Huang Shengjie paused for a moment and continued:
"How could he possibly judge the weight of your suitcase by the way you walk? This suitcase is light, and everyone walks differently, this is not something a human could do with the naked eye.
"You could also think of it this way: if he truly could see the quantity of gold sand in everyone’s suitcase, why would he falsely pretend to cooperate with you? Wouldn’t it be easier to inspect each one directly?"
Zhou Xiaoying paused for a moment, then said: "Maybe because it would be easier and less effort for him?
"Because inspecting requires getting within a certain range of the target, and the gold diggers will run.
"Even if Tang Qing can see the quantity of gold sand in people’s suitcases, he can’t run after every single one.
"If he can negotiate ’protection fees’ with most people, they won’t run. They will approach him and cooperate, and he only needs to escort these people to the trading area, making it relatively easy and stable.
"That also makes sense, doesn’t it?"
Huang Shengjie shook his head: "No, it doesn’t.
"Because Tang Qing is not fighting alone, he can completely cooperate with other members of the anti-smuggling team.
"The anti-smuggling team players under his control definitely wouldn’t only include Li Haoqiang.
"If he could truly estimate the rough amount of gold sand in the suitcase with just a glance, he only needs to stand on the auction stage and observe. Then, send out the anti-smuggling team players who can run fast to inspect.
"Or, he could directly station people at the gate of the trading area and wait in ambush.
"Therefore, for Tang Qing to claim that he can judge the amount of gold sand in the suitcase through your action and posture, it’s an absolute lie, a trick on you.
"It’s to make you give up resistance and voluntarily hand over the ’protection fee’.
"Actually, you should know in your heart that this briefcase is small, and the gold sand inside is not heavy. Even for you, a female player, it’s effortless to carry, so unlikely to show a clear flaw in actions."
Zhou Xiaoying’s face showed a dazed expression: "Is that really the case?
"But... he guessed so accurately! His estimate was only off by a few hundred compared to my actual profits.
"How was that done?
"Every time buying a land plot, the enclosure beside the partition rises up, making it completely unseen by others. And it’s not just two games I’ve played; the more times, the greater the fluctuation in the total amount of gold sand, right?
"If Tang Qing isn’t judging by my carrying the briefcase, isn’t that even scarier? Could it be that he has X-ray vision?"
Huang Shengjie shook his head: "Of course not.
"Actually, the truth might be much simpler than you think.
"Information leakage."
Zhou Xiaoying seemed incredulous: "How could that be? Tang Qing should not have entered Zone A, right?
"As for Li Haoqiang, he became a part of the anti-smuggling team early on, there’s no way for him to enter the Gold Panning Area."
Huang Shengjie explained: "Tang Qing doesn’t need to enter Zone A himself, he can gather intelligence through other players.
"Actually, I felt something was odd earlier. There’s a sense that the situation has changed from the beginning, but I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what changed.
"But now I’ve figured it out.
"Players in the Gold Panning Area have clearly decreased.
"Initially, I thought they had circulated; some went to the auction area, some to the trading area, but this doesn’t adequately explain the significant change in numbers.
"Because the auction area and trading area are merely places to liquidate gold sand. There’s no profit staying there, and the gold diggers would eventually return to the Gold Panning Area, which means the queue situation there should show some kind of cycle.
"But after observing for a while, it seems more like the ’number of people in the Gold Panning Area has permanently decreased’.
"Moreover, some players in the Gold Panning Area choose to stand between two gold-panning machines in line, which is very suspicious.
"Initially, I thought they did this to queue for two machines simultaneously, going to the open machine when a player leaves, but upon reflection, this doesn’t make sense.
"Because the area is large, with many obstacles, standing like this would easily be intercepted by other players.
"So... the only reason they’re standing like this is that they’re observing the situation of the two players using the gold-panning machines.
"Even though they can’t see the specific profits of the purchased land plot, as long as they remember the number of rounds, even recall the expected profits before purchasing each land plot, or a general game strategy, these are enough to form a judgment factor for the final profit.
"Besides that, I’ve noticed one more thing: most gold diggers carrying gold sand are cautious when they head to the rest area because there are many blind spots in view; they always subconsciously worry about being ambushed by the anti-smuggling team.
"However, some gold diggers seem completely unconcerned.
"Using mental toughness as an explanation is not tenable; a greater possibility is: they simply have no gold sand, or even if they do, they’re certain they won’t be inspected.
"They gain profits through intelligence trading."
Zhou Xiaoying’s expression grew more shocked: "Are you saying these gold diggers aren’t actually panning for gold themselves but serving as ’informants’? Are they helping the anti-smuggling team gather intelligence?
"But... what about their own profits?"
Huang Shengjie explained: "There might be two benefits to becoming informants:
"The first is they won’t be inspected.
"After gathering intelligence, informants leave the Gold Panning Area first, heading to the designated meeting point in the rest area to find the anti-smuggling team and pass on the intelligence.
"The anti-smuggling team can turn a blind eye and protect them or provide cover by pretending to inspect, making other teams keep their distance. This way, they can escort the informant safely to the trading area to liquidate the gold sand.
"The second is even simpler: Direct profit-sharing from the anti-smuggling team. That is, informants don’t participate in the game, they just track people, carrying empty suitcases to and fro. The anti-smuggling team continues inspections but intentionally guesses the wrong number, giving them visa time.
"And the anti-smuggling team’s visa time can be compensated through confiscating profits from other gold diggers.
"In this way, both sides complete a profit exchange.
"However, there is no way the anti-smuggling team players want such exchanges to be seen by other gold diggers, so they’ve hidden as much as possible, pretending ’nothing has changed’, to make those who had their information gathered drop their guard.
"Surely, many players have chosen to become informants for the anti-smuggling team, which is why the machine queue conditions have eased significantly and the number in the Gold Panning Area has noticeably dropped."
Finally, Zhou Xiaoying realized: "So that’s it... So, Tang Qing had already obtained the data from my game, including rounds and strategies, which is why he could judge so accurately.
"This now makes sense.
"But... even if knowing this, how can we avoid it? We still need to pan for gold; even if certain people are informants for the anti-smuggling team, we can’t avoid them."