After reading the new email, a figure uncontrollably surfaced in Wendy Lynch’s mind. It was the gloomy-looking extra leaning alone against the corner of the wall at Legends Film Studios this afternoon!
She knew it was him. It was definitely him.
At the time, Wendy had merely felt that the man was somewhat out of place. Now, it seemed her intuition was incredibly sharp. There had been dozens of extras on the set, but she had noticed him in the crowd at first glance.
A second later, a chill ran down her spine. This afternoon, she had been less than fifty meters away from a ruthless A-level wanted criminal. If the police officer mentioned in the future email had appeared today... If that man had suddenly lashed out... She didn’t dare to think any further.
She took a deep breath, and then another. Wendy quickly calmed down, her mind racing. The current situation was completely different from what happened at the hot spring resort yesterday.
With the hot spring incident, she hadn’t had any proof. If she had gone to the police empty-handed to claim that a child was going to fall into a pool, they would have treated her like a lunatic. She had been forced to intervene in a roundabout, even somewhat clumsy, manner.
But this time was different! The email had explicitly stated that this was an A-level wanted criminal! What did that mean? It meant his photo and identity information were public. Anyone could look them up on the Ministry of Public Security’s official website at any time! She could entirely pretend that she had accidentally recognized the fugitive. It was a perfectly reasonable excuse. People would only be amazed by her astonishing memory and observation skills; they would never suspect she possessed some kind of supernatural cheat.
As long as she reported this information to the police, they could lay a trap in advance, deploying enough manpower and weapons. Let alone one A-level fugitive, even ten would have no choice but to surrender! The death and injury mentioned in the email were very likely the result of that off-duty police officer acting rashly without preparation and sufficient backup. As long as they were fully prepared, this tragedy could easily be avoided.
With these thoughts, Wendy felt much more at ease. She immediately opened her phone’s browser and meticulously typed "Ministry of Public Security A-level wanted list" into the search bar.
The search results popped up quickly. She clicked the top official link, and a solemn webpage appeared before her eyes. On the page, photos were arranged neatly in rows, each accompanied by a name, gender, ID number, and the nature of the crime.
"Currently, there are 52 A-level wanted criminals at large nationwide."
There were fewer A-level fugitives than she had imagined! Wendy’s spirits lifted; it seemed finding the man wouldn’t be difficult.
She focused her mind, carefully recalling the appearance of the man she had seen at the film studios that afternoon. His features were very distinct: a gloomy, long, and thin face, a rather average build, and most crucially, a shallow scar by the corner of his right eye.
She started from the first photo and looked down the list one by one.
"This isn’t him. Too fat," she muttered to herself. "This isn’t him either. The age is wrong; he looks almost fifty. This one has a mole on his face, not a scar."
Wendy’s finger slid slowly across the screen, comparing each face with the memory in her mind.
The tenth... The twentieth... The thirtieth...
Her brows slowly furrowed.
"Why isn’t he here?" she wondered. "Did I remember it wrong? Or was the photo on the wanted poster taken years ago, making him look completely different now?"
Refusing to give up, she started from the beginning again. This time, she didn’t just look at the faces but also carefully examined the hometowns and age brackets listed below the photos. However, when she scrolled to the very bottom of the page and saw the fifty-second fugitive’s photo, her heart sank.
How strange! He wasn’t there? What was going on? She had gone through the fifty-two A-level fugitives three times back and forth. Let alone an exact match, there wasn’t even anyone who looked remotely similar. Even setting aside the obvious scar by his eye, his long, thin face should have been easily recognizable. Wendy was completely baffled.
The first step of her plan, which she had thought would be the easiest, had actually failed. Without the photo from the wanted poster as evidence, how was she supposed to call the police? Was she supposed to tell them, ’Hello, I saw an extra at the film studios this afternoon. I think he looks like a bad guy, so you should hurry up and arrest him’? How would that be any different from the hot spring incident yesterday?
Something had to be wrong. Wendy lightly tapped her forehead, forcing her chaotic thoughts to clear. The future emails had never been wrong! That meant the fugitive was definitely hiding among those extras.
Wait! Wendy slapped her forehead. She finally realized where the problem lay!
That the scarred man was the A-level wanted criminal was her own preconceived notion. It wasn’t actually mentioned in the email. If he wasn’t the so-called A-level fugitive, then it was naturally impossible to find a matching portrait among their photos.
"Wendy, Wendy, how did you also learn to judge a book by its cover?" she berated herself inwardly. "A person’s looks are given by their parents. Just because he has a slightly gloomy expression and a scar on his face, you immediately assume he’s a wanted criminal?"
She thoroughly despised herself at that moment. It was ridiculous to label someone based purely on their appearance. Arbitrarily assuming he was an A-level fugitive was nothing but pure prejudice!
But if the scarred man wasn’t the target, then who was the fugitive mentioned in the email? That person had successfully fooled everyone and blended into the crowd. How was she going to fish him out?
Soon, Wendy thought of the simplest method: go back to the film studios. According to the future email, the target would continue working there as an extra for the near future until he was discovered by the off-duty police officer. Therefore, all she needed to do was visit the studios again and compare the extras with the photos online. Finding him should be a breeze.
However, acting like that would be way too suspicious.
Wait! Wendy suddenly remembered something. This afternoon at the film studios, that little fangirl Charlotte Lynch had recorded several videos on her phone to capture footage of the celebrities! It was entirely possible that she had caught some of the extras on camera as well.
At that thought, Wendy could no longer stay in bed. She carefully threw off the covers and quietly slipped over to Charlotte’s bed.
Charlotte was sleeping soundly, the corners of her mouth slightly upturned as if she was having a sweet dream. Wendy reached out and gingerly picked up Charlotte’s phone from the nightstand. She unlocked it with her fingerprint and opened the photo gallery in one smooth motion.
Sure enough, the most recently saved files in the gallery were the several videos taken at Legends Film Studios that afternoon.