"The situation is far more serious than we thought."
Captain Campbell’s first sentence made everyone’s heart sink.
"In just the past three hours, our detachment has continuously received mutual assistance requests from public security organs across more than fifteen different provinces and cities nationwide. All of these cases are connected to the Coin Harvest app.
"We can now confirm that this is a massive, nationwide cyber fraud case involving potentially over a billion yuan!"
Over a billion!
A collective gasp echoed through the reception room. For victims like them, who had lost tens or hundreds of thousands, their money was a mere drop in the bucket compared to this gaping black hole.
"We immediately set up a special task force and activated our emergency response protocol," Captain Campbell continued, scanning the crowd. "We’ve contacted the bank’s anti-fraud center. Using the transaction records and payment vouchers you provided, we are initiating emergency freezes on all related bank and third-party payment accounts!
"Right now, we are racing against the clock!
"Before they can completely launder the funds, we need to intercept as much as humanly possible!"
The next morning, Wendy Lynch was jolted awake by the buzzing of her phone.
It was a WhatsApp message from Jean Sutton.
[Wendy! The results are in!]
[The police acted overnight! They contacted the banks and froze several of the scammers’ domestic accounts!]
[But...]
Jean sent a crying emoji.
[The police said the scammers moved too fast. Most of the money had already been transferred out through various channels. The frozen funds only account for about thirty percent of the total. Out of my 40,000, I’ll probably get a little over 10,000 back.]
Wendy sighed softly as she looked at her screen. This outcome was exactly what she had anticipated. Getting thirty percent back was already a silver lining in a terrible situation. Just as she was about to type out a comforting reply, another barrage of messages popped up.
[But I’m honestly so satisfied! Really!]
[Waaah!!! Wendy, I thought about it all night. If it weren’t for you, I seriously would have gone and taken out that loan this morning! That would have been 600,000!]
[Compared to a 600,000 debt, losing this 30,000 is practically nothing! I’ll just treat it as an expensive life lesson!]
[Wendy, you’re my literal savior! Once I get the money back, I’m spending half of it to treat you to a huge meal!!!]
Wendy let out a long sigh of relief. The silly girl had finally snapped out of it completely; all of Wendy’s exhausting efforts the previous night hadn’t been in vain. After chatting a bit more, Wendy ended the conversation and went about her workday.
As quitting time approached, the tense atmosphere that had gripped the office all day finally began to ease. The clatter of keyboards grew sparse, replaced by the rustle of belongings being packed away and the low murmur of colleagues chatting.
Regina Campbell clapped her hands, the sharp sound instantly drawing everyone’s attention.
"Everyone, you’ve worked hard this week. I have some good news!" She wore a relaxed smile. "To reward you all and build some team camaraderie, the company has decided to organize a team-building event on Monday—that’s three days from now!
"The destination is Galen Forest Park, and the itinerary includes hiking and a barbecue. We’ll gather at the parking lot downstairs. Transportation, lunch, and dinner are fully covered!"
"Whoa!"
"That’s awesome! Getting paid to slack off!"
"Mount Galen! I’ve always wanted to go. I hear the sea of clouds up there is gorgeous!"
"Thank goodness it’s not on the weekend. I already have plans with my boyfriend!"
"We only have to work four days next week! This is the best!"
A small cheer erupted in the office as looks of anticipation spread across everyone’s faces. For the corporate drones trapped in their cubicles all day, there was no sweeter phrase than "paid team building."
Wendy stretched her stiff limbs, quite looking forward to the trip herself. Last night, she had been tossing and turning with Jean’s crisis until past three in the morning. Today, she had barely survived by downing cup after cup of black coffee. Both her brain and body were long overdue for a protest against the exhaustion. Going into the mountains to breathe some fresh air and untangle her frayed nerves sounded like an excellent idea.
The end-of-day bell rang right on time.
Wendy packed her things, waved goodbye to her colleagues, and dragged her exhausted body out of the office. After a quick bite at a fast-food joint by the road, she hurried back to her apartment. Running purely on autopilot, she washed up and then collapsed heavily into her soft bed. The moment her head hit the pillow, her consciousness plunged straight into darkness.
She slept incredibly deeply.
The next day, Wendy slept in until the sun was high in the sky. She reached out and fished her phone from under the pillow; it was already almost 11:00 a.m. After sleeping for a solid fourteen hours, the accumulated fatigue of the previous day had finally been swept away.
Wendy lingered in bed for another half-hour, idly scrolling through short videos before finally getting up to freshen up. She ordered takeout from a decent-looking restaurant on her phone, then skillfully opened her inbox, ready to check for any new emails from the future.
[You have a new email from September 27, 2025]
[It’s been a whole day, and there’s still no sign of Jared Carter!]
[It was supposed to be a nice team-building trip, but someone vanished into thin air for no reason.]
[The police have organized a massive search and rescue operation in the mountains, but there’s no progress yet.]
[His phone’s last known location was at Mirror Lake. Could he have accidentally fallen into the water?]
...
Jared Carter?
Wendy frowned instinctively when she saw the name. No one in her department was named Jared Carter.
But she quickly realized that Logistics Group Four wasn’t the only one going on this trip. To foster inter-departmental communication, the company had specifically arranged for Algorithm Groups Six and Seven to tag along. They called it "team building," but it was essentially a mixer. After all, the Algorithm Department was almost entirely comprised of single IT guys, while Logistics was predominantly female.
Encouraging employees to couple up internally was beneficial for the company’s stability. With a partner working in the same firm, the likelihood of an employee jumping ship was significantly lower. This Jared Carter was most likely from the Algorithm Department.
To confirm her suspicion, Wendy immediately opened her work email. She quickly located the team-building roster she had handled previously.
Sure enough, she successfully found Jared Carter’s name listed under Algorithm Group Six.
Jared Carter, Male, 29 years old, Level P5.
Other than that, there was no more useful information.
Suppressing the shock welling up in her chest, Wendy’s fingers flew across her keyboard as she typed "Galen Forest Park map" into her browser. The search results popped up instantly, bringing a high-definition electronic guide map to her screen.
Her eyes darted rapidly across the map.
Soon, she pinpointed the location mentioned in the email: Mirror Lake.