Chapter 753: Chapter 750 Continuous Tasks: Water and Fire.

Mugalen certainly wasn’t short on cash; after his Wilderness Survivalist skills could be monetized, he moved into a big house and drove a Ford Raptor, with plenty of spare money on hand.

After a few jokes, Mugalen generously supported Bi Fang and Yao Jun with thirty thousand Ugly Knives, which was already enough for the two of them to live a happy life for a month with spendthrift abandon.

Even so much cash posed another problem; how to carry it all?

The ATM could only dispense $20 bills; thirty thousand dollars in twenties would make a thick stack, easily over fifteen centimeters high–far too conspicuous, unsafe even in a backpack, not only drawing the attention of various social elements but possibly even attracting the police.

In Huaxia, even elementary students know to turn to the police if they lose money, but in some countries, the police might very well be the ones who run off with your wallet.

As long as a person is carrying a large amount of cash, the Ugly Country police could choose to confiscate it on the grounds that it is suspected to be illicitly obtained, justifying their right to seize it.

Exchanging for hundreds or fifties would make the stack considerably smaller, but one would have to withdraw them at a counter. Not to mention the risk, these denominations are indeed hard to use.

The teller might even ask why you’re withdrawing so much money, what you need the large bills for, and other tricky questions. Even depositing several thousand dollars in cash at once can get you flagged; the bank might report you, and an investigation into potential money laundering or tax evasion could follow.

Depositing money is already such a hassle, not to mention withdrawing it–it’s like carving flesh from the bankers.

In a word, big money uses credit cards, small money uses small bills.

“Oh, I also have cashiers’ checks.”

Sean raised his hand and fished around inside his jacket, finally pulling out a checkbook.

“You have that too?”

Bi Fang was shocked. A vagrant with a card was one thing, quite reasonable actually, but always ready with a checkbook?

Are you the reincarnation of Doraemon?

Sean shrugged: “I’ve always believed I could make a comeback. These checks are leftovers from before; I couldn’t bring myself to throw them away, they remind me of my glory days.”

“Wait, what good are checks? Don’t you also have to exchange them at the counter?”

Yao Jun, who had years of Ugly Country living experience from studying at a university overseas, still found himself outmatched in a complex country like the Ugly Country despite his time in Northern Europe.

“ATMs in the Ugly Country are not only everywhere,” Bi Fang paused, “some of them can even take a check directly for cash withdrawals…”

“Are they really that amazing?”

“Alright, the biggest problem is solved, now let’s enjoy ourselves!”

Bi Fang looped his arms around the shoulders of Sean and Yao Jun and laughed heartily.

…

In the following days, the Hunter Team was plunged into utter chaos; they picked up new leads every day but always found that their quarry had managed to slip away upon reaching the destination.

No one could say the Hunter Team was too weak, as when they reluctantly shifted their focus from Bi Fang’s group to other troublesome subjects… the terrifying contrast became apparent.

Other fugitives, one group after another, were being “captured and brought to justice,” and more of the hunters’ methods were revealed, starting with the Three-Strike Plan.

Under the nearly inescapable Three-Strike Plan, Bi Fang’s resourcefulness seemed all the more remarkable.

First Strike, the hunter teams monitored escapees’ entire networks of relationships. As soon as an escapee contacted someone in that network, it was akin to walking into a trap.

On the third day, a contestant called their mother with a temporary phone because they were lost and was immediately located.

The logic of the hunter team was simple: when seeking help, people generally turn to those they trust.

This was the first contestant to be caught.

Second Strike, the hunters went to the fugitives’ homes and companies, judging their characters and preferences through conversations and observations and thereby conjecturing their escape methods, narrowing the search radius.

Four teams of players who were friends had opened a simulation gun store together and often organized field exercises for gun enthusiasts.

The Hunter Team rapidly narrowed the search area to the suburban parks on both sides of the river.

By only the sixth day, they had captured two people from the suburbs.

For the final strike, the hunters took the initiative to look for the most likely suspects, beating around the bush to obtain clues.

On the seventh day, they visited the friends’ houses of the fugitives to gather information, and used mobile phones to transmit the scene in real time back to headquarters.

The behavioral analysis expert in front of the big screen pointed out on the spot that this friend was lying.

Sure enough, the fugitives were hiding in the friend’s house.

In nine days, three teams, six people, one-third of the players had been apprehended, and the time hadn’t even reached one-third of the total length.

