Chapter 123
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Shi Cheng still remembered that the day he left with Joey was May 1st. At that time, his heart was filled with excitement.
As soon as they came down from the mountain, he eagerly asked while rubbing his hands together. “Master, where are we going next?”
Joey didn’t bother correcting his form of address anymore. He had corrected him once before, but this fellow had confidently replied. “Although you haven’t officially taken me as your disciple, in my heart I respect you as my teacher. Besides, those who achieve are teachers, and since I’m learning from your excellent qualities by your side, it’s only right to call you Master.”
Therefore, Joey only said, “We’re going to find two people first.”
“?” Shi Cheng was stunned for a second before realizing this was the answer to his earlier question, and quickly caught up.
He was curious. “Are you looking for other owners of lost items?”
He had witnessed firsthand how this person had recovered his own lost items from those bandits, and he could only say the scene had been rather brutal.
“No, they’re helpers who can help me find my lost items faster.”
<!-- Top Ads -->“…you can call them the Heavenly Master of Divine Calculation.”
“The Heavenly Master of Divine Calculation?” When Shi Cheng said this, Liu Ningshuang couldn’t help but repeat it, “And there are two of them?”
She seemed to think of something and showed some surprise.
“—Is it the Heavenly Master of Divine Calculation that I know about?”
Her reaction drew sideways glances from others. Among the Special Case Investigation Team members sitting around listening to Shi Cheng’s story, Chu Xingrui curiously spoke up, “I spend all day on the Extraordinary Forum, but I’ve never heard of any Heavenly Master of Divine Calculation. Where did you hear about them?”
Liu Ningshuang waved her hand. “I actually learned about it from the Extraordinary Forum too. You probably just didn’t notice it.”
Under Chu Xingrui’s increasingly puzzled gaze, she explained, “It was from a post a few days ago on the Extraordinary Forum where the original poster said they encountered an online scam! Since it was posted in the casual discussion section and neither the title nor content was very attention-grabbing, it didn’t get much attention. I only came across it when I was browsing out of boredom.”
Although the Extraordinary Forum was named for the extraordinary, due to its secretive yet open nature, its users were quite diverse, including people from various countries, all ages and genders, both extraordinaries and ordinary people. Naturally, not all posts were related to extraordinary matters. A considerable portion didn’t involve extraordinary reports, and posters would consciously put these in the casual discussion section.
“…The content was a typical complaint post, saying they were scammed by an online fortune-telling account called ‘Heavenly Master Divine Calculator’, which was supposedly operated jointly by two people. The ‘Heavenly Master’ mainly sold talismans, while the ‘Divine Calculator’ handled divination.”
As she spoke, Liu Ningshuang pulled up the post she had read before.
[Help! Got scammed for 200,000 by online fortune telling but police won’t file a case, what should I do…]
The eye-catching title appeared before everyone, precisely summarizing the post’s main content. Others also found the post following her guidance, skipping over unimportant replies and focusing mainly on the original poster’s words.
[So here’s what happened. The other day, OP randomly found a newly registered social media account with no information, with an arrogant name called ‘Heavenly Master Divine Calculator’. They only do one divination per day, choosing their client based on fate, charging 100,000 per reading. It looked like an obvious scam account! Since OP was bored, OP wanted to mess with the scammer, so OP clicked on the account…]
(TL: OP=original poster)
[…Unexpectedly, after chatting with the scammer behind the account, OP started to change OP’s mind. They were just too professional, discussing metaphysical knowledge eloquently, seeming even more credible than many famous metaphysical masters.]
[Especially that ‘Heavenly Master’, their persuasion skills were incredibly strong. After chatting with him, OP was dazed and spent 100,000 to get a reading from the self-proclaimed accurate ‘Divine Calculator’. Then he told me that these two days were inauspicious for going out – the divination showed great misfortune! Going out would mean certain death, but staying home might give me a chance of survival.]
[OP: ???]
[…At this point, I started to waver. Those of you above calling me stupid, you’d understand if you experienced it yourself. That scammer called ‘Heavenly Master’ was really too good at sweet-talking, after just a few words, the atmosphere he created made me extremely anxious, feeling totally insecure. In my panic, I spent another 100,000 asking him to help resolve my disaster. That ‘Heavenly Master’ even spoke as if money meant nothing to him, saying what moved him wasn’t money, but seeing that I was fated for this, so he helped change my fortune.]
[Look, I’m here asking for help, could those calling me stupid make their own posts? I also think I was stupid for believing his nonsense.]
[The end? Of course nothing happened. I hid at home for two days, and nothing occurred. Looking at my empty bank account, I suddenly realized – damn, I’d been scammed! These two scammers didn’t do anything at all, just moved their lips and scammed me out of 200,000, this is ridiculous!]
