared and glimmered at Xu Lan.