Beside the standard Three-Strike Plan, each of these experts possessed unique and formidable skills.

Some could crack login passwords based only on guesses, some deciphered the entire escape plan from the fugitives’ abandoned calendars, others rapidly deduced the closeness of relationships through comments on social media…

Watching the hunters work was a pleasure.

Targeted, clear-cut, and methodical, they tackled one problem after another in a firm and steady manner–that’s the routine of modern criminology.

The hunters employed mature tactics to cover all bases, ready with tools for every trick the fugitives tried.

The opponents floundered like ants on a hot pan, panic-stricken, while the hunters methodically countered every move.

It was a game of cat and mouse, not even on the same level.

Professional vs. amateur, the difference was immediately apparent.

But all of this was ineffective in front of Bi Fang.

This man knew all the hunters’ tactics and understood even better how to deal with such measures.

More intelligent, more skillful, more tightly bound.

To pursue Bi Fang, the Hunter Team spared no effort–

Hacking into iCloud, monitoring phone calls, emails, and credit cards, consulting the central database of CCTV and automatic license plate recognition systems, posting “wanted notices” on social media, offering rewards, asking the public to provide leads to assist in the capture…

But all of this was futile for Bi Fang.

Bi Fang and Yao Jun were riding the train, randomly choosing stations, based solely on where the scenery looked more appealing.

It was like a movie with criminals as the protagonists, where no matter what moves the opponents used, the criminals always managed to prevail in the confrontation with the police.

They would brazenly show up and then swiftly vanish before the hunters caught on.

Or drive rented luxury cars, recklessly spending wads of cash.

On the tenth day, the fourth group of fugitives was caught.

Bi Fang played a round of golf in Griffith Park, had an incredibly lucky streak with hole-in-one shots, and instantly sent out three thousand Ugly Knife red packets. He also received a ten thousand Ugly Knife reward from the course, had his name engraved on the organizer’s hole-in-one heroes list, and obtained a certificate.

When the hunters arrived later, all they saw was the hero list left on the wall.

On the fourteenth day, the fifth group of fugitives was captured.

Bi Fang and Yao Jun visited Little Tokyo in Los Angeles and enjoyed a Japanese meal.

The hunters were left with just the bill.

No one knew where their money came from. Owen once suspected cheating, but the production team’s answer was that everything was in accordance with procedure.

On the nineteenth day, the sixth group of fugitives was caught.

Only three groups remained on the run. Two groups had hidden in rat holes, but Bi Fang and Yao Jun appeared on Sunset Boulevard.

This broad thoroughfare shares its name with the black-and-white film “Sunset Boulevard,” produced by Paramount Pictures Corporation in the 1950s. The real Sunset Boulevard is located on Hollywood Boulevard, runs through the city of Los Angeles, and is approximately 27 kilometers long, with palm trees stretching along the roadside accompanied by towering movie billboards.

Walking on Sunset Boulevard, looking at old records displayed in the cabinets, reliving the heart-stirring melodies from years ago, one could spend a leisurely afternoon.

The hunters who came here captured shards of golden sunlight.

On the twenty-fourth day, the seventh group disappeared from the program’s roster.

Bi Fang stood at the Getty Center, which is composed of six buildings with expansive gardens and 600 acres of untouched natural terrain.

It is also one of the wealthiest art institutions in the world, housing some of the finest native Ugly Country manuscripts and old photographs, and is one of the largest collectors of such art in the country.

Stepping in here, one could immediately feel like an artist.

As the hunters were on their way, the drones overhead had already spotted the two men, yet Bi Fang casually spent money on souvenirs in public, oblivious to the approaching danger!

What was more surprising was that, less than ten minutes before the hunters arrived by helicopter, the two men had vanished from the computer screens.

On the twenty-seventh day, with only one last day of the normal game remaining, the eighth group of players also met their demise, branded with the label of failure by the hunters.

Bi Fang and Yao Jun…

They hadn’t gone anywhere.

Yao Jun nibbled on dry bread, touched his empty pockets, and let out a silent sigh of bad luck.

They were out of money.

They had indeed lived lavishly for a month, but their spending was like a flowing river.

The thirty thousand Ugly Knives provided by Mugalen, plus Bi Fang’s stroke of luck in sinking a hole in one – although he distributed three thousand in red packets, he earned seven thousand – a total of thirty-seven thousand, all spent without a penny left.

With only two days left, Bi Fang couldn’t be bothered to return to the forest to hunt and decided to just while away the remaining days in an unnoticed spot.