[After coming to my senses, OP quickly went to the police station to report it. But the police couldn’t find any information and couldn’t file a case. When OP tried to message that social media account asking for my money back, OP couldn’t send anything – the system interface kept freezing. My 200,000 just went down the drain! I heard there are many capable people on the Extraordinary Forum, can anyone help me? If you can get the money back, I’m willing to give 1/10 as a reward.]
Reading to this point, everyone thought it was just an ordinary scam help post – there were countless people getting scammed by online fortune telling.
But then came the plot twist.
[336L: OP, why didn’t you clarify where that 200,000 went? Normally, even if the police can’t catch the person, they can track fund movements through bank records, right? Why didn’t you mention that all the funds were transferred to different charity organizations the moment you made the transfer?]
This sudden reply changed the direction of the entire thread. Those who had been criticizing the OP for being stupid or angrily denouncing the scammers were all stunned. They could only express their feelings with strings of question marks.
[What does this mean? The 200,000 didn’t go to scammers but to charity organizations? Then what were they trying to get from scamming OP? Such important information, OP, why didn’t you say this from the start?]
Some people were suspicious of the person who suddenly revealed the truth.
[336L, how do you know where the funds went? According to what you’re saying, you shouldn’t know this so clearly, right?]
And this person just replied:
[Because I was also once one of the Heavenly Master Divine Calculator’s fated people, so I know clearly where my payment went. They weren’t lying – they only divine for those who are fated, and don’t care about payment, because from the start the transfer accounts they provided were charity organizations, so how could this be called a scam?]
[So that’s how it is! I understand! According to current law, fraud is defined as illegally obtaining others’ property through deception. Since they didn’t pocket a single cent of your 200,000, how could this be filed as fraud? If you want that 200,000 back, you should dispute it with the charity organizations that received the donations. It would be a civil case, probably? I’m not a law student, please go easy on me if I’m wrong.]
[Right, you’re targeting the wrong people. If you want your money back, you should go to those charity organizations.]
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[By the way, since this ‘Heavenly Master Divine Calculator’ didn’t get a single cent in the end, what were they trying to get from deceiving OP?]
[…Could it be possible that they’re not scammers?]
[Could it be possible that they’re really divine calculators and heavenly masters?]
[Could it be possible that they’re working for charity organizations?]
[??? That makes so much sense, I can’t argue against it.]
As the thread went off-track, 336L spoke up again: [I can guarantee these two are definitely not scammers or swindlers, but truly capable masters. Recently my son almost lost his life, and by chance I got a divination from the Divine Calculator. Following their guidance, he really made it through that crisis.]
They also advised the OP: [Let the 200,000 go – after all, it was donated to charity to accumulate merit. My family also spent 200,000, and after my son recovered, we specifically consulted a famous metaphysical master. According to the master’s analysis, this should be an orthodox method of accumulating merit to change one’s fortune. Though the master is just a mortal and these are just his guesses, he deeply admires these capable individuals who can accomplish this – they must be true cultivators.]
[This opens up a whole new world.]
[I get it now – doing good deeds brings good fortune. Ordinary people might not see returns from good deeds, but these two masters have a way to convert accumulated merit from good deeds into good fortune?]
[The explanation is simple to understand, though it sounds mystical. I wouldn’t have believed it before, but now with the revival of spiritual energy and extraordinary powers, this explanation somehow seems quite credible?]
[I think OP should listen to the reply above. Consider the 200,000 as accumulating merit and let it go.]
But the thread’s OP clearly wasn’t convinced, or perhaps was just pained about losing the money: [All this talk about accumulating merit and changing fortune, aren’t you just a plant sent by those two? Who knows what’s really going on inside these charity organizations – you might be in cahoots with them. I don’t care, I must get my hard-earned money back!]
What followed was an angry tirade against the scammers, including many censored words that need not be mentioned.
“Oh?” After reading through everything, Liu Ningshuang said in surprise, “When I read it last time, they only discussed getting money back from the charity organizations – the part about accumulating merit hadn’t appeared yet. I thought it was just an ordinary civil dispute unrelated to the extraordinary. Because I remembered the title ‘Heavenly Master Divine Calculator’, when you mentioned it today, Shi Cheng, it came to mind.”
“But now it seems it’s not that simple,” Li Fufeng said, twirling his pen as he picked up her thread.
Shi Cheng nodded in confirmation. “Indeed, it’s not that simple. If I’m not mistaken, the social media account mentioned in the post belongs to the people Teacher Joey took me to meet.”
“…That account was newly registered because I was actually the one who suggested they create an online presence.”
