The Legend of Jade Gambling is a very typical template power-fantasy novel.
The main storyline follows Zhang Chen as he gets rich through his “golden finger” ability, constantly proving wrong both random onlookers and antagonists.
Before the author stopped updating, the novel had just reached the latest plot where Zhang Chen turns the tables again.
“Leader Liu glanced down at the manuscript: ‘The rich second generation provokes the protagonist, saying he doesn’t understand antiques, and the protagonist immediately snags a huge score—discovering a Zhou Dynasty bronze artifact…’”
At this point, Leader Liu couldn’t contain his doubts any longer.
He put the manuscript down and humbly asked the author himself, “Isn’t this supposed to be about jade gambling? Why is it suddenly involving antiques? And this Zhou Dynasty bronze artifact…”
Ji Ting’s face was expressionless, having already abandoned any pointless shame.
This was a very formal discussion meeting, with dozens of participants, each having studied Legend of Jade Gambling no less than ten times.
Before Leader Liu asked this question, someone had even seriously shared their thoughts on the novel and the many foreshadowings within it.
Ji Ting sat in the audience, feeling as if he was learning what the novel was really about for the first time—if they hadn’t talked so much up on stage, he really wouldn’t have thought this simple and crude power-fantasy novel contained so many hidden setups.
After all, when he wrote it, he hadn’t thought that far—who knew that years later, these rough words would become an abnormal event affecting the entire world?
So much so that Ji Ting had to endure a public execution of sorts, facing everyone’s meticulous dissection of his writing, word by word.
Seeing Ji Ting remain silent, Leader Liu shot him a puzzled look.
Baozi nudged Ji Ting’s arm.
Ji Ting snapped back to reality and self-deprecatingly recounted his mindset during writing: “The protagonist levels up too fast. Constantly writing about jade gambling causes aesthetic fatigue, so I added antiques as a new element.”
At this, Ji Ting grew animated: “Besides, Zhou Dynasty bronzes are pretty valuable, right? Selling one would be another satisfying payoff…”
Leader Liu coughed.
Hacker elbowed Ji Ting: “Trading bronzes is illegal.”
Ji Ting immediately quieted down, righteous: “That’s why I stopped updating.”
Leader Liu: “Don’t be nervous, it’s a novel after all—creative freedom. But if you say that, then it’s very likely Zhang Chen’s future plot will be set in the antiques world?”
Others in the discussion interrupted: “Not necessarily. The developments after the last update in previous novels didn’t directly follow the author’s ideas. In fact, we tend to believe that future plots are influenced by existing storylines and settings.
“If we treat the story as an independent entity with its own will, we might get a more accurate prediction of its direction.”
Leader Liu frowned: “But the related descriptions in this novel are all superficial, making it difficult to build accurate character models…”
This was Ji Ting’s fault. If only his writing skill were a little better, Leader Liu wouldn’t face such a headache.
The room fell silent for a moment.
Leader Liu looked down at the manuscript and skipped past the topic: “We also have to consider how the protagonist’s golden finger will impact the storyline.”
Someone quickly opened the PPT and pulled up relevant data: “The protagonist’s golden finger lets him see the ‘aura’ of objects. The more expensive the item, the deeper the color of its aura. That’s why he initially chose jade gambling…”
They seriously analyzed the protagonist’s golden finger and its possible influence on the plot.
“I still think the novel’s self-evolved storyline is likely set in the antiques field. Look at this original text: ‘Zhang Chen suddenly gasped, seeing an unprecedented bright color on this unremarkable piece of scrap bronze, a golden yellow tinged with some purple aura…’ Obviously, the golden finger has great use in the antiques world. And then, at the end of this passage, Zhang Chen asks the stall owner where this bronze came from…”
The speaker paused here, since the story abruptly ended at this point.
Leader Liu opened the PPT and played a video cut from various surveillance angles—the square-jawed man appearing on the street, entering a coffee shop, briefly talking with Wang Xiaoyun, then leaving and disappearing into the crowd.
Many present had already seen this video; in fact, this footage was the main reason for holding the meeting.
The “special event” had reoccurred, and this time they hoped to find the least costly way to resolve it before its influence expanded further.
In other words, after two consecutive cases of novel-reality fusion, the higher-ups had shifted from helplessness to active offense, hoping to keep the situation under safe control to protect the people’s property and maintain social order.
Nobody could stand another world-ending fiasco.