On the evening of the twenty-seventh day, the day Stealth Chase Season Two began, Bi Fang and Yao Jun sat together on an abandoned bench, conversing simply, watching the ducks land on the lake surface, creating ripples.

The photographer stood behind them, capturing everything through the lens.

Intuition told him that when this episode of Stealth Chase would be broadcasted, the viewership ratings would surely explode!

While they were chatting and laughing, at a certain point, Bi Fang gradually lowered his voice, took a deep breath, and seemed to bring the conversation to a close as if to focus all his attention on the beautiful scenery in front of him.

Yao Jun didn’t pay much attention and continued to concentrate on the bread in his hands, having his evening meal.

Moments later, Bi Fang closed his eyes, and the faint blue light became even clearer.

[Mission Name: A Journey of a Thousand Leagues with the Currents]

[Mission Location: Nemo Point]

[Mission Mode: Crossing Points]

[Mission Difficulty: T5]

[Mission Requirements: Only carry coverings and change of clothes.]

[Main Mission One: Set up a live broadcast, with a concurrent online viewership of over six million]

[Main Mission Two: Cross Nemo Point in good condition.]

[Main Mission Three: Build a raft on Easter Island that is capable of crossing Nemo Point.]

[Side Mission: Explore on your own]

Three months had passed since the System last issued a mission, but it wasn’t over yet!

His gaze shifted downward, and the second mission came into view!

[Mission Name: Crossing Death]

[Mission Location: Sahara Desert]

[Mission Mode: Crossing Dangerous Territory]

[Mission Difficulty: T4]

[Mission Requirements: Trek across the Sahara on foot. High-ranking System equipment and any equipment not provided by the System are prohibited.]

[Main Mission One: Set up a live stream, with a consistent online viewership of over seven million.]

[Side Mission: Explore on your own]

[Note: The above two are joint missions with a time limit of one hundred and twenty days, and the order can be chosen.]

[Note: Assistance from outside the mission can be chosen for one of the missions, limited to one person or one beast, and only one mission may choose this option.]

[Guaranteed Reward: Two High-Order Skill Enhancement Coupons and one Muscle Control Ticket.]

Bi Fang had never before experienced the release of two missions simultaneously.

One mission was T5, and the other T4, no doubt both were extremely difficult, not to mention tackling them together.

We’ll put the Sahara aside for the moment, the world’s largest desert of death, its size comparable to the entirety of Huaxia.

From a satellite view, it looks like a huge and ugly scar blatantly lying on the African landscape, with an environment extremely harsh within that scar. Most regions comprise intermittent small and large basins, with many mountains and extinct volcanoes in the middle, and the ground primarily made up of gravel deserts, rocky deserts, and sand. It’s desolate, barren, unfit for biological survival, and known as a forbidden zone for life.

Nemo Point might be somewhat unfamiliar, as it is a location defined by human calculation, theoretically the furthest spot on Earth’s surface from any land.

In the past, when technology wasn’t advanced, scientists were unaware of this point’s existence. It was only later, with the advent of satellite technology, that a surveying engineer used computer programs to calculate the existence of Nemo Point.

The geographic coordinates of Nemo Point are 48 degrees 52.6 minutes south latitude, 123 degrees 23.6 minutes west longitude.

When viewed from outside Earth, the closest land to Nemo Point is three distant islands: Maewo Island in Antarctica, Motu Nui Island in the southwest corner of the Easter Islands in the northeast direction, and Ducie Island in the Pitcairn Islands to the north.

Of these three islands, Ducie Island is the closest to Nemo Point but still a whole 2,688 kilometers away.

If you were to draw a circle with Nemo Island as the center and a radius of 2,688 kilometers, then this circular area would rival the entire size of North America!

Due to its unique geographical location, scientists have dubbed it the loneliest place on Earth because it’s entirely a forbidden zone for life, with practically no living beings reproducing here. The number of creatures that reach this place is even fewer.

In terms of spatial distance, the closest humans to this place are occasionally the ones in the space station flying over at an altitude of 400 kilometers!

Of course, that’s not the hardest part. Bi Fang had some experience in dealing with such extreme situations.

But 120 days? Wasn’t that too short a time?

The world record for trekking across the Sahara is 111 days, and that’s with supplies. Without supplies, this duration would have to be extended by at least a third!

The meager 120 days provided by the System, let alone the completion of both missions together, made even one mission, the Sahara alone, impossible!

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