This time, the first to respond was actually the guy with the stud earring. He gritted his teeth, shoved his phone into his pocket, and roared, "Listen to her! We’re going to the police station right now! Damn it, I refuse to believe there’s no justice left in this world!"
"Yeah! Let’s call the police!"
"Let’s go right now!"
The crowd stirred again. This time, instead of scattering in panic, they had a clear objective.
Wendy Lynch grabbed Jean Sutton, who was still frozen in shock, and pulled her up from the floor. "Let’s go!"
The large group surged out the doors of Nightfall KTV, looking like a mob on their way to a street brawl. Out on the early morning streets, they flagged down several taxis and headed straight for the nearest police station.
In the taxi, Jean clutched Wendy’s hand tightly. Her palms were ice-cold and trembling slightly. She watched the neon lights flash by the window, a mix of lingering fear and immense gratitude leaving her almost speechless.
"Wendy... I’m sorry..." She kept her head down, her voice thick and nasal. "I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that earlier... I’m sorry...
"I really lost my mind just now.
"I really... I really didn’t expect it to be a scam...
"Thank you, Wendy... Really, thank you..."
At this moment, she had finally snapped out of it entirely. Losing forty thousand felt like a knife to the heart, but if she had actually taken out that six hundred thousand loan tomorrow... she didn’t dare to imagine what her life would have become. That would have been true hell.
Wendy looked at her, her own feelings a complicated tangle. She didn’t say "It’s fine," because this wasn’t solely Jean’s fault.
"We’re friends," Wendy said simply.
Those two words were more effective than any consolation. Jean’s tears flowed even harder, but this time, they weren’t tears of despair; they were tears of relief and gratitude for having survived a disaster.
The taxis soon arrived at the local police station.
The lobby was brightly lit in the dead of night, yet unusually quiet. The officer on duty, a very young-looking man, was dozing with his head on the desk. Startled awake by the commotion, he lifted his head, his sleepy eyes full of annoyance.
"What’s going on? Not sleeping in the middle of the night—are you all gathering for a brawl or something?"
The guy with the stud earring rushed forward first, explaining what happened with frantic gestures. After listening, the young officer rubbed his eyes, yawned, and casually pulled a form from the side.
"Fill this out." His attitude was incredibly dismissive. "It’s just an investment dispute. You got greedy for high returns, and now that the platform won’t let you withdraw your money, you come running to the police.
"Let me tell you, we see this kind of P2P thing all the time.
"In the end, it’s almost always classified as illegal fundraising, and you’ll have to sue them in court.
"Just register your information for now and go back to wait for news."
These words were exactly what they had feared earlier. The crowd, who had just kindled a glimmer of hope, felt as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped over their heads.
"I told you calling the police wouldn’t work!"
"Go back and wait for news? By the time we hear anything, it’ll be too late!"
"It’s over, it’s all over. We’re really not getting a single cent back now..."
A depressing atmosphere spread through the crowd once again. The guy with the stud earring was so furious he slammed his fist on the reception desk, yelling at the young officer.
"What do you mean, investment dispute? This is fraud! Naked fraud! Is this how you police handle cases?"
"Hey! Watch how you speak!" The young officer’s temper flared, and he stood up. "What are you yelling for? I’m following procedure, is that wrong? If you’re so smart, you shouldn’t have been greedy in the first place!
"We put out warnings everywhere telling people not to trust these P2P platforms, but you guys just don’t listen!
"Now look what happened. Everything went wrong, didn’t it?"
Seeing that an argument was about to break out, Wendy frowned. Just then, a door inside the station was pushed open. Two middle-aged police officers in uniform walked out of an office.
One of them, a man with a square face and a naturally commanding presence, glanced at the tense atmosphere in the lobby and frowned.
"Lynch, what’s going on? Why is it so lively in the middle of the night?"
Upon seeing the newcomers, the young officer instantly lost his bravado and hurriedly explained, "Captain Lowell, Captain Campbell, you haven’t left yet? It’s nothing major. Just a group of people who got trapped in a P2P scam coming to file a report."
"P2P?"
The square-faced man addressed as Captain Lowell swept his gaze over Wendy’s group, finally landing on the agitated guy with the stud earring.
"Which platform?"
"It’s called... called ’Coin Harvest’!" the guy with the stud earring replied hastily, as if he had grasped a lifeline.
Hearing those words, Captain Lowell and Captain Campbell exchanged a glance, their eyes instantly sharpening.
"Coin Harvest?" Captain Campbell took a step forward, pressing the issue. "The app that claims to be ’Internet Plus Agriculture’ where you can plant crops and raise pigs online?"
"Yes, yes, yes! That’s the one!" Jean nodded eagerly.
Captain Lowell’s expression immediately turned stern. "Tell me the specifics. In detail."
The guy with the stud earring quickly recounted the situation from start to finish. The more Captain Lowell and Captain Campbell listened, the graver their expressions became.
"You’re saying the platform used ’system review’ as an excuse to lock everyone’s withdrawals, with a forty-eight-hour time limit?" Captain Lowell seized on the most crucial detail.
"Yes!" the crowd answered in unison.
"Walker!" Captain Lowell immediately turned to a police officer behind him. "Check our department’s reporting system immediately. See if there are any other recent records regarding ’Coin Harvest’!"
"Yes, sir!"
Captain Lowell then turned to Wendy and the others, his tone entirely different from the young officer’s.
"We are from the Municipal Bureau’s Economic Crimes Investigation Detachment. This case falls exactly under our jurisdiction. We’ll take it from here.
"Everyone, come back to the detachment with us right now to make detailed statements!"
Those words were no different from the music of heaven. The crowd, which had been dead silent just a moment ago, erupted in cheers of relief.
"That’s wonderful! We’re saved!"
"Officers, you have to catch those scammers!"
The group was taken to the Municipal Bureau’s Economic Crimes Investigation Detachment and arranged to wait in a spacious reception room. The atmosphere at the Municipal Bureau was entirely different from the local station. Everyone here was in a hurry with serious expressions, and a palpable tension hung in the air.
The crowd, on the verge of a breakdown just moments prior, quieted down and sat obediently. Their emotions were still tumbling like a roller coaster.
Jean sat tightly beside Wendy, her hand still gripping the hem of Wendy’s shirt as if it were the only way to find a shred of security. Fear and dependence intertwined in her eyes; not a trace of her former drunkenness and fanaticism from the KTV remained.
The wait was agonizing. Every second that ticked by felt like torture.
After an unknown amount of time, Captain Campbell opened the door and walked in, his face grave. Everyone’s hearts instantly leaped into their throats.