After the video ended, Leader Liu spoke first: “Everyone should have watched the video. The man’s identity is still being verified, and the intelligence team is checking areas with possible cognitive interference, but so far the target can’t be pinpointed. We’d like everyone to brainstorm and share their thoughts.”
Country C is vast; when novels merge with reality and cause cognitive changes, it’s hard to detect them immediately unless it’s an apocalypse-level event.
“His door-opening gesture is very unusual,” someone pressed pause and replayed the man entering and leaving the coffee shop.
“This isn’t something an ordinary person would do in daily life.”
“I heard you quickly lost him after he left the coffee shop? That’s specialized counter-surveillance training?”
“No cameras caught his final destination? That’s not ordinary professionalism. Considering how many cameras there are in A City, avoiding all their views precisely…”
The speaker glanced toward the Tian Shu Squad.
Li Yishu thought for a few seconds and gave a professional affirmation: “Definitely trained.”
Someone sighed: “So, what kind of people have such a strange way of opening doors and possess such high counter-surveillance awareness?”
Ji Ting exchanged a look with Sniper Scope: “Criminals?”
Another person disagreed: “I think the note he left is more valuable for analysis. This is clearly some kind of industry code.”
Leader Liu said: “No matter how bizarre the novel’s self-evolved plot, it must be based on the original story and setting.
“Zhang Chen is just an ordinary person who got a golden finger, and that golden finger isn’t for fighting or killing. Which professions with high counter-surveillance awareness could realistically intersect with him?”
After a brief silence, a flood of answers emerged.
“Warlords” were among the least notable guesses, alongside “mercenaries” and similar speculations.
One person argued confidently: “Maybe Zhang Chen went abroad? He’s definitely a technical talent, and since jade gambling abroad can involve some sensitive areas, turning outlaw wouldn’t be surprising…”
Ji Ting listened with interest as they argued for a long time, only for the topic to circle back to him.
The speaker looked at Ji Ting: “The person’s come knocking. Shouldn’t we respond?”
Director Liu shook his head: “Not yet. Let’s first figure out Ji Ting’s special role in the novel, then respond. This time we aim to seize the initiative, not let them lead us around by the nose.”
He glanced at the time: “That’s all for today. Please submit your reports later. Tomorrow’s discussion will be at the same time.”
After the meeting ended, people broke into small groups to continue discussing the earlier topics.
Only the Tian Shu Squad stood apart, whispering among themselves.
Baozi opened his sleepy eyes: “Finally over. Glasses, send me the meeting notes. I want to see what to write today.”
Canned Food scratched his head, pen in hand: “What did I write yesterday again…”
Hacker, however, was typing rapidly.
Sniper Scope leaned over to look—good grief, he was playing games.
It wasn’t that the Tian Shu Squad wasn’t serious, but the meeting had happened several times with the same back-and-forth topics.
They’d already written up what they had, and the rest was just patchwork.
Hacker closed his laptop and followed the crowd outside, complaining: “I think the leaders got it wrong. We’re an action team, right? Sitting in these expert meetings feels out of place.”
Ji Ting was self-aware: “Aren’t I in the action team? Since they’re researching my novel, I have to be here.”
“It doesn’t matter if you’re here. You still don’t understand the novel as deeply as Leader Liu,” Baozi teased.
“You wrote in your report yesterday that you think the suspicious person is a tomb raider.”
Hacker said: “Bronze artifacts, tomb raiders—that association isn’t wrong. It’s just a bit off. The protagonist went from jade gambling to antiques, fine, but switching to tomb raiding is a big leap.”
Sniper Scope suspiciously glanced at Ji Ting: “Tomb raiding novels are all fake. Graves just have corpses and anti-theft devices, no Baozi.”
The group joked as they left the conference hall, only to be called back soon after.
Not long after splitting up, Leader Liu frowned, opened the PPT, and projected a detailed file with a photo.
“She Lang, male, 32 years old, owns several properties and shops, involved in antiques and tea houses. Current residence: XX Province, XX City, XX Street, XX Community, No. XX.
Close associates include:
Quanyishou, male, 37 years old, unemployed vagrant, accidentally died a month ago.
Zhang Chen, male, 25 years old, antiques shop owner, missing for half a month.
Zhou Shengsheng, male, 28 years old, antiques shop assistant, accidentally died three days ago…
“Recent detailed movements of the target are as follows…”