Speaking thus, he couldn’t help but recall the scene when he first saw those two people at a famous tourist spot.
One wore a blue Taoist robe, like an immortal exiled to the mortal world; the other wore fine silk and jade, like a noble young master. Behind them followed a spirited little donkey, leisurely walking through an ancient water town in Jiangnan. At first glance, it almost felt like crossing through time and space.
“I thought since times have changed, their previous method of divining for fated people wherever they went was too troublesome, so I suggested they could open a social media account.”
Shi Cheng shook away the mental image and said with a smile. “I didn’t expect those two would actually agree to my suggestion.”
Chu Xingrui’s originally lazy expression changed slightly. “So, these are two more low-key extraordinaries? It seems I was negligent this time. Information about the Divine Calculator and Heavenly Master had already been mentioned online, but my team completely overlooked it, filtering it out as invalid information.”
As the person responsible for monitoring and guiding online information, Chu Xingrui couldn’t help but reflect, secretly adding the Divine Calculator and Heavenly Master to his list.
He quickly moved to remedy the situation, immediately calling his subordinates’ office with a clear thought. “Since the Divine Calculator and Heavenly Master are real extraordinaries, everything mentioned in that post must be true. We need to investigate the original poster’s real identity, find out if they recovered the money from the charity organization, and what their current situation is.”
Before long, they received the latest news.
The original poster was real, and two days ago had recovered 200,000 from the charity organization. However, on the very evening they recovered the money, they died in an accidental car crash while out for a night jog.
Reading these simple sentences, Chu Xingrui and the others felt a chill run down their spines. “An accident? Was this really an accident?”
For a moment, they all nearly fell into conspiracy theories.
Could it be that because this person recovered the money, breaking their previous deal, they were cursed by the Divine Calculator and Heavenly Master?
However, these conspiratorial thoughts were quickly dismissed as the probability seemed too low. They were more inclined to believe—
“That person paid the divination fee and obtained fortune from the Divine Calculator and Heavenly Master’s words, which was originally a give-and-take contract,” Shi Cheng’s voice confirmed everyone’s speculation. “But when they went back on their word and recovered all the money, it was equivalent to voiding the contract, returning them to their original fate.”
As for their original fate, hadn’t the divination already shown it? Great misfortune!
Everyone suddenly understood. Li Fufeng added, “Perhaps they not only returned to their original fate but also suffered some backlash. Even ordinary contract breaches require penalty payments. These two are extraordinary beings—could anyone really break a contract with them without consequences?”
“…Very likely,” Shi Cheng didn’t deny it. “Although I only met them once, I could sense they were truly accomplished masters who walked among mortals. While they seemed approachable and didn’t care about many things, they weren’t the type to tolerate disrespect with magnanimity.”
“Even Joey showed great respect for their abilities…” It wasn’t the reverence of the weak toward the strong, but more like the respect ordinary people show to doctors or teachers.
Shi Cheng recalled silently, feeling regretful. “These two were simply offering fortune to those with destiny, but to think there are actually such foolish people in this world, throwing away such an opportunity!”
Setting aside the matter of the Divine Calculator and Heavenly Master—the Special Case Investigation Team would investigate later anyway—the focus now was on Joey. Therefore, Li Fufeng brought the conversation back. “So, you went to find the Divine Calculator and Heavenly Master to divine the location of Joey’s lost items?”
“Correct.” Shi Cheng’s eyes couldn’t help but show amazement. “The Heavenly Master is a master of talismans. He folded a temporary compass from talisman paper that would last two months, and the Divine Calculator, who excels in divination, seemed to cast some sort of spell on it. As long as we follow the compass’s direction, we can find Joey’s items.”
“The journey afterward proved the compass was completely accurate.”
Hearing this, everyone couldn’t help but increasingly admire the abilities of the Divine Calculator and Heavenly Master. Compared to other extraordinaries, these two masters were probably the ones the Special Case Investigation Team most wanted to recruit. Their abilities were truly enviable.
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Chu Xingrui suddenly asked, “By the way, there’s something I’ve been curious about for a long time. I wonder if you can answer it for me. Do you know how Joey’s items ended up outside? Is there any connection with the mysterious objects appearing around the world?”
His question was very sensitive and rash, possibly involving secrets Joey couldn’t reveal. The others were startled—this was too impulsive! What happened to taking things step by step?
After speaking, Chu Xingrui felt unusually uneasy.
He figured Shi Cheng probably wouldn’t say anything about such secrets. More likely, Shi Cheng didn’t even know the answer.
But strong curiosity still lingered in Chu Xingrui’s mind, like cat claws gently scratching again and again.
“Just what is the background of this Joey…”
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