Chapter Fourteen: An Astonishing Reversal—You Call This Lack of Talent?

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Jinling City Bureau, interrogation room.
The incandescent lamp overhead emitted a continuous low-frequency hum, casting a harsh, pale light. Under its glow, every speck of dust suspended in the air was exposed without escape. The cold scent of disinfectant mingled with metal pierced the nostrils, amplifying the oppressive atmosphere of the confined space.
Lin Ya’s gaze was like a probe locked onto its target.
Renowned throughout the city bureau as an expert interrogator, her eyes seemed to penetrate flesh and bone, reaching straight into the depths of the soul. At this moment, that probe was fixed unwaveringly on the young man opposite her.
Her fingertips tapped gently on the file lying on the table.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The rhythmic sound echoed infinitely in the silence, knocking relentlessly against the suspect’s psychological defenses.
“He Yu, twenty years old, unemployed.”
Lin Ya spoke, her voice utterly devoid of warmth, each word as precise and cold as a surgical scalpel.
She paused briefly, studying his reaction.
No response.
“Stop pretending.”
Leaning slightly forward, Lin Ya changed the room’s atmosphere with this simple movement. The invisible pressure poured out like mercury flooding the floor, filling every inch of space and compressing He Yu’s realm of existence.
Her voice dropped sharply, filled with an undeniable force.
“Who is behind you?”
“Who is the mastermind?”
“How many people are in the gang?”
“Where is the two hundred million yuan fund now?”
The barrage of questions was no longer tentative but came like a dense hailstorm, pelting He Yu relentlessly. This was her signature tactic: a tempest of attack designed to shatter the opponent’s will in the shortest possible time, ripping open their defenses.
She waited.
Waiting for the expected panic, the evasive glances, the collapse of resolve.
Yet, there was nothing.
He Yu sat quietly.
The metal handcuffs on his wrists reflected a glaring white light, cold and heavy. Yet his posture was unusually relaxed, as if they were not restraints but mere ornaments.
At the corners of his mouth lingered a faint, almost imperceptible curve.
It was neither defiance nor a facade of calmness.
It was a kind of detached composure, as if he were watching a play unfolding before him that had nothing to do with him.
His gaze drifted beyond Lin Ya’s shoulder, settling on the blank wall behind her.
There, a translucent panel visible only to him glowed softly.
[Credibility: 72,850]

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Over seventy-two thousand points.
Enough.
The script in his mind had long since written the prologue for this moment.
“System.”
A silent thought rang clearly in his mind, transforming into a precise command.
“Immediately exchange for [Complete Set of Top-Tier Private University Operating Licenses], including all related physical and electronic certificates!”
A cold mechanical voice responded deep within his consciousness, devoid of any emotion.
[Ding!]
[Exchanging for [Complete Set of Top-Tier Private University Operating Licenses] requires 60,000 credibility points.]
[Confirm?]
“Confirm!”
He Yu’s thought was instantaneous and resolute.
…
Almost simultaneously, outside the interrogation room, the atmosphere in the Cyber Police Unit’s office was equally tense.
Deputy Captain Liu Jie paced anxiously back and forth, wearing down the floor beneath his feet. The ashtray on his desk overflowed with cigarette butts, piled like a small mountain.
This case was too significant.
The amount involved was staggering.
Countless eyes from the provincial bureau were watching them. If he couldn’t close this case with solid evidence, his position as deputy captain would be at risk.
Suddenly—
“Ring! Ring! Ring!”
A sharp, piercing ring shattered the stifling air of the office without warning!
The sound came from the red telephone on his desk.
This was no ordinary phone—it represented the highest emergency internal line; every ring signaled a matter of utmost importance.
Liu Jie jolted, rushing over in three quick strides and snatching up the receiver.
Just as it touched his ear, a voice filled with shock and boundless fury crashed through like thunder, making his eardrums buzz and his mind go blank.
“Liu Jie! What on earth is your Cyber Police Unit doing?!”
That voice…
Liu Jie’s hand gripping the receiver began to numb uncontrollably.
The name displayed on the phone screen felt like an invisible hand squeezing his heart mercilessly.

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Provincial Department of Education, Director Zhou.
He forced his chaotic thoughts to calm, organizing his words as quickly as possible, each one carefully weighed.
“Director Zhou, we are investigating a major online fraud case…”
“Fraud?”
The voice on the other end suddenly rose eight tones higher, filled with disbelief and outrage.
“I’m asking you! Did you arrest a young man named He Yu?!”
“Is it true that the Longhai University he established lacks accreditation?!”
“That’s correct!”
Liu Jie answered immediately, his tone resolute.
This question hit the mark—it was the cornerstone of the entire case, the ironclad evidence they had meticulously verified over weeks!
“We have thoroughly checked; there is no record of registration either with the Ministry of Education or our provincial department! It is 100% illegal fundraising! The evidence chain is complete—this is an airtight case!”
He emphasized the last two words heavily, trying to convey his professionalism and confidence to the director.
There was a deathly silence on the other end.
Those few seconds felt like an eternity to Liu Jie. He could hear his own pounding heartbeat, and the increasingly heavy, as if suppressed, breathing of Director Zhou through the receiver.
The next moment, a roar more furious than before blasted through the line, filled with rage born of shattered understanding.
“No?!”
“Just five minutes ago! Only five minutes ago!”
“The Ministry of Education’s office directly synchronized the complete accreditation documents and official red-stamped approvals for Longhai University to our provincial system via the highest level of encrypted channels!”
“Direct approval from the Ministry! All steel seals intact! Document numbers freshly generated!”
Director Zhou’s voice, hoarse from extreme anger, struck each word like a red-hot hammer crashing onto Liu Jie’s most vulnerable nerves.
“Now tell me!”
“He doesn’t have accreditation?!”
Liu Jie, clutching the phone, froze on the spot as if petrified instantly.
His mind went blank.
All sounds, thoughts, and logic were shattered in that instant by those few words.
He was utterly stunned.